Chapter 2- A Second Chance

After what felt like maybe a minute, I could no longer tell what direction I was facing. Though I could determine that I was probably facing somewhat downward, because of the feeling of my guts being pushed into my back.

Truthfully, I didn't know whether I was dead or if I was actually falling into a stupidly deep pit. Either way, the whole situation leading up to where I was now felt unreal. It defied all logic and reason.

-I must have died. This must be a delusion onset by my brain in its last few seconds before shutting off forever.

-Pfft. Of course.

If I did die, I knew very well the reason.

-Cardiac arrest. I'm such a loser.

It was at that point I had truly accepted my fate. I could feel my face contract into a smile as I relaxed my body and closed my eyes.

"Hmph…Hahaha—"

[Initiating 'System Startup' sequence]

"Bwah!" I blurted out in complete confusion.

-That lady. Her voice. But, how?

It was the same voice as the woman who literally scared me to death. I heard her voice clearly, but once again I hadn't been paying enough attention to properly comprehend the actual words she spoke.

['System Startup' successfully initiated]

-System Startup?!

[Welcome 'Asher' to Elyrius]

-Elyrius?

I open my eyes to see that I was still falling into the lightless abyss. Focusing my eyes, I had noticed the bright lights in the corners of my view. They were words and numbers. The kind you see on the side of your screen when playing a videogame.

[Health: 12/34]

[Thirst: 89/98]

[Hunger: 146/119]

[Level: 0]

[Xp: 0/1]

[Status: Overly satiated, Confused, Diabetes, Depressed, Anxious, Suicidal, Regretful, High blood pressure, Insecure, Embarrassed, Aging, Stinky, Dirty, Rotting teeth, Noxious breath, Surprised]

-What does any of this mean? It's like the videogames I play. Or maybe I'm being summoned to another world as a hero!

Surprisingly, the whole ordeal got me more than a little excited. I always fantasized about stuff like that coming true and happening to me. For it to have actually happened was really uncanny. Nevertheless, I began to feel a different feeling. One that was distinguishable from the feeling of falling. A nice feeling had swelled up inside me.

Stretching my limbs out I shouted out "Woohoo! Here I come!"

My dumb smile quickly twisted into a frown of terror after viewing the sight below me.

It was the ground, and It was coming at me fast. I saw brightly lit surfaces of what appeared to be a pool of water.

I knew that at the speed that I was falling the water would be as lethal as landing on any other surface.

I started flailing my limbs wildly out of fear for my life.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

['Feather Fall' activated]

I tightened my eyes shut as I flinched away from the incoming impact.

Up and down my body I felt a weird sensation resonating from the surface of my skin. It was like hairs rapidly growing larger and larger. I felt them gain drag on the wind pushing against me. Slowly at first, but gradually more and more, it felt as if the speed of me falling had drastically decreased.

Opening my eyes, I saw all up and down my skin and clothes were thick layers of feathers. That had slowed my fall down to a crawl. Maybe around 10-20 meters beneath me was the pool of water shimmering brightly. On closer inspection, it was surrounded by torches that had beautifully lit its clear light-blue surface.

['Feather Fall' deactivated]

-What?!

In a second all the feathers on my body vanished into nothingness right before my eyes. As soon as that happened my body began to pick back up its lost momentum.

"Aaa—!"

My cry was cut short when I belly-flopped straight into the water, quickly sinking under. As soon as I recovered my senses I swam back to the surface. Catching my breath, I spat out the water I had unintentionally got in my mouth.

-That was painful. But it sure beats dying.

['Water of Cleansing' activated]

-Water of Cleansing?!

I immediately felt like my skin was burning. Yet, for a reason unbeknownst it wasn't a painful sensation. Looking down I saw my clothes disintegrating off of my body into mushy clumps floating on the water's surface.

-I'm melting in acid!

I swam like a madman to escape the vat of acid. Though for some reason I wasn't scared at all. Nor did I really feel like I was in all that much pain. Despite this, I didn't want to melt alive, so I swam to the edge and pulled myself out.

Falling to the ground I lied on my back panting, and on the verge of vomiting. Looking to the videogame UI surrounding the corners of my vision, I was overtaken with the realization of what had happened.

[Health: 100/100]

[Thirst: 100/100]

[Hunger: 100/100]

[Level: 0]

[Xp: 0/1]

[Status: Cleansing]

-Here It goes.

I quickly shot up to puke out a massive pool of black liquid. It smelled absolutely awful like ammonia and sulfur.

I felt like I had an idea of what had just happened to me. So, to confirm if it were true I looked down to see exactly what I thought I would. All the fat that was on my body had been burned away leaving behind a lithe toned body in its wake.

['Water of Cleansing' deactivated]

As soon as I saw and heard those words in my eyes and my ears. The fear of burning alive suddenly set in. I started to sweat bullets. Rubbing the sweat of my forehead I realized it had the color and consistency of oil.

I let out a sigh of relief, realizing I was probably going to be fine. I realized that the feeling of wanting to live was one I hadn't had for many years.

-No way.

Once again looking back to the UI I saw:

[Health: 100/100]

[Thirst: 92/100]

[Hunger: 95/100]

[Level: 0]

[Xp: 0/1]

[Status: Afraid, Naked, Happy]

It was like all the stress built up over my entire life had disappeared forever without a trace.

Standing up, I walked over to the pool of water and looked at my reflection. Who I saw was definitely me. But it wasn't a me that had ever had a chance to exist. I was skinny, youthful, and handsome. I looked to be maybe in my early twenties. But when I was in my twenties my physique had already rapidly deteriorated to an unhealthy level.

The reflection stared back at me. Black tears were rolling down his face.

-Why am I crying?

I once again fell to my knees reenacting the outburst I had in the park right before all of this had started. My tears mixed with the murky black puddle of liquid underneath me. I Slammed the floor while laughing and crying. This time I wasn't crying for regret.

*sniffle* "Thank you, God. Truly. Thank you."

[Health: 100/100]

[Thirst: 89/100]

[Hunger: 94/100]

[Level: 0]

[Xp: 0/1]

[Status: Naked, Overjoyed, Crying, Dirty, Stinky]