The only thing felt was a cold and silent emptiness as I drifted through the endlessly depressing void.
Who am I? What is this place? When did I appear here? Where is this place? How did I get here? I asked myself these questions repeatedly.
There is only one question I could answer. I am, or rather… I was John Xavier. I was living an average man’s life. Nothing too fancy, neither anything too shabby. I was working as a researcher at a food company, I should have been paid higher, but I couldn’t give a damn. I was working to survive, funnily enough I never want anything more. Just the thought of being alive satisfied me. Right now, I kinda wish I allowed myself to pamper me. I didn’t know I was going to die at a young age of 26, I couldn’t possibly think about being caught in a terrorist attack on the way to work.
Sigh…
What is done is done. All I can do is just continue drifting through this cold and harsh eternity and …
A sharp noise and a blinding light interrupted my thoughts. I rubbed my bleary eyes and tried to look at the source of the light. From the light, a figure of perfection stood, with the warmth and radiance that is indescribable. I can’t really tell anything about this mysterious silhouette except that the person was female. The figure suddenly spoke out with a resounding, angelic voice, “ Hello John.” Those two words were enough to set off another chain of questions in my mind. How does she know my name? Were you the one who brought me here? Why am I here? Is this heaven?
A single wave of her hand silenced the plethora of questions in my head, “ I know you have questions for me John, just listen to my explanation. You are a man of humility from earth, a case hardly found in those kind of life forms anymore. You have died due to an unfortunate accident in your world, I will grant you a second chance in life in another universe with different laws and regulations. A world filled with fantasy and adventure. I shall grant you a blessing that will help you become strong in that world,” the woman said.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
I just stared at her bleakly, unable to take in all of this information. Whoa… what just happened? She waved her hand again, opening a dazzling portal in front of me. I continued gaping at her, still unable to fathom what has happened around me. I managed to squeeze out a question, “ Uhm… this is… is this happening to me because I was humble? What would’ve happened if I… um… followed the other six virtues more closely?”
The silhouette seemed amused, don’t ask me how, but I knew. “I would have given you this stone, it will greatly boost your strength in the new world,” when the figure finished speaking, I glanced and gulped at the blood coloured stone. For the first time, I wanted something, no, I was going to get that damned stone. I had enough of that ridiculous and average life. I learnt that people don’t live long, might as well burn bright while I have the chance. I took a deep breath. And I ran.
Mysterious silhouette POV-
What is that human doing running so fast into the portal? Is he that excited? I mean, isn’t he going to ask more questions… wait, why is he looking at me like that? CRAP THE STONE. John glanced at me one before jumping into the portal. He said sorry I think, ugh. This is troublesome, I thought he was humble, at least he seemed like that on earth. Gah, I’m not gonna overthink this, its not like he will understand how to use the rock. It’s not like I can remove his blessing either, I’ll let this be a gift of generosity.
Sigh...
John POV-
As I was falling through the portal, I felt my memories being slowly wiped clean. Crap. That person is probably a Goddess or something, is she gonna send someone after me? I started worrying more and more, but it was also getting harder to think, with many parts of my memory being wiped clean.
I manage to process one sentence before I everything blacked out:
Hunt or become the hunted.