A slow crescendo of rain was starting to pitter patter as Lucas walked off the bus and started his walk home after another day of his monotonous retail job. At the age of 26 he was in the prime of his life right? Right!? WRONG! Lucas' life could be summed up with many words... Lazy, unfulfilled, weak, subservient, aimless. But Lucas had a favourite.
'Pathetic' He thought to himself.
The word reverberated in his head as he finished a quick search of his bag only to realise he'd once again forgotten to bring an umbrella for the forecasted downpour this afternoon. Cars whizzed past him as he walked on the footpath resulting in the occasional small splash of rainwater soaking his shoes. As to how he'd ended up in his current pathetic state of existence there was a multitude of reasons. Boxing the bald-headed bishop way too much, Preferring gaming over studying and deep commitment issues. This had left him without any ambition, a small social group and extremely unremarkable university marks. There wasn't any grand reason or deep-seated trauma behind his unassuming life trajectory. Lucas had just always preferred the easy way and didn't enjoy hard work in any form.
'Well maybe Bad Luck' Lucas self-consoled
Unfortunately all the self-loathing in the world wouldn't magically fix his life or suddenly help him overcome his current state of sloth. As if to prove his earlier thought blaming his current lifestyle on bad luck. While his eyes were glued to his phone scrolling through a cornucopia of irreverent Tiktoks. Lucas failed to see the uncovered manhole cover in front of his path. When the expected solid ground beneath his next step failed to appear his body fell through into a damp dark underground tunnel system. His head cracked against slippery concrete slowly gushing blood sticking to the side of his head it was pressed against. Bag strewn across the sewer tunnel floor starting to seep with grime and excrement.
'Faaantastic. If I'm honest with myself this really is a fitting ending for me. Dying surrounded by shit.'
As his eye's started to flutter with each sequence of closing and reopening required more mental effort he started to look around in desperate but realistically futile search for any means of help. What did he get for his trouble his eyes setting upon a smouldering 'Job Well Done' Card entitling him to a free coffee at the Store Cafe.
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'Great last thing I get to see before I die is a Job Well Done Card from my dead-end job I absolutely bloody hate. And it's even that's starting to burn at the edges... WAIT IT'S SMOULDERING!!! What the hell is happening!'
Before his eyes the cheaply printed card went from smouldering around the edges to literal peeling flames consuming the card revealing an ethereal glowing card seemingly made up of soft yellow light.
Card of Rebirth
It's pure aura of fantasy drew Lucas in as his breathing increased its raggedness. He crawled a little further just within arms reach of the card as he felt the life within his body start to flicker condemned to fade like a candle amongst a gust of wind. As he finally touched the Card the engulfing darkness turned to nothingness and overwhelmed him.
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The thing that no tells you about nothingness is that it's literally nothing. No long stretch of time or eternal condemnation of sentient awareness occurred to Lucas. His consciousness stirred amongst a warm encasing of fluid and his body remained immobile.
'Am I in the hospital? Why can't I move my body? What on Earth was that card? A hallucination?' These thoughts rattled in his head in a quick-fire fashion as Lucas came to.
Without being able to move stuck like a prisoner in his own mind Lucas felt like an eternity was passing him by as his questions increased. However he found even his own thoughts taking primitive forms as he failed again and again to stay conscious long enough to come to a consensus on his current situation. As time moved on and his mental faculties started to improve. He realised his condition was improving and he could start to actually feel himself growing his limbs finally reaching a fully formed state. But this lead to even more questions.
'Growing? Why the hell do I feel like my body's forming? This couldn't have anything to do with that strange card could it?'
A seemingly impossible possibility was starting to be deduced by Lucas. Questions about his weak mental faculties, being surrounded by some mysterious warm fluid and a lack of sight. Then soon turned into possible answers: An infantile brain, Amniotic fluid and unformed eyes.
'Hmm Card of Rebirth if I take that weird thing at face value that could only mean... Goddammit! Have I been reincarnated? And I'm a friggin' baby? Well couldn't be any worse than my old life. Let's spin this isekai roulette wheel. Come on magic I'm gonna be Harry frickin' Potter!'