It was darkness...
The first thing Mitch saw when he opened his eyes were just pure darkness.
'W-Where am I?' Mitch tried to remember why he was here, but due to his now hazy memory, he was forced to observe his dark surroundings.
He tried moving his limbs...
'What the..?' he thought to himself as he felt none.
He tried to speak, but no words would come out from his mouth.
The weird thing is, despite not being able to see, move, and talk, or even hear something in this endless void of pure darkness, Mitch couldn't feel any panic inside of him, instead it was just pure calmness.
'Is this what it feels like to be dead?' Mitch thought to himself.
'And to think I could still think right now, maybe souls really do exist.' Mitch found the concept slightly funny and tried to laugh, unfortunately no laughter came out.
After an entire hour, 'if time really exist in this dimension or whatever place Mitch was in', of idling by in the darkness, Mitch suddenly find a tiny glowing orb in the distance, seemingly getting closer and closer towards him.
'What is... that?' Mitch thought to himself as he felt another emotion surged inside of him.
It wasn't calmness like before, nor fear, it was... excitement.
As countless possibilities popped up inside of Mitch's thought about what does this light orb might mean for him, the orb meanwhile continues to get closer and closer, and at the same time, bigger and bigger.
It was now this time that Mitch realized that the orb is much more larger than him, or whatever he was at this point.
After an entire minute has passed, the glowing white orb was now levitating in front of him.
'This is 2x bigger than me!' Mitch observed the large glowing orb in front of him and tried to touch it using his own non existing hands.
"You have no hands human, you're just a soul right now." the orb suddenly spoke in a deep rough voice, surprising and shocking Mitch at the same time.
'What the?!' Mitch thought to himself in shock before searching the large orb for any mouths and features that might have caused him to possibly speak, unfortunately he found none.
"I could hear your thoughts human, you can communicate with me by just thinking." The orb spoke once again.
'Y-Yes, sorry.' Mitch responded in his mind.
"It's alright human." the orb responded.
After dazing at the orb for a while, Mitch once again spoke to the orb through his mind.
'So why-' Before Mitch could finish his thoughts, the orb suddenly cuts him off.
"Before you start, may I introduce myself first as Angel Dimitre, caretaker of the damned, sent by God himself to reward the worthy, and punish the undeserving at the same time." the orb explained.
Mitch meanwhile stared at the orb for a moment while slowly taking in the words the orb has just said... before eventually freaking out.
'Angel? y-you mean angels are real?! oh g-... sorry, I didn't mean to say that, but still, a-am I really dead? what happened?' Mitch threw questions after questions towards the angel, seemingly too surprised to accept everything that just happened.
And it seems his calmness from earlier is now 100% percent gone.
"Quiet human! ask your questions one by one and I will gladly answer them!" the angel immediately scolded him, causing Mitch to feel immense fear in his new state for the first time.
'Y-Yes, very sorry about that, It was just too s-sudden and I-I can't-' before Mitch could finish his explanation, the angel interrupted him... once again.
"It's alright, I understand you.. all I ask is you keep yourself calm." the angel reminded him.
'Y-Yes, absolutely.' Mitch paused, gathered his thoughts, before continuing.
'Am I dead?' was the first question Mitch asked.
"Yes" the angel casually answered.
Mitch was taken aback for a second, though he really expected that, there was a small part of him that wished that wasn't the case.
'I see, how did I die?'
"You were stabbed, murdered in cold blood." the angel blankly answered.
After hearing the angel's answer, Mitch was left frozen in shock as the memories of his life on earth suddenly came back, and with that also came another wave of emotions and feelings.
From the day Mitch was born, his entire twenty years life of hardships and sufferings, and his eventual death.
All of those efforts... were all for naught.
He wanted to cry, he wanted to rip and tear himself from the insides... but he can't do it, because he's already dead.
'And what anguish have I caused my parents after my death? where are they now? did they know I'm already dead? how are they doing right now?' Mitch threw questions after questions once again towards the angel, desperate to know the current whereabouts of his parents.
The angel, sensing a great amount of pain inside Mitch, tolerated his behavior and waited for him to finish before eventually answering him.
"Eighty years had already passed since your death, unfortunately someone got to your body first and dumped it somewhere around that stinky planet of yours, even until now it is still missing." Angel Dimitre explained.
Mitch meanwhile stared blankly at the angel, a heavy weight slowly forming inside of him, before finally asking the last clarification he so desperately wanted to hear.
'My parents?' Mitch asked.
"They died on their bed, still thinking you left them, but know that until their dying breath, they still very much loved you." and it was at this moment, this simple sentence that came from the angel, shattered Mitch.
It was the most heaviest feeling he had felt in his entire existence.
'Just erase my existence and be done with it, I can't take this feeling anymore.' Mitch said to Angel Dimitre, his thought's tone now cold and empty.
The angel noticed this and began to move ever closer towards Mitch.
"I cannot do that, In fact God has specifically sent me here because he has other plans for you." Dimitre suddenly said, causing Mitch to set aside his other thoughts for a while and stare at the angel in curiosity.
'Plans?' Mitch asked for clarifications.
"Yes, out of all the 4 billion people that died these past 80 years, you're the only one that has been chosen to live another life." After Dimitre said this, Mitch was once again left frozen in place.
Unable to think of anything as he tries to comprehend the words Dimitre had said to him.
After an entire minute of silence, Mitch finally sent another message to the angel through his mind.
'huh? what do you mean live another life?' Mitch asked in a slightly curious and eager manner.
"Yes, you would be reborn as another person entirely, in a much more different planet than earth." The moment the last words were said, the heavy weight inside of Mitch slightly faded away, and was now instead replaced by curiosity and excitedness.
'This is... too sudden for me, what about my parents?' Mitch asked one last time.
"Do not worry, they have already reached the afterlife." Dimitre responded.
'I see, then if that's the case, I am happy for them.' The weight in Mitch's heart finally vanished, replaced with a new sense of hope and purpose.
"What's your decision then? you could still refuse the offer and live with your parents in the afterlife forever." Dimitre suddenly presented another choice, causing Mitch to be surprised for a bit.
'For an angel like you, you're a tricky one, if you've said the latter first, I would immediately choose it without any hesitation, but alas...' Dimitre ignored his remark and asked once again.
"What's your decision?" Dimitre asked, this time it's voice got rougher and deeper.
'I've made my decision, hurry up and reincarnate me.' Mitch answered, his message's tone was resolute and final.
"Final?" Dimitre asked for a final clarification.
'Absolutely, I've already promised to myself that I would live my next life to it's fullest.' Mitch finally answered.
"Alright then, get ready." Dimitre said.
Before Mitch could think of something, the angel in front of him suddenly vanished.
And just like that, he was left alone in the darkness once again, but not before hearing a final farewell from Dimitre which said, "Welcome to Yarnia, Mitch"
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CHAPTER DONE!