—— ? ——

  So, what do we know?

  Simon thought, once he’d calmed down.

  The voice had been silent since he had screamed at the heavens.

  This was most likely heaven, or hell… or an afterlife? It definitely wasn’t part of his brain, that was for sure. He knew that without a shadow of a doubt.

  Alien abduction?

  No... the voice was external. Something outside of himself.

  That, at least, gave him a small comfort. Dying facedown in a hospital basement, drooling on the floor, was probably off the table.

  The silence was a bit unnerving.

  “I can talk more if it would put you more at ease.”...It also could read his thoughts.

  That felt gross.

  You always saw these kind of abilities in movies and comics, but Simon had never considered how it would feel to be on the receiving end.

  He hated it.

  “Unfortunately, I cannot stop listening to your thoughts. Sorry.”

  He hated it even more.

  Simon glared at the ceiling. Assuming that was where the voice was coming from. What was it with strange voices making humans stare at the sky, anyway?

  He bet this guy… girl…? Thing? was totally the reason that little human quirk was a thing.

  “I am not,” the voice stated.

  That's totally what someone responsible would say.

  Stupid voice in the sky.

  Hate you.

  “You don’t have questions for me?”

  Simon stopped glaring at the void.

  Instead, he began to practice the meditation techniques he'd learned so long ago.

  He would embrace the void. Empty his mind. No random thoughts. No distractions. He was empty, and the world was empty with him.

  He began to smile to himself. There was a zen to nothing's embrace. Just don’t think of big pink elephants or anything stupid, and let it all go.

  Simon stopped smiling.

  There was a big pink elephant in front of him.

  Determined, he shut his eyes.

  Fuck you, voice.

  Now, the big pink elephant was in his eyelids. This was officially one of the strangest experiences of his life.

  Like he was tripping on mushrooms, and no matter how tightly his eyes squeezed shut, all he could see were big pink elephants.

  “Does this make you happy?” Simon muttered angrily.

  “It is amusing for sure.”

  “Now I kind of wish I was in a coma. You suck.”

  “But not as much as--”

  “Don’t you dare. That's my thing, not yours, you can fuck right off to wherever you came from.”

  Simon snapped, his eyes flying open.

  The big pink elephant was gone.

  Simon was dumbfounded. He somehow knew that the voice had just shrugged. How he knew that was even more infuriating than anything else.

  Resigning himself to fate, Simon finally asked:

  “Alright then. Since I can’t make you leave, and you seem to know what I am thinking and won’t leave me alone. Want to answer my first question?”

  As soon as he asked, Simon could feel the voice was pleased with him. Yeah, that was worse.

  “Also," he added quickly, "whatever you are doing with the feelings or crap, knock it off. I can’t tell you how weird it is to know how the voice in the sky is feeling.’”

  A moment went by, and there was no emotional feedback in Simon’s head.

  “Better?”

  “Sure.”

  Another pause.

  “Aren’t you like a higher being or something? Why does it take you so long to respond?” Simon muttered.

  He was starting to get annoyed.

  Again.

  “In my experience, it’s better to wait to let emotions settle before continuing.” The voice stated confidently.

  “Who ever taught you that sucks.”

  Silence.

  More anger from Simon.

  More silence.

  Extra rage from Simon.

  This went back and forth. Simon was distinctly aware that, whoever this being was, they could hear his thoughts, feel his emotions, and pretty much everything that should have been sacred.

  It was an annoying itch that seemed to scratch at the core of his being.

  He wasn't entirely sure why it bothered him so much.

  Well...

  Maybe that wasn't true.

  Most of his life, he'd lived without some god, spirit, or cosmic whatever watching over it. If anything it had always felt like the opposite.

  Shit just happened.

  Simon dealt with it.

  More shit happened.

  Simon dealt with that too.

  Everything he had, everything he'd made of himself, came from being independent and his own hard work.

  ...And this situation?

  It felt way to close to the time he had considered signing up with the military. At the time he had come to a conclusion that was echoed now.

  He hated the idea of having someone or something watching over his shoulder.

  Also!

  Where were these cosmic beings when he was lying in that hospital, gritting his teeth in pain as his body slowly healed?

  Where were they when he was looking for loose change just to pay his rent? Searching for a job that wouldn't suck the life out of him?

  Where was the cosmic help when… the loneliness crept in, and the whole damn world faded to grayscale?

  Damnit. This still sucked.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  But... there was a silver lining to this mess!

  He could make it suck for the peeping Tom… Sally… whatever, whoever was now very intimately aware of everything that made up Simon.

