1 Prologue, Chapter 1 - What an odd sensation

Days were like shifting leaves on a tree. In a tiny little room by the river shore you could find the noises of a rather upset late teenager. Sounds of gun shots filled the building, but nobody were startled, this was of course Alan. Everyone knew him in the apartment complex, how couldn't they? The noise complaints stopped out of not negligence, but pity.

Alan had been living there for quite some time, his parent's were out of the picture and his friends were lacking. But that didn't seem to matter to Alan, he didn't have a care in the world, filled with the adrenaline of the countless victories he had conquered over the past couple of days was like butter to a toast for Alan. His life consisted of a rather disgruntled sleeping schedule, thereover an even more dissatisfied nutrient intake, and the blue LED light filling his room.

This was indeed Alan, net-addicted adrenalin enthusiast. Having peaked on so much caffeine, the tingling sense of a slow but steady fatigue settling, left him with a thought.

"I need more energy if I'm to unlock this new gold MP7 tonight"

Starting to put on his jacket, Alan realizes that this is the first time he's gone out this week. Usually he orders stuff on his phone for delivery before nighttime, but today he had woken up after 8:00 AM, making deliveries impossible. It was now early morning, and Alan knew exactly what parts of town had 24 hour shops.

Dangling down the street in a crouched but seemingly confident posture, Alan was actually quite anxious. Ever since he left the apartment he had been feeling uneasy, jumpy. He knew that this small town of a few thousand wouldn't be the most dangerous place on earth, but still he could sense apparent danger around every corner. Blaming it on his recent isolative living, he pushed further at a higher pace.

"Really should to talk to other people more, I'll end up becoming a hermit if this carries on"

Finally reaching the sweet sunny light of an almost abandoned gas station, Alan could still feel his anxiety creeping, his veins bulging.

At almost an instant, Alan lost control of his body, an overwhelming pain in his heart took over.

Alan knew why this happened, there is a line to how much caffeine his heart could take. Laying motionless on the ground, with nobody in sight, all Alan could feel was the cold hard surface of the sidewalk.

Despair and depression overtook Alan, never would he have thought that he would die young. He felt life was unfair; "I never bothered anyone, I'm not a bad person". Alan wasn't stupid to any extent, he realized he should have taken better care of his body, but in his final moments all logic and rationality fell out of the window.

Full of negative emotions, reeling at him from the inside, he could feel himself regaining control.

"Am I provoking my body to react?" Alan thought.

Luckily for Alan, heart attacks weren't immediately fatal, in fact they could last up to five or six hours before the person would suffer irreparable damage. But Alan didn't know this.

After realizing that despair maybe could be his salvation, every possible negative thought filled Alan. He thought of his life, the unfairness of being born into an orphanage, the relentless bullying he suffered from an early age, the pain and anguish after every foster parent rejected him. It was only at sixteen that he finally felt he had some control of his life, leaving the orphanage and applying for welfare, ending up spending eight years in a small assigned apartment, eventually ending up a pseudo-hermit addicted to videogames.

This torment going through Alan responded to his every being, he felt as if God himself was listening to his wailing thoughts.

Dark red smoke began to fill his vision, shocking Alan to the core. Before he knew it, his very being was different, as if floating. Alan quickly realized that in his peripherals, the slight hair flowing down on his face was unnoticeable, his nose was not seeable by closing one eye anymore. What was even stranger was that he felt as if he didn't even have eyes, what was in front of him was also behind him, what was behind him was also under him.

Was this, his soul? Alan was very familiar with the different religions of the world, knowing full well that they believed in the soul of a human, never would he imagine that right now, his soul wasn't just a soul, it was also his consciousness. At almost an instant, from floating in the air he was sucked away. Time and space seemed to split, he felt as if he was glaring at all the wonders of the universe. Unimaginable colors in all directions, some that he had never even seen before or was unable to see.

"Am I going to heaven?" Was all Alan could think, his only perception of the afterlife was that of religions, so how could he imagine anything different? But this didn't last very long, before he knew it, Alan was once again laying down with closed eyes.

"What in the world just happened, where am I?" Alan tried opening his eyes, but to no avail.

He felt exhausted, as if all his energy was being sucked dry. Why did it feel like he was laying on grass and not stone?

"If I'm dead, why am I laying on earth" Alan wondered. "And why is my entire body itching"

Alan was stunned, what in the world just happened. Did he ascend to heaven as he thought? But the holy books of the world didn't seem to mention that heaven had grass.

Regaining some of his composure, Alan once again tried to open his eyes.