Death

A lone man, from head to toe covered in bleeding wounds was leaning against an oak tree.

The branches of the tree were deprived of leaves and the surrounding area was covered in snow, it was late winter.

The man's breathing was rough and his eyes were starting to get cloudy.

Not far away from the man laid a corpse of a creature, a monster, with a deep pierce wound on its chest. The monster was similar to a black panther yet was a lot bigger and from its slightly opened mouth one could see razor sharp teeth that didn't suit the black predator.

Everywhere around there were footprints and blood patches decorating the snow indicating that a fierce battle took place here a few minutes ago.

Crank... Crank...

While the man was taking his last breaths a Raven, black as void, descended from the sky landing on one of the oak tree's branches.

The bird's voice was very loud, even annoying the dying man.

" Let me... rest.. "

A voice left the man's sore throat with a mouthful of blood following right after.

The wounded man wore some old cloth armor, a cloth hood and held a spear in his right hand.

The weapon was nothing out of ordinary, its handle was made out of wood while the spearhead was forged out of cheap metal.

Even though it wasn't anything powerful, it hasn't shattered or even cracked through countless battles it went through.

Whoosh…

A cold breeze brushed against the man's clothes removing his hood. His half-closed blue eyes were slowly losing their glow while his black hair was ruffled around by the wind.

Crank... Crank...

Even at the last minute the man couldn't get any peace due to a Black Raven disturbing his rest.

Directing his Ocean-blue eyes at the bird the man felt that he'll soon enter eternal rest.

" I... wish I could cook you.. "

The dying man tried to joke and laugh, but the only thing that left his mouth was blood.

His entire life passed through his eyes, his childhood, school, betrayal, everything, every single good or bad memory was quickly thrown into his sight.

' I hate this life '

The man was drifting into the darkness when he was once again pulled back by the raven's voice.

Crank... Crank...

With his blurry sight the man could see the annoying raven standing by his feet.

His unfocused eyes met the bird's.

' Is he a monster as well? '

Seeing a glimmer of intelligence in the raven's eyes the man thought.

Thump... Thump... Thump...

The man could hear his heartbeat getting slower and slower.

In his last moments the man held the spear with both of his arms and clenched it as hard as he could.

' I just hope that the monster won't eat my corpse '

Looking at the raven the dying man slowly closed his eyes.

Crank... Crank...

He could hear the bird's annoying voice, but it was unable to bring him back, he was slowly drifting into the sea of darkness.

He felt his mind relax and pain disappear from his body. The man completely lost all the senses of his physical body. Even though he now had no body he could still think although sluggishly.

' So this is death, huh... It isn't half bad '

The man's consciousness was drifting across the endless abyss for who knows how much time when he suddenly felt that thinking became harder and harder.

He knew that he'll soon cease to exist, but he didn't mind it, in fact he waited for it. The only thing the man regretted was that he couldn't live a fulfilling life.

His life was full of ups and downs, unfortunately the good thing count was considerably lower than the bad one's.

As far as he could recall, his entire life he was treated like trash, since he was born with no talent. He was abused by others and oppressed by society.

Fortunately or not while being weak he has met many people who were similar to him, yet different from the rotten society.

They didn't discriminate, but accepted each other no matter how powerful they were. Weaklings had companionship and friendship others from upper layers of society couldn't even dream about.

The young man felt his thoughts ceasing to exist and as he was finally about to fully enter eternal rest a powerful force started pulling him back.

Crank... Crank... Crank...

The man's eternal rest was interrupted by the sound of the same annoying raven.

His consciousness was pulled back inside the body and he could once again feel his limbs. Even though they were hard to move, he could feel them.

Slowly opening his eyes the man was blinded by the sunlight falling directly at his face.

Still confused, the man instinctively raised his arm to block the sun.

" What! "

Jumping from his lying position he quickly took a look at his body. Surprisingly it was not wounded or covered in blood.

Even though the man had clothes he could still see his arms that were not riddled with any scars or injuries he got while fighting various monsters.

Although with sluggish movements the man took a seat on the ground trying to calm down.

' I'm not dead... '

Murmuring under his breath he started looking around trying to identify his location. All that surrounded him was a forest and a nearby hill visible above the treetops.

' I should climb it, maybe I'll see some landmarks '

Warily moving towards the hill the man made sure to produce as little sound as possible, he was aware that there might be predators.

Even though his mind was still confused as to why he was still alive, he pushed the thought at the back of his mind, first he had to survive.

While approaching the bottom of the hill the man was contemplating why he couldn't feel any Mana surrounding him.

Mana is an energy that most of the humans use to fight against monsters and strengthen their bodies beyond normal standards, but now he couldn't even feel it.

' Was I crippled? '

Negative thoughts were prying into his head prompting him to forcefully slap both of his cheeks.

' Survive '

Setting his priorities straight the man started slowly climbing the hill. Even though it wasn't steep the man had to use all of his limbs to reach its top.

Leaning against a nearby rock the man took a few minutes to recover his breath before approaching the cliff.

Whoosh...

A gentle breeze brushed against his black hair as he looked into the distance.

" What a day... "