Fields of Asphodel

A noose hangs around my neck.
Two of them to be exact.
The rope is black and charred.
It loosens...
I fall for what feels like years.
When I search for where I previously hung from,
I spot a giant seqouia.

Why wasn't I dead?
Or...was I?
The pain from the fall made the decision difficult.
Am I burned, like the rope?
Or was my skin dark before?
Before what?
Why am I here?
What was I doing?
There are others here.

No one here knows why they are.
They only know the present.
Bird-like women fly overhead.
I forget where I am at they're sight.
They carry two ropes and swoop downward,
To me.

The ropes wrap around my neck.
Escape isn't an option.
The birds hang me upon a thousand-foot tree.
My eyes shut with terror.
My last sight was the birds breathing fire,
At me.

My eyes open abruptly.
A noose hangs around my neck.
Two of them to be exact.
The rope is black and charred.
It loosens...