Death, it was comforting in a strange kind of way.

Like a mother's embrace.

Arms wrapped around your small and weak body - seemingly encompassing your entire existence. They would assure you and warm your cold and fragile body.

I was eleven at the time, two years before my mom had passed away. I was dealing with the death of my beloved guinea pig - Nibbler. Who like his clever name suggested, liked to nibble on things a lot.

He received that name from my father. When he kept nibbling on his finger, each time he tried to feed him.

It was the first time in my life, I had experienced such a vivid sense of loss.

I was devastated.

My mom held me in her arms, as I kept crying and rubbing my snot all over her.

She never once admonished me for it. Always whispering sweet calming words into my ears and hugging me tighter.

It was one of the sweeter memories of my childhood.

During a time when love was plenty, and we were happy together as a family.

Now, those days had long passed, and I had joined my late mother as well.

Into the afterlife.

Well, I didn't actually except there to be an afterlife. Rex thought incredulously.

Rex had always conformed to the religious practices of his family, but never truly believed it. He was an avid believer of science, and the nothingness that comes with the end of your life.

Rex was often comforted by the fact, that waiting for him at the end of this long road we called life - was the erasing of existence itself, an eternal coma.

But no, here he was… somewhere.

It was strange.

Rex couldn't describe where he was or what he was really experiencing. But he did feel himself leaving the mortal shell of his body and becoming something else.

His thoughts were muddled.

He was formless, just floating along an endless void. But something was pulling him along, guiding him to some place far, far away.

Rex didn't resist, because he had no reason to. It was either be guided, or be lost in this strange space, forever.

He felt himself flowing, being swirled around in some intangible river.

After what felt like an eternity, he felt his existence stretch and be pulled somewhere. It was as if someone had pulled down a lever, flushing an unimaginably large toilet along with him inside it.

He felt the very fabric of his existence, swirling and compressing to a point and then disappearing.

And then he just spontaneously appeared somewhere else.

A place so massive and grand that it baffled him. He couldn't really see anything.

He was - presumably a spirit. So, the way that he experienced the world was peculiar.

He had to extend tendrils of himself of into a limited radius around him, and 'feel' for things. But he wasn't really feeling them. He was just bringing them into him and feeling them as though he would 'feel' himself existing.

Rex didn't know how he did it, it just seemed the natural thing to do.

Like it was an ability you just got after you died.

As he floated around, feeling at things with his 'soul tendrils'. He touched upon something he wasn't meant to.

And then, he felt it instantly.

A massive presence bearing down on him, its existence demanding him to bow down and worship it.

To sing it a thousand praises and love it with pure devotion.

It terrified him.

God? Rex thought shocked.

Something inside him had already acknowledged the absolute superiority of the existence that he had come in contact with.

And then an ethereal voice called out to him.

"Welcome home child." The voice seemed to be feminine, or the closest thing to it anyway.

"To the land of the dead."

It was a gentle voice that seemed to calm him instantly. Elegant and beautiful, the world seemed to grow still as 'she' spoke.

Land of the dead, huh?

I guess the underworld would be considered his new home now.

Being dead and all.

Rex couldn't reply, he couldn't speak or do anything really. He was now just a disembodied spirit, cold and unfeeling.

So, he just waited for the goddess to continue speaking.

He felt 'her' approaching. As she neared, he could feel his own existence dwarf in comparison. He pulled his tendrils back inside himself, trying to appear as small as possible.

Like a harmless blob of thoughts and emotion.

She was so… powerful. So majestic and divine.

She was so close now. Her existence completely enveloping him.

But, then she did something that truly surprised Rex.

…she hugged him?

Slender and strong arms had wrapped around him, warming his small and feeble body in comparison. He felt a warm and soft body press against him. It had the proportions of a normal human body, but it was so much more.

So ethereal and harmonic.

He couldn't see what it was that was hugging him. He couldn't hear or feel it.

But his soul acknowledged it.

It caressed him, comforting the deep recesses of his soul. His thoughts cleared and his being was filled with a renewed sense of clarity.

Why? Why would it want to comfort something as insignificant as he was?

Then it all seemed to hit him instantly, the trauma of the death that he just experienced. The pain he endured at the end of his life and the hopelessness of it all.

"Rest. You have suffered enough." She spoke, divinity blazing in her every word.

His current form wouldn't allow him to cry or bawl. It wouldn't allow him to truly show his feelings.

So, he just stayed there, his thoughts silent and his spirit unmoving.

