Stop. Why are you complaining so much? Let’s regroup and figure out how to get out of this. I’m an acorn, and I’m in hell.

  Roughly two inches in diameter, my compact body is swaying precariously in the wind. Normally, I’d be chilling. UNFORTUNATELY, right next to me, my compatriot is being devoured by a four-legged Satan.

  I took a second to compose myself and shouted, “HEY! Get the hell away from him, you monster!”

  Unfortunately, acorns can’t talk. And they certainly can’t move to face their assaulter. All I could do was feel the slow gnawing of fangs grinding against bones. Claws gripping flesh. The vibrations grated across my mind, like nails against chalk.

  Who am I kidding, I’m about to be eaten by a damn squirrel!... I don’t even know if it’s a squirrel or not. Perfect, I get reincarnated in a new world, and my first meaningful event is getting masticated in the jaws of a quadrupedal acorn defiler.

  I just want to live.

  No eyes, no mouth, no limbs to carry me away. I’m starting to emphasize with my garden tomatoes. Nyla, can you pick a better-placed acorn if you reincarnate me again? Any bravado I had before I was reincarnated had vacated my body.

  My half-eaten comrade released the last fever bits of their chemical cocktail across the branch in a last-ditch effort. It jolted me into readying my defences…what defences do I have? Acorns usually contain this bitter chemical called tannins to ward off any animals or insects that try to eat them. It didn’t stop this one. Acorns beside me disconnected their ties to the branch and fell.

  Another surge of chemicals stabbed my consciousness.

  Fine, fine, I’ll try to make more toxins...wait, how do you make them? Okay, okay, think bitter thoughts, poor grades, the disapproving gaze of a parent! Childhood trauma go!

  A mental flashbang of childhood disappointments assaulted my thoughts…nevermind I think I only traumatized myself with that one. I don’t think tannins taste like shame.

  At this point, the shaking beside me stopped. The soft vibrations echoed closer to me. The branch that I was attached to swayed with each step. My furry grim reaper drew near.

  No! Come on, one more time! Bitterness, defense, living. Let. Me. Live! I concentrated on that last word, and a cool autumn breeze rushed through me. It filled me with energy that I hadn’t felt in ages. The vibrations stopped. Ha! Scared, aren’t ya? The plant messiah granted my hopes and wishes!

  I tried to figure out where the energy was coming from. I felt the stream of energy flowing from further beyond the branch. Before I could investigate it any further, my adversary arrived. Come at me! Try biting into me and be prepared to die!

  Rather than biting into me, long nails slowly glided across my body. Each one lingered far too long on me like a guest that had overstayed their welcome. They slid across the stem – wait, don’t do it! The energy was still feeding into me!

  A snap thundered out. The first connection I had in this new world was severed. And I had fallen into the tiny paws of my captor. It’s over.

  No. There’s still a chance! The energy inside of me is still there, I’m not defenceless. The demon didn’t care, it bit into my stem and started scampering. Every little gallop that rang inside my head was the death knell of my funeral. Thank you for extending my torment. Just eat me and let’s get over this. Maybe I’ll be reincarnated in another body.

  What a joke.

  I already got one chance, and it’s already been wasted. What was I supposed to do? Unlock some magical cheat and blast this thing with a fireball? Or maybe I should have tried to drop earlier. But then what, slowly starve as my “mother” hogs all the sunlight?

  This is why acorns have the best chance of survival when carried and buried away from the host tree- just like what’s happening to me! Okay, my saviour, bring it home! Bury somewhere nice and sunny!

  As I was carried away, I thought of how I arrived here.

  ..........

  Within the darkness, there is something or nothing. Either option was driving me mad. I was floating within an endless void, lifeless and without motion. I couldn’t see myself. I saw nothing, I was nothing. Every so often, an icy caress brushed against my arm. Were they chills, an imagined stalker, or something here with me?

  Any colour that would have dotted my vision was engulfed by absence. It was empty. Nothing was there to look at, no one there to talk to. A dull headache was chipping away at my mind to register anything.

  I was vulnerable.

  Who was I again? I thought to myself. Is this how the afterlife is? The crushing pain I had felt had slowly ebbed away. My lungs stopped feeling like they were in a chokehold, and my left arm didn’t feel like loose custard. The distinction between my body and the nothing in front of me was nonexistent.

