Fallen Lotus: The Legends of Xiao Xue

Chapter One: Samsara

The Afterlife,

Samsara.

...

Chris' eyes snapped open. His confused gaze stared out at the 'sky' before of him. The vastness took the appearance of a grey cloudy void. The atmosphere stifling. Oppressive.

"What the—" he groaned as he sat up. Chris did not know why, but he felt somewhat odd. Everything felt somewhat odd.

It was then he noticed the first problem.

He was mute.

"..."

Well, not mute per se. He was aware he just spoke. He could still hear the words he said. But only in his head. Mentally.

"..."

Well, that isn't speaking, Chris thought to himself. I am just having an internal dialogue like I always do... Well, that sounded pathetic.

"..."

Again, Chris tried speaking audibly. No results. It was then noticed the second problem, or rather a host of additional problems.

To start, he also couldn't hear anything. As in, anything. From the tapping of his feet on the glossy grey, mirror-smooth floor to the raging flow of the ethereal river running overhead in the sky. It was all silent.

It was almost as if someone put the entire world on mute. Or maybe, he was just deaf and couldn't hear the words he spoke. He could also be dumb and couldn't speak in addition to being deaf and would now have to live with disabilities for the rest of his uneventful life.

Well, that would be quite unfortunate...

Chris wasn't sure for certain which was which, or even how to deal with the possibility of that situation. But one thing he was completely certain of was the fact that the silence was unnerving. Very unnerving.

As for the second issue.

I think I am lost... Chris trailed off—clearly given up on speaking out loud—as he gazed at the grey featureless expanse laid before him. Except for the phantasmal river overhead, a floating 'pearl' that glowed with a dim, crimson, smouldering intensity beside him and the giant 'thingy' suspended in the sky distance, several hundred miles away, there was nothing else notable to be seen.

Oh, and my body appears to be semi-transparent now. That's new. Chris mused.

"..."

I must be seeing things, he said to himself. It must be the light. Hmm... it's definitely the light.

Chris shook his head, dismissing that line of thought. He looked around, trying to rationalise what any of this was all about.

Last, I remember, I had this major migraine coming on and was on my way to refill on my Excedrin when...

Chris froze, trailing off. His gaze snapped to the floating 'pearl', fixating itself blankly at the object for a few moments.

Oh... he deadpanned.

He turned away from the pearl, also promptly ignoring it in favour of examining the 'thingy' hanging in the sky. He appeared to be quite adept at ignoring things that he couldn't understand or bothered him.

The strange celestial object looked like a giant metallic ring with six internally tangent rings jointly intersecting at the bottom. The phantasmal river ended in a 'waterfall' that slashed vertically through the rings intersect.