Chapter 9: The Man Who Gave Me Light

  Chirp, chirp... Bzzz... Tweet... Spsh...

  “Nngghhh...”

  My eyes started to creep open, the sun’s rays slowly filling my vision. I was somehow still alive...

  My eyesight took a few seconds to adjust to the brightness, and once it did, I looked all around me. Taking in my surroundings, I could only sit in awe. After a few seconds, I tried sitting up from the ground and raised my hand to cover my eyes from the beaming sun.

  W-what... is this pce...?

  I gradually began to get on my feet and stand, but my legs kept buckling for some reason.

  Just how long have I been sleeping for...?

  After a bit of trial and error, I was able to stand upright.

  W-woah...

  One view all around me would even put a manga addict into shock.

  S-so... bright...

  I was standing in the middle of nowhere. No sign of civilized life or anything. All there was, was just nature. A ft, beautiful, limitless pin with no end in sight. All different kinds of flowers stretching further than the eyes can see. There was a single tree far off in the distance, but no others. A big tree to be exact. Possibly the biggest tree I’d ever seen. It reminded me of a world spawn point inside a video game. Though, since I was so far away from it, I couldn’t get a detailed glimpse.

  In addition to the trees, there are tons of bugs, birds, and other small animals roaming around. There also must’ve been some fish here too, because there’s a waterfall over to the right. Nothing too big though, just a modest sized body of water.

  “W-what... is all this” I excimed, “Am I being set up... Pranked maybe?”

  There were no indications of people, so those two options couldn’t have been the correct observation.

  “There must be other people here... I can’t be the only one...”

  I slowly started to make my way over to the tree, but it felt as if I hadn’t walked in over hundreds of years. My legs were fighting to colpse, but I kept fighting back. I’m still tired from sleeping. Maybe after a bit of walking, I’ll be back to normal...?

  Wait... Mom...

  “I hope she’s okay...” I said.

  I was practically limping at this point. The closer I got, the clearer the tree became. Soon, I was able to make out the outline of a man leaning their body against the trunk of the tree. He seemed to be drinking something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it looked familiar. Seeing a sign of life, I started attempting to run.

  “Ungh!” my legs trembled as I fell to the ground, but I kept going. Something as trivial as my legs unable to work properly wouldn’t dissuade me from reaching another human in sight. Repeatedly, I kept trying.

  “Hrk!” again, my legs kept buckling under the immense pressure of my frame.

  “R-right... there!” I said, clearly fatigued, “You’re right there!” I was inching upon the tree.

  I stopped close enough for the man to notice me. I stood still to take a deep breath before continuing to limp towards him.

  “Hmm... I see you’ve made it...” the man said, “Your resolve proves itself once again...” he yelled.

  “Khh... pfh...” I still needed to catch my breath. After wheezing for a little, I managed to ask, “W-who... a-a-are... you...”

  The man stayed quiet, still leaning against the tree in the same position as before, “Me...?” he said, “You can’t already tell, can you...”

  “I’m the path to your future...” he widened his arms.

  Now able to see the man clearly, he had a long, white beard. He looked short as well, based on the way he was sitting. Then he took a sip from his bottle.

  “W-what?” I gasped, “W-what are you talking about...” after a few massive breaths, my lungs were pretty much back to normal, and I was able to talk properly.

  “I am what you humans would call a divine being.” he replied, “Me and you have actually come in contact before...”

  “Isn’t that right... Hai-Chi...?”

  “Y-you’re not making any sense...” I said in confusion.

  “Alright... Huff...” he sighed, “Here... Because I’m not able to reconnect past memories to my current target like other divine beings, I’ll just have to expin...”

  “You and your mother, Aimi, were walking on the sidewalk by that motel... And you walked past a hobo... You starting to remember?”

  “N-not really...” I still wasn’t catching on.

  “Okay, okay... Remember when that same homeless man asked you for money... That was me... I was that homeless man...”

  He grabbed his bottle and hatched it back, taking big gulps, “Pahh...”

  “I gotta say, even though it was only a five, I was able to buy some good booze...” he said, “And I thank you for that...”

  So that’s what he was drinking...

  “W-wait...” the pieces started coming together, “T-that... was you?!”

  “Yesss...” he exasperated, “I’m assuming it’s coming back to you?”

  I could only help but nod to his question. This man... Says he’s a divine being... Some sort of God-like figure...

  Is this guy off his meds? Total schizo here...

  “HEY!” he yelled, “I am NOT a schizo!”

  I looked around confused, “Huh, what?”

  “I heard that... You don’t have to lie.” he said, “I’m Znryiku, the divine being of conscience and rebirth... Meaning, I can read minds...”

  “W-well... sorry about that... Mister Znryiku...” I apologized.

  “Hmm... I don’t like that. I think I’ll allow you to drop the mister.”

  My brain was steadily catching up to what he was saying. Then it clicked, “W-wait, Znryiku... are you telling me I’m here so you can reincarnate me or something?”

  “Ay, you’re starting to catch on... Quick learner, I like it...”

