'Am I dead?' He wondered.
The thought echoed in the void, resounding back to his ears as he opened his eyes.
Sion felt as though he was drowning in a pool of flames, his body unresponsive. He felt no presence around him; all he felt was darkness, heat, slight pain yet an air of comfort around it.
It was as though he was drifting in an open space, weightless and formless, engulfed in suffocating warmth. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. There was no light, no sound. Only the oppressive silence of something beyond life… or before it.
He fell endlessly, his soul plunging through an abyss that had no end and no name. The explosion, the cries, the searing light—it all felt like a memory too distant to reach, yet too close to forget.
His limbs refused to answer, to cooperate. His eyes were open, his body numb and alien. But something had changed. Something was not right with the space that he was in and he could feel it in his bones.
He didn't feel human anymore.
'This is not right, this… doesn't feel like death. At least, not the kind I imagined. What is going on with me? Am I dreaming?' He wondered, feeling more lost than he ever had before.
He wondered what was going on with him, because that was not how he imagined death to be. He wondered if he was dreaming or if he was not yet dead, which confused him even more, because he felt when the blast engulfed him and everything else in its path.
He took a deep breath and looked around, but there was nothing but darkness for miles and miles. As time went by, the air around grew heavier than before, more charged, unnatural. It wrapped around his soul like velvet and fire, comforting and terrifying in equal measure.
Then, a voice—smooth, otherworldly, and laced with amusement, broke the silence.
"My, my… What do we have here?"
His eyes snap shut immediately, and the first thing Sion felt was pain. Not overwhelming—just enough to remind him that he still existed. Slowly, painfully, he managed to crack open his eyes. A dull light pierced the darkness.
"Who? Am I dead...?" He murmured as he saw a slight appearance before his eyes and a figure emerging from it.
It was a woman, both radiant and unsettling, a woman with long, silken hair that shone like spun moonlight. Her eyes glowed with liquid gold as she watched him with curiosity. She wore a deep blue gown embellished with celestial gold, as if she belonged to a forgotten pantheon.
Her gaze swept over him before she tilted her head and smiled.
"Hmm... Dead?" No, you are not dead, but you are also not fully alive; you are... caught between life and death, and as for me..."
She took a step closer to him, her hair moving in waves behind her and her eyes narrowing as she leaned forward. "Let's say I am not from your world. And you, Sion, were not supposed to be here. Yet here you are, trespassing through a threshold reserved only for the chosen, making your way to me as if your soul is stronger than death."
His eyes narrowed as he listened to her words, clearly struggling to process what she was saying; everything seemed unreal to him. "Chosen? Me? Is this some sort of joke to you?"
"Joke?" She chuckled as she glanced back at him while he was glaring up at her. "Oh my, you really have no faith. Well, I assure you, dear mortal, this is no joke, not to me. This is as real as things could get. You caught someone's attention, apparently, which is why your prayer, your plea for life, in a moment where most souls simply fade, was heard and that alone makes you quite interesting..."
Upon hearing her words, Sion blinked at her, his thoughts were a tangled storm. The invasion, the hospital, the girl he tried to protect… the pain. Could any of this be real?
'She appeared out of nowhere… the monsters… this place… She is not lying that much, I can tell. But if she is not, then what does she want from me?' He thought, keeping his gaze fixed on her and she raised her brows.
As if reading his thoughts, her golden eyes narrowed as she stepped even closer than she already was.
"You want answers, but your time is slipping away. Your body is dying—on the edge of fading completely. Yet you are still here, still aware. That's rare; it does not happen often, especially with forgotten mortals like yourself," She said.
"I didn't… I didn't do anything special," he replied. "I just… didn't want her to die alone nor did I want to, not after the kind of life I have lived."
"And that," she said, her voice softening for the first time, since she appeared in front of him, "is exactly why I chose to answer you."
"You offered kindness in a moment where most would run. You showed courage in your final breath. You did not plead for power or salvation. You simply… wanted another chance. That humility? It has power and the girl pled for the same thing, for you," She added.
His eyes widened when he heard that; he stared at her, confused. "She prayed for me? I see... Then why are you telling me all this?"
"Yes, the little nurse pleaded for you in her final moment and I am telling you this because I'm here to offer you what you asked for—a second chance. But not in the way you would expect," She said with a smile, one that screamed she was up to something.
Sion wanted to know, so he tried to sit up, but his body refused. His vision blurred. He was slipping, and he could feel it.
"Your time is running out, you will soon understand," she said. She raised a hand and flickers of golden and emerald light danced around her like fireflies. "But understand this, Sion, what comes next will change everything. Once the process begins, your past life will fade. Only the core—what makes you, you—will remain."
"A second chance… For what exactly? I do not understand; what will I do with it?" He murmured as the lights from his eyes faded.
"To play the game of mortals and monsters alike. To build and survive in a world where power is truth, where birth is destiny, and fate is a blade constantly at your throat. You will wake in chains, alone, and powerless—but you will not be nothing; you will soon know that," She responded, her smile faded, replaced by a thoughtful look.
He tried to speak, but everything was slipping away. His heart slowed. The world dimmed again.
'A second chance… in another world?'
'Is this what I asked for?'
"Good luck, Sion," she whispered, as a door of pure light materialized behind her. "May you defy fate… or fall to it."
Before he could respond, the door opened—and a vortex of energy pulled him in.
He was swallowed whole by the light and darkness, mixed, two opposing natures surrounding him.
And everything went dark once more.