As the Celestial CEO (CCEO?) escorted us down another hallway, Mark asked him,

The CCEO looked uncomfortable, hunching up his shoulders and lowering his head, “Ahhhh, ahhhh, well I did, ahhh… try something like that before, ummm, but, well, ah geeze… it did not go well.” He finished, looking down at the floor in front of him. “Free will, ahh… yeah well, it’s not so good to mess with free will. Things,” he reached up and scratched his head, his posture still defensive, “things tend to work out or they, well… or they don’t. If I poke it…well,” he finally looked at us, a deep sadness obvious in his eyes. “Things… ahhh… things fall apart.”

We left him alone for a while after that, silently stunned by his frighteningly honest reply. He seemed lost in thought as he lead us to a small door set at the end of the hallway, and I for one had my own thoughts to ponder. Free will, huh? That’s pretty heavy.

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Seeming to cheer up again after a few moments, our guide stopped us in front of the door, explaining that it led out of his personal space and into the Overworld itself. Not knowing what to expect, we were flabbergasted when he opened the door, revealing a scene straight out of an M. C. Escher painting... if he had teamed up with Salvador Dali. Completely surreal, full of motion and activity, stretching to infinity on a straight plane with no horizon in sight. I’m sure we would have passed out or at least lost our lunch if our bodies hadn’t been CCEO granted constructs.

Unable to speak, dazed and confused, we followed Nerdy CEO up down and around until we reached an open platform with what looked to be an elegant woman in her late 50s. She had long silver hair flowing around her as she sat on a simple wooden chair next to an antique wooden table. There were dozens of archways surrounding the edges of the platform, varying in construction from marble, to silver, to naturally grown wood (leaves still attached).

At this point I had completely lost my orientation, but I was guessing we were at least 90 degrees from when we started. I was doing my best not to look around.

“Welcome, young friends.” Sent the woman with a kind smile. “Please approach, and I shall help ease your transition into your new lives.” She gestured to the table, which suddenly had two extra chairs and four small shot glasses on it. As we approached the table, she explained, “Here we make ready for rebirth,” she pointed at one of the shot glasses (it was blue). “This potion will help send your memories, all that makes you who you are, back to The Grey for safekeeping.” She smiled at us again and pointed to the next shot glass, “The next is to wipe clean your worldly skills, these things that you know, but that are not you. Begin again afresh and renewed.”

Our CCEO was silent during this, only giving us a reassuring nod from the side when we looked back at him. I guess he was probably waiting to remove the soul-thingy he did to let Mark and I communicate.

Walking towards the table, Mark looked at me and nodded. I nodded back, taking a deep breath. I guess this was it.

And then things went to hell. Literally.

Before we even knew what had happened a massive tentacle shot past us, knocking both the table and the woman next to it flying. Spinning around, we both involuntarily turned back into cloud-soul-form as we saw our Nerdy CEO suddenly grow hundreds of times bigger, his skin rippling with golden muscles, his suit transformed into rune-covered armor. He reached out and severed the tentacle, turning to face a gigantic rift that had opened a few kilometers from us.

“Protect the Souls!” He roared, launching himself at the mind-bending beasts streaming out of the rift.

I felt a tug and found myself floating after the Mark-cloud, he sent. With my perceptions focused behind us I saw a gigantic eyeball come level with our platform, and I decided not to argue. We dashed into the nearest portal (I think it was made out of stone), the horror of the beasts behind us overcoming our fear of the unknown.

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Next thing I knew we were hurtling through space at insane speeds, stars streaking past us. A streak of blue shot at us and were suddenly above a blue plane. Was this a planet? Things were moving too fast, and something started tugging me away from the Mark-cloud. Hanging on, I fought the force with all my might as we kept traveling forwards.

And then the Mark-cloud vanished, and everything went black. Is this death? Can souls even die? But wait… last time I died it was white, not black. Then I felt a heart that was still… start beating again. But much faster than I thought was healthy. I felt limbs that were numb come to life around me, a body that was empty flood with life as cell by cell everything was turned back on. It was a wonderful sensation, like the best stretch after the best nap ever!

And then came the PAIN. Holy hell, this is WAY worse than a nuclear bomb, ahhhhh, make it stop! But it wouldn’t stop, and it went on for what seemed like an eternity. Pressure on my skull, my eyes, sudden suffocation! I didn’t think I was breathing before, but now I desperately needed nothing more than a blessed lungful of air! Slowly drowning while being crushed on all sides, I was still trying to scream when things suddenly got brighter around me. The pressure vanished, but I was still struggling for air when I suddenly coughed, breathed in the sweetest breath of my life. I tried to yell for help, but all I heard was a baby crying. Wait, a baby? Why is there a baby here?

Oh...

F***!