You know that old saying, ‘For every door that closes, another one opens.’ Well it turns out that one random door happens to be my bedroom door.

  I stood beside my bed, mouth agape in shock with my spilled root beer soaking into my socks. Which was unfortunate as that was my last glass of it, and my last pair of clean socks.

  The door itself was a standard wood door, hollow inside with a hastily done paint job by the apartment complex. From where I stood, I could see nothing but empty black space on the other side of the doorway.

  I wondered if it was a prank by my friend, Violet Porter, she had a spare key to my place for when I worked late and needed someone to feed my cat, Gizmo.

  Her usual motivation for pranks was pun-based though, a complex door prank didn’t seem in the cards for how we joke with one another.

  I stepped closer to the door, noting that the light from my room faded into the doorway as my shadow crossed the threshold. Crouching down, I tried to take a better look inside; but I couldn’t see if there were any celestial objects in the distance, nor any constellations.

  Wherever this door was supposed to lead would have to be outside of the observable universe, provided this is an actual doorway to nowhere.

  My depth perception couldn’t detect any flat surfaces when I observed the doorway from multiple angles. It was actually starting to give me the heebie-jeebies, so I turned away from the door to return to my pondering.

  This was going to put a stop to my evening’s plans; eat tater tots then watch anime with Gizmo until I fall asleep.

  I couldn’t disregard that I was witnessing an authentic spatial anomaly, so I knew I had to either disprove or prove this was a doorway to space without actually stepping through. I was sans space suit, so I would have no protection against the vacuum that would surely spell the end for me.

  If it is a prank, it’s likely a clever box on the other side of the door; made with sheets of lumber, support braces to keep it standing and just wide enough to encompass my doors outward swing, all painted pitch black.

  If I wasn’t inconvenienced by the sudden presence of it I would be impressed, but as things stand it was a potential danger to both myself and my cat.

  Now, if it was an anomaly into space; stepping through would be foolish as a test when I could toss something in the doorway instead. My room had very little to offer this endeavor, save for my collectible vinyl figures, various books I needed for college, and my clothes which are among my most prized possessions. Good fashion was worth it’s weight in gold when you’re trying to find your next style.

  I wouldn’t want to part with my clothes or books though, so it looks like it’s got to be one of my collectible vinyl figures. Now I just had to figure out who I was going to sacrifice to the door in the pursuit of the truth.

  My only candidates that would fit the criteria are a Goblin from a popular tabletop roleplaying game, or Cooper from the movie Interstellar which I suppose, thematically would make sense to choose Cooper.

  But the pure vengeance against this Goblin is valid in my book. Granted, I enjoyed the aesthetic look of the green humanoid character, but I’ve lost too many starter characters to Goblin hordes for that to be their saving grace.

  On the other hand, this would be the closest we’d get to a sequel to Interstellar. I held the figure in my hand, examining it one last time before deciding to throw Cooper into the void. Taking extra time to admire the figure in case this ends up actually being space.

  It had a slight paint error on the helmet near the top of his head, I didn’t mind it as it made it easy to recognize it as mine. I really didn’t want to part with this figure though, it took years to find it. I scoured countless conventions, hobby shops, comic book stores, toy stores, heck even pharmacies held these vinyl figures but nowhere had Cooper from Interstellar.

  It wasn’t until Convention Season 2022 that I finally found him at the bottom of a discount bin; eight years after the movie had been released in 2014. The joy and satisfaction from my collectible hunt was ecstatic, I finally had my Cooper vinyl figure and now I was about to throw him, possibly, into space.

  “Well Coop,” I said to the figure in my hand, “It looks like you’re looking into space and wondering about your place in the stars instead of staying here with the dirt.”

  I threw Cooper into the doorway like a slow pitch softball and to my surprise he crossed the threshold of the doorway. The vinyl figure maintained momentum of my low arc, drifting further and further away each second, proving this was actually space.

  “Crap! I could have tied a string to him,” I cupped my hands to yell into the void, “I’m so sorry, Cooper!”

  The figure disappeared into the vastness of space, the realization of the door horrified me.

  How could a doorway like this exist? Wouldn’t it pull in everything around it like a black hole?

  Would it build up to consume everything if I failed to close the doorway leading into space?

  If I left the door open, would it depressurize my apartment bedroom before creating a massive emergency that might take out half the city?

