A bitter-sweet taste filled the inside the boys mouth as he regained consciousness, not knowing what was happening.
He had a shallow breath. Amplified like a jet engine in his head. A sharp ringing continuously battered the inside of his ear.
Doing the best he could, in a slow and shaky manner his eyes opened to a blurry scene. A puddle of blood the color of scarlet seemed to form around the floor.
He could tell his body was sprawled across the cold road. It wasn't the most comfortable position to be in.
'F*ck, I'm... dying?!' he thought in disbelief.
No one would ever wake up in the morning thinking they would end up getting run over but somehow it didn't surprise the teen.
Remembering now how he even got into the situation, he couldn't help but feel the bitter taste in his mouth grow.
Just another freak car accident.
How ironic.
He had been crossing the cold winter streets when a loud honking abruptly startled the area.
When he turned to look, he found himself face to face with a large semi truck hurling toward his direction
It had been caught on a slippery area of black ice and wasn't able to break in time and boom.
Some people believed he did a few flips in the air before landing limp on the road. If it were a game the truck driver would have a new record.
In a sudden shift, sadness, shivering and stiff, came over his body like it was being pumped with water. Strangely enough this sadness only left a creeping smile on his face.
If you were to meet eye to eye with him at that moment you would have thought he'd gone crazy.
The constant ringing and blurriness cleared up in the boys head leaving the blaring sirens of a nearby ambulance. The murmurs and gasps were the only things his head could wrap around.
It felt as if he was put on a grotesque display for everyone to exhibit.
Doing his best to stay awake, he found that he was unable to move. Paralyzed would be a better word for it. It was kind of dumb of him to think any part would possibly be able to move.
Slowly the fear began to creep up quicker again only knowing very well that death was soon approaching. Not fast and not slow either, but enough to cause a slight insanity to coil around his heart.
As if the gods resonated with his feelings of fear, he heard a familiar voice loudly call his name.
"Xen! XEN!"
An old man appeared in front of him, landing against the ground, tears filled in his eyes.
It was a very familiar face but he wished so badly that this person didn't see him in this state. It was old man Eichi, although not related by blood Eichi was his legal guardian.
Even if they weren't related he was the closest person Xen had to call family after his parents passed.
Along with him were some men in professional clothing, paramedics.
'Old man.. why are you here?' he thought.
After everything he's done for Xen, he was completely indebted to him by choice yet here he was limp and basically dead.
"Stay with me Xen, an ambulance is here," the old man said.
Eichi did his best to try and comfort him, but his hand and voice were shaking as he touched Xen's face.
As if on queue, he was quickly and safely hoisted up onto a stretcher, and rolled into an ambulance. A loud silence filled the truck as Xen's senses began to get weaker, the old man jumped on as one of the paramedics closed the door and the truck began to move.
Once again, the old man started to comfort Xen as the paramedics worked to keep him alive. The back fo the ambulance was filled with sounds of controlled chaos.
Xen gladly accepted Eichi's comfort only knowing very well he was too far gone to be saved. Nothing could possibly be done. The injuries would be too severe to treat, he could feel it in his guts... literally.
Only now did Xen wonder how long he laid on the road before waking up. Trying his best to preserve his energy he gave a weak glance toward Eichi as he wept uncontrollably.
The old man, Iwao Eichi, had taken care of Xen after his parents had left the world and he was also his landlord. Xen could only feel sorry for Eichi as his eyes began to blur again.
Closing his tired eyes, Xen silently thanked the old man as he was put under a sedative, a sleep he fully believed he wouldn't wake up from. Doing his best not to worry too much he gathered the rest of his energy to continue breathing but that wasn't helping with anything.
In his thoughts, Xen began to go through his countless memories almost as if he were traveling back through time. It was like a specter floating through space and time.
Xen opened his eyes to the moment when he was with his parents in their car, heading towards an impending doom, an unforeseeable one. Watching as the innocent boy played with his caring parents. Laughing as his father told his corny jokes and his mother saying something back. It was a warm memory.
