2 Chapter 1: Prologue (1/2): Death! and Afterlife?
A/N:
" " : Dialogue,
' ' : Thought,
[ ] : System,
~ ~ : Telepathy.
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Location: Lagos, Nigeria
3rd POV
Lagos, home to millions, and home to our protagonist. A man down on his luck, hoping for some way, any way to get out of the slump his life is currently at. But it seems like life has other plans for him.
MC POV
Have you ever felt like the life you lived was not good enough, like you could have done better if only some things about you were innately better and everything around you was more interesting, more impactful? Well, I've had that thought a lot in recent times, especially now that some truck's brakes failed sending it speeding toward me on the side of the road with no way for me to escape death.
You're probably wondering, "Hey, Bolu. Why don't you just jump out of the way?" I would, but it's also causing other vehicles to swerve in ways that would be fatal if they hit anyone. Ah, that kid just got his skull crushed, sad.
Right, but where was I? Oh yeah, I'm about to get crushed by almost eight metric tons of steel. Hah, it was a disappointing life I lived. Didn't even get to see the proper start of the Bleach sequel, the end of One Piece, if Asta became the Wizard King or the end of the journey of the insufferable green haired holder of OFA. Hah, god fucking damnit.
Wait a minute, I just noticed this. "Where's the driv-"
*CRASH*
POV end
3rd POV
That was the last thing he ever heard or thought for as long as he lived. And unfortunately, the accident was far worse than what he saw taking the lives of over a hundred people, rendering him to just be a statistic well as a large smear on the roadside. A disappointing life and insignificant death, truly a sad being.
Location: ???
??? POV
What did I do wrong?! Who did I offend?! Why does bad shit happen to good people?!
All I wanted was a nice cushy job to help beings fully pass on to the afterlife and reincarnate. Was that too much to ask for?! Is that why I have to deal with HIS bullshit.
"Damn it! Why the fuck didn't anyone tell me that fucking truck was going to Africa?!" 'Seriously, no one even thinks about the repercussions of that fucker moving around, the ones he gets don't even look presentable as corpses'. *sigh*
"Anyway, we got all these beings that have got to get to their afterlives so chop-chop, people. Let's keep it moving. Also any one that detects even the faintest signal from that mortal's soul, inform me immediately." If that dumb truck thinks he's gonna mess up my perfect record with this, he's got another thing coming.
POV end
Location: ???
MC POV
'Huh, where the hell am I, and why can't I feel my.... anything?'. Oh, that's right. I'm dead. So is this meant to be the afterlife or something, 'cause it's really dark, like totally dark without any light whatsoever. It's pretty empty for a place that's meant to hold the souls of all intelligent life that believes in it. I wonder if I'm just blind to my environment or something.
*2 hours later*
'Hmm, guess I'll try meditation or something, that always seems to work in anime or novels to help calm down and perceive the environment. Would probably help to open my spiritual eyes or some shit like that.'
I sat? in the lotus position and closed my eyes? and took a deep breath. If spirits and souls could breathe, that is.
*15 minutes later*
"Fuck it, I am not that patient." Seriously though, where am I, am I at some afterlife prank show or what, 'cause I don't see or hear anyone so are they just being real quiet or what. Well, guess I'll try meditating again. 'Heh, all this "being a soul" stuff is just reminding me of Bleach.'
*Flash*
"Huh, what was that?" I thought seeing a blue flash some distance away only to be surrounded by darkness once more with no flash in sight. I thought I saw the flash for sure and chose to wait.
*8 hours later*
'Still no flash of light after all that time.' "Huh, guess I was just seeing things. Well, back to meditation it is." I said as I closed my eyes once more.
POV end
Location: ???
??? POV
Deep breaths, no need to blow your top, me. Blaming them in a blind rage is not gonna solve anything so calm down.
"Why the hell is the guy who I specifically said all of you should keep an eye out for not yet found?! It's been a damn month." I shout out angrily, ignoring my own advice.
"Sir we've checked in with most of the others but none of them have had anyone matching his description or soul trace" a lower god of reincarnation states while nervously shaking.
"*sigh* What about getting them to check their worlds if he was smuggled or anything like that?" I say exasperated at the situation. "Well sir, The last case of smuggling happened over 500 years ago and we all know how that girl ended. She ended up having a mediocre life when compared to true otherworld reincarnators and she wasn't summoned either so I don't think anyone would really take the risk of smuggling since the result of that left a heavy stain on the last few gods that tried that. And as for the other methods, no transmigration has taken place for the past 10 months here sir, so I don't know what else could have happened."
'Hah, why couldn't this just have gone better. I think I'm gonna have to retire soon.' "Sir! I found something." A goddess shouts out "You did?!" She nods confirming that I didn't just have an auditory hallucination "Yes sir, but you won't like it." She tells me looking slightly nervous "Please, I've had this thing giving me a serious headache, any news now is good news." I say exasperated by the whole debacle. "Well, sir *gulp* his traces were found in the astral void".