  There were too many questions and I had limited knowledge of astrophysics. Most of what I did know, I learnt from watching famous physicists on internet talk shows.

  The skills I had were a fascination of science fiction combined with my many years improvising through a variety of campaigns in tabletop roleplaying games.

  I also had another mystery to solve, how the heck was I going to get to my classes on time?

  I guess I could watch the recordings but I did better with hands on learning. My friend Violet would take notes for me if I asked, so at least I wouldn’t miss anything from the professor’s lectures on Creative Writing.

  I lived in the corner apartment of the fourth floor of the building, so possible escape plans were not ideal. The only way out of my room was a four story drop to the grass below or a hasty climb up the side of my building to the deck above my window.

  I could break the glass of my window and toss my bed down first, but I think the springs might impale me if I jumped onto it. Not a risk I’d be willing to take.

  I could call for hel-...wait! No, I couldn’t! I left my phone charging in the kitchen, I liked to listen to music while I cooked and felt the need to dance tonight. I never suspected it would prove to be my downfall.

  Although, forgetting it there was probably a good thing, any responding emergency crews would question my sanity after I called them.

  Yes, hello. Can you please come close my door, there’s a spatial anomaly that leads to the void of space and I can’t reach the doorknob.

  I wouldn’t believe me, so I doubt the operator would. They’d probably recommend me to the mental health ward.

  Not to mention the fine I’d receive for calling 9 1 1.

  Luckily, my bathroom is attached to my bedroom which would supply me with water for however long I’m stuck here, and the shower would let me wash my sticky root beer feet.

  That’s it! The shower! It’s where I get my best ideas!

  I went over and stood in the shower, fully clothed. Tapping my feet impatiently as the ideas refused to come to mind.

  “This isn’t working,” I said aloud, “I need to actually shower or the ideas won’t come to me.”

  So that’s what I did, without my usual musical concert, I set the temperature of the water then undressed, stepping into the tub. The water was warm, closer to a warm cup of coffee as I lather the shampoo like the bottle suggests. Massaging my scalp with care, so I don’t rip my own hair out by being too rough on it.

  I’m psyching myself out.

  Focus! If I can reach the door knob, I could close the door, but I’d be fighting with the vacuum of space.

  Would it pull me in along with any tool I use?

  Do I even have a tool to use in my bedroom?

  I could tie my sheets together to form a rope, but I’d need a lasso and I didn’t know how to tie those.

  Maybe I could use one of my bed slats to knock the doorknob towards me and close it from there?

  But if I am using force on an item that’s both in an atmosphere and the vacuum of space, what would that do to its structural integrity?

  I suppose it depends on the nature of the doorway, I assume it would act like water with some resistance but still be able to move things through it.

  Unforeseen circumstances be damned, I was going to close that door. I had several plans that could be tried so I rinsed off and dried myself, wrapping my towel around my body as I went to my wardrobe to pick out my clothes; a simple black and green baseball t-shirt with black jeans, seatbelt belt and a pink zip-up hoodie to complete the ensemble.

  Now onto the next step; tying these sheets together, which I did with the bunny ears method. Praying to whomever could hear me that the tensile strength of the linen can withstand the pull of the void.

  But what about my cat, Gizmo? I should leave a note in case Violet comes to check on me;

  Dear Violet, A strange door opened in my apartment and I’m attempting to close it, if you found this letter then chances are I’m either in the door or out for lunch. Please feed Gizmo.

  I left the letter on my bed before picking up the tied sheets to secure them to my bed frame. I applied a makeshift knot on the frame of my bed at the farthest point from the doorway. Then I tied it around my waist to secure myself to the atmospheric world of my room.

  With unsteady hands, I passed the bed slat through the doorway, applying minimal motion to test how much force was needed to redirect it as I waved it back and forth.

  It felt like stirring a big pot of pudding, the border of space and my room showed signs of stress with the wood beginning to crack under the pressure.

  I saw my best chance at closing the door near the bottom of the frame; if I could bump it with enough force, I may be able to close it.

  So I positioned the slat under the door and swung towards me, the slat collided with the door. Nudging it slightly but the force I applied to the slat proved to be quite difficult to pull back.

  The bed slat started to submerge fully into the doorway, my hand still holding onto it while the pull of the void started to tear me away from my bedroom.

  In my panic, I yanked on the bed sheet rope, hoping to tighten the knot and hold onto reality but my action reversed the makeshift knot I had tied, causing me to fall into the doorway to nowhere.

