Cosmic

Chapter 3: Déjà Vu

[Ben]

There was nothing— no smell, sound, touch, sight or taste (not that there was anything to smell, hear, touch, see or taste). Well, nothing but my consciousness floating around in a sea of ​​emptiness. I tried to breathe, only to remember that I couldn't and didn't need to. 

It wasn't like I could see the nothingness around me. I just knew that there was nothing there. It was as if I could feel the emptiness wrapping around me like an invisible blanket. The feeling was indescribable, like trying to explain 'colour' to a blind person. However, I wasn't as disturbed by this as I should've been. The fact that I remained calm despite being trapped in a place where nothing existed was what really scared me. 

Is this the afterlife? I wondered. Did I die and somehow end up here?

No, that wasn't it. I could feel it in my metaphorical gut. That's not to say I was alive either. I felt as if I wasn't quite dead nor quite alive, a sort of limbo. 

Suddenly, a flash of white light emerged out of the blue. I could see? 

Slowly, the light began to twist and turn, fading away as it did so and revealing a vision of a barren landscape. I was about 20 meters off the ground, floating. The sky was a sinister blood-red as rain poured furiously from pure black clouds. There was a sudden bolt of lightning, tearing through any clouds in its way before being followed by a clap of thunder. The ground, littered with thousands of scattered bodies, was coated in a thick layer of human blood. What used to be buildings were now all reduced to nothing but rubble. 

Then, a huge beam of light came crashing down from the sky, vaporizing all of the clouds nearby and clearing away all of the rain at once. When the beam connected with the ground, it exploded into a shower of light, engulfing everything 

~

I woke up on the ground, immediately beginning to cough. My lungs gasped for air, something that I felt like I hadn't had in a very long time. I was never taking breathing for granted again. I saw Mia crouched over me, her hands on my chest and emitting an odd green glow.

"Mia?" I asked, surprised. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like, idiot? I'm healing you!" she spat before sighing.

"Healing me?"

"It's my power! How dense can you get ?!"

I raised up my arms. They were completely burnt beyond all recognition. I could see pieces of burnt, black flesh crumbling away into dust. Any minute now, my whole body could fall apart and get blown away by the wind and yet, I didn't feel any pain.

"Hey! Don't move, idiot! Your wounds will open up!"

Ignoring Mia's advice, I raised my neck to examine the rest of my body. Mia had lifted up my navy-blue shirt which seemed to be completely intact. Meanwhile, my chest was covered in small cuts and burns but they rapidly fading with each passing minute. I'd played enough games to know that the colour 'green' meant healing. 

"Are you deaf? I said to stop moving!" Mia scowled, shaking her head while muttering something about 'boys these days' under her breath.

I rolled my eyes as I began to look around. I was in the corridor outside of the Starmaker. Well, what used to be Starmaker. Huge columns of flame had erupted through the cracks in the floor, scorching and burning anything within their vicinity. The roof had seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving not a single piece of rubble and exposing the calm, night sky. 

The fires were the only reliable source of light as everything from the corridor onwards was shrouded in pitch-black darkness. Every so often, the bright-red emergency lights would flash, but they were inconsistent.