(( @quantumstarpaths Reply in your own time, and I am very excited for this thread!! ))
Elnor had always imagined that, if it was real, the afterlife would at least resemble the stories he had heard about it. If he was damned, it was the ashes of Areinnye and the smoking pits of frozen Erebus. If he had honor--and he hoped he did--he imagined an oasis in a desert, not too unlike Vashti, with clear, cool water, and familiar faces. He imagined warmth and light and coming home, as he had experienced with the Orb of the Prophets he and Raffi had encountered.
He had not imagined a storm-wracked wilderness of fungal trees, glowing vividly with blues, violets, and pinks. Motes drifted in the air like sparkling stars, swirling as if he walked underwater, or in a breeze he could see but not feel. When they touched his skin, they hurt. He was whole, somewhat, and able to explore. The only rivers he could find were filled with the same sparkling stuff, tasted horrible, and burned his lips. It was neither hot nor cold. He supposed a poet could describe it as an ash-pit or a desert. It reminded him of space. It was beautiful.
It was also lonely. There were no hellbeasts, no khalagu, no demon-gods, no other lost katra but his own. So he began to talk to himself.
"... I don't know where I am. I don't know where I'm supposed to go. I don't like this place..." He stopped to scrape another swarm of the motes from his skin, hissing as he saw the green burns across his hands. "... It's beautiful, but I really, really hate it. I miss Raffi..."
Not just Raffi. He missed everyone else, too. But thinking about that hurt, so he kept walking... and walking... and walking... until--
He found IT. A starship. A Federation starship. An old starship. A massive starship. His training told him it was at least 23rd Century. He stared at it for a while, ignoring the stinging motes. "Why are you here?"
