My life had never been easy, especially not in recent times. War broke out in many parts of the world and cultists have been running rampant. Sadly, the country I lived in was not an exception. The economy came to a standstill, which caused many people to starve, more and more religious fanatics were starting to pop up and I lost my job.

The putrid smell of corpses filled the air and I could see beggars everywhere. I was in one of the seedier parts of what could have once been called a town. Before the bombs fell, the city was a bustling metropolis, but that is a part of the past now.

In the beginning, before the war reached us, we thought that it was just another war in the distance. Something we didn’t have to worry about. But then the flames of war consumed the whole world and young men all over the country were drafted into the army, fighting with outdated weapons and little to no training against highly trained and well equipped professionals. The result was a massacre. Our troops were slaughtered and the surrounding nations tore through our defenses as if they weren't even there. Now, two months later, our once flourishing country was on the brink of defeat. I had to pay a lot of things to avoid being forcefully drafted into the army. All of my belongings to be exact.

After defeat was eminent and I realized that I had no way of fleeing the country I was just roaming the streets, searching for something to eat. My whole outfit stunk and I didn't look that different compared to those beggars. I don’t have any delusions about how the war will soon end. I know that, sooner or later, they will bomb us to oblivion.

Looking around I can see that my feet had carried me to a trashbin. It was immediately obvious that it had been rummaged through before but I had to try to find anything. My stomach was still hurting from that half rotten piece of meat and I was starving. Unfortunately, the only things that I found were some rotten pieces of trash. I may be hungry, but I know what was edible and what not so I left them alone.

Just as I was about to continue my search the loud roar of engines could be heard in the distance. FUCK! This is the third time this week that this happened! Immediately I ran towards the bomb shelter. On my way I could see some other people but I ignored them. That was until I saw an older lady trip and fall onto the ground.

'IGNORE HER! JUST IGNORE HER!' I repeated this dozens of times in my head. In times like these compassion can be fatal. If I try to help her I will risk dying with her! I continued running until we were just one meter apart. Hearing my footsteps, she turned her head around and looks at me.

Her eyes show hope and resignation at the same time. I realized that I would not be the first person to run past her. What have I become? Ignoring another person just because it would risk my life a little bit? When did I start to think like this? Stopping right at her side, I heaved her body onto my back and continued running.

An explosion could be heard in the distance. 'Dammit! I don't have much time left!' I looked at the entrance of the closest bomb shelter which was just 30 meters away. Okay, I can do this!

Gathering all of my strength I ran towards the entrance as if my life depended on it because, well, it really did.

20 meters away I heard that the explosions were coming closer. The sound of screaming and buildings breaking apart was omnipresent. The remaining people that hadn’t reached the shelter yet became desperate and shoved each other out of the way.

After another 5 meters I felt that I will probably not make it. The bombs were coming closer faster than I was running and the doors were quickly closing. Not giving up, I continued regardless of that.

Just ten meters away a bomb detonates a few feet away from me. An enormous shockwave and dozens of shrapnels hit me and everything goes dark.

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'What happ- Ah, I remember now. I was carrying an older lady towards the bomb shelter when a bomb killed me. Well, fuck, I knew it would turn out like this but to die just 10 meters away from safety is depressing.' After I spent some time pitying myself I paid attention to something more important: Where the hell am I?

I try to look around but the first thing I noticed is that I can't seem to feel anything. I can feel neither my body nor move around. The second thing I noticed was that everything I could see is darkness. 'So I guess I am a...soul now? Strange. I never believed in an afterlife but it seems those religious nutjobs were right.'

'But why am I not in hell? If the bible or any other ancient monotheistic script could be believed I should be burning in hell right now since I didn't believe in God. Maybe this is a sort of hell? I doubt that. Not feeling anything is strange but it isn't painful. Then I guess some other religion was right? Or maybe none of them? I don’t know, I was never really interested in religions since the concept of an omnipotent being seemed ridiculous to me.'

I spent a lot of time in that darkness and as more and more time passed I became sure that I was in some sort of hell. The boredom was killing me! By now I had run out of things to do and just did nothing. Thinking nothing, not trying anything, just wasting away.

After another indeterminable amount of time passed doing nothing started to become comfortable. It was a refreshing feeling to do nothing. Just drifting about in this ocean of energy, it’s as if I were a newborn in the embrace of its mother.

'Wait, what! Ocean of energy? I broke out of that extremely comfortable state and realized that I could faintly feel an all-encompassing energy around me. What the hell is this?'

When I was about to try to interact with that energy a blinding flash of light illuminated the darkness. I could feel myself being pulled into its direction and oddly enough I didn't panic. It just felt...right. As if I had always belonged there. As I got closer to the source of that light I could hear a chorus of voices:

"Welcome back, our beloved child"

Authors note: As I am pretty new to writing I would like to hear your opinions and if possible point out any mistakes! I hope you enjoy this prologue!