For a moment, only for a moment, Brett felt he was finally going to meet his maker, and his thoughts, body, and soul would finally dissolve away due to the blinding light that had consumed everything, the moment the female entity had declared herself the architect.
The glare finally subsided, but the white room was no more; instead, he found himself standing or felt like he was, beneath a dome of shifting auroras, mesmerizing colors filled the sky like strings, coiling and bending into absurd shapes.
The air had no temperature nor sound, but something mystic seemed to hum in the background.
The origins of these abnormalities could be traced to the woman who called herself the architect. She stared at the man with eyes that housed stars with an expression that was composed yet warm, with each moment her serenity wavered into faint traces of melancholy, leaving a hush ambiguity.
"You have come a long way, Brett Lenhart," she said softly, her voice didn't echo rather folded into him like a memory from within his psyche.
" You are the 10,567,893th soul I've tested for this role," she concluded with a sigh.
Brett, who had escaped the state of awe he had previously felt a while back, listened to her, seemingly scrutinizing her, but in truth, his eyes seemed to have been attached solely to her chest, which spotted melons that were fighting desperately against her blouse like freedom fighters at the edge of victory.
Brett blinked, half-smirking while his eyes wandered elsewhere, pretending to glance around while he spoke.
"I'm quite flattered, but how come there are so many rejects? Are you looking for the next M.J. or something? " He paused, seemingly free from all restrictions.
" Nice decor. If this is the lobby for reincarnation, I've to say, you got style!"
A small smile curled at the corner of her lips as the auroras hummed as if commending his wits.
" Good, it seems you're more comfortable now! " she remarked.
Brett shrugged half-heartedly, speaking calmly, "What can I say, I am dead already, nothing to panic about anymore, right?"
For a moment, there was silence, then the woman spoke with a calm, measured and melodic voice
" I have a proposition for you ."
Brett only smirked to himself after all, he was wondering when she would finally tell him why he was here.
A heartbeat later, she continued
"You, Brett Lenhart, lived an unremarkable life, humble, quiet, neither tragic nor triumphant. You walked your journey without leaving a footprint. Yet your soul may carry the stability I've sought for"
Her voice didn't carry mockery nor insults, but Brett heard it anyway.
" So basically I lived a boring life ? " he responded flatly with an unexpected smirk, like he couldn't take himself seriously at this point.
" I'm saying," she continued, ignoring his jokes, "that you may hold the compatibility I need. If you do, I can offer you another life. A life… far more exceptional than the one you left behind."
A deceptive gleam appeared in her eyes, seemingly concentrated on the word Exceptional, which hung in the air longer.
A moment later, Brett scoffed.
" My life wasn't all that... but it wasn't Necessarily bad " he defended
while crossing his arms before staring intently at the woman's eyes and not the aspects below her jawline.
"So... What's the Catch? " He asked flatly, aware that such an offer wasn't without an underlying factor after all, a shit load of candidates had failed according to the woman whom he had accepted to be a goddess of sorts at this point. If anything, the surroundings and her divine form were testament.
Giving off a soothing smile, she responded
" No catch, just possibilities , a new life in a new form"
" Hmmm ... " he grunted, studying her closely as though he could swear there was something off about her. She just kept feeding him half-truths, much to his curiosity.
"Why me, then? What happened to the previous occupant of this 'body' you're offering?". He was trying to get something out of her after all she kept talking about compatibility, so it could maybe be another body.
For the first time, there was hesitation in her eyes, lasting only for a moment as she fixed her expression immediately.
"The body remains… vacant," she said. "It requires a compatible soul to stabilize it. None have succeeded before, but you could be different".
With a gaze sharper than a knife, he stared before speaking with a low and yet inquisitive tone
" You didn't answer my question. What happened to the previous occupant ?"
The woman masked her annoyance, keeping her sly smile on, responding
"That is irrelevant. What matters is that you have a chance. Refuse, and you may proceed to the afterlife. Accept, and you live again, with Talents no human has wielded freely."
"Talents?"
Her beautiful eyes gleamed softly. "Telekinesis. Telepathy. The ability to shape reality through will. The body I offer you was designed to channel psionic potential beyond the comprehension of mortals ."
Brett gave off a short laugh. "That's quite the pitch. But forgive me if I'm skeptical. Usually, when someone promises godlike power, the receiver's soul is literally at stake."
She gave off an amused smirk, seeing how the mortal juggled his words rather efficiently
" And yet you listen," she responded almost seductively.
Brett looked around with a sly grin
" I have nowhere else to be right ? .. He paused for a moment, staring directly into her eyes before continuing suddenly, a glint of curiosity in his eyes. "For someone who looks like they can snap universes in and out of existence, you seem oddly reserved when it comes to souls. Can't you just make one yourself?"
Her smile suddenly faltered as the very auroras around her lost their lustre, with silence taking centre stage. She didn't need to speak as the silence already told Brett what he needed to know, and when she finally spoke, her tone was thoughtful.
"Souls are peculiar things, Brett Lenhart, and that's all you need to know for now."
Brett merely nodded, feeling satisfied his theories were actually reasonable and his question was quite answered, giving him a sense of importance and even choice in this situation.
He looked upwards,staring at the beautiful scenery, still deep in thought.
His mind worked through the equation one more time. Stay dead and his parents grieve,his sister probably blames herself, Brett Lenhart becomes just another dead guy. Take the deal, dive into the unknown, obvious hidden costs and a shady goddess.
The smart play was in front of anyone who could actually see, investigate from the inside. She was hiding something, and the only way to get real answers was to accept and figure it out as he goes along.
He thought about his mother's smile, his sister's unrelenting care and the eye for detail his father instilled in him every time they repaired old junk to sell off together. If anything, they were still alive, which made the thought of the afterlife rather gloomy and nothing to stick around for.
Finally breaking the silence, he spoke in the calmest and least infuriating tone he could muster
" What's truly in it for me ?" He asked with a sense of determination around his words.
"A chance," she said. "To live as you never could. To possess what others could only dream of. To leave your mark on existence itself "
The chill of the woman's response resonated with Brett, who could have applauded her poetic skills if he wasn't really weighing his options, which in reality were only one.
"....Just say Yes," the seductive voice of the woman who had appeared by his side whispered in his ear.
Brett sighed for a moment before turning his head to face the woman who was so close to his ear, and upon his turn, their lips were merely inches from connecting and eyes locked,Brett didn't break the tension of proximity.He spent his whole life accepting the good, bad, and ugly with grace.
Why stop now?
"You drive a hard bargain, sign me up then !"
" So it begins, " the woman exclaimed, as she raised her right hand causing a pulsating combination of light, seemingly drawing the auroras into her palm and with that, Brett felt a pull on his form as he felt his soul unravel faster than he could speak and re-threading somewhere else in the cosmos.
The Architect's smile turned wily, almost predatory, while the strands of Brett's being spiraled toward a form—faint, blurry, lying still on a bed somewhere far from where they were. "Compatible," she murmured, her voice trembling with restrained delight. "At last…!"
Her eyes glowed with satisfaction, her lips curling into a conniving smile, a smile Brett missed. In the dazzling light behind her neck, a peculiar flame-like sigil came to life with a silvery glow.
And in the distance, within a dim room where the body waited, Brett Lenhart drew his first breath again.
His eyes suddenly snapped open.