1 - Final Life

This is a short story based off a dream...

A breath of life came into the world around him—mysterious, yet familiar.

Like every unconscious fantasy, the edges of its reality blurred. 

However, his mind was placed right in it. Aware. Thrusted deep into the plot, like a movie that was only continuing to play. 

Then he looked around.

A few people stood together in a circular cluster. Behind them stretched an endless darkness, as cold as it was vast.

A faint trim of light domed them in as bodies shifted in confusion. 

It was unclear whether they stood within a pocket of air, or if they were all sharing the same hallucination.

Each clouded face scanned the others with vague familiarity.

Then it appeared.

Or rather, the perception of all gathered finally reached a point where what had always been there, was now noticed.

The Earth hung below the group, lit by the countless lives moving across its surface.

A flicker further back came into focus, radiating life where there had been none moments before.

The sun glared back at him, and he squinted out of habit.

However, there was no pain.

Was he in space? he wondered.

His eyes lifted, blinking open carefully. 

Everything still felt dazed—like his mind was protecting him, ready to pull him awake if he believed too deeply.

Yet the sun radiated a quiet warmth.

And where he stood now…  was a reality in front of him.

__________

A whisper—loud and commanding—echoed through confines of the dome.

"Welcome, representatives of Earth."

Those within its reach scanned the space, searching for the source.

"You have been selected," the voice came again. "As this cycle's fate holders."

Before questions could rise, a pressure filled his mind.

With that, people fell to their knees, grasping at a floor that wasn’t there. Their faces held the same dreamlike fog, but he could tell that some, closed their eyes in fear.

Then the distant stars—once faint dots—rushed forward.

The pressure forced him down as thousands—no, millions—closed in, clustering along the dome’s ceiling.

As they loomed overhead, the pressure eased.

Their radiance blocked out the void entirely.

A single light drifted forward from the rest as the representatives finally stood. 

"The rules are simple."

Everyone turned to the little light, finally able to track the voice.

"Pass the trial, or forfeit all."

Silence lingered for more than a breath.

The fleeting feeling of not fear, but understanding passed through his thoughts. 

It was like he had prepared for this moment, and he was sure the others were feeling the same. 

Memories surfaced that he had never lived.

He simply… knew what to do.

__________

A wave of distortion pulled his thoughts to the future.

He found himself amongst the other representatives.

Their faces remained clouded—but somehow, he knew who each person was.

He stood there in a trance with a simple device held within his hands.  Since he finished answering the questions within, it had folded in on itself, before vanishing into nothingness.

He was the first to finish.

Around him, time felt heavy as one after another their uniquely designed devices vanished with each completed test. 

They must have endured unique tests.  He thought.

One thing he knew for sure, was that the lights had remained above—silent, unmoving. 

Watching with no intention to assist more than proctoring.

Or maybe, they couldn't assist even if they wanted to. 

Morality.

Physicality.

Intellect. 

The little light in front of the rest had explained the nature of the tests and that when touching a divine tablet, one's mind would be sent where it needed to go.

When he had came to from having finished his test, he realized for him, it had been a classroom.

Within it, he answered basic questions of math and science at the only desk centered in the room. 

As he lifted his pen from the final answer, the world turned in on itself and brought him back to here, where the device vanished.

He assumed the others were dealing with uniquely similar situations. Perhaps he had been given something easy.

For that, he felt… relief.

The light spoke once more, cracking through the silence between them.

"Your results are being calculated. They will determine whether this cycle continues… or ends."

Murmurs rose from the representatives.

Although they were unintelligible, he some how knew what was going on.

They were afraid.

So, he turned to his peers and for the first time since arriving, his mouth opened.

"Don't worry. We got this. I am sure we all passed this cycle and will be the heroes of humanity."

He didn't even know what he was saying.

What was even a cycle?

More mechanical now, the little light above spoke clear and low.

"Trial failed. Final life exhausted. All sentient existence will now be terminated."

As soon as the words concluded, everything started to slow. 

No warning. 

Just immediate stilling. 

The Earth below darkened. Red dim cracks began through it's surface.

The sun had also paused, it's life turned off rather than down. Red cracks started to split through it.

The dome they were in had begun to shake wildly, transforming cries to goodbyes. 

The stars and cosmos began to collapse as each tiny light snuffed out of existence and replaced by scars of crimson.

A tear of anguish slid down his face. 

And like the others—

He closed his eyes.