1 Death … and life again?

I was engulfed in blood. I've been stabbed right to the heart with the dagger of my very own servant. I laid supine upon the floor, bleeding. My attire swathed in my warm blood in the benighted world.

My servant towered over me, looking daggers into my soul with a scowl on his face. "I did live up to your standards as your butler. I just served you right, did I not?" scorn to his tone.

I smirked right up at him. "Yes, Kariork, you did indeed live up to my standards … you served me right. I think I grossly deserve this fate."

A nuance stretched across Kariork's callous countenance. "How are you not dead yet, Lilith? I am sure that you should have long perished with a dagger to your heart."

He already knew the answer to that question. Though I was a human, I consorted with magic spirits. It would take more than just an old dagger to kill me instantly.

Blood trickled down my mouth. "So nice of you to kill me in bed. I was surely expecting it."

"No problem at all, my king. Now," his eyes darkened, "Burn in the Tartarus!"

"Fear well, Kariork. I'll see you in hell … someday."

My vision … it began to blur. Kariork walked off, forcing my lens to shift focus to the ceiling of my own castle. I was hearing his clattering boots against the floor, but then it slowly faded such that it was left in quietude.

My heartbeat slowed. My veins began to shrink. My eyelids covered my sight like one would throw a sheet upon the dead.

Quietus.

Just like that, I've been killed. Killed after all I've worked for. Killed by my own butler. I blame him not because I am at fault for treating my people like animals in a barn.

Got to admit, I did enjoy being a cruel Monarch. A monarch who people were forced into serving and worshiping. I became the patriarch of all the lands for two hundred years.

Sovereignty.

I died on my two hundredth birthday today. Now it's time for me to rest. Besides, I was getting tired of all that throne sitting. My numb behind could finally—at long last—get a rest. My body as well. Maybe … a perpetual slumber.

I hovered in the utmost darkness yet my eyes could perceive mist shrouding the environment. The blackness grew; besieging it all. It was now that I couldn't see anything. I couldn't see black either. Nothing.

Suddenly, a strange object began to float in my field of view. It manifested before me as seamlessly as healing magic. It was a rectangular shape, with different functions. Technology far out of my alley.

[Reincarnation begins]

A woman—the most beautiful thing I've ever feasted upon—conjured up out of nowhere as well. She was a giant, hovering before me, a smile on her face.

She was like the embodiment of pulchritudinous. Half of her clothing was pure black and the other was pure white. Her lips were as pink as cherry blossoms. She possessed angel wings—one white, one black—bigger than Earth itself.

Then she began to speak with a thousand echoes of voices in unison. "I am Yora, the goddess of life and death. You are in my domain where life and death is decided. As a curse, you cannot yet ascend to Paradise." her tone was sonorous, and soothing.

No paradise for me?

Of course not. I've killed so many that I cannot recall the sum. Blood was always on my palms. "Oh well, then off I go. Send me to hell."

The ethereal being in my presence chuckled; placing a hand upon her mouth. "Silly one, there is no such thing as hell."

If I possessed a body at the time, I would've thrown a grimace at her. "What do you mean?"

She circled around me in flight, slowly. "There is no hell. I believe beings needn't be punished to such extremes. I also deem it a trifle. My means of punishment are far contradictory."

"What are they?"

"You'll be enlightened partially," she smiled, "when one dies, his soul dwells on. He won't be able to make it to Paradise unless he's fulfilled his life purpose. And so, your will to live is converted into energy, and this energy is converted into life energy."

"What happens then?"

"The amount of life energy determines what and where you are in your next life. You'll continue to die over and over again, until you learn everything yourself."

I was utterly engrossed in this conversation. I had my beliefs that maybe hell nor heaven existed in the past, but the more I heard people speak of it not being so, the more I was forced into believing it myself.

All along, it was merely a fantasy.

Yora waved at me. "I've learned that you weren't satisfied with the amount of power you have … hopefully this lifetime you're about to live teaches you that power isn't everything. Good luck, silly one. I'll surely see you again. For now, you will forget about me."

Was she implying that I was going to surely fail again by saying she would see me again? I watched as she slowly vanished before my eyes.

When suddenly, I felt as though my nonexistent heart had throbbed, strangely. I couldn't move my limbs … yet I felt life starting to course through the entirety of my being.

That surge of life energy—though so small—became enough for me to live. It was far smaller than the amount of life energy required to become a human again, surely.

But I was still forever grateful for lord Yora. My memory of her slowly faded away just like the nothingness around me.

[Reincarnation completed]

It was dark again. I could see blackness solely. Then, a drumming sounded, and exploded into my ears. It sounded like a heart; beating loudly.

I squirmed about in light of escaping the stickiness I felt around me. It was slimy and wet and I couldn't stand it! I veered my body to the left. And it was then that I collided with a frail object.

When I veered to the right, I felt my body touch the same object. I kept veering to the right, and then left. This frail, incompetent barrier couldn't hold back the wrath of a monarch for too long!

Eventually, I broke the object a trifle, leaving an opening through which rays of light entered my imprisonment. Ah, yes! Light oh how I missed you so much!

I kept crashing my body into the weak object that cracked rather familiarly. Ultimately, I broke free from its spherical restraints.

As I fell, I plunged into a large body of water; splashes around me. I began to float on the water, and rays of light covered my entire body.

I was peering at the magnificent scenery. Mountains were touching the skies. Two suns in the air beamed at me with scorching smiles. Trees—as tall as giants—were prevalent throughout the entire area. Beauty.

I was atop the rather large body of water—I was in an ocean, perhaps? How foolish of them to think that a great king can't cross the wrath of the sea without a vessel!

Curiosity made me turn around so that I could see what trap I had just broken out of. Surely it had to be created out of some three-year-old's playdough.

I was hit with a wall of shock upon seeing what it was. It was a silky, black, filthy object stuck onto a leaf. It looked much like a cocoon.

A cocoon for a great monarch!? How pathetic of them!

Suddenly, I was hit with reality. Recognition dawned on me, paralyzing my body like a statue spell. That really was a cocoon … my cocoon.

I remembered. My energy wasn't enough for me to become human again. I wasn't human this time … what was I? I quickly turned around again, and peered into the water beneath me.

My two hearts throbbed. A black, slimy, huge creature was staring right back at me with the same beastly look. I was terrified. No … this couldn't—

I tried to move my limbs but I couldn't. I could only move my entire body in a snake-like way. I could only crawl like a serpent. This could only mean that—

I've become a no-good, blood-sucking, parasite!

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