In the heart of a bustling metropolis stood the towering building that dominated the city's skyline. Two men stood face-to-face, both dressed in sleek business suits, but the tension between them was palpable. One of them had a gun pointed at the other.
"You can't do this, not after all I've done for this company. MY company!" Kenji's voice shook with anger and desperation.
Sidds smirked, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Well, frankly, it was never 'yours' in the first place, Kenji. Perhaps you should have wondered if it was too good to be true after all these years?"
Kenji gritted his teeth, his heart pounding in his chest. "You bastard, you won't get away with this, Sidds!"
But Sidds merely turned his head to the side and cocked the gun, pointing it directly at Kenji's head. "Already have. In fact, it was all thanks to your brother, who gave us the blackmail we needed to turn over everyone else in opposition. Though I have to thank you for putting in all the effort to develop this A.I Chip yourself, too bad you couldn't use it to save your life!"
Kenji's world seemed to slow down as he processed this revelation. His brother, his own flesh and blood, had betrayed him and their company for his newly developed A.I Chip. And now, he was facing the end of his life at the hands of Sidds.
"WHAT?!" Kenji's shout echoed through the empty office.
"IMPOSS-" Kenji never finished his sentence. The sound of a gunshot filled the room, and he fell to the ground, his hand clutching at the wound in his head.
Sidds pulled the trigger twice more, just to be sure, before calmly holstering the gun and beginning to examine the corpse.
"Hey.. Where's the A.I Chip?"
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The primordial void was mysterious and enigmatic, channeling trillions upon trillions of souls from various dimensions to the central port of the afterlife. Souls of varying size, shape, and weight floated aimlessly towards the center or descended and ascended towards different ports like flocks of birds. An ethereal figure sat on a stone throne, closed-eyed and seemingly uncaring, sifting and sorting through the souls and guiding them on their path. Ambitions, guilt, anger, and sadness were all weighed and considered before the figure decided the fate of each passing soul.
With no sense of time, one soul eventually refused to pass by the ethereal figure and tried to head back to its original location. The figure attempted to force it to pass, but it would not budge. Finally losing its patience, the figure spoke, "Returning is impossible, but I can grant you another way of life. However, the laws of this universe are balanced, and the fate you receive shall be decided by chance itself."
Despite the warning, the soul continued to resist, refusing to be guided towards its final destination. Eventually, the figure scooped up the soul and hurled it into the void, where it floated aimlessly for an unknown amount of time before finally coming to rest in a wooden box.
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Kenji awoke with a start, his body submerged in complete darkness. Panic set in as he realized he was trapped in a wooden box, with no idea how long he had been unconscious. Frantically, he searched for any sign of a door or a way out, but all he could feel was the rough wooden walls pressing in around him.
"I'm not sure how long I've been out, I could suffocate any minute now!" Kenji thought to himself, the fear almost overwhelming him. But then, curiosity took over, and he began to explore the box more carefully. He knocked on the walls, feeling for any weak spots, but found none. Despair threatened to consume him, but he refused to give up.
He curled up and brought his legs to his chest, using all his strength to kick repeatedly against the walls of the box. "BUDGE!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the small space.
Kenji kicked and pounded on the walls of the wooden box until his limbs went limp. Exhausted and out of breath, he collapsed back onto the floor of the coffin, resigned to his fate.
As he lay there, he realized that he had not been able to take a breath since he woke up. Panic set in as he tried to inhale, but he couldn't. He started to feel lightheaded and his vision began to blur.
Kenji's last thought before passing out was that he was going to die, trapped in a wooden box.
When Kenji came to, he was lying on the ground outside of the coffin. He looked down at his hands and saw that they were nothing but bones. Averting his eyes he was afraid to look at his body again.
"What the hell is going on? Am I dead?" Kenji whispered to himself.
He stumbled forward, trying to regain his balance, but it was difficult to adapt to the unusual change in weight. As he walked, he noticed that the trees around him looked different. They were larger and older than any trees he had ever seen before.
Kenji stumbled towards a nearby stream to drink, but when he looked into the water, he saw his reflection. It was a sight he would never forget. His body was nothing but bones, his skull staring back at him.
"This can't be happening. I can't be dead," Kenji muttered, still in disbelief.
As he walked further, he noticed that everything around him looked different than he remembered. The landscape was foreign, with plants and animals he had never seen before.
Kenji stumbled forward, trying to regain his balance, but it was difficult without any flesh to help him. As he walked, he noticed that the air was different, thick with the scent of vegetation and damp earth. He looked around and saw that he was standing in the middle of a dense forest. The trees towered above him, their branches entwined with vines and moss.
He took a step forward and felt something squishy under his foot. Looking down, he saw that he had stepped on a rotting log covered in mushrooms of all shapes and sizes. The forest floor was alive with mushrooms, ferns, and other plants that he couldn't name. As he looked around, he saw a variety of creatures moving through the underbrush.