  After some thought, I instantly went pale.

  “Hold on, hold on... Does that mean I’m dead...?”

  Znryiku shrugged his shoulders and started bobbing his head, “Well... Ehh...” he said in the process of thinking, “It depends on how you look at it. Technically, yes you are dead... Physically at least. But on the rare occasions I’m actually able to do my job, some people see this as some sort of afterlife...” he expined, “Or just some inter-dimensional pin, just like what you thought back when you awoke...”

  He was able to read my mind all that time ago?

  He nodded. I was getting kinda annoyed, “Okay, can you stop doing that?!”

  “Hmm... But it’s so funnn...”

  This guy’s acting like a child...

  “Hey, don’t call me that... Or you might make me change my mind about you. But yeah fine, I guess I can stop...”

  “Thank you...” I said before looking around and taking a deep breath, “Sooo... What happened with everyone back on Earth. Like Laura, and my mom?”

  He paused for a moment and clicked his tongue before stating, “Well... By divine w, I’m not allowed to tell you what happened with your old world and what happened to the people on it...”

  “Oh, okay... But do you still know what happened to them?”

  “Yes...”

  “Well... Is it good or bad?”

  He shrugged his shoulders again, “Can’t tell you...”

  “Okay, okay... If you can’t tell me, I’ll have no choice but to figure it out myself.”

  “I mean you can try... I’ll still keep your memories intact while I rebirth you, or at least the memories that haven’t been torn into shreds while you traveled here. But it’ll be hard figuring out what happened with the people on your old world.”

  “Wait, I thought you said you can’t reconnect past memories of your targets?”

  “You would be correct... I’m able to pass memories through dimensions, but not look inside them.” he expined, “I know... Kind of stupid, am I right.”

  “Alright, alright... Let’s just get this over with.” I asked, “What’s going to be inside this new world... Or can you not tell me that, either.”

  “I can’t tell you what happened to your old world because it may affect the way you lead your new life, but I’ll indeed tell you about the world I’m going to rebirth you in.” he said.

  The man hopped up on his feet, looked up, and closed his eyes, “Hold on.” he said, “I’m kind of forgetful sometimes so let me think...” he put his fingers against his head and started making meditation noises, “hmm... ooh, I got it! This world... It will have magic!”

  “I know people back on your world gawk at that stuff all the time, so I know you’ll be excited! Also, there will be monsters! Pretty scary if you ask me...” he said, “Oh wait, hold on, I’m losing it...” he went silent for a few moments.

  “Wait, yes, yes! There will also be dungeons... Though in this world, they call them bridges for some odd reason. Don’t ask me why because I got no idea!”

  “Alright I’m starting to forget most of the details... Oh oh, wait! Oh yes! There will also be royalty! At least in the area I’m taking you to...”

  “Anyways... I think you’re starting to get the picture...”

  “Umm... yeah...”

  Too much for my brain to handle...

  “Umm… does the process hurt or anything?” I asked.

  “You may feel a little sting but nothing too serious.”

  “Okay, that’s good to know.”

  “Oh, and you’ll be reincarnated as an infant… This isn’t some anime where you get reborn as a five-year-old or something… You’re basically starting from scratch.”

  “Thanks for letting me know…”

  Come on just get this over with…

  “Alright that’s my bad for taking so long… Would you like the blessings from the other divine beings before I begin the rebirth?”

  “Sure…?”

  “Alright give me a minute.”

  Hurry it up already.

  “Yes, yes, this’ll only take a few seconds…” he started humming again and after a few seconds he said, “You are now ready… If you have any questions, just think really hard about talking to me and I’ll eventually receive your thoughts.”

  “I am the divine being of conscience after all!”

  “you told me already...”

  “Oh yeah, you’re right... I kinda forgot... Anyways, safe travels...”

  He stayed still and silent for a few seconds before beginning to spout random nonsense, “Ocoma tohijun compatlia griuskal karsail sahiji humjaun waijilua leiua catrakapiae.” he leaned over and grabbed his booze to take a few big gulps before continuing, “Pahh... Iutralika prtulia jugaki…”

  Wtf is he doing?

  “There... I should stop and get this over with before I get wasted...”

  “You’re supposed to be a divine being, so what's with all the chanting?”

  “Cause I can, and it sounds cool. Now...”

  Znryiku raised his arms as high as they could go and his whole demeanor changed. He softly said, “Jeska rupture...”

  “...”

  “OH CRAP, WAIT!” he yelled, “I FORGOT, YOU HAVE TO FINISH MY BOOZE BEFORE YOU GO OR IT’LL BE AN INCOMPLETE REBIRTH!”

  “wait what?” he rushed to grab his bottle and forced it to my mouth.

  Gulp, Gulp

  “Phew! That could’ve been really bad... Sorry about that...”

  “Anyways, now you can bck out like normal, instead of me having to rupture your central nervous system.”

  I stood still, confused, but compliant.

  He waved me goodbye, and I started waving my hand back. My eyes slowly started fading and my vision was going bck. The st thing I heard Znryiku say was, “Toodaloo!”