The first thing Reverend noticed was the light of the room stretching on to infinity.
There was no hum of train tracks or the murmurs of people
He blinked and the light burned his eyes, he lifted both his hands to cover his eyes but froze because they where smaller, smoother he can't remember the last time he was young again.His skin was clean again where callasus should have been so as his fingertips it looked so foreign like someone else's body pretending to be his.
Gravity in this space seemed to bend around him, he sat up not like he was sitting on the floor but he sat up where there was no floor not really but seamless with a glowing surface where it stretches to all directions but he couldn't make it out yet.
The light came from nowhere, His own reflection swam faintly beneath him as if it's bending to his every breath.
"... Hello?" the voice that came out sounded too young and too light "Is there anyone there?"
It echoed faint and uneven but there was no answer like space asking itself whether to answer or not.
There was no response just the echoes of the words he said fading into nothing.
Valt front to back had no shoes, the uniform and the dust stink into cement was all gone just a white shirt and gray pants. He could see his own breath through the air as if it was cold.
"HELLO?!.. This time it was a shout and then
Click
The sound of a static bleeding into a shape
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
[Cognitive link established.]
"Who is there?" his throat tightened "What the hell...?"
The voice was calm neutral and gentle somehow unlike last time sounding so cold and unemotional
[Welcome Reverend Valt.]
[Please remain calm while synchronization completes.]
He stumbled backwards
"Synchronization?.. Wh-what does this mean? Where the hell am I".
[You are in a transition phase between two cognitive planes.]
[Physical host: comatose]
[Mental integrity: stable at 63%.]
The words didn't make sense that Reverend had to scratch his head "Coma?.. What the hell are yo- his words trailed off as a image flickered into the air around him like screens forming out of a mist.
The screens showed him laying on the bed with white sheets with beeping monitors tracking heart beats and his body lying still.
A nurse walked past and the woman in the corner scrolling on her phone and his father wasn't there, nobody held his hand.
Valt stared "This is.... This is not real".
The System's tone didn't change a notification popped up
[Time of cardiac arrest: 21:43. Location: City Line Train 7. Cause: stress-induced arrhythmia.]
He shook his head violently as he said in a tone with frustration and grief "No,No this is bullshit?! I'm perfectly fine, I'm standing right here"... Valt didn't no what to make of it when another notification beeped up
[Physical body remains in a vegetative state.]
Another visual image bloomed beside the first a phone screen glowing in the dark room, it was his girlfriend lying in bed beside another man black messy hair and sharp green eyes glowing in the dark with her voice soft and casual "His not waking up anyway".
Valt chest seized "Stop it, Stop showing me that?!".. His tone sounded more angrier this time but the system didn't stop another screen popped up on his right showing his coworkers.
"Damn shame about Valt" Brad said in his construction worker hat another was Zach who replied
"Yeah, but Valt was a total loser"
Brad replied "Probably for the best"
The words pierced his heart as he swung his arms at the images display.
But they didn't break it was like passing through light
"You think this is funny....You think this torture means something?!!"
Tears Welled up his eyes but he held them back like he always did, this was not the first time he got embarrassed or tortured he been through worse (probably)
A notification popped up again
[Purpose: awareness.]
[You must understand what you have left behind.]
He fell to his knees the infinite of just blank white canvas that stretched endlessly. He couldn't bear himself to breath anymore.
He questioned in a tone that felt like a soul that has been crushed to a 1000 pieces "So what now going to kill me twice?
The system beeped and a notification popped up with a message
[Negative.]
[This is a second evaluation phase. An opportunity for redefinition.]
Reverend looked up confused "Redefiniton?
[A second chance.] the message hung in the air as he swallowed hard and with a cracked voice he asked
"A second chance for what?"
There was the pause, the first one that felt intentional.
Then the system replied back with a robotic voice
[To be better.]