In your life, there are moments of absolute bliss that you will tell your children and your children’s children repeatedly until their ears bleed, and there are moments of pure misery that you will not tell not a single living soul and you will choose to bury these nightmares until you simply forget about them.

And that is what Christopher was experiencing as he rotted in self-pity in his one-bedroom flat that was littered with crushed cans and empty Dorito packets that filled the abode with a musty odor. Upon closer examination, you can see that Chris has a surprisingly muscular physique in contrast to his disheveled clothes and shaggy hair that could compete with the homeless. 

As Chris continued to sit on his new ‘NITRO CONCEPTS S300’ gaming chair whilst staring at the only source of light, an LCD monitor that showed the final raid of the most recent update for Destiny: ‘the shadow keeper’ DLC. 

Chris continued to tap away on his keyboard for about twenty minutes seemingly ignorant of how his crimson forelocks obstructed his vision as he continued to fervently glare at the screen until eventually, a cry of joy escaped his chapped lips as a chest appeared on the screen detailing his rewards. As the cry resounded throughout the entire flat, Chris leaned back in his gaming chair while he continued to giggle to himself.

 As Chris was reveling in his victory his right hand subconsciously moved towards his neck as he carefully clutched three small, round pieces of metal that hung upon his neck. His fingers gripped tightly as his knuckles went white causing a small flash of pain to register in Chris’s mind. Upon noticing he looked around confused until his gaze met the small pieces of metal that were dog tags. Instantly his pupils dilated and his hand immediately recoiled from phantom pain. 

Chris sat there staring at the dog tags as his breathing slowed down and his muscles began to slightly spasm in fear. Seconds, minutes, hours Chris didn't notice the time pass by as he was trapped in a stupor until eventually, he began to skittishly look around his bedroom until his eyes eventually passed over the open window that greeted him with a cloudy black night sky adorned with an innumerable amount of stars, 

“Oh shit, it’s already nighttime, welp I guess I could use some beauty sleep huh.”

Reluctantly Chris began to close all of his tabs before briefly confirming it was 11:45 am and shutting down his computer. Chris’ squinted eyes began to wander over the state of the room once more, 

“Eh, I'll let future me worry about this mess.”

 After resolving the issue concerning his foul excuse of a room Chris hobbled over towards his bed and slowly wrapped himself up in his quilt before falling into a deep deep slumber.

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As Chris was sleeping soundly he was interrupted by a faint humming, that gave Chris a somewhat mild migraine. When Chris became somewhat aware of this the pain rapidly increased in a matter of seconds, as Chris was forced to endure a cacophony of whispers that seemed to reverberate from his entire being.

[Gahhhh W-wha? Ple… ah fuh make it st-stop shite]

 It was a nightmarishly surreal experience that terrified the hell out of Chris. After a few minutes the increase of pain began to gradually slow down until it remained constant but by that point Chris had stopped registering anything as his body instinctively rolled left to right, right to left, left to right as his body attempted to alleviate the pain.

Eventually Chris’s rolling started to slow down until he eventually. His breath was extremely faint and his heart rate was slowly decreasing, this was a sign that his body had already begun to shut down. Chris in his vegetable-like state finally comprehended a sound that appeared from within his head, it was the sound of glass beginning to crack. Upon hearing this Chris didn't know what to make of this as he was still attempting to process the soul-shattering pain. 

As the cracks grew ever louder beckoning the reaper, Chris noticed that he saw no flashbacks, no final promises, nothing. All Chris could comprehend was that he was going to die. 

As Chris was experiencing this, he slowly began to realize that the thundering cracking sounds had receded alongside the pain; leaving only a freezing, piercing sensation that began thrum near his forehead sending shivers down his spine. 

Looking towards his eyebrows, he was confused to see that nothing was there and the sensation was miraculously gone. His stupor lasted for a little bit until he eventually decided to rest as he needed some time to properly process what happened. When Chris flopped on the floor of his flat, like a fish out of water, he noticed that he was laying on nothing as the ground seemed nonexistent … or perhaps invisible. 

He saw all around him was a night sky that housed an immeasurable amount of stars. Strangely the stars didn't appear blinding and the black space didn't sound silent. It was very surreal as regardless of where he looked the same stars seemed to follow his gaze so that they would stay in the same area as his field of vision.

“Goddammit nothing! All I see are some creepy ass stars that seem to follow where I look? 

Chris’ eyes began to erratically search for anything that indicated a way out: a door, a window, a crack, something but all that Chris saw was the endless void. 

“Hmmm what would Ben do?”

 After muttering a seamlessly harmless question, Chris’s right hand immediately went towards his neck to find … nothing. Chris’s throat began to burn as he felt himself unable to breathe properly.

[Fuck where are they? no No NO! I CAN'T LOSE THEM!] 

All of Chris’s right torso turned numb when he mentally screamed that. His right leg began to violently twitch. Noticing this Chris immediately placed both hands beneath his thighs and he slowly swayed back and forth.

[just follow the steps that the lab coat bitch said and you’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. You will be fine so calm the fuck down already]

However upon mentally saying that to himself, the invisible surface beneath his feet began to ripple faintly. Chris, who was still attempting to calm himself, only noticed this phenomenon when the entirety of the surface was covered by thousands upon thousands of ripples. The intensity of ripples began to gradually increase; transforming what was originally a mesmerizing sight into a horrifying calamity. 

Chris was pulled away from the sight as he could feel the same freezing thrum that seemed to pierce through his nerves. However this time the source was at his feet instead of his brows. Looking down Chris saw a sight that both confused and terrified him. The floor beneath his feet had somehow changed from an endless expanse of space into a black sea of stars. However what terrified Chris was that he was slowly sinking into the depths of this oceanic abyss.

[Oh my fucking god, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?]

Chris attempted to lift his legs but to his despair he noticed that his efforts were in vain as the liquid was denser than mercury. Gradually more of Chris’s body sank into the ocean Eventually he sank into the ocean from his feet to his chin until his eyes were a few centimeters above sea level. Chris was given no respite though as he continued to sink before all that remained was a raging tempest of pure black waves that were adorned with innumerable shining lights.