Pain.
This was the only word that Heath could describe his current state. Endless amount of pain was currently surging through his body, yet he could not see nor feel anything. He knew he was in an unconscious state, just a step away from death.
(It seems that this is the end of the line for me. I was hoping to live for a few more years even if this isn't my former world. seems that wish is nothing but a sham.)
(The pain is killing me. Maybe... it's better if I simply go to sleep... then the pain might go away...)
(No. Wait. This isn't like me to simply give up.)
Heath's mind flashed to the time before he was shot. He saw his friends, his teachers. His parents and neighbors. Most of all, he saw his childhood friend, Evelyn...
(What is my goal?)
(Goal? Do I even have one?)
(Then, I'll make one.)
(This is a whole new world, new ideas, new people, new cultures. I am not simply just giving up and dying here!)
(Fate can mess with me as much as it wants. I will survive to explore this new world. I will survive and grow more powerful to defend myself against these dangers.)
(I'll find out where this place is and find my place here. And if there is a chance... I'd like to see Evelyn again and fulfill on that promise I made with her.)
(I will live!)
Heath pushed himself forward. He wasn't someone to give up so easily. While he seemed like the average high school student, he possessed willpower far above the average high school teenager, no, average person.
A jolt of pain erupted through his body during Heath's attempt to awaken. His nerves were suddenly struck with lightning and began to start up. This jolt of pain helped push Heath all the way through and awakened him from his unconscious state.
Heath could now begin to gain sensation with his body. He could still only see darkness. With all the strength he could muster, he began separating his eyelids... and succeeded. With his eyes open wide, Heath began to take in his surroundings.
Heath could see the fog and the barren, muddy ground. This indicated that he was still present in the wasteland. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a pile of bones, the remains of the ferocious skeleton bear. And in front of him... was flames?
A fire?!
Dark red flames were dancing in front of him, crackling and emitting a faint light that shone through a small area. Heath wanted to immediately go as far away from the flames as possible until he realized that flames were blazing on his body as well, leaping from his clothes to his skin and to his hair.
"AH!!!" Heath screamed. He instinctively raised his right hand to bat away the flames only to feel an excruciating amount of pain.
"ARGH!" Heath immediately dropped his arm.
(Right, my arms are all slashed up. Damn it! Am I going to be burnt to death right after I was killed by a gunshot and nearly killed by a skeleton bear?!)
(But the fire doesn't seem to be hot at all...)
Heat brought up his right hand to his face for a closer look. The initial sight of flames had startled Heath. But now, Heath guessed that these flames were relatively harmless to him. He could not feel scorching heat from the fire burning his body nor could he see any signs of burns on his skin.
Whatever the fire was, he wasn't going to be incinerated into ash.
Putting aside him being on fire, Hearth began to notice another irregularity.
His left eye. It was normal that he could see his surroundings with his right eye, but his left eye was slashed up. Or it was supposed to be. Heath immediately shifted his attention to his vision in his left eye.
Instead of seeing his surroundings, the sight that beheld in his left eye was a single flame burning in a sea of darkness.
The flame suddenly flared up. It began burning brighter and brighter, to the point in which Heath was considering to close his left eye. Then, a sound reverberated out from inside the flame.
"You. Human. Wretched creature."
Intrigued, Heath closely examined this sight. A talking flame? He immediately began regaining his composure. Who knew what he would experience in this unknown world. However, seeing that this flame apparently has some sort of conscious, he aimed to gain as much information from it as possible.
"What are you?" he asked.
"I am that very flame that you imploded, the very soul that animated the iron solid bones piled before you! I am a creation of fire and darkness! Tremble before my great existence!"
Heath recalled the skeletal bear's chest. He indeed threw the stone at the dark flame in between the rib cages of the bear and upon impact, the flame exploded outwards. So, the flame was intelligent? Furthermore, it was controlling the skeleton? Heath closely looked at the fire burning before him.
"Human, what are you doing?" The fire flared up, apparently dissatisfied without receiving any response from Heath. "Are you shocked to death, perhaps? Are you regretting your past decision in trying to kill me? HA! Prostrate yourself before me and plead for your life before I kill you and take over your body!"
"..."
"WHY ARE YOU NOT RESPONDING?"
Heath looked at the blazing flames with a face of annoyance. "Sorry, but if you can kill me, why am I still alive? Do you just want to have a chat before you kill me?"
