"Mr.Pope, we are ready to depart." a voice sounded from behind him.
"I'll be right there Joshua!" the young man replied.
Standing in front of his full body mirror, this British 27-year-old, with short blonde hair and a well-shaped body, was fixing his tie. His dark blue eyes were shining from the apparent excitement. Wearing a black suit and a red tie, his standing was equally worthy of his name, Drake Pope.
Drake was the heir of the Pope Enterprises, the second largest weapon manufacturer in the world. He was getting ready for his Christmas vacations on their winter house located in Forest on Dean, England.
This was also the reason for his excitement. After spending the last three months solely focused on the family companies, he could spend the rest three weeks doing his most beloved activity, hunting.
Ever since he was young, he was being homeschooled to receive the proper education to inherit the companies. Due to that, his only entertainment was following his father for his hunting trips. At first, he was hesitant, but after the first few trips, he realised that he was getting addicted to the thrill. He was enjoying every moment during the hunt, the preparation, the stalking and of course the best part for him, the moment before he pulls the trigger. That specific moment he was feeling like he was holding life and death in his hands. He just couldn't get over that feeling.
Shaking himself out of reminiscence, he took one last good look at himself and rushed out of the house so they can finally leave.
His house was situated in the middle of London; it was one of these renaissance built homes, painted in white with the only contrast being the windows and the heavy black wooden door. It was passed down from generation to generation, so his grandfather had decided to sculpt the initials of their name right above the door. Now everybody knew that this was the Pope residence.
As soon as he left the house, he could see Joshua, the family driver, wearing his distinctive black uniform with the family emblem on the left side of his chest and the white gloves, opening the door of the Rolls Royce for him to enter. Without hesitation, he got in and sat in the beige leather seats. He faintly checked the black bag to his left which had his favourite hunting gun and then turns his eyes outside while his mind started wandering and imagining the upcoming hunt.
Time passes quite fast when your mind is absent and soon 2 hours have passed. The destination was only half an hour drive more. Drake was already bored, so he took out his gun from the bag and started caressing it gently. This gun was his best friend; it was a gift from his father for his eighteenth birthday.
Suddenly he heard tires screeching, so he immediately lifted his head to look. An incoming truck had lost control, and it was heading straight at them. Drake looked around and instantly realised that there was no time for either the truck or the car to stop and there was neither enough space to avoid it. So he immediately braced for the crash. The impact, however, was stronger than he imagined and the only thing he felt was a huge tremor passing through his body.
"Well aren't you an unexpected guest." a voice sounded in his mind.
He opens his eyes and in front of him is a beautiful girl in a white dress staring mockingly at him. She had long black hair and matching colour eyes. Her thick red lips were perfectly shaped. Drake met many models in his life, but her beauty could only be described as divine.
'Gorgeous.' was his only thought.
"I am the goddess of life and balance, Delia, and I am in charge of your planet. I can see that you spent your whole life being a hunter and living off your father's fortune. Unfortunately for you to take a life, you have to offer an equivalent exchange. You took a hundred lives from other creatures, so you have to pay me a hundred lives as well. You will be reincarnated as the animals you killed until you fill your quota. Of course, it won't be that simple. You will live experiences similar to them. You will be hunted by more powerful beings constantly. Any questions?"
"So according to what you said, everyone who takes a life is supposed to die once afterwards? And what happens after I'm done with the payment as you called it?" Drake asked.
"Interesting, even though you are apparently afraid of what I've said you kept your cool and asked me an important question. I do not see that often. As a reward as soon as you are done with your life payment to me, I will reincarnate you as a follower of mine destined to have a high position. Your status will be similar to your previous life. However, the world you will arrive will be a cultivation world. I understand that you know what this means.
As for your first question, that is only the case for beings that kill others for sport and enjoyment as you did. You destroy the balance that I created, and you think you can get away with it without consequences. Therefore I will be punishing you." the goddess Delia answered him while giggling.
"So you do not care about the lives lost, but all you care about is getting revenge on people that destroy your balance? How is that fair?" Drake replied while feeling his anger rising.
"I never said it is fair, but you do not have a choice in this matter." Delia laughed.
"So in order to teach you some manners, I take back the reward I promised you. We will leave it up to luck after you are done with your punishment. Now, this has taken more time than I can afford to waste with you. Let us see how you will feel since the hunter will become the hunted." said Delia. At the same time, she waved her hand making Drake instantly disappear.
'Now then, I just have to record his whereabouts to the punishment talisman,' thought Delia. She immediately summoned a strange looking papyrus which seemed to be thousands of years old and started unrolling it.
"Oh, this is full... Did I already punish so many beings? Now I have to go and ask from that annoying guy for some more talismans. But he will charge me so much... Tsk, I guess I'll just add that human to the thousand lives punishment talisman. I didn't like him anyways." murmured Delia summoning the second papyrus and writing the details of Drake Pope.
Then she vanished.