Rain had been falling without pause since the beginning of the evening. Droplets streamed down Alex's windshield, smearing the city's lights into long streaks of yellow and red. The windshield wipers swept back and forth with an almost hypnotic rhythm, yet they always seemed a beat behind the relentless downpour.
Alex let out a long sigh and glanced at the dashboard clock.
10:47 p.m.
Another day that had dragged on far longer than it should have.
At twenty-eight, his life looked much like that of millions of other people. He worked for an IT company, spent his days staring at multiple monitors, got home late, lived on ready-made meals more often than not, and usually fell asleep in front of a TV series he wasn't even really watching anymore.
Once, he had dreams.
To travel. To write a novel. To start his own company.
Over time, those ambitions had faded away, replaced by deadlines, bills, and an exhaustion that never seemed to leave him.
His phone vibrated in the center console, but he ignored it. His parents knew he was driving. His coworkers always waited until the next day to send their "urgent" messages. As for the ads, they could wait until he got home. Alex turned the heat up a little and kept his eyes on the road. The streets were nearly deserted. The rain had driven away the last few pedestrians, and the handful of cars still out crawled cautiously through the storm.
He wasn't far from his apartment anymore. He was already looking forward to the hot shower waiting for him, then to crawling into bed. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared ahead. Headlights. Far too close.
For a split second, his mind refused to process what he was seeing. A truck had crossed the median. The driver had apparently lost control. Everything happened in an instant. Alex yanked the steering wheel hard. The tires screamed across the rain-soaked asphalt as the car skidded. The truck filled the entire road.
The impact was unimaginably violent. Metal twisted with a deafening shriek. The windshield shattered. A searing pain tore through his entire body before vanishing as suddenly as it had come.
Then there was nothing.
No more noise. No more pain. No more rain.
Only silence.
When he opened his eyes, he thought at first he was dreaming. There was no sky, no ground, no horizon. An endless darkness stretched in every direction. And yet, he wasn't falling. He simply felt as though he were floating in an empty void where time itself no longer existed.
He looked down at his hands. They were perfectly visible despite the absence of any light. He took a deep breath. There was no pain. No injuries. Even his heart wasn't racing the way it should have been.
He remained motionless for a long while, unable to make sense of what had happened to him.
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"Am I... dead?"
His own voice vanished into the void without the faintest echo.
No one answered.
The silence was so complete that it became suffocating. Alex took a few tentative steps, with no idea what he was actually walking on. Every movement seemed to defy the very laws of physics.
"Is anyone there?"
Still nothing. Then he felt a strange sensation wash over him, as though something were watching him. Tiny points of light gradually emerged from the darkness. One. Then ten. Then a hundred.
Within seconds, thousands of small white lights were drifting around him. They looked like stars, except they were far too close. They moved slowly, almost as if they were studying him.
Alex turned in place. They were everywhere. In front of him. Behind him. Above him. Below him. It was as though the entire universe had vanished, leaving behind nothing but this endless sea of lights.
Then a voice echoed through the void. It came from nowhere in particular. Neither male nor female, it was cold, utterly devoid of emotion.
Candidate identified.
Alex flinched.
"Who's there?"
The voice ignored his question.
Compatibility verification in progress.
The lights began to circle around him. At first, they moved slowly, but their speed increased with each passing second. Before long, they had formed a vast spiral that completely surrounded him.
"Stop! What are you doing?"
The voice spoke again.
Compatibility confirmed.
The lights froze instantly.
All at once.
Alex felt thousands of invisible eyes fixed on him.
A shiver ran down his spine.
The voice spoke one last time.
Final candidate selected.
The four words echoed through the void. Before he could ask what they meant, the darkness cracked open. A massive rift of light tore across the world around him.
The stars suddenly hurtled toward him.
Hundreds. Thousands. Tens of thousands.
Alex threw up his arms to shield himself, but the lights passed straight through his body without the slightest impact.
Warmth flooded his limbs. His vision turned completely white, and then everything vanished.
He gasped sharply. Air rushed into his lungs with such force that he immediately doubled over coughing. His heart hammered wildly in his chest, while a dull ache throbbed through it.
He opened his eyes. This time, he saw a ceiling. A real ceiling. Heavy wooden beams supported what looked like an old roof. A small window let in the morning light, and a gentle breeze made a linen curtain sway.
The scent of freshly baked bread lingered in the room. Alex remained perfectly still. He blinked several times. The ceiling didn't change. Slowly, he sat up.
The bed beneath him was stuffed with straw and covered with a wool blanket. The walls were made of wood, and a handful of simple pieces of furniture occupied the room. A wardrobe. A chair. A small table.
His breathing quickened.
"Where am I...?"
His voice sounded different. Younger. He immediately raised a hand to his throat before looking down at his fingers. They were slimmer. His skin was smooth. Free of any scars.
He pushed the blanket aside and got to his feet. His legs wobbled slightly, but they responded perfectly. Across from him, a small polished metal mirror hung on the wall. Alex walked toward it. With every step, a growing sense of dread tightened its grip on him, one he still refused to put into words.
At last, he looked up at his reflection. The face staring back at him wasn't his. It belonged to a young man of about eighteen. Brown hair fell loosely across his forehead. His gray eyes still looked heavy with sleep. His features were delicate, almost boyish, yet completely unfamiliar.
Alex took a step back.
"That's... impossible."
At that moment, a blinding pain exploded inside his head. He immediately clutched his temples. Images flooded his mind. Hundreds of them. Then thousands. A small village surrounded by forests. Fields of golden wheat. A smiling woman. A broad-shouldered man. A little girl running through a meadow. Birthdays. Training sessions. Faces. Names. Memories that weren't his. And yet, they blended with his own with terrifying ease.
Alex gritted his teeth as the torrent of memories continued to surge through his mind.