Wrapping up another day spent in front of the computer, a slave to modern society. Daniels trajectory in life was all laid out for him. He would work behind a screen all the way into old age, have a brief moment of freedom, not that he would have the energy to enjoy it. Then die. That was considered lucky. Some people didn't even make it to the freedom bit.

“What a boring waste of a fucking day” Daniel lamented. He raised his arms to the ceiling, stretching out a day spent in front of the slave machine, as he liked to call it. Daniel groaned out loud as the aches and pains slowly dissipated. As he got older he started making more and more old man noises. 'I'm only 35, why do I feel like shit?'

He leant forward to shut down the computer, not wanting to spend another minute staring at the monitor.

Daniel regularly lost track of time dwelling upon life's mysteries, he was the kind of person who couldn't even tell you what day of the week it was. When he thought about the purpose or and meaning of his life, he was always drawn to nihilistic conclusions. He did know one thing for a certainty, his job was a soul-sucking means to an end and nothing mattered.

'What the fuck is the point in all this?' Daniel thought to himself, he started pondering his existence in this universe. An exercise he performed at the end of every work shift. He never came up with anything worth mentioning.

This led Daniel down a rabbit hole of existential thoughts about his reason for being. So far he had come up with beer, cake and lasagne.

Don’t misunderstand him, he enjoyed living. He loved his girlfriend Sarah, whom he lived with. For Daniel, like most of his generation, he grew up as a disenfranchised youth. He felt that something was missing from life, or was taken from him. Society dictated his decisions, there was no real purpose to his being. His contribution to society was to be a 'consumer'.

Modern life really didn't suit him. The interconnected world where you are constantly bombarded with every piece of news, social media, mental health crises, global warming, ecological collapse, pandemics, geopolitical issues, wars... you know the drill.

He didn't want to think about these things all the time. Daniel rubbed at his temples as he thought to himself ‘I should be happy with my lot in life, what do I have to even complain about?’ Yet the persistent void he felt when contemplating his life plagued him daily.

Daniel's fingers then ran through long shaggy brown hair, he began massaging his scalp in an attempt at rubbing away the pointless thoughts that plagued him. ‘Just keep moving forward Dan, you have a good life, don't go down that hole again.’

He yawned out loud and palmed at his face, trying to rub away the fatigue. He looked into a mirror and what greeted him didn't impress. Gunmetal blue eyes that were slightly bloodshot stared back. His eyes started watering as he yawned again.

His hands reached towards his wiry untamed beard that had grown down to reach his chest. Combing his fingers through the bushy facial hair, he tried to tame months of neglected beard growth without success.

Months of being stuck indoors made him neglect his appearance overall. He wore pyjamas from morning to night. With no one around to criticize his dishevelled 'I don't give a fuck anymore' attire, he wore whatever the fuck he wanted.

Daniel stood up from his desk and left his home office, glad to be free of another day as a corporate slave. ‘One good thing about this pandemic is not having to commute’ he mused to himself. Then he felt a pang of regret, Sarah still had to work in the office. It left him alone in his home for hours on end, a constant reminder of his loneliness.

Daniel was an average man in modern society, he was medium height and build. He had the look of someone who might have done some weight lifting in a past life, but due to lack of routine and laziness, he had let himself go. He liked to jokingly blame Sarah, he would tell her he had become victim to the contentedness and lethargy of a loving relationship.

His stomach rumbled. Looking down at his slightly protruding stomach, he slapped at it with his hands. A small ripple ran across his body 'cultivating mass' he smirked. The smirk disappeared from his face as he thought 'I really should do something about my weight.'

His stomach groaned again reminding him that he hadn't eaten at all today, he was always too busy to take care of himself. It was another day spent tangled up in development work, dealing with someone else's clusterfuck of spaghetti code. He made his way towards the kitchen to hunt for something to eat.

There was a sticky note waiting for him on the fridge, he looked at the note that Sarah had left him, 'It's Wednesday! Lunch is in the fridge, have a nice day. Be back at 8. Love you, Sarah x'. He glanced at his phone, 5:32 PM.

Opening the fridge, he smiled to see his favourite food. Sarah's homemade Lasagne was sat in a tray, begging to be eaten. 'damn, she looks after me too well!'

Daniel sat in front of the television with a tray across his lap, steam was rising from the food. He cracked open a beer, the froth quickly rose out of the can, spilling down the sides. He brought the can to his lips, sipping on the beer foam, some of which dribbled down his beard and onto his chest. 'So much for doing something about my weight.'

