Power x freedom, chapter 0 - prologue: lustrous sea.

In a bar, apparently unkept and worn out, a man entered. He had black hair and white skin, with a thick beard. He was dressed in worn-out clothes.

Some people looked at him with pity.

This man's name was Watson Klein. In the past, he was a talented man, but ended up being fired from his job due to a false accusation of theft. Obviously, the superiors who had embezzled money , and when shit went wrong, they wanted a scapegoat to take the fall for them. And Watson took on this role.

Watson was arrested and sentenced to several years in prison, but fortunately, or unfortunately, he managed to get out before his children fully grew up.

Watson had a lot of difficulty finding a good job, and had to settle for less prestigious jobs. He ended up drinking and became a frustrated man.

This wasn't a real bar, but more of a house that sold drinks, the cheapest, from unknown and even unreliable brands.

"Ba-bartender, give me two bottles..."

The bartender looked at him a little nervously.

"Money first.”

Watson showed an irritated expression, put his hand in his left pocket and simply took the money out of there, apparently, he didn't even have his wallet.

He gave the bartender money. The bartender took out two bottles and gave them to him.

"Thank you for your purchase. Come back often-"

Watson gave the bartender a sharp look.

"Fuck you!!"

The waiter didn't respond, just sighed. Even in trashy local places like he works, the customer was always right... Well, almost always, but the waiter was poor, with no money to pay good lawyers for possible compensation and being full of witnesses, none of these guys here would actually take the time to testify for him.

Watson went towards the exit of the bar and left there. He was walking back home.

"ohhh! Watson! You son of a bitch!"

Watson froze. He looked back and it was Jeferson and the gang.

"Hold him!"

"Shit!!"

Despite being drunk, Watson understood the situation, however, his body was too slow. He tried to run, but ended up changing and crashing.

He hit his nose on the hard asphalt. His nose was broken and it bled. Jeferson managed to catch him.

"Watson, I was very patient with you, you know? They say that only God's patience is infinite, but mine... Mine is not."

Watson feared for his life. He was scared and anxious. His blood I was on a roll.

"I... I will pay you. I just need more time. Time 3 is all I need!!

Jefferson slapped Watson. And then he threw a punch, which broke Watson's front teeth.

"More time? Do you think I'm stupid? Is this already written on my forehead? Are you tattooed? Ohhh, you became a medium and you see a spirit behind me in the form of the word muggle? Fuckra!!

Jefferson spat in Watson's face.

"It's been 3 months, Watson. Any other loan shark would have erased you from the map, but not me, I am a merciful person, and what did you do to my mercy?! He despised her, mocked me and disrespected me. "

"I-I-I-I will pay you ba-b-back!!”

People didn't even gather in that place, and those who tried to see were expelled by Jeferson's gang. After all, Jeferson was part of a powerful faction. Her name was "red lemon".

Everyone was afraid of them. So much so that he would catch Watson in broad daylight and beat him. This only demonstrated the complicated situation that place found itself in.

"Take him and take him to that alley."

"calm!!."

The thugs took Watson there, when he arrived in the alley, they started beating him.

"It hurts, right? Haha ha."

The thugs stopped beating Watson. Watson was in a lot of pain and had multiple bruises.

"I... I can pay you.. you have more to gain by leaving me alive!!"

Jeferson kicked Watson in the teeth, only making it bleed even more and breaking the remaining ones.

Watson cried in pain.

"Just give me one reason to let you live, and if I think it's reasonable, I can maybe give you some more time. "

"I... I already paid part of the debt before, I just didn't pay it all!! If you give me a few more weeks... If I die, you will only lose the money you lent me!!”

Jeferson looked at him and pondered a little.

Jeferson was a red-haired guy, with a straight beard, but a toned body. He had a strong figure. This same figure crouched down and said:

"I will give you one more chance. three weeks, just three, I don't care how you get him, I just want my fucking money. " He stopped talking for a bit, and then I continued, "and I'll show you who you're dealing with."

"Cut off his finger . And cut three from the left hand, but none from the right... With better weight, crush them."

"No-no!! Please..."

