1 It was just a joke!

Lying down on a comfortable hospital bed, I quietly listened to the old butler that was reading out loud a letter from my parents. Though it was very long, once you skipped through all the pleasantries there wasn't much actually written.

What it basically said was "The doctors said there was nothing else they could do. The disease has evolved too far and they said you only have a few weeks left to live. Unfortunately we can't make it to see you as we are in China closing a very important deal but you don't have to worry though as our butler Fred is stationed at the hospital and if there is anything you need just let him know and he will provide it for you."

It sounded very cold but I was already used to it. My parents were incredibly rich and when I was diagnosed with the disease at birth I was told they hired the best doctors around the world to try and cure me, unfortunately it didn't take very long for the doctors to deem my disease incurable, at least in my lifetime.

The disease first destroyed my vocal chords and ligaments when I was just a baby and it continued to slowly corrode my body. There was a very large medical name for it but people eventually started calling it "The Corruption". A very scary disease that ate at your insides leaving it pitch black. It was deemed not contagious by the various doctors but they still kept me contained just in case as it was an extremely frightening disease that they still couldn't fully understand. At least the doctors weren't completely useless as they were able to keep me alive until now.

Although sometimes I wish that they would take me out of my misery, I know that they were very interested in my condition so they were trying their best to keep me alive for as long as possible. At least I was pumped full of drugs most of the time so the pain was practically nonexistent.

As I couldn't move or speak since I was a young my parents eventually stopped visiting as much especially after my little brother was born. I have never actually seen him but honestly I don't mind. I'm not supposed to live that long anyways so it's better for him to not know me at all so at least he won't suffer when I'm finally gone, though from the looks of it this is as far as I can go.

Even though I was going to die soon I wasn't really afraid. What can be worse than the state I'm in now? I was actually quite looking forward to it. Will there be anything else? Will it be heaven or hell? Maybe reincarnation like the Novels I read or the anime and movies that I watched all day?

Thinking back to them I became excited and my heart rate slowly started going up. I always tried to control it as the doctors said my weak body couldn't take much excitement but as I was going to die soon anyways I don't think it really matters anymore. For the rest of the day I daydreamed of being reborn into another world with a powerful healthy body as I flew around in the sky like a god.

After a few hours I could feel that my tired body couldn't take anymore and was slowly breaking down so as I fell asleep I already knew it would be the last time I closed my eyes. I decided to try one last thing though before I left this world.

When I was younger I was taught how to pray by a priest that had come to the hospital. He had gone to speak to many of the kids but I knew he was only visiting the ones that had no chance of surviving so of course I was included. He taught us in hopes we would convert before we died but after I prayed daily for a cure so I could go to school and live a life like a normal person nothing ever happened. There was no answer or cure so eventually I gave up and never tried it again.

'Uhm.. hello.. haha' It felt a little embarrassing as I haven't done this in so long.

'So um, I know I haven't talked with you in a while but I mean it's not like you gave me a happy life either so I guess we are even right?... Well anyways, if there really is another life after this can I please at least have my health? It's all I'm asking for. You can make me whatever you want. A girl, a boy, ugly, skinny or fat honestly it doesn't really matter, I don't even have to be human haha… well .. after living like this I realized that a healthy body is really the only thing that truly matters.. anyways … that's it .. no wait I think we should say Amen, yep that's it, Amen.'

Sighs…. Letting out a big sigh I slowly closed my eyes for the last time.

At least I thought it was the last time however after what seemed only like a few seconds I suddenly felt as if my body was thrown into a pool of cold water. When I opened my eyes in shock all I saw was complete darkness!

I wanted to get the doctor's attention somehow but the machines I was hooked up to weren't there anymore and my body felt extremely strange.

'Did the nurse forget to give me my drugs? .. No, not just that, there was no pain! What happened to me?'

I thought I had gone blind until I noticed a blurry shadow darting past me, though I was in complete darkness the thing was even darker than it. I was shocked and wanted to move away but I had no control over my body.

Once a few more shadows flew past and seeing that nothing actually happened I finally calmed myself down and was able to get a better look at my surroundings. My eyesight also started to slowly clear up and I looked around.

The strangest thing though was that not only could I see in front of me but also under as well which was really confusing. Underneath there was a sandy floor with some vine-like plants growing straight up into the sky and above me there was nothing. It looked like the night sky but devoid of the moon and stars, with the exception of course of the ghost-like shadows that darted around.

As my eyesight was much clearer now I tried focusing on them trying to make out what the shadows were. I saw a long tail following their kite like bodies as they hovered about flapping their wing-like fins. It took me a second but I finally realized what they were!

'Mantas!' They were like huge birds flying in the water but they looked very different from the ones he'd seen on the internet. These mantas were pitch black both on top and bottom which made it almost impossible to see in the darkness. There was also an extremely long tail that followed behind them as they flew around. The strange thing however was that they had two faces! They had the normal manga head with the big open mouth in the front but underneath them was that goofy smiley face that stingrays had!

'So I really am underwater, but how am I breathing?' I tried moving my limbs and due to my flailing my body started to slowly turn in place. While I tried to control my body from the corner of my eyes I noticed a very long pitch black tail peek out from behind me following my every move.

'Oh no'