  I was thrashing in the void of space, feeling queasy at the lack of gravity. My legs kicking at the door, trying to hook onto the frame to pull myself in. Except I ended up kicking the door closed, leaving me in the vacuum with the bed sheet trailing behind me.

  I felt the air escape my lungs, the ice cold of the vacuum beginning to boil my blood. The best moments of my life passed by in the mad scramble before death and I began to lose consciousness, succumbing to the void one second then the next, I was sitting on something comfortable.

  I pat my surroundings to get a better sense of where I was; a cold surface met my anxious hands but my vision was still blinded from freezing in space. It was soft fabric behind me with more than an arms length on either side, it felt like a couch.

  I could smell lemon scented cleaning solution infused with the aroma of coffee, acidic to the eyes. My vision started to return and I saw a hanging neon sign.

  Welcome to After-Life!

  Please fill out the intake probability form and a representative of After-Life will be with you shortly.

  “Okay, that’s a bit odd...”

  Right? Bureaucracy and a representative in the After Life, I needed to get out of here, but I was sitting in the middle of an endless hallway. My surroundings were lit with fluorescent lights that loomed over my head.

  Staring upwards at them, I couldn’t tell if they were bulbs or tubes, but it was beginning to irritate my eyes, so I looked to the ground.

  Ground.

  Grounding, that’s what I’ll do.

  I sighed heavily to release some of my stress, centering myself in the moment when I felt a growing pressure against my brain.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “And now I have a headache,” I said to myself. “First the door leads to space, now I’m stuck in this waiting room of a hallway. This has to be an anxiety dream.”

  My eyes began to focus on the strange wallpaper of the room, it was decorated with infinity loops that were bordered by cascading hourglasses.

  I curiously poked the wallpaper with my finger, it reacted by rippling outwards, like a water droplet falling into more water. The ripples travelled and bounced off the edges of the ceiling, distorting more of my surroundings until I closed my eyes.

  Count to ten.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  Four. Five.

  Six.

  Seven.

  Eight.

  Nine.

  Ten.

  Now open your eyes.

  It was a regular wall again.

  I stood uneasily, noticing that my body feels lighter as I stepped towards the desk to pick up the intake form.

  “What am I supposed to do with this?”

  I held the form up in the air, but no one answered. I peeked behind the desk, leaning against the counter to get a better look only to find a sign that said;

  “Be back in Infinity”

  “That’s a long time to be away from the desk...”

  I remarked to myself before my head ached with the severity of a migraine, wincing as the sharp pain spread behind my eyes.

  I tried to turn my head to see if anyone had walked over to see me, but there was nobody. Just the silence of the hallway accompanied by an invisible pressure building up, pressing down on my body.

  I braced myself against the wall before I turned back to the intake form, finding the pain immediately began to fade into a dull ache as I pondered my answers, at least the form started with basic questions;

  What is your name?

  I never liked my birth name, it always felt like it was picked out of a magazine for new parents, so I picked one for myself that felt much cooler to me;

  Calisto (Cal for short)

  I continued writing in my illegible chicken scratch;

  Last known address?

  Canada, Earth, Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy

  The pain lessened with each pen stroke, never completely though. I could still feel its grip on my nervous system as if to warn me; if I went astray from the forms, the pain and discomfort would return.

  “Who is doing this?”

  I asked aloud but was fairly sure I was talking to myself.

  The next question began to feel pretty abstract;

  Have you tampered with any time streams?

  With cautionary tales across the fiction genres, tampering with time continues to be a big no.

  Again, the pain decreased but the questions got weirder.

  Have you encountered strange anomalies in the last 24 hours?

  I flipped to the last page, strangely finding that there was always just one more page left at the back.

  Even when I turned two pages back, I could only flip one page forward to reveal another page.

  I fiddled with the forms, going back and forth rapidly, when the lights began to hum. Rising in volume over 5 seconds before they burst, leaving me to stand in the middle of a dark endless hallway while the silence returned to me.

  I desperately searched for any sound but found none, which gave me a lingering sense of dread. The air around me froze, making my joints ache with the numbing sensation while my body burned like a kettle. Sweat started to bead against my brow and in my panic I flipped to the last page for relief, except the dread remained, it felt closer to me now.

  My body shivered as the dread grazed my very being but I couldn’t find the pen to start filling out the form. I pat down my body before scrambling on the floor to look for it.