'No, please tell me this girl isn't being serious right now.' "Run that by me one more time." I say hoping she made a mistake. "The last signs that his soul was anywhere was at the farthest detectable point in the astral void, sir". 'Oh, just kill me.' "Really? The farthest detectable point, ha haha haha haha. FUCK!"
Now, I normally wouldn't be all too pissed off if the problem was easily or even strenuously salvageable but the kid got into the astral void, he basically got thrown into a shredder fused with a meat grinder for mortal souls and he got into its deepest part, at least the deepest part that our detection would work in, the dreaded "Abyss". But he's an unprecedented case, so I've got to confirm that he's really extinguished
"Sir, you've got a visitor." "Who is it?" "Sir, it's Lord Hir-" "Hey man, haven't seen you in a while. Why the panic?" "Oh, Hirikjurl, it's just you." 'Great, this bombastic idiot is the one that had to come by, but I guess it could be worse' "Hey, what do you mean it's just me, I'm your best friend. Do you not know how many other gods want to be friends with me?!" "Yeah, yeah. You're so great, for a god of war." "Also a major god of victory." "Yeah, right." 'Seriously, who does he think he's trying to play. If he's a god of victory in the slightest then I'm a friggin' god of creation.'
...
'He's got to be fucking with me.' "You're serious about this? You, a god of victory." I ask sceptically. "Yup." 'Oh my god, he's serious. If that's so, maybe this could actually pan out for the better.' "Okay, if you've really achieved enlightenment and gained such a strong divinity of victory, then I'm gonna have to ask you for help on a case." "Why would you need my help for a reincarnation case?" "It's a long story. Follow me, I'll tell you on the way" I say as I grab the portable soul detector with the mortal's soul signature.
*Some time later*
Location: Abyss, Astral Void
"So somehow Truck-kun's joyride in Nigeria ended up sending a mortal's soul into the Abyss?" Hirik asked and I nodded while taking the chronological stabilizers and analysers which were standard issue for entry into the abyss. "Then why are you wasting your time with searching for them, they're probably extinguished by now. After all, no mortal soul is able to handle the extreme time dilation here. Hell from what I remember Anvarchron said that it's one day out here to one thousand years in there. And that's at the outermost part of the abyss." He said and I sighed hoping that would have been the case instead, but here they were. "I'd have thought the same too, if it weren't for their name not disappearing from the Re: Life Ledger. Not to mention that the soul trace they found came in literally 3 minutes before you came into my office." I said as his jaw got progressively lower.
"But that shouldn't be possible, right?" He asked in disbelief of what he just heard. "Normally it wouldn't but that's what's happening right now. Either way let's move farther in, this place is messing up my detection abilities." "At least we've got the soul detector with their soul signature to make it easy."
*Sometime later*
"Hey, Phoeric, I'm not tripping right now, am I?" he asked in clear confusion. "No Hirik, you're not." Not that I could blame him as what we're seeing in front of us is downright absurd. "Not only did a mortal soul survive in the abyss they also achieved Soul Ascension." I say in amazement at the absurd situation. "Hey check your CA."(chronological analyser) I do so, and my eyes widen as the ratio between the Godrealm and this point of the abyss we've reached is one second to 974 billion seconds here which means that this guy - by the way, the soul is male, finally got a gender to the being, has spent over 80 billion years here and is still surviving.
MC POV
I hear some voices speaking nearby which surprised me as I have heard nothing before now. I open my eyes to look around and I see two giants that seem to be radiating some energy. It isn't soul energy, that I am sure of as in my meditation for God knows how long, I gained some proficiency in knowing how a soul felt, at least a mortal soul.
"Hey look, he's awake." the one with crimson hair and black highlights says to the other with yellow hair and red highlights.
*Image here*
I didn't know how but I felt something from their auras. The one with crimson hair who was also considerably muscular felt somewhat belligerent while the one with yellow hair felt warm, like being in the womb, if that's any way to explain it.
"Who are you?" I asked not sure if they could even hear me, but surprisingly they did. "Hey, I'm Phoeric, major God of reincarnation, life, fire and reward, this is Hirikjurl, major God of war and victory. Are you okay?" said the yellow haired one.
Gods. This was not what I was expecting when I ended up being hit by a truck, but if what he's saying is true, then that possibly means that I got hit by the one and only 'Truck-kun'. Because if I remember correctly, there was no driver in the truck that killed me.
"Yes, I'm fine, thank you." I say calmly. "Oh, thank goodness for that." Phoeric says in what seems to be relief. "Well, I'm sure you don't want to continue staying in such a dreary place as this, so, follow me and I'll help you get to your next life." 'Next life? Well, he did say he was a god of reincarnation.' "Okay." 'Well, I might as well go and see what new life waits for me.'
Ch. end
A/N:
This is my first novel/fanfic ever, so please don't expect too much.
So, first chapter is done. Please, I would be happy to hear your thoughts on this story and constructive criticism on what I could do better.