  Or at least, his current thoughts.

  Simon grinned and settled into a lotus position. He never really gotten into yoga, but right now, it just felt good. The being would know he didn't actually care about any of this.

  It was just pure spite.

  That would work for him.

  The silence dragged on. Simon focused.

  He knew of one thing that he could fixate on that his cosmic eavesdropper probably hadn't encountered: the dull gray.

  Let’s see who would talk first.

  What felt like hours drifted by.

  Turns out, voices in the sky could get impatient.

  “Simon, aren’t you the least bit curious where you are, or what is happening?”

  Simon remained silent, eyes closed focusing on that gray void that had become an unwelcome but old friend.

  “While your defiance is... cute, you can’t simply withdraw from reality. Events will proceed with or without you, regardless of your choice to spurn my help.”

  Silence.

  “Reckless mortal,” The voice scoffed.

  Now, this was the moment Simon had been waiting for.

  “In my experience," Simon replied. "it’s better to wait to let emotions settle before continuing.”

  He could feel the voice's annoyance.

  Score one for the reckless mortal!

  Still... no sense in pushing things to far.

  No need to completely piss off the only thing in this place that could talk back.

  Simon sighed and broke the next long silence.

  “Alright, maybe we got off on the wrong foot here. Wait--do you have feet? Actually, I should probably avoid slang when talking with you. But let’s do this right. My name is Simon. Simon Galfen.”

  After a brief pause, the voice replied.

  “Perhaps you should.”

  Pause.

  “I do and do not have feet. It’s... more complicated when it comes to beings such as me.”

  “Do and don’t? Now that’s just confusing. Do you have a name? And what do you mean, a being such as you? What are you?” Simon asked, curiosity growing.

  “My name is also complicated. Some call me The Lamp, the God of Guidance, Glint... and a dozen other names. Although, I am more a shadow of that god.”

  Simon thought for a moment.

  “Glint sounds the easiest to say. Hello Glint.”

  The voice seemed to smile at his response.

  “Oh man. Glint, you’ve got to stop doing that. God-thing or whatever, it’s just weird. Imagine how you’d feel having waves of emotion crash into your mind.” Simon frowned.

  Glint seemed to consider this, then a small pale-blue flame appeared in the air in front of Simon, causing him to take a step back. It continued to float.

  The flame was teardrop-shaped and gently flickering. A warm, comforting presence radiated from it.

  Two large magical eyes blinked open near the base, staring at Simon.

  “How about this?” Glint's voice now came from the flame itself, no longer echoing from everywhere.

  Simon blinked, then instinctively stepped to the side. The flame rotated, keeping its gaze on him. He stepped the other way. Still tracking.

  He circled it. The eyes followed smoothly the entire time.

  “Well... nice to see you, I guess. Can you hit me with feeling thing you have been doing?"

  Glints eyes raised and little eyebrows appeared over them.

  It actually looked… cute.

  “Better?” Glint asked, it's eyes and voice soft.

  “Much better. Why didn’t you just show up like this to begin with?”

  “From my experience... some individuals, when first integrated into the system, react poorly. Some even try to, shall we say... turn me off? This whole experience can trigger violent tendencies."

  This made Simon pause. What was it this little thing had said earlier?

  “Okay, so you said earlier that you were a shadow. Care to explain that? And this whole... integrating thing?”

  Glint's eyes seemed to ponder for a couple of moments, and the fire pulsed as he focused

  This was so much better than a random voice in the sky.

  “'Shadow of a god' is the best term. Some would call it an avatar or a fragment. Clone works as well, although that implies I'm merely a copy. I am Glint, but I am also not. This is how most gods tend to deal with splitting their focus across multiple dimensions or tasks. Which brings us to your next question, and the reason I am a shadow. The integration. There is an entity most call the System. It has just reached into your universe and pulled it into the lattice. You may remember the moment this occurred before you woke up here.”

  Simon thought back.

  The ride to work.

  A pointless meeting where everyone did nothing, but insisted they were also far too busy.

  Crossing the hospital to that cold, dimly lit room with the old computer.

  Then... dinging sounds.. and the strange screen that had appeared.

  “Yes, that's it! Your first notification from the system.” Glint said, clearly having read the memory.

  “Glint. Stop that. I know you said you can’t stop reading my thoughts, but maybe don’t respond to my internal dialogue, alright?” Simon chastised the strange flame.

  The sad puppy-dog eyes Glint made were absurdly cute. Simon scowled.

  “So... that was the System?” he asked aloud.

