"Taking a soul from another world into our world? Are you sure?" A divine voice echoed throughout the empty dark void where nothing but the blood ocean and colossal pillars stood loosely.
"It's just a little prank, come on.. You're also bored from being stuck here right? And after everything i went through to meet you from the upper realm, i don't think you have that much choice." A different voice was heard that sounded strange, the voice was neither a man, or a woman, maybe not even human, the voice invited the other voice from earlier to partake in a silly little experiment as droplet of water fell into the blood ocean.
The atmosphere went silent for a few seconds, the air was thick with miasma and the smell of blood, nothing but the sound of water droplets and chains rattling can be heard across the endless realm.
"What about S%!$#@?" The previous voice asked with his inaudible voice that reverberated like a drifting rock.
"That guy and the others won't bother to intervene with such matter, like i said, it's just a little prank.. Treat it like an entertainment for us. So, what do you think?" The voice said, it chuckled quietly as if it was plotting something.
Another few seconds of silence, the same noises in the background kept ringing in those beings ears, their figure was a mystery, their shadow looked human, yet their identity was far beyond that.
Then, after giving it a thought, the voice of the other being answered. "Alright, i'll see what you're planning with it."
"Hehe.. Then, i'll ask him to bring a random soul to this world– I knew you'll be into this, after all, you've been trapped for almost a millennium." The hollow voice then laughed as its eyes stared at a humanoid figure infront of him, the figure's body looked similar to a man, and his eyes was covered with multiple rings with hundreds of eyes rotating around his head with a black halo floating above his head. At the same time, the figure was chained to the pillars, unable to move anywhere.
.
.
Somewhere on earth—
"Happy birthday.. To me."
Rain was sitting inside of his small apartment room as he lighted a candle that was placed ontop of a piece of cake, there was no one in the room but the mess that he created himself.
The clock on the wall ticked, showing exactly 9:00 at night while the sound of drizzle outside began to be heard.
Rain stared at the chocolate cake infront of him, he pondered as the candle flame flickered.
"Today is my 22nd year of living in this world, i can't believe it that i managed to reach this point— No girlfriend, no college, no parties.. And nowhere to go. Now that i think of it, ever since i graduated from senior high school, my life never really moved anywhere isn't it- Job that was given by my uncle, small group of friends that never really interested with travelling or vacation, parents that still have a job with higher salary than me, all this time, i only cared about myself because everyone around me can live by themselves too—
"Heh.. It's like a slow life." Rain chuckled at his unnaturally comfortable average life. "Man, i wished something would happen."
He then took out his phone from his pocket and opened an app, it was a novel reading app.
"Might just read some stories while i eat this cake before i sleep." Rain said as he held his phone on one hand and used the other hand to grab the fork on the table infront of him.
Nom!
He ate a small chunk of the cake, his tongue immediately tasted the flavor as he chewed it. "Hmm, this cake's good."
'Oh? This novel got updated..' Rain said to himself. 'I guess it's back from hiatus? I hate to admit it but this novel is my guilty pleasure..'
Rain then clicked on the said novel and opened the latest chapter, his eyes gradually moved to the right with each words he read in his phone screen, and eventually he was immersed.
'As expected, reading a story where it takes place in a different world is always exciting.. All of those magics, monsters, adventures.. Everytime i imagined them living their life in that world, my heart ached.. It's as if i was longing for a world that doesn't exist..' Rain momentarily looked up into the ceiling, he paused his reading to ponder once again at his current state, is this life really the life that he wanted?
"Of course not.. Haha." He said with a faint laugh before continuing to read the novel in his phone.
.
.
A few minutes passed, and Rain was about to complete the chapter as he read the final sentence.
"And then, an earthquake happened— Damn, that's it? The author really put a nasty cliffhanger even after being on hiatus for a month.." Rain scoffed, he can't read the next chapter since it was still within the author's head, knowing that he won't receive the continuation until the next day, Rain decided to turn off his phone and prepare to go to bed.
While he was about to take the empty cake plate to the kitchen, Rain's phone suddenly rang, it sounded like a message notification just appeared.
Ring!
"Hm? Who the hell chatting at this hour.." He said, placing the empty plate back on the table again as he grabbed his phone to check.
[Survive and Achieve Godhood! Would you like to play this game? Click Here]
Rain stared at the notification for a few seconds, it wasn't a message at all, but rather just a promotion that came from one of the store app.
"What the fuck?.. Since when did this app send a message notification?" Rain asked himself the question and wondered. "Survive and Achieve Godhood?.. Well i guess that's interesting, but it's just gonna be an RPG right? Then it'll probably be pay to win, im not gonna play it."
Though Rain said that, his mind somehow felt drawn towards the game, his heart was telling him that it would be another cashgrab game that's targeted towards rich whales, but his conciousness seems to have gone astray as his finger gradually moved closer to touching the notification.
'Huh.. I feel like, i just saw something that i never seen before.. What is this.' Rain's mind began to ache, and his vision shifted into a view that he never saw before, it lasted less than a second, but Rain could clearly tell that the scene he just saw was himself standing infront of a mirror, with the mirror reflecting a face that he never knew.
'Am i.. Hallucinating– This isn't funny, there's no way i got poisoned..' Rain tried clinging to his own conciousness, he couldn't tell what was happening to his body, all he could tell was that he was definitely not in a good condition and needed immediate rest.
Then, came the irreversible point, Rain's finger finally touched the notification and as soon as he does so, he was engulfed in a sparkling light that forced him to close his eyes as his body in the real life disappeared in an instant after the light had covered him in his entirety.
Bwoomp!
The apartment grew silent rapidly, what once a room where a young man lives all alone now turned into a haunting tragedy as it will be later known to be the last place someone was seen before going missing without a trace. Forever.
.
.
Tick..
Tick..
Tick..
A grandfather clock ticked endlessly with each second passed, the atmosphere felt refreshing with the smell of the morning air gently humming into the noses of people in a dorm-like room.
Sunrays pierced through the checkered windows, lighting up a portion of the wooden floor while the rest of the surrounding became dimmer the further it was from the glass pane.
And on the bed, a young boy lies motionlessly with his chest lifting up every few seconds as he breathed and came to his senses.
"GAHH!!" The boy abruptly screamed, startling his roommate that slept ontop of him on the bed was stacked.
The boy opened his eyes wide, revealing a golden color that looked beautiful and a gray smooth hair that stretches beneath his ears. His face could tell a lot as his eyebrows was furrowing and his mouth opened like someone in shock.
"H- Huh.. W- what.." The boy said in a panic, he looked around only for his expression to become worse with each direction he looked.
'W- where am i.. I was in my apartment just a moment ago!..' The boy said to himself in his mind, as it turns out, the boy wasn't just anyone, he was Rain that somehow had awoken in a completely different place.
Thud!
"Hey! What the fuck's wrong with you! Don't scream out loud in the morning you jackass! I almost got a heart attack!" Another voice came from above Rain, it sounded like a boy around the same age as him.
"A- ahh.. Sorry!" Rain tried to apologize, though he still hadn't understand what was happening, his mind had already adapted to this kind of situation before, thanks to his interest in reading fantasy stories.
A room that was mostly made out of limestone and wood, an interior that looked more medieval rather than modern, and the fact that he could see his own bangs and noticed that it was gray instead of black.
'Different hair color.. Different voice, a room that clearly isn't my apartment, some things that i've never seen before on that desk... And the fact that it all happened after i went unconcious.. Could it be—' Rain didn't want to admit it, but no matter what other guess he had, everything kept leading to the same conclusion.
'Did i.. Got reincarnated into another world?..' He said quietly in his mind.