1 Consume...

Waking up on a hard surface, Meiyu nursed her throbbing head... the blaring question... What happened?

Meiyu didn't forced her eyes open yet, blocking out the burning bright light for a few more moments. It has always been a habit for her... she would rise up but not open her eyes... Sunlight was the enemy... if she could, she would sleep through the day and wake up at sunset. Not that her family would allow that. But a girl can dream... Speaking of which... why was it so quiet?

Her normal routine would be to jerk awake from the yelling of her mother... "Wake up, Mei! The day is wasting away! Wake up!" Meiyu would then trudge through to the bathroom, and wash up without turning on the lights... her brother would laugh at her, forcing her to open her eyes and scowl at his mocking words... They would head to the kitchen, hear their mother scold and preach about timeliness and breakfast... it should be noisy and rushed, and utter chaos... But Meiyu was only faced with a sharp pain in her temple and silence.... What happened?

Meiyu opened her eyes.. rubbing them and pressing her palms into them... something wasn't right. She focused her eyes to see her surroundings...

What she was laying on was not her lumpy old mattress... it was but a piece of hard wood with carpet and quilts on it. Her favorite purple fleece blanket was not covering her legs... it was a simple linen sheet... the normal 3 pillows that she used to bury her head in to avoid the world was gone... it was only a rolled up, rumpled cloth, much like the bedding covering this death-trap plank she was on... What the Hell happened?

This room was bare, no color... Her colorful curtains that her grandmother made were not adorning her windows... In fact, the windows were completely bare, allowing that damn morning sun to blaze in and light up the nothingness... Meiyu threw off the thin sheet, and attempted to get up... Her normal space cat pajamas and over sized tee shirt was not covering her body... what the heck was she wearing? Shaolin training clothes? A dusty dark brown shaolin disciple robe and matching pants? Meiyu checked...yup no underwear either! Her face burned up with that realization... Crap! What happened?!

Meiyu hasn't heard anything, no one scolding... no morning news... She got up, still feeling the pounding in her temples... But it was getting better... Her mouth felt dry and sticky... like cotton and grit... She headed to the door. It was a shoji type, sliding door... definitely not the bedroom door she remembers... Her hand hesitates... What will be on the other side? The air felt heavy with tension... it felt stagnant and oppressive... But, she gripped the door frame and slid it open... Nothing... No noise... Nothing to indicate that anyone was here...

The hallway was bare wood... it was worn smooth and... old... really old... her bare feet, which was slightly sweaty from nerves, made little suction sounds... Mei was breathing deep, trying to keep calm and alert, while also trying to gather information.. No food smells... musty, but not dusty or moldy... The more she breathed... no clue was coming to her head... she felt like a dog...

She found the kitchen... Holy... it was archaic! Wood burning stove with a packed dirt floor... wooden tables and matching chairs... herbs tied in bundles and gently hanging... Persimmons tied and drying by a fire place... Okay, WHERE am i?

There was fire wood neatly tied and piled in the corner... a wooden bowl of tangerines sat next to a basket of eggs on the wooden table in the middle of the room... shelving on the walls showed clay jars of various sizes and a stack of bowls, plates, and other utensils... It was like a typical home of a peasant family from period dramas... Did I die? That thought kept rolling in Mei's head...

She sat in one of the chairs... noticing a stone tea pot and 3 cups, she gingerly pours herself a cup... She looks and notices that it is cold tea... although weak in taste, it helps alleviate the dry cotton condition in her mouth... Looking at the bleak and unfamiliar surroundings, Meiyu tries to remember what happened..

She was 32... She still lived at home with her mother and brother... Her father was working overseas and would come home occasionally... She had an uninteresting job as a temp worker.... She didn't make great money, but enough to help pay for her brother's school fees and other things around the house.. She wasn't a great beauty and didn't have any close friends.. She was boring to the max! Her only solace was reading...

"Okay, think Meimei... What happened?" She also talks to herself... a lot... Yeah she was half a step away from being that crazy cat lady...

"I finished my stint at Office from Hell...god, that woman was a real piece of narcissistic work... okay, forget her... with her large nose... crap! Focus! Okay... I left there reported back to the agency... got my pay stub... ..... .....!?"

