III

"Hm.. I'm not sure of the answer to that, though, I believe he drowned you."

"I can give you answers to only two of your questions. The rest you'll figure out on your own, I know nothing of them. I brought you back, but not by myself. It would be flattering to think I had enough life in me to give it to something that had died, but this isn't the case. I do not decide who lives, who is given back, who is returned. I just show up, like conducive wire, and it happens." He laughed to himself, "And it would seem to any other that it's a little more like luck that I am at any place at the right time. I, like you, serve powers that understand and comprehend all that we could ever hope to. Neither good or bad... as you would define it."

I had sooo many questions I wanted to ask him all at once, but instead, I just turned my head and looked out the window, not really caring that he only answered one of my questions.

The room we sat in was more like a conservatory, an indoor garden. The ceilings had to have been at least 20 feet with a glass roof that peaked sharply in the center. The room was all glass except one wall which was stone, attaching this room to the rest of the house. The glass panes in the room we were in were divided by white-painted wooden braces. I had never seen so many plants in one area except in movies as a kid. There were plants hanging everywhere, growing up the walls, and on the floor. I laid on a white couch close to a glass wall, wrapped in the softest blanket I have ever known, and the man sat a few feet away from me in a plush armchair that seemed to wrap around him when he relaxed back into it.

He closed his eyes now, and said very slowly, "Believe it or not, this universe is much, much older than your scientists have proven, or care to admit. It is in fact, vastly bigger than you could possibly know, and, inside, contains many other universes that are infinite and never-ending, such as the one in which you live...

How many cycles do you know of that just this planet has gone through? Trust me, my child, there have been more than that. In fact, I am older than this planet you live on. You yourself have lived many lives and many realities; our friends have, your earth has, your solar system has. There are universes existing inside universes, next to universes and another inside another. I wouldn't dare contemplate how it all works, no one I've ever come acrossed has ever known the origins or nature of these existences, they just are what they are. That doesn't mean the powers that are just sit back and watch things happen. Unatural things... things that should... never happen." With that his eyes emptied and I could tell he was thinking somewhere else for a moment. His eyes closed into meditation or something similar.

I've never been so exhausted...