There was no sound…
Yet there was awareness.
Slow, heavy awareness, as if it floated from the depths of an endless void, forming but never completing, retreating but never settling.
He did not open his eyes.
He wasn't even certain he had eyes at that moment.
And yet…
He was "here."
"…"
The thought alone was unsettling.
Not because he did not understand it…
But because he understood it more than he should.
"I exist… but how?"
He did not try to move.
He did not even try to "feel" his body.
He stopped right there… as if refusing to draw conclusions on unreliable grounds.
"Before I move… I must understand."
The silence was not empty.
It was filled with something invisible, something undefinable, yet present enough to be noticed.
"No sound… no air… no clear sense of the body…"
He paused slightly.
"But there is… a sense."
Not pain.
Not comfort.
But… difference.
"Something… does not match."
This time, it was no longer a mere observation.
It was certainty.
"If I were alive… the body should respond."
"And if I were dead… there should be nothing to perceive at all."
Silence.
Then—
"Then… it is neither."
The idea was uncomfortable.
But… interesting.
"A third state…"
He laughed internally, a soft, cold laugh.
"How fitting."
A moment passed… or something resembling a moment.
Time here… was unclear.
Then he began to try.
Not to open his eyes…
But to "search."
A search without direction, without movement, as if his very consciousness were slowly expanding into a space with no known boundaries.
And in that moment…
He felt it.
"…"
He paused.
"This…"
It was faint.
Weak.
Yet… unmistakable.
A repeated sensation, slow, as if tapping something from within.
"…"
He focused more.
He did not try to understand immediately.
He simply observed.
Once…
Twice…
Three times…
"Rhythm."
The word surfaced quietly.
"Something repeating."
But not like a heartbeat.
Not alive…
Nor mechanical.
"Deeper…"
He drew closer, or so it felt.
"As if… it does not come from the body."
Silence.
Then—
"But from something that contains it."
And here…
He stopped.
The thought was unusual.
Not a direct logical conclusion.
But…
A sense that precedes understanding.
"It contains me?"
He repeated it internally.
"Am I… inside something?"
No answer came.
He sank deeper.
And for the first time…
He began to feel boundaries.
Not clear.
Not visible.
But they existed.
"There is… space."
Not vast.
Not cramped.
But… defined.
"…"
"This is not my body."
Not an emotional statement.
A report.
"The body has weight… direction… a center."
"But this…"
He paused.
"It just… contains."
A long silence.
Then the word came.
Slowly.
Without an apparent reason.
But precise.
"Vessel."
And when it appeared…
He felt something respond.
The faint sensation…
Changed.
Became clearer.
Heavier.
As if the word were not just a description…
But a definition.
"…"
"Vessel…"
He repeated it.
This time, it was no longer merely an idea.
It was a primal truth.
"So… I am… inside a vessel."
But—
"Why does it not feel stable?"
Here came the real discomfort.
Not pain.
But imbalance.
"There is… something unstable."
He did not try to explain it immediately.
He observed it.
As he had observed everything before.
"The rhythm… is not steady."
"The space… is not entirely silent."
"And there is…"
He paused.
This time longer.
"Something else."
Not as clear as the rhythm.
Not regular.
But…
Still.
Yet its presence…
Was heavy.
"…"
"This is not part of me."
The sentence came out quickly.
Without analysis.
As if reflexive.
Then silence.
"But…"
He stepped back slightly.
"If it is not from me…"
"Then how is it… here?"
The question was not simple.
Nor comfortable.
But… compelling.
"Did it come with me?"
The thought appeared… then settled.
"At that moment…"
In the void.
At that point that was neither death… nor life…
"There was something."
He did not see it.
He did not hear it.
But he…
Felt it.
"And it did not vanish."
Rather—
"It moved."
Towards him.
Silence.
This time…
Not cold.
But deep.
"So…"
"This 'thing'…"
"Is the cause of all this."
The rhythm became clearer.
Not faster…
But heavier.
As if in agreement.
"…"
"Not energy."
He said it slowly.
"Energy flows… moves… is consumed."
"But this…"
He paused.
"It… exists."
"Stable… yet not still."
"Strange… yet coherent."
Silence.
Then—
"As if…"
He hesitated.
For the first time.
Not because he didn't know…
But because he knew the word mattered.
"Part."
He paused.
"Part… of something greater."
And here…
For the first time…
He felt something like excitement.
"Something… incomplete."
"Or…"
"Something… broken."
The image was unclear.
But the sensation was enough.
"…"
"A piece… of a being."
Silence.
Then he smiled.
A smile unseen.
Yet felt.
"And this piece…"
"Inside a vessel… unstable…"
"Containing me."
He paused.
Then—
"How fascinating."
But…
Suddenly—
The sensation changed.
Not gradually.
But—
Sharply.
"…"
The rhythm faltered.
The space quivered.
And the still thing…
Moved.
Not a visible motion.
But… attention.
"…"
His consciousness froze.
For the first time…
He did not analyze.
Did not mock.
Did not speak.
He only—
Felt.
"This…"
The silence grew heavier.
"It is unlike what it was moments ago."
The new sensation…
Was not mere existence.
But…
Observation.
"…"
"Does…"
He stopped.
"It… sense me?"
The question…
Was not philosophical.
But real.
Terrifying… indirectly.
"…"
The rhythm continued.
But now…
It was no longer alone.
"There is something else…"
"Not just a piece…"
But—
He paused.
Very slowly.
"Something… connected to it."
The silence stretched.
And the sensation…
Grew clearer.
"…"
"I am no longer alone."
This sentence…
Was not an idea.
But a discovery.
And in that moment…
Before he opened his eyes…
Before he moved…
Before he truly understood anything…
He realized only one thing—
What came with him…
Was no longer merely "power."
—
But…
Something…
That had been waiting to awaken with him.