2 Chapter 1: Another Chance [Part 2]

'Either I'm dead...or unconscious.' I thought to myself as I simply floated in the darkness, my mind slowly starting to accept the first option no matter how many times I wanted to believe the latter.

It was just too silent, it was too pitch-black. Absolutely freezing...and I didn't even have a body!

It was like waiting in the darkest, quietest doctor's office in the universe. Nothing moved and there wasn't a single sound, it was so quiet that it was near deafening! Unconscious people didn't feel this way, did they? They just got knocked out then woke up in a different place right?

Dead.

Kidding myself was only going to make me more depressed at the very end of the day. Dead as a doorknob due to some idiot on the road who had no business driving in the rain...I didn't get to graduate, get my first job, or even marry!

But, at least my death wasn't painful...at least I didn't feel anything nor hear anything before I died.

It probably would've done nothing more than make me feel the pain even more for crying out loud.

However, just before I was getting comfortable with the silence and darkness, ready to start reminiscing on my life, I had suddenly heard the sound of crackling flames as well as the sounds that reminded me of ice breaking.

"What the heck?!" I cried out in shock as I suddenly saw a tornado of ice and fire form in front of me, the very sight making my eyes go as wide as a full moon as I floated there and stared.

As the sight grew more confusing but nonetheless wonderous by the passing moment, it wasn't long before the tornado formed a giant dog. The sudden figure of the animal causing a sudden rushing wind to pass overhead before an owl appeared right beside the ice and fire canine, it's snow-white body alongside its blinding golden eyes leaving me in complete shock.

"W-Who...are you?" I dared to ask the giant bird, its eyes staring into mine for a few more awkward but nonetheless incredible moments before it finally spoke.

"I am your savior, Plena Luna Ibis and you have been given the chance to be birthed into a new body." The bird spoke, its voice making me assume that it was a girl.

"H-Huh?" "Are you deaf young spirit? You have the chance to be rebirthed into a new body, with a price of course..." She said once again as she gestured towards the other phoenix.

Her tone...so proper, so formal and so full of arrogance that would make a rich man look humble.

I already knew I wasn't going to like her but, of course, floating there in total darkness...not even knowing if I had freaking limbs or if anyone else was around for crying out loud! It didn't take much me to think of saying yes but...I wasn't exactly fond of the way she said 'price'.

"What's the price? Why do you even want to help me?" I asked hesitantly, the phoenix's eyes narrowing slightly while its feathers started to ruffle a little.

"I shall have to fix that too curious tongue of yours..." She murmured.

I didn't like the sound of that, not one single bit.

"But, the price is to be my champion, to serve under me without any complaints or hesitation. Your body and very soul will belong to me young spirit." The owl said matter-of-factly.

"And why help you...? Oh, I'm not helping you. I'm merely helping myself."

Hold on a moment...serve her? I'd rather float here in eternal darkness than spend the rest of my next life simply serving a bird like a-a brainless sheep!

I was much more than that...maybe if I sat and waited long enough, someone else who was much nicer would come around-

"Speak quickly now." The phoenix hissed.

"I do not have time to wait for a lowly soul when there are so many others more worthy than you.

How rude! But...what if no one else came?

'Ah, Christ...I'm going to regret this more than anything.' I thought to myself, closing my eyes for a small moment before I nodded my head.

"Yes, I'll take the new body. I'll serve as your champion or whatever." I said, the owl soon starting to flap her wings as she began to rise.

"Then run alongside me young spirt." She said before she flew off, a sudden gust of air encasing me as I soon found myself right in front of the dog, the ice slowly starting to disappear before only fire was left.

"Run alongside me, for you have been graced with new air within your lungs and blood throughout your veins...you now belong to me as my champion." The owl said before she was soon out of sight by a sudden explosion of light, the dog itself soon starting to speed off with a series of barks and howls while I felt like I was falling from a building.

With my eyes shut like an iron trap and the sounds of the rushing wind blocking out my screams, I didn't have to wait long before I soon felt wet, solid ground beneath me but at the cost of a major headache.

"Feels like someone knocked me over the head with a bat..." I groaned as I tried to stand up, my legs quivering a little bit before I soon stood up proudly and looked at my surroundings, the sight making my jaw drop to the ground.

It was- It was absolutely gorgeous! Absolutely breath-taking, everything from the mystical grass patches that had glowing blue bugs dancing above them, to glowing green and violet algae that covered the damp, mossy walls, to the sparkling waterfall that ran into a crystal-clear lake below that was filled with every type of shiny fish that wouldn't dare to exist on Earth! All the things that surrounded me were a textbook example of something that could only in a fantasy world...something that I had always wished to be real ever since I knew what the word 'fantasy' meant!

