My day was actually going pretty good for once. I started out finding a hundred dollars walking to school. Then all the jerk-wads I knew were out sick. Plus the cafeteria gave me two pieces of pizza because so many others were gone! Put shortly, my day was going splendid, I should have known it was too good. I was walking home from school thinking about my recent activities when I walked into my house to find my mom bent over by some sleezebag! I ran back outside in a fit of rage and turmoil. I called my dad, but he was apparently unavailable so I headed towards his office downtown. I was so distracted, I didn’t even notice the bus when it ran the red light.
There was a short blip of pain, then everything went dark…I heard sirens at times, but I was in and out of consciousness. At one point an EMT tried telling me I was going to be ok, that’s when I really started worrying. When the doctor looks worried about you, then your f*%$&#.
I woke up later to the sounds of beeping monitors, but it was silent otherwise. My eyes must’ve been wrapped, because I couldn’t see anything. He tried sitting up, but his body wouldn’t respond. He couldn’t even move his neck, much less itch his nose which was seriously irritating him. After a little while he fell back into a deep slumber.
I still couldn’t move, but there were a few occasions when my parents came in and cried a lot. My mother kept asking me for forgiveness, while at other times I heard screams of anger between the two before some security presumably took them away. My father was no happier than him, and he blamed his mom for the incident. I knew my parents felt tired of the whole situation after a while, but when I was just lying there helpless, do you want to know what my parents finally did to ‘help’? They were arguing back and forth over my medical charges and what it’d take to keep me alive when I felt it.
The room went silent, then they simply unplugged me! What sick f*(&$^@ does that to their kid to escape medical charges! I immediately started going into fits, after a while some medical personnel made it to me and tried stabilizing me. It was too late though, I was too weak already. They got me under control again, but now I could feel myself slipping even faster. Finally he woke up listening to some rude guy insulting him.
“Welcome to the afterlife! Oh sorry, you’re not dead yet. Well I can wait a couple minutes, but hurry up!” I couldn’t see the guy who just spoke to me, but I was seriously considering giving into death to get away from him. What kind of asshole actually says that to a guy in the ICU? I couldn’t even open my eyes to glare at him. Suddenly he felt himself going into another fit of seizures, then everything went dark. “Finally, let’s do this thing!”
He was faintly aware of his consciousness moving, running rampantly and violently, and jostling around in an unbound freedom. He didn’t even care all was dark, he’d been that way for a while now. Moving rapidly along an unknown path, he felt a slight tug on his conscience. It was telling him to move a certain direction, he didn’t want to listen though. He was a free spirit now, how dare someone tell him where to go! Then the tug became an overwhelming push and it shoved him into a strict course, limited to a tunnel-like shape.
As it pushed him, trapped him in its embrace, he suddenly felt small. Nothing he could do would affect this other force! Seething in anger he pushed out with his mind. At first nothing happened, but he pushed with more and more force, like forcing Jell-O through a strainer.
Slowly though, streams of darkness around him seemed to become more tangible, more real than the rest of the endless expanse of darkness he felt whipping past him. He was somehow aware he was no longer in his body, but yet he was still a vessel capable of moving as he willed. Forcibly, in the same slow battle of will, he ‘reached’ out and grasped some of the strands closest.
The rush of knowledge was insatiable, he couldn’t seem to let go. He felt part of the stream of darkness enter him, join with his very being! Then he could suddenly see more in the darkness, there was a deep black void in the distance throbbing a dull color of red around the edge. But the darkness was no longer as crushing, no longer so oppressing. He could see farther, he could now see other strands of color. They were smaller, but they were there. In a kaleidoscope of colors too. Somehow he knew the red void was the end of this journey, but remembering the rush of knowledge he just couldn’t leave it behind! Having only a little longer, he hurriedly sent multiple tendrils of his being out into the great expanse to retrieve more colors.
The effort was incredible, but he willed all but the smallest part of his being outward. In a great heave he reached the first color, a brilliant green and felt he suddenly knew much more about life and earth. He knew how to manipulate it and push and pull just as earth did. After that stream he concentrated on a stream of white light, beaming just further out. It was full of good will, and great deeds. It was the very essence of color and vision, the substance that which gave the world variation. White was overpowering on its own but he didn’t have time to dwell. At the same time he grabbed a stream of red light, a stream of orange light, and a stream of sky-blue light. The red was a thick substance flowing slower than the others. This was muscle and bone, this was what everyone was made of. He could feel a great essence of creation and repairing. It made him feel warm inside but the others came rushing in jarring his suddenly peaceful mind.
