There was nothing.
Not silence, not darkness - just nothing.
Then suddenly, something.
Awareness flooded in, the chill on skin, a buzzing sound, and a heaviness. Tired eyes slowly peeled themselves open to see - well, nothing, around him everywhere was pitch black darkness. He blinked, having to force his eyelids back open as they were so heavy. Now in the distance he saw the distinct white sparkle of what looked like a star, then a second, a third, now ten, twenty... more and more until all around him he saw a dazzling universe.
He looked down at himself, he was naked, and floating in this endless starry sky. Raising a hand to his lips, he slowly began to open them, feeling they were heavy too. And felt as if he was about to say something when a dazzling white light in front of him momentarily blinded him. Silk like ribbons shot out from the white light, wrapping themselves around his wrists, ankles and waist. With a strong yank, he was pulled into the white light. The light was too bright and he had to clench his eyes shut, and he felt as if he could feel the light on his skin.
The ribbons kept pulling him, and he kept his eyes clenched against the light assault. When suddenly he found himself thrown onto a ... hmm, he moved his hands around. A floor.
He slowly opened his eyes to find himself now in an all white room, and he was on the floor - now wearing a white silk robe. He rubbed his hands against the floor, not sure why, but as if it had been a while.
"Young man," a voice said, behind him.
Startled the boy jerked his head up to look for where the sound came from.
He saw a grand white table, with an elegant looking man sat on one end, end an empty chair on the other.
"Have a seat," the man said, with a soft smile.
The boy pulled himself from the ground. Feeling his feet on the ground stumbled slowly towards the seat and plopped down.
He observed this man now, long silky straight silver white hair, but a young face. His eyes were closed, but it still felt as if he was looking at him, and he kept a soft smile on at all times. His clothes were these sort of white robes with gold and silver accents that the boy couldn't name. And before them on the table was nothing.
"Thank you," the man said. "I hope your journey here wasn't too rough."
The boy looked him at him and titled his head to the side. The journey here? It had felt like 30 seconds at most. First there was nothing, then there was a sprawling universe, then he was here.
He became aware of his lips again, raised his hand to his lower lip, as if needing extra certainty they were there, and opened his mouth to speak.
"Fine," he whispered, hoarse.
"It was fine," he said, a bit louder this time.
The silvered haired man continued to sit there smiling, eyes closed. The boy felt he was waiting on him to speak again.
He took one more look around the room - white, nothing but white.
"Am I dead?" he asked, "I'm in the afterlife?"
"The opposite," the man replied, calmly. "You were dead, and we're bringing you back, Jacob."
Jacob.
Hearing his name, the memories came flashing in like a flood. His life, his family, his friends, and how he died. His last agonizing memory of the car accident - his recollection of seeing both his friend and sister in the car dead, before he himself fell into darkness. The awareness was complete now, he wasn't just a body sitting in this white room. He was Jacob Mare, eighteen, a poor kid from the rough side of town, and the reason that his sister and friend were dead. He had been driving.
"Bringing me back?" Jacob asked.
The silver haired man nodded.
"Ah..." Jacob said, looking back down at his hands, and feeling the first emotion he could recognize since he found himself in this room - guilt.
"No thanks. Just send me back."
Jacob stood from the desk, the white silk robes dragging along the floor with him - as he walked towards what he thought were walls, only to find the closer he walked - the further out the room seemed to extend.
Looking back, the silver haired man's eyes were opened, revealing yellow and black eyes, his had titled to the side and his mouth agape.
"No?" he asked, genuinely confused.
Jacob turned back and nodded.
"Yes, thank you but - no thanks, so which way is the way back?"
The silver haired man shut his eyes and brought his face back to its neutral smiling expression.
"Young man, perhaps I didn't explain properly -"
"No you did, thank you, but just send me back to hell or heaven or wherever it was you pulled me from," Jacob said, flippantly, hands on his hips.
"Nothingness," the man replied. "You were in nothingness."
Jacob shuddered a little at that, but shook it off.
"Okay, back to nothingness then."
The silver haired man stood up, and walked towards Jacob. It seemed he only took two steps and was suddenly in front of him. He placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Young man, you're being offered a chance at life here, back to your home world, I want to make sure you understand that."
"I think this one is a little bit dumb," another voice said.
"Fable - quiet." the man hissed - and Jacob saw a part appear in the silver man's hair, where a small white and gold scorpion crawled out and on top of the man's head.
"Excuse him, he's the one who brought you here." The silver haired man said, eyes still closed, and smile slightly wider now.
Jacob laughed - he thought this scene was quite ridiculous - a man who looked like a god and his scorpion ally. He curled over and fell into the laugh, if he was going to go back to nothingness he was happy to be experiencing this laugh first, for the last time.
"Maybe not dumb, he's nuts," The scorpion said.
The silver haired man, expression not changing, raised his hand and flicked the scorpion and sent him flying.
Jacob wiped a single tear from his laughter and stood back up straight. He was about to speak when the man raised his hand presenting his flat palm. He conjured up a sphere of white light, and in the light an image began to form. The image was of his sister, lying in what looked to be a hospital room.
"Emma?" Jacob said, he went to grab for the orb and found his hand went right through it.
"Listen to our offer Jacob, accept our proposal, and we won't just bring you back - we'll bring her back too."
Jacob's expression was serious now.
"Bring her back? So she is dead?"
The man, eyes closed and still smiling shook his head. "Not exactly, her body is alive, but her soul is here."
Jacob's eyes widened - "And Kyle?" he asked - hopeful to hear his friend was alive too.
The man, expression still the same, shook his head. "He is gone, I am afraid."
Jacob felt the guilt come back. Now that he found himself here, he didn't feel that he deserved or wanted to go back. But he looked back at the shining orb, and the vision of his sister's comatose body, he could maybe fix something he had broken.
He looked up at the man intensely.
"So what's the offer?"