As he closed his eyes again and tried to imagine what hell would look like, the image in his mind showed vivid images of a hellish landscape, demons with grotesque faces, and flames that danced with malevolence.
"Despite the fact I don't regret any of it, not one damn bit..." Victor sighed, opening his eyes with a solemn look. "I was kind of expecting some kind of divine retribution after I died and not... whatever this is."
A sudden gust of wind, though there was no clear source, somehow ruffled Victor's hair. "Honestly..."
"Where's the punishment I deserve? Where's the torture? Is the devil on a coffee break or something?" He questioned, glancing around, feeling confused that nothing had happened to him yet. As his eyes continued to scan the featureless landscape, he mused, "Maybe... is this the punishment? Or am I just stuck here? Waiting for some kind of judgment?"
As a gangster, his life had been in a constant state of danger. Deep down, Victor always felt that someone was always out to get him, always a threat looming over his head, especially when he had gained his position.
Now, though, he felt a sense of tranquillity. It was as if all the world's weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Victor could feel the tension in his muscles melting away, and his mind was clear and focused.
"I don't understand," he said, his voice a whisper. "Why am I feeling this way?"
A thought occurred to him. Maybe this was the punishment he had been expecting. That should also mean that this was his hell. But it didn't feel like hell. It felt like heaven.
"So, is this it, then?" Victor asked, his voice barely a thought. "Is this the end?"
"Death finally got its hand on me, huh?" He then muttered, his voice a little more than a thought echoing in the blackness. "What a shocker."
In the past, Victor had cheated death a dozen times before, always with a cocky grin despite being in a critical state a lot of times. Now, there was just a sense of hollowness instead of the bravado he usually had.
"No pain, no worries," he said with a ghost of a smile after a moment of silence. "Well, this isn't exactly the afterlife I pictured, but then again, who am I to argue?"
Despite that, Victor almost missed the excitement of a good brawl, the unity of his family, and the satisfaction of a job well done. But now there were just echoes, murmuring in the unending blackness, and in that emptiness, he felt a strange sense of calm. A serenity that is beyond comprehension, a quiet that transcends logic. It was a serenity that sprang not from joy or contentment, but from the lack of all feeling and sensation.
"Maybe this is the real peace I never found in my life," he mused, a melancholic acceptance colouring his thoughts. "No more running while dodging bullets, no more fighting, no sleeping with one eye open, and no more bullshit that I have to clean up after."
"No more... especially no more of those goddamn crappy meetings with that blockhead bastard!" Victor said before erupting into laughter, clutching his stomach. "Those endless hours sitting in that stuffy room, listening to fucking Tony drone on about some half-baked scheme while I just sat there wanting to strangle the bastard every second for each crap that came out of his mouth. Or worse, having to sit through those stupid 'team-building' exercises where we had to pretend to be fucking trees or some shit."
He chuckled, the absurdity of his past life finally hitting him. "Remember that time we had to do that trust fall? I almost pushed that slimy little weasel, Andrew, off the roof! I swear, I'd rather face a firing squad than another one of those ridiculous retreats."
Victor shook his head, a wry smile playing on his lips. "And don't even get me started on the suits that Emma made. Those goddamn tailored nightmares! They were more uncomfortable than a straitjacket. I'd rather go commando than wear another one of those things. And the shoes that her little brother made! Don't even get me started on the shoes."
He paused, a wave of nostalgia washing over him. "But you know what I'll miss?"
"My favourite whiskey. Good old Glenlivet," he mused, a hint of sadness in his voice. "That smooth, smoky taste... Ah, the memories."
Victor sighed, the image of a dimly lit bar, a glass of amber liquid swirling in his hand, and the comforting hum of jazz music fading into the background.
"And the girls," he added with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Those beautiful, fiery women... always a welcome distraction from the day's chaos."
Victor couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of a particular brunette with eyes like molten gold and a laugh that could melt glaciers, briefly warming the chilling emptiness.
"But hey," he shrugged, a philosophical air about him, "all good things must come to an end, right?"
A subtle tremor flowed through the void as Victor was ready to embrace the emptiness completely, causing him to look surprised "What was that?"
This odd sensation was unlike anything he had felt before. Surprised, he turned his head, seeking the source of the disruption. "Where did that come from?"
Another tremor soon followed before Victor could understand the situation, this one stronger than the first, accompanied by a peculiar sensation – a thought?
It didn't belong to him, obviously, but it brushed against the edges of his mind, like a distant memory. Victor didn't know how to put it into words, but he could sense it through his emotions, and it felt familiar.
"What the hell is going on?!" Victor exclaimed, his voice sharp in the sudden silence. The tremors had stopped as abruptly as they began, leaving him disoriented and strangely...curious??
"Wh-what was that?" he muttered, his brow furrowed in concentration. "It felt like some kind of... thought? But whose?"
The idea was crazy, absurd even. Thoughts belonged to the living, didn't they? How could a thought exist in this... this nothingness?
But the feeling lingered as a faint echo of something familiar, something... human. It was like a whisper on the wind, a fleeting sensation that refused to be ignored.
"Well, this is getting interesting," Victor said, a hint of excitement creeping into his voice. "Maybe this place isn't as empty as I thought."
"Here I go." He muttered, pushing off, propelling himself towards the source of the tremor, his curiosity now piqued. If there were others... things... here, other beings, then perhaps he wasn't alone after all.