  I tried to remember where I was before this all happened. Scattered images echoed past my mind. Pictures of a hospital bed, the outline of a face, and a tree looming over me were all I could muster. Of course, I died from a tree falling on top of me. There was more, but like a broken CD player, my mind was buffering through my fragmented life.

  Man, I was hoping for some more groundbreaking memories. Some rich memories to bank off of. The face...who was it? The images faded away as I tried to focus on them. Right as I was figuring out who I was, there was nothing left.

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  Another cold wave ebbed through me. Something was moving in this abyss with me. It had to be. “Who’s there?” I shouted.

  No response.

  “Is there anyone out there?” I yelled again. Maybe that sensation was someone else floating like me. Maybe. I didn’t mind drifting, but a companion would at least stem the boredom, right? Too bad there was no reply. My eyelids were getting heavier.

  Was there a point in staying conscious if there was nothing? Maybe resting would be a nice idea. A pang of panic rang out within the crevice of my mind but was submerged just like everything else was. I closed my eyes.

  But there was light. It spread across my body, bringing feeling to them once again. The numbing cold that had spread to my head had scattered. As the light etched across my body, it started burning itself into my eyes. I raised my hand to block the glaring beam gazing in front of me.

  “Pitiful soul, to me, you don’t have to feel pain anymore,” said the light. Its voice was like the soft twang of a harp.

  I looked up. “Yeah, how about you dim the lights and not burn away what’s left of my corneas.”

  “...Fine, have it your way. Maybe it would have been better to let you rot in limbo.”

  Heh, where’d that *regal* tone of yours fly off to? For a second I sensed pouting dripping off of its words. The light dimmed dramatically to a soft moonlight. Instead of a sharp pain, my body felt a warm embrace.

  “Thanks for that, and what the hell is limbo?”

  “Something you’ll know in good time. I’m opening a path to you right now, stay still!”

  Before I could react to that last tidbit of information, a portal opened up below me and my body was reminded that gravity was a concept.

  Falling through clouds, I was placed hundreds of meters above a plain of grasslands and forests. Rapidly descending, every cloud I fell through felt like tiny needles prickling against my skin.

  “A little help?” I yelled.

  “Oh I suppose so,” said the voice. Masses of trees began moving directly beneath me, forming a canopy.

  “I don’t think that’s going to cut it!” I screamed.

  “So impatient. Cannot wait for a goddess to wow you with some of her powers?” she chortled. A bellowing wind sprung beneath me, slowing my fall. There was barely any distance left between my face and the ground. Taking a closer look, the grass below was intermingled with a field of flowers. It was a beautiful si-

  Until I crashed through the canopy.

  I tried dusting myself off, but I had no arms. All that was left was a black mist that barely maintained my left leg and portions of my torso. Lilacs and daisies were waving at me through my body. I was an ink blot on an otherwise idyllic painting.

  A small shadow loomed over me. “Oh, you poor thing, it looks like you fell for me. Well, at the very least you’re safe now,” it said. I gazed in their direction. Standing over me was a woman with dandelion hair draped to her knees. She wore a sky-blue sundress decorated with a menagerie of flowers as if Monet painted them. Luckily, the sun’s glare blotted out her face. A timid smile hid in the shadows. It was my mistake to look up without remembering the consequences. I peered back down.

  “Thanks for saving me,” I replied. Looking around, we were surrounded by lush plains of grass and flowers. Scatterings of reds, yellows, and purples adorned the floor around us. The faint smell of roses wafted around us.

  “It was my pleasure,” she replied. “I’d help you on your feet…but not much was left.”

  “…I’m dead, aren’t I?” I asked.

  She twiddled the sides of her dress and spoke, “In your mortal plane? Yes. But, you still have your soul remaining. Unless you were religious, good luck being claimed.”

  “What do you mean ‘claimed?’” I asked.

  “Being plucked out of limbo and into their heavenly domain,” she said, “You think floating in limbo is a vacation? Your soul gets eaten away until there’s nothing left! Entropy is your god, amnesia, your last memories. Only through our intervention is that changed, souls gain new purpose!” Her lips tightened. “It was not always like that,” she muttered.

