Across the street was a small commercial plaza with a convenience store on one end and a pet boutique on the other. Sunlight filled the open space between the storefronts, and in the center stood a modest ornamental fountain where water trickled down over a marble cherub, the pavement sloped gently toward the road.
Leo stepped out of his apartment building and headed for the store when he noticed the woman.
She stood near the curb at the edge of the plaza, both hands gripping the handle of a shopping cart stacked high with groceries. The cart shifted forward slightly, then the wheels rolled.
The woman tried to hold it back, but the slope pulled the weight forward. The cart jerked away from her.
"Wait—my Cart!" she yelled
Leo reacted instantly. He looked toward the street, saw no immediate traffic, and ran across the plaza.
The cart picked up speed, wobbling as it rolled toward the curb.
Leo caught the handle just before it reached the street. The sudden stop jolted the overloaded cart. A bag tipped sideways. Apples spilled out, bouncing across the pavement.
One rolled directly under the tire of a passing biker, the bike slipped.
The rider swerved hard, losing control before crashing into the curbside mailbox outside the pet shop. The metal box snapped sideways as it was hit, toppling into a decorative display of plastic dog figurines, causing the figurines to scatter across the sidewalk.
A jogger rounding the corner stepped directly onto one of them. The toy squeaked loudly underfoot as he slipped, momentum carrying him forward.
He slammed shoulder-first into a tall ladder where a painter was working on a storefront sign.
The ladder tilted violently, causing the painter to shout and jump clear as the ladder crashed down onto the back of a parked delivery truck.
Something shifted with a dull metallic click, The delivery truck had been left on a slight incline, its brake poorly set. Still holding the cart, Leo looked up, and the truck began to roll.
It moved slowly at first, then steadily as gravity pulled it downhill toward the center of the plaza, toward the fountain, toward the woman.
"Move!" Leo shouted.
He shoved the cart aside and grabbed the woman, pushing her clear of its path.
She stumbled backward onto the pavement, safe.
Leo tried to step away, but his foot came down on one of the scattered apples, and the world tilted.
He slipped backward, arms flailing as he crashed into the shallow fountain. Cold water splashed around him as his back struck the marble pedestal supporting the cherub statue.
The pedestal shifted, and for a moment, nothing happened, then the cherub tilted.
Leo stared upward from the water just in time to see the small marble figure falling toward him.
"…you've got to be kidding me—"
The statue struck.
For all his cautiousness, he definitely did not see today going the way that it did, like the universe had played a cruel joke on him.
Everywhere had gone dark and silent. Leo felt himself floating, unable to see anything in the thick darkness.
Panic was about to set in when a voice boomed in,
followed by a piercing, blinding light.
"…Did you seriously die like that?"
Leo squinted against the brightness, raising a hand that he wasn't entirely sure existed. The light faded just enough for him to see…nothing. There was no ground, no sky, just endless empty space.
"…Who said that? Where am I?" Leo asked, turning slowly.
"I mean, come on," the voice continued, amused. "A marble cherub, of all things. I've seen some ridiculous deaths, but that one was impressive."
A slow, sinking realization formed in Leo's chest. "Wait," he said quietly. "Am I dead?"
"Very," the voice replied. "You were crushed by a decorative baby angel."
Leo closed his eyes tightly. Embarrassment and irritation twisted together in his chest.
"On the bright side," the voice added casually, "the woman lived, you saved her."
There was silence for a moment, then the voice spoke again.
"You were a young man in your twenties," it said. "You paid your rent on time. You kept your body in good shape. You lived carefully. Sensibly."
Images appeared in the empty space around him, his apartment, the gym, long evenings working quietly at his desk.
"You built a comfortable little structure for yourself," the voice continued. "Routine, discipline, moderation. The sort of life people believe will keep them safe."
The images shifted, the plaza, the cart rolling downhill, apples bouncing across the pavement.
"You told yourself accidents only happened to careless people.That if you paid attention, if you stayed prepared, things would remain under control."
Leo watched the moment freeze in midair, the apple beneath his foot just before the fall.
"At least," the voice said lightly, "that's what you believed."
Leo felt a twist in his stomach, anger now replacing his embarrassment.
"This Saturday was supposed to be ordinary," the voice went on. "Predictable. Another quiet piece of a life you thought you understood, but that safety was an illusion."
A brief pause followed.
"So tell me something, Leo."
The surrounding images dissolved into darkness.
"Was that really enough for you?"
Leo didn't answer. He couldn't. The more he replayed the accident in his mind, the more absurd it seemed. Every step had made sense at the time, and yet… Here he was, dead.
After a moment, the voice spoke again, its tone lighter. "Well, cheer up. This isn't the end."
Leo exhaled slowly.
"I'm not your friend," he said.
The voice laughed. "My name is Axiom," it replied cheerfully. "And for the foreseeable future, I'll be your partner."
"My what?" Leo asked.
"You heard correctly, and this," Axiom said, "is the in-between space. A brief stop before your relocation."
"Relocation?"
A deep golden light suddenly bloomed beneath Leo's feet. Warmth spread through him as the strange sensation of weightlessness shifted violently into freefall.
"Wait—what's happening?" Leo shouted.
"Prepare for deployment, Leo," Axiom said.
"Deployment?! Where!?"
"A new world."Axiom replied calmly.
The golden light surged brighter.
"A world of magic, monsters, beauties… and an impressive amount of chaos."
Before Leo could say anything else, the light swallowed him completely and hurled him forward into his next life.