Yaschna
Nikolai dies instantly when a nuclear blast atomizes him and everything around him. His consciousness survives the destruction, drifting through spacetime in a torment worse than the death itself, until his body reconstructs atom by atom and he wakes inside a Gothic cathedral.
He finds himself sitting in a pew with four other newcomers. A robed woman sings a haunting liturgical hymn at the altar, her words soaked in despair, resentment, and nihilism. One of the newcomers, Takeshi, suspects she is some kind of guide or goddess and nudges Nikolai to approach her.
Nikolai does, asking where they are. The woman's gaze alone forces him and the others to their knees. When Takeshi mutters something flippant, she drags him forward and tears his heart out, breaks his jaw, stuffs the heart down his throat, then rips out his brain and rewires his memory entirely. His body regenerates each time. The other newcomers are forced to watch, unable to move, and fall sick at the sight. Nikolai, hardened by worse, doesn't flinch.
Takeshi rises as a psychologically reset person, with no memory of what just happened. The robed woman looks at them all and delivers a cold, sardonic welcome, telling them their lives are only just beginning.