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Chapter 1 - Desmond Rose (1)

Two people stood atop the extreme peak of a great mountain, with an ongoing thunderstorm above them, and imminent doom below them, they clasped their hands together, sharing warmth in what seemed to be their last moments.

A beautiful youthful lady, wearing a ruined elegant white dress with worn-out sleeves stared intently at the boy next to her with uncertain eyes.

"Are you sure about this, Desmond?!"

"As sure as I'll ever be, Angelica!" Desmond put on a brave face his mouth barely managing to curl up into a smile, but his deep crimson eyes couldn't hide the inconceivable fear of what he was about to do, twitching ever so often.

Pulling her into a tight embrace, Desmond's arms clasped around Angelica's narrow shoulders, and her arms went around his back. Resting his face on her hair, and over the great thundering of the storm, the two heard a platoon of soldiers, running uphill, every step reverberating to where they were at the cliff.

The both of them faced each other, closed their eyes and each took a step off the mountain, their combined centre of mass shifting ever so slightly to favor the abyss.

They shared a kiss whilst airbound, their lips locked at the closest point to their doom.

"May we meet in our next lives" Desmond whispered into Angelica's ears lovingly with a tinge of sorrow.

Falling...

Falling...

Falling...

"ARGHHH!!!"

Thomas Laurent felt a spear pierce through his brain and then oncemore throughout his entire body. As if hundred of barbarians barged into his home, and then proceeded to rip and tear at his insides simultaneously.

He screamed, yet no air came out, and no noise was released either.

He held onto the slightest little bit of hope that he wasn't in hell. 

Maybe I just had a stroke! The paramedics must be hauling me in now since I can't feel it anymore! I must be on some form of anaesthesia Yeah, anaesthesia! Thomas attempted to get any part of his body to move. Legs, arms, maybe my eyes… Oh sh*t

All he could manage to wedge open were his eyelids. This led to a scene he'd believe to be far worse than the afterlife, or even his idea of hell.

The arms were bent in completely wrong directions, mimicking a crude clock, and the legs had followed suit, twisting, contorting to be bent at just the most worrisome angles. His torso was completely gouged open for the downpour, with shards of sticks and ribcage poking out, with a large shard of rock piercing his inner organs.

Even weirder was, what was in front of him. The corpse of a woman, in what seemed to be the same, strange, grotesque state as him, but with the caveat of her having a much more

'dead' appearance than he did, noting the dead fish eyes she possessed.

Something else that became obvious was the fact that he didn't feel any pain, nor did he feel like going into any 'Long Sleeps' at all.

He was now in the large expanse of a thicket, surrounded by what seemed to be several hundred metres of pure oak. The ground soaked and muddy due to the heavy rain occurring during all of this mayhem. Right now, he was wearing a ruined attire of what looks like a formal, white suit with a coat splattered with Thomas' blood.

This guy really wanted to die with style…

This wasn't how I imagined my last moments to look like. Calming down a bit after the sight, Thomas began to think to himself and recollect his last steps, closing his eyes to avoid the scene to focus on more important matters.

I was in my villa going through the morning routine…

We were running from the guards...

So I was making coffee...

And then me and Angelica jumped off of that cliff...

Wait, these aren't my memories!

Who's Angelica?!

In his stupor, his legs quickly jolted in his shock. Thomas realized that, the broken fragments of body parts and limbs were slowly beginning to come back together. Each broken or healing part of him illuminated by dim green particulates that gave off light…

Lights?

The pool of blood on the ground, which constantly trickled from each wound on his body and connected with the other deposit of crimson fluid from the girl next to him's was slowly guided by the green spheres back into his body. The blood began to accumulate and cling to his skin, like a reversal of the original trickle out, the blood that was on the ground seeped steadily into his open wounds, guided by these magical spheres of light.

Crack!

Both his arms snapped back into place, as if nothing had occured, the superfluous fluid kept going. Recovering both his legs and arms, as well as the skin, movement and sensation slowly returned to Thomas' body.

The rest of the changes were minor, before feeling returned to his healing ribs, he began to pluck out the innumerable assortment of sticks, leaves and a large rock leaving a gash in his chest, allthewhile blood was flowing backwards into his limp body.

Taking another look at the 'Angelica' on the ground made Thomas jump, he quickly went to reach for his chest, feeling his hollow heart speed up again. The last droplets of his blood, which remained on his clothes began to siphon back into his pores, leaving him sitting in a puddle of a stranger's blood.

Looking at her, somehow jumpstarted my heart.

How lovestruck was this boy with his sweetheart?

Without another second to spare, Thomas sprung up and began to test out the functions of his newly incarnated body. His arms, legs and lungs were all in peak condition.

Holy f*cking shit! How good is it to be young!? he reminisced upon his previous body. His middle age and bad decisions in his younger years culminated in wearing himself out beyond his years. Currently, at his ripe age of 43, he had a full head of white hair. His pupil's, which some were even far older than him had much more pigmented hair!

Realizing the providence of his current situation, he began to attempt to piece together what his situation currently was

How in the world am I still alive? Maybe this situation is like one of my pupil's described to me, like a 'Manga' where I'm transported to another world where there's swords and magic?

Who am I kidding, this is obviously an 'Isekai' scenario like in King of the Unknowns or That moment I was revived as a goo, where the main character is sent to another world!

He faced his head down in a mixture of shame and embarrassment, afraid of being seen by the wildlife in the area. Even in Thomas' advanced age, he still was reading comics that middle schoolers enjoyed.

I should test out whether I have the cheat abilities those protagonists were given!

"System!" Nothing popped up.

"Fireball!" Nothing came out of his palm.

"Summon!" The fly that had been buzzing around him landed on his finger

Falling to the ground in a bashful defeat. Thomas felt a spark zap in his subconscious. In a recess of his mind, he grasped at anything within the proximity of his arms, picking up a blade of grass. 

I knew that I wouldve been granted a superpower! he peered into that piece of grass intensely, attempting to invoke that spark again in his mind.

[Grass]

How f*cking helpful!

Looking for other sources of insight, anything that could prove his newfound ability to be of use, his eyes refocused upon the dead, limp body that was across him.

Right! She could probably be of some use

Who knows? What if she wakes up? Because of this, he stayed within an arms length of her. This was his first time seeing a dead person in this world of course. He didn't know the rules of this foreign world. Whether the dead stayed dead like on Earth, was unknown to him.

His eyes focused yet again on Angelica, the person the body's last owner; Desmond, had loved so dearly. Thomas found the cage of his heart opened yet again, beating louder and more sorrowful each second he looked at Desmond's beloved.

True Love lingers within the body, even if the soul leaves, I guess. Thomas reminisced back on his miserable life at home. Shaking his head, he focused back upon the main objective, and steeling his heart from any reminders of her... He gazed at the corpse and tried to activate the ability yet again.

[Corpse of Angelica]

It's better this time. I seem to be able to 'Appraise' objects to varying degrees of specificity. Maybe if I come across something unknown, I'd be able to have an edge in the encounter?

This power still seems really lame for having to experience the pain of falling from what seems to be… a few hundred metres? Thomas looked up to see the parallel wall of stone that he came down from.

She and I were lucky we didn't turn into pulp - Wait… maybe I did and I just don't remember it.

There must be at least some secret function to this ability, maybe if I just…

Crackle!

Crinkle!

Stomp!

Stomp! Stomp!

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