Hill remembered the painful crunch of his body meeting the white marble floor of the arena. The sensation of his skull caving in was the worst thing he had experienced thus far—well, besides being impaled by a monster's claws.
That had been worse.
However, he also remembered seeing the beast's own head split open. Their skulls had hit the ground at the same time, based on what he could recall.
But it bothered him that he was able to remember such things... and why he was able to think at all.
Why? Because right now, he was floating in a pitch-black void once again. But this time, he had no body, and because of that, he could sense nothing. He couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't feel, couldn't taste, and he couldn't smell.
However, he was still able to remember and form fresh thoughts, which was strange.
Am I dead?
The evidence was compelling. After his first death, he had ended up in the pitch-black void before that mysterious voice had decided to speak and throw him into the soul trial.
Now he was in that same void again. So it had to be.
He tried to scream, but as expected, he couldn't. He had no lungs to draw breath and no vocal cords to shred. The intent of his scream was simply swallowed up by the silence as if it had never existed. This lack of sensory input was a new kind of torture. While the cacophony on the bridge during his final few minutes on Earth had been full of chaotic sounds—the roar of jets and the shrieks of monsters—he had at least expected all that noise.
Here, there was nothing at all.
[Ah, you're awake.]
Perhaps not.
The voice was sudden, but due to his lack of hearing, Hill immediately recognized that it was speaking directly into his mind somehow.
I'm awake? he asked internally. And are you the same thing from earlier? Please explain...
[Congratulations are in order!] the voice continued in a whimsical manner. [You somehow managed to pass the trial. A rather... unexpected outcome, but a pass is a pass! Now, it is time for you to be reborn.]
I... I did? But I remember hitting the floor and... dying...
[You're right. You did die.]
[But you also managed to take the Earthling Human Plague Beast down with you, and at the exact same nanosecond nonetheless. A miraculous stroke of luck, if I must say.]
The voice laughed before continuing.
[Your result was an anomaly I'd never had to deal with before. You can imagine—I've done this millions of times, yet I've never encountered a situation such as this.]
So what happens now?
[Oh, nothing so simple. Ordinarily, if you died in the soul trial, your soul would naturally fade away into the ether. But rules are rules, and my superior is obsessed with preserving any soul deemed worthy of awakening. You killed the Earthling Human Plague Beast; thus, you are worthy of awakening. Strange, isn't it?]
I... I guess.
[It took some time, I must admit. A very tedious process indeed! But I was able to preserve your soul using a rather genius and unconventional technique in soul-weaving. A personal innovation! You see... I had these other soul remnants that I had preserved—not because I wanted to, but because I was ordered to. These wretched remnants had done heinous things, and my superior wanted them to live so that they would suffer fitting punishment.]
A sinister giggle echoed through Hill's mind.
[So... I've decided to save your soul... by merging it with theirs! I've managed to create a perfectly new soul by stitching together the parts of old ones. Haha! Unbelievable, isn't it? Until now...]
Hill's thoughts were in disarray at this new information. So I'll be reborn? But you said that these "remnants" were... preserved or something... so that they could suffer punishment. Are you punishing me? Why? I thought I won the trial? Isn't that what you said?
[Slow down, Earthling Human. You will be reborn, and you are not being punished. In theory, you should be able to live normally as a regular Earthling Human without being hindered by their presence at all. In fact, I suspect that they lack the ability to even do anything. They've been floating in the abyss for so long... I almost feel bad for them. Their minds must be mush by now.]
Okay... thanks for the information. I have a question though—
[Now, brace yourself. Hold on for as long as you can until the pain subsides. If you endure, you will be reborn. Simple as that.]
Pain? Wait—
He had no time to prepare. Agony immediately erupted through the core of his being. It was not physical pain, for he had no body. It was some strange, foreign mental pain that he had never experienced before—as if his consciousness was being shredded by some unknown force.
