CLANK!
The sound of a grappling hook latching onto the wood. That was not the noise anyone aboard The Starlight Chaser wanted to hear, least of all Shen, who decided to take his entire family on a joy ride with his custom airship.
Shen decided to not hire guards or put defenses on his airship, after all, it was just a joy ride, besides cannons were heavy and his airship was fast, evidently not fast enough though.
SHHHINK!
Several men in armor appeared on the deck of The Starlight Chaser and the biggest one of them bellowed "Alright boys, take everything but their lives and leave them stranded, we don't want any privateers showing up."
The last part is what worried Shen the most, The Chaser has nothing of value, there simply wasn't a reason to bring anything, but being stranded was a death sentence and he had a wife and three kids aboard.
One of the pirates shouted from the cargo hold "There's nothin' of value captain!"
When the large man who ordered the search heard this he turned to the now bound family and crew of The Starlight Chaser "Which one of you is the captain of this vessel?"
Shen answered honestly "Me"
"Where is your cargo?" The captain asked, drawing his saber.
"W-We don't have any."
"Quit trembling like a buffoon and tell me where your goodies are!" The captain pointed his blade at a crew member.
"I-I'm telling you, we don't h-have any, I was just on a joy ride." Shen hid the fact that his family is aboard.
"Is what he says true?" The captain put his saber on the chin of a female crew-mate.
"Yes," She said, obviously having more encounters with pirates than the engineer "He's trembling because he's scared of you, not because he's lying."
"Hmm..." The captain paused in thought "Boys break their propellers and push-off, let's go!"
With the pirates gone Shen congratulated his crew member and promised her a raise, if they get home because, without running propellers, they aren't going anywhere. Luckily Shen hatched up a plan. The pirates weren't completely heartless and broke a part in the propeller that is easily fixed... at a dock. The part hung off the side of the ship so if one wanted to do maintenance, one had to moor the ship or hang precariously off the side, and since there was no mooring for miles, Shen went with option two. After securing the crew, he tied a rope to the deck and around his waist, but when he descended, he heard another bad sound.
Sksk SNAP!
"DADDY!" He heard his daughters' voices as he fell, his toddler son stayed silent in blissful ignorance.
His rope whipped wildly and Shen reminisced, how many failures of his past self would he have to pay for in one day, heck, Shen failed so much in his life, he got kicked out of school for fighting, he spent years not socializing for his work, that ended up killing him anyway, there would be almost no one to attend his funeral. He rushed packing for this trip, hence the shoddy rope. he wondered what life would have been like had he hadn't made those mistakes.
Then, all of a sudden Shen was ripped from his thoughts by a sudden flash of pain, then nothing.
--------
Shen found himself in a dark room, compelled to go towards a far-off light. At first, he walked in its direction, then he jogged, then he sprinted, he noticed that he didn't get tired. After a minute or so Shen finally checked his surroundings and questioned them.
'I just died, why am I here. Is it possible that there is life after death?'
'Why can't I stop running?'
Suddenly Shen was surrounded by light, as he reached a set of open gates. He noticed many people go through them, they would invariably disappear. They were mindlessly walking towards the gate. But as fate would have it, a path opened in a different direction from the gate, and Shen was compelled to take it. A short jog later Shen arrived in a large room where four entities towered over him. The entities were speaking to each other but he could not comprehend them.
(AN: * refers to any dialogue Shen doesn't understand but you need)
*"Truth, is he truly compatible with it?"* The god known as Order asked.
*"He must be, I know it."* Truth responded
*"In that case, let's give him a short explanation and send him off"* Mercy added
*"Agreed"* all four said in unison
After a few moments of listlessness one of the large beings spoke to him in his language.
"You have been selected to be a part of Project Awakening, Rejoice! Ingen." The entity boomed.
"What is that?"
"You will be reincarnated into a world on the brink of collapse, with the express purpose of preserving it. You will not be able to do it alone, in fact not even with 100 of their finest warriors, you need to awaken the population of that world with a new type of power, one that doesn't rely on innate talent."
"Why did you call me Ingen."
"Simply because that is what your parents will name you."
"What are you?"
'We are the four... hmm this language doesn't have a word for it, no matter I shall engrave the word into your memories in your new language. That is enough questions, I will give you one more piece of advice, don't tell anyone that you reincarnated, as you will keep your relevant memories. Good Luck."
A blue light emerged from the ground with two sets of runes that forced Shen to memorize them. Somehow he knew what they meant, one said god, the other, Ingen. In an instant, Shen felt unfathomable pain as his burly man-body became that of an infant, but unable to scream, he cried. Around him he heard shouts of celebration and the sigh of a tired mother, when he opened his eyes he saw a pair of women, his mother on a bed, reaching for him, and another, more elderly woman, handing him to his mother. Standing near his mother, he saw a thin figure. He also noticed how blurry his vision was, he wasn't sure whether it was because he was just born, or if he had bad eyesight. Only time will tell.
*"What are you going to name him?"*
"Ingen," his mother said smiling.