Death is a spine-chilling concept. Many people feared it, and I was once one of them. The way one leaves Earth might differ - the age, the circumstances - but one thing remains the same for all of humanity: they will eventually die! It was what made humans equal. No matter if you were poor, ugly, rich, talented, or beautiful, in the face of death, every meaningless struggle is in vain. We leave Earth with only our purest form, the soul, leaving our body, blood, and heart a few meters under the ground.
With my eyes looking above, I took a deep breath. Clean, unpolluted air, in a quality that could only be found out in the land, entered my nose, through my trachea, and finally my lungs.
The reddish evening azure scratched through the horizon, the sun slowly descending the evening sky. It was a truly beautiful sight - so peaceful - and the scenery I chose to leave this world. Today, no, this hour, would become my last before I crumble into nothingness.
Nothingness. It was the scariest part about death. Was there something after? Would I just cease to exist, or was I entering hell?
Religion taught me that death wasn't the end but merely a new beginning, the start of my servitude toward our great Lord. While I didn't know if it was true, I prayed that I would open my eyes once again after closing them for my last breath. This time, not on Earth, but in heaven.
Not as I was now, merely a shell of my once healthy former self, but as the proud, happy, and cheerful youth. In the face of death, I once again had a dream, a future I was looking forward to.
The haunting nightmares turned into hopeful dreams once again. The vision of myself falling from the roof, crippling my body, transformed into memories of my college days. In my dream, I ran, I jumped, I fought, and I wasn't depending on anybody. I wasn't a burden but an asset everyone loved being around. My friends laughed at my jokes rather than giving me that "you are useless" look.
I was free - not bound to this crappy wheelchair. I could shower myself, wake up whenever I wanted, and clean my apartment on my own.
Sigh.
Now or never! I can do this! I'm strong enough, I thought as I returned to reality. The time had come. The meds in my hand called out to be swallowed. It was the least painful way for me to go. With a sip of water, they would go down my throat, and after a while, I would fall asleep to shatter my mortality.
It was truly an egoistic decision to kill myself. Some will curse me as a coward; my family's heart will bleed, and a scar will remain forever. But I chose to be selfish one last time - to end my suffering, to escape the hellish pain running through my body, and to leave behind the cloudy, foggy mind caused by the meds.
The water bottle lay ready on my lap. I only needed to raise my hand, take those pills, and swallow them. It was so easy, yet my hands hardly moved and instead started to shake. It was as if they were refusing my command. My mind ordered, but the command was denied.
I balled a fist. This couldn't go on like this. With a fast and swift motion, my elbow raised, my mouth opened, and the pills entered their desired position. The bottle of water was quickly ready and raised to my mouth. Some water splashed over, but enough entered to ensure I wouldn't choke on the pills. While I wanted to die, it was supposed to be peaceful. Without any last fight, without a chance for a change in mindset.
Gulp.
It only took a second. A second for my end to be decided.
The water bottle fell out of my hand, soaking my body. I didn't care. My eyes had only one focus - the beautiful sky.
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What a lovely way to die.
This was true peace.
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Dark Forbidden Zone, Evil Faction
The mighty gods of the Evil Faction sat on their majestic thrones in the Hall of Summon. Their true forms were concealed, and one could only see shadows. In the middle of the hall was a pond of water, showing a young man sitting in his wheelchair on the roof of his house. His eyes were closed, and rather than sitting, he was almost lying in the wheelchair. A faint smile lingered on his face, It looked like he was in a deep sleep.
However, the gods knew better. This was no deep sleep; the young man had already died. Just a few minutes ago, he had swallowed a few pills and ended his own miserable life. The sun had not yet set, and the sunrays assaulted the lifeless body, casting a shadow behind it.
"Coward!" a voice screamed. He was clearly disappointed at the lack of will the young man had shown.
"He is not bad," another voice interrupted, in a much calmer manner.
"I refuse to depend on him! He is not worthy! A waste of time, that's it!"
"He had the guts to kill himself."
"But he chose the easiest way."
The gods voiced their opinions one after another. While some were pleased with the young man, the majority despised his lack of cruelty and his cowardice.
"ENOUGH! I choose him. Don't you trust me anymore? Where is your respect?"
The chatter of the gods stopped as a grumpy voice echoed through the whole hall, with a hint of killing intent spreading and aiming at each of them. This one was clearly on another level.
"But... your Majesty, this boy is not suitable at all," a brave one objected again.
The leader sighed. He too knew that the boy's mindset was a problem, but it wasn't something they couldn't fix. They just needed time. With time, everyone changes. An intelligent man once said, You either die a hero, or you see yourself become a villain. This was the dark reality.
"He has soaked in death. His soul has already started to corrupt. He will become an important asset against them. We can smuggle him into their camp and let him betray them when the time comes."
"That's a bad idea, your Majesty," a female voice objected this time. "Who do you think the boy will be loyal to? Someone who gave him some power 100 years ago, or the ones he lived with for 100 years?"
"That's not all," she continued. "If they sense him, they will find us! We can't afford to be discovered until we've fully recovered."
"Then what do you think we should do?"
"Since his soul is already corrupted, we can send him there without interfering too much. His class should naturally align with an evil one. Over time, the people will reject him, and it's then that we will move. We will take him in when he's hunted down and support him at his lowest."
"What do you all think?" The leader's voice sounded pleased.
"Do we have another chance?"
"It might work."
"It's worth a try."
"Then we will do it like this. Leave the hall. Krythera, stay here."
One after another, shadows flickered and vanished until only two remained. The man's voice sounded again. "Did you find the rat?"
"No, Your Majesty." Krythera took a breath before continuing. "But I have a few clues."
"Oh?" The leader's tone turned curious.
Krythera didn't dare to let him wait too long. "It's Syrux. One of his puppets has left the realm too often in the last few years. I suspect he's reporting to them. We should eliminate him."
"No, don't kill him," he interrupted her. "He will slaughter too many of us. Feed him false information."
"Should I let the boy slaughter Syrux's puppet?"
"No, he's too important. Let the boy try to refine the puppet. This way, we won't lose our influence there."
"Is there something else?" Krythera asked, eager to leave and handle other pressing matters.
"No, you may leave."
Her shadow flickered, and she quickly disappeared out of range.
As soon as the leader was alone in the room, his shadow transformed and faded, revealing his true form.
A man, restrained by chains wrapped around his entire body, sat on the throne. His body looked rotten, his head bare of any hair, and his left eye was missing.
How did we fall this deep... We now need to depend on this mortal... A trace of worry spread across his face.
In the last millions of years, there had never been a point where they needed to recruit mere mortals to help them. But now, with most of them weakened, it was the best option. Their pride was about to shatter, but a shattered pride could be restored. A shattered soul could not, it would wander the forbidden void forever, being devoured until its transforms into something soulless.
Let me see what you've got, boy. Can you change, or will you be forgotten in the river of time?