He walked some time without goal, it just help him to think in this darkness.
He remembered everything, the asteroid, the flood, the shock of electricity. There was only two logical possibilities, first he could be in a coma then that would mean that his mind was still functioning but in a state of dream or something similar. Second possibility is that he could be dead and he would be a wandering soul with no link to the real world because he would have lost all his senses.
He preferred the first one as it is the only possibility that would allow him to regain the world and his family.
He walked...
A long time...
«Hello?»
No answer, obviously.
Was he even walking? He didn't have legs so it would probably be more accurate to say that he was floating.
He didn't have any idea if the place he was at now was different from where he was at the beginning.
He really hoped to not be dead and there for eternity, this place would end up driving anyone insane.
He walked...
«*cough* *cough*»
Who coughed? It definitely wasn't Elliot who was simply walking. He turned over and saw someone at a bright wooden table as if it was illuminated by the sunlight, the contrast was strong between the darkness and the table.
The person talked.
«Please come here.»
Elliot walked to the table, he had a lot of questions.
«Who are you? Where am I? Can you bring me back to where I'm from?»
«Hahhh, this job really is boring. You have no idea how many people I had to see who asked me the same questions...
Soooo, I am what you would call a God, don't ask me if I'm a boy or a girl why would I even need to reproduce and even if I wanted to reproduce I could do it by other means so stop trying to apply your binary system to me.
You are here because you are dead, yes, too bad. And I am here because one of my underlings is at fault in this death as he accidentally threw this asteroid on your planet.
As we aren't supposed to interfere with the life of creatures such as yourself we had to do something to repair our mistake. Your lifespan has been reduced by sixty two years so we came to offer you the opportunity to reincarnate in another world if you wish to.
Don't even think of dying again to see us you will just end up here until you soul decays.
Any questions?
No you can't go back to earth, it would cause too many problems. You only have one choice, die or live in another world.»
It was really strange, Elliot felt as if they knew everything he was thinking and would answer it right away. But more than anything else they just said that he wouldn't be able to go back to earth, that he would lose everything. Begin again? But why for?
«Please let me some time to think...»
«Take your time I have nothing else to do anyways»
His Mom, his Sister Emily, Lucas... Everything would be lost, all the love he had for them. His memories would be the only thing that would remain.
A thorn in his heart that would never disappear. In that case wouldn't it be better to just die? Living another life would be like betraying his loved ones.
«Can you tell me what the others chose?»
«Yes of course, unexpectedly almost half of them chose to not reincarnate. Honestly, knowing how greedy humans can be I thought that they would all want to continue living but it turns out they can have some noble devotions. Or is it that they wished that much to die?»
He stayed there a long time, thinking and thinking again. The choice between life and death, the most important decision a being can make.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
In the end a choice was made.
He went to face God looking straight into the eyes of a deep black iris that could go through your mind, dissect every thoughts you had.
«So that is your choice. Alright, you wish to live your life to the fullest because you believe that is what your loved ones would want you to do.
Then please put your hand on this paper.»
A yellow paper appeared out of thin air and gently fell on the table as a feather.
At the same time Elliot's hand appeared, as if it was always there concealed by the darkness.
[I wish to live and be mortal once again according to universe's laws]
That was the only sentence written, clear and simple. The choice was made, the action needed to follow.
Elliot's hand was shaking, he wasn't hesitating but just had too many strong emotions contained in his soul, a big responsibility in his hands.
Finally his skin came into contact with the paper and his consciousness faded away.
«Farewell Elliot»
Those were the two last words he heard.
...____________________...
Birds chirping. Wind in the leaves of the trees. Fresh and humid air of an early morning. Small insects crawling on the skin.
The skin.
Elliot woke up suddenly to get rid of all those disgusting insects. What was he doing here lying in the middle of a forest? He knew that he just got reincarnated but wasn't it possible to simply do that in a civilized area where he could start his life normally?
