The One

A dark, empty hall stretched endlessly. It looked as if four mirrors were planted facing each other, but the space was impossibly vast, like an ocean without a horizon. The air was somewhat cold and thin, with an unsettling silence throughout the area. All four walls were transparent, and whatever was on the other side of them could most probably have been another endless and empty space. 

Yin Kang rested unconsciously on the ground among the darkness, eyes closed. Needles of memories kept falling and piercing into his blacked-out brain. He relived every second of his life in a matter of seconds. A single tear helplessly brewed from his left eye as he witnessed his final memory. 

"Noo!" 

It was the horrified voice of Mei Chang as her hands tried to reach out to Yin's final moments, hoping to miraculously alter the impending incident. His eyes opened to take a glance at her for the last time. Mei's teary eyes dilated, and then he smiled. "Is this really death? Because I feel free." His thoughts unravelled, and his body crashed brutally onto the ground, head first.

…

"Ah!" Yin exhaled loudly, and his eyes widened. He panted aggressively, his body shaking at the thin and cold air that engulfed him. He turned to both sides in search of consciousness, but he failed. He only found himself lying on the ground in the middle of a dark hall. He rose and realised he was completely naked. There was nothing in plain sight. He kept looking down at his hands and body. He felt light, almost weightless. His eyes examined the emptiness around him. 

"Is there anyone here?" He projected his voice on all sides of the hall. But silence persisted. He walked around the room, rubbing both his hands together, creating warmth.

He slowly recalled his memories. 

"I…died." He whispered, sounding sure of himself. There was no change of emotion in his face. "So, where am I?"

…

"Mei? Mei? Master Li?" He panicked with fear, aimlessly running around the emptiness, desperate to make sense of what was happening. 

"Did I save her? Did I?" 

The very next second, Yin heard two people crying at once, right behind him. He was terrified to make any quick movements, so he made a mild and slow turn. 

His eyes caught a glimpse of something unbelievable.

"Master Li?…Mei?" 

Through what appeared to be an enormous glass-like window, he was able to see everything. He saw Master Li lying on the floor on one side of the glass and Mei standing and sobbing on the other side of the glass. He could see everything, like it was being recorded on a camera. 

"I'm sorry…" Yin couldn't look at them anymore.

Suddenly, he thought of somebody else as he cried.

…

"Little one." 

Yin's heart stopped. He knew that voice more than anything in the world. He struggled to reply to the invisible but very familiar voice. 

"Grandma." His words were finally born, with disbelief. 

"Oh, my dear, Look at you; you're not so little anymore, are you?" She cried with joy. 

Her voice echoed in the emptiness.

"Where are you, grandma? Where are you? I can't see you." He looked everywhere for her.

"You cannot, my dear. But I see you." 

"Why! Why can I not?"

"Because there is something that's stopping you. If your mind wanted you to see me, you would be seeing me right now." 

"I don't understand Grandma. I want to see you! That's all!" He spun around to scout the emptiness, searching for her again and again.

"Grandma!" 

The space was dead quiet again. No answers. Nothing.

Just like a fever dream, she was gone again. 

"No! Grandma! Don't leave me alone again! No! He yelled furiously, broke down, and fell to his knees. The tears never stopped. He put his head down and banged the ground with his knuckles, devoured in rage. He lost it. 

…

"Yin Kang."

…

Yin lifted his head off the ground. His eyes were wide as ever.

"Who… Who is that?" 

He couldn't recognise the voice. 

…

"You are chosen."

The voice sounded like it belonged to an old man—broken but baritone. It projected directly into his ears, like it came from behind him, dangerously close. 

"What's happening to me? 

…

There was only silence for a haunting minute. But he could hear hints of panting inside his mind. Was he making it all up? Yin's frightened curiosity kept overflowing as the silence persisted. He was going mad within himself. 

"Speak up! What are you?" He raged. "What's happening to me?"

…

Then finally…

"All your life... All you ever had were... Questions."

The voice spoke the reality of him. It was not wrong, and Yin's body shook in fear and anger. He wanted it to stop, but he had no control over it. He went quiet, along with the space.

"All your life... All you ever had were… Questions." The voice repeated like it was a chant. 

"Are you like the voice inside my head?"

…

"Questions over questions... That's all you are."

Yin was slowly surrendering himself to the invisible voice. He ran out of tears, energy, and rage. Yin had nothing now. He was powerless, clueless, and naked. 

"But those questions. Those doubts. Those 'Human Will', brought you here." The voice spoke again. 

"What?" Yin replied softly, with disinterest. 

"Something guided you here. Something that bound everything." 

…

"Guided me where? To fucking death?" He burst out. 

…

"No."

"To your Second Life." 

…

Yin stopped. 

And briefly after, it said

"Love." 

"Love." Yin repeated the word with affirmation as he looked at his hands. 

"Yin Kang. Tell me. What would you do for her?"

"Anything." He said it instantly. 

"That is indeed right. Love brought you here to me." 

Yin was still staring at his hands.

"Likewise, my weak will has brought me to you. My fear of death has brought me to you."

Yin was realising something. 

"Love can make you do anything. Yin Kang, if it's even stronger than what I think, you can even get back to her." 

"Back to her?" Yin snapped out. 

"Indeed."

Yin's life flashed in front of him once again. The days with his mom and dad, who never really cared about him, The days with his beloved grandmother, Nina. The hardworking days with Master Li. And his last two years with Mei Chang. He wondered what his life would've been like if he hadn't ever met Mei. What if he was late during the training camp day? What if he never fell in love with the sport first? What would have happened to his life?

…

"Yin Kang. Make me a God again, and I will grant you your wish." The voice grew bold. It reverberated throughout the place. 

…

"Are you a God?" Asked Yin, with the voice of a kid. A kid he used to be, filled with curiosity and questions. Did he finally get his answers? About life and death. About Gods and cat rescuers. 

"I, Xil, 'The All-Father', once the 'God of all Realms', have chosen you, Yin Kang, to be my Second Life, My Vessel. We are now One, and will always be until my duties are fulfilled."

"So, God's are real?" Yin was still the kid he was.

"Everything that's real is God," said Xil.

Everything. Yin's whole life was built upon mysteries he dumped into his head. He understood his grandmother's lessons. She was neither wrong nor right because God was everything in between. Neither above nor below, but existed in the middle, that is reality. 

"Yin Kang. You and I are One now. The journey in front of us will not be kind to us."

He didn't have a say in this. He didn't choose any of this. But he doesn't care anymore. Everything chose him, for he chose to love Mei Chang, and for her, he would do anything. 

…

"Xil. Tell me where do we begin?" 

With a weak god merged into a weak human, as One. 

Yin Kang becomes a God.