His attention went back to the tv. He started flicking through the television channels ‘...Headlines at 18:00 on Wednesday the 22nd of December 2021..’

He continued changing channels, hopping from one show to the next until some inoffensive home improvement show came on. Daniel gave up finding something intellectual to watch, today would not be a day for expanding his mind. He settled down and tried to enjoy his evening alone, thinking to himself ‘When did I get so old that I started to enjoy watching people discuss their reasons for choosing a particular set of tiles for the bathroom?’

The evening went on, Daniel glanced at his phone realising the time 8:15 PM. There was a message from Sarah 'Sorry, running late, something came up at work'. Daniel sighed, and then replied to Sarah 'No problem, be safe, see you soon x'.

He sat in the darkness with only the flickering of the television for light. The fatigue of another pointless day settled into Daniel's bones. His eyes were losing focus, lethargy began to set in, slowly his eyelids closed. A gentle snore rhythmically released from Daniel as he slept peacefully on the sofa. The television continued to show the mundane lives of couples deciding which homes they could afford.

****

“Is everything ready?” A gentle diaphanous voice was projected into the ether.

The body language of the speaker seemed to indicate they were in communication with someone, they nodded their head acknowledging a positive response. “Good, I will go ahead then.”

The being with a delicate ethereal voice was floating in space above the Earth. Thousands of tendrils of white light were attached to the being’s back, they extended outwards floating and wavering even in the still void of space. The wings were like gentle lapping waves that slowly rose and fell. A Halo Floated above the beings head, an Incandescently bright ring.

They had their back towards the Sun, appearing as a tiny silhouette that could barely be seen in the vastness of space. They exuded power and danger that belied their angelic appearance. With their deific presence, they lorded over Earth.

[Planet: Earth]

[Subject to assimilation into Ascended universe]

[Would you like to continue (Yes / No ) WARNING! Planet assimilation irreversible]

[Assimilation to the Ascended universe:

Planet (Earth) will be moved into the Ascended space safe zone. All sentient species will be integrated into the System. All sapient species will be subject to trial 0. The planet will be terraformed.* The remaining life on the planet (Earth) will experience rapid evolution.*

*Mana energy will impact existing ecosystems and life, suggest isolation of planet until stabilised and ready for sentient species reintegration. ]

“Yes, go ahead” The ethereal voice commanded. Their hands rose in front of them. They placed their palms together as if they were ready to pray, then pulled them several inches apart. As the hands pulled apart, a tiny orb like a star grew between them.

From this transcendent ethereal being a white beam shot forward towards Earth, the beam although powerful was not destructive.

Earth was slowly enveloped in the cleansing light that spread out in a perfect circle. The angelic being continued pouring more power into the beam. Earth looked as though it was being purified, it began to radiate a flawless and holy quality. As the process neared completion, Earth began to take on an appearance not too dissimilar to a white dwarf.

****

Daniel stirred to the buzzing of his phone, then suddenly jerked awake to a constant high pitch ringing coming from the Television.

Abruptly an announcement played on the tv ‘We apologise for the interruption to this broadcast. Emergency information will soon be broadcast. Ensure your device is audible and stand by for information’.

Dan’s foggy mind returned to the buzzing phone. He fumbled around his body trying to reach for it. It had slid underneath him while he slept. Dan squirmed on the sofa until he managed to grab the phone from under himself, he looked at the time 02:13 AM. The phone buzzed again, he floundered as he tried to answer. It was Sarah, ‘why isn’t she home?’ Immediately he brought the phone to his ear.

“Sarah are you alright? Why aren’t you home yet?”

“Dan I’m at the office alone, I’ve been calling for hours, I’m scared… Have you seen the news? Are you aware of what’s going on?” Sarah replied between panicked breaths.

“I..sorry...I just woke up, there’s an alert on tv, but nothing else. What’s happened, why are you scared?” Dan started to have an ominous feeling. He worried for Sarah's wellbeing. She was never normally this serious. What could possibly be the reason for the alert broadcast?

“It’s something big Dan, It doesn’t make sense. I’m not quite sure I understand what’s going on, nobody does. Apparently, people have started to lose contact with other countries across the world, There’s no official explanation from any governments or leaders around the world. I had to look it up on the internet, I've seen videos where there was a wall of light travelling towards people, then when it reached them nothing.” replied Sarah in a panic.

