1 The Celebration of Life

5:00 AM - Melbourne, Australia.

DIRIING…DIRIING

I awoke to the sound of my alarm going off, wishing for the umpteenth time that I could sleep in. But I knew that wasn't going to happen.

Perhaps for the first time in a while, my Dad happened to be passing by my room when my alarm went off, and could not stop himself from trying to wake me up.

"Ahmad… AHMAD, wake up! Time for prayer."

'I know… I know, why bother setting up an alarm this early in the first place, man I hate this part of the day.'

"I'm awake Dad, I'm awake." I replied, grogginess threatening to overtake me.

"Make sure to wake up your siblings after washing up. And don't forget Mum." he reminded, as I made my way to the bathroom.

Walking, it seemed, was a chore after just waking up, and walking up a flight of stairs groggy, made it infinitely harder to stay on my feet.

'Stairs to get to the toilet, who thought of that. I mean, could they not have built a toilet downstairs.'

After making sure the door was locked, I made my way to the basin, turning on the faucet, giving my face a much needed splash of cold water. Looking up into the mirror, it wasn't hard to make out the ever present bags under my eyes.

'Again huh, same shit, different day.'

Quickly brushing my teeth, and making Wud'uu, I made my way to the doo…Huh…why is everything s.p..in…n…in….g?

I feel myself hit the tiled bathroom floor with a sickening crunch, excruciating pain radiating throughout my face with a sense of clarity I didn't know existed. It was the last thing I remembered before I was engulfed by an all encompassing void.

Unknown Time - Unknown Location

'Wha…what happened? Where am I?'

Looking around, all I could see was a landscape of white, a never ending horizon of it, with no end or beginning in sight.

As I was trying to make sense of what had just transpired, a sudden bombardment of memories flashed through my mind, causing me to clutch my head as palpable pain, akin to a burning metal rod being prodded through my eyes, radiated through my nervous system, all the while wishing for sweet relief.

Memories of my happiest moments.

Memories of my saddest.

Memories of my most painful.

Memories of my most embarrassing.

Memories of things I regretted doing and not doing.

Memories of my family.

'Aaaahhhh, no, please! Mum, Dad, Mussa, Mariam and Yuusuf! No, not now, I can't be dead!'

Finally after, after what seemed like an eternity, the pain vanished with no after-effects, as if it were fake all along, a figment of my imagination conjured to cope with the strangeness of my current predicament.

"Hmm, where was that obnoxious screeching coming from?"

'...'

Suddenly hearing a voice in this place, void of any living beings, sent shivers down my spine, bringing my train of thought to a grinding halt. Looking around in an attempt to locate the origin of the voice, it was then that I noticed a vacuum above me, an absence of the perpetual white that uniformly covered everything I could see.

That's when I saw it. And oh, how I wish I hadn't. An eye spanning as far as I could possibly imagine, was looking down at me with such an intensity, my knees turned into noodles, momentarily forgetting their intended purpose.

"Hoh, what do we have here?" said the voice I now identified as originating from the eye, vibrating my immediate surroundings to an exaggerated extent. "A mortal soul, here, in the void in-between realities? Curiouser and curiouser things are. Where is your companion of death, mortal?"

Taking an eternity to process what I was witnessing, I missed the question directed at me, continuing to indulge in the plethora of theories that might give some semblance as to what I was currently seeing, all the while arduously trying to get my knees to work.

'Am I perhaps being ROB'ed? Is that why I'm here? To get cheats and be sent off to another reality all for the amusement of some bored omnipotent being?'

'Or am I perhaps a reincarnation of some powerful Immortal that descended to earth after failing to ascend in their past life?'

As an avid reader of fanfiction, and an occasional visitor of various forums, these were what came to the forefront of my mind immediately.

"ROB'ed, mortal? Reincarnation of an Immortal One? What nonsense you speak of," scoffed the voice amusingly.

And this time I caught every single bit of what it said, from the inflection of its voice - an uplifting crescendo - to the way it causally reduced the void around me to a brisk quiver, entrapped by the way particles of air seamlessly formed, conjured out of nothing, and the gentle breeze they birthed, grazing the cusps of my hair en mass.

'Wh..who are you?" I breathed in wonder, eyes alight with an otherworldly glint, yet the slight quiver in my voice betraying the confidence I tried to exhibit, "And why am I here?"

"You, mortal, are in the space between realities, and I, I am He Who Guards." announced the voice, with an aura of majesty and something else incomprehensible, its meaning absent to my inconsequential mind.

It was august in nature and dangerously vast, promising to liquefy me where I stood, as it billowed around, focusing on and encircling my immediate vicinity, its' tendrils gently prodding at my soul. "Where is your companion of death, mortal?" asked the voice soothingly, its baritone quality comforting to my ears.

