1 Death And The Spinning Wheel (1/2)

Max Dwayne slowly opened his eyes, a mix of gold and red glinting in the light that poured down from the ceiling below. He wasn't sure how he got there, but Max sure as hell knew he wasn't dreaming, his dreams had never been this realistic. The feeling of a cool marble floor beneath him, the scent of numerous scented candles, the amount of light that shone into his heterochromia colored eyes. All of it was just much too vivid to be a dream, much too lifelike. The most noteable thing about this was the fact that he was currently naked, without a scrap of clothing currently on him.

Max pushed himself up, his joints creaking from the strain and his muscles crying out as he struggled into a sitting position. His body felt like it was on fire, as if he had just finished an 8 hour workout at the gym. He grimaced slightly and rubbed his shoulders with his hand before turning his gaze and finally looking at his surroundings. There actually wasn't that much to look at, just a long hallway with a door at the end of it. The only thing that seemed worth mentioning was the door itself which stood out among the comparatively bland surrounding. It looked to be 3 meters in height and, upon further inspection, seemed to be completely made out of precious gems, which probably made it the most expensive door money could buy. The door was made out of gold, emeralds were studded into the center and diamonds lined the edges. If that didnt make it the most ostentatious door known to man, then the bright ruby doorknob was definitely the icing on the cake. The door was definitely a work of art but it just seemed so out of place next to the stone gray walls and pitch black marble floor.

"Guess I should get the hell up. Better to get up and explore then to sit on my ass all day. I gotta find my clothes anyways." Max rolled over and pushed himself up after 5 minutes of great difficulty. It seemed that all the strength had been sucked out of him, but not only his strength but his thoughts as well. He couldnt seem to remember how he even got into this hallway, let alone why he felt so weak. Oddly though, he wasn't freaked out, rather he was abnormally calm about all of this, considering the facts though, odds are he was probably just in shock and/or denial about the whole situation. After all it was just too bizarre, waking up completely naked in a hallway with a majestic door that lead to who knew where. Any sane person would've either felt denial or shock and immediately assumed that they were dreaming and would outright refuse reality. However Max was probably one of the few people who could think rationally in times of confusion and pressure, never having been one who was prone to panicking or stressing.

"It looks like that doors my only way out of here," Max mumbled as he stretched his shaky legs in an attempt to get some feeling back into them. "I guess I'll take it, but I swear if there's anything weird behind it, I'd rather stay in this god damn hallway." He finished stretching his legs and began a shaky walk towards the door, his leg strength bwing so weak that he had to lean against the wall for support. Each and every step towards it felt like trying to walk through wet cement, his legs constantly threatening to give out from beneath him. Max gritted his teeth and kept walking forward, determined to at least reach the mysterious door at the end of the hallway. The walk only lasted 30 minutes, but to Max it seemed to take hours, each step harder to take then the previous one. By the time he made it to the door, most of his body was shaking and his muscles threatened to give out as he reached for the blood red door handle.

It was cold to the touch which, honestly speaking, wasnt that surprising considering that it was a precious metal. Max took a deep breath, one to relax his quivering muscles, and another to calm his nerves which were now on the rise. "Have some guts, you pansy, its just another door!" He took one more breath and pushed it open, and was slightly surprised by how light it was. The door was so light that it was almost as if it wasnt even there, but while this was pretty amazing, it wasnt even in the same category as what was beyond the door. The room connecting to the door was empty, nothing but pitch blackness for as far as the eye could see, it was like if the world had been engulfed by Blackbeards devil fruit.

"What was the name of the fruit again," Max racked his brain as he took a step onto the only spot of light inside the darkness. "Oh yeah, the Yami Yami no mi."

As soon as the words left his lips, a light flashed, illuminating the darkness and drawing his eyes towards a huge desk with four hooded figures sitting behind it. Each figure face was hidden behind a white hooded cloak, their faces hidden behind kiren masks. 'Arent those anbu black ops masks?' Max tilted his head a little to try and get a better look but that was when one of them took out something from beneath their cloaks and dropped it onto the table. Giving up on the masks, Max glanced at the thing on the table and then back at the person who placed it there. "Max Dwayne, a shame that one such as yourself had to die so young." At first it was immensely difficult to pinpoint the one who was speaking, but it bacme easier when the one who spoke raised his hand and began rifling through the book he had dropped onto the table. Max decided to call him Gintama.

