“Welcome to Pandora, your new home. Oh pitiful soul filled with regrets, awaken to the new life filled with opportunities.”

A gentle voice filled with warmth could be heard through the darkness, causing the lost soul to awaken with a start.

The voice was targeted towards a young child of only 12. The child had tanned skin and dark messy hair, and brown eyes.

Though he was a child in looks, the inside was a different game.

Waking up feeling a painful headache, Richard pressed his head with one hand and got off from his bed.

Walking towards the dressing table, he finally noticed that something was wrong. It was not his room and his body was shorter.

Looking at his hands he found them looking worn out.

‘What is this?

Is this a dream?’

Richard wondered as he sat down on his bed, which turned out to be one of those traditional Indian beds.

“This is not a dream, Richard. You have been given another chance at life, so don’t waste it this time.”

The voice returned, causing Richard to stand up with fright and look around. Before he could question the voice, Richard felt a sharp pain in his head and was forced to sit down.

Memories started flowing into his head and Richard finally realized what the voice meant. He had died.

He had died a painful death, filled with mental anguish.

Richard was 30 years old and came from a good family. His parents were exceptional, so he had to be exceptional.

He went through life easily and lived humbly, but he always had a problem of persistence. He lacked the drive to push through when the going went hard.

It caused him to always regret after the experience, whishing he had put more time and effort in to the task.

Such a mindset caused him to stress out unnecessarily and lowered his self esteem, leading to a delay in his rise.

Fortunately, he got over the problem by the age of 26 and pushed through with difficulty into the field of his liking.

Unfortunately, life was cut short when he rushed towards the hospital for the birth of his child. It was a rainy night and he hadn’t gotten enough sleep the day before.

Richard’s car crashed into a tree and he was impaled through the lung. He died before anyone could save him.

Death was not something he was scared off. He was only scared of dying while having regrets.

He had too many things to live for. He had yet to repay his loved ones but there was no miracle to save him.

He never even got to see his child.

Feeling the memories, Richard felt his body become heavy. He felt intense pain in his eyes, heart and head.

He had difficulty breathing.

He tried to breathe and looked around, wishing that it was a dream. But he knew dreams had never been so clear.

Richard continued to stare at the dusty ground as his eyes teared up. The anguish caused by the event surpassed anything he had experienced in his whole life.

‘Why did this happen? Why me? Why now?’ Richard squeezed the wooden bed.

‘Just a little but more, I wouldn’t have minded dying at 50.’ He stood up and punched the mud wall with full force.

He wanted to feel physical pain to lessen the impact of the emotional pain.

But it didn’t lessen and he was having difficulty breathing.

‘I don’t want to live anymore. I have struggled so much for it and lost all of it. If I can’t return, then please let me rest.’ Richard never really had a strong desire for life and only worked to fulfill a perceived role in life.

He had no interest in living another life in a different world.

“I can’t do that, but you can return on your own. Richard, this isn’t a normal world.”

The voice responded and Richard was hooked.

“What do I have to do?” Richard asked filled with agitation. He needed answers and he wanted to go back fast.

But, there was no answer.

Richard called out again and again, but the being had left.

Nonetheless, Richard had latched on to something and a felt some hope. It was the only thing keeping him from becoming a sloth.

He would never kill himself, but Richard would never out effort in the new life without hope.

There was hope, but it was miniscule. Travelling to another world was considered the peak in all stories, so he really had to pray for a miracle for that to happen.

‘It would have been better if I was dull and slow.’ Richard lay down on the bed as he stared at the ceiling of the house that reminded him mud houses of the Indian villages.

He couldn’t focus on the surrounding and still felt terrible. Richard wished that he could just disappear.

Closing his eyes, Richard continued to cry out from the pain.

It was the first time in his life that he cried for longer than a minute. After few minutes, Richard heard footsteps and cleared his tears.

The entrance to the room was covered by a heavy cloth to block the dust and sun light.

The cloth was moved to the side and a man entered the room.

“Richard, did you have a nightmare?” The man called out to Richard in a neutral tone. He was tall and muscular with a shaved head and a long beard.

He was wearing leather pants, shirt and boots.

Looking at the man, Richard could see him wrestling bears on equal grounds.

“Yes, father.” Richard answered without a thought as new memories entered his mind.

Richard was also Richard in Pandora and only awakened when the body finally awakened Ki.

