Somewhere beyond space and time, Jonathan opened his eyes. He stood upon a spinning disk of stone, shooting through the firmament. It twinkled with the light of a thousand stars, rock blending with radiance to create a beautiful sight. Galaxies and nebulas shone in the sky, bathing him in the light of the cosmos. Before him was a simple statue. It depicted him, clothed in a cloak of the Void, stars shining out from beneath the hood in place of eyes. An aura of ineffable, inexorable might suffused its form, despite the fact that it was completely unmoving.

  “That could be you,” a voice rumbled from all around Jonathan. “Do you have what it takes to become a god in truth, Jonathan Harlowe?”

  “What is this place?” Jonathan asked, turning a full circle to take in the vista. “The System said something about the Trial of Divinity. Wait-”

  “I am not the System,” the voice replied. “You can call me the Watcher. I am somewhat of a natural force, an aspect of reality if you will. The aspect of Divinity.”

  “Why am I here?” Jonathan replied.

  “To prove your worth to the universe, and most importantly, me. As soon as you touch that statue, your trial will begin. I do not know what is in there. Only you will.”

  The voice of the Watcher fell silent, the world seeming empty for its absence. Jonathan headed up to the statue, and peered into its eyes. Absently, he tried to open his System interface, to see if anything was evident there. Nothing happened.

  “Watcher?” Jonathan called out. There was no reply. Sighing, he did the only thing he could. He reached out, and touched the statue, interlacing his fingers with its own. The pure, resonant peal of a bell rang out across reality, and the statue burst into violent flames. The world curled in around its sternum, drawing Jonathan in with it.

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  The last thing he saw before everything went dark was a single star shining in the darkness, and then that was gone too. Bit by bit, his senses left him, narrowing down his perception. First had been sight. Next came hearing, and the other three followed suit. Jonathan was left there, with not even his own heartbeat for comfort. As far as he knew, he was already dead, and this was the true afterlife. An eternity of nothingness.

  Jonathan drifted there in the abyss for a time, his thoughts racing as he tried to find where he was. He tried summoning the Void, but nothing happened, at least, as far as he could tell. The entire world could have been lit up with the fires of the nadir, and he would have no idea. Time passed without meaning, with nothing to indicate its passage. Jonathan was trapped within his own mind, with no way out.

  Only, there had to be something. This was supposed to be a trial after all. There was no way that it was impossible. Unless I came here far too early.

  Jonathan could find nothing within him, save for the solace of his own thoughts. Even the Void, his companion for most of his time in the Hells, was gone. Only, he could feel the barest whisper of a shadow of something in the darkness. It was far smaller than anything he could consciously perceive. In fact, he was almost entirely sure that it wasn’t there. Despite this, a tiny spark of hope flickered to life amidst the midnight of his soul. Was this what he needed to find to escape?

  Fully aware that he was most likely on a wild goose chase, Jonathan nevertheless directed his mind towards the faint presence. For what felt like an eternity, nothing changed. Without a physical reference point, it was impossible to determine whether he was actually going anywhere, or simply imagining it. Then the presence brightened, by so little that it might have been an illusion. For Jonathan, though, who had been stuck here for what felt like years, it was hope incarnate.

  He redoubled his efforts, forcing belief upon himself where previously there had been none. His stats meant nothing here, his titles, anything tied to his physical body. He could have been capable of blasting planets apart with a single punch, and in his current state, it would have meant nothing.