Brightness and pain, then darkness and peace
The ringing in Rin's head and the hardness of the asphalt
Iron…
The taste of iron flooded over him
Rin wasn't afraid to die, if anything he yearned for it, Rin had lived 16 years and honestly didn't want another.
As his eyes weighed shut, it brought darkness
And with Darkness, serenity
This was what he sought all his years
This peace of mind.
Rin Ryoko was dead
….
But shockingly he still had thought, he was sure he had died. But he could still think, he didn't simply disappear into nothingness. He was still alive somehow, but his sense of peace stayed with him.
He had no feeling, he had no senses, but he could still think
"Where am I?"
"Am in a coma?"
His mind rampant with questions, all of which without apparent answers
He attempted to look down at himself. Nothing. He attempted to raise his hand. Nothing
Rin attempted to move, but without feeling had no clue if he was indeed moving. He kept willing himself to move, not sure of such a fact until he saw a speck of light growing nearer.
It turned out that he hadn't lost his sense of sight. He was merely in absolute darkness.
He was happy to find out that he was indeed somewhere and had somewhere to go. When Rin first arrived, he believed he was stuck. Suffering some sort of eternal hell for his life on earth.
Now as he grew closer to the light, he could make out that the light was indeed lights. There where hundreds on hundreds of orb-like lights. If he had a mouth, it would be ajar. He was in awe of the sight of such a beautiful spectacle. He was enthralled by the lights and stared deeply into them.
DING
His wonder vanished, instead he was surprised by the noise resounding in his head. Even more so by the blue holographic screen that had appeared in front of him
[Welcome to the world after death, I know you may be bewildered but please bear with it. The orbs of light you see around you are choices; these choices are possible futures for you. To view one of these choices simply stare into an orb of light and the information will appear]
Shocked by both the screen and the message Rin took a moment to gather his thoughts. After a brief pondering, he realized he could do nothing but move forward and decided to view his choices.
The first choice that piqued his interest was…
[Reincarnate on Earth]
[Choosing this choice will wipe your memories]
Seeing the last line made Rin falter and decide against it. Even though Rin didn't live a happy life, it was his life and he wanted to remember it. So, he began scanning the remaining lights.
[Reincarnate in Urde]
[Enter Rathdine]
[Vanish]
These were the initial three that caught Rin's eye, so he decided to read their descriptions.
[Reincarnate in Urde]
[You will be born again with memory of your past life]
[Urde is a world of Conquests and War]
After viewing the last two choices he realized that what ever system was guiding him was either lacking information or intentionally withholding it. He couldn't gather much about Urde and rather not suffer through war and the hardships it brought, so he looked on.
[Enter Rathdine]
[Enter the world of Rathdine with your peak physical condition]
[Rathdine is a collection of realms full of magic & martial arts]
Rin then looked onto the next and most peculiar sounding
[Vanish]
[Disappear from existence]
[No more choices or chances]
Rin decided against dying and didn't really want to go through early childhood and war. Plus during Rin's past life, he had in fact spent a large majority of it reading fantasy. So, he decided upon Rathdine. He was well aware of the fact that were infinite choices surrounding him, but Rin was simply impulsive and couldn't be bothered to scan them until he found a perfect fit.
Rin's next problem was how to choose Rathdine. He could see the continue button at the bottom of the screen but without a physical body he couldn't press it. Eventually he figured out that all he had to do was focus and think of a desired action and the system would follow it.
After choosing continue, and lastly choosing yes to confirm his choice. Rin Ryoko's adventure had officially begun.