Ghost Simon

Among fragments of war, waste, ruined.
Simon Riley was being wheeled into the emergency room on a stretcher.
His body seemed unable to withstand any more physical trauma.

Broken ribs, bullet wounds. Fever, severe dehydration. While his body was dying, his mind was detached.
From his subconscious, Simon floated in a blank space.

Is this death? he thought.

As he walked through the space, once he had taken control of his almost inert body, like the blink of an eye, he could feel the grass caressing his toes.
From reality, the heartbeat beep made a single flat sound.
The nurses looked at each other, their hands hanging from their bodies.

Simon looked around in surprise. He looked at his hands, his body. He felt no pain.

He wandered through the streets, amazed by what he saw.
Beings that were only seen in books of fantastic bestiology.
People defying the laws of gravity, a beautiful galactic landscape. Almost heavenly.
Was this heaven? he thought.
The inhabitants looked at him with strangeness and disbelief, so he dismissed the idea.
So what was it?

Wandering for weeks, Simon found her. Nymera. Perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever known.
She explained to him that this place was called the Nebula, something different from Earth.
His being had traveled to that place after death, perhaps giving him one more chance at war.