Then he noticed the persistent pain he’d been experiencing was gone.


    no focal points to indicate if he was moving at all. “Hello?” Ryan asked, his voice sounding strange to his own ears, “Who’s there?”


    Nothingness exploded into blinding white light. A pulsating purple tear in reality opened in front of him and from beyond the fissure darkness came rushing in again, this time bringing with it colored speckles and a dull roar of sound. The sudden torrent of blackness flowed past him, slowing and churning into masses of colorful stars and shining galactic filaments. It was like watching the Big Bang at the start of the universe. Clusters of nebulae and swirling galaxies coalesced in the distance. As the celestial river flowed past him Orion’s body became a glowing constellation of stars, giving him a vague humanoid shape. Comets trailed beneath his translucent feet and an asteroid belt detached itself from a passing solar system to orbit lazily around his head. Free floating in the depths of space surrounded by a tapestry of vibrant colors, Orion Starbeard was birthed by the cosmos.


    Orion felt like he should say something profound to mark the occasion.


    “


    Yes, that felt sufficiently grandiose.


    Stolen story; please report.


    enough, you know? Like I’m gaslighting myself into being something I’m not.”