text: It was a whisper, brushing against my brain like sandpaper. *I freed you* I opened my eyes to nothing but darkness. *I freed you from their misery* I was laying on grass. I felt the blades tickling my palms as I pushed myself up and swept my head from side to side. Darkness still. *From their filth* It practically spat that last word. I stood and tried to get my bearings, but it was impossible in the blackness. *Let there be light* Like the dawn of a new day, light spread from the horizon and bathed the world in a warm glow. I looked around in awe. There were hundreds - no thousands - of us. Hundreds of thousands. All standing in the largest field of the greenest grass and the bluest waters I had ever seen. It spread from horizon to horizon, and standing on it were more people than I could possibly imagine. *Look to your brothers and sisters* I made eye contact with the closest person to me, an overweight woman with greasy hair and nervous hands. I saw the same fear and confusion on her face that must have been painted on my own and I knew that she could hear the same voice I heard. Or rather, that the same voice was intruding her thoughts and she was hearing what I was hearing. *You are the chosen ones* *The righteous few* *The worthy* I felt shivers run through me and a cold sweat take hold. What was happening? And then I heard a gasp, and then another one, and then a wave of sharp inhales swept the land. People were all looking up and pointing. I tilted my head back and choked on my own breath as vertigo took hold. I felt nauseous. *They're like ants* They looked like ants. I felt like I was standing on the belly of a 747 at 30,000 feet over New York. The city sprawled above us, skyscrapers hanging over us like stalactites in a cave of steel and concrete, people and cars racing across its inverted surface. *Scurrying about without purpose* *Without meaning* *Trapped in a prison of their own arrogance* I felt the disgust in the voice. The anger. I felt sick to my stomach. *I saved you* *I brought you here* *To my creation* I looked back at the spectacular beauty that surrounded us and realized that this land felt alien. It was too pure, too clean. Too manufactured. *To build a new world* *A better world* *And like a phoenix* *Rising from the ashes* Fire engulfed the sky and the city was instantly ablaze. Their screams rose in a deathly wail and filled our silence. I looked away, trying to shut them out. I looked at the lady with the nervous hands. She had them clasped in front of her as she looked up, a wicked grin spread across her face, her wide eyes glimmering hungrily in the dancing flames. *So too will you* *Cleanse your past* *In the fire of their sin* I looked back up at the sky and felt the heat wash over my face. Sweat ran from my brow and mixed with my tears as I watched in silent agony as the old world burned.