The Nether

A puzzled look replaced the mans neutral expression as he struggled to make sense of what Michael was asking.

"I must have been dead for too long... " He spoke with a resigned sigh. "doesn't matter. I'm Caster" he introduced himself with a thin smile, prompting Michael to do the same.

Michael stared blankly, for a few seconds before responding.

"Michael"

The two men remained silent, neither striking a conversation, opting to keeping their curiosities about the other to themselves. Caster maintained a curious look at Michael, reading his expression the judgment he was driving for known only by him.

Seated on the bed that was strewn from wood and tree bark, Michael allowed his mind to wander. The atmosphere was a far cry from the earlier nightmare and he ceased the moment to dive into deep thought coupled with introspection.

Drowned by the memory of everything that had taken place, he felt greatly overwhelmed, his mind an amalgamation of tumultuous thoughts.

The most prominent among this thoughts were ones bred from a feeling of hollow emptiness that was as alien as it was heavy.

His senses told him this was reality, but his fractured mind spawned a doubt so insidious it rocked his very world.

What if, this was not even real, what if... it was a world conjured by his dying mind?

Thinking it out loud, it sounded ludicrous, yet, could he really dismiss the thought easily? He shifted uncomfortably as the thought became a nascent thorn that demanded attention.

He plunged himself deeper in thought, hoping to calm his raging mind as the world around grew dark, vague and distant.

He recounted his past hoping to at least gain closure, maybe remembering his death would convince him what was reality. The depressing tale that was his earlier life played vividly in his head.

Only this time it was... different.

Unlike before; where the retrospection had always been accompanied by dark depressing emotions, now, starring into nothingness recounting his first life, he felt none of it.

His thoughts were untainted by the depressing emotions that had become his solace, his mind was uncharacteristically clear and focused.

It was a stack contrast from his past self.

It was an unfamiliar state, so out of place that he felt as if he was betraying his very nature, the new perspective feeling wrong and causing his stomach to feel heavy. Yet, it somehow also felt very like him. Almost as if... this was had always been his truest self.

It was uncanny that he was not feeling negatively overwhelmed, he welcomed how astute his mind had become.

However, despite the obvious boon, a conflict arose between what he was used to and what he had seemingly become.

On the one hand, he felt at ease—the veil of constant depression had been lifted making his earlier life feel novel—on the other a new veil took it's place, one of uncertainty.

Remembering his failures, his misfortune and the many moments he resented life and fate with a fiery passion, he felt a familiar yet differently flavored anger that had always boiled deep in him. Unlike the anger of before that was drawn from his pain and despair, this particular flavor was born of fractured pride.

He felt unfulfilled by how he left his desires unrealized and how he had fallen far from the image he prospected for himself, becoming a shell of his misery and drowning in pain, his sight for the future veiled by the darkness of his past.

He hated it.

Staring back at Michael, Caster lay back on his chair of a the stump of a tree, yet it bore an artistic expression that alluded to masterful craftsmanship, Michael was not interested in the artwork however.

"I'm flattered by all the attention, but buy me lunch first"

The sudden intrusion snapped Michael out of his reverie, a dazed look in his eyes. He spared Caster a glance, not even considering his words, before turning his gaze to the window that was on the opposite wall overlooking the front of the cottage.

The skies looked grayer than he remembered, a monotonous pale white shinning through the dense cloud cover. It was a somber sight, that was further enunciated by a dense fog that blanketed the horizon promising to host dark horrid secrets in it's fold.

His feet fell on the hardwood floor with a thump and he picked himself up lazily dragging his feet towards the window.

Breathing slowly, as his mind raced, he fixated his gaze on the bleak canvas that was the dense foggy horizon and sighed.

'Dying is a chore'

Grey flakes of snow fell lazily to the ground and he followed their trajectory lost once again in thought.

He felt, lost and largely melancholic but strangely, more alive than ever; "the irony", he chuckled to himself.

Somehow, thinking back on everything, he felt his perspective now was going to be fruitful.

Which had him thinking, what would have been his life had he possessed such an acute idiosyncrasy?

"Definitely different", he muttered.

"Is it not what you expected?" Caster asked getting up from his chair and walking over to the window.

"Huh... what? No. Is it... always like this" he wondered, underwhelmed by the depressing monotone that shrouded the horizon.

"Pretty much"

He had expected more details, maybe Caster was not much of a talker. Seeing a chance to distract himself he pressed.

"What can you tell me about the Nether?"

"...Everything and nothing sadly." Caster said staring into the horizon a melancholic look hidden behind his steel gaze. "It's... a weird place. Basically, it answers your deepest desires and warps reality to let you live in them. Think of it like your own personal hell or heaven, only it's much, much worse and unpredictable... I think. It fulfills a person's dying wish, giving them a second chance at life or death depending on who you ask."

That piqued his interest. "fulfills a person's dying wish?"

"Yeah, really it's a double edge sword if you ask me. On the one hand, you get to live out eternity in your personal... heaven, on the other you risk being eroded into a husk of your desires. I have seen it happen before. Young, kind souls live out their desires and let the essence of their souls get eroded, when that happens, there's no going back. Remember the beast that attacked you? Yeah, that happens."

Michael shuddered at the memory.

"The stronger the desire, the stronger the beast that is born. They vary greatly, to simple creatures of simple minds to cunning ones that lure prey into their fold with all kinds of trickery, others are more straightforward seeking out prey and hunting it down, and then there's those that are bound in one place, unmoving, only devouring prey that is stupid enough to wander into their territory. Here, anything and everything is game. The more prey this vile monsters subdue the stronger. That's pretty much a rough run down of what it's like out there."

Michael fell silent, mulling over the new information. His thoughts hidden from his host.

'great'

Returning his gaze to the horizon, he half asked and half thought out-loud, "so the outside, your hell or mine?"

"Could be either", Caster answered simply.

Michael still maintained curiosity about his new home, anxious and paranoid too, but curious mostly. He had so many questions that he was having a hard time sorting through and compiling in a coherent order. If what Caster spoke was true, then how was he to dismiss all the endless possibilities that rang true? What if Caster was one such beast, worse still, what if this was a mirage of his desire?

He threw a wary side eye at Caster before returning his face fell once more on the bleak horizon.

He turned and walked over to the bed, everything was overwhelming and he was tired. Loosing himself in the warm embrace of sleep the moment his head touched the makeshift pillow.

'Maybe... just maybe, all this is a bad dream'.

[Authors note: your feedback is appreciated]