Okay, that was an epic fail.. She couldn't remember... "What happened after...?!!"

Suddenly a screen opened up in front of her eyes... She jumped and almost knocked over the table! Banging her hip against it, the tea cup and pot shook but didn't spill... Meiyu rubbed her hip, cursing at her clumsiness... She studied this screen... reaching her hand out, it went through it! Where her hand touched the screen caused it to ripple like water... She pulled her hand away, watching the screen still... It looked like a UTube video... she saw a title printed at the bottom... What Happened.... duration 05:34....

Oookay.... She pressed the play option.. the screen loaded the "video" in a few seconds... She saw... herself! She was wearing her favorite gray suit and matching shoes... hmmm... Mom is right... that suit makes me look like dad...ew...

She had just left the Agency with her pay stub... She was walking while looking at her phone... There was a typical crowd of people, but Meiyu just kept her eyes down... She watched herself enter a coffee shop, order her normal drink and sit in the corner... Okay, nothing out of the ordinary so far... Damn, Meimei... I think we should go back to training with brother... the suit jacket is looking tight...

At the 05:29 mark of the video, a couple of men barged into the shop... they carried a knife and a gun... everyone was panicking and shouting... The men demanded the money from the register and the safe, they also demanded everyone give them their wallets and jewelry... How old school can you get? I mean, who does that kind of thing any more?

One of the customers resisted.. He refused to give them his wallet. He started calling the robbers every swear word he could think of... Okay, fine buddy.. Be an idiot on your own time... Meiyu was right behind the douche bag that was mouthing off... she was secretly calling the police... she wasn't looking at the situation in front of her... she just wanted to get out and go home... Meiyu that was watching the video, looked on in horror as the masked gunman lost his patience and opened fire... that douche was hit but so was she! that bastard shot her right in the.... Meiyu touched her abdomen in reflex... the video didn't show the aftermath... it stopped right as Meiyu was shot...

Tears slipped from her eyes... an emptiness weighed on her heart... So she died? "What about my family?" she whispered... Her heart ached at the thought of her mom getting the news... A new screen popped up.. This one titled, Cold News...duration 5:57... Ominous... She hesitated but pressed the play option...

the video started up right away this time. She watched as her mother answered the door... 2 police officers stood there and explained to her that her daughter was involved in an incident this evening... there was no real audio... but it wasn't needed... The solemn expressions on the officer's face, the disbelief and shock from her mother... her brother returning home from baseball practice and witnessing their mom screaming and breaking down... the video showed clips of her family going to the morgue at the nearby hospital, showing her mother break down seeing her dead body... showing her brother shaking and reaching out to her... shaking her, trying to get a response and seeing her brother shatter all hopes as the body just lays there...

The video shows clips of the tearful phone call her mother makes to her dad, to her grandparents... her brother just sitting at the table, still in shock... there was clips of her father coming home, of them bringing her cremated remains home... Meiyu was watching with tears falling, nonstop... her heart breaking with regret, with absolute devastation, as her family mourned... but hope gave a little light at the 5:46 mark. She saw her father getting transferred back to their home town where their grandparents live. The small family moving in with their lonely grandparents, being welcomed with tearful hugs... the sorrow slowly lifting to be a light shadow... her brother finding a good partner... Going to school, graduating... it ended with her brother lighting an incense stick for her... "Sis, I'm getting married..."

Meiyu watched as the video stopped.. the last frame of her brother, all grown up... his eyes were wiser, full of hope and tinged with a tiny bit of regret... Meiyu placed her head down on the table, she cried silently... that deep tingling of sorrow and pain resonated within her. It wracked through her body, leaving it heavy but light at the same time... "Thank you..." Meiyu felt relieved knowing that her family was okay now...but deep sorrow that she wasn't apart of it anymore... ..... ...

"Ahem..." Meiyu shot her head up at the sound. She looked around but saw no one.. A light cough and a clearing of a throat was heard but still, there was nothing to see.