Jeferson looked at Eke with a rigid and deadly look.

"Or your fingers, or your life. "

Watson hesitantly placed his hand flat on the floor. Watson realized that Jefferson had been planning to crush his fingers from the beginning. This is only confirmed with the henchman taking a hammer from a schoolbag.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Good choice. Give me a hammer. " the henchman handed over the hammer. Jefferson gave the first hammer blow. He hit until Wataon's first finger crushed, and then, he crushed another and another. Watson was crying in pain. After that, Jefferson and the caoangas left.

Watson got up and went home staggering, he had never been so humiliated. He looked at his once fingers, which were showing bone. They were unusable.

Watson was angry, when he got home, the first thing he did was hit his own son, Thomas. He just wanted to release the frustration in him.

Thomas cowers on the floor while being punched, but Watson wanted to humiliate Tjomas even more, so he picked up a hammer and started hitting him. After several hours, he stopped.

Thomas Crein, Watson's son, was only 7 years old.

Thomas had died. His skull was completely destroyed and blood was all over the floor.

Watson froze.

"Shit...!"

***

Thomas crein*

I died. Life is cruel, reality hurts and the universe doesn't care about us, but that's obvious. However, I was hopeful... I had hope, faith in God, but taking the phrase from Nietzsche, God had not died to me in a moral way, but rather as a version of him.

Basically, I no longer believed in the classical God. I was not a militant atheist - or rather, I did not become a militant atheist. Before I even died to my father's alcoholic trash who beat me with a hammer until my skull splits in half and spills blood and brain matter, I can already imagine God seeing that and laughing at me, a being as pathetic as me, who had to prostrate himself, humble himself, offer everything he had to have some hope, and still receive contempt. And even with that, I couldn't do anything.

I already had my suspicions, after all, from the chewing of meat of a carnivore, from the clothes to the dressing, from the escape of the prey, everything is politics.

Religion grant hope? Only for the dumbest or the smartest peoples. The great argument of religion: even if there is a minimal chance that God exists, you must believe in him because, if he exists and you follow him, you have everything to gain, and if he does not exist, little to lose. But if you are an atheist and die like that, and it exists, you can go to hell, therefore, it is not good to place a bet on the option where you have the most to lose.

Of course, this argument did not take into account all the religions in the world. It will be difficult for you to find the right one, as they all have their own contradictions. And there's more: he doesn't care the morality of God. What matters, according to this argument, is not morality, but going to heaven, being benefited. The vast majority of people are like this: they don't care if God really is fair or not, they are just afraid of going to hell.

A threat and a bribe would be the correct name for this.

We live in a world where we have to kill and drink the blood of others to survive. And when I say close, I'm not talking about committing cannibalism, but about all living beings.

Religion is one of the most efficient viruses - although any and every idea is a kind of mental virus - that I have ever seen.

Something interrupted my thoughts. It was a light. I could see a little. Vision began blurred and weak. I waited, I waited... And I waited some more and it will clear up.

It lightened so much that it hurt my eyes... But wait, hadn't I died? Did I go to the hospital then? No... I was too poor. And besides, I probably died before I had time to flame any help.

I started to feel things. My tattoo is back. It came back faster than my vision. It felt like I was at the bottom of a river. And above my vision was the top and a place I had to swim to up, but I couldn't move my body.

What the hell, how long will it take? I was already getting bored. Was it in the afterlife? So this is what comes before death? Hmm I'm sure you're a paradise incompetentincompetent, who would be happy or calm in such an environment? What strange people, but they have a taste for everything.

I started to move my hands a little and my vision became as clear as possible, I could see everything. I just had to wait a little longer.

I started to feel a little anxiety mixed with fear and apprehension. I was already getting worried. What if I stayed like this forever? Always with the same vision, the same sensations... My life It will never be perfect to the point where I can repeat it hundreds of times and still feel the same pleasure in life!!

Fuck!! Crap!! I started to feel angry. A lot of anger... But, curiously, I knew and at the same time I didn't know why I was angry. Am I going to reincarnate in a body in my early teens then?

