Chapter 1

So this is it, huh? I'm dead. I definitely remember crossing the street and then hearing the screeching of truck tires. I felt the impact crush my right arm as my body was limply tossed to the side. I could feel my insides failing and I could most certainly taste blood in my mouth. 

As the lights around me were fading all that I could think was, "This sucks.." Dying sucks on its own but dying a virgin who accomplished nothing in life sucked even more. My poor parents having to take care of their thirty year old son who has not once attempted to get a job or better himself in any way. What shame they must have felt. 

It wasn't all bad though. I may have never kissed a girl but at least I never had to worry about bills or hell ever work a hard day in my life! I could simply stay in my room all day reading books and playing video games to my heart's content. I really can't complain about having such good circumstances. Still, in those final moments I couldn't help but feel a slight bit of regret. 

Faced with my own mortality I realized just how finite it all was. How much of my life I wasted. How much pain and stress I caused my parents. I can't say I don't feel some remorse for that. The emotions my parents are feeling must be rather complicated. One the one hand their only son is dead. While on the other, their loser son is no longer around to worry about. I wouldn't blame them if they felt like a burden had been lifted from their shoulders. It would only be natural. 

So, maybe this is for the best. Perhaps the world is better off now that I'm dead. Or, was dead. Still dead? I'm feeling rather confused because I definitely died but here I am. Stumbling about in what I assume is a cave. The area is pitch black but I can hear the echoes of my movement and some bits of water dripping in the distance. The walls around feel like hard jagged rock. Though my senses were slightly dulled so it was hard to tell. 

Is this Hell? Oi, was I really that bad?! I mean, I get that I was a bit of a loser who took advantage of his parents but does that I really deserve Hell? I was a pure virgin, but then again it's not as if I didn't partake in sinful acts on my own... 

Ahem, that's neither here nor there. If this is Hell I'm left somewhat disappointed. I imagined more fire and brimstone with a side of demon torture. Which makes me think this isn't Hell. And most certainly doesn't seem like Heaven. So maybe another kind of afterlife? Limbo? Wherever the hell I was didn't really matter, what mattered was finding a way out of this darkness so I simply kept my hand to the wall and walked forward into the unknown. 

"Ugh..." I can only imagine I've been walking for at least an hour. Luckily my eyes had started to adjust so I could confirm I was in a cave but even then the darkness was still quite thick. Strangely enough I didn't feel an ounce of fatigue in my body but still I almost felt like giving up until I caught a glimpse of a light. The flicker of what seemed to be flame slowly grew brighter around a corner. 

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Was someone approaching with some sort of torch? Was a demon coming to torture me?! I would think I would be overwhelmed with fear of the unknown yet I felt quite calm. My first thought was proven right as I saw a young woman carrying a torch come around the corner. I felt a slight shock at just how beautiful she was. With her long blonde hair that draped over her odd robe which seemed something straight out of a fantasy novel. She was even carrying a long staff with a cross and circle at the end. Her rounded spectacles gleamed from the flame of the torch.

Despite being awed by this beautiful woman I didn't feel any unease or nervousness which wasn't normal for me. I could barely make eye contact with the cute cashier at the convenience store down the road from my house yet now I didn't feel my heart racing at all. 

It didn't seem she noticed me at first so I picked up my pace to greet her but as my legs moved she instantly noticed and looked straight at me. Soon as our eyes connected her widened and quickly fear gripped her face. 

Come on now... I know I'm not the most attractive guy in the world but it's not as if I was a monster! I raised my hand and before I could attempt to speak she raised her staff which began to glow a bright light. So bright I could feel my eyes burn at the intensity. It's so intense that I could feel physical pain shoot through my entire body.

"Ahhh! What the hell?! That hurts!" As soon I finally spoke the light vanished and her face went from fear to confusion to shock. 

"Eeeeehhhhhhhh?! You can talk?!"

"Of course I can talk! What the hell even was that and why did it hurt so bad?!" Whatever afterlife this was, it was weird as hell! If I didn't know any better what she just did was like some sort of magical attack. But why attack me? And why was she shocked by the fact I could talk? I'm human just like her!

"T-That was called [Holy Light]. It purges malevolent magical specters, especially those puppeteering a corpse..."

"Why use it on me?!"

She seemed taken aback by what I just said. What was weird about it? Oi, wasn't what she just said before the weird thing? What this about magical specters? And what does that have to do with me?

"Eh...? You're undead, right?"

...

This woman might be crazy right? She's an insane person. How could I be undead? I mean, I did die but that's besides the point! She couldn't have known that. I want to bury my face in my hands when I realize something. The sight of my hands makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. "Wait, isn't she the crazy one?" So why do I not see any skin or flesh on my hands? Why do I see nothing but bones for fingers? 

"W-Why... Why am I a skeleton?!"