Cough, cough. "Ha...ha...ha. So this is how I die, huh?" I raise my right hand, staring at my bright-colored blood. "So beautiful." I drop my hand to the side, looking around the alley and then at the body that's a couple of feet away from me, face down in his own puddle of blood. "Why are there people like you in the world? You couldn't leave that woman alone?" Cough, cough, cough.
My blood splatters out of my mouth, running down my chin. I look down at my stomach, staring at my own guts that are hanging out. "Man, I wish I'd taken some self-defense classes. Just never thought I would be in a situation like this. But seriously, why am I still alive?"
I weakly poke my guts. "Surprisingly, that doesn't hurt. Actually, I don't really feel anything." I look back up at the body, my eyes slowly closing. "I guess that woman didn't keep her promise. 'I'll go get help,' she said. Ha...ha. Some people are so ungrateful. I gave up my life to save you and you couldn't have the decency to call for help." I start to chuckle lightly.
"Hopefully she named her firstborn child after me. Wait, did I tell her my name? I'm having a hard time remembering." I turn my attention back towards the body. "Fucker. You couldn't pay for a prostitute? I mean, there are so many easier ways to get pussy around here, and you decide rape was one of them. You pathetic piece of shit. Man. You're not even ugly or fat. You're pretty good-looking. You useless waste of sperm. I fucking hate that I'm dying because of you. At least you died before me." I shakily reach into my pocket, pulling out my phone.
I unlock my phone with my thumbprint. I click a program that I bought off a shady hacker from the black market. Full Data Wipe Loading. 17%...47%...88%...97%...100%. All data wiped. My phone goes black and I drop it. I chuckle and cough violently.
"And they say buying a program off the black market is a bad idea. Jokes on them—looks like it came in handy. Honestly, I was hoping I was only gonna use it when I was old as dirt." I lean my head against the alley wall, staring at the dead body across from me as my body slowly gets colder and my vision gets darker.
"If I'm going to hell, I hope I'm your roommate so I could torture you with the demons." My vision goes dark as my head weakly falls forward. My last thoughts being, "Damn. I wish I'd finished One Piece. Hell, I didn't even watch season two of Hazbin Hotel yet."
And then all I know is darkness. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, decades, centuries, millennia, and so on. I don't know how long I was in that darkness for.
And then suddenly I'm in front of a desk, across from a being who's made of smoke. Him? She? Them? It? They're watching TV—on it is playing Adventure Time, but there's a character I've never seen before. A black guy with dreadlocks, and it looks like it's before the Mushroom War. But before I can fully process what I'm seeing, the being waves its hand and the TV disappears into purple smoke, dissipating in the air. Then the being fully turns its attention towards me...
I just stare at its face. It doesn't have eyes or a nose, just a large, wide grin. I just sit there staring at it because my mind went blank. Everything's catching up. Everything's happening too fast and too slow. One minute I was in the alley, next I was in a dark void for—well, I lost count after 1,000 years. Now I'm in front of this being.
[POV: Rob]
"Hmmm." I lean closer to him, tilting and snapping my fingers in front of his face. No reaction. "Oh my. I think everything just caught up to him. Maybe I let him stay in that void a little too long, but that new episode was so good. HAHAHA!" I laugh loudly, and still no reaction from him. I finally calm down after 5 minutes, just staring at him. "I guess it was true. All humans are not the same. The last human I brought here wasn't broken by the void, but then again, you were there longer than him. Oh well, it doesn't matter."
Staring at him, thinking, should I fix him? My grin slowly gets bigger. "Oh ho ho, I got an idea. Well, I guess I should tell you what's going on. Obviously you want to know, right?" I look at him—he still has that blank look. "Well, I'm gonna take that blank look and that 'no one's upstairs' as a yes. Well, to start off, I am—actually, never mind. Doesn't matter right now. You're not all here. Anyway, you died, blah blah blah."
I snap my fingers. Purple flames spread across the desk, leaving behind a contract. "Just sign this contract and we can get this party started if you agree to everything." My right finger twitches a little bit. I watch him move his hand, grabbing the pen and the contract.
"Wow, you're not even going to read it. You got a lot of trust in me. Hahaha!" When he's done signing his name, the purple mist around his hand disappears. The contract bursts into flames, dissipating. I clap my hands. "Well, according to the contract you just signed, you agree to be our second entertainment. Also to spend a couple of years in the Tower getting trained before you get shipped off to your destination. Anyway, I don't feel like explaining anymore. Good luck."
I snap my fingers and he disappears, the TV reappearing. The TV turns on and the man reappears in a room with a man who's 5 foot 5 standing over him. He's wearing a bartender outfit with orange hair and an orange mustache, holding a large golden axe over his shoulders.
