When I opened my eyes, all I see right in front of me was a vast area of complete whiteness. With no indication of any form of wall or corners in sight, the endless white space felt bizarre to me.
I noticed that I was in a sitting position, wearing nothing on my body. As I tried to get up, I noticed the surface that I was sitting on felt unusual. It wasn't cold nor was it warm, all I felt was a sense of…..emptiness.
I began looking around if there was anything in the area but…nothing, just a vast empty white space. With how nothing was seen in miles, I started to feel a bit panicky.
"Calm down, the last thing I did was…" I say to myself as I try to rationalize the situation. I thought back to what I last did. Slowly and surely I remembered a few events.
The first thing I remembered was that I was sitting in my room, reading something on my phone. The next thing that happened was…shaking….explosions…screams…and my roof collapsing. The only conclusion I came up to was…
"I'm dead?"
The thought of death came rushing to my head and a felt of shock came to me.
Who knew death would be so empty. The complete opposite of what I thought, which was being reincarnated. Buddhism.
"Well, your not wrong."
All of a sudden a voice came to me, someone else was here.
I tried looking around but saw nobody.
"Hello?!" I shouted across the vast white plane of nothingness.
"I'm right here, no need to shout." said the voice.
"Where?"
"Here."
I turned around and to my surprise, there he was. Standing with nothing but a hollow, and transparent body of a man.
At first I squinted my eyes to make up what he looked like but all I see was a faceless form and the feeling of wanting to come closer to him came to me, as if being lured by someone who you felt would be reliable at this sort of situation.
I walk to his direction and as I got closer to him, the feeling of tension around him became more heavy, as if I was being pushed away by a gravitational force, at my limit I was about three meters away from him.
"What are you?" I asked him.
".…"
He didn't say anything.
"...Uh…Where am I?" I asked a different question this time. And this time he answered.
"hmm."
"What?"
"Hmmmmmmmmmmnnnnndddddttttttthe after life!"
"Eh?"
He sounded more cheery as he said the word afterlife, like one of those UFC announcers at the start of a match.
"Well now, lets see what we have here."
He conjures up a book out of nowhere in his hands and begins to look through it contents.
"Hmm, I see. you've lived a life…I guess. A typical mundane life, from childhood, to teenage years and to the age of 25. not very exciting…very mundane…very, very mundane. You haven't even got into a relationship yet! (sigh)."
He sounded disappointed.
I felt embarrassed as he summarizes the progression of my entire life from start to finish, the last bit he said felt a bit rude but granted, I never made any attempts to get into a relationship. So I just sat there as he continued on reading the bits of my life, for hours he read through the life I've lived in. As I listened to him tell my life-story, I notice that I felt a since of emptiness in my heart. And all I could think of was the unwavering truth, I was a Boring Guy.
I didn't blame the man for thinking my life sucks, in truth I agree with him. The world…the place I used to lived, nothing of it seemed entertaining. It was never one of those fantasy themed worlds where Dragons, Elves and Magic seem to take place in, not what novels tend to bring to the table.
"Hmm, the only thing interesting here is this Story you have. Not your real life story but this novel you read. Oh, I'm impressed. You've been reading this since your High School days, very interesting. 'The Mystic Royal life'. "
Oh that story. 'The Mystic Royal life' a story packed with Adventures, Magic, Romance…all sorts of genres that weren't part of my life. It was the only thing I remembered since its first volume, tell its last publication… It was story I couldn't forget, a story I felt more inclined to remember than my own day to day life. Even at my death, that was the last thing I did. Reading the entire series of 'The Mystic Royal life' for the Fifth time was my only justification of not living my own life. The story didn't felt bland as I read to the Series over and over again, in fact as I re-read through the series, I always felt more inclined to read it again. It feels weird but remembering that story always warms my heart, even right now in this vast white space.
"hmm, I see."
"??"
"The Mystic Royal Life is a very fascinating book, even for my standards." Said the faceless man.
He closes the book and looks at me. I couldn't tell what he was thinking of right now or what face he was making since I couldn't see his expressions but I was sure ready to take in anything he gives me, whether it be a vast empty life or a reincarnation of a stag beetle…I'm ready to accept it.
"Now, tell me. What do you think is the reason for all of this."
"What?" he asked a question out of nowhere and was waiting for my reply.
"The way I tell your life, and the way you responded with that reaction of yours, tells me your not satisfied with your life….Am I wrong?"
".….." I looked at him knowing full well that I agree with him, but a part of me disagrees with him. A part of me that experienced reading my favorite book of all time, telling me that I didn't feel regretful reading The Mystic Royal life for the rest of my days. It was my only salvation from boredom.
Reading the Mystic Royal life was the only thing I found memorable. The only thing I find worth doing again if given the chance. So if I said I felt regretful during my whole lifetime, It would also admit that I regretted my time reading the Mystic Royal life.
"No….I'm satisfied with my life." I said.
"I see. Well, looks like its decided then."
He opens the book again but this time he writes something down. After writing it down, the book starts to fade away, my body starts to Glow, and bits of it began to fade away. I readied myself, not knowing whats to come.
At the end of it all, he never introduced himself, whether he was a God or an Angel, he never said those things. It made me curious as to what he wrote, maybe it was my next destination in life or better yet a conclusion to it. All I felt was a sense of bliss as I faded away.
"Welp, Stag-Beetle life here I come."