He was the same person. It was Richard’s soul without memories but still maintaining his instincts.

It led to Richard of Pandora being an exceptional child from birth, except that he was from a small village and was the son of a hunter.

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The memories made him feel a connection to the new family and gave him an understanding of the new world.

It also made him feel sad for his new family as they now had to deal with an adult.

Regardless, Richard didn’t show his emotions to the world. He was the type to hide his feelings and handle them on his own.

To make matters easier, he was also very low on the emotional scale and tended to focus on the current issues.

His new father’s presence helped him get distracted.

The man was 2 meter tall with a muscular build that was deceptively agile and flexible. He was taller than Richard’s modern world father and stronger, but lacked the intellect level.

Richard felt a fight take place in his heart, as he felt unsure of his actions. He wanted to disappear because he felt despair, but that would be selfish and immoral when it came to his new parent’s.

“Come outside and take in the fresh air.” The bear like man called Noah walked to Richard and picked him up the arm pits, before taking him out of the room.

Richard didn’t even feel like putting up any resistance as he was filled with all kinds of mental dilemmas.

“Stop thinking about it, it’s just a dream.” Noah put Richard down once they got out of the room and the lost soul felt difficulty in standing.

He felt sick and just wanted to lie down. He didn’t want to think, but his mind wouldn’t stop tormenting him.

Looking at the dispirited Richard, Noah noticed that he was acting very different from usual. There was heaviness in his body that was seen in people that were lost and distressed.

Richard was a smart child, but he still a child and hadn’t gone through any such experience.

“Did you eat something wrong, or did something unusual take place yesterday?” Noah became serious as he checked up his little boy, but found nothing wrong.

He was knowledgeable about the various sicknesses and plants in the region.

“There is nothing wrong, I just feel like sleeping in today.” Richard wished he didn’t have to do such a thing, but his body didn’t seem capable of producing positivity. He was feeling extremely sick inside and his heart wouldn’t return to normal.

He was extremely conflicted and in pain.

His voice lacked the usual energy of youth.

Noah looked at him and decided to let him rest for the day, “Take a short rest and walk it off. I will have your mother prepare a medical tea.”

Richard nodded and entered the room again.

He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling while his mind kept on moving. But, it was filled with negativity and he couldn’t come up with any plans.

Just as he was about to drown in the darkness of despair, his new mother ran into the room. She looked worried and her voice showed her emotions.

“Richard, did you take something from that crazy old man?” The voice was filled with worry and reproach.

The woman was tanned with long braided black hair, and wore some simple clothing of grey color. She was a tall woman with a strong build and average looks.

Her name was Lala.

“No” Richard was forced to look at the woman as she checked his face. Though she was worried, Lala didn’t forget to question if he did something stupid.

There was an old man in the Village that talked about legends and called himself a legendary warrior that had fallen from grace.

Nobody believed him, but children were entranced by his stories.

Richard also listened to them and wished to become a legend.

“Why are you like this? Did someone curse you?” Lala asked worriedly as she sat him up and gave him a bowl filled with tea made from medical herbs.

In the world of Pandora, magical beings were a norm and people could also produce fantastical occurrences.

The villages and small town people had low understanding of the subject, so they were superstitious.

Lala didn’t mean that someone with actual ability cursed him. She was worried about people giving him bad looks and wishing bad for him.

The negative desire of others could cause sickness to a person, was a belief in the surrounding land.

“It must have been that wench, Sarah. Hope that slut gets worms for this disgusting act.” Lala cursed one of the women in the village that disliked her family since Noah had rejected her hand in marriage.

“Mom, you shouldn’t say things like that. Let them do what they want, none of their words matter.” Richard uttered by habit and looked down as he drank the tea.

It made him feel better as the warmth spread inside his body.

“You can’t take the side of such people, Richard. And, never look down on curses. Your great uncle was cursed to death by his enemies.”

Listening to the serious tone of his new mother, Richard knew there was no point in explaining. He was new to the world and lacked understanding.

So, she might be right or the great uncle was just depressed after losing his wife.

Richard nodded, “I just need some rest, and I will be okay.”

Lala took the bowl once he finished, “Fine, just take a short nap.”

Brushing his hair, Lala mumbled some words under her breath and kissed him on the forehead.

She stood up and got some ashes before throwing them to the four sides of the bed to ward off evil spirits.