  “Where’s that goddamn pen!” then it was there in my hand, prepared to continue writing as the lights turned on. No one stood in the hallway, everything stayed the same but my senses screamed danger. So I answered it’s question:

  A doorway to nowhere opened in my bedroom, I fell inside it.

  Upon looking at the form again, I could see there was an extra page at the back. I moved my fingers to the edge of the paper and turned to it;

  INCIDENT REPORT #137942

  Name Of Deceased: Calisto Talon

  Date Of Birth: March 17th, 1992

  Date Of Death: 16:35:07 on August 12th, 2025

  Location Of Death: UNKNOWN

  Summary Of Death: After a failed plan to close an anomalous door, Calisto fell into the void of space, dying within a minute.

  I stood there in bewilderment. If this really was the After Life, then I know for a fact that peace and tranquility for me would not equal paperwork in the middle of a lobby from the 1990’s.

  “I can take those papers for you, if you’re ready.”

  A new voice broke me out of my daze, I focused back on the present where a Gnome dressed in an After-Life uniform walked up to me. The uniform included black dress pants, a white button up shirt, one tie and a black vest.

  Whoever this Gnome was, they were dressed in style.

  “Um hello there.”

  I stared down at the Gnome.

  “Greetings, my name is Gned. That’s with a silent G.”

  The Gnome adjusted his tie then tapped a name tag on the jacket’s left breast pocket.

  “I’m the Reincarnation Representative in charge of your file today at After-Life.”

  Gned took several steps towards me, reaching out with his hand either for the intake form papers or a handshake.

  This was it. This must be what madness feels like.

  Just me, myself and a mythical gnome in a lobby.

  “Um, my name’s Cal. Short for Calisto”

  I shook Gned’s hand, he looked at me with confusion.

  “That’s a good shake, but I need your intake form.”

  Gned glanced at the papers in my hand, then up to me. My face was flushed with embarrassment, it was just like saying ‘you too’ when the waiter says ‘enjoy your meal.’

  “They tell us to ease you lot in, but I always found an upfront approach to yield the best results”

  Gned took the forms and began to read them.

  “I’m here to help you, Cal. It seems you...oh dear.”

  Gned held one hand up, snapping electricity out of his fingers as a door opened behind him.

  “Come along, we can sort out this whole mess in my office, do you like coffee?”

  I nodded then spoke, “Yes...please.”

  “You got it, I make the best cup of joe and you can thank me...a latte later.”

  Chuckling at his own joke, Gned stepped through the doorway while I stood at the frame looking in to see that the other side of the door was an office; with a single desk in the middle of the room with several chairs around an arcade table and a small kitchenette on the right side of the room.

  “Let’s go, I can’t have you wandering After-Life, unsupervised,” Gned waved for me to follow, so I did.

  He got to work setting the Arcade Table for coffee before we sat, I looked around the office to behold a mixture of knick-knacks, paraphernalia and books along the walls.

  It looked like a collector’s lair with everything in its own space, I didn’t know what to make of it or the Gnome.

  “I really need you to tell me this is all a dream.”

  “I’m sorry, Cal. This isn’t a dream.”

  Gned gave me a look of sincerity and empathy.

  “I’ll begin with the basics...you’re dead.”

  “Dead?”

  I stared at the arcade table in a daze, I assumed I had died but wasn’t ready to accept that as an outcome.

  “Yes, it was a rather unfortunate accident regarding spatial anomalies within your apartment.”

  I could feel the panic setting into my bones, shock taking the heat from my body while Gned poured coffee.

  “I shouldn’t have closed that door...I’d still be alive if I didn’t touch that damn door.”

  I pounded my fists into my lap in frustration, closing my eyes hard as tears welled up. Panicking would not be out of the question, so that’s what I started to do as I rocked in place. Arms hugged around my shins, hyperventilating to the rhythm of freestyle jazz.

  "This can't be real...my cat. I need to feed Gizmo."

  Death.

  “Whoa there, okay, breathe with me.”

  I was dead.

  “I don’t...want to...” I said between heaves of air passing through me, “I’m already...dead...”

  The panic started to take over my body. “Breathe with me or it won’t go away,” Gned began demonstrating how to do deep breathing;

  Breathe in for three seconds.

  Hold for three seconds.

  Breathe out for three seconds.

  Hold for three seconds.

  Repeat until calm.

  “Is that any better, Cal?” Gned asked.

