The scariest thing about getting shot that a lot of people don't think about, is how quick it comes. A knife, you see it, you can feel it getting pulled in and out.
A shot? It's just a sound.
With ears ringing Mark looked down to find his shirt growing red.
'Why is it red? It's supposed to be green.. And there's a hole.. There shouldn't be a hole, this is a new shirt...'
The second scariest thing about getting shot, is the pain. Especially at close range. One second you're fine, then your body is on fire. Not actually, though. You feel it, and due to the sudden surge your body protects itself by going into shock..
Mark looked up at the masked man.. Only to see him crawling backwards, and the gun pointed towards himself.
"I'm so sorry Mark. I'm.. I'm so sorry." The man's distorted voice came through the darkness of the hood.
Mark took one step back, then a second... before collapsing backwards while clutching the hole in his stomach.
The masked man quickly crawled toward Mark and craddled him in his arms. An eery hate behind his actions lifting his hood.
"Mark, Mark I'm so sorry man... I just wanted the money.."
'How...How do you know my name..' He thought to himself before staring up at the figure holding him..
'Huh... Jason what are you doing here....You need to leave, there's a robber around here.' The shock taking hold of his vocal chords, only his mind could speak for him in this pain.
"I'm so sorry, Mark... Please forgive me I'm so sorry. Rachel and I just needed the money.."
'Rachel, she left...'
"We know you've had to have gotten a big bonus due to all the work you've put in... and we knew you didn't spend money on your wife or mother since they past... I didn't mean for this to happen... please.. Mark I'm so sorry forgive me.."
'I don't get a bonus...' He replied mentally through the delirious pain '...I get paid less than you guys...'
Mark just stared at Jason. He slowly raised his hand up as he could see red and blue lights in the distance. The smell of gunpowder filling his nose. The small details of dust floating in the darkness, left behind from the gun. His right hand, bloodied and trembling touched Jason's cheek... As he whispered through shaking vocal chords as loud as he could muster..
"fuuuuuuuu...k... yo....u....."
Jason just kept mumbling his apologies, softer as the lights drew closer. He laid Mark upon the ground before sprinting off into a nearby alleyway. Leaving Mark alone, with his hand in the air grasping at stars.
'Janice.. I'll see you soon, Mom.. I can't wait to hear you say you love me again... I'm coming.'
He slowly closed his eyes, as if drifting to sleep. His hand falling onto his stomach, and the blood painting the picture of his betrayal on the cold concrete beneath him.
The lights drew closer. Ar first red and white, and slowly morphed into a dull white that permeated beyond his vision. His body numbed and all of sense of the world he once knew faded from reality.
"Open your eyes" A woman spoke, firmly. It somehow felt like both a command, and an offer.
Mark followed and stares straight ahead. The world around him was like an endless ocean of light beneath his feet and a void which devoured the sky above.
A woman, clad in purple and gold sat upon a throne made of planets and stars. She took up the largest space in his vision and made him feel like a child.
"You're dead. Your options are reincarnation, or join my school."
Mark was trying to grow accustomed to the sheer size of this woman. Her beautiful figure was that of a mountain and as she spoke and looked down upon him, he felt as an ant.
"Reincarnation? School? Why me?" It wasn't hard for him to move past death. Something about being just a pure soul was peaceful, he had no emotions. There was nothing to move past, or move towards. He just was, and it was nice, but also.. Empty.
"You arrived before me. Normally, you'd just reincarnate. The white light that you see at death is also the one at birth, and you awaken new in a other world, at another time, in another realm. Yet here you are, a rare anomaly, standing before me. These are the options we give to souls like you."
She was neither hurried, nor slow with her speech. Each word, when spoken, felt as if these were things he had known and always known but forgotten.
'Is this what it's like when a god speaks? She tells me truth and I know truth.. or does what she say become true just because she said it...' As that question pondered his formless mind he asked another.
"What is the school for? To become a god?"
"You could, or could not. We train and teach those who would desire to become greater and help the larger verse of existence. You will become more, but also, less."
"Then I choose school!" Mark remembered his death. The world he came from. The people he worked with, and the people he worked under. Who knows if he would ever gain a chance like this in another life-time.
"Oh? You anomolies always surprise me. The human desires should be stripped from you, but here you exist within death with ambition. I can feel it rising."
She shifted and leaned forward in her seat. Albeit he was so much smaller than her, he felt as if she was scanning him and looking at him for the first time, truly.
"Then Mark, You must prepare yourself. The world of Gods is more ruthless than the world of men. As above, so Below." She reached a hand forward, which shrank as it grew close and pinched at something in his soul. As one hand drew closer, another reached into the inky darkness above. When she pulled back a small spark of light was pulled from his soul, and a scroll was grasped from the void.
"If you were to become a God, what would you become the God of?"
Mark, spent a second, or a minute in thought. It was impossible to tell, time seemed to have no meaning here.
'I could have spent more time with my mother, if I was better at work. I could have been better at work if I spent more time studying.. If only I was...well'
"Efficient?" The god finished his thoughts and placed his soul to the parchment. "It suits you. And yes, I've heard your thoughts the whole time."
"That feels... Intrusive"
"Be aware, this is a god's domain. Everything within it is under my observation and scrutiny. As a word of advice, be mindful of this in the future" She smirked, showing expression for the first time as she handed him the scroll.
"Use your hand to imprint your soul, you'll be granted a new name, a new image, and a logo that symbolizes your divinity. The rest will be explained, once you get to the school."
Mark stared at the giant scroll as it began to shrink down to the size of a common notebook. Ripples of light permeated through the fabric, and seemed to grow more excited as he brought his hand closer.
"Wait.. May I ask a question?" His hand paused as he looked up at the goddess.
"You may."
"..What happened to Jason and Rachel?"
Another smirk spread upon the Goddesses face. This must be one of those unexpected surprises the anomolies bring her.
"Your desire for knowledge of your past... If you work hard enough in your new life, you'll get the answers you seek."
Mark looked down at the parchment, and with resolve pressed his soul-hand into the parchment.
Greedy tendrils of light stretched and gripped his formless figure. Pulling his own light inward and replacing it with something... more vibrant.
Long silk like strands of flesh grew from the center of his soul and spread outward. Each strand whipping like tentacles and wrapping themselves around his invisible form.
As the tendrils grew, so did his sense. First, the sense of smell. Fresh grown grass and full bloomed flowers filled his nostrils.
The taste of the air was like a soft broth that soothed his lungs and tongue alike. The soft touch of a carpeted meadow floor beneath him.
And finally, when he opened his eyes..