"Hahn... cough!" Feeling cold breath rush into my lungs I woke up coughing blood.
"Huh... What happened?" I felt a headache and sharp pain rushing in as I tried to stand up, but, it was heavy, what was heavy?
It was suffocating and I felt breathless.
I tried to push my way through it but it was all futile, it felt as if someone threw an extra-large drenched blanket over me while I was tied up and hanged with ropes in a drooping standing posture.
As my head became clearer and clearer and I started to be more conscious and observant of my surroundings, a few details rushed to my head.
"Red and white fiber." They were the only colors I could see as far as I could turn my head. The thing encompassing me felt slimy and a faint metallic scent rushed into my nose.
I struggled while huffing in sauntering heat. My limbs were kind of tied so, it couldn't move. However, my bare back was feeling something brittle and hard like it would crumble with just a slight push.
I used my back to push through as I couldn't move forward and moving forward seemed quite futile as there was only a thick membrane of stretchable flesh.
My effort repaid me as a cracking sound akin to a shell-torn open by a baby bird resonated through my ears that seemed to have gotten blood in them, making it all sound too funny.
I broke through and felt a breeze caress my upper body releasing all the steaming heat I felt while being trapped in there.
'What was that?' I already pulled my upper body out and was proceeding further to pull my legs trapped with flesh that seemed attached to my skin, however, it wasn't so easy as the flesh seemed too stretchable. However, I succeeded anyway.
'What kind of dream is this?' A thought crossed my head and that brought another series of memories.
'I died.' Those words seemed impossible due to a certain reason. The last thing I remember is standing in a T-pose at the rooftop of a mad hospital while a huge explosion engulfed my vision.
I tried to wrap my head around things occurring.
Maybe, I survived and I was kept in some kind of weird capsule being able to save a person from his death bed.
This did not sound so strange because, in my era, people who make these kinds of things keep it generally hidden and only bring it out until it's absolutely necessary making them feel like gods among the common masses.
And I am one of those people you would kill billions to save.
Smoke ran into my nose as I was in deep thought, thus, breaking my fantasies and bringing me back to reality.
The scene in front of me convinced me that I died and was now suffering in hell.
There was something 'fiery' wherever you looked. The smoke infested the atmosphere making you feel breathless, there were black clouds covering the sky blocking every bit of sunlight if there was any beyond them, and no sign of water and life around except for hot humid moisture, blue, red, and orange flames dancing and an uncomfortably sweltering atmosphere invading the surrounding.
Thousands of scale-like structures were tiling the ground till the horizon as far as I could see like I was a bug on a giant reptile's body, it seemed quite weird to say at least like I came out breaking one of those shells and would soon see other breaking down making millions of people appear around me.
However, I soon crossed out that possibility as I noticed from the crumbling pieces from the scale I came out from was quite weak, unlike the others which seemed unbreakable even if I jumped with my whole power on them.
They are not opening at least not for now or never.
'Wait why am I here in the first place?!' A late question came to my mind as I observed my surroundings.
This is nothing like any of what the world's religion preached, of course, it was hot but there was no burning lava, God, any celestial view, magic world, fairies, angels, and no there aren't any demons around too.
I felt something painful scratching on my hands all too quickly like somebody wrote something.
'You would see them all, just survive.'
'See what?' I thought. Soon, a realization hit me.
'This wasn't there before.'
'It is too confusing.' An uncomfortable feeling of panic rose in my heart. I was bare chested with a supposed white cloth completely drenched blackish-red with blood from some unknown source in the middle of purgatory with no food or water as any basic need for survival.
My hands involuntarily moved up to my temples, 'What the hell should I do?'
'Wait for another inevitable death like I am used to it.'
'Fuck!!! I am gonna survive this shit!'
I said that and took a deep breath which in turn induced loud coughing from my lungs not used to so much smoke, soot, and pollution.
'Life was shit, death isn't any better. Sigh, this sadistic world, I would prefer an eternal sleep over this endless suffering, Sigh...'
_
'I going to survive.' I smirked helplessly.
'But, how the fuck am I going to do that?'
'In the middle of nowhere without any basic need for survival except for a loin cloth wrapped around my crotch.'
I got too excited at the second chance at life, so much that I couldn't even see the inevitable, and ended up getting up hopes only to get disappointed by that bitch of life.
And finally, here I am dying with T pose again.
I looked at the dark clouds swirling above in the sky, all while lying on the ground with thirst overcoming me for real. My chiseled face and muscles couldn't lay a fuck against this… I don't even know who am I cursing, Is this what helplessness feels like?
_
'I ain't dead yet. That's a thing to celebrate, right?' By this time my body had become all dried and sore promoting aches all over it.
I could even feel acids in my stomach, Is this the feeling of being hungry? I never felt it before, at least I don't remember, it is painful.
I could feel something heavy on my paining chest and smoke coming out of every breath.
This is a medical miracle to say or maybe it isn't, it has been nine days ever since I woke up, and I almost lost all my hopes on the second day, however, life is showing me a merciful curse, and I am not dying, how is it possible?
Has it really been nine days? No one can tell for sure without a watch or sunlight. I don't know, I just guessed it with my habit to pull out all-nighters back in my previous life.
I can no longer move my body due to weakness, but, a feeling tells me that I can go on for years to come like this and I am sure this is not a good feeling.
I have even started seeing beautiful hallucinations in this purgatory.
They were like aurora, colorful, faint, and ethereal among this never-ending smoke.
It must be because I always wanted to escape and view all the beautiful things around the world in my previous life, Aurora was at the very top of this list.
A tear streamed down my face or at least I felt that as the tear evaporated just a centimeter later it left my eyes. I didn't even know I had tears to spare with this dried body.
However, this also reminded me that I have no tears to spare if I want to survive but do I really want to survive?
A beautiful woman's face flashed across my broken memories.
How could I forget about her?
'Am I really that much of a scum to not even have a single thought about her all this time?'
'I won't live this life unless it has her.' My eyes closed with determination and a promise was made to the world.
Soon, I found myself in an ethereal state of darkness and black.
I can not move my limbs, open my eyes, talk, smell, feel, or think properly, it was also as if I was dead. I could not literally think of anything else.
My mind did not allow me to like everything is left behind. Happiness, joy, pain, sadness, desire, and of course money and property that I did not currently possess.
'So, I am finally dead again.' However, this train of thought finally broke as I felt a soft sensual but suppressed voice whispering in my ears.
'Is that a promise?'
'Huh?!'
"Who is here?!" I somewhat got into a panic. It was actually the first discernible sound I heard after all this time, hell, I did not even speak out loud to me ever since I came here.
"Is it a promise that you would live in that world if she is there?" The voice was heard again but this time it is more clear.
A weird feeling overcame me as I gulped. I answered her anyway as I wouldn't hurt myself anyway and something told my brain to answer her and I obliged.
"Yes, it is a promise."
A few moments went in silence, only a few barely audible noises of weeping were heard but I could feel that or at least guess they were tears of happiness waiting to compose themselves.
"I am glad, my lord." She said something at last with a small giggle after noticing the futility.
'Lord, huh, was it just a tease?' Those were the last thing on my mind as the feeling of heaviness overcame my head putting me to sleep again.
I am kind of getting used to it now, you know, getting unconscious.
However, life is still a bitch, If previously I died of hunger and fire, this time it feels like I am drowning.
"Grgrll?!"
I feel like crying.