His view was utterly consumed by darkness, and his mind was dominated by memories of what had recently transpired.
He had died.
How, you might ask? Well, to put it briefly, he let his pc on for the rest of the night and forgot to turn it off while he went to sleep, resulting in the said pc exploding and taking his life, along with well, his house.
Thankfully, though, he lived alone as a Medical Student in the UK, while his family lived somewhere overboard. And, as he had exams the day after, he had to study for the night by using his computer, which he forgot to turn off while finally going to sleep.
"Welp, it is what it is." Weirdly accepting his situation despite what had occurred, he began inspecting the area around him.
He might miss his family and all that nitty-gritty but he already understood that he couldn't do anything. He had died, and that was the end for him.
His family could weep for the years to come, and nothing would change, so he might as well accept his situation wholeheartedly.
Nevertheless, he began inspecting the area he was currently floating in. It was total darkness, with nothing but a single tear perpetually breaking from above. Light seemed to shine from those cracks as it gradually became all clear to him.
The tear in itself had a strange sense of... Malice? It was quite overwhelming to be fair and he couldn't help but shake frantically.
He could vividly see... something trying to pass through the light, and frankly, it frightened him.
He started to panic as he tried everything under his power to move, but to no avail, he was put in a paralyzed state. Although, he was in a helpless situation with nothing to protect himself from the impending 'danger', he still held a determined look as he, despite his fears, was fully prepared for what was coming at him.
And, as the darkness completely shattered, light followed thereafter. But not the light he was awaiting for, no, something far more... sinister.
In a brief moment, time seemed to come to a halt as his eyes widened at what was landing on him.
A sudden burst of dark energy came rushing at him at unbelievable speed from the rift, threatening to take his life should he just stand by and stare at it like a dumb-ass.
Yet, as opposed to what he initially believed, the beam did not take his life but merely started entering his body like a plague.
"ARGHHHHH!!"
Pain began coursing over his veins as he felt his cell shred upon the dark light impact, tears poured from his eyes as he could only savor the full extent of his suffering.
His heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, everything hurt to no end as the strange and malevolent energy started invading his whole system, leaving him agonizing over the sudden change of events.
Initially, he believed that the afterlife would be quiet and peaceful, surrounded by darkness as he awaited for him to finally get transported into the vast sea of souls.
Yet... that did not seem to be the case here, as he felt he was straightly sent to hell despite not knowing what sins he had committed to deserve such punishment.
Unbeknownst to him, however, a creature suddenly manifested near him, it was curiously observing him from afar as he was in a constant state of pain and agony.
It did nothing to help him, however, as it simply stood and started assessing its situation.
The creature has a long, snake-like body segmented with bone-like columns. Its head, being from the same material, features two piercing eyes and a bird-like beak. Eight floating wings surround its form, granting it the ability to glide effortlessly through the air.
This was Garuda, a shikigami who once belonged to a certain sorcerer who had unfortunately perished during an intense battle. As it stands now, after her owner had died, she found herself lying here with a peculiar human floating next to her.
The beam of light seemed to brim with astonishing cursed energy, and that certain cursed energy seemed to slowly penetrate the young man before her as he was painfully absorbing it all.
She pitied him. But there wasn't something she could do in order to help him, she had just woken up after certain death and was powerless for the time being. However, she still had a rough idea of what was going to happen for now.
The young man seemed to notice her as he desperately reached for her, trying anything so that he could just avoid the beam from hitting him any further.
"HELP! HEEEEELLPP!!!" His scream barely concealed the immense agony it held, as though the devil himself started ravaging his body with his intense power.
As he deliberately screamed for about 8 minutes and Garuda witnessed the sight, the light gradually began to die down as he finally rested for what seemed like a millennium.
"I-It's over?" He hastily muttered as the young man, albeit on the brink of reaching insanity, started regaining his sense once more as fully noticed the creature floating near him.
It had a peculiar appearance, one of which he was unfamiliar with, yet at the same time, he felt as if... something connected him with it.
It was odd, as though it was directly related to his soul. He could move and control its movement like it was his body part. It started dancing around him as it happily(?) swirled over his body.
All of this happening... Just what the hell is going on?!
However, before he could question anything, as the darkness seemed to disappear as something far away was absorbing it, he stood motionless as he simply stared at it, waiting for something akin to what happened earlier to occur once again.
Fortunately, though, there was no beam or anything resembling it whatsoever. Instead, he was being pulled out by the strange black hole that began to consume his body.
"At this rate, I think I'm really gonna lose it..." Those were the last words he muttered before his consciousness faded away.
And, as the light overtook the darkness, everything went blank.