Story Nex Life

[Kalin Scarlet]

So I've been writing this for the longest of times, and I think that if I keep trying to get it just right, I'll never do anything with it. So I'm going to post it here in the current messy state it's in, and I hope you like it, anyway xD

BTW, this is my first attempt at something like this, so any feedback is welcome. Thanks!

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

System Initializing in 5 minutes...

I froze, setting my phone down as I heard it. “Huh? Bryn, did you say something?” I asked, looking to my partner. She stared back, shoveling another handful of rock candy into her mouth.

“mu-uh.” She replied, chewing through them as easily as one would a potato chip. I watched her grind them into a sugary powder, wondering if I could convince her to tell me how to get teeth that strong. Instead, I looked out over the side of the roof we’d commandeered for our purposes.

It was Bryn’s idea to sneak up here. “You’ve got to come with me!” she’d said. “The view will blow your mind!”

Unfortunately, it’s almost been an hour, and my mind remained unblown. I would have settled for any part of me.

System Initializing in 3 minutes...

I looked back, wondering if there might be a p. a. system I was missing almost convinced that I’d imagined a voice in my head. I asked Bryn if she heard anything, and she chuckled. “Nope.” I frowned, but her smile only seemed to grow in response. “Hey, calm down. Look, it’s almost time!” She said, climbing to her feet as she pointed skyward. I looked up, furrowing my brow as I looked for whatever she was trying to show me. “Bryn, what’s supposed to be going on? A meteor shower or something?”

“No, nothing that boring…” My friend replied, stretching in a manner that stressed her assets in a manner I wasn’t entirely sure wasn’t on purpose. I turned away just enough to keep her figure out of my line of sight. Not that I wasn’t interested in the view, but she was a friend, and I wasn’t about to let my horn dog hormones make. things awkward. Unhelpfully, my doubts grew Bryn’s chuckle lowered into a growl that didn’t quite suit her, in response to my action.

System Initializing in 2 minutes…

“Well, it’s been kinda fun around here, but I think it’s time we started to play, for real,” she said, her eyes lidded as she approached.

Her actions were both clear and utterly baffling, and I backed away in response. “H-huh, Bryn? What are you talk-”

Suddenly, the world went silent. I froze, as a massive wave of force crashed down on me. Falling to my knees, I cried out the strain my body was suddenly under feeling more painful than anything I’d ever felt before.. All around me; I heard the crunch of metal struggling to maintain its shape under the pressure. The sky turned a dull, bloody red, and the ground started to shake, and it felt like everything was spinning… and then, as suddenly as it had begun, the force blinked out. I stumbled forwards, scrambling for purchase, only to collapse on my ass, groaning. I realized after a moment that the shaking had stopped. I also realized that now I was in the middle of the street. I scrambled to my feet in surprise, looking up to see the roof I’d previously occupied right where I’d left it. No sign of Bryn, though. That’s when the screaming started.

“Help! Get off! Help me! No!” I turned towards the voice, my eyes going wide in horror as I watched a pair of imps tear into a woman. The creatures’ height barely reached her knee, making it a simple task for them to crawl all over her body. Their claws dug into her body repeatedly, leaving long gashes. Every attempt the woman made to free herself only caused the wounds to bleed even more.

“Help me! Help me, plea-”

The woman’s pleas ceased, as a ball of flames collided with her face. For a moment, I could still hear faint pleas trying to reach the surface, muffled by the dark flames.

I finally looked away as a third imp that appeared, dancing in plain celebration, a ball of fire bouncing in its palm. Before the monsters could turn their attention to me, I sprinted around the next corner, and another further down the block. I ran on and on, only catching glimpses of what was happening around me as I did. A car’s windows being smashed in by a large, green, boar-toothed creature; another group of imps chasing down a young couple, a school bus being devoured from the inside out by flames…

“What the hell is happening?” I thought as I finally came to a stop. I couldn’t tell where I’d ended up, but I guessed I must have run a few miles I’d nearly collapsed, dripping with sweat. But that was the least important matter.

Monsters were running around, killing people. Actual monsters, like the kinds in the video games I played, or the fantasy novels I liked to read. This was real, though... So real and so very shitty.

I did not understand where all of this was coming from. Nothing made sense. It was all a complete nightmare, and I couldn’t even consider what to do about it.

Swallowing hard, pushing down the urge to vomit, I stood up straight and brought my breathing back under control. I felt a swell of determination building inside of me as I looked up at the crimson skies the ground shaking beneath me. Whatever was going on with the world, the answers had to be out there somewhere. Someone had to know who was responsible for this and hopefully knew how to fix it all.

I clenched a fist. Wherever those answers lay in this place, I decided I would be the one to find them. It wouldn’t be easy, by any stretch of the imagination. But I needed to know why the world had become this way. And until then...

The rumbling behind me grew, and I turned around. I couldn’t see anything, strangely enough. Nothing besides a large black void, lined with hundreds of teeth, that is. I wanted to scream, or run, or pray, in the hope some greater power would protect me, as the creature’s mouth enveloped me. However, as the instant of being eaten by a mouth with legs stretched into an eternity, I settled for choosing my last words.

