Second Life

Aston Hersch, a video game developer with a successful indie game company, died in an accident when he was hit by a falling beam near a construction site on his way back from work.

He was unable to process what happened before everything went black. However, Aston woke up in another world as a newborn child and didn't remember anything from his past life. As a baby, his brain couldn't hold onto memories, and it wasn't until he reached his teenage years that he began to regain them.

Aston was reborn as a boy with black hair and brown eyes. The world he was born into was far ahead of the time and technology of the twentieth-century world he was from.

In this world, while magic and superpowers did not exist, one could still learn and gain such abilities thanks to the Life Gates, A technology born from the culmination of knowledge and technology from the universal coalition. This technology allowed all sentient and intelligent life to change their lives forever.

At this point, every sufficiently advanced society had a claim to at least one or more Life Gates for their civilization to use.

For most, these Life Gates were just a way for one to have a chance to start their life over in hopes of a happier life, others used them to gain power and glory, and for some, it was for business.

Aston has few memories of his parents, who died when he was 6. They were Pioneers whose job was to explore and clear newly built gates.

Pioneering is dangerous because no one knows whether a gate is safe. Sometimes Pioneers could enter and die instantly due to various reasons. Other times they are met with hostility by foreign species.

The steps one must take as a Pioneer is first to find a local habitable planet and categorize the resources and local life forms. The quicker they cleared them, the least amount of resources spent to do so. The better they were paid, then if one could find proof of whether there are abilities in the universe, such as magic and superpowers, they earned a bonus. The more detailed their report, the better.

His parents were humans who had cybernetic enhancements and gene therapy to become superhuman. They were fast, intelligent, and had great endurance. They could punch through 1 ft of solid concrete and run as fast as 30 mph.

Yet they were still human; if they were shot or stabbed, they would still die. They were just significantly more challenging to kill than normal humans.

Unfortunately, the Gate that Aston's parents entered was a red Gate, and their whole team died on the other side. Every subsequent team sent after to see if they could determine why the previous team died met a similar fate as well. So the gate was determined to be too dangerous to keep open and was closed. His older sister and brother raised Aston.

They lived off the pension of their parents. All pioneers who die on the other side of a gate have contracts that protect their families in unfortunate circumstances.

In case of death, the family will receive a pension to help them survive. Aston's siblings were already adults when their parents died. Education is significantly better and streamlined in today's world. By 18, one would finish school and be capable of getting a career job.

College was a thing of the past. The only thing separate from regular schools was the Military Gate universities, where civilian and military members could get education and training on how to survive on the other side of Gates.

One would start school here after middle school if they were rich or influential enough to attend. Otherwise, one had to receive a ticket from the military to attend.

Aston has two siblings, one sister and one brother. Layla Hersch and Charles Hersch. Layla studied to become a scientist in school and became a Life Gate Scientist whose job was to help make and maintain and study Life Gates.

His brother Charles decided to join the military so that he could get a ticket for his brother to go to Gate University. All members of the military who served more than ten years would be given a blue ticket which would allow them or a family member to attend the university.

Charles hopes to retire after twenty years and live a calm life with a wife and kids. When Aston had just finished Middle School and awoke the next day with memories of a past life, it did not change much for him but made him vow to live his next life to the fullest.

Aston was a handsome young man now with black hair and brown eyes. He had a chiseled jaw and was tall. Genetic engineering allows humans to enjoy good genetics if one's family isn't too poor.

Although laws prevented changes other than health and cosmetic improvements, things like creating super intelligent or emotion-free children were banned. Layla and Charles were fraternal twins born at the same time.

Now both are 28 years old. Layla was a short girl with long black hair that sat at her waist and brown eyes. She had milk-white skin and a face carved like white jade.

Charles had a rough and unkempt face. He was not ugly and had more of a manly handsomeness to him. He had short and neatly trimmed hair, standard in the military, and a beard.

Their family house was on a terraformed moon in the military quadrant. A commodity owed to Charles, who received housing for his family to live with him.

It was a two-story house with a basement on a 4-acre property with all the amenities needed: a pool, gym, garden, full kitchen, plenty of bedrooms and storage, a garage, and even a small park.

One day Aston woke up with his head full of pain.

"Ahh, my head hurts" As Aston woke up, it was the first thing he said.

His head felt like it was splitting open, and his ears were ringing. Looking around, he felt confused and didn't recognize where he was for a moment.

"Who am I? Where am I?" as he said this, his head hurt again, and the ringing got louder. "My name, what is it?"

Then, as if receiving and answering, the name Aston popped up in his head. "That's right. My name is Aston Hersch. I'm 16 years old. I live with my brother Charles Hersch and Layla Hersch."

As he recalled this, his head again started to sting with pain as memories foreign to him began to flood back. As he tossed around in pain, Aston fell off the bed with a loud thump while clutching his head in pain.

"Ahh!" He couldn't help but yell in pain.

This pain was truly an excruciating experience. Who would have thought having a lifetime of memories jammed in your head would hurt so bad? After a while, the pain started to subside, and the ringing in his ears got quiet.

"So I had lived a whole other life in a twentieth-century world as a game designer? I was a neet who stayed home on his computer all day watching anime, playing video games, and reading novels all day. How unfortunate I died a virgin too when I finally got the courage to ask a girl out."