The orange light gave him understanding of fire and heat. It taught him about the very basis of all the destructive properties of it, though in a deeper sense it gave him a feeling of recycling and creation. The heat combined with the muscle light searing his soul but he was suddenly filled with a deep, deep cold. Colder than anything else, he felt mana. The very substance of magic, it’s very make-up. How anything had mana, how everything was mana. He was reveling in his deepest understanding yet then he felt the red circle approaching him.
With one final heave he reached out for a golden shaft of light far in the distance. This time he only briefly felt the knowledge caress his soul before he was gone. There was a brief moment when he glimpsed the great powers that were electricity. He was just understanding something about lightning and currents when he entered the red void.
This time when he blacked out he did not wake up in a deep dark void. He was no longer the free spirit he once was, though he still had the knowledge somehow, deep sown he knew he did. Suddenly remembering the seizure he opened his eyes in a hurry to look around.
There was a dimness to the room, startling him. While he didn’t expect to be capable of opening his eyes, he was more surprised by where he was. The first thing Jake saw startling him was a man wearing a grey cloak in some medieval looking clothes. The first thing I said after waking up was quite intelligent actually “Erm, uhhh…Hello?”
“Oh! So sleeping beauty decides to join us does he? You know that stunt you pulled, while entertaining was quite stupid of you. If you wanted that kind of knowledge there’s a library for a reason. Though I was quite surprised you could push yourself that hard. Still, you almost destroyed your very being. Any more expenditure from your own self to reach out and you would’ve been lost forever. There would have been no afterlife for you. Alas, you’re not the only one who does it. I myself did the very same thing in my youth.”
“W-what? Where am I, and what do you mean afterlife?” He was really confused now, wasn’t he talking to someone right now? Plus he didn’t believe in any religion, he was an atheist so shouldn’t he be in hell if anything?
Standing up the man started pacing around his bed looking him in the eye the entire time. Finally settling at the end of the bed, he pulled out a paper and seemed to read it for a moment. Finally giving a sigh of relief he rolled it up tucking it away again. “Well that’s a nice, at least I don’t have to convince you your ‘god’ brought you here for judgment. You know that can be a little crazy at times haha.
But seriously, you are dead right now. Well, in a sense. Every soul is born in a dimension, though if you die you will come here. Think of your world as a sort of incubator, or area where you grow. Then imagine your body is the ‘egg’ and when it ‘cracks’ your soul is released to travel freely out into the real world. Typically someone with a watcher job will wait in hospitals or battlegrounds to guide your soul here. If you die somewhere else, it sucks because it might take hundreds of years before you either find the path here yourself or we track you down to guide you.”
“Wait, so that was you in my room? And what was that stuff I grabbed, it seems sort of distant now.” I was quite frazzled about the turn of events, but he guessed he was taking it better than most would. At least hysteria hadn’t set in, so that was good. While the guy talked I looked around the room. There was a heavy looking wood door straight to his left, a small bed table with a candle, a bedpan, a mirror, and a chair beside his fluffy bed.
“Ya that was me in your room. Jiminy crickets though, took ya long enough to die?! I thought I’d be there forever like that coma case a few years back. Sorry if I seemed rude at the time. As for the knowledge you consumed, that was just what it was. Knowledge is just as tangible as a soul, just far more infinitesimal and ever evolving. For some knowledge it could be common sense, though others are what you might consider more complicated magic. Here it’s all just considered knowledge of one form or another. Give it time as you should start to come to wits with your new ‘abilities’.
Most people absorb some sort of power from their travel from random collisions along the way. Others just learn here, though it’s never on the level of potential you can gain in the void. And before you ask, no you cannot go back to absorb more. It’s a sort of one-time thing, the nature of it won’t let you have a ‘redo’. Whatever you get is considered a measure of your will or luck. It’s a sort of gift, so don’t take it for granted. You absorbed a lot for someone from earth, though most from other worlds gain about as much as you did if not more typically. So anyway, that’s the basics of that. Let’s go get you something else to wear here now though, that way I can get you to the orientation before another patient needs this room. Sound good?”
