Light. All-pervading light. Beds all around - only they aren't like beds, more like clouds... or rather, the sort of beds that you can lie in and immediately feel rested and comfortable in without having to move around. I lie in one, a tired soul... tired of the world and worn out from its strains, scarred from its hurts. Many other tired souls lie around me, each occupying one of these otherworldly cloud-beds. Each looks like it has faded; they are almost translucent, their substance all but gone. Then I notice something else: a Figure. He walks among them, stopping at intervals, checking on each, and doing something I couldn't quite see. Then I realise: he is ministering to them in some way. As the figure moves on from each soul, I notice another thing; the souls have changed. It is as if they are more real - they are less translucent then they were before, more solid.
I come to another realisation: I am in a hospital - only this is no ordinary hospital; there are no wires or tubes. The healing of the souls seems to come from the air itself, and as I lie there, I feel more rested in five minutes than if I had spent eight hours of 'normal' sleep. Only time doesn't seem to matter here. An eternity is the same as five minutes; this place is outside the limitations of time. There seems to be something in the air - I can feel it seeping into my being, restoring me. Life. Not the sort of life we normally talk about, no, a sort of aliveness that is more real and tangible than anything in our world, a strong and vibrant life that pervades everything, and I now realise is emanating from the Figure who walks among the souls. I lie for a while, rested. Now I am recharged, and it is time to go...
