Death wasn't exactly what Elijah Kane expected.
There were no pearly gates, no fiery pits, no parade of his worst memories flashing before his eyes.
Just... darkness.
Endless, oppressive darkness.
It was like being stuck in a void where time had forgotten to tick forward.
"How long is this supposed to last?" Elijah thought. "Forever? Because I already regret skipping that first-aid course."
He tried to remember the last thing he saw.
Ah, yes.
The snake.
The snake that had bitten him in the absolute worst place imaginable.
"Not a hero's death," he muttered into the void. "I didn't save a child from a burning building or die in battle. Nope. I died because a snake decided to turn my… equipment into a chew toy. Great legacy, Elijah. Bravo."
And yet, the void didn't care about his sarcasm.
It just kept being... voidy.
Then, a tiny pinprick of light appeared in the distance.
At first, Elijah wasn't sure if he was imagining it.
But the light grew brighter, closer, until it consumed everything around him.
"Oh, great," he thought. "This is where they tell me if I'm getting upgraded or downgraded. Fingers crossed for reincarnation as a house cat."
The light became blinding, and before Elijah could think of another witty remark, he felt himself falling.
Not physically, but... spiritually?
It was hard to explain.
He felt like a leaf caught in a gust of wind, spinning and tumbling toward something unknown.
Then, he stopped.
The first thing Elijah noticed was the pain.
His head throbbed like he'd spent the night at a karaoke bar next to a malfunctioning speaker.
"Ah, yes," he groaned. "Head-splitting migraines. So much better than eternal darkness."
He opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the sunlight pouring in through a nearby window.
It took him a moment to process his surroundings.
A room.
A bed.
A ceiling fan lazily spinning above him.
"Okay," he muttered. "Not the void. Not a hospital. Did I... survive?"
He sat up, his body feeling heavier than he remembered.
Looking down, he realized he wasn't wearing his usual T-shirt and sweatpants.
Instead, he was dressed in a button-down shirt and slacks.
"Fancy," he said, running a hand through his hair.
Then he froze.
Something was... off. His hair felt the same.
His hands looked the same.
His voice sounded the same.
But this wasn't his apartment.
"Where the hell am I?"
Before he could panic, a sharp pain shot through his skull, and memories unfamiliar yet somehow his flooded his mind.
They came in flashes, each more vivid than the last.
A childhood in a comfortable suburban home.
A private high school education.
A father who ran a small but successful business.
A mother who loved gardening.
Friends, school trips, awkward teenage moments.
It was his life.
But... it wasn't.
The memories subsided, leaving Elijah gasping for air.
"What the hell was that?" he whispered. "Did I just binge-watch an entire life in five seconds?"
He stumbled to the mirror by the wall, half-expecting to see someone else staring back at him.
Instead, it was the same face he'd had for thirty years.
Brown hair. Grey-green eyes.
The same Elijah Kane.
"Well, at least I'm still devastatingly average," he muttered, studying his reflection.
He noticed something else.
He looked... younger.
His face was smoother, free of the faint wrinkles he'd started noticing in his late twenties.
"This can't be real," he said, running a hand over his jaw. "Did I... go back in time? Am I in some weird alternate dimension? Or did the snake venom give me superpowers?"
Elijah turned away from the mirror and started exploring the room.
It was neat and well-furnished, the kind of place an upper-middle-class family would call home.
He found a wallet on the bedside table and opened it.
"Driver's license, credit cards, a ridiculous amount of cash..." he muttered, flipping through the contents.
His name was still Elijah Kane. His face was on the ID.
The address listed wasn't familiar, but the date of birth caught his attention.
"Eighteen?" he said aloud. "I'm eighteen?!"
He dropped the wallet onto the bed and sat down, his mind racing.
"Okay. Let's recap. I died. I'm pretty sure I died. Now I'm in a new body same face, same name, but I'm eighteen again. And this isn't my old world, but it looks a hell of a lot like it."
He glanced out the window, seeing cars on the street, kids riding bikes, and someone walking a dog.
It was eerily familiar, yet slightly... off.
"So, what is this? A second chance? A cosmic do-over? Or some kind of sick joke?"
Elijah decided to do some investigating.
He found a smartphone on the desk and powered it on.
The interface was identical to the one he'd used in his old world.
The news app displayed headlines that could've been pulled straight from any regular day in his previous life.
"Technology's the same. History's the same. Did I even leave my world, or did someone hit the reset button?"
He tapped on a few apps, scrolling through social media and local news.
Everything seemed normal.
Too normal.
Then he opened the calendar.
"Today's date... matches the memories," he muttered. "So, I'm eighteen, but the world is exactly where I left it. What kind of reincarnation is this?"
He leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceiling. "If this is someone's idea of a joke, I'm not laughing."
Before Elijah could make sense of it all, a sharp, robotic ding filled the room.
"What the—"
Another ding followed, this one louder.
Then a voice calm, mechanical, and slightly smug echoed in his head.
[Initializing System...]
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Elijah said, rubbing his temples.
"A system? Seriously? What am I, the protagonist of some cheap web novel?"
The voice ignored him.
[System Online. Welcome, Elijah Kane.]
"Well, at least it's polite," he muttered. "Wait... did it just call me by name?"
Before he could ask more questions, the voice continued.
[You have been chosen. Mission parameters loading...]
Elijah stood frozen, his heart racing.
"Chosen for what? And why do I feel like I'm about to regret this?"
The system gave no answer.
Instead, a glowing screen appeared in front of him, floating in midair.
"Okay, this is officially weird," he said, reaching out to touch the screen.
His hand passed through it like smoke.
The screen flickered, and a single line of text appeared:
[Welcome to your second chance.]
And just like that, the chapter of his old life ended, and the adventure of his new one began.