A New Reality

My mind felt groggy.

I don't know how much time has passed since I blacked out. I was greeted by an unfamiliar surrounding. The room felt odd because it wasn't made using concrete. It felt like I had somehow travelled back in time because the room was entirely made of stone.

I tried recalling what I was doing previously and the memories of last night made me jump in surprise. This was because I was certain that I had died that night. Thinking that I was alive due to some sort of gods miracle I decided to head out of the room. But somewhere in my mind it all felt kinda weird. I looked around to find Joshua and Ragnar but they weren't seen anywhere.

I looked around carefully just in case. The room not only felt old but instead looked old as well. I was in a room made from stones. The room only had 1 piece of furniture and it was the bed that I was sleeping on.

Looking at the stones I could tell that the stones had worn out due to passage of time and not some human activity. I checked my appearance to see if anything felt out of place.

I was still wearing the same baggy clothes that I had worn on the day the robbers broke into my house. As I was checking my clothes I saw a hole present in my chest and blood that had dried on my clothes.

I began to panic because no human being could stay alive with a hole present in their body. I checked the hole and as I touched the area I was hoping that I would feel excruciating pain but I felt nothing. It was like touching a cold piece of flesh.

I tried to deny the possibility that I had died by thinking all of this was a bad dream. But somewhere in my mind I knew I was just denying reality.

I didn't notice but at some point a person had entered the room. But how was it possible I didn't even hear the sound of door opening or closing.

He looked rather pale. Was it even correct to call him pale. His skin tone was more grey than my aging hairs. He looked more like a corpse.

As soon as that thought entered my mind a weird theory began forming in my head. The person standing in front of me looked like a corpse, I had a hole present in my body. All of this pointed towards a single possible outcome and that was I somehow ended up in the world of dead. But how was this possible.

All my life I wasn't a devout believer in gods and devils or anything supernatural so I initially tried to deny that very outcome but thinking about all of this rationally I knew that I had died and was present in underworld.

Was it even right to call this place underworld.

And as if reading my thoughts the person who had just entered through the door said, "Welcome to Vespera, the realm of dead, ghosts, or whatever you call it in your own culture."

Taking a closer look at him from head to toe I realised that he really stood apart. From his facial features to his clothes. You could say that everything was unique. He had blood red coloured eyes and hair. His face wasn't either round or oval it resembled more to a shape of curved triangle. His build wasn't too much bulky but a closer look at him and you could tell he had muscles hidden underneath all the clothing. But what stood apart really was his clothing. He was dressed like a noble from medieval period. Wearing a black coloured tunic highlighted by an embossed insignia of a raven like bird on his chest. Similar to the shirt he was donned in black coloured trousers as well. The only missing detail was a robe.

"You may call me Marcus Belthaford." After that he told me about me about Vespera in more detail from its history to how it operates with the help of the colosseums.

Vespera as a world didn't resemble earth. It was divided into 3 main continents and some others small island.

The importance of any city/region was largely related to strength of the people residing there. Other than that factors like habitability, resources found, population were other factors incorporated in grading of the cities. And as a result the priority of people was encompassing strength.

Cities were graded by highlighting them with colours. The cities or towns were highlighted using black, red, orange, blue, violet and lastly green. With black signifying uninhabitable zones and green signifying cities which were comparable to national capital. Extremely safe and developed. Larginia was highlighted using the color orange.

The 3 main regions were located like 3 points of a triangle named "Zarkiovini", "Renaiskovich", "Araya",surrounded by water and numerous islands. But the area beyond waters were largely unexplored regions and it was due to the war that took place making those places uninhabitable and the chaotic waters.

In the centre of the island a giant colosseum was built where a tournament takes place every 10 years.

I felt like I became a student once again who was forced to attend a history and geography lesson with an unempathetic professor who felt like a reading machine.

With the introduction of Vespera finished Marcus began talking about the city I was currently located in. The name of the city is Larginia. The city of Larginia is ruled by the Belthaford family. It was located in the southern region of the continent Araya.