  “Yes.”

  “What was with the strange freeze? I couldn’t move, and the whole world seemed to... stop,” Simon asked

  Glint’s eyes got a bit shifty before it slowly responded.

  “That… is a safety feature the System has adopted. I should preface that anything regarding the System is mostly outside of my knowledge. I’m new to working with it in this capacity. The System itself is constantly evolving and growing, even now. Some stories claim that long ago, it would simply pull a new realm into its lattice and adapt everything at once, in a single moment. That method... could have disastrous side effects."

  Glint looked curiously at Simon.

  "Your planet, earth, for example. It has methods of accelerating travel through propulsion vehicles, correct?"

  “You mean cars and planes?”

  “Right those! From the stories I have heard, early integrations contained worlds that had similar vehicles. When the System first integrates a realm, certain rules become… fuzzy. And people operating those vehicles often struggle when a System prompt suddenly appears, or... the vehicles fail."

  “Makes sense,” Simon replied. “So what is it, then? The System?” He asked seriously.

  Glint seemed to drift in thought for several moments. It was interesting to Simon to see this new type of 'body' language.

  “To be honest? No one fully knows. Maybe there are some beings that do. But I haven’t heard much. The System simply is.”

  Simon let that sink in. The System simply is. There had to be more Glint wasn’t saying, but as he looked at those big eyes floating in the flame, he sensed it was telling the truth.

  Or at least, he couldn't prove otherwise.

  For now.

  “Alright then... So, what is this area that we're in?” Simon said, gesturing at the endless void around them.

  “This is an integration room. You were moved here while the System works on completing the integration of your realm.”

  Simon raised an eyebrow at the cute teardrop.

  “You keep calling it my realm. You mean Earth?”

  “Yes, Earth is part of the realm. But no, the 'realm' is the universe that your planet resides in. It's a bit of a simplification, but that is the best way I have found to explain it.”

  “So… the System teleported me here. That prompt made it sound like it was more than just me.”

  “Of course. Every thinking being was moved into this holding realm until the System finishes.”

  “Finishes with…”

  “Integrating.”

  Simon sighed. He was starting to notice a pattern. So far, Glint had been answering his questions... but not really. He was giving information while also dodging what Simon wanted to know.

  “I know you said not to respond to thoughts, but you are correct." Glint said, "I do have guidelines about what I can and cannot tell you. So far, we haven’t really touched anything I wouldn't be able to share.”

  Simon nodded, appreciating the answer.

  But still annoyed.

  “Leads me to a follow-up question to that. Why can’t you tell me? Or can you tell me roughly what I shouldn’t ask?” Simon asked, looking deeply at the flame.

  “This is one of the peculiar things with the System. Most integrations are unique, but since it changes and evolves, it tends to try new things as it pulls in new realms. That is about the extent of what I can say.”

  Another dodge.

  “Alright, fine. Let's change topics. You said everyone is being held here; from what I see, it’s just you and me.”

  “Correct.”

  “So, where is everyone else?”

  “Here.”

  Simon stared at the flame, squinting. The damn thing’s big, cute eyes looked like it was smiling at him.

  He sighed.

  “Okay... so everyone is here, but not here with me. I’m assuming you can’t tell me about anyone in particular?”

  “They are all safe.”

  “I see.”

  “Well, you can’t actually.”

  Simon rolled his eyes.

  “You seem to be in a better mood,” he said, starting to sit down on the floor, only to find a chair had somehow materialized beneath him. A perfectly comfortable white chair.

  He settled into it, surprised.

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. And of course, I’m in a better mood. l’m doing my job now, and you seem to be adjusting,” Glint replied excitedly, lowering itself into... A new... chair?.

  Calling it a chair wouldn’t be correct. It could better be described as the bottom half of a stone lantern. Glint settled into its center and sighed contentedly.

  “So... do we have long to talk? How long will we be here?” Simon asked, leaning back in his chair. “Also... can I keep this chair? Ten out of ten for comfort.”

  Glint's large eyes gleamed.

  “Well, how much time we have is... relative? Time during integration is best described as strange. Also, no, you can’t keep anything from here. But I agree, these integration rooms contain some of the most fascinating things from across the realms.”

  That caught Simon’s attention.

  Realms, plural?

  “How many realms are there?”

  “Many.”

  Simon gave the flame an annoyed look.

  "Care to elaborate?"

  Glint just smiled, this body flickering with happy waves.

  Once again, Glint was and wasn’t going to answer.

  Simon sighed.

  This was going to be a long day.

  —— ? ——