In the middle of a void, sighing in defeat, stood a 17-year-old. This was one hell of a situation, huh? Damnit, out of everything he really hadn’t expected this to be the way he’d go. Did he really die like that? He had tried to be a hero and pushed his date out of the way of a falling beam… It didn’t look too big at the time, and he was sure he’d be able to catch it… Damnit, how was he supposed to know the metal would be that heavy!? He still remembered the feeling of his arm caving in, and the short time between the crunch of his arm and the beam falling towards his face…

He cried out in petty rage, the idea of so much of his life’s work ending literally at his own hands being too much for him to handle.

He had 10 years of constant training since he was 7 years old! 10 years he’d spent training under that decrepit old geezer that took him in. He’d never been allowed outside the mountain before, either, and only when he turned seventeen did the old geezer finally let him go. He still remembered the beatings he took from the old man, all sneakily disguised as a way to train him up. Hell, he hadn’t even been able to use his sword skills on anyone other than the old bastard…

…Shit. It was the first time he’d talked to a girl, too. He’d absentmindedly walked into a random building, seeing the words on top of the building, “Starwall Gym” made him think it was another place he could train with his sword. That… wasn’t the case. He could only imagine what the terrifying machinery inside the place was used for. The lady at the counter immediately stopped him, telling him that if he took out his sword in public he’d be arrested. She had saved his life, then. No matter how he used his sword, his teacher told him his current skill level would never hold a flame to an officer’s gun.

That was when he realized the girl was someone with a good heart. After a bit of conversing, he’d managed the courage to ask her for her hand in marriage. She hadn’t liked that for one reason or another. He did manage to get her to “Consider” it, though, and she had taken him to a store full of food and clothes, and even weapons! He hadn’t seen any weapons in the short time he was in there, but the girl had been adamant that there had been. It was a bit disappointing, since that was the main reason he had asked to go.

Though, none of that mattered anymore. He was dead now, and he just couldn’t change that. This was the afterlife, an endless cacophony of black mixed with the deafening noise of static. He’d probably go insane in the next few days, but he’d hold on as much as he could..

Turned out, he hadn’t even lasted ten hours. He writhed and squirmed in agony, the lack of anything mixed with the deafening noise too much for his mind. He needed to feel anything different, see anything different. He almost felt like he would shatter. In the end, all he could do was cry out in agony, even if he couldn’t hear his own voice. Damnit! Damnit!

“Damnit!” A tiny brat cried out, his voice shrill and adorable. Everyone in the vicinity watched as the kid shouted so violently, dropping the sack of rice that he had been holding on his back. They looked on in pity. The poor child probably couldn’t help it, picking up such a large sack of rice at such a young age would be a harrowing task for anyone. None helped, however. Eventually, they all went back to their normal routine, glad they could get some form of entertainment in their day-to-day lives.

The kid didn’t just get up, though. He stayed there for a good minute or so, shuddering as he recalled the hell he’d been in. Was that all a dream? Why was it so real? And why the hell was he on a dirt road!? No… was traveling to the city all a big dream as well? Why was he back in the mountains in that shitty hovel with Teacher… Where the hell was he? He had only just then looked up from the ground, realizing that this wasn’t any mountain path or modern city.

He wasn’t even back home… Why the hell was he in a backwater looking village? No, not a backwater. Every house seemed to be made either out of wood or stone, and it didn’t look like a cheap job, either. But this place was made from the ground up, even he could see that. So once again he had to ask, where the absolute hell was he? He realized he was on the ground at that moment, and quickly went to pick himself up, only to throw himself to the side in a clumsy manner. “Agh… What the hell.” What was wrong with his body? It felt so sluggish… and sick. His center of balance was all off.

His hand reached for his forehead to check if he had a fever, and only when he saw the pale, tiny hand did he realize in horror what had happened to him. He’d been turned into a child. He had somehow become a child… “Ahaha… Ahaha!” The laughter came out weak and panicked, the same way a person would laugh when they realized everything was crumbling around them. Death was one thing. That was an end to a means. He didn't have to try anymore when he died.

This… This was like crushing the castle of glass someone had spent decades working on and telling them to start over. He could barely stand, for christ’s sake! What cruel sin had he committed that warranted this type of punishment! On two wobbly knees, the kid stood up. If his sense of balance wasn’t so messed up he’d have run in one direction and never stopped. Any place that was away from here would make him feel better, but for now all he could do was walk away slowly. Well, it turned out he couldn’t even do that.

