Some people say they see a light when they come close to death. Others talk about glimpsing heaven. One guy even told him he met an angry, dwarf-like creature during a coma who warned him to change his life. None of that happened to him.
Before he woke up, his mind was...empty, not in a bad way—just a vast, endless expanse where he didn’t even seem to exist. Then, everything changed when he tried to open his eyes.
Or at least, he thought he did.
At first, thoughts trickled into his head, sluggish and sticky, like honey pouring from a jar. Every effort to think felt exhausting, like dragging a boulder uphill. But he could think. That much was certain.
When he finally pried his eyes open, darkness greeted him—an oppressive, suffocating void. He tried moving his arms, but they felt impossibly heavy, like submerged in thick molasses. Slowly, he forced them upward, each movement a monumental struggle.
He contemplated going back to sleep; then, it would be over. Somehow, he knew that. A small part of his head told him he could just go back to that emptiness, go back, and be done with it all, and truthfully, he almost did. But as he was closing his eyes, something caught his attention. In the nearly complete darkness, he thought something was there, a dim light.
Focusing his eyes in the direction of where the light had been took a lot of effort, but he pushed through by convincing himself he could go back to sleep afterward. Hunter waited moments for the light to reappear, but when nothing happened, he slowly pushed his arms out.
Again, it was heavy as he reached out; he struggled, and then there it was again.
A dim light filtered in. Inching his arms further allowed him to see more light, and he wasn't just putting his arms up but pushing against something. A thick material was all around him, cocooning him.
Hunter never liked tight spaces; this reminded him of how spiders would entrap their prey. His heart quickened at that thought, and he tried to focus on his breathing.
He opened his mouth and took in long, measured breaths: In…Out….In. It was even difficult to breathe, and something wasn't right. The air was heavy as if breathing a liquid.
A horrible thought passed His mind, and he moved His arms around again. To his horror, it seemed between him and the edge of the material was a liquid of some kind, and he was breathing it.
Hunter's heart pounded harder, and His breathing tried to quicken, but with the new realization, it only felt like he was choking; he started coughing out the liquid, only for it to be replaced by more.
Panicking, he pushed hard and reached for the material again, desperate to rip it, but even with His arm fully stretched out, the cocoon was always just a fingertip out of touch.
The coughing got worse; he was sputtering hard, and he could feel pressure in His chest; the walls felt like they were starting to crush him.
Holding His breath, he pushed out with His legs as if on His tippy toes and reached above him; he could feel it now; the material was rough, and the liquid made it hard to latch on.
Hunter felt the world slowly wobble and spin around him, and a loud ringing was in his ears. He started to feel weak. His mind wanted to give up. Then, he felt it. His right hand had a small pinch of the material.
"I did it! I grabbed some," he thought.
With all his might, he held on, pushing through the pain in his chest as he slowly reached over with his other hand. He felt like he would lose His grip on it at any moment.
His left hand made it. He pulled the material slightly closer and got a proper hold with both hands. He couldn't hold his breath for too much longer, and his arms felt weak.
He didn't care. Hunter found some energy reserve he didn't know was there and pulled his arms apart as hard as possible.
The material stretched.
He pulled harder, desperate to not die someplace like this.
As he pulled, more and more light gave way, and slowly, a small tear started to form. Then, almost like a balloon popping, the material popped. At that exact moment, the liquid around him made a loud, squelching sound as it slowly ran outwards, free from its balloon prison.
Hunter's world was instantly changed. The cocoon was replaced with a dark, jagged stone far above him, light filtering in from an opening far away.
Finally, he tried to breathe, but his lungs felt full as if he had already taken a large breath. Then, his body tried to excise the air, leaving only liquid in his lungs, and he started coughing it up.
The liquid didn't want to leave, though. It slowly oozed out of Hunter's nose and mouth as he continued to heave. Coughing repeatedly, Hunter felt his vision starting to darken.
Something interesting happened then. The liquid was starting to lessen. Hunter's air pipes were clear enough to let some oxygen in and keep him breathing.
He continued to heave. His vision was clearer now, and he saw that nothing was being expelled anymore as he coughed. The heaviness in his chest continued lowering. His coughing subsided as he took short, shallow breaths, just thankful to be alive.
His body told him it wasn't happy with that whole charade by giving him a sharp pain and headache in His head; although he had the pain, His head felt clearer than ever.
Happy to just sit there and regain himself, Hunter saw the liquid draining somewhere near him.
