"Where am I?" Ray's voice echoed faintly through the endless chamber, swallowed by the darkness that seemed alive.
"And who… or what are you?"
His eyes darted around, searching for walls, for an exit, for anything that resembled reality.
But all he saw was an infinite black stretching in every direction — a void pretending to be a room.
The being before him did not move. It sat upon a throne carved out of something darker than stone, something that swallowed the faint glow in the air. Its form shifted subtly, like a silhouette cast from starlight. Constellations flickered across its shape, forming and dissolving with each slow breath it took.
"Welcome to my domain," the being said at last.
Its voice was calm, but each word struck Ray like a heavy blow, as if spoken from every direction at once. "I am a being of stars. Or, to make it simpler… I am a God."
Ray blinked.
A god?
He felt laughter bubbling up in his chest — not amusement, but disbelief, frustration, exhaustion.
"A god?" he scoffed. "Gods don't exist. Are you some kind of demon?" He shook his head slowly, muttering under his breath. "No… I get it. I must have finally run mad."
The chamber shifted with a low hum, and then—
A laugh.
Not a normal one.
Not human.
A chilling, hollow sound that reverberated across the entire expanse. It slithered across Ray's skin like ice, crawling up his spine and squeezing around his ribs. His heart hammered, each beat painfully loud in his chest.
Before he could speak again, the world ignited.
Fire exploded around him — not red, not orange, but pure white. It was flame stripped of color, stripped of mercy. It roared like a living creature and swallowed him in a single breath. Ray screamed, the sound raw and broken, but the fire devoured even his voice.
Pain unlike anything he had ever known tore through him.
His skin blistered and peeled.
His muscles burned and tightened.
His bones felt as though they were being shattered piece by piece, melted, reforged, then broken again.
He clawed desperately at the ground, but there was no ground.
He tried to run, but there was nowhere to go.
The fire was everywhere, eating him alive, erasing him.
He tried to beg — for help, for death, for anything — but the flames crawled down his throat, silencing even his thoughts. Every moment stretched impossibly long, as if he were dying thousands of times in a single instant.
Then suddenly…
Silence.
Ray gasped. His body spasmed as he opened his eyes, lungs dragging in breath after desperate breath. He lay on something cool and solid — a smooth, black surface that pulsed faintly like a heartbeat.
His hands trembled as he touched his chest, his face, his arms.
He was whole.
Unburned.
Untouched.
But the memory of being burned alive clung to him like smoke, refusing to fade. He could still feel it — the screams, the melting skin, the breaking bones. Even breathing hurt, not from injury, but from remembering.
Slowly, he lifted his gaze.
The being was still there.
Sitting. Watching.
Its eyes glowed with a faint golden light, ancient and cold.
"Do you believe now?" it asked, tilting its head slightly, as though studying a curious specimen.
Ray swallowed hard. Fear twisted inside him — cold, coiling, relentless. But he clenched his jaw, refusing to let it show. His voice came out low, steady.
"What do you want with me?"
The God smiled. Or something like a smile shifted across its face — a ripple of light, a distortion in the stars that formed its features.
"Great. Excellent," it said softly. "This is exactly what I want… those fearless eyes. Even before my terrifying might, you didn't falter."
Ray didn't respond. He couldn't. His throat felt tight, every instinct yelling at him to run, even though there was nowhere to run to.
With a snap of the God's fingers, the entire chamber changed.
The darkness around Ray rippled like ink dropped into water. The floor stretched, pulling him forward without him taking a step. The air thickened, warped, pressed against him.
His heartbeat grew louder in his ears as the throne loomed larger and larger, until it felt as though the world consisted of nothing but the God, watching him with eyes that held centuries.
"I have been keeping my eyes on you for a long time," the being said, each word vibrating through Ray's bones. "A very long time."
Ray stiffened.
He didn't know if the words were meant as praise or accusation.
He didn't know which one frightened him more.
The space around them shimmered.
Then—
Shards of light appeared.
Dozens of them. Hundreds. Suspended in the air like fragments of broken stars. They drifted slowly, glowing faintly with colors Ray couldn't name — some golden, some blue, some flickering like dying embers.
Each shard gave off a warmth that felt familiar, yet distant, like the echo of a memory long buried.
They floated around him in a slow, deliberate dance, orbiting him like celestial bodies following ancient paths.
Ray stared, breath caught in his throat.
And in them were memories of Ray's life.