In his gaze, a great, whirling field of light and colour emerged in the distance. It was an incredible sight, a heavenly ballet of stars and nebulae, galaxies swirling and colliding in a spectacular show.
"What the hell?" Victor muttered, his voice barely a whisper. "Where the hell am I now?"
Then, a flicker of movement caught his attention, a pinprick of light appearing in the distance among the brightness. It pulsed a soft blue glow that grew brighter and more mesmerising. "What is that?"
"Is that... a blue light?" Victor muttered, focusing on it, the small spark igniting a flicker of curiosity. "Is that real? Or is it a hallucination because I'm tired?"
As if to answer his thoughts, another light bloomed. This one, a deep, pulsating violet, hummed with an energy that sent a phantom vibration toward him. Then another appeared, a vibrant green, followed by a swirling red.
More lights materialised, an assortment of colours blooming in the endless nothing with different intensities and Victor, for lack of a better word, stared, a mix of terror and awe battling within him.
"Who are you?" he croaked, his voice barely a whisper, but there was only silence as the lights continued their erratic dance, flickering and swirling without any discernible pattern. Victor tried again, his voice laced with urgency. "Hey! Can you hear me? Who are you? What is this place?"
The lights continued their silent ballet, offering no response. Frustration bubbled up. "Damn it! Answer me!"
But they remained silent, offering no response to his desperate call. He then tried focusing on one, willing it closer, hoping for some interaction.
"Hello? Can you hear me? Anyone there?" His voice, though disembodied, held a desperate urgency.
The vibrant emerald light pulsed once, then drifted away, joining the chaotic dance of its brethren. Frustration gnawed at him. Was this some kind of cruel joke? Would he be trapped here forever, surrounded by these silent, mocking lights?
"Damn it!" he roared, the sound echoing endlessly. "At least give me some kind of response! Or even anything!"
The lights continued their silent dance, their only response a random flicker, increasing Victor's annoyance. He then tried everything he could, but these lights seemed completely unresponsive.
"Fine," he muttered, forcing a semblance of calm into his disembodied voice. "If you don't want to talk, that's fine. Let's see what happens if I move closer."
"What would your reaction be?" Victor said, grinning as he focused his sight on a fiery red light, the closest one to him that was almost 10 kilometres away. With all his strength, he immediately pushed himself towards it, trying to make some kind of contact.
But for some reason, as he approached the fiery red light, it flickered erratically, then darted away, leaving him behind.
"Hey!" Victor shouted, his voice echoing through the void. "Come back!"
He chased after it with all his might, but the light was faster. It twisted and turned, weaving through the other lights, taunting him with its elusive nature. Victor's anger began to boil.
"Goddamn it!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking. "This is getting nowhere!"
Frustration gnawed at him to the very core. Victor fell forward with a sigh, his shoulders slumped. "Screw it!"
"I give up," he uttered, feeling a little ridiculous from the realisation he had been chasing some random lights. "What the hell is the point of this anyway?"
As Victor was about to give up, something caught his eye. One of the lights, a soft, golden one, began to flicker and dim. Unlike the others, its erratic dance was replaced with a slow, fading glow.
"Hey!" he called out, a flicker of concern sparking. "Are you okay? What's happening to you?"
The dimming continued, the golden light shrinking in size. Panic clawed at his throat. While Victor had no idea what these lights were, their presence had offered a sliver of comfort that felt familiar to him in this endless nothingness. Now, one of them was fading, and with it, a piece of that comfort seemed to be slipping away.
Without hesitation, he surged towards the dimming light. It was a futile effort, of course, but the instinct was stronger than the logic of his mind.
As Victor neared the fading light, a blinding flash erupted from nowhere, engulfing him in a white-hot brilliance. He shielded his nonexistent eyes, a primal scream rising in his throat.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH...!!!!"
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
At the same time, in a very different location, two women walked side by side in the corridor of an enormous headquarters, their heels clicking a constant cadence against the polished marble floor.
"Can you believe it's already Friday?" the first woman, Elara, exclaimed, holding a tablet tightly in her hands with the daily reports glowing faintly on the screen. "This week has felt like a complete hell with all those workloads."