“Umm, eh… sure I guess. One question though, what happens if I die here? I mean, if this is the afterlife or as you say my ‘real life’, then where would I go?” I said this as I slid out of bed and tried standing. Of course I fell on my face, why wouldn’t I? Looking down I about had a heart attack. Like the well-educated boy I was I did the only thing I could, I screamed. “Ahhhhh, holy of the s***!” Standing up with some help I observed my arms and body.
Running along my meridians I could see super thin lines of light shining as they seemed to flow. Especially where my heart was I noticed a conglomeration of colors flashing through it. It was actually pulsing with my heart-beat and I noticed it was a vague shape of a real heart. Looking under my boxer shorts I somehow had on, I noticed no part of me escaped the change. The overall appearance was quite startling against my pale white skin. I looked in the mirror as the guy tried getting himself back under control. I was thankful at first at what I saw, I expected my hair to be purple or something insane, though it was still it's dark blonde color.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I was a bit surprised to find all the scars and stuff I recalled having disappear though, especially after getting hit by a bus. I didn't necessarily look younger, just cleaner. Newer I guess you could say.
“Hahaha, you should’ve seen your face!” The guy couldn’t stop laughing as I saw myself. Especially as I turned stark-white looking under my modest apparel. Eventually the guy calmed down enough to wipe the tears away and speak again. “Now that, is by far the best part of this job! Don’t worry you can learn to hide them, that’s actually part of the reason you’re going to the orientation.”
Finally he opened the door leading me out into a hallway where he steered me right, towards a door labeled ‘equipment’ at the end of the hall. Stepping inside the room, it was stuffed from floor to ceiling with racks of clothes. “Here’s the list of your starter gear. As for the death thing, you’ll find out after your done here.”
Handing me a list about a half a page long I just stared at it and the highly disorganized shelves. “Aren’t you supposed to help me? I mean this place is huge!” I couldn’t help but let the anger seep through my voice a little.
“Well I could, though the time you take determines your score against everyone else I’ve taken here. If you make the top ten times I typically give you something a little extra to start with.” He said this with a smirk as I suddenly turned tail as fast as I could. Reading the list as fast as I could I scanned the shelves for the items and ran off.
The list included:
1. Pair of thin leather boots in your size
2. Two plain shirts of choice
3. Two pair of pants of choice
4. One leather belt
5. Three pairs of socks
6. Three pair of undergarments
7. One cloak
8. One pair of leather gloves-thin
9. One knife-small
10. One backpack or bag
11. Tinder box
12. One thick blanket
13. One blank leather book with writing quill and ink
Boy that really was a list! He wasn’t sure how fast the others were so he started as fast as he could trying to collect all the necessities as fast as possible. As soon as he grabbed a pair of pink socks though and was forced to return them for something more fitting, he decided he should take more time choosing his starting gear. Just in case the quality mattered. Looking down at his pile he went and returned most of it.
Most of it was dirty or had bad stitching. The shirt looked really itchy especially. Returning to looking, he started with a pair of pants. The options were innumerable, but he soon got to thinking. If there were powers here, then what else would he encounter? In all the stories, powers were the least of his worries. Thinking of this he started looking for the more defensible or sturdy clothing. Who knew when he’d find a time to trade up? Observing the clothes closer scared him a little, they seemed second hand for the most part. Some had burn marks and others like the boots especially, had what looked like bite marks. After a while he started to get an eye for unused items and started collecting what he needed slowly.
Finding some decent dense-knit black cotton pants, he moved on to shirts and decided to match his gear a bit. He found a green, red and a white cotton shirt with some sort of padding around the elbows and shoulders. It didn’t impede his movements and seemed the most protective style. Collecting a few pairs of medium thickness black tall socks, he moved to the boots. T
hey all looked about the same though he noticed the style of clothing rotated around the medieval days. The boots had clasps and they varied in height, width, and of course length. I scanned the racks for a good while, remembering his father’s advice about a good pair of boots. “It wasn’t you who would fail walking across the desert, it was the grain of sand in your boot that would stop you.” With that in mind he especially looked for a good pair of boots with less openings. He took about thirty minutes looking before he reached the back of the shelves and still hadn’t found something to his standard. Huffing Jake looked forward back the way he’d come and happened to look up a little higher than the boots shelves and noticed something peculiar.
