Chapter 1: Untimely Death
[ LEO POV ]
"DIE!!"
"DIE!!"
"DIEEEE!!!!!"
'I know that sounds weird but this stupid boss just won't die. I've been playing Elden Rings for the past 63 hours because my best friend Jake bet that I wouldn't be able to beat this game in under 65 hours, so what did I do? I went straight home after school, turned my PlayStation on and started playing. I skipped the side content and exploration and just tried beating all the bosses since I knew what to do already. I've beaten the game many times before so it was easy getting to Erdtree in the Ashen Capital. Now the final boss remains, The Elden Beast. As soon as he dies, I'll win out bet and he'll have to give me 5000 yen which will help out alot since rent is due soon.'
'Let's back up a moment. Hello everyone. My name is Leo Adams and I'm an orphan. I'm 19 years old and I live alone in a small studio. I used to be at an orphanage but I got bullied alot there so when I was going to university, I lived at the dorms and now I have this studio. Yes, I have a lot of debt, no job, and I've wasted 2 and a half days playing Elden Rings. I never knew my parents so I've always been alone in this world. People weren't particularly friendly to the broke orphan but luckily I have a rich friend called Ethan Moore, who gives me stupid dares to do for money. Last month I had to ask 3 girl out, slap a random person in the face, and fart out loud on the train during rush hour. Even though I got rejected by 2 of the girls and the third one even slapped me for some reason, the person I slapped beat the shit out of me, and I got the dirtiest looks on the train after farting, atleast I was able to pay last months rent. You might ask why I call Ethan my best friend. Well he's kinda my only friend! Yh I know it's sad. But look on the bright side people, after I kill this Elden Beast, I'll have enough money to pay rent.'
"Dodge"
"Jump"
"Slash"
*CLICK**CLICK**CLICK*
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!""
"WTF?? WHYYY? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!! WHY DID THE TV TURN OFF???"
I ran up to tv and turned it back on just to see that I had died. 'Honestly if someone asks me what it feels like to die in real time, I'd describe what I'm feeling right now. Hollow, distraught, shocked and annoyed all at once. Just when I was about to beat the boss aswell. Now I won't be able to pay rent and might actually get evicted since this isn't the first time I've missed the deadline.'
"Shit. I gotta call the landlord to try and extend the deadline."
*RING**RING**RING*
"Yes hello. This is Leo."
"What do want now kid?" Said a tiered voice on the other side.
"Sir I'm in a bit of a tight spot right now so I won't be able to pay the rent in 3 days… so.. I was hoping I could get a.. some more time maybe?"
"NO. If you're unable to pay in 3 days then start packing and find some place else. I'm not running a charity here kid. As much as I feel for you I can't let you stay if you can't pay." replied the elderly man in an angry tone with a hint of sadness as he ended the call.
*BEEP*
…
'Feel for me? If I get evicted I'll be homeless. Forget about food, showers or any other necessity. Where will I relieve myself? Where will I sleep? Yet he "feels for me". I honestly hate this shitty world.'
"Ughh. Now I'm gonna have to beg Ethan for money again. Shit, he's gonna make me do something really stupid again. Fuckkkk."
'Well first things first. I'm gonna go to sleep since I've been up for 2 days and my eyes are killing me. I'll figure things out whenever I wake up.'
So I closed my PlayStation and went to use the toilet. After 30 min, I came back out and fell on my bed as my eyes closed and I felt how dry they were. My heart was beating really fast since the only thing I've eaten these past 2 days were crisps, cakes, and other junk while filling myself up with countless energy drinks. 'Oh well. No point crying over spilt milk. Let's just take life one day at a time. I'll deal with tomorrow's problems tomorrow.' I said to myself right before I fell into a deep sleep which I would never wake up from.
[ THE GREAT BEYOND ]
[ ASTREAL LUMINAS DRAYKOR POV ]
"Next"
"Thank you" she said, as the soul infront of her handed her a paper.
"Please go through that door" she told the soul as she pointed at a black open door with a purple vortex.
The soul floated towards the door and soon got sucked in by the vortex and was sent on its way to get reincarnated after the soul's memories are wiped.
The whole place was just an endless white room with a sleek brown table and 2 doors behind the table. The first was the black door with a purple vortex that would wipe a soul's memory and send the soul on its way to reincarnate. The second door was a red door with a red vortex inside which would drag souls down to hell. This door was specifically for those scum that committed atrocities in their lifetimes and thought they would get away with it.
Astreal Luminas Draykor was an administrator for this dimension. This means that every living being that dies in this dimension is then judged by Astreal and either sent to reincarnate back in this dimension or another dimension without their memories, or they are sent to hell to atone for their crimes.
[ LEO POV ]
"Ughhhhgh, my head hurts. Huh? Why can't I feel my hands or feet."
"Wait. I can't feel anything other than this headache."
As Leo slowly looked around, all he could see was white. He had no eyes but he could still see somehow.
"WTH? I can't smell anything, I can't hear, feel, or sense anything. I can only see my I don't feel my eyes. I can't even blink. What's going on?"