It didn't last very long. Within moments, the younger him raised his arm as if blocking something and pointing. Turning his ghostly body Xen looked just in time to see a car speeding towards theirs not even showing a sign of slowing down.
As the vehicles were about to collide, Xen flinched in fear only to see the memories moved toward the aftermath of the incident. He layed in his seat, unconscious. The vehicle was totaled and flipped over.
Firefighters quickly broke down the car door grabbing his child body while shouting out orders. They grabbed his parents not knowing that it was far too late for them. Like a puzzle, Xen began to remember clearly that it was reported his parents died instantly after the collision. It was over the news for a few days. "Child Left Orphaned After a Car Crash With a Suicidal Driver".
Everything became a blur, this time Xen was at the funeral of his mother and father. His parents' colleagues from when they worked as marines comforted the younger him, who bawled his eyes out clinging on to his parents' caskets asking them to come back. Xen could only stare and watch, a lump seemed to tug at his heart weighing him down.
Again, without warning his memories moved. It was at the orphanage that Xen had stayed at after his parents' death.
Their was no one. Not a single relative he could go to.
By then around 3 months had passed, he was 9 coming to terms with his parents death and in that moment his child self faced the old man, Eichi.
At the time, Xen looked up at him like a grumpy old grandpa. He towered over others and gave a strong confident atmosphere. His white hair and emotionless face made him look like he had a lot of wisdom.
Eichi reached out his hand to Xen, accepting him for who he was, willing to take care of him.
The old man had adopted Xen due to the fact was a good friend of his fathers long before he was even born, back when they lived in Japan before moving to New York.
His father was neighbors with the old man and often did favors for him. His dad drank with Eichi late at night and took care of their garden like a pseudo grandson.
Eichi had decided to move to New York after his wife had passed. It was a long life dream of their's and they had only visited New York once during their honeymoon years ago. He spread his wife's ashes at their childhood home in a rural village. Eichi left for New York soon after.
Xen had thought the old man dressed strangely with a more outdated look. He wore traditional clothing and he always told him ,"back in the days they had better taste in clothes."
Being himself, Xen humored him, often making fun of what he says. Eichi would scowl chasing the young boy off.
At first, the bond Xen had between the old man felt superficial but they slowly began to look like grandfather and grandson as time began to pass. He found himself relying on the old man and calling him gramps. When Xen needed it most he was able to trust Eichi and in turn he took care of the old man as if it was most important thing to him.
At that moment a sudden realization hit him. Who would watch over the old man once he was gone? What would happen if he doesn't make it? Why was he this unlucky?
Xen's thoughts began to become a jumbled mess when in a moment everything became a bright white color. He looked around confused.
Inspecting himself, he was in his tattered and bloody clothes, and yet, here he was standing up straight and moving perfectly fine with not a single injury.
Without a skip of a beat Xen let out a disappointed sigh.
"So this is what comes after death?" Xen questioned looking around the vast space. He had to squint thinking he would go blind just by looking around the illuminated area.
The area wasn't glowing but the bright white seemingly made it look as if it was. The place seemed hollow. Devoid of wants and desires and yet it didn't feel happy either. It gave off a solemn vibe to Xen.
Xen looked down on the floor lost in his thoughts pondering what was to come.
Surprisingly, an almost teasing chuckle resounded throughout the white domain. Slightly startled Xen fell backward wincing. He landed on the ground only to quickly get back up.
"What the fuck was that?!" Xen exclaimed as he was on full alert.
"You shouldn't overthink things kid. It makes look like a loser. And about the old man, you shouldn't worry, he'll live a good life," stated an echoing voice, "must I say, that is a good personality to have thought. Some people aren't as caring after they die."
Slightly distraught, Xen began to look around. The voice seemed disembodied as if it was coming from all angles.
"Who are you, are you god?" Xen asked, "and.. by dead.. am I actually dead?"
"Oh? Well you are surprisingly more accepting than others, I'd have expected you to at least think your dreaming."
