On the edge of slumber, a voice came to me. “I have questions” it boomed. And with its words, it took the room in which I lay transported to lay alone; outside the windows of my room now expanded the vast stars. The endlessness outside. As I got up, hinging at the waist, and pulling my legs up to my reside close to my chest. Sitting at my bed’s end was a large figure, one who had to duck their head slightly to fit in the room, which now felt so small. Their features, hard to make out, either encased in shadow or un-viewable by my eye. Hair seeming to be dreaded with an assortment of charmed additions. Form muscular, certainly larger than the human form would permit. I smiled as the depictions of the ghost of Christmas present came to mind—a comparison the figure in front of me surely wouldn’t care for.
“Sure,” I responded simply. My dreams often weren’t this real; they always felt like I was at a distance from being an active participant, worlds away, but the fear of any reality of the situation didn’t concern me. I was interested. A godly figure had questions. And though it may be some egotistical amalgamation of mine, it was better work than I’d seen my mind capable of before.
The shadowed figure seemed surprised at my willingness. We sat for a moment. I kept my eyes looking up at them, worrying about their neck in that position.
“I’ll be just fine, but thank you for your concern. And you are not the first to make the comparison.” The voice broke through my thoughts.
My eyes became alight. How fun.
“As much as I enjoy, I’d prefer we keep the conversation out here.” Clearing my mind of any thoughts in an attempt to force a thought underived from my own. We stayed blinking, the air somehow beautifully crisp in these walls.
“Why are you not concerned?” the voice asked, as it weaved through the crisp morning-like air between us. “Concerned about what?” I respond, the words far less elegantly reaching their ear. “Death, my dear, how are you so unconcerned by your eventual fate?” With clarity, I understood, and pondered. The figure in front of me seemed to need a response, as if I were not the only one they asked. As if I were only a stop on this journey of a question. A powerful being, one that a human like me may turn to for questions that burden their souls, asks humans instead. I looked out at the window beside me, and the endless dotted lights and colors in the space around me as I pondered the question. Before concluding, I looked up at the figure above. “Can we?”, I asked while gesturing out the window. A nod was offered. With that, I opened the window beside me, and as my frame made its way out the window, I began to float, leaving the weighted pressure of the room in exchange for the crisp space all around. Once out, the roof of my room floated off as the figure in full form rose, and came to glide beside me, as I was mesmerized by what was around. As we ventured through the great unknown, past beauties unimaginable, I pondered. This didn’t seem to be a routine check-in; the figure beside me wanted answers. Needed them.
“I suppose when I was young, not existing didn’t sound so bad; returning to this seemed a better fate for the atoms of me than me.” Their disappointment in my response was apparent. A disappointment I hoped to break. “But, even now as life has become more precious, I accept my fate,” I spoke as we continued seemingly indiscernibly fast amongst the vast beyond, the bright, certainly eye-singeing stars, and the clouds of color and shape, but no resistance or air to blow our hair behind us. We simply floated as if underwater. The space open to be explored. “I have no claim over death, but even if I did I don’t feel I’d enjoy it much. Death is something so many are certain they want power over, but I expect there is a line. A point at which that endless time turns to a sorrowful fate. I’d prefer to miss over growing board.”
“Apathy sullies all souls, given time” Their voice reverberated within me.
I simply nodded in agreement. “Are you sullied?”, I inquired, turning to look at the very humanoid figure beside me, the one who no longer seemed so grand. They simply looked at me, their eyes distancing, before nodding and looking away. I had many questions for this being, which I began to feel sorrowful for. But I wanted to be cautious, my curiosity not outwaying their potential discomfort. “You may ask” it spoke, continuing to look ahead. Away from my eye. In turn, I nodded looking at them before looking ahead.
“I have questions”