They say everything happens for a reason.
They say it's the path God chose for you.
They say you must embrace the present instead of dwelling in the past.
They say life has its highs and lows.
Then, why was my life a constant low?
Why does it never get better?
Liars, all of them.
"Everything gets better," they say, but they are the same people that crumble down to ashes the moment something goes wrong.
If God does exist.
If there's anything after death.
I don't want to see it.
I don't need to see it.
The only constant for me is pain and suffering.
Nothing ever gets better.
Everything is pure bullshit.
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{SYSTEM ACTIVATION COMPLETED!}
{WELCOME! USER: ERROR ERROR}
{UH OH! AN ERROR SEEMS TO HAVE OCCURRED, PLEASE WAIT A MOMENT FOR A REBOOT!}
{REBOOTING...
REBOOTING...
RËBØŒTĮŃG...}
{THE RĘBÔºTING HAS BEEN FINISHED!}
{WELCOME! USER: LEVI EVANS.
ROLE: MYSTICAL WEAPON
NOVEL: AFTER EVERYTHING IS OVER, MADNESS IS THE ONLY THING LEFT.
BY THE AUTHOR: PERPETUAL EGGPLANT PARMESAN.
I AM THE SYSTEM THAT WILL GUIDE YOU ON YOUR ADVENTURES!
JUST CALL MY NAME AND I WILL ANSWER!}
What? A system? What happened? How did I get here? Where is here?
{EXACTLY! I'M THE SYSTEM DESIGNATED TO YOU. AS TO WHAT HAPPENED, THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE! YOU DIED! RIGHT NOW YOU ARE IN THE VOID BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH!}
WHAT?! How is this possible!? A system?! Is this some kind of bad joke?! Or a dream?! It isn't possible! I shouldn't have died. I couldn't have died! What about mom?! And dad?! What about my princess?! What happened to her?!
I can't leave her alone! She isn't ready! The world we live in is dark and cruel! They will eat her alive!
{I APOLOGIZE, BUT THAT IS NO LONGER YOUR CHOICE. WHAT HAPPENS TO HER IS ONLY CHOSEN BY FATE.}
{UH OH! IT SEEMS OUR TALKING TIME IS OVER! SEE YOU SOON, HOST, WE MAY BE ABLE TO TALK IN SOME DAYS, NOW YOU JUST NEED TO CLOSE YOUR EYES AND WE WILL TAKE CARE OF THE REST.}
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I wake up in a cold sweat gasping slightly, and I immediately notice many things are wrong and confusing. My vision is 360, I can't feel my body, I'm a fucking sword, and it appears I'm in a forest of some sort. I get lost in thought of everything that has happened today, as I try thinking back from before I met the system everything seems like a blur. As if the twenty-four years I spent bonding with my parents, my friends, my sister, my family was nothing but images from a video I saw ages ago.
I panic at that thought "Please no! I don't want to forget them" was the only coherent thought I had. But since death waits for nobody, neither does time, and I quickly realize that after I notice the sun setting.
After what felt like hours, I start to calm down, finally taking a better look at my surroundings. I'm laying on a green patch of grass, a path to the right, and everything is covered in tall dark trees, that I recognize as the "dark stone trees" from the novel "After everything is lost, madness is the only thing left", a hit web novel that I used to read back at home in my days off.
It was pretty simple, but the writing was captivating, it was your cliche "hero was abused so much they turn into a villain " type of story, combined with the typical "harem" and a big fantasy world.
—Hey system, are you there?— I ask, the fact that it's getting darker and darker by the minute in this creepy forest is nerve-wracking.
After waiting for a minute or so there was no response, so I figured that the system is still dealing with that problem.
From what I remember from the novel the power system works by channeling spiritual magic through our veins, but since apparently I'm a sword now, I have no idea what to do.
I try to concentrate on my vryoh[1] to mold it around my body to create a thin layer of it.
After creating the layer I focus on moving, thinking about the action of moving, levitating, to be precise, thinking of how I want to move and when I want to move.
Some seconds later I notice a shift in the scenario, or rather, a shift of my position in said scenario.
I focus harder and think about floating faster, and as I finish that thought I start racing between and through trees and large rocks alike.
As an even larger rock comes to my vision I begin to panic and suddenly stop to a halt. Slightly bewildered and with adrenaline coursing through my non-existent veins I look back at the mess I created, or, well, the mess I destroyed.
The feeling of a bone something cracking pulls me out of my thoughts and I see a piece of my- the blade fall to the ground and dissipate into thin air as a new piece forms in the space created by my recklessness, the blade getting seemingly sharper in the process and the pain soothing slowly.
I try not to question the logic of feeling pain even though I'm a sword made of some kind of magical metal that is able to pull me out of my dying body, pull my soul? Consciousness? And transfer it into the world of a novel that had finished mere weeks ago, just so I can become part of the metal, then become a sword, appear out of thin air into a random forest in the middle of nowhere, and having the only mildly helpful thing in this world to me just- disappear!
I probably shouldn't keep thinking about this, I'm getting a headache even if I don't have a goddamned head to begin with!
Ok... Just calm down and stop thinking about this...
{HELLO AGAIN USER! ( ^_^)／
THIS SYSTEM APOLOGISES FOR THE WAIT!}
The system's screen appears in front of me, if I had my normal body I would've jumped startled —Ah... System you're back.— speak about the devil and he shall appear, huh?
—You seem... Lively, to say the least, did something good happen while you were... Doing your thing?
{INEED IT DID USER ✾(〜 ☌ω☌)〜✾
I'VE BEEN ASSIGNED TO YOU COMPLETELY!
THAT MEANS I GET TO HELP YOU ON YOUR ADVENTURE IN THIS UNFAMILIAR WORLD! (๑>◡<๑)
ISN'T IT EXCITING?!}
I'm stunned for some seconds because of this unusual golden retriever behavior coming from the system as said system throws confetti in the air.
Is this the same system that I saw after I died? Or is it something else? Judging by the "hello again user" that appeared minutes ago on the screen, one would've thought that they are the same system, but, the personalities are completely different.
With uncertainty, I start speaking —Are you really the same system I met after I died? Your personality seems much too different compared to when I first saw you.
{YES I AM, USER!
ALTHOUGH IT MAY SEEM UNLIKELY, WHEN WE FIRST MET I WAS IN AUTO-MODE!
WHICH MEANS I COULDN'T CONTROL WHAT I WAS SAYING. (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥)
BUT WORRY NOT USER! FOR I AM IN FULL CONTROL NOW! ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)}
—Mm, I can see that, you seem very enthusiastic about this.
{INDEED I AM USER!
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE DONE THIS, SO I AM VERY EXCITED!! .o(≧∀≦)o}
—... Why do I have a feeling that this is going to be an unnecessarily long journey?— I say sweat-dropping at the overly excited screen, how can a mere text transmit such strong emotions?
{HEHE! ♡✧( •⌄• )}
... I jinxed it didn't I?
[1] vryoh: golden gas-like substance that flows through the veins of cultivators, strengthening the cells and giving them special abilities. Most of the vryoh is concentrated on the organs, making it impossible for strong cultivators to age if they do not chose to.