"Well, what else can I do?" Xen said, struggling to keep his emotions in check, "yell at you and sound like a dumbass? So are you god or something? An angel? Death?"
"Mmm, a version of death I guess... also kid, you still look like a dumbass so lower your tone but yes you're in fact dead, you can also call me Rein, I'm a god of reincarnation."
As if on cue, a human figure began to slowly assemble in front of him from thin air, similar to how a wisp of smoke would appear. Xen was silenced from the strange sight.
Within moments, in front of Xen was a slightly plump average American-looking man. The man was completely dressed as if he were on a vacation to Hawaii and was honestly pretty toned. He held a wine glass in his right hand shaking his left as if saying ta-da. All the while floating in mid-air.
Xen admitted it wasn't what he would expect a god or higher being to look like. He looked at this self proclaimed god, Rein, wondering if other immortal beings are like him.
Rein landed on the floor silently, walked a few steps, then grabbed Xen's shoulder as if welcoming him to his reality.
"Let's get straight to the point, shall we? I, representing as a Caretaker, was sent by an Obysiare to reincarnate you to one of his worlds," claimed Rein as he let go of my shoulder.
"O-bis-ee-air..." Xen's voice almost seemed robotic.
"Long story short, the gods and godesses take care of their own worlds and are called Obysiare's of the worlds they own. They have other immortal beings we call Caretakers who help them out and right now I'm acting as a Caretaker to help out another god."
"Well whatever the case, why am I getting the chance to get reincarnated?" Xen asked.
Rein took a sip from his glass, "Well first off, to be honest, in the world that we are sending you to... let's just say it's very rare for reincarnations to be allowed the right to enter this world. Think of it as me implying that you play an important role to this world.. how you play that part is up to you though! We aren't ones to control the fates of others so your choices are yours.
"It should be important for me to tell you that the Obysiare or main god of this world said you can keep your memories, another thing is this world is what I would call ~up to date~... think of it like like a tree which branches out.
"That is to say it hasn't been looped, it hasn't been warped, and we aren't sending you to a past version of this world. We are sending you to the very recent reality of it. I hope you understand what this mean. There is no written future, which is why I said it is your decision how you affect this world."
Xen's ear perked up hearing about past versions of world. "Wait wait, do you mean you could send me to a past world or time if you were ordered to?"
Rein raised one of his eyebrows, "you better not be getting ideas but yes, I could... I could also do it on my own as long as I'm representing as an Obysiare for my selective worlds which I watch over. The thing is, it would make more diverging timelines of the branch I changed making more splits to the World Line, it is changing the past after all. Let's stop talking about time, I really hate the concept of it."
"I wasn't getting ideas, I think it would be best to leave the past alone, or time itself.. actually, about the old man I lived with, will he be alright in the future?" Xen asked, dead serious about getting an answer, "I need to at least know what happened after I died before you send me to wherever you want, and one more thing what do you mean by being a Caretaker?"
Rein sighed, "I'm glad you're still taking this in calmly, but kid you ask way too many quedtion. Yes, the old man will be fine in the future of your world. I won't say much but he ends up helping part time for an orphonage and took care of the children like his own. He always visited your grave every year on the day you died.
"I don't own the world your about to enter but I do own other worlds though. Being a Cartaker limits my power of what I could do in that world so there are things I can't do. I only have full control and power of worlds that I own. If that is all, we've wasted enough time, why don't we start the reincarnation process?"
Rein opened his arms wide as he asked Xen, clearly starting to lose patience.
"Well, there's not much I feel like asking at the moment," Xen said being slightly hesitant at first. He decided to comply as most of his worries have already been answered and reincarnating didn't seem all that bad.
"Great, then we can get started."
Rein quickly made a movement with his left hand as if grabbing something from the air and just like that a pen replaced his wine glass and his left hand held a yellow scroll. He opened the scroll and a glow of gold aura shattered from it like a mage casting a spell.
Xen prepared himself knowing everything he knew about reality and life was about to change.