Darkness to Darkness
Memories of my life flashing through my mind, I reminisce about my childhood... growing up with my parents and two older siblings, how we were poor in the beginning days of my life, struggling to eat and find proper sustenance, my mother bearing the weight of being poor and her health conditions in my teen years, dying slowly in the hospital, before finally leaving this world behind when I was eighteen.
My father was the first to leave us behind intentionally, forcing us to fend for ourselves... I guess that he couldn't handle the hardship of taking care of three of his offspring by himself without the companionship of my mother or any other assistance from other family members or friends.
So, there were the three of us- forced to work and pay the bills and buy food to sustain ourselves and keep living, although my older brother and sister already had a job, they found another one that kept them both away all day and night, working in the office... and then there was me, finding a job at a supermarket to help in paying for them, although it wasn't much in the end...
Wait- the end... now that I think about it, aren't I already deceased? Hit by a truck, caused by a black cat crossing my path before I finally died...?
That's when it hits me- I couldn't see, taste, hear, smell, or feel anything at all: it was like I was floating inside of a pitch-black void, drifting ever so slowly, with only my thoughts to accompany me...
'Where am I, what's happening to me?' I ponder, 'Let's see... I got hit by a truck and then it was instantly black, and now I am still experiencing this darkness that has nothing in sight, I mean- do I even have eyeballs anymore, I don't feel my body anymore, maybe I only exist in corporeal form right now, drifting only as a soul...'
"Yes, young soul, you are incredibly correct in your guess." I hear a deep alluring voice, alongside the snapping of fingers and then suddenly, nothing becomes everything again and I regain all of my senses back.
I clench my hands, enjoying the feeling that it brings me before I look around, witnessing the beauty and magnificence of the stars around me: it seems that I was... floating within space with no flooring or anything to stand on, and yet it felt still like I was standing on a solid platform.
"How does it feel to be deceased and still exist within the body of your past?" the same deeply intriguing voice asked me.
I gaze around, searching for the source of the voice before finding nothing, and yet I reply anyway, "Well... it's like I'm chained down and existing after time has stopped, and with no air to breathe, if that makes sense?"
Another snapping sound and then once again the surroundings change. Now I am standing in front of a table with a chair before it, existing in the same starry space, and behind the table sitting in his own comfortable looking chair is an old man with hair flowing around with seemingly no gravity and a beard that touches his pelvis... the strange thing being, his hair looked just... abysmally black, with no light to it.
"Well, I brought you here for a good reason, and that is for you to fully enjoy the life that you could not before... I know that you love games and anime, so I have fully set this up for you with that in mind, so here-" he snaps his fingers once more, a wheel appearing next to the table with many numbers on it. "Spin the wheel, and that will determine the amount of wishes you will receive."
Taken aback by this all too sudden turn of events, I stare at the man for a long time before finally breaking contact and looking at the wheel, approaching it slowly, 'The amount of wishes I receive, huh? I guess that isn't determined by my karma?'
"Well- normally it would be, but since you led a completely neutral life, you don't really have any negative nor positive karma, alas I made this for you to spin, to determine it for you with your luck." the old man says, as if reading my mind...
'Guess I should be careful about what I think about.' I think as I put my hand on the side of the wheel and pull down as hard that I can, watching the numbers spin by at an incredible speed before landing on...
The number three, 'I suppose that means I get three wishes then, but do I have to spin for those too?'
"Correct again you are young lad." Snapping his fingers yet again, the previous wheel vanishes with another appearing in its' place, yet this once was much, much bigger with many more words and engravings on it, holding the different wishes that I would receive after spinning.
'Alright, then let's test my luck once again... I never truly believed that I had good luck to begin with, but let's find out once and for all, huh?' I think as I put my hand on the new wheel and once again pull down as hard that I can before watching it go around in circles.
...I do this three times, and these are my results...
The first spin I received was [All Types of Breathing Techniques]
The second spin I received was [Cannibalistic Empowering]
The third spin I received was [Hell's Misfortunately Lucky Dream]
Let's just my reaction after receiving each of them was quite... something, I didn't know where to laugh or cry, I couldn't tell if the last two were good but the first was so grand... but my attention diverts to the man still resting in his chair, watching me as he raised his hand and snaps his fingers once more, hopefully for the last time.
