Chapter 2: Is Death The End?

To think I'd die, I thought to myself, my memory tracing back to my final moments. As I impaled his heart, I sensed the mana converging in his body to a singular point, but my original impression led me to believe he was struggling in a futile attempt to heal his heart. 

Sigh.

I knew I should have immobilised and constrained his mana first. Perhaps the fatigue robbed me of my usually clear headed thoughts. Unless somewhere deep down inside of me, something restrained my usual cold and calculated battle sense that had carried me throughout the toughest of times. 

No reason to beat myself up about it now. After all, I'm dead. Though my consciousness remains intact, I have lost all senses. I see nothing and I don't know the distance I'm travelling, I don't hear anything, my smell is impeded by the absence of nothing and most importantly, either my body has been paralysed, or my mind is no longer trapped in a physical state.

I never thought about the presence of heaven or hell, but if I had to choose which one I'd rather attend, it would be like an echo of everybody else's opinion. The obvious choice that has been painted through religions, heaven. Though concepts throughout the races in my world alter in certain details, the paradise that is still promised after death is incomparably better to the satanic underworld that is endless torture. 

I wonder which afterlife will accept me? I haven't been the best of people, but I haven't been bad either. I'm sure I've also been hailed as the hero throughout the lands who sacrificed himself to stop the great evil threatening to collapse the entire world.  Yet again, I have killed an incalculable amount of life. To be honest, I don't even care anymore which I end up in, but please for the love of anyone out there, hurry up with the process of my death! I swear I've been floating throughout this vacuum for the past half-an-hour!

Then a sharp dazzling light, slowly manifested at the very end, seemingly bearing the fruit of my complaints. Its illuminate glow diverged like the rising sun over the ocean, half being revealed whilst the other half of the gleam appeared to be shielded by darkness. 

"Wait, I can see!" I exclaimed and then held my mouth as I heard my voice circulate for the first time since entering this abyss.

Has the process finally begun? I considered.

The ivory swirl that seemed only meters away, now gave me undesirable hope that I got the better of the two afterlife's. Yet I braced myself for the possibility of it being the worse outcome as well.

The distance between my presence and the ever-expanding incandescence warped and collapsed the space between us and as it did so, the temperature intensified. The sensation of the blistering heat strangely did not pose any discomfort, yet rather felt mellow with an alarming presence of an emotion only described to me previously as maternal love, the unconditional bond and love you shared between your mother and yourself. 

"Wait. No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! This can't be it!" I opposed, screaming at the top of my lungs and flailing my arms around until my view vanished once more. 

huff, huff, huff

"Aghhhhhhh!"

"You can do it dear, keep pushing!"

Muffled shouts assaulted my ears and my vision desperately tried to focus on the ill-defined, hazy image displayed to me. They were fortunately not outlandish, however, being understood by me.  

Focus, slowly, focus, I chanted to myself, frantically determined to reveal the setting of my hypothesis and also worst nightmare. The flash-like effect which incomparably irritated my sight, eventually dissipated. The snug solace I felt receded within moments as the frigid gruff zephyr's swiped around me entangling me in an instance, along with a smooth bleached cloth wrapped around me that felt silky yet soaked by the wintry environment. 

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"Congratulations, dear." A considerate voice extended through the room as a figure solemnly hovered over me. His argent hair, which was neatly cut, wafted its hair in my eyes as the man snuggled his sharp jawline against my face. A scratchy beard contrasted the upper half of his face which in every way would be considered as handsome and sharp. His brows smoothly glided like a rainbow reaching the other side and the endless deep sea consumed me with it's incredible eye retention. A pleasant smile graced his face and he methodically carried me back to the bed, stretching his arms, which I currently laid in, and returned me to what I imagined was my mother.

Onyx locks lay pristinely on her slumped shoulders, the sweat rocked of her body with a gracious expression as she pointed out our matching scarlet cornea's. A quick, heartfelt peck received to my forehead as she rested my mass on her chest. An elegant beauty would be perfectly reasonable of a description for this woman, her dimples on display as her smile spread throughout. 

Also, it seemed I was unfortunately correct. I've...been reincarnated. But my question is why? I was certainly satisfied with the previous life I had lived, though I was encompassed by the solitude of battle, I didn't mind it one bit. It had been what I strived to achieve and though I only lived 32 years, I never expected to live past my 40's at the speeding rate I would constantly challenge anything with an unreasonable amount of strength. My nature in that sense was flawed, I'll admit, and maybe I hadn't had any meaningful relationships apart from the one I bore with Evert, yet I still felt content to an extent. 

Maybe my reason for being dismissed from any afterlife was due to them being unable to assess my life's resume and deem me to serve eternal punishment or eternal paradise. So this would be my deciding life? Ughhh, I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. 

Looking at my surroundings, it seems where in a cosy wooden hut that is struggling to retain it's heat from the environment outside. It looks rather old for my world, but not impossible to find especially in less fortunate areas. Perhaps I have been sent back to my current world? I can't decide anything yet since I have yet to receive enough valid information about my approximate location. However, a starting point is always crucial and an idea is better than drawing a blank. 

For now, it's best to stop thinking about this, I concluded. I attempted to speak, yet nothing but groans and moans left my infant mouth. My father, who had rested on a rocking chair besides the bed being considerate of my weakened mother and my fragile new self, looked on fondly at his wife and new born child. He looked to be in his mid twenties and presented himself as a capable man who considered others before himself. He wore basic black clothes with a woolly fur coat snuggling around his broad back, his breath rising in hot vapour as he noticed my attentive eyes examining his demeanour. 

"What's wrong little one, can't sleep." He whispered, careful not to wake my mother. 

I did the best I could with my infantile limbs that seemed numb to my thoughts and lethargically reached out with my hand, opening and closing it. The ocean in his eyes calmed from it's previous stressed storm that seemed to glance to anything that flinched and softened to a subdued morning wave. He placed his finger out to mine and I grabbed it without thinking. I tried to inform him of my desire to be held up in his arms by wailing in a hushed tone. He sensed my present feeling and responded accordingly lifting me up onto one of his shoulders. 

"Want to see something cool that daddy can do?" He questioned with a proud look on his face. 

Obviously by my appearance, he thought that I would clearly love whatever little trick he'd perform. 

"3, 2, 1." Then a radiant mixture of red, yellow and orange burst out of his hand igniting a small flame that wrapped the surroundings in a pleasant warmth. He then combusts the fireplace that had been prepared with wood starting a delicate flame that leaked it's natural heat outwards to the room. My mother seemed to react to this naturally, even whilst in slumber, snuggling closer to the pillow with a mischievous smile gracing her face. Even then she looked like an angel. 

My expression naturally turned to one of disbelief as the mana particles spread throughout the room. This was not because I hadn't witnessed mana in my life because of course I had, but at the presence of mana and my fathers spell guiding me to searching for my mana pool inside my body. My crux was intact. 

A crux was an organ hidden behind the solar plexus that had its own internal mana veins that carried the mana through your body. This was practically a guarantee in my eyes, that the world I had been reincarnated to is the same as my original one. Either just after my death, or years in the future. 

"Hahaha, see I knew you'd like that trick Eli!" My father announced wildly. My face must have weaved into an incomparable look of joy and I began patting my fathers shoulders with fists. Also, what kind of name is Eli? Nevermind, I'm back in my own world! It gives me great joy that I haven't been spawned into some new random world at least.

Still. Why have I reincarnated?

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