"Unfortunately, you just died!"
"...."
Orion speechlessly sat as the old geezer before him casually announced his death.
He wanted nothing more than to punch his face in, unfortunately, he couldn't.
After all, this old geezer was a celestial being and he was nothing but a pitiful soul that had just died.
Speaking of death, how did he die again?
***
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A lazy hand moved from under the covers and put the alarm on snooze for the fifth time today.
The hand went back under the covers and blissfully continue his sleep, without a single worry about the appointment he was currently running late for.
.....
"Fuck!"
The owner of the hand suddenly sprang off the bed, an incredibly bad decision as the covers wrapped around his feet causing him to fall off the bed.
"Damn it," he cursed again as he hurriedly got off the floor and rushed into the bathroom.
'I told you, you'd regret staying up so late,' his mind judged as he reached the bathroom mirror.
"I couldn't just miss out on the latest chapter and risk getting spoiled," he replied to his thoughts.....
Signs of a mad man.
He took a moment to glance at his reflected self in the mirror, coming to face with his head full of white hair and pale blue eyes.
It was a look that would be considered handsome, if he didn't have such heavy bags under his eyes due to the lack of sleep.
"Damn you, Orion!"
He quickly washed his face and hopped into the shower, taking only a few minutes before exiting and grabbing whatever was at the front of his closet and fit for the appointment he had today.
Orion had on a white T-shirt, black pants and white sneakers. He grabbed a slice of bread, putting it in his mouth as he rushed out his relatively large apartment, closing the door behind him.
He was soon out his apartment building and into the streets but he didn't slow down at all.
He looked at the watch on his wrist as he chewed on the bread, realizing how late he was.
"She's going to kill me," Orion muttered through bites as he continued running through the crowd, bumping into a couple of people and apologizing before moving forward.
He quickly approached the intersection, his mind completely absent as he focused on the fact that he was late, and how he hated Monday mornings.
He hadn't realized that the pedestrian crossing light was still red, until he was too far in the streets to return or fully get across.
Honk!!
The horn of a large truck suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts, causing him to turn to the side where he spotted a large speeding truck coming towards him.
"Shit!"
He cursed again as his body froze, refusing to move out the way.
Fortunately for him, before it could reach him, the driver managed to maneuver to the side, missing him by just an inch.
"ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID?" the driver cursed as he looked out the window, but he didn't bother stop.
Orion finally got control over his legs again as he rushed out of the street and to safety, only then did his mind process what just happened.
His heart was pounding so hard, that it felt like it'd escape his chest at any moment.
'I-I was almost hit by a truck!' he mentally stated, still processing how close he came to dying.
"T-too fucking clos—" before his words could be completed,
BOOM!
He didn't even get the chance to process what happened before his consciousness completely faded.
***
And when he woke up next, he was here, a space that was completely white, as far as his eyes could see.
And then this geezer appeared, introducing himself as a celestial being before announcing that he was dead and apparently, it was his fault.
What was it he said again?
"I was cleaning out my storage and accidentally dropped the discarded lightning into the sky portal instead of the void portal," was what he said.
Lightning!
He had been killed by a lightning just after getting missed by a truck and almost letting out a sigh of relief.
"But you can't blame me," the geezer added, "someone forgot to put labels on those things, so if anything, it was their fault."
Orion's eyes remained blank as he listened to the geezer spout nonsense he had no idea about.
He so very much wanted to start raging or even letting out a string of curses that would make a sailor jealous, but he didn't.
After a moment, he let out a sigh and looked up at the old man.
"What happens now?" Orion calmly asked.
Nothing he did right now would change the fact that he was dead, so he might as well find out what would happen to him.
The old man looked at his calm expression with a smile before quickly hiding it, though there was a single thought in his head.
'I knew he was the right candidate.'
"Since this is partly my fault.... probably," the old geezer started, "I'd like to offer you a once in a lifetime.... death time (?) opportunity."
Orion sat up straight, listening to the old man.
Of course he knew what was coming, so he waited.
"Would you like to get reincarnated?"
Even though he expected it, the opportunity presented to him was one he thought possible only within fiction.
Still, he remained calm as he asked, "do I get to choose the world?"
"Unfortunately," the old man shook his head, "that will remain completely random."
"How about abilities?" Orion asked again, "do I get to choose them?"
"No, there's even a chance that you might end up without any."
"..."
"...."
"Then I don't want to get reincarnated," Orion said calmly, "send me back to Earth."
He couldn't choose what world he was getting reincarnated into, not could he choose his abilities, then why the hell would he want to reincarnate?
"Unfortunately, that's not your choice to make anymore," the old geezer said with a smile before snapping his fingers.
"Then why the fuck did you a—" he started but paused when he suddenly felt a pulling sensation.
Slowly, he turned behind him, noticing that a massive portal was now open and was actively pulling him in.
"Hey! Hey, you fucking —"
Orion tried to resist, but it was like trying to swim against a tsunami and before he had the chance to even curse at the old geezer, he was gone.
Snap!
With another snap, the portal closed, leaving the old man alone in the white world.
He then calmly stood up, turned around and disappeared, but not before muttering,
"And so it begins."