Brad quickly shut his eyes as the pair of bright lights struck. Realizing, after a couple of seconds that it was quiet, he opened his eyes, and what he saw astounded him. There, sitting silently in its on-going orbit, was the Earth. Realizing he no longer was on his planet, he looked down to study himself and saw nothing. He could see and think, but as far as he could tell, he had no body. Brad sensed a presence near him and scanned the area until he found a humanoid figure, sitting silently next to him, head c***ed back as to look into Brad’s eyes, if he had any. Brad tried to examine the creature next to him, but could not place any characteristics on it. It was neither male nor female, as far as he could tell, and its face resembled that of a human, though none of its features remained constant. Brad thought the eerie creature, though seemingly impossible, resembled existence as a whole. He could see parts of everyone he knew-his wife, his daughter and son, his brother- represented in the creature’s odd stare.
“Hello again,” said the being. “I know you have many questions, so go ahead and get them out of the way.”
“Where am I?” Brad inquired immediately. “Am I dead?”
“For the time being, yes, you are dead. And as to where we are, we are overlooking your world.” Brad’s head began to throb with questions. Somehow sensing the distress, the being began to elaborate.
“I’d rather not explain it all to you again, as this would be the millionth-and-some time i’ve done so, but I will divulge the basics of it all. If you stayed here long enough, you’d begin to remember on your own, but that would be quite a waste of time. You were created by a force of nature much more complex than you or I can possibly hope to fathom. Luckily for you, one day you will merge with its essence, and become part of his all-knowingness, but to do so you must mature. So, it has created this world for you to grow in, and the lives for you to live.”
“Lives?” asked Brad.
“Yes, your ultimate goal on this lump of land is to experience the life of an entire species. Once you have done so, you will have matured enough to find your Creator and join him in his watch over the Universe.”
Brad’s head begin to spin even more. “So, I am to be reborn into another person until I mature? How many people’s lives must I live?”
The being scoffed at the seemingly trivial question. “All of them. You will live very human life there was, is, or will be, until you have experienced them all. I have to tell you, your time as Gandhi, John Lennon, and Charles LeGrought were particularly entertaining to watch.”
“Who is Charles LeGrought?” asked Brad.
“You will meet him in a couple millennia. He saved Great Britain from the tyrannical United States.”
Brad sat down and took a deep breath. “How many lives do I have yet to live.?”
“Well, you have already completed around forty-two million lives. Out of nearly three trillion, so you have a good way to go. Speaking of which, we are procrastinating, so it is time to go back.”
“Wait! One more question. What are you? And what is your fate?” The creature seemed surprised at this question. He smiled and began to answer.
“I, too, was created by the being that created you, but my fate is not to join him in his watch over existence. I am here solely to guide you and others like you through your journey, and make sure nothing bad happens.”
“What could go wrong?” asked Brad.
“You need not worry about that, for so far you are doing fine. Now, back to your world you go.”  Brad began to protest, but before he could act, the being’s hand covered Brad’s face, plunging his vision into darkness as the sound of a crying baby approached.
Julie’s life was lived to it’s fullest. She grew up in a middle-class family, got straight A’s in school, and went to college to become a doctor. She married and had two kids of her own, and lived to see them marry as well. But as all else does, her life came to an end, and Julie was laid to rest, 92 years after she was born.
“Brad” lived many lives like this, dying, having nearly the same conversation with the being, and returning to Earth as a baby whom had forgotten what he or she had learned. But one day, after dying in an explosion caused by a gas leak, Mark was lifted to the spot where so many before had stood, and had the conversation with the being.
Time passed, and Mark, standing over his Earth and listening to this odd being speak, began to remember things from past lives. The life in which he discovered penicillin, or when he fought and was killed in the revolutionary war. But one thing in particular came flooding back to Mark, as if a dam inside his mind was breached and the memories had nothing to suppress them.The information of history's’ great secrets and untold stories came rushing back into his brain, and before the being could put him back into his cycle of rebirth, Mark was pulled back to the earth, and awoke with a gasp.
Mark sat on the paved cement, dirty and covered in rubble. Sirens blared in the distance, and the faint ringing in his ears slowly faded from his conscience. With a start, Mark realized where he was, and began to take in his surroundings. He was sitting on a sidewalk, his hair and clothes singed and covered in ash. I'm front of him was a hole in a building the size of a truck, from which flames continued to pour, turning the building and neighboring trees black.