I managed to move. They were weak in movement, but I was able to move. I tried to swim, but I was still weak and only sinking more. I waited a while and finally, I managed to swim, albeit slowly.

Driven by the anxiety in my heart, and the fear of what would happen if I sank deeper, the worry about the unknown, I swam faster and faster.

"Ahu!!"

I emerged my head from the water. I could already have an idea of where I was.

Interestingly, I realized that I didn't need to breathe. So far, I hadn't breathed under it and was fine, but I can breathe, but I don't need to.

I looked at the environment, with a curious look, trying to decipher what was around me.

I fully raised my body and, interestingly, managed to stay on top of the water.

"What will happen to me? Hey what happened? "

I was afraid. I denied God in the last moment of my life, and now I might meet him.

Fuck it if it's moral to not care about God's morality, what matters is going to heaven if you're right!! It is childish to choose the option that is fairest, but it harms you!!

This time, I was angry and scared. My anger only increased my fear and fear only increased my anger too. Angry at God, at my luck, at the world, but at the same time...

The world owed me nothing. That's how it is regardless of whether I like it or not. This anger, fear and hatred made me foresee the problems they can cause, the healthy relationships they can destroy.

I came to a conclusion: it is better to adhere to rationality. Any emotion must be ignored.

"A mildly interesting conclusion."

A voice echoed in the void. I looked around, but I couldn't find anyone. I screamed:

"Who? Who are you?"

Immediately, I realized my mistake: how dare a mere mortal shout at God? I didn't know if my emotions were making me dumber or if I was already dumb. Anyway, my fear for what he could do to me increased exponentially.

"No need to fear. I won't do anything to you."

There was a bit of silence after that.

"After all, there's no point in me caring about an ant's opinion of me."

I was perplexed. I didn't expect that I would be insulted by a God so blatantly. I wanted to curse him too, but I was too scared of what reaction it might cause.

"Why are you offended? I just told the truth. "

I choked again. It was shit. I tried to find him by looking around, but I couldn't find him. His voice was feminine, so he is probably not a God, but a goddess.

Furthermore, she appears to be calm, or calm. Obviously, I wouldn't risk angering her. I had to be as cautious as possible. Only my zeal could save me now.

I tried to calm down. I managed a little, but not completely. The most important thing now was to get information to understand my situation.

Apparently, she can read my thoughts, because I didn't say anything, and even so she reacted when I thought something, there is a high level of privacy for her to be able to read my thoughts. In other words, I just have to think and she will respond, so I won't say anything to avoid offending her, because, at least, if she has a shred of decency, she won't be offended by thoughts that the person cannot control.

I sighed and laughed nervously. Obviously, this plan would not work, as she has already read my thoughts and already knows about this plan, and could mistake any slightest vulgarity as an insult. Classic of Twitter activists... Wait, did I just call a god a mere Twitter activist?!

They won't call me a fascist, they will kill me like a fascist.

"Huh...hahahahahahahah"

A laugh radiated from the goddess.

"Okay, enough kidding. I am the creator, the one who came before everything and created everything. And I'm bored..."

I was paying attention to the goddess's words.

"and I want to be entertained. You died, and now you go to a new world. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but I have more questions... Where is the world? How will I be reborn?"

"Well, Thomas, you will be reborn in a magical world, a little different from the usual one, but in it. "

"....That's too vague."

There was very little illness. So little that it didn't give me any advantage.

"It's going to be boring if I tell you everything. Anyway, Goodbye."

After she said that, a portal appeared in front of me.

"Get into it.”

"Wait, I need a few more things!!!

I tried to argue that I would die as soon as I entered a place that was supposedly more chaotic without any information and I wanted to know how and where exactly I would be reincarnated. However, she interrupted me.

"Come in soon. "

Damn, how was I supposed to survive?!

"B-b-but goddess-

"Get into it soon. I'm losing patience.

Every time I tried to speak, the goddess interrupted.

"Goddess, how-"

As soon as I finished speaking, my body was divided into four parts.

"I warned."

I lost consciousness.

Bet, you, yourself, reader-chan, comment. Leave a comment.