  I tried to remember what else my past life was. I was surrounded by nature for most of my life. There was rot in my memories. I remembered why I couldn’t look her in the eyes. Why bother with that anymore?

  “And which goddess are you? I don’t think I worshipped anyone specific back on Earth,” I said. As the last words lingered in the air, wind blew through the field, churning up petals around us. The flowers across her dress danced to the wind’s rhythm. Daffodils exchanged greetings with lilacs.

  She smiled, “On your home, I was called Demeter, Aranyani, Pachamama and much more. Where there was nature, I was its cradle. And where people spoke, my name was whispered in the breeze. But here, call me Nyla.”

  She grabbed her dress again, fingers curling some wayward daisies.

  “So,” she hesitated, hunching down before me, “will you help me?” I looked down reflexively.

  “I feel like I’m not in a position to say no,” I said. It was that or be tossed back out into limbo. I kept my eyes barely levelled with her mouth. Any higher would be risky. It was enough to see Nyla’s lips faintly curl.

  “If you fear to be placed back into limbo, I can assure you that will not happen. Now that you’re in my domain, you can live comfortably as one of its many denizens. Past believers choose to be plants, animals, and spirits. The choice is yours.”

  I stared at Nyla. Her eyes were brimming with expectation looking intently at my face. The flowers around her dress leaned in. “What would I be helping you with?” I asked.

  “Giving hope.” She caressed one of the roses etched in her dress. “In Krailas, nature is dying. Races every day, slaughtering each other. I fear that if it continues, my children will not have a place to call home anymore.”

  “So what am I supposed to do? I’m gonna be real with you, my last act on Earth was chopping down one of your ‘kids’. I don’t think I’m what you’re looking for.”

  Nyla snorted, “Yes that’s true, but I’m not a vindictive goddess or an illogical one. Humans are part of nature too. Why should I cry about that?”

  “Then what’s happening there is also running its course no?” I replied.

  “Yes, to a certain extent, but not when it is seeking to consume itself whole. Just how wildfires renew the soil of nutrients, indiscriminate burning for the sake of clearing land for a golf course breaks the balance.”

  “So how will I give ‘hope’?”

  “Help the forest, make sure it does not get swallowed up. I’ll be sending your soul into one of my vessels. It will be up to you to do the rest.” Nyla lifted a hand off of her dress and reached out towards me. “So, will you help me?”

  “Before I do, I need to know why. Why me?” I asked.

  Nyla let out a dry cough, “Unfortunately, your soul was one of the smaller ones I could snatch up easily. Your personality was not half bad either.”

  “That’s it?” A languid silence permeated through the air. Her cough was not helping her case.

  “Fine! If you must know, I did have other candidates in mind. But their beliefs led them directly to other domains. I would prefer not to anger another god for this,” Nyla muttered. “Carson or Whittaker would have been great choices…” she said trailing off.

  I looked back at my body. The occasional black coal dust flaked off my body. I wasn’t her first choice. And I’m nothing like the person I used to be. But I was alive. Maybe that’s enough. “Thank you for being honest,” I said.

  She puffed up her chest. “I figured you could catch a break from slowly dissolving into nothingness,” Nyla said.

  “How dangerous will it be?” I replied.

  “Extremely, you may die right as you awaken. Natural selection will be your biggest rival,” she said, cutting away any growing hope.

  Nyla inched her way to me until I could see her breath swirl across my face. Her body cast a wide shadow over mine. How could such a small body cast it?

  “But,” Nyla proclaimed, “there is great beauty down there too.” Her smile slowly faded away. She looked back up at me and refreshed her usual bubbly personality. “You just have to find it!” she exclaimed.

  I looked back at the field of orchids around me. Flowers in eternal bloom. A florist’s dream…and the mother of all hay fevers. “You really are asking for a lot from a dude with nothing huh?” I asked.

  “Maybe. But from a single seed can sprout a tree capable of reaching the heavens,” Nyla said, reaching out to me.

  I could forget my worries here. Stop thinking so much. I could live here in eternity. Or I could die helping. I squeezed the idyllic flowers one last time and grabbed her hand.

  The last thing my ears could register was her light summer whisper.

  “Good luck my charge. When you tire, I will be here, waiting.”

  ..........