Wait first, Elliot realized how careless he had been, he only thought about living or dying but didn't ask anything about the world where he would be reincarnated. For now everything seemed normal, looking the same as on earth but what if in truth he was the only human being there, how would he survive without any knowledge on how to find food and build a place to rest?
He decided that the right thing to do would be to walk, walk to learn about this world, walk to look for other intelligent beings.
So did he. It wasn't an easy thing as there were no path to take made buy humans or animals, it was a dense forest where he had to crawl under some bushes to progress.
He walked a long time.
At some point he saw footprint of some beast on the ground, it was two times larger than his own hand. Elliot started to fear what was hidden in this forest.
He continued to walk, drank some water in a river as he already sweated a lot from the effort and was thirsty. He had no idea if it was a good idea or not, but the water seemed clear.
In the end the sun set, he couldn't continue walking without seeing anything so he decided to sleep between the roots of some big tree.
He woke up a few times this night because of the cold and insects but when he heard the roar of some unknown animal he got scared and preferred to sleep under a bush from now on to hide himself.
The next day was the same he walked again but he was so tired and had scratches all over his body making him slow.
He had no idea if he walked straight or not, maybe he made a circle and came back not far from his starting point. Maybe he chose the wrong direction from the beginning and he would have found a better place than this damn forest, or even other people.
Sometimes he would almost fall asleep while walking, he kept dreaming about his family and friends and couldn't think properly.
In the evening his belly was hurting. Was it from hunger? Or from the water he drank from the river?
Anyways the growling was so strong that he couldn't resist, he pulled a handful of grass to eat it. He thought that it couldn't be worse than the pain he was in so what could some grass do if not help him survive a bit longer.
He put it in his mouth and chew it. To tell the truth it didn't taste so bad to him, it felt edible.
Another night passed, it wasn't as bad as his first night as he was really exhausted and grew accustomed to the environment.
It was harsh.
The next day he walked again but would fall often because of a root or a stone. His consciousness was becoming blurry as his vision. He has diarrhea and his belly was hurting twice as much as the day before, he could barely make a step after another. He felt cold and hot at the same time, sweating a lot.
He looked as someone who would break at the first gust of wind as a thin and weak branch of tree.
As expected Elliot fell unconscious in the midst of the afternoon. Hours passed, the night and another day, he was still sleeping.
Isn't it pitiful? Being reincarnated but dying only three days later because you don't know how to survive? Without even knowing this new world.
As the night was rising he woke up, he felt better somehow. His body took care of his indigestion and he felt like his mind had gotten rid of a weight.
It was night but he wasn't tired at all so he climbed at the summit of a tree, hoping that he would see something. There was a moon and stars, the sky was clear with almost no clouds. A calm night.
The air was fresh but not too much, as in the beginning of summer. He looked around, trying to find a light or anything that would look like the sign of a human being.
Nothing.
But, the moon... was definitely strange. You couldn't distinguish the details of craters as on earth. In fact it had blue glints as if it wasn't simply the reflection of sun's light on a solid satellite but rather a small sun cold enough to only produce that much light, giving a feeling of night.
It was pretty. For the first time since he reincarnation Elliot felt good and comforted.
In the end he got down from the tree and began to walk as his eyes began to get used to the little light there was under the trees. He walked slowly while leaning on the trunks of the trees.
One step at a time being careful not to fall.
He walked.
Suddenly, he felt a shock in his arm, he looked at his hand on the tree to find an enormous spider the size of his head with her dart stuck in the back of his hand.
He screamed of fear and pain while pulling his hand back with all his might.
The spider stayed on the tree.
He ran away as fast as he could. What's with this world seriously? A strong rush of adrenaline activated in him.
His hand was becoming swollen, with his other hand he gripped his wrist strongly to not let the venom spread and kept running.
He ran fast, tripped, fell, got up and ran again.
But it was probably not the best idea, the spider was now far and running just made his heart beat faster helping the venom to spread.
Finally he fell unconscious. Again.
...____________________...
«What is a human doing here..?»
End of the 2nd chapter of Jutengai - New horizon