“Oh.” was all I could manage, though. There was a crunching sound, and then nothing at all.

---

System Initialization Complete.

Initialization Error.

Error, Anomalous Client Termination.

Contact Senior Administrator.

Logging Erro-

Log Command Overwritten.

Reconstituting Client…

----

Wh... where am I…?

Suddenly, light flooded my sight once again. For a moment, I couldn’t see or hear a thing–but as everything came into focus, I realized that wherever I was, most of the space was stark white.

“This is not good... Okay. What to do, what to do…”

Except for the young woman standing in front of me. At first glance, she didn’t look much older than me, maybe 19 or 20 years old. In a word, she was beautiful. Hot, even. Exceptionally so, with bright red hair that contrasted her pale gray eyes. She dressed in clothes that didn’t work to stress her figure. Not that they worked against it, either. The clothes were in a style I didn’t recognize, although I rarely paid much attention to the latest trends to begin with. The girl stood on what appeared to be a blue platform, covered in strange patterns I couldn’t recognize.

I tried to speak, wondering where I had ended up after, but soon realized that I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t feel my limbs, or take a breath, or look anywhere but directly forward.

“Don’t bother kid, you’re dead. You don’t have a body to move. You got to be a happy monster’s meal, like everyone else. Just... not the right one.”

I knew that I would have felt... something, if I’d heard that under normal circumstances. I didn’t have much of a reaction to it at all.

“Damn it! The first day, and already something happens? You’ve got to be kidding. I’ve seen nothing like this happen before. What kind of luck must I have… I can’t believe it!”

The young woman sighed, waving at me or in my general direction, at least- while tapping her fist against her forehead. She let out a long, exaggerated breath before turning towards me fully.

“I think the best option would be to dump you back into the system and let it sort you out. Ugh, but I doubt the higher ups would just accept that... and there’s still that monster… what to do, what to do...”

The girl stared intensely at me, the lights of her dull gray eyes growing brighter while examining me...or the parts of me remaining in this place. My soul, I guess?

“Maybe I can do something else for you, here… and you can help me, in return.”

The girl reached a hand out, and a sphere appeared in her grasp. Hints of golden and orange and red light peeked through its transparent surface. I stared into the sphere, in awe at its beauty.

“I’ve got a deal for you. I never meant for the thing that killed you to be there. By all rights, it shouldn’t have been possible. And yet, there it was. And here you are. I should erase all you are and scattered to the winds, but perhaps you can give me a life for your own. And before you worry, no, I’m not suggesting you kill some innocent.”

I hadn’t considered that, but I said nothing, seeing as I couldn’t. The woman’s eye twitched slightly as that thought crossed my mind, and I stopped thinking for the time being. “What I want you to do is simple. In one year, my superiors will visit this empty corner of the universe to assess the progress of our game. When they get here, if the monstrosity that ended your life is still around, well... that won’t be good for me, you, or your planet. So I’ll let you hunt it for me. If you can find the creature and kill it before that time comes, I will allow you to keep your life. I may even reward you for the act.”

If I could have made a face at that moment, I would have. I was unsure what gave this lady the slightest sign I could do anything like what she was suggesting. I couldn’t even see the whole picture of whatever ate me, and she wanted me to go after it, and through all those other things that were suddenly showing up in the world. To say that deal was unreasonable was the understatement of my life. Or afterlife. Whatever this was.

“Oh, come on!” She yelled, pulling me out of my thoughts. “You want to keep existing? You want to know what is happening to your world, don’t you? Well, you’ll only get answers to that question if you go back out there. Now isn’t the time stress details!” she said in irritation, her tone masking the slightest hint of desperation.

I wondered how this person or... thing, knew about what I wanted. Was she a mind reader or something? I just concluded that he made a guess. Regardless, I had to admit that there were so many questions on my mind, and that this girl, whoever she was, had the answers. As things stood, it appeared I wouldn’t get the chance to ask unless I agreed to the offer. Meaning I didn’t have much choice. Just as I started to wonder how I would even accept, the sphere in her hand grew brighter. Many lights started to swirl within it wildly, and the entire object shot out of her hand and out of sight. I couldn’t see it any longer at that point, but I could still tell it was there, floating above me.

The sphere started to fill the pristine room with myriad colors. From within the sphere, I could feel something approach the surface. Something exuding radiance and power unlike anything I’d ever felt before. It was like the sun. That power flowed into me, and as more of it filled me, binding itself to my spirit, the woman smiled in response.

“Good choice. Maybe you’re worth the gamble, kid. I’m excited to see what you’ll do with that seed. I just hope you don’t die so quickly, this time!”

A virtual display appeared in front of me, and for a moment, I could move enough to look at it.

-----

Reconstitution Complete.

-----

“Welcome to Next Life.” The Administrator declared, as the lights grew until white was all that I could see, and a ringing sound deafened me. I felt a drop, and everything returned to the darkness and silence.

 

[Error 420]

It's definitely an interesting start, and a great concept. I can't say too much more about it with only this beginning, but I look forward to reading whatever else you post on here.

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Update: I've edited Chapter 1, and will post Chapter 2 within the week. Thank you, for anyone that's taken the time to read what i've done so far, and I appreciate any feedback!