Prologue to the End
“As promised, we met again,” it said. It’s shape, nothing more than a flickering dot surrounded by smoke. Words echoed through Jayden’s body as if bouncing off his insides.
“That you did,” Jayden replied flatly, staring into the place Jayden assumed its eyes would have been. Through it, Jayden could see his world, his reality dissolving into dust, fading grain by grain into an abyss of nothingness. It was eerie, sad, and strangely beautiful. The void wasn’t black or white, only translucent—like staring through warped plastic.
“And now that we are here, what is it that you want?”
“The same things you do,” it said with what Jayden imagined to be a wry smile. “To experience everything. To grasp what it means simply to be.” Its voice echoed through the void of space, calm but serious.
Jayden listened in silence. Even if he wanted to argue, he couldn’t. “To be huh?”
Despite the erasure of life unfolding before his eyes, Jayden felt not fear but a strange mix of confusion and peace. A release from burden.
“You remember how this started, don’t you? After all, it was you who found me.”
Looking at it, its presence—nonexistent yet tangible—made Jayden’s skin crawl.
“Of course I do,” Jayden answered after a pause. His thoughts returned to the first time he almost died.
“Tsk, tsk. No, Jayden. Much earlier than that. Try again.” The smoke shifted as if it chuckled.
Then it hit Jayden. The truth. The day he first met it—not in waking life, but in the realm of dreams. Or at least what he thought were dreams. A world of static, of invisible snow.
“Exactly,” the smoky being replied. Jayden mentally noted how he hated the way it said that. Mind-readers are always bad news. Its voice cackled inside his head, “The question I asked you, do you remember it? Do you regret having answered me now? Do you remember?”
Jayden closed his eyes, recalling the dream world. A place both bright and dark, clear yet hazy, warm yet suffocating. At its center, a single speck shimmered—appearing, vanishing, reappearing. Something so small it could easily be ignored but its presence seemed to demand something more. Jayden could not remember the conversation but he remembered the last words he had heard. “Are you ready?”
Jayden couldn’t answer. Something within did. The sound of ringing flooded Jayden’s ears and his vision flashed white.
“And what did you say?” it asked, baiting me.
“Yes,” Jayden whispered.
“Correct,” said the smoky being, drifting closer. Its presence is expanding. “And yet why does it seem like now your answer has changed.”
“You know why. I know you’ve seen it all.” Jayden retorted.
Its form shimmered. It drifted towards Jayden, each centimeter it crept disintegrating the space around it. Jayden thought about retreating, but with everything fading, where could he go? The smoke pressed closer, curling against Jayden’s face, each moment slower, heavier.
Floating directly in front of Jayden the void seemed to whisper,
“You won’t.”