In the arms of the goddess that welcomed him.

…

After a while the goddess broke away from the sweet embrace.

"You can't stay here for too long." The goddess said softly, gently placing a hand on my being.

I regained my bearing and composed myself. Listening carefully to what she had to say.

"I will send you to a new world."

"A world of magic and the endless dangers that accompany such a power." She said. Her voice grand and booming, vibrating through my whole spirit.

"A place where you can grow stronger endlessly."

"I have a task that you must complete, a hard one but nonetheless feasible with you and the two gifts that I will bestow onto you."

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"You must destroy the last remaining of the Fallen, and their four Monarchs."

"You need not know their names, for they will come to you eventually."

Rex didn't really want to do a dangerous mission, right after he died. But the goddess was a giving a once in a lifetime opportunity, or once in an afterlife… anyway.

I'll be able to go to a new world.

A world with 'magic' and 'monsters. Rex thought with amazement.

Two gifts? Maybe superpowers… do I get superpowers?

The four Monarchs sound really fantasy like. They're probably the final bosses or something!

Rex was an avid lover of games and web-novels. So, he was able to connect the basic dots and form an idea of this strange world.

The way the goddess framed the world, told him that he could really explore the limits of what it had to offer.

Maybe, it would even open up a path for him to go back to his own world.

I could see my family again.

I could see Leah…

"Now go my child." The goddess said.

Rex felt that same strange sensation yet again, like his body was being pulled into somewhere. As if he was being swirled around and sucked into some distant hole.

"To the world of Zion."

He was excited.

He had wasted one life, and he was to be damned, if he were to waste another.

I will - no I have to prosper; I won't be the same weak person I once was. Rex thought proudly.

He remembered the helplessness he felt.

How scared he was as he stared death right in the face.

How effortlessly Jake crushed him.

How he ran away from Alex, like a coward.

I won't run away any longer.

I will fight my battles head on and take what's mine.

I will become the strongest.

***

Rex woke up with a jolt. His now naked body was sweaty and dirty. He immediately patted down his body, assuring himself that he was in a real body now.

The experience was too strange for Rex.

To not be able to see, hear, touch… to be deprived of all his senses. He could feel himself losing his sense of reality, slowly forgetting himself.

The goddess had taken away that discomfort towards the very end. Using her own presence to hold himself together for a bit longer.

'She' didn't tell me her name.

There were many questions that Rex wanted to ask the goddess, that he couldn't at the time.

What exactly were the fallen?

How do I use this so-called magic?

What about those two gifts she had given me?

Rex dismissed those thoughts for now, he would ponder about it later.

He took a note of his surroundings.

He was currently lying on an old - almost ancient piece of furniture. It was a musty bed, filled with cobwebs and a layer of dust coated it.

He got up immediately, when a spider started crawling towards him from the headrest.

The room itself wasn't any better.

It seemed to be the abandoned living quarters of someone who lived in an age long back. The room had a closet in the corner of the room, a mirror and a study table.

The study table had what one singular thick book on it. It had the symbol of a large sycamore tree with vultures perched on top of it.

He opened it to see... nothing.

It was an empty book.

Probably a diary.

He looked around the room. It was minimalistic, with very little decoration. The windows were darkened with soot, with the curtains drawn open.

He looked outside the window.

It was nighttime. He saw a forest outside and creatures moving quietly in the night. There was also a graveyard.

The silver moon shone through, giving the room a bit of lighting.

Spooky. Rex thought.

He wasn't scared of ghosts, but the whole place gave this whole abandoned horror vibe.

It unnerved him.

He slightly drew the curtains close, just enough so that there would be sufficient moonlight. Then he moved towards the closet.

Being naked and dirty wasn't really Rex's thing.

As he opened the closet, the hinges fell off. Causing the doors to fall to either side and pick up a cloud of dust.

Rex coughed slightly and inspected the closet.

There were only three pairs of clothes, that were not full of holes or too old and musty to wear.

A set of priest robes and decorative pieces.

A simple white tunic and brown trousers. There was an emblem of two crossed swords emblazoned on the shirt.

A night gown for sleeping and leisure.

Is this place supposed to be a church?

He selected the priest robes.

It wasn't a priest robes in the traditional sense. It was an all-black gothic outfit with a massive symbol etched on it's back in silver embroidery.

It depicted the same symbol the diary had.

The outfit included - A simple black tunic, a gothic steampunk trench-coat and a pair of flared trousers.

