Known Afterlife (The Provider Trilogy: Volume I)

by Trey Copeland

  Chapter 5

  Repulsed by his dormancy, Steffor longed for the sleek forearm breaking the mercurial surface. But he hesitated, reluctant to leave his nurturing oasis, fighting the impulse to grab hold of the outstretched hand groping for his being. Immersed in an ocean of spiritual unity, barren of individual thought or emotion, the swirling depths below beckoned him to stay.

  I have been here before, many lifetimes ago. This I am certain. But I chose to depart from this plane of existence. So why have I returned?

  Not only had he chose to return but did so with reckless abandon, as if a child jumping into a knot pond on a hot summer's day. Erased from memory was the means in which he arrived but the unanswered question as to why he came back at all prevented his second departure. Why, without hesitation, did he trade his identity to merge with this formless nirvana?

  The gaseous plane, inhabited by beings of amber light, diffused into a blissful whole, had revived his soul with its simple but abundant energy. But the ability to distinguish his being from the ignorant yet blissful mass had waned. It was time to leave, to return from where he had been, and instinct screamed the flailing arm before him was his one shot at escape.

  He took one last pull of the sweet energy, stretched the limits of his willpower and grasped the slender forearm. With one assertive motion, his rescuer pulled him free.