Prologue.

In a dark and filthy alley-way, I laid on the cold concrete holding my dwindling breaths. The rain hitting my motionless body, heed not to my injury; I have completely lost it, the hope of someone finding me here.

I know I shouldn't have gone on with the robbery, I should've taken the warnings of Pat. But no. The money was too enticing to let go, 500,000 dollars just laying free in that warehouse. It should've have been easy, the dealers were dead – no one was to guard it, but for some cruel joke, three fuckers we're alive from the shoot out. Carl said, all were killed… sigh the three goons jump on me, they beat me near death and once done they stab me, to leave no chance of me surviving.

I was too greedy…

Now I lay here, accompanied only by the cold rain and the filthy trash bag – besides me.

The vision was being covered, slowly, by the darkness, and I know my time is only of the minutes. Hehe, killed at only 18; They said if I just leave the Gang, I could pursue a different path, leave the criminal lifestyle! They said, Even my boss wanted it, but what did they expect? For me just to abandon this? All I know was this, the gang, and the violence that comes with it, and they wish just for me to leave it? 

I was scared of changing my ways, A coward afraid of change.

My stings, I close it.

My body is cold…

The beating of my heart is already coming to a stop.

Darkness already came.

…

"Huh? W-here-" 

I woke up face down on the sand, the rough grains somehow inducing pain to my face. Confused, I tried to stand up but I failed. I fell down once again, my body hurt if I tried to push it.

"Tch-!" 

Instead of wasting my energy, I turned away from the fucking sand and look upwards, what greeted was the blinding light of the sun. I winched in annoyance, I covered my hands.

"Fucking hell! What is this place?!"

Isn't it raining!? Why the hell is the raw sun glazing me right now!! London was supposed to be cold for god's sake! 

Gathering all my strength, I tried to at least sit up-right; the sand was hurting my back too. Annoying as always, sand… With my composure, I look around. And see sand, and the most bizarre of it all, is the countless swords engraved in the dark-yellow sand that stretch to the bloody horizon!.

"Is this hell?"

The weapons came in all shapes and sizes, from a dagger to those long swords I see in movies. I'm a thug, I use guns and knives no criminal out there would wield a katana of all things. I know London is the land of stabbing, but we don't use that medieval looking shit. 

Besides the terrifying amount of swords, and the disgusting amount of sand; seriously is this the desert? The sky is, how would I say this… otherworldly the blue paints the skyline and the clouds feel profound; it makes me feel small. Everything, to the swords and the sky was brushed of twilight. An ethereal blue, that calms my spirit.

"If this is hell, why does it feel peaceful – and beautiful…" I assume I'm in the afterlight, I died after all, you could not just forget that.

With enough strength, I was finally able to finally stand up. And as if something was calling to me, I began to walk to… I don't know my destination is unknown. But for some reason, I can feel something calling to me, guiding me. My instinct honed for years in living with the gang, didn't set off, instead I can feel it being the reason I'm walking.

"I don't know If I am being lured to the devil or some shit." 

I walk and walk, ignoring the countless blades that laid before me. Forward is the only thing in my mind, nothing else matters. 

Eventually, I noticed something on the sand. Unlike anything here it is not a blade, instead a sheath. A ornately designed sheath, with blue and gold painted on it, the thing stood upright like the swords, engraved on the sands.

The object exudes a familiar yet strange aura. It feels like I've seen it before, and yet it feels like it's judging me. It makes me feel uncomfortable.

Yet with all those strange emotions, I felt the strongest of it: Loneliness, I can feel loneliness from the sheath of a sword. The more I look at it, the more that aura intensifies. Yet my body was not bothered by it, I continued towards the sheath. And there I stood up, face to face with it.

"What are you?" The thing didn't respond, it solemnly stood there. 

"You're lonely?" I muttered, and again it didn't respond.

I- we stood there, just looking at ourselves. The sheath is an objective, I know that, yet I felt something more to it. Like the aura, and now nostalgia. I sat down, crossed my legs, and took the sheath from its position. I held it, but it didn't do anything.

"You know when I was alive, I wish I was just an object like you," I began to say, " Nothing to do, nothing to worry; devoid of any pain. I was just like that."

The sheath didn't respond, yet I didn't stop talking.