As he slowly recalled his previous life's memory, he couldn't relate to it all that much; it was an entirely different existence compared to how people live now. However, he quite enjoyed the stories he recalled from his past life, Specifically games like Dark Souls, World of Warcraft, and Elden Ring. He immensely enjoyed these fantasy-type rpgs. He also loved the Harry Potter movies.

As he was sitting there, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Aston, breakfast is ready! Are you alright up there? I heard you yelling, and there was a loud thump?" Kayla stood outside his door after knocking on the bedroom door. "I'm fine, Kayla. I just stubbed my toe and fell." Aston lied while shaking his head.

After thinking about it briefly, Aston decided that his previous life had nothing to do with his current life. All it did was make him more determined to live a good life now and make sure he got a girlfriend.

Plus, in this world, he could live the life his previous self could only dream of. Specifically, fantasy worlds lay just behind a door in this life or a Gate, technically.

"I will be down in a minute, Kayla; tell Charles you can start eating without me." Aston exited the floor, entered his bathroom, and washed his face. As he splashed his face with water, he couldn't help but admire his face.

"If there is one thing for sure, I am way more handsome now than before. Thanks to the advanced way of life now compared to then, very few people are unlucky enough to be ugly. Not that I was ugly then, but I am definitely more handsome now."

Aston went to his closet and changed into blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and black tennis shoes. As he walked down the stairs, he couldn't help but appreciate it more. Compared to the twentieth century, everything now was streamlined and easy.

Homelessness was not a problem, and everyone could get a job. The house he lived in was completely automatic; it had nanobots that cleaned the house and even a robot butler to cook food.

Holographic pictures hung along the stairwell that moved like those in Hogwarts Castle. They had Lifelike movements, but they did not talk or react to him, just replayed a particular moment before repeating, but still, it was nice.

Towards the bottom of the stairway hung a picture of the family sitting down for a picnic with Aston, a toddler, and his sibling as teenagers. His mom and dad were smiling and laughing while watching their kids play in their park.

Standing there, he heard a voice calling behind him, "They loved you very much, Aston, I know you barely remember them, but I want you to know they loved you. Even though they were gone a lot, they cared for us." Charles put down his fork and looked at Aston as he said this.

"I know; although I have few memories of Mom and Dad, they were good ones," Aston said as he looked away from the picture and sat at the kitchen table. Breakfast was simple: bacon, eggs, toast, and orange juice. Although not necessarily nutritious, it was tasty.

Nowadays, all food produced in the Human Empire is made to the highest health standards and is clean. If one didn't overeat, one would never get fat or become diabetic. All those nasty practices of filling food with unhealthy additives and fillers were long gone, and all products were as natural as possible. Plus, with mandatory Physical activities in school, all people were in shape.

"Thanks, Codsworth, for making breakfast," Aston said as he looked at the humanoid robot butler in the kitchen cleaning the dishes. "No problem, Sir. It is my duty to serve the Hersch family." Codsworth looked completely human, except that he had a serial number on the back of his neck.

Robot servants were not sentient but had advanced AI that allowed human-like behavior and decision-making capabilities. Still, they could only act so far beyond their programming.

"Isn't it fascinating what technology can achieve? This is why I became a scientist, Even though you can use magic or gain superpowers in another universe. Technology is the only way forward for us here." Kayla said as she looked up from behind her book at the table with a sparkle in her eyes.

"All that stuff is too complicated for me; that is why I joined the military to have a simple career where my job is to protect or fight. I will leave all that fancy stuff to you too." Charles said and paused as he looked at Aston.

"Are you looking forward to going to Gate University? Your brother here worked for ten long and hard years, enduring hardship and loss so that his younger brother could achieve his dreams at the cost of his." Charles said as he faked, cried, and rubbed his eyes.

"Who are you trying to fool here, Charles? Codsworth won't cry for you. Isn't your dream to retire from the military so that you can find a pretty girl with red hair to marry and have kids with?" Aston said as he pointed his fork at Charles.

"Cheh, can't you pretend to care about your older brother's pain? I have been trying to find a girlfriend for ten long years, and they all reject me. Doesn't this can't be enduring hardship and loss." Charles said, managing to squeeze out a fake tear from his eye.

"Maybe if you didn't walk up to every girl you were interested in and ask her to marry you, how many kids would she be willing to have? No girl likes a man that is that straightforward. You must spend time with them and build trust and love." Kayla said as she got up and put her dish in the sink for Codsworth.

Charles looked aggrieved and looked at Codsworth with puppy eyes. "Sir, as much as I would like to help you, I was not programmed to help in matters of love," Codsworth said in a playful tone. "Ahh, the world is cruel as my family," Charles said as he deflated in rejection.

"To answer your question, brother, I am excited to go to a fantasy world. It has always been my dream, and now I am even more motivated to do it." Aston said as he got up, walked over the Charles, and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, brother, I have learned well from you, I'll make sure I get a girlfriend, so I am not abandoned in this world" Charles was at first smiling but soon looked sad. Then he said, "If I don't get a girlfriend before you, my last name isn't Hersch." He said as he shook his fist in the air.

Aston laughed and looked out the window into space. "Soon, I will see what fascinated my parents about other universes to make it their career to explore them." Aston Hersch lived an average life as a videogame developer running a small but successful indie game company with a few games reaching the top sellers list on Steam.