“What? Sarah, you’re right… that doesn’t make sense.”

Sarah’s voice paused, then he heard a gasp. She shouted “Dan! …oh my god. I can see it Dan...the light, it’s coming our way.”

“Sarah, what is it? What’s happening?!” Dan was starting to feel alarmed. Sweat began to drip from him, the hairs were standing on the back of his neck. Overwhelming dread started to suffocate him.

“Dan...It’s almost here, Dan!....DA-AHHH” Sarah’s last panicked screams abruptly cut off, her last desperate cry caused Dan’s ears to ring.

“SARAH!? Sarah!...what the fuck is going on?!” Daniel started screaming down the phone and out loud. Panic, fear and frustration were overriding Daniel’s senses. Everything was happening so quickly, nothing made sense. He felt like he was in a fever dream but he was too lucid for this not to be real.

His mind whirled with useless worried thoughts, ‘What the fuck?!...what the fuuu…what is that?’ as Daniel was looking out the window. The night sky outside suddenly started getting brighter, like a rapid timelapse with day approaching. Daniel ran to the front door of his house and stepped out into the front garden.

A giant solid wall of incandescent light was reaching towards the sky, it was visible from the whole horizon line and was rapidly travelling towards Daniel. The wall of light was consuming everything in its path, It was Inescapable, overwhelming.

The light continued travelling at a speed that he could barely comprehend, Dan just stared blankly towards the light, accepting his fate. He was still holding the phone to his ear. Knowing she wasn't on the line, knowing that there was nobody there to hear him, he still spoke “Sarah, I’m sorry I wasn’t there...I Lo...”

The light engulfed him, an instant searing pain beyond anything he had ever experienced then nothing.

****

[....Initializing….connection to candidate successful, loading personal data…...data loaded]

Daniel felt blissful, something seemed to suppress his emotions. He didn’t care that he didn’t have a body or anything to experience and sense his surroundings with. His floating mind could have stayed in the void for an eternity and it would not have cared.

In the nothingness, Daniel perceived what he thought were sounds. Something was speaking directly into his mind. He had no sight, no hearing, no touch, no taste, no smell. His only stimulation was the emotionless electronic voice that was projected into his head. The voice almost reminded him of an artificial intelligence from an old sci-fi movie he watched as a kid.

[ Candidate consciousness awake confirmed, initializing interface...]

This was spoken in the flat emotionless voice, Daniel suddenly saw… no saw wasn’t right, it was more like a vivid mental projection of a text box was presented to him.

[ Please state Candidate name…]

Stimulated by the mental voice he tried to respond but found that he didn’t have the ability to speak.

‘What the fuck?’ The sudden text box had disrupted his tranquil mental state.

[ Name: What the fuck ]

[Please confirm name: What the fuck]

‘What?... no! Uh, my name Is Daniel, or Dan’

[Name: Daniel or Dan]

[Please confirm name: Daniel or dan]

Exasperated, Daniel thought ‘what is up with this? Should I give it my real name? What is going on? What is this?’

In the void he tried to think about what was happening, the situation was beyond bizarre. He tried to remember what happened but nothing came to him. Just the void and the text box asking him to confirm his name.

Did he have to give his real name, were there consequences to giving something else? As he thought about the simple request for a name, he started to think about the things missing in his life. The absence of something important or meaningful. He thought about how maybe this could be a fresh start for himself.

He thought about how upon birth, people don’t get to choose their name, he didn’t mind the name Daniel, but it never quite fit. His consciousness was uninhibited from the usual mortal concerns, this mental state seemed to allow him to be his true self. ‘No, that’s not my name...’ The system acknowledged what was going through his mind, it responded to his thoughts.

[Please choose the desired name?]

The desired name, Dan thought about it some more. A fresh start? Choose my own identity. He felt like there was something else, an important reason he should keep his name. But then disregarded the thought.

‘My name...I choose my name to be Dante’. Dan...no Dante always felt an affinity for the divine comedy, like the mundane trials of his life were their own kind of inescapable layers of hell or purgatory. He felt it was appropriate to keep some aspect of his origin but also something that was his own, that meant something to him.

[Name: Dante]

[Please confirm name: Dante]

‘Yes, my name is Dante’ He confirmed, he felt pleased with his decisions. For the first time in his existence, he felt in control of his destiny.

[Name confirmed, beginning trial 0...]