"This time, I will have you spin to see what world you will go to, and afterwards what race you will be... do you want a description of your abilities beforehand? I've already engraved them into your soul, and your third ability gives you the ability to read do so in a way, just say the words "Dream World".
I looked at the new wheel ahead of me first before doing as he said- but I want to test something by saying it in my mind first, 'Dream World'... and what happens surprises me greatly.
Just from two words thought in my mind, I am transferred to a lunar white space that seems like dusk and below my feet I found myself standing on water, with the surface reflecting me... and as I peer deeper, I felt images flash throughout my mind: words that look like this...
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[Status]
[Name: ???]
[Age: 19/??]
[Abilities Listed Below Alongside Description]
- [All Types of Breathing Techniques]: Allow usage of every type of Breathing Technique from the series know as Demon Slayer.
- [Cannibalistic Empowering]: Allows ability user to gain abilities from the same race that the user is and use them as his own, also allows user to save characteristics from the devoured if they so wish.
- [Hell's Misfortunately Lucky Dream]: Forces the curse user to go into incredibly gory and sinister worlds derived from games and anime and after surviving twelve hours in that world they can leave, however time is different in the real world; User can receive the abilities, items, curses, boons, and any other sort of abilities from the Dream World, so long that they retain their mental stability. User receives only one form of inventory through their own choice...
{Will user decide now?}
[Gamer] [Grimoire] [Spatial Jewel] [Spatial Inventory Control] [Shadow Form]
[Mental Inventory Control] [Incorporeal Form] [Slimy Form] [...etc]
After reading through the list of inventories I could choose from, I decide upon the one called Shadow Form, simply because it sounds like it wasn't just the inventory that was included... and while there were other types of forms- I did want to touch stuff you know? ...and I would rather not be slimy too...
Choosing the 'Shadow Form', I suddenly hear a ding resonate throughout my brain before I see in my mind the words...
{[Shadow Form] obtained, description available...}
- [Shadow Form]: Allows user to become a mass of shadows that cannot be touched and can move through shadows that the user touches. User can any number of items inside of their shadow, but can only pull large items out if there is enough room; Also allows user to control the shadows, although this must be trained...
'Well, that's freaking awesome... I got a new ability within an ability... makes me wonder what kind of hell I am going to go through inside of these Dream Worlds... anyways, I wonder how to get out of here...'
{Host Must Say 'Cease Dream'}
I jump visibly in shock before calming down just as quickly, 'Well, I suppose that I should get used to this... even that old man can read my mind so easily.'
'Cease Dream' I think, as I appear back in the space with the old man and the wheel standing before me.
"I am merely what your mind wishes to perceive me as, but in reality, you wouldn't be able to withstand the fear my real form would evoke in you... anyway, spin now." The old man tells me.
Weakly nodding my head, I lift it and then walk to the wheel before doing the same as the previous ones...
[The Central Axis World - From That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime]
Pondering about how my life will be in the future even without the Dream World, I stare off into space, blanking out completely.
SNAP! I heard the old man's fingers click against each other, bringing my attention back, away from my mind... "Now finally, spin one last time for your race and I will send you off instantly."
Gulping deeply, I approach the wheel for the last time and put a heavy hand upon it, hoping to get something good for myself... and then I spin...
[Monster] is what I got, and let's just think about that for a second, why don't we...
"Wait... that's way too vague of a race description? What exactly am I going to become, at least let me know that!"
He smiles strangely and then snaps, a notification appearing before my face, [Race has been updated from Monster to Monster (Pure Shadow)]
"Well, off you go now!" the old man's voice sounds, "Your moment has passed." He chuckles to himself one final time in front of me as he snaps his fingers, and everything... once again... becomes dark.
...
I am conscious; I seem to have lost all of my senses, I can't see, hear, smell, taste, or touch... I can only think and feel the time passing albeit being blind...
'Well shit, what do I do now?'