“S-SHIT!”

  Rodent twirled and spun in zero gravity. He was inside a translucent beam blasting him forward. Outside of it, bright white space loomed. There were colourful swirls larger than vision, seeming both close and light-years away.

  They seemed like clouds, and within their cloudy depths, unknown things twinkled.

  But Rodent wasn’t taken aback by all that.

  Instead, what stole his breath was the ring in front of him, always out of his grasp as he reached for it. This caused him to flip in zero gravity. But it never stopped him from reaching for it.

  “P-Please,” he spoke, uncaring about everything else, trying to extend himself further—feeling the skin on his fingertips come within millimetres of the ring. “Please!”

  The beam curved and swirled and rose and dropped. Rodent felt thrown and whipped but never lost sight of the ring. Always, he was trying, straining himself greatly for the ring—even as his vision blurred and his lungs burned.

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  The beam connected to a great swirl, passing into a wisp obscuring everything, darkness surrounding the man. Even here, he reached for the ring, feeling like he was about to enter something. He stopped for a second, consumed with the fear of forever losing that ring.

  ‘Promise… you won’t forget me.’

  Rodent winced, calming down, closing his eyes and enduring the pain. There was a tear he tried to suppress, but it rolled freely down his cheek. Composing himself, he did not care about the speed at which he was thrust or how unbelievable everything around him was.

  Instead, he reached for the ring again, gently and fully, searching through the empty space as a small white light fizzled from his fingertips. That same light appeared on the ring, though a different, lighter shade.

  The lights connected and drew closer together, and Rodent relaxed his body and submitted to what happened next. He felt the ring float into his hand, which slowly closed around it.

  From there, in a darkness so great that one could not tell if their eyes were open, the man drew his closed hand to his chest, his second hand clasping his first, curling into himself as he accepted this as his final embrace.

  Just then, he passed through something.

  And suddenly… was underwater.