I stare at nothing as I drift within the endless void. No lights, no stars, no galaxies, just darkness. 

"Just what the hell have I gotten myself into?"

I think back to how I landed into this mess.

☆☆☆☆☆

The lights were off in the room, clothes messily piled up in the dresser at the corner, a table with a laptop, school supplies, and other random bits and bobs stood at the adjacent wall. I take a quick glance at the relatively cheap analogue alarm clock on the desk. 

"Time? 3:48, huh. Doesn't seem like anyone else is awake."

Little bottles of liquor, a small knife, a large wooden spoon, and sanitizer are arranged neatly on the bed. The pillows and blankets pulled taut and placed appropriately on the mattress. 

"Large blanket is there, nothing else to prepare, I think."

The door was silently locked and slid bolted. I lay down on the bed and pull the blanket up to my waist. I dump sanitizer on the inside of my forearm and on the blade, leaving a momentary cool sensation. Bringing the spoon to my mouth, I bite down hard and slowly lead the edge of the knife to my wrist.

A few seconds pass, steeling my resolve, I plunge the blade all the way in, holding back any sounds from my mouth, grinding my teeth into the wood. 

I pull the blade down vertically almost to my elbow, the knife sliding through my arm like, well, a hot knife through butter. 

I hide the knife underneath the pillows and reach for the nearest bottle of liquor. 

"Let's see what this is, 'Unnamed off-brand rice wine, grapefruit flavor'. Hopefully it won't be too bitter"

I took a swig and eventually down the whole bottle, as with all the liquor I managed to sneak in, burning my throat with the warmth of a thousand suns. A minute or so later, I start getting dizzy. Seeing that everything is done, I pull the blanket the rest of the way and settle into an alcohol-induced sleep.

"As shitty as this life was, I'm gonna miss it," I softly mumble after closing my eyes, drifting to sleep one last time.

☆☆☆☆☆

I wake to a sensation as if I was floating, the same feeling as when you're submerged in water, light pressure pushing on you in all directions and the absence of gravity keeping one firmly planted down.

The heck, I'm pretty sure I killed myself, so what is all this then?

I open my eyes to…nothing, absolutely nothing. It was like the night's sky during a new moon, except there weren't any stars or light of any kind. I can't even properly tell the difference between keeping my eyes closed or not. 

I look down on my body and see that I'm naked. Even weirder is that I look kinda translucent. 

Am I dead? Then what is this place, hell? 

I continue drifting aimlessly while pondering random thoughts. I try holding my breath, but found I could do so without any real problem, even after several hours. 

Well, nothing I can really do now. Might as well rest my eyes and enjoy swimming through the void.

And so time passed…

If I spend another hundreds of years doing nothing, I think I will actually go insane. Hell, I don’t think I can even recall my mom’s face.

I have been here for a long, long time. I don't know exactly how long, but it feels like centuries without any change to this place, the only thing to do being talking to myself and thinking, just thinking of anything, anything at all. I don’t even know if I’m still sane. 

I assumed that I would eventually fade away or something, maybe get reincarnated, so what is taking so long? Am I stuck in the DMV of Samsara? There better not be a line for this, with an average waiting time of millennia, complete with complementary solitude to reduce you to a blank slate! Is this what the afterlife actually is, just erode people’s minds with time and send them back into the world, good as new. GOD! If you’re actually out there, this sucks! 

I continue to lament and whine when I notice a flicker of light on the edge of my vision. I continue to stare at the general direction where I saw it. Minutes pass, and sure enough, I see another flash.

No way…God, I take it back! Please let this be something!

I flail frantically and vigorously swim to that place, and eventually I see several small pulses of light, extinguishing almost immediately after it comes to being. 

I laugh, surrounded by glowing orbs the size of golf balls, thankful for a break in the monotony that I found by chance. I reach out to one, and surprisingly, it continues shining.

Hello there little guy, you and your friends will be entertaining me for a little while.

I grin widely, anticipating the antics I can finally get up to with these balls.

☆☆☆☆☆

There in the darkness was the diaphanous silhouette of a man running around throwing and collecting the drifting balls of light. Unknown to the man, his disturbance caused most of the orbs to eventually gravitate towards his position.

Hyksos

Hello there!!! Hyksos here. So, what did you guys think about the first chapter? Do let me know in the comments, any kind of feedback is appreciated, but please keep it civil!

I know it may seem kind of morbid, but this would just be a prologue to the rest of the story, so I do hope you guys stick around.

Alright, that's it. Happy reading!