A blue screen popped up in front of him, looking similar to the televisions he’d seen adorning the city from all sides. Only, instead of pictures, all it showed was words and numbers.

Name: Elliot Dresmr

Level: 1

Occupation: none

Class: None

Strength:6

Vitality:10

Dexterity:4

Agility:8

Intelligence: 24

Wisdom: 4

Charm: 10

Luck: 2

Skills: (N/A)

Unused stat points: o

Quest: Receive a bag of rice (completed) Bring a bag of rice home to mother. (ongoing)

(Your mother has kindly asked you to bring her a bag of rice from the town square. A kind bearded man named Gerald holds what you need. Deliver the rice to your mother and bask in her praise! You’ll receive one free stat point as a reward.)

…What? What was a stat point? …What the hell was an occupation? Was this supposed to make any sense to him? And where the hell was he supposed to go to see his mom!? That woman had gone missing from his life since he’d met the old gramps. Maybe he’d go ask that bearded punk Gerald what the hell was happening. Shed some light on the… on the…

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The world around him shattered as his brain slowed to a crawl. The shattered remains of the world slowly gave way to an empty void, no color, no emotion. By all accounts, it should have been empty. For a moment, however, he thought he saw something massive in the empty void, something incomprehensibly huge. As quick as the world shattered, however, it quickly went back into place, only this time he was in a completely different, much whiter setting.

For a hopeful moment, he looked down at his body, only to frown in disappointment. He was still the pasty-skinned child from before. Damn, he expected at least a different body for some reason. “P-please forgive us!” Cried a voice in the white expanse. He looked around in confusement, wondering where a voice like that could come from in this impossibly vasty expanse. He was surprised to see a tiny girl in front of him, dressed in a white, plain gown and sporting two tiny wings on her back. He almost expected a halo on her head, though he didn’t know if that was rude to ask.

The little girl face became flustered, before reaching for the top of her head bashfully. “I-in angel society… it is a bit rude to ridicule a statusless angel…” She muttered, not able to look him in the eyes. Crap, did he say that aloud!? “Ah, sorry for being so rude, little girl. Why were you apologizing, anyway?” The little angel became even more flustered, opening their mouth only to close it again. “Ah, uh… um… We were meant to make your transition to his world a lot smoother. We had no idea you’d meet your fate so soon.”

Fate? Weren’t the angels supposed to have that sort of thing locked down tight? Well, it wasn’t as if he knew how the angels worked. He couldn’t judge them for a job he had no idea about. Besides, she had said something about dying too soon? That was kind of his fault as well, wasn’t it? “So what do we, uh…” He stopped speaking as he saw the scene playing out in front of him. The little angel had tears in her eyes, desperately trying to rub them away as more kept falling out. “I… Im sowry… We ruined your transmission and you’re still so kind… We apologize for being so… so… augh.”

The little angel kept wiping her tears away, to which he could only stand around awkwardly. Did he say anything kind at all? Maybe just the act of not shouting at her in anger was enough to be considered kindness. If so, then that meant what had happened was probably bad… Extremely so. He still wasn’t enough of a monster to berate someone this small, however. Besides, she learned her lesson, right? No need to make her feel worse.

As the thoughts formed in his head, the crying girl smiled brightly, before immediately dissolving into golden dust. Oh, god. Did he just kill her? Those thoughts were immediately dissuaded. “You didn’t kill her, child. Rather, you gave her the strength to continue living.” A deep but feminine voice resounded in the white space. He turned in a circle, finding nothing. “What? Who are you? And who was the girl!? What happened to her!?” He reached for the sword on his back instinctually, forgetting that he was no longer armed.

The voice chuckled heartily at the effort. “She was your guardian angel, meant to protect you from evil until the time was right to send you forth to a brand new world. She failed at her grand duty, however.” A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he heard that. Grand duty? Evil? Was this something that happened to every human being on earth? Oh god, they weren’t gonna punish the little girl, right? Once again, the voice chuckled. “You're taking this quite well, to be worrying about others rather than yourself.”