Taking a moment to recover from the oppressive feeling the voice exuded, I was immediately reminded of what had happened, of where I stood, of the impossibility of the being I was conversing with.

"Oh, I died didn't I?" I breathlessly said, uneasiness gnawing at my soul.

"Yes, mortal, you have died. And as all the souls apart of your reality do, you are assigned a companion, a guide to assist you on your journey to the afterlife, wherever that my be," the voice continued on.

'Companion? I haven't seen anyone so far, expect that massive eye.'

"Stop addressing me as the eye, mortal. I am He Who Guards, and am to be addressed as Guardian." Guardian intoned proudly.

"Now, let's see, why is it that your soul has ended up in front of me, here in between realities, unaccompanied by your companion of death?" He asked inquisitively, question not directed at me, as he suddenly hummed in understanding.

"Hmm…it seems your soul was left unattended after your death, and after a period of time, naturally drifted towards the outer boundaries of your reality, gradually making its way here. Strange, why was your soul left unattended in the first place?" whispered Guardian, baffled by the mystery of my neglected soul, entirely indifferent of the knowledge that I could hear what He was saying as clear as day.

Suddenly, in an abrupt burst of resplendent light, the eye began to morph in a dazzling swirl of colours, a wave of something billowing from its centre, gradually spreading in a radial pattern, as it encompassed the void. It formed into a shape I could discern.

Standing before me was an old man, garbed in white from top to bottom, his pale, wrinkled leathery skin glistened, grey hair appearing gravity-defying, as it gently waved about as if direct by invisible winds. His eyes, tucked behind an ever-present squint, shone with overflowing power, pupil-less and without an iris; It's sclera shining a luminous white, so bright, that the void around me dimmed after it was revealed, as if it were a child hiding in fright from an older sibling.

'Is this just one big hallucination, one of my own making, in an attempt to heal my damaged brain?' I though, my mind tethering dangerously on the edge of insanity, overwhelmed with all that it felt since regaining awareness.

"No, mortal, this IS, and shall always BE the truth. No mind or any manner of power, not even those that BE can conjure a hallucination of the void in-between, a placed shared by all realities. Rest assured, mortal, that this, is possibly the most realistic experience you've ever had." Guardian solemnly intoned, as if he was stating a fact. A fact, proven by reality itself, incomprehensible to mere mortals and the divine themselves.

"So what will happen to me now? Where will I go?" I asked suddenly, anticipation and something akin to excitement bubbling inside of me.

"As you have died in your reality, it is impossible for you to return to it as you are now." said Guardian, sternly looking towards me with piercing eyes, easily reading my thoughts.

'As I am now? Did I Hear right? Does that mean...'

"Yes, you heard correctly, as you are now. Meaning, you have the potential to be much more, so much more."

The bubbling feeling of excitement and anticipation turned into a geyser that flooded my soul with ecstasy, knowing for certain where this excitement came from.

The me that spent ungodly hours repeating the same monotonous tasks everyday. The me that craved for something different, something never before experienced by others, something that I can claim to be of my own making, through my own sweat, blood and tears.

'Will it truly be what I think it is? Am I going to a different reality? Will it be a fictional one? Will I be able to pick which reality I go to?'

The beating of my heart was deafening to my ears. The prospect of travelling to other worlds, and gaining power, knowledge and new life experiences, was something so tasteful and wondrous to me, I started to salivate with desire.

Yet I knew this was the first mistake one can make at the start of this journey, instantly reigning in my excitement. To be overtaken by greed and desire was a one way ticket to being a pawn for something else.

After calming down, I remembered as if it were a couple of minutes ago, the security and safety of my family's abode, the roof over my head, the family that provided for me all my life.

'They must have found my body? Oh, how will Mum react?' I suddenly agonised, turning towards Guardian in an attempt to find out.

"How are they coping?" I asked in a subdued manner, hoping to not elicit the tears forming in my eyes. "How is my family handling my death? How is my mother?"

"Mortal, I am unable to provide you with an adequate answer to your question. But know this, if you satisfy the requirements to return to your own reality, you will return to whence you have died, and continue on as if you have never left it before." replied Guardian solemnly, his statement instantly putting a damper on my worries. But I still couldn't help but feel skeptical of his promise.

"Truly, I shall return to when I have died?" I replied, hungrily hoping for it to be true.

"Yes, truly. Now mortal, nay, Ahmad, what say you? Are you willing to venture forth into realities unknown, to transcend mortality, to become MORE, to LIVE?" asked Guardian, eyes gleaming with power, a power so deep, so unfathomably ancient, reality quivered in anticipation for its release.

"HELL YEAH!"

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