Chapter 1 - Rest in Peace

Where… where am I? He thought as he looked around him. To his surprise, he only saw darkness around him. It looked like all lights were turned off and the night was in its full glory. No… this is different… way different… Something was wrong.

I can’t feel my body… or anything for a matter of fact… He desperately tried to see anything, absolutely anything, but to no avail. I can’t feel my body, I can’t see anything… Either I am paralyzed completely and blinded completely somehow or… He didn’t dare to continue the line of thought, knowing already what that would mean to him and… his life.

Wait… Didn’t I bur- His thoughts completely stopped as his most recent memories abruptly returned. The memories of him locking himself in the basement, him splashing gasoline everywhere and finally, him burning himself and the secret documents he had collected all over the four years of his activities.

In his situation, most would scream due to sheer agony and pain, most would probably try to kill themselves again due to the sufferings they had endured, most would probably die due to shock by cardiac arrest or anything similar or related to shock.

But surprisingly, Andreas didn’t do any of that. Shockingly, he wasn’t even sad or angry. I already accepted the fact that I would die. I mean, I took my own life. I would rather prefer that than to rot in some prison or torture chamber then get killed anyway. Plus considering them, I wouldn’t put past any of them the motion of torture, as righteous as they are… He wanted to spit on the floor immediately upon the thought of the word, but he soon realized that something was again wrong.

I… can’t talk, I produce no sound… What the hell is going on now… He started thinking of many possibilities, but none of them would make sense under the situation he was in right now. Except for one option which would answer everything on its own, yet it wouldn’t at the same time…

Although he was aware of the possibility of it being true and was by every second accepting it more and more, still somewhere deep, he didn’t want to accept it, not due to it being irrational or illogical, but due to affirming one thing every human in their lifetime thought of at least once.

… That there is nothing after death… No Heaven or Hell, no reincarnation to Earth or another world… Just nothing…

Although Andreas was a logical man in his lifetime, never believing in blatant statements of ‘facts’ without sufficient evidence, he refused to even give it a thought of a sign of belief, without the aforementioned. But yet, even he thought of possibilities on what happens after death, including the potential that there is nothing after death. Call it human nature, I suppose, he thought at the time.

Ironically, it seems the Atheists were right, or right in this part of beliefs… how ironic, yet true. Andreas thought, who would probably laugh at little if he was capable of it, but sadly in these circumstances, he was not.

Hmmm… I can’t move, can’t see, can’t talk or laugh and can’t move. At least I can think, thank god. He thought, not even aware of the words he said at the end. Now… if this truly happens after death, what do I do then? Think about life?

To the surprise of everyone, or only Andreas, he suddenly started to feel something, but it was nothing good. He felt the pressure build around him, with his mind feeling an even stronger pressure. The pressure got only stronger and stronger each passing second until he saw something.

He saw a sphere, yet he didn’t. It looked like it was glowing, but yet it didn’t. It looked like it was far away from him, yet he felt like it was right inside his very soul. Suddenly though, he felt the pressure stop immediately upon him seeing the enigmatic sphere.

Although that wouldn’t last for long since that sphere wasn’t as innocent as the first glance suggested. The absolute horror, something he never felt before, traveled through his body, or whatever was in the place of the body now after he died.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He was directly looking at the beast of unimaginable size, even to him. It’s bright yellow snake-like eye looking at him from the moment the pressure stopped. It didn’t help that the head was reminiscent of a dragon, with white scales encompassing its whole body. It’s enormous wings straightened up as the dragon-like creature stood up, still keeping its gaze on Andreas.

[???]

‘ding’ You have gained the general skill “Analysis”’

Analysis - lvl 1

Be it a simple rose or a being that thirsts for your meat and blood, you will know what that may be and even some more information related to it, if fate smiles upon you that is. You can see other beings level if they are two levels above your own at this skill level. Each skill lvl up adds two levels alongside the existing two-level limit of Analysis.

He ignored the voice in his mind as he looked at the horrifying creature, seeing it in its whole glory. Although Andrea’s perception was at the highest levels of confusion, he could barely testify for the distance between him and the dragon-like creature, although it varied between one kilometer or one hundred kilometers. Even he wasn’t aware of how he deduced that, he just knew it...