But...at the same time, it was...bittersweet. My parents...friends, everyone was gone...to them? I was nothing but a lifeless corpse in a shattered and desolated car. I was dead as some poor possum on the side of the road, my father? Knowing him...he's probably still alive, wishing that he could've taken my place instead of being left to stay alive, waking up every day to the harsh reality that I wouldn't greet him like I always did and my Mom? Oh...my poor, sweet mother...I don't even dare to think about how she'll react when she gets the news. Saying that she'll be a bawling wreck on the floor is an understatement...this was all my fault. I was too stubborn to listen in the first place but...I can't be depressed now I suppose. Not when I was lucky enough to get a second chance.

After all, didn't Dad say, if I were to die and be reincarnated, he would want me to keep living?

"N-No time to cry now!" I said, shaking my head a little to chase away the tears that threatened to fall.

"Besides all, that's around me being completely insane..."

I paused and went silent, taking a moment to really get a grasp of my surroundings and...how I truly felt.

"This is so weird- wait...didn't that giant bird say-"

I quickly rushed over to the waterfall, my heart thrumming in my chest the entire way. So it was true...none of it was a dream! I am a dog, more specifically a Great Dane! This was the absolute worst! Being a dog, does this mean I have to deal with the threat of having ticks my entire life?! Or having to sniff dogs' butts or having them sniff mine?! No...the worst was that I had jowls now! Constantly having to drool? Absolutely disgusting, not to mention humiliating...I'll never be able to hide my hunger again!

This was bad...but, at least it's better than being in an empty void for the rest of eternity. Besides, there were things about being a dog that I could get used to! Such as being able to run faster than most now! Or being able to smell things from far away as well as hear things from far away!

"...I may not be able to do anything though." I grumbled to myself as I remembered how she said I would serve her without any complaints or hesitations.

"All depends on what she asks me though." I sighed as I continued to look at myself in the water.

An alien pink-colored nose that seemed to be tipped with beige at the very end, an auburn-colored coat that was littered with black dots here and there, long jowls that fully covered the sides of my mouth and finally...a set of dagger-like claws on each of my paws. Nothing about this body was similar to the one I used to have...the only thing that told me I was still me was the fact that I had my eye color! A soft, grey color. Although, no matter how many times that I paced back and forth, desperately trying to tell myself that this wasn't real and I wasn't a dog in an entirely different world, the sounds of my claws tapping against the ground and the constantly wet feeling on my nose told me otherwise.

"Alright Eos...think, what can I do to get out of this cave?" I thought as I sat down and tapped the ground with my paw, the quietness (minus the sound of the rushing falls) making me notice how my senses were enhanced due to me being a dog.

From a strange, enhanced sense of smell that helped me pick up the scent of honey from seemingly miles away, to an enhanced sense of hearing that helped me pick up the sound of a scuttering rat! I was starting to enjoy the fact that I was a dog! After all, they were one of my favorite animals plus their abilities might prove pretty useful in terms of getting me through this new world.

"What the heck?" I huffed as I suddenly picked up the sounds of hooting, causing me to quickly get back onto my feet and run after the sound.

With the hooting getting closer and closer, the wind rushing across my back and throughout my fur. I had soon found myself at the foot of a gargantuan willow tree, its bark engraved with all types of glowing white carvings that were in a language I couldn't even begin to understand while its leaves and branches held sparkling jewelry on each and every one of them. Though...in this world, it was starting to seem that pretty looking things seemed to attract weird stuff as well.

People, weird ones at that...their skin and clothes were whiter than snow and their faces were completely covered with masks! They simply walked around and did whatever they did, from cleaning to standing around, to even chanting in a deep, strange tone. These guys were weird...and it only made it worse that they didn't even acknowledge that I was around.

"Ah...young spirit, I was beginning to wonder when you would show up." Said a familiar voice as the owl, her form now a more tolerable but still dim glowing white as she landed in front of me, her almost towering height still shocking me.

"You...you're the owl that appeared when I died aren't you?" I asked with slightly narrowed eyes, the bird nodding her head.

"Indeed, I am and I would recommend you stop calling me 'bird' my champion." She sighed.

"I am your Magistra, the one you shall serve until I say you are no longer needed." The bird said, her words sending, even more, chills down my spine as alarm bells began to ring inside my head.

Exactly what did I get myself into?