End of One Life, Road to Another

As he lay there in a pool of his own blood, Kaden could feel the cold approaching. As he felt colder and colder, he knew that this time he would not be waking up to the warmth of a hospital room like he had in the past, but he would be finding out what lay on the other side of the tracks. He had made a vow to himself in the past that he would never fear death, a vow that he would be keeping right now.

He knew that death was approaching but he was totally at peace with it. He decided that he was going to think over his life, now that he knew that it would be ending in the next couple of minutes.

Looking back in time, it could be seen that his life was filled with danger and pain. Alas, that is, soon to be was, the life of the heir to one of the largest crime families in the world. He was three when he learned what his family business was. He was six when he killed his first human. He was twelve when he was kidnapped for the first time. He was fourteen when he had his throat cut. He was sixteen when he decided to join the army to get more experience and training. He was eighteen when he was entered into one of the most secretive black ops programs available. He was twenty-two when he was discharged because he lost an eye. He was twenty-four when he took over his family business. He was twenty seven when he united all the crime families in the country under his banner. He was now thirty.

Killed because the government decided that he was getting too powerful. But he was at peace. He had lost the ability to follow his dream and so he had tried so many other things in the years in between. Extreme sports, war, crime, charity. He had had the luxury of travelling the world in the most expensive planes, and the slowest and dirtiest buses. He lived his life to the fullest and he was happy. He was at peace.

His only regret? He lost his ability to sing, to act, to perform. When his throat was cut, he lived, but could no longer speak louder than a whisper. In one brutal sweep, all the dreams that he had built up in his first fourteen years were buried. All the talent he had, and all the practice he had put in were made redundant. He lost a part of himself that he had never been given back.

They were Kaden's final thoughts as his life faded away.

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IN THE REALM OF SOULS

A small ball of light appeared in front of a man who was softly glowing golden. The man was around 6 foot 2 inches in height with a perfect lean figure. His face could only be described as beautiful, every feature perfectly formed, with bright gold eyes.

The ball of light slowly coalesced into the shape of the man who had just died.

At this point, the golden man started to speak, "Welcome to the Realm of Souls young one. I am Arthur, or better known as Art, the God of Stars. Stars as in celebrities, that is, not massive balls of flaming gasses. I am here as you were supposed to be a candidate to take over my role once I moved on, but your path was cut short a long time ago due to interference by another God. One who doesn't live anymore. Because of that, Kaden, I was able to pull a few strings and get you a second chance. Not in the world you used to live in, but another one which is similar in some ways, and very different in others.

You will be taking over the body of someone else who was a candidate for my position, but had died due to poison very recently. He was given the chance to go back to his own body, but decided that he wanted to move on. The only thing you need to do, is follow your dream and walk the road to the stars.

What say you?"

The ex-ball of light, which had now been identified as Kaden, had remained quiet throughout the speech by Arthur. He had taken in all the information and he had a feeling that everything he heard was the absolute truth. He had no idea why he felt that was, but he had learned to trust his feelings in the past, and therefore he didn't question it too much.

Taking almost five minutes to think through everything, Jayden looked at Arthur and started to question him.

"Will I keep my memories? If I am going to take over someone else's body, do I not need to know his past? Also, will I not be in danger if the person was poisoned? Finally, why me?"

Smiling at the intelligent questions that he was being asked, Arthur replied, "You do not need to worry about being in danger. Everyone who was involved in the poisoning of the body died in an unrelated incident which brought everything happening to the attention of the authorities. This will in fact give you an advantage as the authorities will offer you an entirely new identity. A fresh start if you will.

You will be keeping your memories and personality as your soul is what will be placed into the body. You will also gain the full memories of your predecessor if you agree. It will not come with any emotional attachment or personality though. It will feel closer to a movie than anything else for you.

The reason that you were chosen is because you died at close enough the same time as the old inhabitant of the body that you could take over without anyone in that world being the wiser. Also, as I had previously said, the event that caused you to have your throat slit in your old world was unfortunately due to another God. This caused a divergence in your destiny which allows for us God's to do something like this. Don't worry about that God though, he crossed the wrong people and ended up dead quite soon afterwards."

Over the next couple of minutes, Kaden asked and received answers to a couple of other questions and queries that he had. Finally, he decided he had enough information to make an informed choice.

Looking Arthur dead in the eyes, Kaden said, "I accept your offer. As well as your challenge. In this life, I will walk the Path of Stars. Let's see exactly how far I will get."

Smiling in response, Arthur replied, "I very much look forward to it. Hopefully, you will be able to stand by side with me at the end of it.

Goodbye Kaden. I will be watching over you, like I watch over all my candidates."

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, Kaden felt his form collapse from human to a ball of light again. Then he knew no mare.

While Kaden lost consciousness, Arthur was still standing in front of him. Smiling once again, Arthur couldn't help but think, 'You are going to shake everything up, and I will enjoy watching what you do.'