'It was dark. Too dark to see anything. Where was I? Whatever happened, for that matter?' Was Kayden's only thought.
Kayden's last memory was of a searing pain in his back, followed by a strange sensation of something writhing inside his head as if he heard a strange whisper as if some unseen force had unleashed a swarm of ghostly voices. It was then that he knew, beyond any doubt, that death had claimed him.
'But wait, if I remember all of this, it means I'm fine.'
He tried looking at his surroundings when Kayden noticed that he couldn't move his head or open his eyes.
'Wait, what? That's not right. I should be in a hospital by now, right? The doctors and nurses should be taking care of me...Is it... Is it that the bullet touched my nervous system? That's bad, really bad. But, wait, hold on, I should calm down. I should check my other body parts, like my legs and arms...uh.' Kayden's mind raced with panic as he willed his arms and legs to move, but they remained still.
A wave of terror washed over Kayden as he realized his limbs were unresponsive. His heart raced as the fear of being permanently paralyzed clawed at his mind. To make matters worse, the world around him was an endless void of darkness, a pitch-black abyss that threatened to swallow him whole.
'Was I...in a coma or something?' Kayden thought
This whole darkness thing was driving Kayden nuts. But, other than that, he was perfectly fine. Despite the disorientation and the maddening sense of confinement, Kayden couldn't deny that he felt...comfortable. It was a strange sensation, like sinking into a bed of warm, soft feathers. 'Hm-Hm' I drifted off to dreamland. I'm not sure if I actually slept or not but, the feeling was the same. Suddenly a voice rang inside my mind.
<< Master.>>
'Huh? What was that? Master?'
'What's up with that?' Kayden remembered that he had heard a voice while he was dying, and as he thought about it, he realized that the voice was not a figment of his imagination. The voice felt like it was coming from somewhere, but he couldn't locate its source. It was as if the voice was echoing through his mind, like a voice in a vast, empty chamber. The voice was robotic, devoid of emotion, and reminded him of a computer-generated voice.
'Umm...' Kayden was taken aback by the strangeness of the situation, unsure of how to react to the voice addressing him as "Master" with such an icy, detached tone.
'Yes?' Kayden replied simply.
<
'Huh? What was it talking about? Reset has been completed? What are you talking about?' Kayden asked the voice.
<
I felt my heart drop. 'Wa-what the hell?' Kayden thought to himself.
'Hey! That's pretty rude, you know!' Kayden retorted to the voice.
<
'Huh? What was it talking about? Was I never meant to live this life? Then what life was I supposed to live?' Kayden thought to himself as he felt his confusion deepen even more.
<
To Kayden, it seemed like this voice was speaking gibberish. He strained to understand, his brain struggling to keep pace with the relentless onslaught of noise, but it was like trying to catch a storm in a butterfly net. The mental effort required was enormous, so much so that it felt like he was back in high school, grappling with complex equations and arcane theories that made his head spin.
<
A flood of emotions washed over Kayden as he contemplated the sheer scale of the secrets that had been kept from him, a hidden world that existed just out of reach of his senses. But even as he struggled to make sense of it all, a deep curiosity stirred within him, a hunger to uncover the truths
'So what did you mean by reset? Does this mean you're going to rest my life because I already died, right?' With a burning desire in his heart, Kayden inquired. It was the one thing that stirred his curiosity above all else, the possibility of a second chance at life. His mind raced with images of what he could accomplish, what he could become. The voice's words rang true in his ears, echoing the sentiment of his own self-doubt. But with a chance to start anew, he envisioned a life of triumph and success, a world where failure was a foreign concept.
<
'Wait. I was supposed to be transferred to another world?' Kayden asked the voice.
<
As the words echoed in his ears, Kayden felt the ground beneath him give way. To hear that the life he had lived was nothing more than a mistake was a crushing blow, a weight that pressed down on his soul. His mind struggled to process the implications of what he had just heard, the bitter taste of regret and disappointment lingering on his tongue.
'When will I get reincarnated then?' Kayden then asked the voice.
<
'Huh? Have I already been reincarnated? Then why is it so dark, and why can't I move my limbs?' Kayden asked, very puzzled by the fact that he couldn't see or move.
<< Master has been taken back 29 years. That was before Master was born. That means you are currently an unborn baby.>>
Kayden's mind ground to a halt, a sudden jolt that left him reeling. The implications of the voice's words were staggering. He imagined himself adrift in a dark, amniotic sea, the steady thump of his mother's heartbeat like a distant drum. He tried to wrap his mind around the idea of being reborn, of emerging from the womb but shivered upon thinking about it.
'So when will I be born?' Kayden hesitantly asks.
<
The voice gave a simple answer. Kayden then began imagining himself trapped in a void for a whole mouth. The absence of light and sound would take a toll on his mind.
<
Upon hearing this, Kayden lit up with joy. Happy that he wasn't going to spend a whole mouth in a dark, cramped space.
Although he was a bit curious about how it was going to put him to sleep, he didn't question it and let it do its thing.