Chapter 1 : A second chance

Author's note: In case you haven't read the notice in the Synopsis. As of the 8th of June 2021, B route of Once Human, Now a Parasite has officially begun. There will be regular updates and the story is completely different from this one, but there are a lot of recurring characters. In essence, the two stories separate and can be read separately with the exception of a few plot points which will be delved deeper upon in route B.

Arthur awoke from his sleep, or better call it a nightmare, due to the sound of the Iron door opening. He just knew it would be another day for them to torture him. It has been like that for months now, he stopped counting after passing the 100th day, he couldn't even scream from pain anymore, as he slowly yet surely got used to this inhuman torture and all of it was for what? Just money, apparently his so-called 'wife' just married him and wanted his money, so she plotted to kidnap him then resorted to torture him to force him to pass all his stocks and ownership to her.

His company was different from the rest and even though she's his legal wife, even if he dies, she most likely will not inherit anything. So, she needs him to personally sign many documents, which he persistently refused at first.

They tortured him in all kinds of ways, cutting, whipping, starving him for several days, and even forcing him to watch her as she copulated just so she could see the look in his eyes when she was doing it with another man and, honestly, that sight was not affectionate but utterly disgusting, even causing him to vomit. First, he was asking her why all this cruelty, but as the days went on, Arthur knew his begging and crying wouldn't do him any good so he just turned into a mute, neither responding to her questions nor showing any reaction.

He had accepted his fate but the hatred and rage that dwelled within him kept growing every second, in fact, he wanted to kill them in the worst possible way and pay back everything they had done to him yet he knew that it was just naught but wishful-thinking.

Arthur Bilgart was never a religious man but that didn't stop him from believing in the existence of a higher being, God, out there, gazing down at his creations. Unfortunately, after all that happened to him, his beliefs were purged and his silent prayers were forsaken.

The miserable and painful days continued, the torture became worse and despite Arthur's silence, the rage dwelling inside of him deepened.

On one particular day, the victim's surroundings drastically changed and his wife and the torturer suddenly stopped moving, their bodies became motionless like statues.

Confused and lost, he looked around only to see a human-like figure appear out of thin air and stand in front of him, he couldn't really distinguish the silhouette's face, it seemed blurry but maybe it was him being dizzy. Moreover, they dug out one of his eyes, making him barely able to see properly.

"Greetings Mr. Arthur, you don't look very healthy hahaha"

The man mockingly spoke with a clear tone that seemed to echo inside Arthur's head.

At first, Arthur thought he was hallucinating so he pretended not to see him and glanced around the room.

"Ah! Perhaps the missing eye is messing up your sight? Let me generously help."

The man approached him and touched his forehead with his index finger, and, just like that, Arthur's right eye was back, he didn't know how to describe it, but his right eye was fully restored, he felt no pain whatsoever throughout the entire process.

The pain coming from his missing eye was gone and in just a few seconds, he was able to properly and clearly. This strange occurrence made him sit there in total disbelief, questioning the realism of the unfolding events. 

After a short while of awkward silence, he lifted his head and finally acknowledged the presence of this mysterious man.

"You finally noticed me. Very nice to meet you, the name is 'X'."

"What are you?"

Hearing such a basic and cliché question, 'X' chuckled and replied:

"No need to get agitated. I just introduced myself, haven't I? It'll be troublesome to get into the details but I'm similar to what you mortals consider a God, though out there, we call ourselves Overgods but I digress. I'm here to propose quite a good deal."

"A deal? What kind of deal?"-Arthur.

'X' approached him and extended his hand, suddenly, a black orb with some purple lines around it appeared in his hand:

"I want to give you a second chance, a new life in a different world. I guess you can call it some form of reincarnation. You will retain your memories, however, before I'm a God, I'm a businessman and I don't do things that do not profit me so, if you're interested, you'll have to agree to some conditions."

To be honest, Arthur couldn't believe what he had just heard, a second chance? He thought about that a lot while being tortured and wondered that if he had chosen a better wife, would things have turned out differently? Or maybe if he had been more careful, he wouldn't be trapped in such a desolate place for so long.

To become a wealthy CEO of an international company, Arthur passed many hurdles in his life and if there's something to nitpick about his personality then it's just that he's too innocent or perhaps too trusting?  To be more accurate, he drops his guard against people whom he's familiar with. 

