I threw myself onto my bed. My body aching from a long day at work. However, beyond the usual ache, there was something more there. Well, that and a twinge of impending doom. But it was a feeling that I just couldn't describe. It was a feeling of wrongness that just gnawed at my psyche. To be honest, it was making me feel somewhat anxious. But it would pass. It would have to. I mean, I didn't have the money to even consider going to the doctor.  I didn't even bother taking off my clothes as I crawled under the covers and set my alarm for early in the morning. 
 
 I stared up at my cealing, watching the shadows that seemed to dance around the crevices and peaks that adorned the cealing. I took a deep breath, and the feeling of wrongness was amplified in my chest. I felt my heart skip a beat, and I tried to move, but my body was frozen. My breath caught in my throat, and refused to leave.  I fought within the confines of my mind as I struggled to move. After a few tense seconds, my vision started to slowly blur around the edges and darken. Panic twisted in my stomach, yet I was powerless to move. 
 
Eventually, the darkness snuffed out the last vestiges of light that entered my vision. I could feel a tendril of something far colder than anything I have ever felt before, latching itself onto me like steel shackles. It was bitter cold. One that seemed to permeate every inch of me. It felt like even my soul wasn't safe from it. I fought and struggled, yet it didn't seem to make much of a difference. The shackles only grew tighter as I felt my heart lurch as I was dragged down into whatever oblivion awaited me. 

 I lost all sense of time as I floated there. Trying to figure out what was happening. The last thing that I remembered was that I had just gotten into bed after a long day of work. But my confusion was quickly swept away by the bitter cold was still slowly creeping in. I hated how it felt, and most of all, I hated how I couldn't escape it and how it seemed to seep into every aspect of my being. Yet, it was my only sense of timekeeping. With each pulse, it would encroach further onto my body, chasing away all feeling and warmth. As I panicked, I tried to fall into my memories to bring me some peace.

I replayed a scene of me eating at the dinner table with my mother and father, listening to how we laughed and talked. But each time the memory replayed, it became torn and frayed on the edges, with cracks appearing throughout the entire memory. I fought and struggled to cement their faces into my mind. But even then, they slipped away, along with the rest of my memories, my childhood, my girlfriend. Everything was slipping into oblivion, and I was powerless to stop it all. I could only watch as they were washed away, like sand on a beach. I screamed out into the endless void, begging for something to save me before the impenetrable darkness consumed me next. 
 
The coldness encroached further, and the darkness started to replace my thoughts, and as the last vestiges of my memory were chased away. I gave up trying to fight it a while ago, and my hope was being sapped away. Maybe this was just how it had to be. Lost in this eternal sea, slowly fading away. 

 An undetermined amount of time passed, and the last of my memories had faded away. Even my emotions had vanished. All I knew was the cold that had long since claimed me. All around me were shadows that just seemed to swirl and gently caress me.  However, just before I resigned myself to this fate, the darkness was pushed away by a blinding, golden light that tore a hole through whatever veil was my tomb. A giant hand reached in a second later encased by the same shimmering energy that repelled the darkness that tried to consume it. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, warmth chased away the bitter cold that seemed to permeate me, and the first vestiges of hope-filled my numb chest.
 
The hand grabbed me and pulled me from the shackles that claimed me and threw me into a room that was blindingly white and barren, save that of two chairs and a table. The hand released me, and I fell into a heap, beyond overjoyed at being able to feel again. I ran my hands across the metal floor, marveling at how the cold here was far more pleasant than what I experienced in the void.

"Welcome, Marcus." I tore my attention away from the ground and towards the location of the voice and saw a man sitting there, dressed in the fanciest three-piece suit imaginable. The black shifted and coalesced in the light, glittering like blackened stars. His eyes were a brilliant shade of gold that glowed like an ancient star, and they stood in stark contrast to flesh the color of polished copper. His hair was as dark as his suit and swept to the side. Power radiated off of him in sickening waves, and the very act of attempting to stand before him was impossible. The air around me forced me to my knees before him.

"Take a seat." His words carried across the room, rife with an unbidden power that threatened to tear me apart. The surrounding airlifted, allowing me to scamper over to the chair across from him. The fear of such a powerful being standing before me, forcing me to move as fast as possible.  Once I was seated, he stared at me for a moment before he spoke. "There is no doubt you are wondering why you are here."

His words hung in my mind, and I nodded my head. I had no clue who I was or where I came from. To me, it was all just memories, erased by the flow of time. Though he mentioned, my name was Marcus. "Yes, who are you? Who am I?" When I spoke, it wasn't through lips. Instead, it was through the air. My voice sounded alien and far, though compared to his, it sounded meek and childish.

"My name is Malek. I am the overseer of thousands of worlds. Many call me God, while others call me the Avenging Angel. But in the end, it doesn't matter what they call me.  You, on the other hand, are called Marcus. You are the son of Richard and Elizabeth McLaughlin. A human mortal from the planet Earth." So I was standing before a godlike being. The phrase god was alien to me, though Malek did a wonderful job portraying it to me. The sheer power he radiated was terrifying.

"I can't remember them or who I was. Why am I here?" I asked as emotions flooded back into me. Loss, regret, betrayal, anguish. I tried to pry my mind for any sense of who I am, but nothing was coming.