  After a couple minutes of this, the panic began to settle which brought my consciousness back to the present.

  “Can you undo this? Can you take me back to my apartment? I just wanted to watch anime with my cat..."

  "Unfortunately, no. What happened to you is so rare we only have one infinity filing cabinet for cases like this.”

  My face felt devoid of blood, Gned glanced at me from behind their teacup to see I was paling in tone very rapidly as he hastily placed his coffee mug on the arcade table.

  “But not to worry, we can get you living a fulfilling life in no time, just need to find the right world.”

  Gned pulled several pamphlets out of his jacket, they fumbled holding onto them before they fell to the table.

  “What we've got in store for you here is not to be scoffed at! Believe me. I hand picked these gems myself."

  He began to shuffle through the many pamphlets, one after another in a frenzy while I sipped at my coffee.

  “Let’s see...too hot, too cold, much too wet... hmm...here! Reality 0634, it’s a cozy planet in the middle of it’s cottage core phase. You’ll get a cozy home with no virtual end to homemade pastries and friendly neighbours!”

  Gned tapped the pamphlet with vigor, placing it on my side of the arcade table.

  “You’d love it, friendly bakeries in every town and the transit system is completely free.”

  “I don’t want pastries and free bussing, I want MY cat!”

  I felt the frustration setting in, my body heating up while the anger consumed any moment of calm I had.

  “Okay, no pastries, let me see...uh, how about this?”

  Gned handed me a pamphlet for Reality 3475, it was littered with pictures of cats and cat related graphics.

  “This planet evolved from a feline species, they’ve even got trees that resemble giant scratching posts.”

  I silently placed the pamphlet onto the table.

  “Please...I don’t want to go to other realities, there has to be something...someone who can send me back.”

  My throat constricted around thorny vines while tears welled in my eyes. I hadn’t cried like this since my childhood, but I did my best to hold back the tears which only made those thorny vines dig deeper into my throat.

  “I truly feel for you but it’s not a good idea, Cal.”

  Gned handed me a tissue.

  “Why? What happens if I go back home?”

  Gned cleared their throat, picking up their coffee mug to take a long sip before lowering it near his lap.

  “It’s not pleasant, it’s actually a rather nasty predicament when you break the rules of reincarnation. Your essence will begin to unravel across time as you’re torn apart from the start of your life to the end.”

  Not pleasant was putting it lightly, although a fitting punishment for going breaking the rules of reincarnation.

  “Once they reach the end of the unravelling, the soul has gone through several stages of rampancy. That’s where you get your hauntings, poltergeists, spirits and monsters.”

  “That sounds horrible, does that happen to everyone?”

  “Fortunately not, only the ones who break the rules of reincarnation. So let’s pick a good world and send you on your way before you start to consider breaking those rules.”

  The silence between us was palpable, I could hear the steam emanating off of my coffee.

  “This really is the after life, then?”

  The Gnome looked to me with pity, but I didn’t want their pity or sympathies. I just wanted to go home and continue living my life with my cat and friends.

  They tossed the pamphlets into the air, where they disappeared with a puff of light as Gned took a deep breath.

  “There was a time we used to give second chances in the same world but it created a chaotic era in the multiverse when people started to remember who they used to be.”

  Gned waved his hand in the air, activating a hologram system built into the room as the universe began to form in a display of stardust and dazzling lights.

  “The realities with second-chance souls sowed discord and mayhem, creating individuals who would wage war with the Astral for control of the multiverse.”

  Another wave of Gned’s hand and more universes formed within their own bubbles, bouncing against one another.

  “For eons, those realities persisted with their campaigns of domination. Even when one fell to the will of the multiverse, they refused to stop. The would-be conquerors were relentless once they were aware of their rebirth.”

  Bubbles of individual universes collided with one another in explosive reactions, forming bonded realities where the dominant bubble slowly absorbed the other.

  “Entire realities were obliterated in the pursuit of control, there was no mercy. No matter how many were cleansed by the will of the multiverse, more would appear within the next million years.”

  “But cross-over stories are always so much fun, there has to be a reality where it worked.”

  “They always end in disaster though, the balance of the universe is much too important to let that happen so we created After-Life, where we help souls to their next life in the nearest optimal reality. Without our work here, we’d be stuck in chaos for eternity.”

  Gned lowered his hand, the hologram following suit as the star dust faded back into the wall.

  “Then how do you tell who goes where?”

