Chapter 1: Where Am I?
Jack hated this section of the trail. In front of him was a massive rhododendron bush. To his left was a steep bush choked up-slope, and to his right was a steep down-slope covered in loose dirt and gravel. The trail used to pass around the bush on the downslope side, but that section of slope had eroded and was now impassable. The only way forward was to pass through the bush by stepping from root to root, hanging onto the branches for balance.
He really didn't want to risk it, but he didn't have a choice. The way home was in front of him, through the bush, and behind him was hundreds if miles of wilderness trail. The only reason he'd braved the damn thing on the way to Lake Valhalla was because of his promise to Fran, so now he was stuck risking it again.
He sighed. It wasn't that bad. He just needed to go slow and be careful. So, he grabbed a branch and began crab-crawling through the bush, stepping from root to root, holding branches as he went, trying not to think about the long fall down a steep slope if he lost his balance. He was halfway through, reaching for a branch with his right hand, when his vision went black.
Oh shit, am I going blind?!
In a panic, he clutched at the branch he was holding in his left hand while his right hand flailed about, reaching for a branch, any branch. Yet his clutching hands felt nothing. The realization sent a spike of fear through him and he cried out, flailing his arms, trying to grasp anything.
Even as he tried to flail and scream, nothing happened. His arms didn't flail because he had no arms, and he didn't scream because he had no lungs. He was bodyless, floating in a void. Not a starry void, like the depths of outer space, but an empty void, like a blank universe devoid of all matter and energy.
His initial panic dissipated into the nothingness before he could even think to try a second breath, and soothing calm replaced his panic. The sudden transition from panic to calm should have been jarring, but it wasn't. One moment he was feeling panicked fear that he was falling to his death, the next he was calm, like floating bodyless in a void was just another Tuesday.
Did I die? He wondered. Is this the start of my afterlife? Now what? Was he awaiting judgement? Was he stuck in limbo? Would he be isekai'ed? Since he didn't have lungs or a mouth, he tried mentally yelling into the void.
HELLO? ANYONE? GOD? ADMINISTRATOR? TRUCK-KUN?