"H...Hello? " Meiyu tentatively said out loud... "Who's there? "

Meiyu felt nervous... and maybe a bit excited...Another cough and she looked down... She was shocked! A old man stood to her right... He was...tiny! Had to be only 4 feet tall.. his wrinkled face was covered with snow white hair, his eyes black and radiant... He studied Meiyu quietly... His body standing straight, his hands clasped behind his back. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning either. He was calm, but looked as though he was expecting something.. ..... ........

The old man sighed... He sat down on one of the chairs and started peeling a tangerine... Meiyu watched him like a cat ready to pounce... "What's going on? Whose this old guy?...."

"I'm called Pelt... and I'm not old... brats are sure rude..." The old man grumbled... He focused on peeling the fruits, clearing the pith and separating the pieces...

Meiyu blushed, "Sorry, I said that out loud by mistake..." She watched him... he didn't say anything... she squirmed in her seat, fidgeting and pulling her hair.... The old...I mean, Pelt-san, glanced at her buy returned his full attention back to the fruit... Once he peeled and cleaned 5 fruits, wiped his hands, and arranged the pieces, did he smile and look satisfied. He looked at Meiyu with a slight smirk... Did he want praise?

"Yes, I do.. What? Don't you think I did a great job? They look perfect! My attention to detail is astounding! I mean, I'm a god you know!" Pelt bragged on and on about his achievements, but Meiyu only latched on to one line..."You're a god? So I'm really dead? Crap, am I going to hell? Is that why I woke up on that board? Mom used to make me kneel on a board when I got into trouble before, too..."

Now Meiyu was rambling, completely drowning out Pelt-sama... He looked at her with wide eyes... Why does she talk so damn much?

Pot calling the kettle black... Pelt-sama coughed to get Meiyu's attention... She was still rambling, but seeing Pelt-sama's non-smiling face, she quieted down.

"Now, " he began... He pushed the plate of perfectly peeled tangerines closer to Meiyu. "Eat... yes you did die. It was unexpected. Truly, I mean, that man in front of you was supposed to be the one up here. But somehow, he only got a shot in the shoulder and you ended up dying! What luck you have!" Pelt-sama threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

"So it was a mistake?" Meiyu asked him.

"Yes! It was completely a stupid mistake!"

"So, can I go back?"

"What? No! Your body is gone! Your family put you to rest! How can you go back?! Honestly!"

Meiyu cringed a little at his reddened face... "Oh, right.." She thought back to the videos and hung her head down...

Pelt-sama calmed down... He started eating a few of the ignored fruit. "You can't go back," he started. "But you can move forward."

"Why does this seem like one of those cliche light novels?" Meiyu asked. She got a bad feeling. I mean, sure, it would be cool to live a life as a "hero". But it was a lot of work! People had sky high expectations of "heroes" and usually "heroes" suffered a lot... Meiyu definitely didn't want to be a hero...

"What are you thinking? Demon kings? Heroes? No, that's too gauche. Did you want to go that route? It's too messy and troublesome! " Meiyu sighed in relief!

"So I won't have to fight demons or get thrown into a chaotic fight for a thrown?" She was feeling hopeful. Dealing with catty women was also not something she wanted... She was no good at it even in her previous life. The women in the offices steamrolled her at every turn. Can you imagine the seasoned court ladies of old? My god! Stupid little Meimei would be knocked out and sold into prostitution before she could take her first breath!

"Besides, I don't have the qualifications! I wasn't a genius doctor or high grade assassin! I boring!" She puffed out her chest. Then deflated with her own assessment...Damn I'm going to be cannon fodder in the next life.

She reached out to take a piece of fruit, only to find the plate empty! She looked at Pelt-sama with disappointment.

He scoffed, "Your ramblings are too long!" he said. "As I was saying, no demon kings or anything, "high spec"," he finger quoted... A god finger quoted... Meiyu felt she had a mini brain aneurysm. Pelt-sama rolled his eyes at her. She smiled and sat up straighter, eager to hear what's next.

"Hmmmm," he rubbed chin in thought... So like a LN! He rolled his eyes again before saying, "There's a world that is similar to yours. Like another dimension. It's pretty much the same except there's magic.."

"Magic? Like HP?"

"Are you interested?"

Was she? Uncle Henry's words echoed in her head... "With great power, comes great responsibility..."

She hesitated....