"Oh, what is this?". A mass of stars questions, the dimness it had dissolves into radiant light. The light clearly indicated its emotions.
Its 'hand' simmers, a pillar of energy engulfs the thing it is questioning, it seems to be a set of marbles.
Vwoom*
Noise pounce in the void, with the starry gods all encompassing light.
"A soul" it mumbles, having taken a moment to think. It howls in excitement, the stars it is made of 'jump' with joy glowing brighter than when it showed interest, it switch's the souls and itself positions.
"Six, souls". It speaks to itself, very interested in them it plays around with them. It's light shinning with a great pulse of yellow.
Using the same energy as before, it gathers them together.
"What to do?" It thinks, the last time it had seen another life form that wasn't something it has created was more than 6 eons ago.
Knowing that being evil isn't something it wishes to do, it chooses to read their past.
It wants to understand their past, and where they formily existed, but mostly wanting to see what world they had been apart of.
From his power he found that they all stemed from the same world, from a different but mostly similar century.
A world of gas cars and steam trains, opposite of the worlds it has created. Which are magical.
After doing that, it analyses their wishes, wanting to bring the beings to one of its many worlds.
'I wish to be reborn and live a better life'. The souls glow blue at the influence of this starry god.
He analyses the others.
'I wish for power, enough to beat all who could stand in my way'
'I wish to live, to be saved from this brutality'
'I wish to live up to expectations!'
'I am at peace, I love my end. I have no wishes!'
'I wish to live'
Analysing them throughly, the starry god ponders. Stars flicker as it thinks, clearly very focused and emmused.
'2 want to live, 1 wants to live up to an expectation, another wants peace, and the other wishes the same as the others."
'Since most of them wish to live, that is what I'll give!' The stars woven like arms rise, galaxies separate and a planet emerges.
The souls shimmer with a glow unseen by any mortal.
"Boons shall be granted". A voice of upmost benevolence bends space and time, disturbing cosmic order, the Starry Gods body is fully ingulfed with pure star light the same one glowing from the souls.
A solar flare embraces the souls, instantly a foreign energy engulfs the souls.
Transferring them to a far away land, far from the starry god.
-Unknown Land-
I wipe the crust from my left eye. The memory of me being hit by that psycho quickly jolts me awake, but a small vibration transmutes through my brain.
Breathing in fresh air I properly open my eyes, I wipe the crust from my right eye.
Looking around I see trees, plants and lots of foliage. Enough to make me uncomfortable.
'Where am I?, a forest. Did that fuck drag me here?". I lift myself up, feeling much stronger than I ever have, I feel properly athletic.
Now in a more comfortable sitting position I rip the flower next to me out of the ground, I have never seen it before.
"A lily?" I say aloud, its purple with a white inner leaf, its shape reminds me of the white lily's I had bought my ex girlfriend, but this was clearly something I do not known of.
Instead of trodding about I decide to scan my surroundings from my current position, a little scared of my neighbour still lingering about.
"A young girl, what a fucked up bastard!". My inner thought escapes
To my left slept a young girl that looks around 7-9, she is wearing a fancy dress with golden flower patterns. I look to my right and see a relatively old man, seems to be around 30-45, he wore a basic outfit you'd see in a wuxia novel.
Yawn*
The girl to my left yawns, it seems she's going to wake up, I check myself making sure I am fully dressed. I am wearing the exact same outfit as the middle aged man.
While I was doing that, I saw a boot. I crawl closer.
"An actual old man, he is closer than the others, should I wake him?" I question, thinking he might have answers.
I sit to think of my current options.
'No, there might be more people, that fucks a full on sociopath'. So I gaze around some more and find 3 more people, I couldn't see anymore.
'Same question again, where am I and who are these people. Are they victims like me'? I think to myself.
I fidget with the flower I am holding, feeling somewhat stressed, with the memory of being beaten to death still active in my mind, the sensation that I felt earlier keeps my mind from spiralling.
'No, I haven't got the time to think, I must help these people'. I quickly stand up, I head to the young girl first, making sure she still sleeps, which she is.
Having spent some time in medical school I have some knowledge, so I can check the conditions of these people.
They were all as healthy as I currently felt.
"I should bring those two closer". I look towards the young boys, picking them up I place them nearer to the old man sleeping near the tree.
Having tired myself after lifting them I sit down upon a small stubbed rock, less worried of the mastermind being around.
Sigh*
'At least some of my basic knowledge came into some use'. I thank that the little effort I had placed into studying came to use.
*Time Passes*
'I have been here for 30 minutes, well for what I assume to be thirty minutes. Yet I'm the only one awake'.