After a while of travelling, Victor noticed the tremors that had originally stopped resumed and became more frequent over time, with the distortions in the void more pronounced. Sometimes, the darkness would ripple and distort, as if something was trying to break through. Other times, he would feel a sudden chill, a shiver down his spine that had nothing to do with the constant coldness of the void.
"What the hell is going on here?" Victor muttered, his voice laced with a newfound urgency. "Is this place... alive or something?"
"Okay, okay, I think I've had enough of this," Victor muttered after investigating for a while, his voice trembling slightly. He felt like the void itself was trying to crush him, to squeeze the life out of him, whatever that meant in this... place.
He pushed off harder, his movements frantic now. He had to get away, had to escape this... whatever this was. Victor didn't know where he was going, or if there even was a "where" in this endless nothingness. But he had to keep moving, had to keep pushing forward.
"Come on, come on," Victor urged himself, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "You can do this. You've survived worse."
He thought back to his life on the streets, the countless times he had dodged bullets, outrun the cops, and escaped from impossible situations. He had always found a way out and always survived. He would survive this, too.
Victor pushed himself harder, his body straining against the invisible forces that seemed to be pulling him back. He could feel the darkness closing in, the tremors intensifying, the void itself screaming at him. "Urghhhhhhhh...!"
"Yes, yes, yes..." Victor roared, his voice echoing through the void as he somehow managed to gather all of his remaining strength at the last second and escape the crushing darkness. He stumbled forward, his body trembling, his heart pounding like a drum. He had made it. He was free.
But then, he stopped. His jaw dropped, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Huh?"
In his gaze, a great, whirling field of light and colour emerged in the distance. It was an incredible sight —a heavenly ballet of stars and nebulae, with galaxies swirling and colliding in a spectacular display.
"What the hell?" Victor muttered, his voice barely a whisper. "Where the hell am I now?"
Then, a flicker of movement caught his attention, a pinprick of light appearing in the distance among the brightness. It pulsed a soft blue glow that grew brighter and more mesmerising. "What is that?"
"Is that... a blue light?" Victor muttered, focusing on it, the small spark igniting a flicker of curiosity. "Is that real? Or is it a hallucination because I'm tired?"
As if to answer his thoughts, another light bloomed. This one, a deep, pulsating violet, hummed with an energy that sent a phantom vibration toward him. Then another appeared, a vibrant green, followed by a swirling red.
More lights materialised, an assortment of colours blooming in the endless nothing with different intensities and Victor, for lack of a better word, stared, a mix of terror and awe battling within him.
"Who are you?" he croaked, his voice barely a whisper, but there was only silence as the lights continued their erratic dance, flickering and swirling without any discernible pattern. Victor tried again, his voice laced with urgency. "Hey! Can you hear me? Who are you? What is this place?"
The lights continued their silent ballet, offering no response. Frustration bubbled up. "Damn it! Answer me!"
But they remained silent, offering no response to his desperate call. He then tried focusing on one, willing it closer, hoping for some interaction.
"Hello? Can you hear me? Anyone there?" His voice, though disembodied, held a desperate urgency.
The vibrant emerald light pulsed once, then drifted away, joining the chaotic dance of its brethren. Frustration gnawed at him. Was this some kind of cruel joke? Would he be trapped here forever, surrounded by these silent, mocking lights?
"Damn it!" he roared, the sound echoing endlessly. "At least give me some kind of response! Or even anything!"
The lights continued their silent dance, their only response a random flicker, increasing Victor's annoyance. He then tried everything he could, but these lights seemed completely unresponsive.
"Fine," he muttered, forcing a semblance of calm into his disembodied voice. "If you don't want to talk, that's fine. Let's see what happens if I move closer."
"What would your reaction be?" Victor said, grinning as he focused his sight on a fiery red light, the closest one to him that was almost 10 kilometres away. With all his strength, he immediately pushed himself towards it, trying to make some kind of contact.
But for some reason, as he approached the fiery red light, it flickered erratically, then darted away, leaving him behind.
"Hey!" Victor shouted, his voice echoing through the void. "Come back!"
He chased after it with all his might, but the light was faster. It twisted and turned, weaving through the other lights, taunting him with its elusive nature. Victor's anger began to boil.
"Goddamn it!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking. "This is getting nowhere!"
Frustration gnawed at him to the very core. Victor fell forward with a sigh, his shoulders slumped. "Screw it!"
"I give up," he uttered, feeling a little ridiculous from the realisation he had been chasing some random lights. "What the hell is the point of this anyway?"
As Victor was about to give up, something caught his eye. One of the lights, a soft, golden one, began to flicker and dim. Unlike the others, its erratic dance was replaced with a slow, fading glow.
"Hey!" he called out, a flicker of concern sparking. "Are you okay? What's happening to you?"
The dimming continued, the golden light shrinking in size. Panic clawed at his throat. While Victor had no idea what these lights were, their presence had offered a sliver of comfort that felt familiar to him in this endless nothingness. Now, one of them was fading, and with it, a piece of that comfort seemed to be slipping away.
Without hesitation, he surged towards the dimming light. It was a futile effort, of course, but the instinct was stronger than the logic of his mind.
As Victor neared the fading light, a blinding flash erupted from nowhere, engulfing him in a white-hot brilliance. He shielded his nonexistent eyes, a primal scream rising in his throat.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH...!!!!"
To Be Continued