"Where am I?" He asked, looking around a deep, black abyss of nothingness. "Nowhere." an unknown, echoing voice replied, it's voice sounding like a scratchy, nostalgic record. Phoenix whipped his head, looking around in all directions, trying to find the source of the voice which remained mysterious. "Who are you? Why am I here? I don't... feel anything." He began to panic, breath quickening, heart racing, shaking. "I'm no one special. I'm here to take you somewhere, somewhere... that's not here." The voice seemed to get closer and closer to Phoenix.
Once the voices echo vanished, a glow appeared in the distance, something that looked magical, inhuman, ethereal. A shadow-like figure began to emerge from the white glow. "Who... what are you?" Phoenix asked, amazed at the beauty of the colors and mysteriousness. "I'm nothing, like I said, nothing important."
Before Phoenix could even open his mouth to ask more questions, the figure spoke again. "Follow me." It reached out it's shadowy hand for Phoenix to take. He hesitated.
Is it's hand even solid? It looks almost invisible.
He slowly took the shadow's hand, surprised that he could even grab it. "What's your name?" Phoenix questioned the figure, "I already told you. I am nothing, I do not have a name. I do not have a gender. I just purely exist how I am." Phoenix squinted his eyebrows together, a confused expression on his face.
The figure started to drift upwards, bringing Phoenix with it. It felt like space, no gravity. Colors started to appear, as if going through a portal, everything surrounding Phoenix and the figure began changing and forming. It was an unfamiliar feeling, calm yet lost.
Phoenix takes a breath, ready to ask yet another question, though, before he can, the figure takes a leap and it feels like they're falling. Phoenix shuts his eyes tightly, feeling a strong gust of wind in his face. The wind dissipates slowly, allowing Phoenix to open his eyes again, once he does he's greeted with scenery that looked celestial. It was unimaginably beautiful. Almost like it came straight out of a video game with amazing, realistic graphics. It took Phoenix's breath away. There were varieties of green, tall, willow trees; taller than buildings, they were ginormous.
The figure led Phoenix to a cliff, looking directly towards a sunset. The sky being colors of purple, orange, reds and pinks. The figure, lightly levitating above the ground, stood alone, right at the edge. It having no face, Phoenix didn't know if it was looking to the sky or at him.
"Can you tell me what's going on?" Phoenix finally had the chance to clearly look at the figure standing in front of him, noticing that it had long, black wings, matching the rest of its body. "You're in a better place now." The figure replied calmly in it's broken, echo-y, sounding voice. "That doesn't explain much." Phoenix said. He wanted more answers.
"I am death."
Phoenix took a step forward towards the figure, confused. "Am I dead?" Phoenix asked with a strangely calm energy. The figure gave him a sense of comfort and life he's never felt, which is ironic considering that the figure is death itself.
"You are dead."
The figure reassured him. In that moment, with the sun setting beyond the cliff, the wind blowing an ever so slightly gust of wind, trees whistling quietly, flowers beginning to bloom, the figure beginning to disappear into thin air, is when Phoenix realized that he had fallen in love with death.
