Humanity feared death.
Some avoided thinking about it entirely. Some accepted it as a natural end. Others hid behind faith, believing heaven, hell, or reincarnation awaited them beyond the final breath.
But Kael was different.
He did not fear death.
He was curious about it.
For as long as he could remember, death had followed his thoughts like a shadow. As a child, while others dreamed of becoming heroes or kings, Kael wondered what happened in the final moment before consciousness disappeared.
When is a person truly dead?
Was it when the heart stopped beating?
When the lungs no longer breathed?
Or was it something deeper?
Years of obsession eventually led him to a single conclusion:
A human only truly dies when they lose the ability to think.
That belief consumed his entire life.
Now fifty years old, unmarried, and isolated from society, Kael had sacrificed everything in pursuit of the answer. Relationships, happiness, ambition—none of them mattered compared to the mystery waiting beyond death.
To understand consciousness, he became one of the world's greatest neuroscientists. He spent decades studying the human brain, mapping neural pathways, observing dying patients, and researching the limits of awareness.
But science alone was not enough.
The deeper he researched, the more he realized humanity understood almost nothing about death.
So Kael searched elsewhere.
Ancient mythologies.
Forbidden texts.
Religious scriptures.
Records of near-death experiences.
From Egyptian books of the dead to Hindu concepts of the soul, from Greek underworld myths to forgotten rituals buried in obscure languages—Kael studied them all.
Yet every answer only created more questions.
And eventually, Kael reached a terrifying conclusion.
The truth about death could never be discovered by observing others.
To truly understand death…
He had to die himself.
Inside the hidden underground laboratory beneath his home, countless monitors glowed in the darkness. Tubes, life-support systems, nutrient injectors, and experimental machines surrounded a single medical chamber at the center of the room.
Kael silently stared at it.
Seven years.
That was how long it took him to prepare this experiment.
An impossible experiment.
One the world would call madness.
Using a specially designed combination of drugs and neural stimulators, Kael planned to temporarily kill himself. His heart would stop completely. His body would enter a state medically indistinguishable from death.
Then, exactly one hour later, the automated system he created would attempt to restart his brain activity and revive him.
To ensure survival, he had designed the facility to sustain his body for an entire year even without outside assistance. Nutrient systems, oxygen reserves, organ preservation mechanisms—everything had been calculated to perfection.
Because this experiment was illegal, no one knew about it.
No assistants.
No colleagues.
No witnesses.
If he failed, his body would simply rot in silence beneath the earth.
Kael slowly sat before the chamber, his tired eyes reflecting the dim blue light of the monitors.
Fear should have existed inside him.
But there was none.
Only anticipation.
----
The digital clock on the laboratory wall slowly turned red.
11:59:50
Kael opened his eyes and calmly lay inside the transparent medical chamber. Numerous wires connected to his body while machines quietly monitored every signal coming from his brain.
His gaze shifted toward the large screen displaying the final countdown.
10…
9…
8…
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Despite being a scientist, Kael had strangely begun believing in things he once considered irrational. After studying hundreds of religious texts, ancient myths, and spiritual records from around the world, he had started taking concepts like fate, astrology, and auspicious timing seriously.
Today's date…
This exact second…
Even the alignment of planets had been carefully chosen after months of studying his horoscope.
7…
6…
5…
"If I'm going to die," he muttered softly, "I might as well choose the luckiest moment possible."
4…
3…
2…
1…
Silence.
Nothing happened.
Kael blinked.
The machines continued humming normally.
"…Did it fail?"
For several seconds, absolutely nothing changed. No pain. No dizziness. Not even discomfort.
Kael frowned slightly.
"That shouldn't be possible."
Had the injection dosage been wrong?
Did the automated release malfunction?
Just as he was about to sit up—
His heart stopped.
Instantly.
Without warning.
"…Ah."
Everything went black.
—
A strange thought echoed through his mind.
It seems there was some delay.
That wouldn't affect my luck… would it?
Even in death, Kael's first concern was whether the timing of his horoscope had been ruined.
Then again, after researching religion for decades, perhaps it was unavoidable for even a rational scientist to become slightly superstitious.
As consciousness slowly returned, Kael realized something strange.
He could still think.
There was no pain.
No sensation of breathing.
No heartbeat.
Only awareness.
He opened his eyes.
Darkness.
An endless pitch-black space stretched in every direction. There was no ground beneath him, no sky above him, and no sound anywhere around him.
It felt like existing inside a void.
Kael remained silent for a moment before calmly analyzing the situation.
"It should have been an hour since I died," he muttered.
His voice strangely echoed despite the emptiness.
"I programmed the system to restart my brain activity after exactly one hour."
A brief silence followed.
"It seems that I didn't revive back in the laboratory."
Kael slowly looked around the endless darkness surrounding him.
There was no sensation from his body. No heartbeat. No breathing. Yet his thoughts remained perfectly clear.
"And since I can still think…"
His eyes narrowed.
"That can only mean one thing."
For the first time in his life, excitement appeared within his otherwise calm expression.
"This place exists beyond death itself."
Then—
Far away in the endless darkness, a faint light appeared.
It was small at first, barely visible within the pitch-black void, like a distant candle flickering at the edge of existence.
Kael stared at it silently.
The light grew brighter.
Closer.
And with it came something else.