He looked around for the drain, following the path of the liquid, which seemed to be right beneath him. Scooting out of the way, he was surprised to still feel so heavy, as if the liquid wanted to cling to him. He glanced back at the spot where he had been sitting, but the fluid was no longer draining there; instead, it still appeared to be pooling underneath him.
Hesitantly Hunter tried to stand, it felt like he was trying to lift the ocean with him, and he immediately fell back to His butt.
Then a realization struck him: He could now almost breathe fully. "I know that the body can remove liquids from the lungs, but it usually takes an immense amount of time, so does that mean I am absorbing this liquid?" he thought.
Hunter felt curious at that thought and looked down. He saw his skin where he was sitting, almost shuddering. He hesitantly touched it; it felt like pudding under his skin.
When he focused on his skin, which was absorbing it, he could feel pressure from the inside, like the liquid had to filter through his skin. A tingling sensation like static electricity followed anywhere the liquid was being absorbed.
Now, without fear of death, Hunter could take a good look at himself. He was still hunched over, like when he played games on the TV. His skin was white, not white, as if he had always stayed inside. More like he had never been touched by the light of the sun. It wasn't like he was albino, but it was a much different color than it had been.
He touched his right arm where the scar was; it had been a memory of what he had done. The rough scar, however, was gone, leaving only soft skin. Hunter dug in with his fingertips, feeling phantom pain from the memory.
Shaking himself from the thought, he looked at the rest of himself. He looked lean. He hadn't been in the best shape before but had considerable muscles. This new body seemed small, with no fat and no muscles.
Reaching up, he felt his hair. It was long and about to become shoulder-length. He had never grown it out before, so it felt odd. He reached up and pulled on it, feeling a sharp pain for his efforts. Hunter brushed some hair to the front and looked at it. His new hair was a reddish brown.
Brushing his hair back, he asked the room. "What is going on? " he heard someone say.
His head flicked around, looking for where it came from. The only thing he spotted was his hair in his eyes. This made him realize again that the voice he had just heard came out of his mouth.
Hunter froze, whispering to himself, "Hello, I am Hunter. This is my voice." His voice before was lower—not anything crazy, but it was pretty deep. This voice he heard, no, not heard, had spoken was a good bit higher. It didn't sound feminine, but it was pretty high for a man.
Hunter reached up and touched his face. Even that was different. The roundish face with the acne scars was gone, and left was a smooth diamond shape.
Hunter felt alien in his own body, he could feel shivers of fear and anticipation of what that meant jolting through his body.
"I must be dreaming." He again heard that foreign voice say.
Hunter began to look over his body again with intrigue, only then realizing the bumps forming along his skin. The bumps were forming near where the liquid was getting absorbed and were slowly moving up to his chest.
He poked one of the bumps; it felt soft, and the liquid gave way under his touch. He watched them move upwards in lines, getting closer to the top of his chest.
Then he started to feel weird. His legs started to tingle as if they had fallen asleep. "Is this stuff absorbing me?!" he cried out as he tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't even move.
His arms started to feel numb.
Hunter looked around, trying to find anything to use as a tourniquet. There was nothing but slick rocks.
He started using his hands to press down and push the liquid down his body and hopefully out, but the liquid only seemed to be going quicker.
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Losing any kind of control over his spine, he fell over hard, hitting his head on the cold stone; his whole body was tingling, and he could feel the liquid crawling its way up his neck.
"This is it," he stammered, "I should have stayed asleep."
Hunter closed his eyes, clenching them shut.
His jaw was starting to burn now; opening it to cry out made it pop in pain.
The silent cave disappeared for him as a loud ringing became his world. As his ears ached, he felt his blood pulse through them, giving him a ping of heat and shock every few moments.
Then, his eyes; he had pink eye before, and he'd experienced someone throwing alcohol in his face. This feeling was much the same; his eyes itched and burned in tandem.
He was blinking rapidly, and with each blink, tears rolled out; he slowly saw his vision caving as his thoughts became slower until both his eyes and mind became dark.
The pain was gone, his sight was gone, he could not feel anything, the only way he knew he was still alive was the loud ringing in his ears.
It felt like he stayed that way forever, accompanied by a loud-pitched whine.
A few times, he felt the start of a thought or what he thought was feeling coming back to him, but just as quickly as it had been there, it also vanished.
Hunter didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually, even the ringing left him, leaving behind his slowly aching mind. He could feel his brain working again like it had just woken up. The thoughts came slowly but deliberately.
"I'm...alive?"
"Where...am I."
As expected, no one answered.
Relief washed over him as he just enjoyed the feeling of being alive; however, as his mind continued to thaw, he saw something white appear in his vision.