Richard would have felt awkward by such a display but at the moment he wasn’t in a normal state. Regardless, Lala’s actions made him feel the care of a parent that made him want to live.

‘Why did this have to happen? These people are good people. They don’t deserve such a tragedy.’ Richard felt terrible for the family to have been cursed with his existence.

He now had two things causing immense stress and heartache.

Richard was naturally a kind person that wished to help others when possible, and never taking actions that would destroy innocent lives.

It was part of his nature, even though he rarely ever felt emotions like other people. He didn’t like being the reason for another’s suffering.

‘Please, take me away and let the family have their child.’ Richard wished from the bottom of his heart. Even though he had regrets, he had done a lot in life and lived.

It was unfair for the poor family to lose the child. It wouldn’t take long for them to notice that he was different.

Richard couldn’t act like a child no matter how he tried, especially now.

‘Let them decide. I am too tired… Let fate do its job.’ Richard couldn’t muster up the energy to do anything about his problem and just decided to go with the flow.

He was emotionally fatigued and could care less about others.

Richard couldn’t sleep and after half an hour of staring into the darkness, he stood up and walked out of the room.

He decided to take a walk, as it always helped him relax and sleeping was making it worse.

The house of the family wasn’t small. There were three families living together on the land owned by his grandfather.

Noah had two younger brothers; one was in involved in taking care of the cows and goats while the other was a carpenter.

The house had a mud wall around the parameter and the three brothers each took up a region. Each had at least one room and there was a roof to cover outside the room, where the women cooked and sat on chairs or beds.

There was a large tree in the center of the house and one inside Noah’s side of the land. There was a well and a bathroom area.

There was an area for the animals.

On Noah’s side there were leather hides, horns and such. There were two large hunting dogs and a hawk perched on the tree.

There were two gates, one small on the other side and one large near Noah’s side. Richard didn’t want to talk to anyone and walked out of the large wooden gate.

Just as he was leaving, a dog ran to his side. It was his hunting dog that had been with him since it was born.

The dog was big and scary, that Richard would have been scared normally. But, he didn’t feel a thing now as he was used to its presence.

Richard stood at 1.6 meters and the dog came to his waist. It was black in color with a muscular and agile build.

The animals in Pandora were much more dangerous but so were the humans. Using a weapon, Richard could fight a Gorilla in the normal world without the risk of death.

Moving on, Richard didn’t stop for Rex and walked forward.

Rex walked beside him and ran around him before pushing his head against Richard’s hand. The depressed soul patted the dog and continued walking the dirt road.

He saw sugar cane, bananas, grain, dates and other plants in the fields. He could see people moving about and animals leaving waste product.

There was no such thing as a school in the village, so the children were involved in various activities. Every child in the village started learning the trade and working in the fields from the age of six.

Richard walked through the village within few minutes and came to the small river where some children were swimming.

Richard even without his memories had never entered the river because he felt disgusted by it. The children would piss and do more in the water.

He was worried that it would touch him.

The children called out to him, but he ignored them and walked to the left. The path led to a field with mango and guava trees.

Richard couldn’t think of anything while walking and skillfully climbed up the mango tree to sit up on the tallest branch.

Sitting at the top, Richard’s gaze was focused on the river. He couldn’t take in the whole picture and saw what his mind conjured.

Richard’s mind was focused on his family from Earth. His little baby boy would never see him. His lovely wife Rachel would never see him. His parent’s would have to endure the pain of having their son die first at a young age.

Everything had been going so well, and now they had to pay a heavy price for that small success.

In his life, Richard had a hard time emotionally connecting to anyone beyond his direct family. Rachel had been the one to pry open his heart and after years, he had actually fallen in love.

He was at the peak of his life, living the dream and now he had entered a nightmare.

Whatever the voice was, Richard had no reason to trust it. He wasn’t someone that trusted people until he knew them.

The being could be playing with him and even if it was true, then it was going to be practically impossible to accomplish.

Richard didn’t have enough confidence to pursue such a dream.

But, he was put into a tough spot. Whatever the thing was, it knew that Richard wouldn’t commit suicide.

If he had been given a choice, Richard would have taken a rest as he would only suffer living with these memories.

It was the reason that Richard wished to die before any of his loved ones.

‘I have no choice. I need to at least give these people a good life, or I will feel even worse.’ Richard finally got back to the current life, after sitting on the branch for an hour.