Rex also found a choker hidden under the clothes, it was black leather with spikes embedded in it and a circular ring connecting it in the front.

He took some time to wear it all. But Rex wanted to wear it, for the simple fact that it looked really cool.

The clothes were all surprisingly clean. He even found a pair of pristine white socks under the pile.

After he put on the black platform boots, he found under the bed, Rex checked himself out in the mirror.

What the-

Rex involuntary shuddered.

Staring back at him was someone with the exact same appearance as him. But its eyes were red, a dark crimson.

Its pupils were strange and dilated - it was a thin slit with two branches sticking out from the upper part.

He touched his face, and the person in the mirror mimicked his actions.

Is this one of the gifts I received? Rex thought, incredulously.

Rex studied himself in the mirror. He looked, in a lack of better words… stunning.

His honey blonde hair, along with his new crimson eyes contrasted perfectly with the gothic black outfit. It gave this domineering dark villainous look to him, while maintaining his very same charm.

As he looked closer, he also noticed his skin was pale… very pale. If Rex were to grow some fangs, he would probably pass as a vampire.

Except for those two new details, Rex's body looked completely identical to his previous one.

Was my body transported to this world - Zion, as she called it?

Or maybe she reconstructed a new body for me, a much stronger one to adapt to this world.

Rex didn't feel any different - no wait… he did feel something.

It wasn't a physical sensation, like a newfound strength or power.

No, it was more of a metaphysical phenomenon, it was like there was something…everywhere around him.

Something he could interact with, if he were to perceive it.

It reminded Rex of when he was a formless spirit.

He didn't have any ordinary ways to interact with the world. So he used his new instincts to utilize his new form.

He used the new ability to perceive things, which was what caused him to interact with the goddess in the first place.

But this time he didn't have to prod around, the world itself seemed to have this sort of… presence to it.

He just needed to extend a part of his soul as a tendril and reach out to it…

Woah!

A translucent blue screen appeared in front of Rex.

_ _ _ _ _

[Level - 1]

Name: Rex Craven

Age: 18

Race: ???

Skills: None

Titles: None

Unique Traits: [?? eye ???], [???], [??? Affinity], [???]

< Strength: 13 >

< Agility: 20>

< Stamina: 15>

< Magic Power: 25 >

_ _ _ _ _

A status screen.

Huh.

Those question marks are really annoying.

Eye? What does that mean?

Does it have something to do with my new eyes.

Also. Why is my race unknown? Am I not human?

All Rex got was a bunch of new questions and not any real answers to what he was supposed to do now. Though, the information itself was valuable.

He didn't have any skills or titles. But he knew, he would eventually get some.

Also, his stats intrigued him.

His Strength was the lowest behind Stamina. Magic power was the most by far, a whopping whole twelve whole points more than strength.

He could more or less guess what they all did.

Strength boosted his ability to do damage.

Agility increased his speed.

Stamina determined his Hitpoints, or how tough it was to kill him.

And Magic power was used for magic related skills. Despite being his highest stat, he couldn't make use of it at all.

There weren't any of the other stats that he was used to as well.

Defense, Dexterity, Wisdom… etc. Were they all supposed to be supplemented by skills instead.

His level was one, this meant that he could increase it.

In a standard game setting, this would mean he had to kill other lifeforms to gain experience and level up.

There was another detail that surprised him.

The status screen showed that his age was supposed to be Eighteen.

But last he checked; his birthday wasn't in another five months.

Did that much time pass when I floated around as a spirit and got transmigrated here?

Or was it the age of the new body I received and my soul is actually seventeen?

Rex couldn't actually know. He didn't have anyone to ask.

All alone in this new world…

Is my family alright? They should have known of my death by now right?

How long am I going to be in this world for?

Leah…

Question, questions and questions.

That was all he had.

He clenched his fists, the frustration seemed to overwhelm him.

It was all too much for him.

Suddenly dying, visiting the underworld as a spirit, meeting a goddess, a new world, the fallen, skills, magic….

It all made him want to lie down on the ground and watch the world pass away lifelessly.

He just wanted to close his eyes and res, maybe waking up to a new day would clear his head.

That musty bed looked so appeasing now…

Rex hit himself in the chest.

It was right on the spot where 'he' had stabbed him, piercing his lungs and ending his life.

No, I have to move on. I have to live this day to my fullest.

So, I can see my family again and see Leah.

So, I can see that bastard again and end his pathetic life.

Rex vowed with renewed determination and bloodthirst.

And with that he opened the door and left the room.