A white outline of a rectangle-like box appeared in the middle of his vision. Hunter tried to open his eyes, but with a shudder, he realized they were already open. He could not see anything else but the white box; however, it didn't seem to illuminate the cave, so it didn't seem to be really there.
"Is this AR?" he asked himself.
His vision slowly started adjusting, bringing into focus that there were words written on the white box they read.
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Incorporation complete…starting system…
Complete…
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The white box disappeared and then reappeared with different words.
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Stats:
Inventory:
Map:
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Hunter looked at this screen for a long time. "What is going on? Am I alive? Maybe this is a dream of a game I played." he looked over the options, confused.
He stopped, allowing himself time to breath. Eventually, centering himself again he looked at the options. "Stats," he thought. "What stats?"
Hunter heard an auditory buzz sound as the stat screen opened.
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First-time integration….
measuring competencies…
Complete…
Hello Hunter, here is a breakdown of what your last life meant and how much of an impact you had on it…
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A giant list appeared before him, taking up all his vision. It started scrolling, not waiting for him to be ready.
Hunter was still grappling with the whole situation but knew this may be important, so he muttered to himself, trying to focus on one thing at a time.
"Silent but deadly level 6, Cleaning glasses level 7, Cooking level 3."
All these skills were deemed worthless and categorized as "Useless," but he eventually reached skills classified as "Transferable skills." When he did, the page stopped scrolling, allowing him to scroll for himself.
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Transferable skills
Sloth: You were a part of the introverts; you liked staying home when all your friends were out doing actual stuff. Wait, did you even have friends? -1 agility.
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Hunter mentally took a step back as he reread the message. "I had friends," he thought at the message, feeling the need to defend himself. "Also, why does that give me less agility?"
The message didn't respond.
A new skill popped up next.
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Daydreamer: Imagine a reality where you could only be if you were slightly better; this is you, a daydreamer. +1 wisdom and +1 intelligence.
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"Rude…" He thought and looked over the gains, trying to parse them, "Wisdom and intelligence, this feels like a game." A new skill again replaced the last.
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Forgetful: this skill is for those who need to go grab a glass of water and then, on their way to the kitchen, start thinking about a dumb joke and ask themselves, "Why did I come in here again?" -1 luck.
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He shook his head at the skill. "Why are most of my skills bad?" he asked.
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Hard worker: you showed a consistent effort to improve yourself. +1 to all stats, but luck.
Good liar: How would someone be a good liar? Well, you may get this from telling white lies, or maybe you tricked others into allowing you to steal that promotion all your work friends were going for. +1 intelligence.
Cat obsession: This is given to those who adore cats, but unlike normal people, you never got a cat of your own. Do you feel bad now that you will never get that chance? Creatures are slightly less likely to want to murder you.
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He found the last one odd, especially since it gave a Buff. "Is that the right word?" he asked himself. Eventually, a new screen replaced the rest.
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Stats:
Strength:
3+1=(Hard-worker)
Durability:
4+1=(Hard-worker)
Agility:
4+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker)
Intelligence:
6+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer)
Wisdom:
5+2(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer)
Level 1
XP 0
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Hunter looked at the list, confused for a few moments. To him, this resembled many games he used to play, but his stat screen didn't seem to show everything. He tried to think of the Forgetful stat, and it appeared again.
Just like he thought -1 luck, but there were no mentions of it on the screen, he thought of the last one, cat obsession. It said something about creatures being less likely to harm him.
Hunter always felt like his neck was on fire when he got stressed, and he was starting to feel like that now. “Having a negative in luck may come back to hurt me; I guess that's only if I had a low luck stat to begin with."
To that extent, he tried to think back on his previous life. It wasn't like he had ever won a raffle or a Powerball, but he never considered himself unlucky.
Pushing those thoughts away, he looked at the bottom of the screen. "Level 1, at least I can increase my skills. If 5 is the average for skills, I'm a little behind, but I will have to work hard if it's something like 10."
Hunter's vision, feeling, and hearing came back all at once, momentarily overwhelming and overstimulating him. He eventually got used to the cave's smell, the cave floor's coldness, and the sun shining on him again.
"The sun?" he thought. It was so nice to see the sun; he hadn't seen it in years. He smiled at the warm light radiating from what must have been the cave entrance and stood up.
Or he tried to. A few things happened when he tried to stand up. First, he slipped, landing back on the cold stone. Second, the feeling of cold made him look down and realize he was naked. Lastly, a bar appeared in his vision, mostly filled with red, with the smallest chunk missing on the right.