Suddenly Leo felt a pull as he got dragged what he assumes to be thousands of kilometres until he found himself infront of a brown table. On the other side of the table sat a beautiful woman with white hair, baby blue eyes, and beautiful red lips. She looked like an angel to Leo.
'Wow is she an angel? She's actually too beautiful.'
'Also where am I?'
"You're here to be judged Leo Adams." Explained Astreal in a flat tone.
'Judged? Also did you read my mind?' Asked Leo since he had no idea what was going on.
"Yes I am able to read your mind Leo. You aren't able to talk since you have lost your physical body so I am reading your thoughts. And yes you are here to be judged. If you were a criminal you will be sent to hell to be punished, on the other hand if you lived a decent life then your memories will be wiped and you will reincarnate somewhere else or maybe back on your earth." Said Astreal in a flat tone again but the words hit Leo like a train.
'So I'm dead. Great. Now I'll either go to hell or hell.' Why did I say hell twice, well because life is a form of torture meaning if I were to reincarnate, I'd technically be going to hell aswell.
Astreal just ignored Leo as her eyes began to glow. The light from her eyes covered the everything in sight. Not like there was anything beside white but still the light from her eyes was very strong.
"What? How did this end up happening?" Astreal said and she sounded very confused
'Can you warm me before you do that please! And what happened? Am I going to hell?' Leo asked
"I just used my eyes to scan your life. I apologise for not warning you, however that is the least of our problems right now." Astreal said to Leo as she began tapping the table with her finger very slowly, almost ominously.
…
…
…
"Leo. Go through there please." Astreal said as she snapped her fingers as a golden portal opened up.
Leo didn't even have time to register what was going on before he was sucked in by the golden portal as he heard Astreal say "Goodluck."
[ THE CELESTIAL THRONE ]
[ LEO POV ]
'Uggghhg. God dammit, what's going on right now. I'm so confused. I think I'm dead! And what was up with that beautiful angel girl back there? And where am I now?' Leo thought.
However his thoughts were interrupted when he heard an early man's voice say "Hello there young Leo."
Leo slowly turned to look at his surroundings only see endless clouds as his eyes finally found a magnificent throne. He seemed to be on a staircase right now surrounded by clouds. He saw a figure sitting on the throne but couldn't make out any of their features.
'Uhhh, Hi sir. Can I ask who you are?' Leo said politely since he was so confused and wanted some answers.
"Leo, I am what you would call God. I know you are confused right now so allow my to explain. The woman you met earlier was an angel. She was one of my assistants called Astreal Luminas Draykor. She is in charge of your dimension, meaning anyone who dies in your dimension will be judged by her and they will either go to hell or be reincarnated after their memories are wiped and their soul are clean. We do this because it is more efficient to wipe out all information from a soul, turning it into a blank state and then sending that sound into creates across all dimensions. Those souls inhabit bodies of plants, trees, animals, humans, and other sentient beings." Explained God as Leo slowly absorbed the information bomb that had been dropped on him.
'Right ok, that all makes sense but it still doesn't explain how I died, or why I'm here and not on my way to becoming something else (reincarnating).' Leo thought.
"Right. Before I explain why you are here Leo, I must explain something to you. You see Leo, you might think 'my life has been really really bad so how come if angels and god existed they never interfered. Well it's simple because I chose to have every living entity, across all dimensions and planes, free will. Leo do you understand that if I started interfering in human affairs, it would cause a problem since some might think they are above other since they are more favoured by god and all. My point is I decided to give everyone free will to do what they want. The only things that are predetermined are which world you will be born into, what creature you will be born as for example a human or animal, and the time of your death. Those are things that have been essentially sent in stone before your birth." God said as he paused.
"Now to explain why you are here. Leo you lived a difficult life however that was your fault. You could've pushed through and made something of yourself, but instead.. well you know your life. You lived life as you saw fit and had free will the whole time. You are here Leo because something seems to have gone wrong. You died before your predetermined date. I checked everything and I found the problem. You pushed your body too hard making yourself extremely weak. Since you were weak, a damned soul from Hell managed to break out and take over your body, pushing your soul out of your body. It seems like it was a mistake on our part since an angle messed up by letting a damned soul out of hell. The matter has been resolved and nothing like this will happen again." God concluded
…
[ 20 minutes later ]
'Ok ok ok. I finally got it. That was too much information to process at once. Ok so I died before my predetermined time due to an issue on your end. You also told me why you never interfered with my life even though I prayed and begged also before my death. Ok I get all of that but you haven't really told me why I'm here uhhh.. what should I call you?' -Leo
"Hahahaha. Just call me Sir, its alright. As for why you are here. Your right I could've erased your memories and sent you on your way and everything would've been fine. However, I will do no such thing. Since you have been wronged I will compensate you appropriately. So young Leo, I will allow you to chose the world you want to be born in, the creature you want to be born as, you can decide your name, age, appearance and I will also be granting you 3 wishes." Good said in a warm, almost fatherly tone.