  “The Intake Form, there’s a reason we hand it out to everyone who comes here. It tailors itself to your time stream and sorts you based on your answers.”

  “Like a bureaucratic hat that sorts people into factions? That’s kind of cool.”

  “I know, right? It was my idea.”

  I had to ponder the new information, it sounded like magic but I remember hearing that magic is just science we haven’t achieved yet. Could a form really sort out probability from my answers to find an ideal world?

  “Then what about mine? You’ve been showing me other worlds, what did the form find for me?”

  Gned gave me a pamphlet that explained the company and its mission, goals and track record.

  “Like I said earlier, what happened to you has rarely happened throughout time. So I wanted to give you some options and a little something extra.”

  “Oh nice, a consolation prize for dying.”

  “Don’t be cheeky, you’re going to love what we’ve got in store for you.”

  Gned got up from his chair and motioned me to follow. With another snap of his fingers, a new door appeared out of the floor, rising up to show another room; at the base of the room was a single console, jutting up from the floor on a pedestal with basic controls.

  The room we walked into was lined with deep dark space. The walls twinkled and shimmered before becoming transparent to reveal a massive structure floating in space.

  The Cosmic Gyroscope, the main headquarters of After-Life, it was made of massive metallic rings, the smallest being roughly the size of a football field while the largest were the length of Central Park in New York City.

  The rings rotated around a core that shifted between colours, while spinning along its axis to simulate gravity.

  “Whoa, what is this place?”

  The floor shined like black tiles but below them were the twinkling of stars, their light lit up the room. I could see webs of stardust reaching for the core of the Cosmic Gyroscope, my mouth must have been open the whole time because Gned looked amused.

  “This is the Control Room where we send special cases like you off with a little extra gift.”

  He motioned with his hands to create a portal in the floor at the center of the room, it started as a puddle made of void and light, buzzing to the sound of harmonic frequencies.

  Slowly, the portal formed by filling with a fluid of stars, shaping itself with the tendrils of stardust that formed a rectangle in the ground.

  “Is it a way home?”

  I asked while my eyes were lost in the void of the portal.

  “No, it’s something we call ‘The System’ and it’s going to change your next life in ways you’d never imagine.”

  Gned held out his hand to reveal a small 4 pointed star badge, he motioned me to pick it up and I had to admit a curiosity to the object so I took it.

  “H-how does it work? What do I do with it?” I examined the badge from all angles, it was smooth metal that shined with iridescent light.

  “You’ll hold onto it when you hop through the portal, it’ll bond to you during the rebirth process. When you awaken in your new life you’ll have the ability to see your stats and interact with the world in ways no one else has before.”

  I didn’t know what to think, I was still on the fence about this being a dream but when all your choices are bad, you take the one with the least suffering. This just may be the one choice that’ll help me in my next life.

  “So are you going to take it?”

  It was an awkward thirty seconds before I answered.

  “I don’t know. I’d probably go mad trying to use the System if no one else has it.”

  A smile formed on Gned’s face.

  “Well you’re in luck, it’s got a built in tutorial, training programs and a decent amount of information about the world to help you navigate wherever you end up next.”

  “I still don’t know if I want that kind of power, what if it corrupts me?”

  Gned’s hands shifted in the air, phasing through stardust as the portal began to shift with the gyroscope.

  “This is a reality where magic is for everyone, you just have to work for it and with the system, you’ll make short work of it.”

  That almost sounded too good to be perfect.

  “...Can I choose what I’ll look like?”

  The idea of deciding how I look was a constant fantasy of mine growing up, and now I can do that for the next me to be born in the multiverse.

  “There are options for that, all you have to do is jump on through the portal but be sure this is the one you want. You can’t come back here unless you die again.”

  “Pretty straight forward, hop in, customize, be reborn.”

  Boom!

  An explosion rocked the Gyroscope, outside there were several unknown ships beginning to drill into one of the rings.

  Gned placed their finger below their ear, it clicked.

  “This is Gned, reporting an attack on Cosmic Ring 9, requesting security, we have unassigned souls aboard.”

  Another explosion caused me to stumble slightly.

  “Whoa! That was close, who’s attac-”

  That was when Gned fell against me, holding out his hand to brace himself while pushing me into the portal.

  “Oh! I didn’t mean to do that!”

  That was the last thing I heard before the bright light of the portal flooded over my vision with cold, dark energy.