"HAHAHAHA! This is gonna be fun. Hmmm, maybe I should also fix him too." I snap my fingers. " There we go, all fix up. He should be able to process and accept everything much quicker now." My grin got larger as a large tub of popcorn appeared in my hand as I watch.
[POV: ???]
"So this is the guy Rob wants me to train and pass on my skills and power to." I look at him from head to toe. "Obese, but I could work with this. Yes, since I already agreed, I will do everything in my power to make you the strongest. My pride won't command any less." I walk towards him, kicking him in the side.
"Wake up, boy. I didn't give you permission to stay asleep." I watch him slowly wake up groggily, blinking his eyes, rubbing the back of his head, and slowly looking around until his eyes land on my glorious self. And he freezes mid-motion, staring at me. "Yes, I know I am glorious to look upon, but I don't want to spend much time here, so get up."
Clay: "Who are you and where are we? All I remember is dying in the alley and darkness and some purple smoke being. And then blank before I'm here. God, my head hurts."
I watch him rub the back of his head. "Yes, you died after saving that woman, mostly from the blood loss. Anyway, I am Escanor, Sin of Pride, part of the Seven Deadly Sins under the command of Meliodas, the Sin of Wrath. And you, young lad, are my pupil. So stand proud."
[POV: Clay]
I shakily stand up, looking at Escanor holding that huge golden axe. I feel like I've seen him before, but I'm drawing a blank. "Sorry, I don't think I've ever heard of you before. My name is Clay. And what do you mean by training me and me being your student?"
He scoffs, shifting his axe on his shoulder.
Escanor: "As I said, you shall be my pupil. You will learn everything from me and eventually inherit my power. Now follow me."
He turns around, walking towards a door. I look around the area as I slowly follow behind him. The area I'm in looks like an apartment with a kitchen in the far back, with a couple of doors that are closed—which I assume are our rooms and the bathroom. The door we're going towards, I can only assume, is the front door. As I slowly follow behind him, I come to a realization: I'm not panicking or freaking out about the situation I'm in.
"I feel like I'm processing and accepting everything way too fast. Weird." I come to a stop behind him as he opens the door. He exits first as I follow behind him, stepping into a large terrain of plains and mountains in the far distance. In front of us is a huge cherry blossom tree. The door behind us closes and disappears. I look behind me, staring at the open space where the door was. Shocked.
Escanor: "Stop gawking and come."
I turn back around, starting to follow him again as he walks towards the tree. He plunges his huge axe into the ground and leans on it.
Escanor: "I don't feel like wasting my time explaining more to you. All you need to know is you will be getting training from me in this Tower, preparing you for your next life. Now, enough talking. Let's begin."
I watch as he extends his left hand out.
Escanor: "Cruel sun."
To my surprise, a sphere appears above his hand, radiating heat. "Is that a fucking miniature sun?" Before I can fully process what I'm seeing or question why I'm not burnt to a crisp for being so close to this fucking thing, or question how it's even possible for him to do this, he does something even more unbelievable. He tosses the sun up into the air and it gets bigger until it's the same size as a small car, and he jumps on top of it. All this happens in seconds.
Escanor: "You're gonna need stamina and endurance, so the first lesson is running. And it's a great way to burn off fat. So if I were you, I would start running if you don't want to be burnt to a crisp."
"Huh?" was my great, intelligent response. Before I know it, I'm getting chased by the sun. I panic, screaming while turning around, falling to my knees and scrambling to run away. "YOU FUCKING LUNATIC, ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?"
Escanor: "You are already dead, kid. Just keep running and stay ahead and you'll be fine."
I just keep running, feeling the heat behind me. I'm too terrified to turn my head back around to look.
[Two hours later. POV: Clay]
"Dear God." I don't know how long I've been running for. I'm covered in sweat and breathing hard, and he's still chasing me with that goddamn sun. "He won't actually kill me with that sun, right? He was just joking. I just want to stop so bad. My legs feel like jelly and I can barely breathe." A large part of me wants to believe he was just bluffing, but a small part of me believes he would actually kill me. And that part was right.
I stop, bending over, catching my breath. Before I can even form another thought, I'm engulfed by the sun, burning alive. Searing pain shoots throughout my whole body as I scream at the top of my lungs, feeling my skin and muscles getting burned away. Before I even realize it, I'm nothing and reappearing in front of the tree again. I fall down to my knees, screaming at the top of my lungs as I gasp for air, crying like never before as I try to process what just happened to me.
I feel that God-awful heat behind me again. I slowly turn my head, seeing the devil again with his arms crossed and a grin on his face. And is he buffer?
Escanor: "Good job. You were able to run for two hours straight. Now let's keep it up."
And then he comes after me again. Before I can get up and run, I'm engulfed by the sun once more. I experience that pain once more, and when I reappear, instincts take over and I start running. "No, no, no, no. Not again. Not again, not again." I repeat to myself as I run, feeling that heat behind me.
And this is how my hellish training begins.