If he could describe it, it was as if his memories were being ripped apart and re-stitched repeatedly in rapid succession.
Just moments ago, he had been able to think clearly with no fog clouding his mind.
But now, there was a thunderous storm wreaking havoc within him, preventing him from thinking a single coherent thought.
He scrambled for an anchor, anything to hold onto in the storm that was tearing him apart. The pain was getting worse, and as it intensified, he began to forget the language he was thinking in.
Now, all he could do was visualize.
He scrambled through his memories, searching for something—anything—that could save him from this torment.
Then he thought of Meira.
He remembered her clearly: her face framed by raven hair, and her crimson eyes that were so much like his own. He remembered the feeling of her hand clutching his as they moved across the bridge. He remembered her scream as the plague beast landed on her, tearing her apart before he could do anything.
And right there... rage began to boil within him.
This was something he wouldn't allow to fade away. He had to get back. He had to find the beings responsible for Meira's death.
And while he had defeated the plague beast in combat, he knew it was simply a cog in a machine. He had to find the heart of this murderous machine and erase it from existence.
He had to get revenge.
Focusing hard, he poured all of his remaining willpower into that single goal. However, the pain didn't lessen. In fact, it seemed to intensify, as if fighting back in defiance. His mental being was stretched to the breaking point, but he clung to Meira's image stubbornly.
Just as he felt the last of his strength failing, it stopped.
The pain had vanished, leaving as quickly as it had come. Immediately, he was blanketed in brilliant white light that swallowed him whole.
He gasped, then gasped again as he realized he was able to gasp.
Looking down, he saw that he had his body again. He did it! He had been reborn!
His red boat-neck shirt, his baggy trousers, and his skinny limbs—all were back to normal. There was no missing right arm, no gaping hole in his chest... he was back to normal.
Filling his lungs with as much air as possible, he inhaled slowly before exhaling even slower. The feeling of being able to breathe after what had just happened was simply euphoric.
He closed his eyes, flinching slightly before opening them once more.
That's when he noticed the strange phenomenon occurring before his eyes.
There was a series of strange glyph-like symbols swirling around. They were black in color, but they seemed to shimmer across a wide spectrum of colors.
"What the—" he began, stopping as his eyes widened.
The glyphs weren't just randomly swirling around. They were clashing into each other, merging into runic characters that were arranging themselves into words and sentences. He didn't recognize the language at all, but for whatever reason, he was able to understand it perfectly.
Name: [Hillel Tehom]
My name...? he thought to himself, unsure of what he was looking at. He began to read the rest of the runes as the last of the runic characters arranged themselves.
Age: [16]
Height: [5'10"]
Weight: [110 lb]
Race: [Earthling Human]
"This is interesting," he mused. "Wow, it knows my weight as well..." He didn't know what "it" was, but he assumed it was some sort of entity. The thought gave him a sense of closure.
But as the runes continued, the closure evaporated.
Title: [None]
Rank: [Dormant]
Soul Core: [Dormant]
Relics: [None]
Attributes: [The Enchained Hollows]
Blessing: [None]
Blessing Rank: [None]
Body Condition: [Healthy]
Soul Condition: [An Imperfect Union]
"What?" he blurted. Despite being able to understand the alien runes, he had no idea what any of these terms referred to or what they meant—especially the lines about his "Blessing" and his "Soul Core."
What could those things be?
And the most concerning one of them all... his soul condition.
An Imperfect Union? Does that mean something's wrong?
Before his thoughts could spiral any further, the light around him seemed to brighten, causing the runes in front of him to shiver violently. He closed his eyes, shielding them with his hands to prevent excess light from penetrating his eyelids. However, he could still feel it getting brighter.
But then he felt solid ground beneath his feet. He felt air brushing past his skin, and he began to hear the various sounds of nature.
He opened his eyes.
The voice spoke a final time. This time, it was audible.
[Welcome to Igashia, the land of the rest of your days.]
[Farewell, and good luck.]