The Beginning and The End – 002
London – 2050
“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!” – My mother shouted at me through the dead of night.
It’s 3 AM and I am being thrown out into the rain by my own flesh and blood. I’m an only son and I live by myself with my mother – or rather, I did live by myself with my mother. My father passed away in the War 30 years ago, he was a true war hero. He died before the fighting in the Middle East turned nuclear. He was surrounded by enemy fighters and to buy his company some time he called an airstrike on himself and took out a whole enemy battalion at the price of his own life. A noble sacrifice.
Walking through the dimly lit streets of West London I can’t help but feel bitter about being thrown out. I mean, it was not an unexpected turn of events by any measure but even so, can’t help but feeling disappointed.
In this day and age there are only three professions which still have any form of success:
• Engineering
• Medicine
• Computing
Sure, a military career is also a possibility but I couldn’t exactly call myself a success by enrolling into the military. Many young men enrolled as a last resort when it was either the army or homelessness. Prospects are limited and in the end it can only lead to an empty, pointless life.
I, on the other hand, went against my mother’s better judgement and decided I would study Natural and Applied Sciences, a foolish endeavour considering funding for scientific research and projects has been practically non-existent for the last few decades.
Most people would call me an idiot for making the foolish choice to go into a field with no future prospects but I don’t regret it, maybe I will die young, poor and desolate but I will die knowing that whilst I was alive I actually lived, which is more than can be said for a lot of people that are merely existing these days.
I’m no spring chicken either. I’ll be turning 36 this winter, which when compared to the retirement age of 82 and the average life expectancy of 114 can be considered youthful, but certainly not young.
I guess I really will have to enrol in the milit-
“Oi! You there! Come over ‘ere lad!” – Bollocks, just what I needed, a bunch of idiots coming to kick a dog whilst he’s down.
“You ignoring us lad? You got a pair on you, eh?” – I’ll just ignore these bastards, had enough for one damned day.
I hurry my footsteps and faintly hear one of the chavs say something to the group.
“CRACK!” The sharp sound of a wood bat hitting my back resounds out into the dark whilst a deep pain fills my whole back.
“Shoulda just stopped shouldn’t you? Oi, get his wallet and whilst you’re at it take his shoes. That’ll teach him to not piss about next time.”
I’m on the ground cursing out these c*nts whilst they take what little I have left. At least they didn’t take my dad’s necklace, the only thing he left behi-
“Oh, what have we got here lad? You got a nice little gem ‘round your neck don’t you?” Spoke too soon, today is just not my day is it now?
I grimace through the pain – “Hey, give me that, just take the damned money and give me that!”
“Alrighty now, getting rowdy aren’t we? Dicky, take this piece of shite and throw it somewhere would you? Fake piece of shit.”
What’s he doing? Oh, he’s dashing the necklace onto the street, real mature.
“Didn’t you want that? Go get it!” The chav-lord said whilst not missing the opportunity to deliver one more kick to my ribs.
All the wind I thought I owned left me and for a second I thought I was going to pass out there. The current situation is not my personal peak but this has become a common occurrence in a poverty-stricken world. You could even say we have it easy here in the UK which was left untouched by the War, for the most part.
Half-limping, half-crawling I make my way to the middle of the street to pick up the only heirloom left in the family…
Something’s off.
I was left a bit dazed by the fall to the ground and failed to notice a car darting towards me, seems that today really was my day to leave this world… just before the car crashed into me I got to see a glimpse of the group that put me in this mess, they turned tail as soon as they realised what was happening and I probably won’t even get justice for my death. Fuck it all.
…
…
…
Arghh… what is going on?
…
Where the hell am I?
Everything is white as far as the eye can see, and looking around I can’t see anything resembling my own body. Am I in a coma? This is definitely odd. I guess I’m not dead but this is definitely not looking that much better.
Oh, what’s this? Seems like I’m being pulled somewhere. I can’t see myself moving in the endless white but it definitely feels like I’m being dragged…
.
..
…
….
…..
How long has it been? At this point I have lost track of time… has it been hours, days, years?
……
…….
……..
*Rumble*
I can’t help but feel fear and excitement as I finally see something out of this darned blizzard of nothingness.
It looks like an opening, a tunnel of some sort, is this what they mean when they say don’t go towards the light? I’m not exactly rich for choice right now, it’s either the light or, well, nothing.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Hmm? This is new, I’m beginning to feel a bit sleepy, I guess I’ll drift off for a while, I’m not exactly busy as it goes.
