Alex saw red through his eyes. After being caught in a falling airplane explosion, he thought he was a goner, but somehow, he was still alive.
When he first saw the plane flying so close, he was sure the pilot was showing off and would lift up and zoom away, becoming another thing for people to talk about. But as people kept watching, it went down and down until panic set in and people started running. Those few lucky ones with survival instinct ran like hell and might have survived.
Alex, with the survival instinct of a potato, kept looking up even as people ran out of their houses. One crashed into him, snapping him out of his trance, but it was too late to run.
The plane smashed into the ground like a giant's hand squashing ants to show them their place. Then came the explosion. Already thrown into the air by the force of the crash, Alex felt the air knocked out of his lungs.
With a speed greater than any human body should traverse, he was sent flying away from the crash site, crashing into an old house, breaking through the tiles and landing inside.
Alex woke up groggily, trying to move. "It fucking hurts everywhere," he thought. He tried to move his hands but found himself immobile, buried deep under rubble.
"This might be the reason I haven't been found by rescue forces yet" he said , but no was there to listen to him.
As Alex began to lose consciousness, a memory awakened within him—a memory of a past he had forgotten. A place unlike the peaceful earth... well, relatively peaceful! A place where might is the only measure of respect, and people die like flies, but also a place of wonder, where godlike beings walk among the living.
"Is this my past life?" he thought. "They say you remember your own life before death, but I never heard of anyone remembering past lives."
After some struggle, he finally managed to move his hand, leveraging it to shift a little. Little by little, he started sliding upward.
"I can see light up ahead. Maybe someone can hear me."
"Hello... is someone there? I'm stuck down here... HEY, can you hear me?"
After repeatedly shouting with no response, he noticed himself moving closer to the source of the light. As he neared it, one thing became clear—this was no exit from the rubble. It was a source of light pulsing softly with bright blue daylight.
"Well, since I'm halfway there, I might as well check it out."
With the pace of a snail, time slipped away as he crept toward the light, finally reaching it after what felt like days.
"A marble? Is this some new toy from that L*** company? I remember my neighbor's daughter playing with a YOYO a few years ago that shone like a bald hero's head in sunlight."
"Fuck, fuck, fuck... what was I even thinking, wasting my energy chasing false hope? I might die if no one comes soon. I don't even know if there's enough oxygen left for me to survive a few more hours."
Dizzy and disoriented, unsure if it was the lack of air or the fact that he hadn't drunk anything in God knows how long, he finally reached the ball of light. Somehow, it dimmed enough to no longer blind him as he approached.
"WOW... what the hell is this? It's so small but feels like a whole galaxy is inside. Fuck, that's some impressive glasswork right there, man. How is it even glowing?"
Positioning himself right above the marble, admiring its intricate beauty, he moved his hand to pick it up. As soon as his fingers touched the marble, he thought he heard a sound—before losing consciousness again.
[ System initialization successful. Scanning user for compatiable sub systems now.!!! ]