"You... I'll incinerate you! You shall be incinerated to nothing but ashes in the wind! Begone, mortal!"
A few seconds past. Those seconds turned to minutes. Heath had no change of expression outwardly, but inside he was shaking his head with vexation. He was 99% sure that the voice was simply bluffing. He saw the flames on his body as soon as he awakened and if they were connected to the fire he is seeing in his left eye, that means the fire was trying to kill him before or when he regained consciousness. Talking to him was a way to buy time, but for what purpose?
"...Impossible. No, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
The voice seemed to be imposing, but Heath could now hear traces of flustering.
"I've searched this body countless times! How is there no elemental energy at all?! That's unprecedented! All humans have elemental energy!"
Elemental energy? Heath's face changed. "Elemental energy? Is that like mana?" Heath asked.
"Mana? What mana?! Are you half-race? Disabled with a disease? No... a curse?"
"Eh..." Despite Heath's mind being able to process information at a fast rate, he couldn't quite keep up with what the voice was saying.
"No, no! This won't do! I can't take over a body that can't even absorb elemental energy, much less utilize it! Nor can I kill the human right now without extra elemental energy to erase his conscious and take over his body!"
Erase his conscious and take over his body? So that's what it has been trying to do all this time? Heath immediately exerted pressure with his mind on the fire.
"What are you- Don't you dare, human!" screamed the flame. "Do you think I'll be so easily killed with simple pressure against you're mind? I'll soon shatter that mind and willpower of yours as soon as I absorbed enough elemental energy from the air! I'll-"
"Since you really wanted to kill me, I'll simply repay the favor," sneered Heath. "I'll erase your conscious instead!"
"Hmph! Don't be so conceited, human scum! Your body is injured and your mind can barely suppress your pain! Soul flames of the undead are also not easily extinguished! The undead is feared by all! Even great adventurers and heroes tremble before us! Do you think a weakling like you could-"
Immense pressure suddenly came above an shook the dark flame. The base of the flame began to slowly dissipate into the air, leaving nothing but empty space as if it wasn't there before.
"BRAZEN! Do you think your mind is enough to erase me?! I-"
The dissipating process sped up all of a sudden, leaving only a single spark left. Heath could only hear the word, "impossible," before that spark finally vanished into the air.
While what the fire said was true, Heath's mental strength was truly iron-strong. Immediately after the gun was pointed at Evelyn, Heath rushed to take the bullet instead without hesitation, not fearing the slightest of death. With that resolution, Heath could temporarily set aside his pain, and even the flame's conscious was erased by Heath's mind.
The vision in his left eye slowly returned back to normal as it matched what he saw through his right eye. Heath gently touched his left eye, feeling for any damage. To his surprise, his left eye was completely healed, simply a little hot to touch. Heath looked down at his body and was astonished. The blood around him receded back into various open wounds and the fire burning on his body was vanishing while flesh and skin grew on the slash marks, closing the wounds from the undead bear.
"Truly marvelous. I didn't expect I would have such an ability from the soul flame," Heath chuckled.
Heath didn't get up from his position and stretched his muscles instead. Upon seeing that his movement wasn't stiff, he sprang back up his feet.
"My body is perfectly fine now. It was as if I was reborn through flames! No more wounds, no pain, and even no scars. I am in the best condition that I could be. But I still don't have the strength to fight another one of those monsters. If I happen to meet another undead bear, I'd definitely die," mutter Heath.
Heath compiled a list of things he needed to do. First, he had to find a way to immediately defend himself. Even if it was a primitive weapon, it was better than fighting with his fists as seen in his fight against the undead bear.
Second, he needed to get as much information about this world as possible. Humans, books, even if it was intelligent hostile existences like the soul flame of the undead bear could provide some bits of information about this world would satisfy Heath. He was especially curious about "elemental energy." It might be similar to something like mana, energy that could allow him to perform magic.
Third, get stronger. After fighting against the undead bear and suppressing the soul flame, he needed to get stronger to fight against these hostile creatures or else he would die at some point.
Heath was so deep in thought that he nearly missed the blinking white square in the right upper corner of his field of vision.
"Hm? What this?"
Heath tried touching the white square that was blinking but nothing occurred. The white square was still blinking, causing Heath to inspect the mysterious square. If physical contact wouldn't work...
Heath tried using his mind to "tap" the square instead. The white square expanded in front of him into a large semi-transparent screen with a list of words written on it. Upon looking at it, Heath revealed a surprised expression.