But Marcus didn't stop there he continued talking. "Vespera's foundation as I told you earlier is strength of its people . But don't confuse it with the strength of human beings. Here you can get stronger through a variety of means. Strengthening your physical body, training your mind so can you can employ magic are among the common methods used to get stronger you can learn about them in more detail by visiting the library or the colosseums."

What weirded out me was the fact that Marcus didn't even bother asking me about how I was feeling. He just came delivered information and was about to leave. But it didn't matter to me all of this felt like I was given a second chance at life and so I wanted to ensure that I would be able to see my kids again otherwise everything would be for naught.

So I looked upto him and asked a simple question, "Is it possible for me to ever leave Vespera?"

Marcus without showing a sign of surprise replied to me, "Get Stronger and you might have a answer to that question."

His answer felt so monotonous as if a machine giving a fixed response to a question.

After the introduction done Marcus simply walked out of the room and as I followed him out of the room I found myself in a giant hallway and as I looked across the room I saw numerous Marcus exiting the rooms and simply vanishing into thin air followed by numerous people who seemed lost.

It was the first shock that I had receives since I had died. Just how many copies of Marcus were randomly appearing and vanishing.

Now that I was done with all of the bombardment of information and surprises that I had received since I got here a few moment of peace allowed me to think about what I had to do and the way forward. It all still felt really confusing even now. I simply couldn't put my mind on the fact that I had died.

All of this still felt like a dream.

Pushing all those thoughts behind I decided it was better to check the city because pondering over what Marcus had told me would not help me at all.

Checking out the city and the lives of the people in Larginia and their culture would at least help me in taking my mind off of those things.

As I was heading out I looked at all the people who had found themselves in this new reality and many of them shared the same confused faces still thinking that all of this was a mere dream.

Only a few people had adjusted themselves to this new world. And like me they were also headed out. What astonished me was that in that hall I also manage to see a few animals making me wonder how they managed to get here because whenever I thought of any animal all I could think of was happy things except for the life of a few strays. I couldn't help but wonder what did they go through to end up here.

I decided to approach a dog which had bloodied fur but as soon as I started to near it the dog growled looked in my direction and growled. I stopped my approach and decided to leave it alone.

When I looked the dog in its eyes I could see something which I previously thought of as something impossible. Its eyes depicted anger and hatred which was something strange no matter what reasoning I tried to apply. These weren't the emotions I had seen in any dog

After I exited the hall what greeted me was a sky dyed red as long as my eyes could see. It felt like a I was thrown into a world from some fantasy.

As I looked around the scenery of the town it reminded me of a scenery straight out of 'Game of Thrones'. The houses made of stones and wood, lamps being used to light the places with relatively less light. People wearing what seemed like tunic or cloaks. I felt like a oddball in front of all these people because of what I wearing.

And like me the people were also gazing at us with a curious gazes but their gazes didn't linger for a long time.

I wanted to tour the city but I didn't know where to start. I thought of approaching the residents will help me as they are more familiar with the place than a newcomer like but me. As I was approaching a person who was walking down the street a thought occurred to me. Do they know English, I had a conversation with Marcus but the language I spoke felt different yet eerily familiar.

I couldn't put my mind onto how I was able to speak a language I didn't know previously with such fluency as if it was a native language to me.

I just stood there confused as to how it could be possible. The person who I was approaching looked at me and seeing my confused gaze decided to approach me.

He walked up to me and said , "Hello, I am Ron Godwin. A tavern owner in Vespera . Seeing your confused gaze you are wondering how you are able to speak a complete unfamiliar language with such frequency."

I wanted to say yes but before I could speak Ron was already explaining the reason behind that phenomenon. Apparently it was similar to default settings that we used to have installed in our electronic devices. In that sense for a better means of communication the gods had restricted the language spoken to one official language.

When I heard this explanation I tried to speak in English but all the words that came out of my mouths were broken. I couldn't believe it but after all that had happened to me in a day I thought that this might not be the weirdest thing that happened after all what can compare to life after death.

Ron on the sidelines was chuckling after seeing what I had done right after he gave the explanation. He said, "I also tried to speak in English when I came hear but the same thing happened to me. But I'm glad we all have a common language otherwise can you imagine what a mess it would have been."