Gintama flipped through the pages ever so slowly as if he was looking for something. "I don't know how you'll take this but, Max Dwayne, you are dead. It says here that you were killed in a car accident on your way to school. Then again, it also says that it's completely your fault based on the fact that you weren't looking where you were going nor did you stop at the crosswalk when the lights changed." Gintama glanced up from the middle of his speech before looking back down. "However, since you died so young we'd be willing to make an exception to you this one time."

Max frowned slightly, his brain processing the words, and found them strangely comforting. Not the fact that he was dead, or that his death was his own fault, but that it explained where the hell he was and what was going on. No matter what happened in his life, Max always wanted to be told what was happening, to know that he had control over his own life, or in this case, control over his own death. "What do you mean by that exactly Gintama? You gonna bring me back to life? If you are thatd be really kick-ass!" He smiled and threw a fist into the air.

"No unfortunately we cant send you ba....wait what did you just call me?" Gintama asked, his mask tilting to the side slightly.

"I called you Gintama, dont worry its nothing bad so please continue." Max gestured woth his hands and smiled slightly. Gintama looked at him for a bit longer before glancing at the other 3 members sitting next to him. The other three nonchalantly met his gaze and merely nodded their heads before returning their gazes back to Max who was still smiling politely. Gintama sighed and began drumming his fingers on the desk, and tilted his mask downwards, giving the impression of once again perusing the book in front of him.

"Anyways, as I was saying previously, you'll be unable to return to your world, at leadt in your current form. Its simply impossible to do that without upsetting the natural balance of things." Gintama flipped the page before continuing to talk. "However, since you died young you will have a chance at a second life, but the kind of life may or may not be the one you prefer."

"Can you elaborate please Gintama? I'm still kinda at a loss here." Max Rubved his hands together, feeling slightly cold as he was still naked. One of the figures noticed this and waved his/her hand making clothes appear on him out of thin air. It wasnt anything too fancy, just a white tshirt and jeans, but it felt marginally more comfortable then just standing out in the nude. "Thanks sir, I greatly appreciate it." Max bowed towards him with an appreciative smile on his face.

"Max, It's actually pretty a pretty simple explanation. You see, we only select a couple of people for this every couple of years to actually do this but its still super easy to do. All you gotta do is spin a wheel." Gintama looked up from the book and glanced over at the other members. One of them stood up and walked back towards the darkness, disappearing completely into it. "Its not hard, all you have to do is spin it and pray your luck is good enough to get what you want."

Max stared at them with a blank face, confusion written all over his face. How in the hell could one decide their own life based on a wheel? It had to be a joke, something someone with a twisted sense of humor came up with. He mentally ridiculed this idea until the person who had walked away before, cmae back pushing a gigantic wheel on wheels. He almost laughed out loud when he saw it, and realized that the twisted joke was actually true. The wheel itself was pretty big about a meter in length with it being split into 8 parts. Each part of it had a different name on it and were Animal, Plant, Bacteria, Inanimate Object, Ameoba, Human, Alien, and Wild. Each one was spaced out evenly except the "Wild" plate which was just a sliver, almost close to nonexistent.

"Hey Ginatama, whats with the small ass 'Wild' panel on here? You guys trying to cheat me?" He glanced up from the wheel and stared at them for a couple of seconds.

"No Max Dwayne, that is just how its set up, each one is separated according to your desire. Those that you truly want to go to are significantly smaller then those that you no longer choose to return to." Gintama calmly explained this to him as Max continued to observe the wheel. "The wheel is different for each person and never truly the same for each. However, the more you want something the harder it is to obtain, this is how things usually work in the world. If you want strength then you have to work hard to obtain it. If you want to be a great doctor then you have to study hard to obtain it. This is the way the world works and this wheel reflects that. So no matter what you want the most, if you dont have enough luck then you will never obtain what you desire. This is the Wheel of Destiny!"

Max laughed and looked back at the wheel. "The Wheel of Destiny? Thats such a boring name though, why not call it something else? There's tons of other name out there why dub it as that pitful name?" Max ran a hand along the surface if the wheel. "In any case, if what your saying is correct then how come wild is so small and not human?" Max stared at the rather large pie that contained 'Human' on it.

"That's because you desire something else entirely, something that only the wild card can grant to you. If you had desired to be human again then the human slice wouldve been smaller, but it seems that you have a strong desire that vastly outweighs your desire for humanity." Gintama closed the book and placed it back inside of his cloak before standing up and walking towards the wheel. "All thats left for you is to simply give it a good spin and let fate and luck take over."

//My old account kicked me out so.......here I am in a new account, but I AM the original author soooo yeah