U is for Ultimatum

When I started this journey I never expected to have death in the palm of my hand. Then again, I never expected to be dead either. It’s been three days. Three days during which I died, grieved for family and friends forever lost to me, met new friends, searched for Wisp’s family and nearly destroyed my own brother. So you could say I’ve been a bit busy. Oh, and then I found out I was dying again.
Jonathan, Wisp, and I sat in silence after Jonathan announced that we were all destined for the void. I searched deep within my mind and discovered that my initial reaction was accurate: I’d rather be dead. I’d rather be so dead that I was non-existent. If it came to it I’d take hell over the void. I’d take any of them because anything is better than nothing. If you doubt that then you haven’t experienced true nothing. Endless, unforgiving nothing. Not black, not white; nothing. It is the stuff of utter insanity.
‘So, what can we do?’ I asked Jonathan and then repeated to Wisp. I waited for a moment until both came into my head and scrambled each other’s messages as though someone had written statements over each other on a whiteboard. Wisp had started first so the fine, feathered writing Wisp projected was overwritten by Jonathan’s bold copperplate which reminded me of old German newspaper.
‘There is one thing we could do. It rarely works but we could try.’
‘I’m willing to try anything. What do we have to do?’
‘Before we discuss what we will do we should assess the ramifications. Both of you need to understand that our only way out of the void may not be any more palatable than the place we are leaving—‘
‘Surely anything—‘ I interrupted only to be interrupted again.
‘Sssh! Let Jonathan speak.’ Wisp implored.
‘We could challenge Death.’
‘Death? As in the guy from Bill and Ted?’ I asked.
‘No. Death, as in the one who decides our fate.’
‘Well, the worst he could do is send us to the void and we’re already destined for that.’
‘No, that is not the worst. With Death you get two options and, you must understand that neither are good. You can either submit yourself to the eternal void or allow Death to look into your mind. That is the ultimatum.’