After all, it's not an everyday occurrence that your wife betrays you like this. Yes, their relationship wasn't the best but that's not a good reason for her cruelty. Partially, it's his fault for not expecting such a thing to happen, either from his wife or any other person. 

Maybe after living the good life and forgetting about his poor childhood, he ended up dropping his guard.

Arthur looked at this 'man' carefully, this mysterious person in front of him seemed kind of demonic, he wore a black suit and had a gold cane in his right hand. In terms of appearance, he didn't look a tiny bit like a merciful God but that didn't stop Arthur from pondering about the offer rather than straight out rejecting such a rare opportunity.

He gazed at the entity before him and said:

"Why did you choose me? Surely there are people suffering from a life more miserable than mine, better candidates or suitable choices."

"Indeed there are, but you have something special, something that not every miserable person can have. The hatred and rage that have been accumulating in you through the past months are something really unbelievable." 

'X' sounded so genuine while praising Arthur's 'rage', he even became a bit excited as he inspected the bloody mortal from head to toe. Actually, the Overgod wasn't really lying but he wasn't telling the full truth either.

Just like Arthur said, there are better candidates which can feed the orb at a faster pace but he bet on Arthur due to another reason, a personal one.

"The conditions... what are they?"

'X' clapped his hands and laughed as he heard Arthur's question.

"Nothing too restrictive. One, I'll seal your anger because with your current state, I doubt you'll remain sane and can even go slaughter everybody in your way once your there. Two, I need you to eat this orb... don't give me that look, it'll really help you."

"..." 

Time crept by and Arthur gave no answer, his eyes cast on the cold ground, thinking about everything. At last, he looked back at the blurry-faced 'X' and said:

"If those are the only conditions then I accept."

"Alright, it'll be really exciting to watch you grow, I'll also gift you some unique abilities. By the way, you have to kill yourself to be able to reincarnate, since I can't interfere in this world's matters."

He then passed him the black orb, which Arthur swallowed straight away. It tasted sour, but it was not that bad, actually, he really couldn't feel anything after swallowing it, so he asked 'X' why, but the latter just shrugged while chuckling.

'X' then tapped Arthur's shoulder with his cane, somehow sealing his anger and rage. It was such a simple and unimpressive action so the latter doubted if the Overgod really did anything.

After talking about the conditions once more 'X' vanished just like he appeared and time resumed once again.

Everything returned to normal and the people in the room resumed their movements. Just like that, they continued torturing him like any other day, yet this time he didn't care, because he knew he would soon die and leave this miserable world.

While they were leaving the room after having their 'fun' with him, Arthur laughed and was noticed by his wife, Claudia.

"What are you laughing at? Did you finally turn insane?" asked Claudia.

He just ignored her and kept laughing…

"You'll rot in here for your entire life or until you give us what we want, so no use laughing or searching for pity from me, I'm just your wife on paper, you didn't even take care of me or say that you loved me even once." exclaimed Claudia.

Arthur finally stopped laughing and glared at her with his remaining eye. (The healed eye returned to its previous state after X left).

"I swear that I'll come back for you even if it takes an eternity! You Bitch!"

The woman snorted and spat in his direction, not caring about his cursing or loud tone. 

As he was left alone again Arthur thought about his life on Earth, what led to the present and how he could live better and more efficiently in the next life.

After being lost in thought for a couple of minutes he bit his tongue as hard as he could to kill himself, the pain from biting his tongue was almost nonexistent, compared to what he had been through, it was simply nothing.

Though biting the tongue would not kill someone instantly, he kept doing it until blood flowed endlessly from his mangled tongue. Time slowly passed and when enough blood leaked out, his breathing became slower and his skin turned paler, a few more minutes passed before he finally took his last breath and died.

'X' never told him what the world he was going be reincarnated in was and which race he was going to be.

Usually, reincarnation would lead him to a new life with a baby's body, at least that's what those famous stories found online tell. 

The process was rather instantaneous and not as fascinating as he thought it would be. After a slight dizziness, his blurry vision cleared bit by bit and the pain coming from all over his body vanished.

The first thing he saw greatly shocked him, there were green plants with leafs ten or twenty times size and far away, there was a ginormous animal.