As he freefalled, a sudden thought crossed his mind, though what inspired it he did not know. Yet as he tumbled through the mist he thought to himself, “If I had the chance, I’d escape this life and find a new purpose.”

 He would live his own way, make his own choices. Maybe even get a family of his own, like he’d seen countless others have. He had never had one, but a small party of him had always wondered what that would be like. He had seen fellow soldiers hug wives and children, seen the softness and care that would grace normally stoick and firm faces. He’d head men cry out for those who they would never see again in their final moments, whispering last words of affection as they’d bled out. He had seen all of this and deep down had always desired to have the same, had wished desperately for a place and person to call his own. 

It was with these thoughts circling in his mind that he began to emerge from the mist. He began to notice himself being slowly brought to the side and back up, much like how a bird recovers from a hunting dive. Confused, he looked around to find himself coated in a blinding white light, still slowly heading further up towards the heavens. Soon he saw a giant round opening in the sky, and the mysterious light took him right through that opening. 

He found himself passing through countless of these circles, each one revealing bizarre lands filled with plants and creatures he had never seen before. Obviously this light was taking him somewhere and he idly wondered if he was headed for one of the afterlifes many soldiers and people he had encountered had believed they go to after death. Looking down he noticed the wounds covering him were slowly healing, the gash that had required him to keep his entrails in using his sash now just a deep cut still oozing blood. Suddenly he found himself in a world of tall structures and what appeared to be fellow humans. 

Curious he glanced around and noticed a bunch of odd devices gathered in a pile and what seemed to be a girl hovering above them. She was semi see-through and as he got closer he noticed lots of cuts and gashes littering her body. Several of her body parts, though fading, also appeared to be bent at unnatural angles, and her face was covered in an expression of fear and pain. A look he had seen on many soldiers in their final moments.

 Realizing he was headed straight for her he tried to dodge but the light would not budge. He saw her notice him seconds before he rammed right into her and heard her gasp in shock. They tumbled around like leaves in the breeze and somehow she too was now stuck in the mysterious light but knocked out from the sudden impact.