Joe experienced death and he was utterly befuddled.

The view of the mountains to the left of the snow-covered road mesmerized Joe, and he wondered if he should stop. It wasn’t that he feared crashing his truck, he hadn’t done that in nearly seven years, since his first delivery. In those times, everything about driving the truck stressed him. Slowing and accelerating, sitting so high up from the road, and especially U-turns stuffed him full with worries. The worst was driving in highly populated areas, knowing that his truck could crush a man like a fly against the windscreen. No, what made him consider stopping was the thought of enjoying a smoke.

He noticed the frost lining the window, a strong argument against leaving his truck. It was cold outside but that was expected at the start of winter, and doubly so considering he was in northern Norway. He lived in Germany and whilst he had his few experiences with cold, it was nothing like the cold here. The two sensations shouldn’t have shared the same name.

The cold in Germany haggled you for your warmth like a drunken robber, whilst in Norway, it snuck up on you, and focused on your weak spots like a hired assassin. You’d feel it in your ears first, then the tip of your nose, the back of your throat, and all of a sudden your whole body would be screaming in pain, desperately pleading for warmth. The worst part of the whole experience, Joe wagered, was that the locals could deal with it without a problem. When he was in Sweden, he spotted many teenagers walking around with shorts in late January.

Vikings…

He checked an app on his phone, Trucker Path, which told him it would be an hour until he reached his destination. Part of the reason as to why he was still driving a truck was that he’d grown to love spending time alone. He didn’t mention this to other people out of fear of sounding insane, but after a while on the road he’d started finding joy in his own thoughts and the company of himself.

Apart from this there was having full control over the radio, and getting to listen to jazz however much he wanted, and the best part was nobody complained over how terrible his singing voice was.

That’s not to say there weren’t downsides. Making deadlines whilst also maintaining a healthy amount of sleep felt next to impossible at times. He knew without a doubt that he’d drunken too many energy drinks, but he’d rather do that then be sleepy at the wheel.

Suddenly, the back of his mind, the subconscious part he’d left to keep track of the road, screamed that something was off.

Joe jerked his sight back there to find a white sedan on the wrong side of the street driving straight towards him. He saw the pale-white face of the boy driving and recognized his expression immediately. Frozen in shock!

Time seemed to slow down as many different details flew at Joe. He knew that if he were to keep driving straight, he’d crash into the car and kill the kid, who looked to be around nineteen. There wasn’t enough time to break, and the problem was that trying to drive the truck to the side was almost certainly going to end with him falling of the cliff. It was his life versus the moronic kid.

And they say quitting smoking makes you live longer. Fucking bullshit.

He wanted to crush the kid. It was him who had put them into this position, but another part of him took control of his body, and he swerved to the right. He felt the weight of the truck shift as swung left, countering the sudden movement. He’d dodged the sedan, and spun the steering wheel left.

He’d done it, he was past the kid and he’d survived. A smile stretched across his face but it seemed that it had done so too early, because the back of weight attached to the back of the truck, swung to the back, and the truck tumbled over the edge of the cliff.

In the havoc Joe felt a change as one second turned to another, and he realized that he’d passed the point of no return. No matter what he did from this point onwards he was dead. It was as if Death had appeared in the passenger seat, and was simply watching the events transpire.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

The truck fell towards the hard edges at the bottom of the cliff without making a noise. For such a climactic moment, he’d appreciate if there had been some sort of chorus reaching its climax, but instead he could only feel his body pressing up against the seat belt as the ground approached at a terrifying rate.

Perhaps his brain had understood that as his last wish, because at the final moments of his life, he saw not his entire life flash by but instead heard the faint melody of I’ve Got The World On A String, by Frank Sinatra, playing in the background.

The last thing he heard was the breaking of his windows and the twisting of the truck’s metal, then everything turned black, as if Death’s cloak had wrapped around him.

He felt his body being taken away from him, feeling his skin disintegrate, then his muscles, and finally his bones. It didn’t hurt, but he knew they were gone. Then, the panic and stress which had peaked within him, strangely giving him nothing but a calm, were snatched away from him, alongside the rest of his emotions.

It was only him and his thoughts left, or perhaps only his thoughts. He thought of his memories being taken next and found himself discomforted at the thought, not emotionally, because that he no longer had. Somehow, purely intellectually he felt discomforted by the notion of losing himself.

But a moment passed and then another, and Death didn’t come to take them away.

Hello, you have been chosen for reincarnation. Your personality has already been measured and an adequate species picked. Due to the special nature of your species you have the option of keeping your memories. Would you like to do that?

He imagined that much information being thrown at him would make him dizzy. All of a sudden he was told that he’d be reincarnated, and that whatever he was being reincarnated a place one could keep their memories from before birth.

But, giving up his memories was essentially the same as giving up himself. Suicide. It would no longer be him in the next world, and he thought he wanted to live more.

I’ll keep my memories, but could I ask a few questions?

Sure.

Why was I chosen for reincarnation? And what am I being reincarnated into? And who are you?

Everybody is reincarnated. You’re being reincarnated into a core, due to the lack of magical energy on Earth those don’t exist there. And I’m a worker of the cycle. My job is to make sure things flow on smoothly.

Oh, do you have to do a lot?

Most of it is automatic, but sometimes, with special cases, I have to ask a few questions.

Well… Does it pay good?

The voice giggled. He didn’t have his ears anymore so he didn’t know how he possessed that information, or how he spoke with it in the first place, but he recognized the sound as a giggle.

You could say so, but we’ve got to roll this thing on. Hmm since I’m feeling kind I’ll let you pick your perk. It’s usually randomized.

Suddenly, as if a usb was plugged into his mind, he had access to a list of information. First was the perk’s rating, it descended in the order of legendary, epic, rare, uncommon, common. Then, there was the perk’s name and summary.

All of the legendary perks were at the top of the list, almost as if the voice was suggesting for meto pick one of them. I had a feeling this wasn’t allowed, but considering this was my life I wasn’t about to complain. I’d gotten really lucky with this. There was one perk that stood out to me as really powerful, despite me not knowing much about this new world.

Legendary

Will of Domination

The core’s units are capable of taking over control over another unit after it has been bested. After domination, the core may control the unit as if it is the core’s unit. The unit will carry a regular value to the unit limitation.

Joe selected the perk.

Good choice. You will now be reincarnated. Good luck Joe!

You have entered the mining dimension.

You have been given the tag Joe#5312