Inside a hemispherical building, a man in his late 20's could be seen typing on a floating keypad, his eyes focused on the hologram floating before him.
"What in the void? Devil's Playground will have a moratorium placed on it?" He shouted with disbelief, drawing the eyes of his coworkers.
"Why are you shouting, Kiaus? That announcement was made yesterday." A younger person asked, amused at his reaction.
"Anyways, our shifts are about to end. Let's go to the nearby hedobar. The company is going to be closed for a few days," the youngster added, his face hiding a slight rue.
The two colleagues went out, quickporting to the enterprise's exit. Both of them worked as graphic designers for the Goman Games World Limited, the creator of Devil's Playground, one of the most popular games in the 22nd century.
The pair left the buliding's vicinity. The streets were replete with various establishments, all using different techniques to get traction. A particularily bold advertisement caught their eyes. It showcased a group of elgant ladies dressed in flamboyant and daring attires.
"They need to tone these ads down, kids walk through here." The younger of them said as they walked past the building.
"No they don't, Reuman. This is a protected adult's zone— , " suddenly a bead of sweat ran down his forehead as the sight in front settled in. A masked man with an eccentric handgun had his hands pressed on the activation button, the gun aimed straight at his head. He crouched as fast as he could.
For a moment he thought he had saved himself but a sudden sharp pain in his head proved him wrong. Gasps and shouts sounded as the passersby exclaimed in horror. Alarms began to blare out and Defbots started to rise out of the ground near the streetlights. One of them maneuvered at lightning pace as three cubes shout of its hands trapping the shooter.
Kaius was sprawled on the ground, copious amounts of blood oozing out from his wound. The experience was excruciating to the point where he felt death would be better. His coworker was trying to talk to him as he waited for the emergency health units to arrive.
Kaius' eyes began to lose life as they closed more and more, the distant noises and shouts fading out. Pure darkness subsumed his vision as his consciousness ceased.
•••••
After what seemed like an eternity, his consciousness accumulated again. His eyes parted open tardily. His gaze shifted through the surroundings. He was in a intricately decorated medievel room, a huge chandelier with bluish light on it hanged directly above his head.
"Is this heaven? It feels vintage." He muttered and soon realised his voice felt odd, more weaker and effeminate.
"Wake up, your highness." A voice sweet as honey permeated his ear from outside the room.
He slowly pulled himself up. "Highness? I must have done some great deeds to have become a royal in the afterlife. I knew it." The man smiled to himself shamelessly.
His monologue was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. An adolescent girl with luscious brown hair entered the room.
"Your highness, the royal court is about to begin in some time. Your father, his majesty has summoned you to be present there." She said in a respectful tone, her eyes hiding a concern for him.
"Certainly. Before that, could you bring me an atlas of the region?"
"As you wish, your highness." The girl replied, baffled by his politeness.
She soon left the room.
"This is not the heaven, I have been reincarnated." Kaius said to himself as he assesed his body. He got down the bed and went near a small mirror.
It reflected an androgynous youngster with long dark hair and red eyes. His skin was unblemished and seemed to glow in the sunlight falling in through the window.
"Sheesh! I look like those synthetic models." Kaius uttered as he could not help but admire himself. Quite a narcissist, he was.
As someone who had declared his life to be the most boring on planet earth and mars, for that matter, the excitement of his reincarnation overcomed the dissapintment of death. He was finally out of that shithole and a new adventorous life as a prince awaited him.