New Eden - [Journey After Death]

A vast and expansive garden that seemed to stretch for infinity. Then again, it might not be infinite, and his human sight could only peer so far.

Before today, Aiden would've never thought he would die in a car accident. And although it should have been impossible, then again, waking up after dying didn't exactly point toward an existing possibility.

There were trees stretching to the far horizon, and even from his vintage point, he could barely make out the mountains. Aiden moved forward, his feet trudging the grass-covered ground at a silent and brisk pace.

It was weird and disorienting how he knew where to go, as if the very air and the fabric of reality were guiding him. An inevitability.

Even as far as he could see, no soul registered to his mortal vision, and as he grew closer, a giant 'Wheel' seemed to spring into existence.

'Wheel', he realized, wasn't something he thought of, only an echo springing up from nowhere. It didn't look like a wheel to him, more like an extremely miniaturized Quasar. A river of stars flowed around it, and in the center, there was nothing. It was not a lack of something but more like a hole in reality, an echo of nothingness.

For the first time, Aiden feared. Something deep within him warned him of his inevitable demise, and he shuddered as he turned tail and ran.

The cosmos blanketing this infinite garden seemed to grow dark and malevolent. It pressed on his being, and Aiden turned and ran faster.

As if reality itself were an illusion, a shimmering branch seemed to wink into existence. Aiden gasped at the wonderful sight and found himself drawing near it. A fruit hung near the base of this branch.

It was white in color and looked round, with slight protrusions from the sides. A sheen of light would wash over once in a while, and the fruit would glow like a miniature sun. Aiden found himself gulping down his saliva.

His hand streched, and even though the fruit should have been higher than the heavens, his hand seemed to pass through the concept of distance itself to reach the fruit and pluck it. Aiden looked at it in wonder.

The reality froze, the existence ceased, and the chaos stalled. His mouth drew near, and he bit. The reality unfroze, the existence started, and the chaos raged.

And with that, Aiden was gone.

The place where no time existed before the cosmos came into existence and after it vanished into oblivion. The time held no meaning, and an eternity would pass in an instant. A man walked the garden.

"The Garden of Eden." He whispered in a serene and calm voice. The joy that he felt was comparable to none, for he alone had done the impossible. He had found Eden.

The World Tree Yggdrasil shimmered into existence before this figure of enigmatic status and the Wheel of Samsara stopped its rotation. And the man screamed.

"WHERE IS MY FRUIT OF REALITY?!!!"

...

Aiden was not lucky. Now you might think that's nothing new and that everybody has their moments of luck, but he was different.

His mother died when he was born. And his father committed suicide after his company went bankrupt, leaving him to fend for himself. Aiden was five at the time.

He was taken by his aunt and uncle but received no love from them. Foolishly, he handed them his last bits of legacy from his father in an act of gaining their acknowledgement and received a ticket pass for another city. Aiden was 14.

He worked and studied, trying to fill his shortcomings through hard work alone, but where talent lent a helping hand, poverty and time seemed content in watching him drown in despair.

By the time he was able to afford enough floor to strech his feet on, Aiden was finally given that sweet release of death that he so awfully craved. He was 22 when he died.

...

The Snowfire Tribe was a hundred-man-strong tribe, residing in the stony hills of the Rainbow Mountains, and led by an Adept EVO.

Today was a day of celebration for the chief mistress, who had given birth to her third child, and it was a boy.

The tribe chief, Karth Snowfire, laughed and drank in dances alongside his daughters and wife. The rest of the tribe feasted on the meat of the Snow Wolves. Today he was feeling giddy with happiness, as finally, after twenty-two years, his family was blessed with another member.

He looked at his wife and the baby she held in her arms. He shared his mother's features—glacial blue eyes—and his father's white hair.

They had named him Draven. Draven Snowfire.