Fenris

The crew watched their bodies drift amongst the wreckage of the Khonsu 0. They had hit a gravity mine during the operation and their ship, their home, was ripped to shreds. But they had done their part. The small, sandy planet in the system was safe from what preyed upon it. Fenris had been shackled and plunged into the red giant, their prison for the next billion years.

We died.

Nonsense, we’re still here.

Then explain our bodies over there.

Oh. I don’t understand this.

We died.

But how am I here and my body there?

At that moment, a being appeared beside them. They were clothed in prismatic plasma and a multitude of galaxies crowned their head. The crew was not surprised and felt enveloped by warmth.

Well done, Good and Faithful.

I suppose this is the end.

You are mistaken. It is the beginning.

That’s what you said when we first met.

And it is still true.

We are dead!

Then how do you speak to me now?

The crew had no answer. Come, Said the being and guided them to a black hole. When they arrived and stood upon the accretion disk, they realized their consciousness had been formed into new bodies. Their guide pointed at the fathomless abyss and said, The way is open. A veil was pulled from their eyes, and what they saw confounded their understanding. Their minds mercifully simplified the sight into the shape of a doorway. And the guide beckoned them through it.