He didn’t answer, only keeping a serious eye out in the white expanse, looking for any sign of the woman. “You are special, we wouldn’t waste these resources on anyone. And your guardian angel is fine. Though, because you lost your angel, you might experience some… misfortune on your end. A small price to pay for reincarnation, however.” His eyes narrowed, remembering the abysmal 2 on the “Luck” mark he’d seen on the blue screen. Was that meant to be a representation of his body? It was the lowest he’d seen on the screen!

“Yes, yes. However, you’ve been given a way to increase such vague representations. Simply raise it higher than 85 and you’ll gain the same luck you had as with the guardian angel.” His jaw dropped, astonished at how high the number was. Was he really that lucky in his past life? A life of getting tossed around by a man who was on death’s door and dying moments before truly seeing freedom? …How bad would his life be this time around…

The voice chuckled, it's tone giving a mouthful vibe. “Oh come on, you were given a chance to train under only the best, you know? How many people would kill to stand in your position?” He gave her a weird look. The best? The old man was good with a sword, but he doubted he could call that the ‘best’. He swore he’d almost gotten the bastard a few times. If he’d just been a bit quicker… “Enough, that’s not why we are here.” The voice said, no longer carrying a whimsical tone.

The floor in front of him suddenly opened up, showing a desk and a rather voluptuous angel sitting behind the counter. He froze up, an awkward feeling entering him as he looked at the woman. He’d never once spoken to a girl before today, after all. He needed to make a good impression. “Oh, shush. You wouldn’t want an old bat like me, anyway.” The angel cooed, revealing herself to be the disembodied voice.

Damn, he had expected the voice to be from someone a bit older. He needed to fix the situation if he wanted to get with her. “Umm, hello. My name is… uh. My name…” No way, was he so nervous he forgot his name? All that came to mind was that dumb name he’d seen on the screen, but he knew that wasn’t it. The angel laughed, looking at him with seductive, lazy eyes. “Don’t attempt to remember things you have no memory of. They’re gone for a reason.”

He froze, the shock of the situation setting in. What did she mean by that? He tried recalling his name, the girl he’d gone out with, or even the name of his teacher. Every time he tried it came out blank. He fell to the ground, tears forming in his eyes. No, forgetting his own name was bad enough, but his teacher!? He couldn’t do that. The old man deserved better… better than this. He shakily stood looking at the angel. “Fix this. Now.” He muttered, his eyes taking on quite a dangerous glint for someone in the body of a child. He no longer cared if the person in front of him was an angel, or someone so beautiful. He’d fight if it meant he’d get his master's name back.

She laughed, the sound ringing through the expanse like a beautiful melody. “I didn’t take away your name, child. It is simply what is done after reincarnation. I can’t give something like memories back. Though, there was a reason I came here.” In a sweep of her hand, 20 notecards appeared on her desk, each with something written down on it. “You may choose three blessings to take with you into the new world. Choose wisely.”

He slapped away the cards from the desk, not caring about the rewards. “My old man. Is he alright?” He had to know. The poor geezer would probably die of a heart attack if he knew his little passion project had died in such a messy way. He… he needed to know if the old man was alright. The angel gave a dissatisfied look, before snapping her fingers, bringing all the cards back onto the table. “He’s doing fine. Great, actually. He plans to bury your body at the place you were originally born in. the old man has a new fire reignited under him, apparently.”

The boy stood still for a second, before sighing in relief. He laughed, wiping his eyes. The old man would do something that stupid. He didn’t even know where he’d been born, he’d never been told. “...Would you like to know?” The angel said, a bit of curiosity shining through her calm facade. He just waved her away. “No thanks. If the old man was hiding it from me… Then he probably had a damn good reason for it.” The geezer had told him he’d be told when he was ready, and he’d died before he got to that point. He may have thought of the old man as a bastard, but he trusted them.

Maybe when they met in the afterlife, he’d ask the old man himself.

The angel showed a hint of dissatisfaction, but quickly hid it. “Then please pick from these cards. Please, take your time.” her face had a smile on it, but he couldn’t read anything past that. He looked down at the cards, skimming through them. He quickly caught on to what these “Blessings” were. They were physical enhancements, right? He looked up at her, but all she held in her eyes was sadistic amusement at his confusion. "Please choose carefully, boy…" He looked at her with caution, the tone of her voice changing.

“You may not have another chance.”