"You are here because I have chosen you to become an administrator. As for your memories, I can restore them. But before I do, I will offer you a choice." As he spoke, a piece of paper materialized onto the table, and a fine script inscribed itself into existence. "I will grant you a portion of your memories back. However, I will not give you everything. You may choose two things since I can not allow your personal emotion to affect your choices."

He slid the paper over to me, and I stared at it as I replayed his words over in my mind. "What is an Administrator? Why me?" I asked as I pulled my attention away from the paper and back towards him.

"A being whose sole purpose is to create life and shape the universe. You are to guide them, nurture them, and defend them from those who want nothing more than to kill them and take their knowledge. You can shape your planets and star systems as your own. Live a life that mortals couldn't even dream of." Malek stood up, walked to the walls of the room, and waved his hand. "As for why you, there is no real reason. You were chosen through a random set of numbers. So here you are."

The walls fell away as if they were grains of sand being blown into the wind, revealing a planet I dimly remember as Earth. Her oceans stretched far and wide as clouds made their journey across her skies. A giant ball of fire sat a far distance away, bathing her in life-giving light, and an uncountable number of pinpricks glittered in the distance. Malek stared off into space for a few moments as I thought over my choices. I suppose I should be hurt by the fact that there was no real reason I was selected. Just a simple stroke of luck. But it was far better than returning from the hell that I was in. "If I don't accept the job?"

"Then you will return to the void once more." His words were clear and to the point. I refused to go back to that hellhole, no matter what. The thought of that coldness alone instilled a fear beyond imagination in my heart.

"I accept your offer then. As for my memories, I wish to know what my parents looked like. As for the second, I only wish to have the connotations and meanings of words back. At the moment, I feel like I only vaguely know what my words mean." I told him as I turned my attention back to the paper in front of me. It was odd trying to formulate the words that I needed to use. It was as if I was talking on autopilot, knowing what I wanted to say, yet not entirely understanding the words. 

"So be it." His words rang through the air, followed by a snap, and my head became flush with a pain, unlike anything I have ever experienced. Thousands of words filled my mind and burned their meaning into my being. Every word and its connotation that I have long since forgotten came back to me as I fell from the chair and writhed on the floor in pain. It went on for so long that I felt like I was about to lose my mind. At least until the pain receded, granting me a brief moment of respite, at least until it resurged. This time with the memory of two people.

The first was a male who was tall and muscular with a close-shaven head. His eyes were almond-shaped and soft brown, with pale white skin. He looked severe yet soft at the same time. The next was a woman with long flowing red hair and radiant blue eyes, and a soft chin. She looked to be so full of life, and my heart fluttered with emotion that I had long since forgotten. It was love that I was feeling looking at them. Did I miss my other memories? Yes, but these two were the most important to me. At least, that is what my heart was telling me.

"Thank you, Malek. I replayed the mental image I was given of them in my head over and over like it was my lifeline. My last tether to a life that was now long forgotten. What do I need to do now?"

"Sign the paper in front of you. With your signature, you may begin your new life. It is a bound contract, and once signed, no force in the universe may break it. You will forever be an Administrator. However, before you sign it. I have another offer for you." On the right, a pen formed, like someone was pouring metallic sand into an invisible mold.

"What would that offer be?" I was weary since his last offer seemed to be one-sided. But I would still hear him out.

"I would like to extend an offer to join my guild. It is a place where there are dozens of administrators, happy to help you as needed. It's better to go into this job with allies than alone. After all, the universe is a cold dark place, Marcus. It will eat you alive if you try to stand alone. I'll even throw  some boons in it for you if that helps sways you." It seemed fair that I would join his guild, and I would get help as needed. But I felt like something was missing.

"What's the catch?" It felt too good to be true like he was omitting something from me.

"The only thing I ask of you in return is loyalty, Marcus. Loyalty to the guild and to our allies." He walked back over to the table and sat down. "So, what will it be?" There it was, there was the catch. I stared at him as I tried to balance out the pros and cons, but as I did it, I realized something. The lack of memories made everything more straightforward. The choices seemed to be easier and not laced with emotional thinking. Now I understood why he kept them from me. 

He would offer me some boons to join, and all he asked in return is loyalty. It seems fair. He gets what he wants, and I get help into a world that I knew nothing about. "Deal. I accept your offer, Malek. What will your boons be?" I told him as I reached out and took the pen. The contract seemed to grow as another paragraph of text was added to it. However, instead of just signing my name, I decided it was best to read the contract as a whole. So at least I know what I was signing up for. 

"I will grant you a set of temporary titles that will benefit your upcoming transition into an Administrator. Once you are finished, they will be revoked. However, anything you may or may not do with them will be kept." As I read over the contract and saw that it was just filled with fancy legal jargon, telling me that once I signed this contract, I would be an Administrator until the day that I died and that I would be a part of a guild known as Breath of Creation. Everything seemed in order, and really, there weren't any loopholes I saw. It looked as iron-clad as possible. After thinking it over, I decided Malek was only helping me in the end.
"I see. Well, anything that would transition easier, I suppose." I signed the contract with my name on the bottom, which turned scarlet red for a moment before it faded away once more. Did I really just sign a soul-binding contract about a job that I did not know how to do? Yes. Was I putting too much faith into a being that I didn't even know? Also, yes, but this was far better than returning to that void.