I-I need to g-get away-

“And where would you perhaps go, dear lost soul?” He heard the words in his mind as he noticed the creature slowly but surely walk towards his position.

“Are you perhaps… one of the recently deceased ones…? It said, Andreas unaware if it was talking to itself or asking himself the question. He was still beyond horrified of the creature, and the near-constant sounds in his mind weren’t helping him that much. It didn’t speak again until Andreas noticed that its eyes were even more focused on him.

“Hmmm… interesting indeed… fire? Why would you do such an unsightly act, not to mention the consequence of it taking your life? Do living beings disregard their lives that much these days? Or perhaps millennia in my case? It asked as it stopped, closer to him yet still far.

I-I didn’t want them t-to k-kill me…. He thought to himself, hoping that the being didn’t hear or read his mind. The hopeful thought was proven wrong though.

“But your life was still lost, did it matter that much to you?” It asked, with a tone of interest very noticeable in its words. It squinted its eyes a little as it thought about the soul right in front of it. It was weird, it noticed that it was a recently deceased one, but it felt he was here, trapped for multiple millennia.

While the dragon-like being tried to figure out the specifics of the lost soul, Andreas was still ‘standing’ there, terrified for his own life which he just lost. The voice that the being spoke in was ethereal, full of confidence, no matter the situation. The voice spoke of that being, the being shaped by experience, time, and death, demanding full respect and aspiration. Whatever he tried to do, he knew it would be futile, no matter what he tried to do and say It would be better just to answer its questions, and hope that it spares me. Andreas hated the current matter, feeling so hopeless and useless, not to mention scared.

While thinking about that, he heard another ding in his mind, and it started to make him mad a little What is even happening in my head? I saw those words about some question marks and me gaining some general skill...Is this the doing of the dragon? He asked himself as he finally acknowledged the existence of these ‘dings’.

‘ding’ You have gained general skill “Fear Resistance”’

Fear Resistance - lvl 1

You have either met a being beyond the comprehension of your small, fragile human mind or you are still trying to decide whether to ask your crush on a date or not. Whatever the case, this should help you so that you don’t piss yourself as frequently.

‘ding’ Fear Resistance reaches lvl 2’

‘ding’ Fear Resistance reaches lvl 3’

…

‘ding’ Fear Resistance reaches lvl 6’

Andreas was left with no words as he read through the sentences over and over again. No matter how many times he read through them nothing made sense to him. Fear Resistance? How do you even gain that? And the frickin dragon is still scary as fuck, so is this a scam? I don’t understand anything, everything is happening so fast! He screamed in his mind as he tried, again and again, to work through this information while still keeping his eye on the dragon being that was still focused on him while thinking about something.

Suddenly though, it lifted one of its humongous claws as he pointed it towards him. “You… shouldn’t be here...but yet you are… It said in his mind as something above the dragon’s claw started to condense into a small, purple-like sphere.

Well...l if that doesn’t scream “You are fucked, puny human!” then I don’t know what does. Andreas thought as he looked at the sphere getting bigger and bigger until it was as big as the dragon’s claw, which in on itself looked both brilliant as terrifying. I should at least ask for its name before I die again be sent to who knows where. I cou- His thoughts abruptly stopped as he heard the being speak in his mind.

“The name is Voltaicos, and no, I don’t need your name. But I will tell you one thing though…” Voltaicos stopped for second as it seems to gaze towards the sphere it held on its claws.

“You are certainly an interesting one…” Voltaicos said as the sphere started to brighten up in bright yellow light. It then pointed the claw that held the sphere right towards Andreas. The sphere started to shrink until it was so small that one wouldn’t believe if Andreas told them the size of the sphere.

Suddenly though, the sphere disappeared and in its place appeared a fast-moving yellow beam that was moving…

Holy fuck it’s moving towards me! What does that liza- Sadly he couldn’t finish that line of thoughts as he was engulfed by the beam. After the beam disappeared, Andreas disappeared along with it.