"In my 18 years I've done a lot of things that I somewhat regret. Stealing from people, and threatening to kill them isn't exactly nice, but it hurts doing that – and the more I do it, that guilt becomes numb. "

"I said to myself, that worrying over this would just be a waste of energy, that I was just trying to get by. They'll understand…" I look down on the sheath, "Yet how many times I've tried to be apathetic, I felt that annoying feeling, I want it gone yet it always remains there. I guess it didn't numb after all, I was just lying to myself."

I don't know where I was going with this, rambling to a sheath of all things is not what I expect to be doing, yet it feels so freeing.

"I tried to express this with my peeps, but there's an obnoxious voice in my mind that always says 'You'll be seen as lesser, a loser!' It keeps holding me back! Insecure as hell I know, but it is what it is sometimes."

"When I have the money, I always go to the theaters, watching movies is my gig. I watch romance and sometimes tragedy, but the superhero genre was always the most interesting to me, " I reminisce, "Watching superman willingly destroy his body for some people he doesn't even know, always this greater good shit, it curious me and sometimes disgust me, 'why would you do that? ' I said 'Those people won't even repay you…"

"I don't understand it, and to this day I don't; I mean I can see why he does it, but to me it is so moronic," I chuckled.

"But even after that, I long to be like him, who doesn't? The guy is a god that can level a country, what man doesn't want that type of power."

I look at the sheath, "Again, that thing, being a hero it is so curious. Hehe, if you're alive you'll probably think I'm crazy, talking to an inanimate object."

*Do you wish to help?*

I was startled by the sudden voice, looking everywhere. All I saw were the same silent swords. I look down, and see the sheath laid on my thighs, "Where are you?!"

*Do you wish to help?*

The voice once again echoed, this time I'm convinced it is coming from the sheath , "it's you!"I shouted, the thing didn't respond. 

"Tch, now you're talking, what do you want?"

*Do you wish to help?*

"You ask the same question three times…"

*Do you wish to help?*

"Sigh, I don't know what bloody devil is inside you, but I ain't falling for it! You hear me!"

*Do you wish to help?*

With the same fucking question being asked, I'm getting fucking pissed at it. It keeps asking me that, and my answer is yes. 

"Yes, now shut up! " I shouted.

A good second went by, without the sheath saying anything. I stood there awkwardly like a lost child, "Won't you say something!?"

*Would you like to live again? A second chance?*

My eyes widened by the question, is it asking me that? Of course I want to live again, I was just 18 when I died! I would have 82 years to live if I didn't get jumped by those rats. But, my suspicion is growing. What if this is the Devil? Lying to me, trying to get my soul. I mean, why would someone offer a criminal a second chance? Like seriously.

"Yes, duh! But what's the catch huh?!"

 *To uphold your answer*

*To honor the promise*

"Just that?"

The voice didn't respond. I look at the sheath and it's glowing.

Of course I want to live again. I want to try th-

Before I could finish my thought, the sheath suddenly impaled my chest, engraving itself in my body, and once again darkness greets me.

|-o-|

The sound of everything is vague and blurry, I cannot comprehend a single noise that my ears are picking. All my senses are numb: Hear, Smell, Sight, it's as if someone put a cover on everything. 

As moments passed, the sensation of my body slowly, agonizingly slow, reuters. I could not make out the smell of wood? And some sort of strong perfume. My sight is still blurry, but I could tell it is slowly returning… My body, I could not move it, the sensation is similar to that time when I first experienced sleep paralysis. That was, embarrassingly, the most terrifying of my life; not even the time when I was stabbed.

The noises are becoming clear, before it was a cacophony of incomprehensible sound now it sounds a bit like a crowd…. With many people talking. I tried to move, it was futile. Ceasing the struggle of trying to move, I instead focus on retaining my senses. Sight is the most important; the images are becoming distinct, blurry like a glass with mist now slowly forming a white and dark figure. 

A silhouette of a human! I tried to focus, in tandem my other senses intensified. As my vision slowly returned – the world becoming painted with color, familiar all of them – the noise and smell, too, became heightened. 

I could hear people talking, smell food, and other shit. I don't know exactly what I'm smelling, but it is familiar. 

My vision finally became clear enough to make up what's in front of me.

A white uniform, similar to that of a student's.

My whole body felt a sudden sting, and in response twitched spontaneously. With wide eyes, I hear a loud thud when my legs hit something. Looking down I see a desk, a wooden desk, the tables those students use for. 

"W-hat?..." I was able to mutter weakly.

The noise suddenly quieted down, and I looked up and saw the guy in front looking at me with weird eyes. Not paying any attention, I surveyed around and saw a bunch of young people looking at me in interest.