His mind played tennis, and with each court of his brain, he tried to decide what to think about. "I'm naked? A red bar? Why am I naked? The bar appeared when I fell. Is this a health bar?"
The thoughts of the health bar won, and he stared at it; after what felt like a minute without it changing, he turned his attention back to his naked body.
Again, he was surprised at this person's scrawny build and white skin. He just sat there looking at himself for a few moments before scooting over to the side of the cave wall and pushing up with his legs and arms.
He could feel the pressure of his form on each joint. His body lacked calluses, so each step on the uneven stones felt sharp. He slowly took each step while guiding himself along the wall with one hand.
Following the light, Hunter had to squint as he approached the edge of the cave. He let his eyes adjust and then took in the view.
He was in a cave on the side of a mountain. From his angle, rolling hills were below him, and to his far left was a vast forest.
A gust of wind blew in the smell of pine and water from a river somewhere out of sight, the corresponding sound of wind greeting his ears; he sighed deeply; it was beautiful.
The mountain looked like it was at a 35-degree angle, with old trees and boulders jutting out randomly. Sharp rocks dotted the side.
Leaning out of the cave, Hunter looked up. He was about halfway up the mountain, and similar dangers were above him.
He looked up and down a few times, trying to decide, but then he heard the first signs of life other than himself in this world: a bleat came from his left.
"A goat?" he heard himself say, looking to his left. Sure enough, there was a goat. The goat had dirty brown fur, stood around three feet tall, and had horns that twisted in small circles until they came to impossible sharp points.
He and the goat looked at each other as the goat chewed the cud. Only a few moments passed before he saw the goat swallow and turn its head upwards, letting out a high-pitched BLEAT!
Covering his ears, he watched as the sound made the red bar in his vision go down another small chunk.
The goat wasn't done there. However, it narrowed its eyes and charged at Hunter; this charge was more of small hops as it found footing closer and closer to him,
Hunter finally removed his hands from his ears and looked around again for anything; not seeing much, he was left with a choice. "Fight the goat barehanded, try and hide in the cave, or run."
He chose to run. With his limited agility, he decided to try to go down the mountain at a side angle to his right.
Hunter would step on a rock or piece of wood every few steps and see his red bar go down. He was surprised he didn't feel any pain. He could feel a light pressure on his body, but it didn't feel like pain; it felt more like an ache.
Hunter kept running, eventually sparing a look behind him. He saw the goat gaining and kept running.
His bar was at three-quarters now. "What happens if I run out? Do I just die?"
He could hear the goat now; it was getting louder, and its four legs were finding much better traction than his.
Hunter's heart throbbed in his chest as he kept running, a new bar appearing, a green one. This one was already three-quarters gone.
The goat was getting closer,
The green bar only had a fifth left; he had to do something.
A new sound itched at his ears, and he locked onto it like a lifeline, trying to find his way.
Hunter ran with all his might towards the sound but wasn't fast enough.
He saw his red bar go from three-quarters to half in an instant. Hunter watched as the goat ran past him, some blood still on its horn. His back felt warm, and blood flowed.
He watched his health bar lowering visibly as he lost blood; the goat was still running full speed, turning widely to come back for him.
Without any more hesitation, Hunter ran right at it.
He only had one chance; he counted himself down, 3…2…1… Hunter put out his left arm to try and guide the goat's horn out of his path,
It worked, mostly. Hunter's palm was slick with red blood, but his health bar hadn't lowered too much,
He clenched his fist and kept running, knowing the goat would be back. The sound was roaring now, and he knew he had to be getting close.
The goat made another terrible bleating sound, and the earth seemed to tremble as it started racing toward him.
He was only a few steps away.
His green bar hit zero.
It felt like he had run a marathon all at once. He felt aches in his whole body, his heart pounded even harder, and sweat poured down him quicker than rapids.
Hunter pushed anyway, desperate to escape. His health bar started diving quickly with each step.
He was so close.
His health bar was only at a fifth
The presence of the goat was gigantic behind him, and he knew it would only take moments before he was skewered.
He reached the edge and fell.
Everything slowed
His body twisted as he fell, Hunter watched as the goat passed right over him.
The goat now had glowing red eyes, and its brown fur glowed a light red underneath.
He started to pick up speed, Hunter knew this was a stupid plan, but he had to do it.
A light mist of water started lightly pattering at his body. Hunter watched his health bar lower as he fell, now only a tenth of what it was.
"This might have been a bad idea." He thought right before he impacted the water.