Up above the racks of boots near the ceiling a box was collecting dust like no other. Intrigued by its location and obvious lack of attention, he started climbing the shelves to reach it. The shelves were well over ten feet near the back where he was now. The old wood groaned under his meager weight, and as he neared the roof, the quality of the clothes dropped drastically with more dust, mildew, and what looked like rat droppings.
As he finally reached the top he looked across the shelves to notice a few other boxes like his, but otherwise he was just coughing on dust as he observed degrading clothes. Finally he found the box. His hopes soared as he looked at it. It was a sturdy, thick wood with a few swirls here and there. There was some weird runic writing on the top, but he ignored it not understanding it. The lid wasn’t latched so he opened the top pulling it off.
Looking inside his heart stopped… it was empty. He was so agitated he went to pick it up to throw but when he picked it up the bottom came away showing a hole in it. Looking under the box, his eyes finally lay on what must have fallen through it from rot. Tossing the box away he looked at them in love. After a whole ten minutes of marveling at his lucky find, he tried them on. They had a set of silver clasps running up the front connecting with an intricate work of silver along the sides and finally running along the bottom intertwining with leather creating a greater traction along with some minor cleats near the toe and heel.
The insides were soft with some sort of second layer of leather and padding in-between. As I tried them on something even more amazing happened though. At first they were a bit too long, but when the last clasp latched into place they started glowing a low turquoise color. Then the silver seemed to flow into a more fitting design to his taste somehow he just knew. His meridian lines were blazed briefly, then the boots seemed to form to his feet perfectly. The excess leather and silver flowing up his legs creating a taller pair of boots guarding his shins and tendons with the silver.
After this was done he was plunged into the dim darkness again, and blinking the dots from his vision before looking at his boots again. They were perfect! He couldn’t be more in love, it seemed he could move as freely and comfortably as if they weren’t even there! With this newfound discovery he looked over at the other boxes scattered along the roofline. The alleys between the shelves were cramped so he easily climbed across the gaps making his way to another similar box he spotted.
This one was much the same though it held the item inside it. It was much larger though and as he opened it he found a backpack. It was of the same style as the boots. As soon as he put it on, it grew longer along his back and expanded to hold many pockets with clasps of silver. It was also a deep black leather. The frame seemed breathable while still lithe and close to his body. It almost moved as he climbed across the shelves. Always at center balance. Not even looking inside it more, he moved to search for more boxes. There was a semi-armored cloak with plates around the back and sides and a pair of gloves.
Everything in this style was in supreme condition compared to the other items. The other things weren’t as nice, such as the tinderbox and such were just normal from the racks down below. The knife was rusted a little but he could fix that. It was a thin seven inch blade with a belt sheathe. He looked kind of badass if he didn’t say so himself!
When he was satisfied he had everything on the list, he headed back to the front of the shop. He didn’t even care he took hours looking and grabbing stuff, who cared about the extra prize when he most likely had the best clothes in the room.
When he got back to the door, the guy was asleep leaning against a crate. I ever so gently pushed him as hard as I could while yelling in his ear.
“Ahhhhh…What the hell was that for, and you lost by the way?!” Then he gasped when he saw what I was wearing. “W-Where’d you find those! I thought we ran out of that stuff like four months ago! Damn, kids never seize to amaze me. Well, I guess you’ve got a head start on the others during your trials. Also, take the hood off, you look like an assassin. Where ya find the elven stuff anyway?”
“Top shelves, last boxes I think. Might be a couple if you dig a little. So this is elven? How is that even possible, aren’t they mythical?” I say this in half surprise, though part of me is starting to understand this place is basically full of mythical and otherwise fictional things.
“Well ya, they used to come across this wing for gear, but threw a fit when the other races used their stocks up without paying. They moved over to the southern wing of this building. We’re in the human north gate area now. Anyhow, let’s head over to the check-in at the school. Oh, I’m Brent by the way.”
Exiting the room I noticed Brent’s gear for the first time, it was kind of trashy but somehow it seemed stronger than his even. Though it looked close in style, his was more armored than anything else he’d seen so far. The quality made his look rough and uncomfortable, though he knew that wasn’t true at all. Finally after exiting the room and going to the other end of the hall, they exited through a huge metal banded door. Then he got his first look at the world outside and gasped in astonishment.
TO BE CONTINUED