"Well I didn't got the chance to introduce myself earlier. I am Austin Markiv. And as you can tell I died recently. But let me ask you a question first. Does everyone here possesses telepathy. This is the second time I wanted to ask a question and I got the answer before I could even ask for it"

All I got in return was a light chuckle. " Its not that everyone here is a telepathic but what you went through has been a rather common occurrence. But I cant say the same for Marcus." Said Ron with a wink making anyone wonder what was the deal with him.

As I looked at Ron I couldn't believe. From the interaction we had I could tell he had adapted to life here in Vespera.

Even the way he dressed in a fine dark blue tunic, long sleeved white shirt which was inflated like a balloon at his forearm and brown coloured pants and boots.

No part of his outfit reminded me of Earth. He looked like someone who was about to enter his thirties. He had black eyes and black hair. If it we were a tv show I'd call Ron as someone who couldn't grow a beard beard because his face looked clean. But his neck carried a wound much like my chest thus indicating how he had died.

"Ron, even though we only met and it might be a bit insensitive on my part can you tell me for how long you have been here.", I asked Ron.

"That I can't tell. Time passes here differently as compared to Earth. You should have noticed it but there are no stars in the sky or any natural satellite. So I can't tell. Rather the people here use seasons to tell how much time has passed. Like most places on Earth Vespera also has 2 seasons a summer and a winter. And even those summer or winters don't have a fixed duration. Some last a week some a few months."

He further continued, "On the other hand, The day and night in Vespera but aren't that difficult to distinguish.The sky you now see misdeed in shades of red but as night approaches it starts to turn blue. So it is really easy to tell apart day from night."

"But why do you look like you are still in you early thirties?"

"It is because everyones body stops aging once they come here. Sure we can perform other human functions but it seems like time has stopped for our bodies. Many people have even started new families in Vespera while other simply kill themselves before they go insane."

Weird I thought but what could be more than afterlife.

His explanation made me wonder for how much time he has been here.

"Say you were head somewhere right now so if possible can you give me a tour of the city. Of course the starting destination will be your tavern."

"You don't have to be so formal with me you know. The way you talk makes me feel like I am some senior citizen. Sure it is been a long time since I had a tour of the town with a newcomer." With that Ron started walking westward and gestured me to follow him.

After a bit of a walk we arrived at his tavern.

Ron's tavern was truly a sight to behold. It wasn't comparable to those 3 star or five star hotels in magnificence but the place had its own unique charm. Ron had managed to mix the designs of Earth with the unique theme of Vespera. I felt like I had arrived at a club for halloween. Even though it felt stereotypical with how things like skulls, voodoo dolls, black cat dolls were either painted or displayed in some form it managed to attract the people because it was somehow of a new experience for someone like me who was more accustomed to the pubs.

Inside Ron had used old, discarded barrels as tables. But the most hilarious part was that Ron decided to this death theme even for the names of the drink. I took a glance at the drinks present and their names were like Burnt Man, Heart Attack, Cancer and The Oldie.

I mean any one who took a look at the bar would have one thought. A child had let his imagination run amok here. But I guess this was what made the place unique and added to its charm. Since I wasn't thirsty or hungry I asked Ron to continue the tour of the city.

In the city Ron would point out some inns and taverns that served uniques dishes which resembled the popular dishes on Earth. He also introduced me to a tailor who could get me ant clothing of my choosing but Ron advised me to dress in a similar fashion to that of the residents unless I wanted to stand out.

As we were returning to Tavern I couldn't help but remember about the Colosseum that Marcus mentioned. Turning to Ron I asked him, "Ron what about the colosseum, you didn't take me to it."

"Well I like to keep the best part for the end. Whats the point in visiting the colosseum if you can't watch a fight."said Ron with a chuckle.

"Now that we are done for the day its time for a heart meal. Lets go to the tavern, tonights treat on me." And without even waiting for my response Ron went on ahead.

In the tavern Ron looked toward one of the waiter and ordered him to serve us the taverns special dish for the day.

After the hearty meal we both became drowsy and those drinks also had a toll on us. Ron let me stay in the tavern for the night because we also had to go to the colosseum tomorrow to watch the fight.