Leo didn't consider himself a fool, he was simply a young man in his 20s trying his best.
He practiced martial arts, paid his rent on time, and only occasionally made questionable online purchases at 2 a.m. He lived quietly, sensibly, and with just enough dignity to pretend he had his life together.
It was supposed to be a regular Saturday afternoon.
A mild breeze.
Birds singing.
The small commercial plaza across the street sat in the sun between rows of shops, a convenience store on one end, a pet boutique on the other. A shallow decorative fountain occupied the center, water trickling lazily around a marble cherub. The pavement sloped gently toward the curb and the street beyond.
Leo stepped out of his apartment building and headed for the store.
That was when he noticed the woman.
She stood near the curb at the edge of the plaza, both hands clenched around the handle of a shopping cart stacked high with groceries. The cart's front wheels tipped forward.
It rolled.
She shouted.
Leo moved.
He checked the street without thinking and sprinted across the plaza, already committing to the idea that this was a problem requiring immediate physical intervention.
"A runaway cart?!" Leo blurted, launching himself forward.
Midair, two details arrived late.
The cart wasn't rolling freely.
The woman was pushing it.
"NO—!"
The warning came out strangled as Leo slammed into the cart. Groceries exploded upward. Apples burst free and arced through the air. A cabbage spun past his face. A bottle of soy sauce caught the light before shattering against the curb.
The old woman shrieked and swung her handbag angrily at Leo.
He tried to dodge, but his foot landed on an apple. Causing him to fall sideways, straight into a passing cyclist.
The cyclist wobbled, overcorrected, failed, and slammed into a roadside mailbox. The mailbox rattled, tipped, and fell into a row of plastic dog statues outside a pet boutique.
One statue bounced, clipped a pyramid display of chew toys, and sent them skittering across the pavement.
A jogger hit them at full speed, the toy squeaked, The jogger slipped.
Arms flailing, he slid across the concrete and crashed headfirst into a tall metal ladder where a painter was working on a storefront sign.
The ladder jerked.
The painter yelped.
The ladder swung into a parked truck.
Somewhere inside the truck, something clicked loose.
Leo, tangled in grocery bags and desperately trying to free himself, looked up and saw the truck rolling down.
Slowly.
Steadily.
Downhill toward the fountain, which was also toward the old woman and himself.
"…No. No. No, no, no—"
Leo twisted and shoved the woman aside. She landed hard, but safely on a mound of spilled onions.
He didn't get so lucky.
He stumbled backward into the decorative fountain behind him, splashing into knee-deep water and slamming into the marble pedestal of a cherub statue.
The pedestal shifted.
The cherub, lyre raised, tilted.
Paused.
Then fell.
The last thing Leo saw was a marble baby descending directly toward his face.
"…you've got to be kidding me—"
Crack.
Darkness.
Silence.
Then—
"…Did you seriously die like that?"
Leo floated in a space that felt like nowhere and everywhere at once.
"…Who said that? Where am I?"
"I mean, come on. That was spectacular, ten out of ten."
Leo groaned. "Great. I died and I'm getting roasted"
After a soft chuckle, the voice continued
" Welcome to the space in-between, My name is Axiom, Think of me as… your new partner."
"My what?"
"essentially your spirit guide in the new world you are about to be relocated to."
Light bloomed beneath him—warm, pulling, alive.
"Prepare for deployment, Leo."
"Wait! what!? Deployment?! Where?"
"A world of magic, monsters, and plenty of chaos."
There was something like amusement in axioms voice.
But before Leo could say anything else, light surged, and he was flung forward into his next life.