Arthur felt… but he couldn't speak.
He was dying.
The monitors slowly went dark. The pulse line stretched into a straight line. The machine let out a long, indifferent sound. The doctor glanced briefly at his watch and declared the time of death. The nurse wrote it down in the chart — dryly, without emotion.
It was over.
…or at least, it should have been.
But he remained.
At first, he thought this was what death was.
But death shouldn't be like this… so long.
Death should bring release.
But here — there was only continuation.
He could see.
Not with his eyes — with something else.
How his body was covered with a sheet. How he was wheeled down a cold corridor. How the morgue doors closed behind him, cutting off the last traces of life.
He was there.
Inside.
And outside at the same time.
And the strangest thing — his body wouldn't let him go.
As if a connection had formed between flesh and soul that should not exist.
He felt them place him in a coffin.
How the fabric beneath his back was slightly rough. How the cold of the wood seeped through what remained of his sensations. How the lid slowly lowered, blocking out the light.
A dull thud.
Silence.
Earth fell on top — first in scattered hits, then in a solid weight.
Darkness.
But he continued to "see."
He remembered an article about Nikolai Gogol — the fear of being buried alive.
But his case was worse.
He was dead.
And yet — he felt.
Time disappeared.
He didn't know how much had passed — days, weeks, years. There was no light, no sound, no movement of time.
Only existence.
He felt his body changing.
How the skin lost its form.
How the flesh decayed.
How insects entered his body.
How they moved.
How they lived.
How they reproduced and laid eggs.
There was no pain.
And that was what terrified him the most.
If even decay caused nothing…
did it mean he had long ceased to be human?
Sometimes it seemed to him that he could feel the earth itself.
The slow, heavy "breathing" of the planet.
And he was part of it.
At some point, everything changed.
First — vibration.
Then — the pressure disappeared.
The coffin jerked.
The earth crumbled.
The lid was opened.
He saw them.
Grave robbers.
And the world…
the world had changed.
The sky was мутed, gray. The air was heavy, as if poisoned. People wore scraps of cloth, their faces covered with masks, their eyes hidden behind dark glasses.
The planet was dying.
Slowly.
They didn't come for treasures.
He had nothing.
Except…
A couple of gold teeth.
He noted this with cold irony.
They didn't hesitate.
They broke his jaw.
Pulled out four teeth.
And left.
Quickly.
Silently.
Like scavengers.
Others came later.
Opened the grave.
Looked.
Left.
And again — silence.
Again — emptiness.
The world was changing.
Even here, he could feel it.
New forms of life appeared. Microorganisms feeding on radiation. They moved differently. Existed differently.
The planet was trying to fix the mistakes.
Human mistakes.
He knew it would come to this.
Even when he was alive, tension between countries had been growing.
People didn't want war.
But those at the top…
did.
Control over people was slipping away.
And they decided to regain it at any cost.
Arthur took advantage of this back then.
He sold.
Technologies.
Weapons.
Solutions.
At inflated prices.
And they had no choice.
He called it business.
Now it seemed empty.
— Do you believe in God?
They once asked him.
— I don't believe, — he answered. — I know He exists.
He always thought he controlled everything.
But now…
he couldn't even close his eyes.
Or even die properly.
Over time, the cemetery stopped being a cemetery.
First, garbage was brought there.
Then hazardous waste.
Then nuclear waste.
Layers grew.
Pressed down.
Mixed.
Seeped downward.
And one day it created something.
A liquid.
Dark.
Dense.
As if alive.
It filled Arthur's coffin.
Entered inside.
Consumed what remained of his body.
And at that moment…
the impossible happened.
Matter came into contact with antimatter.
But instead of an explosion —
a collapse.
Space compressed into a point.
And a black hole was born.
Small.
But enough to consume his remains.
And it consumed him.
Without sound.
Without light.
It simply — erased him.
Void.
No sensations.
Only thoughts.
At first — fragments.
Then — clarity.
Then — silence.
He stopped waiting.
For help.
For the end of the suffering.
He even began to lose himself.
His thoughts started to disappear.
They almost dissolved.
And then —
light.
Bright.
Impossible.
He didn't understand how he could see it.
But he saw.
— Hello, Arthur. Nice to meet you.
The voice was calm.
— You can't speak. Just think — I'll hear you.
Arthur immediately asked:
— If death is the end…
then what was that?..
Why didn't I leave?
Pause.
— Because you broke the mechanism of death itself, — the agent replied.
— The soul must leave. The body must let go.
— In your case… neither happened.
Silence.
— You didn't just remain.
— You got stuck between states that should never intersect.
— This is an error.
— And such errors… are eliminated.
— I can end this, — the agent said.
— Quickly. Without pain.
Pause.
— Or return you back. To your twenty years.
— But don't think it's a gift. Everything has a price.
— And the price will be the energy you accidentally stole from the world… and your karma.
The answer came immediately.
— No.
— I won't return the same.
Silence.
— Then what do you want?
Arthur thought.
— I want to feel.
For real.
— Even if it will be pain.
Pause.
— And if other worlds exist…
other universes, dimensions, realities —
I want to see them.
— Live in them.
The agent looked at him.
— You're asking for the impossible.
…And yet you're not asking to be saved.
…
And then a voice echoed.
— Do it.
The agent froze.
— With limitations. Let him live as he wants.
— Fine, — the agent said.
— I will fulfill your conditions.
Pause.
— But not exactly as you imagine them.
— You will receive a body.
— Not an ordinary one.
Silence.
— It will be a doppelganger's body.
— only with limitations — you will learn about them after the transition
— A being capable of changing form… adapting… copying.
— But listen carefully.
— Now you are empty.
— No karma. No energy. No protection.
— You will start from zero.
Pause.
— And if you die again without fixing this…
this time no one will come.
— You will simply disappear from existence — forever.
Arthur accepted it.
Without fear.
Without doubt.
The agent returned the energy to where it had been taken from.
So that this world could continue to exist.
Gave him a system.
Changed his "essence."
And cast him into another world.