​     Noel figured he floated in empty space because he couldn't breathe and because there was nothing he could reach out and touch.

     So where was everybody else?

​     Was he alone?

     Was he in the center of space, thousands of light years away from anyone who could possibly help him?

     Okay, I can deal with this, he thought. It's not like I'm being tortured. (Like he could be tortured, being invincible.)

     A day passed. (Or at least Noel assumed it was a full day. That's how it felt to him, anyway.)

     Noel was an introvert, so spending time with himself inside his own head was something he was used to. He spent the day relaxing, catching up on all the things he'd been meaning to give some thought to once he had the time.

     A week passed.

     Although it wasn't really a week. Noel couldn't even begin to imagine how time was measured in Domitika. Still, it felt like a week, a week in which he never slept because he never felt sleepy, a week in which he thought about everything he'd ever wanted to think about, then thought about it all again. And he allowed himself to relax and just not think about anything. It became kind of a game, how long he could go without thinking about anything at all...

     and then it became a bit of an obsessive game.

     It wasn't until then that he became truly frightened.

     How long was this going to go on?

     A year passed. 

     A decade. 

​     A century.

                                                    CONTINUE