As if hearing my plea, I hear a fidget, I was now leaning against a tree closer to the group, enough to see if anything dangerous might approach.
The noise came from the tree the old man is up against, somewhat hoping for him to wake up first I make some light tapping on the ground near me unintentionally.
I look to him, he is rubbing his eyes, half awake he looks around and says;
"Where am I.. the afterlife?". The old man began to lean up, he began to enter a state of confusion, he observes.
Before he would go haywire with his thinking I immediately greeted him, I can see that the confusion quickly left.
I stand and walk to him.
"Hey there, I don't know too much about what is happening, you seem just as confused. So let's wait for the others". I say while gesturing around to show him the location of the others.
Since he had just woken up he might be slightly air headed, is what I had thought but he soaked in the information quite easily.
"Hmm, so there's 4 others, seems we are in the middle of some forest, quite ironic I guess we are all lost." I nod at his comments.
"Were you beaten before coming here?" I ask him knowing that he is much smarter than I initially assumed.
He shakes his head, so I change the conversation.
"Yes, I haven't ventured out much since, I don't want to get lost or seriously injured.".
The old man thinks, not looking at me he piers into the nearby forest, ignoring that I asked if he was beaten.
"Is there any food or water sources about?, have u spotted any?".
He asks me a question I was stupid enough to forget, even though I had just told him about not travelling far out.
"N..no". I embarrassingly say, my nervousness flares.
"Haaa, you did say you didn't go to far out". The old man sighs, understanding why.
"You stay here". The oldman lifts himself from the ground, less struggle than I thought, definitely for a man his age.
"I hiked most of my life, I'm sure I'll spot some edible herbs and berries, my body is feeling strong too. I am pretty sure we will be here for a long while, definitely since we do not have smart phones".
I nod in agreement.
After standing up he gets a good understanding of the other people.
"Even two youngsters." The old man mumbles, a look of sadness coats him when he sees the children.
He walks to me, I was in the same spot, just watching the oldman.
"My names Renard, yours?". He says looking into my eyes while gesturing a hand shake, he clearly holds strong self respect.
Out of nervousness I remain stunned for a moment, but quickly realising I accept his hand shake.
"My name is Leon, good to meet you!". We both greet each other with smiles, his grip is strong.
"Good!" Ending our hand shake he walks beside me and pats my shoulder.
"Stay here, I'll be back soon, make sure you treat the children with calmness if they wake. I'm sure the other two will only have a little distraught".
I nod while scratching the back of my head, assuming he feels the same sensation I had felt when bad thoughts came to mind.
"Okay sir!" I say sending him off.
He walks off into the opening I feared to enter, from this angle I saw no tension or anxiety showing on his face.
Old man's POV
'This must be the afterlife. These trees do not exist on earth, such magical bark'.
The old man admires the artistic style of the bark, as if an immortal god has hand painted it. Perfectly designed to be a tree.
'Even these flowers, they look so carefully formulated, as if they are not natural'.
Each flower forming a distinct and unnatural shape.
He continues his search, he was placing rocks to mark where had already gone and to create a pathway in the unknown forest.
'My body feels as if I regressed back into my 20s, yet I still look old'.
He glances at his hands as he walked, he paid more attention to the surrounding flora and nature.
He had not found anything he deemed edible, some plants mimicked those from earth yet most were other worldly, he didn't want to take any chances.
He continued, his stride has not faltered.
'A clearance?' Having been setting small stone pillars as waypoints to guide him back he wasn't scared to look around.
To his left is an opening while his right is filled with foliage and thorns.
'I'll check it'. Entering it he immediately spots a blackberry bush, something he deems vital.
He notes the path down in his mind, almost supernaturally, his brain clearly surpassing those his age.
'Good, some food. Much easier to find than I thought, best to get back since I said I wouldn't be long, finding one thing is better than none'. He thinks to himself.
Going back was twice as fast compared to finding the place, he swiftly returned with nothing major to note.
-Return to true POV
"You've returned so quickly, I was expecting a long wait". I spot the old man and jog to him, I say a light hearted joke.
He shrugs, he doesn't entirely ignore my jokes see that he lightly grins.
"Only because I'm used to such situations". he says without much thought I nod in respect.
"The knowledge I do know is just picked up from experience and some journeyman books, don't expect much. I'll be sure to do my best though". He mentions, his voice echoed with a prevalent kindness.
He walks closer to me, his breath is light.
Vroom*
We both hear a strong gust of wind, Renard looks to the previously sleeping people, the gust reaches us blowing our hair frantically, not allowing it to distract us we focus our gaze upon the people.
The strong gust is felt by the dreamers.