Exploded stood on a hard, black surface. It sucked the warmth from his body, and a cold emptiness was what remained. He shivered.

Around him was darkness, stretching infinitely in all directions. A strange, sharp certainty knifed into him, and he knew that there was no end to this place.

He strode purposefully forwards – there was something he had to do. That he must do. He didn’t have a choice. But a thought drifted across his mind. What did he have to do? Strange that he didn’t know it. A seed of doubt sprouted in his mind, and he began to feel strange, as if torn between two extremes. But a sudden purpose filled him, one that he would fulfill. No matter what.

A burst of scattered light interrupted the darkness, reflecting and refracting the darkness, like thousands of tiny, angled mirrors, amplifying the nothingness. They came to together, melding into each other, to form the image of a twisting mass of… he turned away quickly and continued moving.He would not be distracted.

He stopped abruptly, with a flash of annoyance quickly turning into fear. All around him, the cold surface crumbled into nothing, falling forever into a void of darkness. But underneath his talons, the surface remained in a perfect circle around him. It expanded forwards, twisting and curving, creating a pathway. The only path he would follow.

He stepped forwards more quickly, towards whatever – no, wherever. With the same sharp certainty, he knew he was going to someplace, not to something.

He walked for some time – how long, he didn’t know. Time seemed to change, to fold and twist around him. Seconds felt like hours, but hours passed as seconds – but none of this mattered. What mattered was IT.

Exploded paused – a soft, almost imperceptible noise whispered through the darkness, and was gone. As it brushed his ears, a sudden fear spiked inside of him, but he resolutely pushed on. The sound drifted back, an evil hissing, filled with a deep, terrible hate, intertwined with fury. The fear crescendoed, roiling inside of him, but it would not hinder him. He would not let it. He would not stop.

The sound did not disappear, but increased in its wrath. In turn, he increased his pace, urgency flooding him, and he broke into a run.

All at once, Exploded stopped with the shock of the sharp certainty which slammed into him. He was here. And IT was here with him.

Exploded was thrown through the darkness, the surface, and he was torn. Cold and ice gouged through his body, spearing through his heart, his mind, taking his memories, all that was him. Pulling who he was from his essence, from his very being, and Exploded knew pain.

Light enveloped his vision. Glorious, warm, welcoming light, light that sung of life, of hope, and of happiness. And Exploded awoke.