Riza looked at the creature in front of her. It had red menacing eyes, unkempt brown hair, and a pale skin. She was wondering why the grand priest of the Southern Earth tribe would go to this extent. Summoning something like this, just for pranks, was completely ridiculous. As she considered all the scenarios, she came to one conclusion.
There was a reason as to why Riza was almost made a commander, despite being a girl. In society, girls were expected to get married and bear children. However, Riza decided that getting married was for losers. Of course, that wasn't the reason she almost became an army commander. The reason was that she was decisive when it came to combat.
So, what was the conclusion she had come to? She wanted to take the creature with her to the Southern Water tribe! Why? Wouldn't it be a hilarious prank, if she could show up at Lord Saedis's house with an undead creature as evidence? Imagine Lord Saedis asking her what she learnt from the investigation, and then she tells him everything. After the presentation, she gives him the zombie as a gift. That would be hilarious right? Well, to her it sounded hilarious!
One might ask, for someone so decisive, why were they wasting time thinking? Well, from the time she threatened to tie up the creature until now, only a few seconds had passed. She withdrew her daggers into her skirt. Don't ask why she kept them there, because the answer might be obvious.
Suddenly, without warning, she dashed towards the creature! Her mentor back at the academy had taught her that surprise was the best ally she could ever have. He had also taught her that she should always aim for the head! With these two thoughts in mind, she dashed towards the creature! Her intention was to catch the creature unaware, and then strike at his head! She believed that she could knock it unconscious with a strike at the back of the head.
However, something quite weird happened. As she arrived in front of it, the creature somehow dodged her strike, and then, grabbing her hand, it overturned her! She fell on her back, while the creature edged backwards. She stood up, currently confused.
"How did you do that?" she asked. She believed she had the element of surprise.
"You're probably going to laugh if I tell you", replied the creature.
"Tell me, I promise I won't laugh", she said, while smiling.
"Well … the truth is … I don't know either", replied the creature, with a bashful smile.
The sun was coming up, and the rays started piercing through the gaps in the trees. Riza frowned. She didn't expect the creature to have some sort of combat ability. When she was asking around in the tribe, she heard the women say the creature had its head cut off. And here it was, standing in front of her. Then there was the bit about the curse to the abyss, which she didn't believe of course. So, where had it learnt to fight like this?
Taking advantage of the momentary pause, she dashed towards the creature again! This time, instead of trying to knock it unconscious by striking the head, she wanted to punch it in the face! Once someone is punched in the face, there's a moment of confusion, and she planned to use the moment to knock the creature unconscious! She swung a fist towards the creature's face.
This time, the creature dodged by leaning forward. Her fist hit empty air, while a punch connected to her stomach! As she drew backwards, a powerful kick hit her on the chin, causing her to fall down! When she got up, she felt dizzy. She tried to analyse her situation, but then her mind was out of it. That was one heck of a powerful kick! Before she could do anything, she fell over, unconscious.
Now, fate is a very fickle thing. If a person does something to prevent a destined event from happening, something worse will happen instead. Some idiots from Reeve's world studied this phenomenon, and they came up with all sorts of names. They were some which called it the law of cause and effect. Others called it the butterfly effect. The issue was: it didn't matter what humans called it! Only the deities knew the future, and the point for this phenomenon as well.
When Reeve started dreaming about his other life, the god of death was messing around with the concept described above. As for whether the god of death knew about the consequences or not, or his intentions for that matter, it has been a debate that future generations have engaged in frequently.
In a world quite distant from the world Reeve was in currently, there was a circular portal. This portal was made of a stone-like material, and it was large enough for an elephant to cross, if elephants existed anywhere. It was surrounded by a force field. However, every time Reeve had a dream, a crack would form on this force field, and then it would widen slowly.
The world which contained the portal was completely barren. As far as the eye could see, the world was covered in sand. There were also ruins, and no sign of life. That was if you discounted giants walking around the plains. These giants appeared to be made out of rock, but they didn't have jagged edges. In fact, their tall bodies were smooth!
In one of the ruins, there was a giant which looked quite smaller than the rest. Actually, it looked different as well. It was wearing a loincloth made from what appeared to be tree leaves. Where had this giant obtained giant leaves in this barren world? No one knew. Also, it was wearing a crown made of rock. Well, the crown existed naturally on its head.
When the cracks started showing on the barrier, all the other giants ignored the portal, except for the loincloth wearing giant. It moved closer to see, and after what looked like a thorough analysis, it suddenly released a creepy smile.