Huh? Where am I?

"You ok there." The guy in front asked.

I just looked at him for a good, awkward, second his gaze slowly turns weird, which I assume due to uncomfortableness. I didn't say anything, making the guy look to the side to avoid eye-contact. My eyes wandered to the side, to see the students that were looking at me. Some turned their heads back to mind their own business, while others remained curious. 

"Uhhh…" My eyes returned, "Can you not do that again? Um, I'm kinda busy here."

Without processing what he is talking, I awkwardly nodded and the guy looked away, back to his desk. I was freaking out, what the fuck is this? Didn't I die? I was in the after life talking to a bloody sheath! How the fuck, am i looking at a teenager; who looks to be a student?! 

Though my poker face betrays the inner turmoil I am having. I moved my hands to my head, and clutched my forehead. Okay, what do I remember? I was talking to a sheath, in a place that seems to be a desert with countless swords that stretch, to who knows where. There was something that happened! There was something, remember you stupid brain! 

… There was a voice when I talked to that thing, it offered me… a second chance; or what, I just know it came along those lines. Then the sheath did something, and everything went black. That is all I remembered.

"Bloody hell, I hope I didn't make a deal with some sort of devil…" I said weakly and quietly. Pat was extreme about that kind of shit; he says most of the gang fell because they made a deal with Lucifer or some crap. Bro was always weird like that.

I looked around once again, and the guys or students returned to whatever the hell they're doing. I think they are doing a test or something, wait if I'm here then- I look down to my desk, and see a paper and a pen, with a notebook to the side. I didn't notice this, picking the paper I read the writing on the top. "Grade 9, Test paper… Math - " 

…

Shit.

I don't do this shit! I dropped out in kindergarten! Fucking hell… well nothing I could do I guess I'll fail this thing. I don't know much about math okay, I know the essentials like Multiplication, division etc. But not the completed stuff, like algebra or calculus. Gang life doesn't necessarily require you to be educated in math, just know your way around people and the street then you're good for the most part.

You ain't seeing a thug you use that weird triangle thing to aim their fucking gun. 

"You know what, let's try reading it… Yeah, completely clueless about this shit, what the hell is a goddamn polymenial?" Tch. 

Math is not my strong suit, my favorite problem from this subject is 1 + 1! Okay, stop fooling around, what do I do? I can't exactly ask for answers, that is cheating and I know how the teacher is treating cheaters. Well, I guess directly asking is fucking obvious, come on that's all that I could think!

Okay come down, why am I stressing so much? This test for kids right, failing is not gonna be that severe right, I mean for the looks of the answer sheet, it is multiple choice; or standardize – I could just let fate decide, Eni mini Mo type shit.

"Argh! this thing is hard! Why didn't that dork give me the answer key, we talk about this." A feminine voice rings to my side, curious and startled, by the sudden noise I turned towards the voice.

What in the bloody hell is she wearing?

The blond girl next to me who was chewing on some gum, is wearing the most ridiculous clothing he had ever seen. She's wearing one of those wrap-around tops, making her reveal a lot of skin, and she uses a jersey jacket to hide most of her skin. She has twin tails, and is wearing thick ass make up, making her look a fucking barbie doll.

"..." I stared at her, speechless. Goddamn is this the ugliest thing a chick has worn. 

She mumbles, and worryingly notices my stare. Her ugly immediately turned ugly, and she scowled. The attitude bro. But suddenly her eyes widened and she turned towards me, with a smile. 

'Eh.'

"Hey Jacob, could you help me with this~" she said, I resisted the urge to cringe at the sight of her smiling.

She put her long-ass fingernail on the paper, and smiled, "It's pretty hard~ and that nerd Carl didn't share his answer with me." She smiles, yet her eyes have the same feel of a cobra gaze.

"I'm just as lost as you, girl," I said, my voice weirdly being deeper than usual, "Try with someone else."

My voice is quick and concise. Seriously, I know I'm a thug, but I don't remember myself cheating in this way, the audacity. 

Her face became expressionless, and then she rolled her eyes and scowls. An ugly frown painted her overly make up face, "You're all useless today!" she angrily muttered, "Bunch of dorks."

Ok why does she have the same personality of those cliches as high school sitcoms? You know, the alpha bitch of the school, the right hand man of the jock. The similarities are uncanny, with the blonde hair, makeup and the general bad-ass bitch energy. I chuckled.

She notices that, and sadly has taken offense.

"What are you laughing at, Weirdo?"