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The bone had been magicked; the mansion had contained it. There were people who could manipulate energy. These crows had a supernatural bent as well; I could tell. While this wasn’t the death I imagined for myself, the universe seemed to have taken at least a little bit of my desires into consideration.

The energy to keep fighting quickly waned. It didn’t make sense to die from a sprained ankle, but it seemed like something else was at work here. It felt like my energy, my lifeforce, was being sucked away by the ground itself as if it hungered for my very blood.

There was no reason for me to stay here, so I closed my eyes, letting myself slip away.

It wasn’t that I was self-destructive or suicidal, I’d never really suffered from depression or had a so-called death wish. Simply put, I was just done and ready to do something else. Move on to the next thing—whatever that was.

I didn’t hate myself or anything about me, and I thought I was pretty cool. My self-esteem was intact. It was purely time to do something else.

Sure, I bemoaned the fact I didn’t have anyone, but I’d been doing just fine on my own. The only thing I’d used to fill the void was my habits, and I would just have to accept that finding my inheritance wasn’t meant to be. Maybe it was gone? For all I knew, someone else had found it, and I was never going to hold it in my hand. The thought of that hurt so much, but what could I do?

I could leave.

The sensation was like that of falling into a bed of feathers, combined with a rush of wind. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but neither was it reassuring. I’d never felt anything like it other than maybe when I’d had my waking dreams.

Sure enough, I landed with a start, and the sensation of bouncing off the ground.

The first thing I noticed was that my ankle didn’t hurt anymore. Actually, nothing hurt. I would have to examine my foot but first, I needed to get away from the oversized ants.

They had to be about three inches long, and they looked like they could do some damage. I rolled over and pushed myself up off the ground, brushing one of the insects away with a soft yelp. Where the hell was I?

The ground appeared to consist of more sand than dirt, although as I continued to brush myself off, I contributed to a healthier soil. I was filthy.

After I put some space between myself and the weird bugs, I scanned the landscape. I was in a meadow, tufted with clumps of grass and wildflowers. In the distance on one side lay a forest and in the other direction, possibly a desert. A strange, orange-tinted fog slowly wafted above the trees and hung in the air way above my head. Despite the mist, the air felt and appeared clearer than what I was used to and when I concentrated on it, I could have sworn I saw a city full of skyscrapers far, far away on the horizon.

I turned again, and I was either looking at a giant, jagged black rock miles and miles away, or it was a building. Staring at it a moment longer revealed it was most likely either a fortress or castle.

My body buzzed with energy, and I couldn’t decide if I was alive or a member of the recently deceased. Was I supposed to feel this great when I was dead? And where the heck was I? This didn’t look like heaven, and it wasn’t scary enough to be hell. The giant ants aside, I didn’t see any eight-foot-tall guys with tails and horns running around terrorizing people.

For lack of anything better to do, I decided I needed to head towards the city. It appeared big enough that it would have some sort of services or resources I could take advantage of to at least get myself cleaned up and figure out my next move.

Fortunately, my backpack had come with me, but I didn’t have enough stuff in there to last me very long. Who knew you could bring things with you into the afterlife? Nothing made sense.

The surprise appearance of a huge pit in the woods, the rapid deterioration of my physical state in that pit, waking up in whatever this place was, and my bag coming with me. If I thought about any of it too deeply, it gave me a headache.

The only thing I would admit to myself right away was that this felt like one of my waking dreams.

Whether I was dreaming or not, I couldn’t stay here in the middle of wherever I was, exposed and sticking out like a sore thumb. I looked crazy, only wearing one shoe.

I needed to find a place to go and sit and think while I tried to figure out what to do next and the distant city might be the best option.

It took me a little while to find anything resembling a road but after navigating clumps of dirt and grass, random large rocks, and stopping to take a closer look at a few patches of red sand, I was able to slow down and breathe a little bit. My destination was in front of me, surrounded by a large wall. This wasn’t anything I’d ever seen or heard of before, other than maybe in disaster movies.

The barrier was either to keep people inside or keep others out; I had to assume. I wouldn’t know until I got closer. There was no movement I could detect or any other signs of life, nothing to help me make any decisions.

I followed the wall, searching for an entrance, until I came upon a narrow door. The surrealness was astounding, with the regular-sized door and a shiny yellow knob, casually placed in a tall and wide expanse of gray. My heart pounded in my chest as my hand hovered in the air for a moment before I grabbed the handle and let myself in.

Brushing away the feeling like I had broken in somewhere restricted, I carefully pulled the door shut behind me and glanced around. There was a wide strip of grass separating the wall and the back end of a bunch of buildings. It would have felt like an alleyway if it wasn’t for the giant barrier at my back and the unexpected splash of green at my feet.

Taking a closer look, I noticed garbage strewn around in corners, a dumpster with refuse spilling out, and steam coming from a vent on the building to my left. The only thing to do was to move forward, and I kept close to the rear of the structures until I found a true alleyway.

As I made my way down the corridor, I could see a busy street at the end. A multitude of cars sped by, and glass storefronts reflected the light just beyond. Moving forward, I focused on the building just across the street as a weird, displaced feeling crawled along my skin.

Everything was gray.

Not the sky—that was as blue as all get out. The orange tinted mist wafted way above my head, adding a much-needed dash of color. But everything that was ground-level was in muted shades of gray, although I spotted some beige. The buildings, the cars, the clothing covering the individuals rushing down the sidewalk. It was like someone put a smokey filter over the city itself. It was the strangest thing, and I wasn’t sure what to think.

I turned down the sidewalk and began scanning every door and window I walked past, looking for anything that might help me. The passing faces didn’t appear friendly, and I could have sworn that I spotted some glowing eyes. Maybe I really had died, and now I was in hell. There was nothing fiery that I could see, but the steely colors did burn in their oddity. There weren’t even any neon lights.