"So this is what death feels like?" He muttered as he slowly drifted through an empty void, "it's a bit less than I expected."
He 'looked' around, though there was little point. The void stretched endlessly in every direction, creating an infinite sea of darkness without a single point of reference.
This was definitely not how the after life was described....at the very least, he expected himself to fade to nothingness not endlessly float in the void.
How did I die again?
The thought crossed his mind and with it, came memories of his last moments.
"Right… the experiment, " he had known that the risks of working with unknown materials always carried consequences, but he had never imagined the result would be… this.
He flexed his fingers....or at least, he tried to, but nothing moved and that's when panic slowly creeped into his mind.
Drifting in the void aimlessly was one thing, but being paralyzed through it?
"...That's not good," he muttered and then tried again, harder this time but the results were the same, he couldn't move at all.
But that's when he realized something strange....he didn't even have arms to move, or rather, his whole body was gone.
He was now in the form of a glowing orb of light that was drifting through the void... How did he know that?
He had no idea, but for some reason, if he put his mind to it, he could make out his orb-like form.
"Am I going to stay like this forever," the depressing thoughts started creeping in, after all, forever was a long time.
But then, a strange thought crossed his mind.
"If I'm dead… why am I still conscious?"
There was no answer to his question, so as time passes, he just ignored and started counting backwards from a million.
If he was going to spend an eternity floating in the void whilst conscious, he might as well find a way to entertain himself.
.....
The moment he reached a hundred, a change suddenly happened. Far in the distance, he spotted what seemed to be the tiniest speck of light.
It took a while, but he 'watched' as the light slowly drifted closer, until it hovering directly in front of him.
The moment it reached him, the speck of light suddenly exploded, flash banging him and lighting up the entire void around him.
Though, he didn't have eyes, so the flash of light didn't really affect him.
Patterns made of glowing red texts then started appearing and slowly rotated in the air above him.
And that's when a voice echoed through the void....well, through the now white world.
It sounded completely cold and mechanical without an ounce of emotion within.
[Compatibility confirmed.]
"...Excuse me?" He let out as he heard the voice, but it continued as if it hadn't heard him.
[Soul integrity stable.]
"...."
[Host candidate accepted.]
[Initializing Soul Architect System…]
A sharp pain suddenly shot through his consciousness.
"Ah—!"
Before he could react, the space around him began to collapse, and folding in on itself.
He then felt himself falling.
His falling speed got faster and faster, but he couldn't didn't pay it any mind as he struggled with the pain he was currently feeling.
The pain only got worse as the seconds passed and the moment it reached an unbearable threshold.....
He passed out.
***
Cramped.
That was what he first noticed when he regained consciousness, there was also some type of cold liquid membrane like substance wrapped around him.
He seemed to be in the same position as a fetus would, whilst float in said liquid membrane.
It felt suffocating and he wanted nothing more but to escape that feeling, so he tried moving.
Unlike before, this time, he could actually move his limbs.....all five of them.
Wait, five?
He didn't have enough time to realize what the fifth limb was as he started stretching. Beyond the liquid membrane, there seemed to be some sort of obstacle that stopped him from fully stretching out.
Still, he continued pushing against it, hoping to escape whatever it was, as the cramped feeling got even more uncomfortable.
Soon enough, he felt cracks spreading across the surface of the obstacles, so he pushed against it even harder.
It took a while but he finally managed to break through, allowing a bit of light to pass through the liquid membrane that surrounded him.
Continuing from his success, he continued pushing the hardened surface, creating even more cracks and more space for him to get out.
The moment a big enough hole appeared on the thing that was containing him, the liquid membrane suddenly drained, pulling his wet self out with it.
He had his eyes closed, so he didn't really understand what was going on, but at least, the cramped feeling was gone.
Slowly, he placed his hand on his face, wiping off the bit of membrane that still stuck to his face, allowing him to take in some air.
The first thing he noticed was that the air smelled strange, but he couldn't be picky right now, after all, he just escaped a place where he had no air.
Speaking of which, he pushed himself up into a sitting position before slowly opening his eyes.
Laying on the ground before him, was what looked eerily similar to shells, and from the remaining unbroken part, he realized what it was.
An egg?
Did he just come out of an egg?
But the strangest part was yet to come.
Slowly, he turned to the side and noticed that he was standing in what seemed to be an open field filled with eggs similar to the one he came out of.
They were all completely black, with glowing red veins running through them.
His breath hitched a little as he watched the scene and as if on cue, the sound of cracks was suddenly heard around him, and like zombies coming out of a grave, strange little hands burst out the eggs.
The hands were soon followed by their entire bodies being flushed out of the egg with the same liquid membrane that had previously encased him.
His eyes widened as he saw the creatures that came out of the egg.
They were creatures that only belonged in fantasy or the religious propaganda that he always heard.
And yet, here he was, witnessing their birth.
Seeing their forms, he was completely sure of it, these little creatures were demons.
And if they really were demons, then this could only be one place.....
"H-hell?"