…
…
*COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH*
ARGH! What is this splitting headache!
Leon Blanchard… Li Bai… Earth… Diohel…
My head is a mess. It feels like there’s something else in my head, something more. I look around to see a beach. How the hell did I get to a beach? WAIT! I’M ALIVE? I mean, I’m not complaining, but it’s definitely a surprise!
Let me get out of the water, I’m absolutely soaked and if I don’t dry myself out after spending God knows how long in the water I’m not going to be staying alive for much longer, at least not with my injuries.
Oh, right. Injuries, how come I don’t feel any pain?
A quick inspection reveals something I was not prepared for. This. Well. This isn’t me.
I mean, I am me. At least I think I am. I couldn’t be a figment of my own imagination. Could I? Either way, something is definitely not adding up. I currently have no injuries and in a way I actually feel better. I feel stronger and younger. Less aches and even my sight seems sharper.
Oh, no. Sleepy. Again.
…
…
…
Hmm, where am I this time?
I see a ceiling and four walls. I’m in a hut. Seems someone came to get me from the shore.
“Hello boy. What were you doing, sleeping out there next to the water? You could have drowned!”
I turn my head to see an older gentleman, dressed in a robe. Not really a robe, more of a kimono.
“Thank you for your help, sir. I’m afraid I passed out and have no recollection of how I got to shore.” I replied to this man.
“What’s your name?” – The old man asks.
“Li Bai”. I reply.
Wait, no it’s not. My name is Leon. Leon Blanchard. Hahahahahahaha, so this is what the headache was about! This is definitely a curious impossibility but I seem to have taken over someone’s body. My head feels like a mess and I’m going to need some time to process everything, but I have indeed died and been born again. Truly the Gods work in mysterious ways, when I thought I had been forsaken I have actually been given a new lease on life.
“Oh? Good name young man. What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I was travelling on a boat, I departed from God’s Haven, I was expelled from the Western Continent of Sages and I was dumped in the waters of Slave’s Bay to fend for myself.” I tell myself just as much as I tell the old man.
The old man’s smile stiffens slightly as I mention God’s Haven.
“You’re a sage?” He asks in a serious voice.
“Oh no, I had no talent for cultivation from a young age and was deemed useless by my parents, hence why I have washed up here, I was a bigger burden than I was worth it seems.”
Dumped on the streets by my parents in two lives, the heavens truly laugh at a man.
“Ahh, seems I got ahead of myself here young man, no, Junior Bai. I’ll allow you to rest for a couple of hours.”
The old man walks out of the hut before flashing me a smile and closing the wooden door behind him.
Given some time to process the memories left behind I have come to realise that I am in a world where magic – Deity’s Essence – reigns supreme. The previous inhabitant of this body was actually the 99th Prince of the Imperial Bloodline but he was born a bastard to a servant girl and thus was an illegitimate son and a blemish in the Emperor’s image. His talent for controlling Deity’s Essence was also pretty mediocre so he was disposed of. According to the memories left behind, the previous soul’s mother was sent off to one of the small duchies under the Imperial Bloodline’s control and lived a comfortable life there.
Excitement is born within me. I can’t wait to see what this world, and even more importantly, what Deity’s Essence has to offer! Right now I should find out where I am though.
A basin of water has been left next to the simple bed and I wash my face, but not before looking at my reflection on the still water. Such a foreign face, so odd. However, this new face means a new lease on life, an opportunity to shine where I have previously failed!
I walk outside to a radiant sun. The warm sunshine hits me like a truck and I can’t help but take a deep breath in. The old man is sitting on a chair with a reclined seat looking out into the sea. He gestures to a similar seat next to him and I sit next to him.
“Are you alright now Junior Bai?”
“Yes, thank you very much for your help, I truly would have been at a loss without your assistance. By the way, where are we?”
“We are on the island of New Penia. Not far from Old Penia, on the mainland, in the region of Grand Penium. It must be a shock to you to find yourself in such a remote region of the Eastern Continent of Warriors.”
“Seems I have strayed far afield from my homeland. Senior, I have been disregarded by my own parents, thrown asunder from my continent. Although I may be surprised to find myself in a strange land I plan to make this land my home, any attempt to return would create more trouble than it would solve.”
“Oh, you’re a haughty child, truly a rarity nowadays. I like you child.”
End of Chapter 2