1 With Death Comes New Life

The Sun was shining very brightly through the cracks in the curtains of a window. Just enough to land on the face of someone and slowly heating it up on that spot.

"Mmmm..." The person grumbled and moved his face to the side but that didn't really do anything since the sunshine was still shining at him no matter what.

And it didn't really take long after he couldn't take it anymore.

"Goddamn!", he said and opened his eyes.

He leaned himself up with his hands and stares to the window for a while.

"I should get myself louvered blinds installed. This summer really wracks my mood", complained the figure and stood up from his bed.

Yes, he was still sleeping until now even though the sun was already at its peak. If one looked at the clock, what the person actually did right at that moment, one would notice that it was noon already.

"13:28, huh?", realized the figure instantly after he glanced to the clock on his cupboard.

"Urgh, another day wasted I guess."

He scratched his head and yawned. Then he started walking to the restroom where he went into to shower himself and brush his teeth.

After a while, he was finished and he put some new clothes on himself. Right at that moment, his phone was ringing.

*driiing driiing driiing*

He went to and looked at the display to see who was calling. The name John was displayed. He swiped to accept the call and placed the phone to his ear.

"Yo, what's up?" The figure answered in response to the call connecting.

"Hey, Eric. What the hell are you doing!?" John said on the other side of the phone kinda sounding mad.

"Whoa, mate. Did I do something to you that pissed you off or something?", asked Eric immediately after receiving such a half-shout statement from John.

"...."

There was silence at first from John. Then shortly after he started talking again. His voice this time was much lower but one could hear a slight disappointment in it.

"You know which day it is?", John asked again.

"June 13th, why?" asked Eric back, not knowing what he was after.

"Yeah, exactly. And do you know what we had planned? Or did you already forget? Well, it's your grave that you're digging anyways..."

Eric stayed silent at those words and he tried to remember. Immediately a thought came into his brain.

"Oh, shit. Julia her birthday. Fuck, I totally forgot! Mate, what should I do. I don't even have a present ready!"

He panicked a little bit after realizing what the hell is going on.

He was meant to go to a birthday party of his childhood friend today and worse, he was one of the people that had to organize everything.

He couldn't just plain and simply appear after doing nothing at all for the party and not even having a present ready for her.

"Told ya, it's your grave. Luckily for you, we got everything mostly ready. The present is another story though. That's on you. At least show-up, alright? You know how she can be. Anyways, the time is 16:30 at our meeting place. Got it? See you then. I am hanging up now because I still need to finish some stuff.", said John and hanged up on him.

"..." only the sound of a disconnected call could be heard afterward.

Eric instantly put his phone away and got ready to get outside to rush somewhere to get a present.

Julia, his childhood friend, was a tyrannical beast when she got hurt by someone and forgetting her birthday and not appearing would basically put him onto her blacklist.

It would be a disaster for him since she incidentally is also his boss, what could make it even worse than it normally would be. Truly it would be his grave not only socially but financial as well.

Before he went out he still checked himself out in a mirror to be at least passable for a birthday party. Luckily for him, he trimmed his beard and had a haircut not too long ago.

He traced the stubbles on his chin with one hand. With his 32 Years, he would otherwise look like some beggar if anything was not done but nonetheless he still put some styling gel into his black hair.

He checked his eyes and looked if he had any signs of sleep deprivation or the likes.

"Everything seems to be alright. Good", he stated with an amused smile.

"Now I need to find a present asap."

He looked at the clock again and went out. He did not have much time anymore since the city center was probably crowded and it would take some time to get the present and still be on time at the party.

So he basically got into his car and rushed to get it done but maybe he should have taken his time and apologized for coming late.

Why? Because now he is a corpse after getting into a car accident. No surviving that one after being squeezed to death between a Truck and 3 other cars.

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There was tranquility in a white room without any noise. An old man was sitting at a desk and went through some papers.

Every time he turned a paper he would sigh a little bit.

"So many unnecessary deaths. Now, who is next?", said the old man and turned to a page with a picture of a man with black hair and blue eyes.

"Eric Strofen, Human, Male, 32 years of age, Death: Car accident..."

The old man recited the information and still remained calm as if this was like a daily routine.

"Hmm? He extremely believes in Reincarnation?"

One of the phrases mentions how Eric is a devout believer in the life after death and that he himself made many theories about such and even wrote some books about them. Mostly novels though it seems.

"Let's give him a chance then. He will soon realize that not everything is as he thinks it is."

The old man stretched his finger and Eric appeared floating in this white space.

"Welcome, child." The old man said to him and smiled a little.

Eric opened his eyes and looked at the old man with white hair and a white robe. Then he looked around and saw nothing but white. Shortly after he fixated his gaze back at the old man and one could see some excitement in the eyes of Eric.

"Are you...?", he asked hesitantly because he already had an idea who this is but still didn't believe it to be real. He always read books and fanfiction about life after death. Basically reincarnation.

He always wondered what he would reincarnate into or in what world. Would it be some cultivation world or one based in science fiction or would he actually be reborn and send into battlefields like in those fables of the Norse Gods? Valhalla and such?

That would actually be pretty bad and scary.

"Yes, child. I am God. To be precise the God responsible for Reincarnation.", said the old man with a slight chuckle because he could hear his thoughts.

"So it is true...Hahaha, I knew it." a short silence was maintained after the confirmation of his question.

"Am I being reincarnated or is this just a routine checkup to see my karma? I can vaguely remember I had a car crash and thereby am dead. But I don't understand why I would be reincarnated. It's not like I am religious or anything.", questioned Eric.

"Simple, all beings have the right to get reborn as long one doesn't have a sinister soul. Now then, we need to hurry since I still have a lot of more people to send off to."

The old man clapped his hands and a lucky wheel appeared. Eric immediately widened his eyes in disbelieve.

'Don't tell me he is gonna gamble? No, he didn't want some random rebirth! That's not how it should go!', Eric thought and complained inwardly.

"Sorry, rules are rules", said the old man and gave the wheel a spin.

Eric really hoped it would land on something good. There were only colors and you could not read anything from them. Maybe red? No, it should be blue? Damn, it made him go mad in anxiousness. What could actually come out of it?

Some time passed and the wheel stopped. Every second it spun was torture for Eric.

But it finally halted at a color. It was the color orange and the words Dragon Ball appeared.

"The Dragon Ball Realm it is. Good luck, child."

Eric panicked again and opened his mouth to talk now.

"Wait, don't I get to choose my race and all that? What about benefits?", he asked.

"What are you talking about? There is no such thing as choice. You are a human and shall be reborn human. And why give you benefits? Your mind alone should guide you and be your benefit. Now go, child. Enjoy your new life."

The old man waved his hand and Eric vanished.

"Those young folk with their demands..."

Those words were the only ones before he started flipping Eric`s document to the side, but he didn't complete his action and watched in front of him.

"Wait, I forgot to ask him if he even wanted to be reborn...Well, let's give him that benefit he wanted. Like that he can't complain afterward. But I should make sure he at least only knows about it after living some time without it. Let's see...Yes, that should work. It will still depend on him. Hohoho. I am actually quite interested how this will end up."