1 I Didn't Die?

"I didn't die?" Covered in deep gashes oozing blood all over his body, a young man whispered to himself as his eyes gazed into the dead, dark sky adorned with innumerable bright twinkling stars. His torn robes barely covered his bloodied physique, and the still water of the lake he floated atop only made his blood pool around him. Floating in the center of a massive clear lake that reflected the gems above, he looked no different from a dead log that refused to budge from its place.

"Ha," The young man, who had an ordinary appearance in every right without a single redeeming feature, took in a long and deep breath and whispered once more, "It seems I will be sleeping out here tonight!"

With those words, the man closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber. At the same time, the blood that pooled around him started to move by itself. Albeit slow, the blood continuously flowed back onto the young man's body until it would reach the deep gashes and start to heal them. The blood moving on its own — as if it had gained consciousness — was a strange spectacle to behold, for whoever could see it.

But the strangeness didn't stop at just that, and the man's now-white-as-snow robes that were previously torn apart at various places also started to mend themselves. Slowly, but surely, the wounds covering the man's body, and the tears and cuts ruining the man's robes started to disappear as if they had never even existed.

...…

As the first rays of dawn illuminated the world, an ordinary-looking young man floating in the center of a clear and still lake slowly opened his eyes. Immediately, the rays of light shone over the two utterly dark orbs that seemed ready to devour everything in their sight, giving rise to the illusion that an abyss had devoured everything. The white's of the man's eyes were nowhere to be seen, and all one could see was a terrifying abyss in place of each eye.

Every now and then, if looked into carefully, one would see small flickering specks of light that disappeared as fast as they appeared. Those specks of light resembled the stars that illuminated the otherwise dark sky in a dead night. With his terrifying hollow-looking eyes, the man stared at the dawn sky that would soon be brightened by the burning sun.

"Today… …will be another good day," Though barely audible, the words still made their way through the man's lightly moving pale lips. Immediately after his words concluded, the darkness covering his eyes receding from the edges of his eyes and into the center. Soon, in less than a few moments, the darkness that had previously made his eyes appear hollow receded into two black circles surrounded by a sea of lustrous white, giving the name normal eyes that wouldn't scare their beholder.

Moving around slowly, the man sat up straight without sinking into the clear water below him. It was as if he wasn't on water, but on a solid surface. Yawning, he stretched his arms upwards while his back arched forward. At the same time as he moved, his body released low crackling noises. Done stretching, the man slowly stood up on the surface of the lake and started looking around calmly.

Around him was a crystal-clear lake five meters in cirumference, surrounding by a lush forest that seemed full of life. Somehow, he could easily tell that he was the only living being in the three mile radius around him… if the fish far below were not counted. He could not see any animal arriving at the bank of the lake to drink water, nor could he see any birds or hear their chirping. Everything around him was quite, and — for some unknown reason — even the fish in the water didn't dare to move around too much.

"Someone seems to be walking over," The man spoke in a low voice, "I should see who it is and ask them where I am."

As soon as the man said those words, his person vanished from his spot without leaving any trace behind. In the very next moment, he appeared at the bank of the massive lake, while all the water that previously drenched him disappeared. Standing still at the lake's bank, the man looked towards the forest just a small distance away from him.

He could clearly feel two people a few hundred meters away walk in his direction. If they didn't change their course midway, then he would encounter them soon.