"Tell me about it. Those quarterly reports almost drove me insane. And don't even get me started on that idiot in accounting." The other woman, Lyra, chuckled, skipping with a more relaxed grace step while her fiery red twin-tailed hair lightly swung in the air.
Recalling the face of the idiot that Lyra mentioned in her head, Elara couldn't help but immediately grimace. "Brokkr? He's a nightmare. Always growling and snapping at everyone. I swear, he'd rather wrestle a gryphon than file a single expense report."
"And let's not forget 'Charming' Cedric," Lyra added, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "The way he struts around convinced he's the most important person in the entire universe."
Elara snorted. "The universe? Oh please. He probably thinks he's responsible for the tides."
They continued their walk, their conversation growing more animated with each passing step.
"I swear," Elara continued, "if I have to listen to him drone on about his 'brilliant' ideas one more time, I might just scream."
"He reminds me of a peacock, all show and no substance," Lyra said, nodding in agreement, but suddenly, Elara's eyes widened. "Oh, shit!"
Lyra turned to see what had startled her. Elara pointed towards the end of the hallway, where a large, imposing oak door stood slightly ajar.
"That's... that's the Director's office!" she whispered, her voice dropping to a hushed tone. "We should probably keep our voices down."
Lyra's face paled. "Yeah, we don't want to risk him overhearing anything that can get us in trouble"
As they rushed passed the Director's office, a guy sat at his desk inside the office, his fingers bouncing across the keyboard as he wrote away on a report. The room was bathed in a gentle, artificial glow, with the only sounds disturbing the quiet being the repetitive tapping of keys and the rustling of paper.
He was wearing a charcoal-grey fitted suit. The outfit was expertly tailored, with a thin fit emphasising his muscular form, keen, intelligent gaze, and strong jawline. He donned a fresh white dress shirt under the suit and a blue silk tie. A silver watch graced his left wrist, and his shoes had been polished to a mirror perfection.
As the black-haired man, Odin, was completely absorbed in his work, a message popped up on his computer screen. It was from his old friend, Arnold, inviting him out for drinks.
"Drinks? Like the old days?" Arnold's message read. "I'm free tonight. Let's catch up!"
Odin smiled faintly. He missed those days, the late-night discussions, the endless debates, the shared laughter. But tonight wasn't the night. He had a mountain of reports to complete and a meeting with the other executives tomorrow.
"Sorry, Arnold," he replied, typing quickly. "Another time. I'm swamped tonight."
A faint glint caught his eye as he hit send and returned to his work. Odin paused, his brow furrowing slightly, and glanced down at his desk drawers.
"Huh? This is rather unexpected," he uttered, his eyes widening in surprise. A soft, ethereal light emanated from one of his desk drawers. "Who is it this time?"
With his curiosity piqued, he quickly pulled the drawer open. Inside was a leather-covered book, nestled amongst a stack of papers and files. The light was coming from the book itself, a gentle, almost pulsating glow that seemed to emanate from within its pages. The man's eyes widened even further.
"You have to be kidding with me." He groaned, his voice filled with astonishment. "I thought my story was over after I'd taken this position back then."
A light smile crept across his lips as he took out the book. "But I guess I was wrong on that."
Odin's smile faltered slightly as he heard the door creak open and looked to see a woman burst into the room, her blonde hair bouncing as she rushed into the room.
She wore a sleek, ivory-coloured pantsuit that mirrored the man's style. A matching blouse with a delicate lace collar complemented the suit, and a silver watch adorned her right wrist.
"Hey, honey, what are you doing right now?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. Despite the sudden intrusion, Odin recovered his composure quickly, and with his voice calm and collected, he replied, "I'm just finishing up a report for the next meeting."
"Hmmmm….?" The blonde-haired woman groaned, paused her steps and scanned the room with her brows furrowed, feeling something off before her gaze landed on the book being held by the man. At first, she was surprised by the sight but quickly crossed her arms and puckered her lips. "That's not fair."
To Be Continued