After that blinding flash, I found myself floating through complete emptiness. It felt freeing at first like I was the only being that existed. It felt like I might be able to control something for the first time in my life. I tried to move my arms attempting to swim around in this pitch-black space, but I couldn't move my arms. It's not like they felt sore, and I just couldn't move them. It felt as if I didn't have arms. It was the same thing with my legs and head. I realized that I couldn't feel anything I could think but not feel. After it hit me that I couldn't move, I got scared, not in the usual way. I truly felt fear that felt as if it could rip apart my consciousness, but that's when I saw it. 

It looked like a person, but not an ordinary person. It looked as if they were made out of the space itself. It seemed to be getting closer to me. I didn’t know if I was moving to it, or it to me—either way, the fact that it was getting closer terrified me even more. I was a sitting duck right now, nothing I could do to protect myself that looked like a figment of space itself. That's when it hit me; Yes it looked like a part of space itself, but there was also another thing that looked like a piece of space had come alive. Dark matter. It looked like a human made from dark matter.

The closer it got the more I was sure that it was a person made out of dark matter. By now, the figure was around five yards away from me, and that's when I was able to see it. The person made from dark matter. It looked like me.

That's when it spoke. The weird dark matter figment that looked like me spoke. It said, “Hi josh.”

I was terrified. The thing speaks, and it looks like me. What the hell. I tried to talk back to it, and the sound came out, but it didn't come out of my mouth like it usually did. The sound seemed to come from all around us as I asked, “How do you know my name… W-what are you?” I wasn’t even sure how it was possible but I managed to stutter even when my voice wasn't coming from my mouth, I thought ashamed of myself for being so scared that I stuttered in an almost impossible situation.

After my little self-reflection, the thing responded, “I know your name because I am you… Well, sort of, in essence, I am your soul.”

The thing claiming to be my soul bent down and touched right where my forehead would be, and I felt it. I felt the touch on my forehead. That’s new, I thought surprised.

The thing claiming to be my soul spoke again, saying, “This is the only thing that I can do for you right now. That little touch may not have seemed like much to you, but that was enough to give you a restart.”

Confused, I asked, “restart at what?”

“Well, I assumed that it would be obvious. A restart at the life of course.”

“A restart at life. How is that possi- Wait, if I need a restart at life, does that mean I’m dead?” I asked terrified at that premonition. 

“Correct, you died in the explosion after trying to harness dark matter. Luckily for you, because you were messing with dark matter when it exploded, it gave me enough dark matter to make a physical form. That's the way that I am able to talk to you right now.”

“No no no, I can’t be dead. I still had things that I needed to do. I never got vengeance for my parents.”

“Josh… It’s ok, please just accept your new life there is nothing left for you to do. It's impossible… I'm sorry. Truly,” the thing that I accepted as my soul said consolingly.

“It's just… I don't want to leave everyone that I had,” I said, my voice still coming from all around us.

“I know, it's going to be hard to move forward, but it's almost time for your life to begin.”

“Ok,” I said, with my voice finally starting to congregate more towards my mouth. It felt extremely odd and terrifying talking to a being that looked like it was made out of space itself, but when I saw him start to dissipate that scarred me even more.

After all, he said that he was my soul. I tried to scream out to him, but all that came out were high-pitched shrieks and cries. I could faintly hear him muttering something about how it would all be ok, just as streaks of light started coming into the black abyss that we were in.

Still trying to scream out to my own soul, the rays of light became brighter and more abundant, reminding me of the explosion that just occurred. My screams still came out as cries infuriating me and causing me to scream more. That was until the rays of light covered my vision like a blanket.

I tried to close my eyes to save myself from the bright lights and when I opened my eyes it was something I would never have expected. It was a room, to be more specific it looked like a small wooden shack.

That's when I saw them a large man that looked as if he could wrestle a bear and win, a plump old man with glasses that looked so thick you could start a fire with them, and lastly a woman so beautiful that she looked like a goddess in human form.

The man that looked as if he could wrestle a bear had dark blue eyes, the color of the twilight sky. I swear that I could see sparkles in them, but that might just have been me, after all my eyes were still adjusting the lights in the room. He had a full head of light blond hair that was messily spiked up. His hair slowly turned to a dirty blond as it turned into a beard which wasn't long but not quite short either. 

The woman on was almost the complete opposite of the man. She was small, but not too small. She had beautiful brown eyes and deep mahogany red hair. Her hair ran past he shoulders in flowing waves that seemed like they were being blown by the wind in the perfect way at every slight movement of her head.

The beautiful woman said, “Honey look how adorable our baby boy is.” After that was said it completely solidified the fact that I was reborn and had lost my life as Josh Willtek. I had been reborn. Apart from my memories  I now had no connection to my old life as Josh Willtek.