The moonlight entering my room through the window was the only thing illuminating my room. It was around 9 pm. My mother and father had not returned from work and my younger brother, Yahiro, was hanging out with his girlfriend. I was kind of jealous of Yahiro. He had everything that I wanted. My parents loved him more than me, he was handsome and had better grades too.

I wish I was at least as smart as him.

Suddenly a deep raspy mechanical voice said, sounding as if two or more voices were speaking together.

Skill: [Sage’s Wisdom] acquired.

“What the…” I said sitting up from my bed.

I looked around to see if anyone was there. But seeing no one, I told myself it must’ve been one of the neighbours watching TV on high volume and went back to my thoughts.

Though I envied Yahiro, I liked him a lot. He and I were always on the same page and got along really well. But sometimes I wish I could just take everything from him.

I heard the same mechanical voice.

Skill: [Steal] acquired.

This time, I ignored the voice instead of giving it any attention. Though I made a mental note of complaining to the neighbour’s landlord about his total disregard of the phrase ‘peace and quiet’.

I did try to act like him sometimes, ate like him, walked like him, even tried talking like him but never got the same confidence as him.

Skill: [Mimicry] acquired.

Skill [Mimicry] and [Steal] combined.

New Skill: [Reap] acquired.

Skill: [Unyielding] acquired.

Suddenly, I felt the temperature increase and I started sweating. Thinking it was due to the hot summer and global warming combined, I ignored it. But the temperature kept rising and it felt as if I was in an oven and could smell the faint wisp of smoke.

Skill: [Heat Resistance] acquired.

I leapt out of my bed to get some cold water from the fridge. But when I opened my door a cloud of black smoke washed over my face and began choking me. I instinctively took a step back from the smoke. I looked, dumbfounded at the smoke entering my room as I coughed violently.

Fire!

I crouched down and peeked out the hallway. True enough, a wall of fire was burning intensely out in the hallway and was slowly moving towards my room. In a frenzy, I got up and closed the door shut. But smoke still entered through the narrow slits in the door.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Panic and fear surged through my body as I thought of something to do, something to save my life. But I couldn’t even move my body. My legs were glued to the ground and stood there as I watched the fire slowly burned my once white door into a black useless piece of shrivelled wood. I helplessly watched the fire blaze violently and engulf my entire room as a lump formed in my throat.

“Help me,” I said, my voice barely a whisper.

Even I couldn’t hear myself over the crackling of fire that loomed around me. The fire stung my flesh, burning and reeling my skin off as I let out a scream. My throat paining from my sudden outburst. But I couldn’t bear the excruciating pain from the surge of heat.

Skill: [Pain Nullification] acquired.

Skill: [Rapid Healing] acquired

I mentally cursed the neighbour who was watching the TV. Couldn’t he see that my house was on fire, couldn’t he hear my voice? 

As I burned alive I thought of everyone I knew. 

Will anyone miss me when I’m gone? Would my parents mourn for me? Would my brother cry for the loss of his elder brother?

I already knew the answer, and it was no. No one would miss me. Sure some would mourn my death, but only to keep face. My parents for most of my life avoided me. Even I wouldn’t want a son who was ugly, dumb and completely useless. They might even be slightly happy. I just hoped that Yahiro would be at least a bit sad. I could even see my grave that none visited. The poorly made gravestone for a boy that was never liked. It would say ‘Here lies Hirai Tomokazu. A not so beloved son and brother’. I couldn’t help feel my heart growing cold at the thought.

Skill: [Cold Resistance] acquired.

Skill [Heat Resistance] and [Cold Resistance] combined.

New Skill: [Thermal Fluctuation Resistance] acquired.

I smiled after hearing the voice. If that skill was real I could use it right now.

As the fire slowly crept up my body, I felt the life leave my body. Blood dripped from my open wounds and boiled as soon as it hit the ground. I fell on the ground and accepted my faith. As the fire engulfed me I had only one regret, not living my life to the fullest. I slowly exhaled my breath and let death take me.

Character Died.

---

Initializing Reincarnation.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around me. I was suspended in space. In the distance, stars twinkled brightly. Though it was space I could breathe normally. I tried moving, but my body didn’t comply. It felt as if my muscles had turned to stone. I then heard the voice again, but this time it seemed like an echo now and more clearly.

Processing.

I tried muttering but no sound came through my throat. I couldn’t even open my mouth. Then suddenly there were multiple flickers of bright light. I could feel something slowly crawl over my body. It felt like a thick liquid, like some type of oil may be even tar. But when it reached my eyes, I didn’t see anything. Whatever it was, it was most likely transparent. Then it hit me like a rock. Wasn’t I dying a moment ago?

If I had died just seconds ago did that mean, I was in the afterlife? If that was the case and I truly was in heaven, then I was beyond disappointed. I thought that that heaven was a type of never-ending open field and what I wished would appear out of thin air. But if this was all heaven had to offer than it had dashed all my hopes of wishing for trilling life. Suddenly there was a blinding light and I had to close my eyes to protect myself from going blind.

Then next time I opened my eyes, I saw hazy brown grains and felt wet dirt touching my cheek. Having restored my power to move, I used my hands to lift my upper body before getting up entirely. I felt a bit dizzy and my eyesight was fuzzy for some reason. As the seconds passed my eyesight returned and I saw that I was somewhat higher above the ground than I should be. Then I realized it was because I was taller than before somehow and was wearing a sort of tunic and long leather pants. I looked around my surroundings and saw I was in the middle of a forest. I was standing on a very small clearing surrounded by dense trees on all sides.

I then heard the same deep voice again.

Reincarnation complete.

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