His wordless howls rang across the vast uncaring cosmos as he was pulled beyond time, space and reality. An unseen, unstoppable force dragged him far, far away from the place he called home. He was young, diligent, and still hopelessly in love with his girlfriend of 3 years. The fire burned even those thoughts away.

Fire. White fire consumed him. The pain lasted forever as he hurtled between universes. Wonders flashed across his eyes in the space of milliseconds. The darkness of outer space became the brilliance of a supernova exploding across a distance spanning several million light-years and once again switched to a view of a thousand galactic superclusters, all within the blink of an eye.

“Don’t forget about it, ‘kay?” said a sweet, familiar voice in his head. He struggled to hold his sanity even as his body thrashed uncontrollably within the fire consuming him. Eyes shut tight, he recalled the morning.

Pain. He was frying sausage and eggs in the pan, the rice was almost cooked as well. The smell of coffee swirled enchantingly inside the kitchen. He was cooking breakfast for HER.

Crackle. He gasped in pain as he opened his eyes again. Solar flares flew across the vastness of space in a whirl of chaos as he saw a star, a red giant, slowly being eaten as it danced between the event horizons of two massive black holes. It was as if a bored colossal entity decided to finger-paint the galaxy using the light of a dying star. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fainted from the excruciating pain.

Burn. They walked together hand in hand, the sound of their footsteps echoing on the sidewalk. It was the happiest moment in of his life, as he looked upon the blushing, angelic beauty beside him. She had, with a gentle nod of her head, agreed to become his girlfriend.

Stars formed and died as he suffered mercilessly. The fire burned inside him now as white flames danced across his vision. Lightning bolts the size of galaxies scattered and danced everywhere he looked, their blaze tracing a jagged trail across the stars. One last time he tried to hold himself together, to be man instead of embodied torment.

Calm. They were drinking beer outside. In the distance the lights and music of the company party continued, the people inside flushed, laughing as they danced the night away. Here they were, the two of them, shy smiles cloaked by the darkness as they sipped in quiet happiness. He didn’t know what to say, and she was there looking at him expectantly, brown eyes wide and eyebrows half-raised. They spent a couple of more minutes in awkward silence, until, with the desperation of soldier charging headlong into enemy gunfire, he decided to talk to her about the stars. He has always been a fan of science fiction, inspired in his childhood by watching a certain space opera trilogy. He talked to her about his belief in alien worlds and civilizations and the Many Worlds Theory.

“Just imagine,” he told her excitedly. “An uncountable number of stars, reaching into infinity. And on those stars, dozens upon dozens of worlds. And on those worlds, people and cultures that rival or even surpass our own.”

She listened to him in patience, once in a while discreetly asking a few questions that he would then answer in detailed enthusiasm. He would later realize that he had not given her a chance to talk about herself, and blushing in embarrassment, he began knowing her a little better. The process would of course be conducted within a series of dates. As they spent more time together, he wondered if he had already fallen in love with her during that fateful night beneath the stars.

It was close, he can feel the end now. He can feel his consciousness unravelling as his body, mind, and soul was fed to the white flame. He hurtled across the ends of space towards a single destination. Darkness in shades of reds, blues and violet swam along the edges of his vision. And in front of him, a single point of light growing swiftly in size. He closed his eyes and before oblivion fully swallowed him, one final thought rose in the vanishing depths of his subconscious:

“I miss you too. You know that, right?” said a gentle, loving voice.

He opened his eyes to a raging blue sky. His body lay in a soft patch of grass, whole and free of pain. He lay there for a while unmoving, feeling the cool breeze along his skin. No excruciating pain, no fire that burned his very soul. His eyes mindlessly tracked the clouds racing across the sky. It was a long while before he felt the gentle pressure on the palm of his hand. He sat up and stared at it in tears and silence, much at the object itself as with the strange text floating right above it.

Engagement Ring. 3 grams. A ring used for proposals of marriage. Common. No bonuses. Restrictions: female only.