1. Prologue I (Life and Death)

When he was but a wee lad, he wished for a good life. But life was hard, so it was natural for him to lead a good life; to get there, the number of challenges he would be facing would be many.

Nevertheless, despite the trials of life, he smiled and continued walking forward. He took it one step at a time, trying to see what will happen if he works harder.

He reached the age of fifteen and fell in love, this love ended in pain and heartache but soon faded as his family and friends consoled him.

At age twenty, he pursued his dreams. He failed but got back up. Once again, he fell in love and finally succeeded. Pursuing his dreams for another time, and there, too - he succeeded.

He did not reach old age; neither did he achieve grand success. He was going to die young, but still, he was satisfied.

A smile blossomed from his lips; he recollected the past and held the hands of his wife. An end called death was coming to embrace him.

Smiling, he could hear the light sound of the life support echoing in his ears, and the sound of his family crying for him, tears fell, and his heart tightened as he felt their emotions.

He too, didn't want to die. But as he held his wife's hand, he could feel that this life was nearing its end. Slowly, he lost strength, his senses fading, but he didn't want to let go.

A beautiful life had been lived, he faced many hardships, and he cried when he was sad. He smiled when he was happy, just like the smile he had this time.

He was beaten, but he stood back up, he crawled when he couldn't, and fought when being dragged to the mud.

But he too was human, and as he embraced his mistakes and emotions, he managed to live a fulfilling life. He cried when he was sad, smiled when happy, and got tired when overworked, but never did he despair.

Such is life; the struggle is its essence, and once you see the light of your end, accept and embrace it. He embraced life even though it was flawed. He embraced it and enjoyed being alive.

And as his family's wails echoed, death finally embraced him and welcomed him to the other side. He was dragged away; he could feel his senses living him.

He waited for what is to come. He had heard of two places he could go to, but never wished to go to either two.

But a third option opened up for him, a twist of fate played and cursed him. After embracing the ultimate end, that is death, he once again opened his eyes.

He found himself in the body of a child who was working in a mine. Chained, he noticed that it was not just him who was around.

A child who has a gaunt and frail body; that is who he currently was. He stumbled on the floor; headache filled his head. Memories of the past, not belonging to him, flowing in his mind like a gushing river.

The past of the frail child reverberated in his head. Like a gong reminding him that it was who he was, he retrieved his name from the river of memories - it was Bell.

Born from a prostitute and a noble, Bell was persecuted. His mother's body changed after having him and lost her regulars. She hated him, and in the end, tried to kill him. She failed to do so, and he had to run away.

Bell found himself running, running until his feet could no longer support his body. Devoid of strength, he continued to crawl. Finding his way to a village where an elderly couple rescued him.

He lived there happily, securing a life of normalcy, but peace never lasted. Bandits raided that village; the elderly couple who saved him was beheaded right in front of his eyes.

Everyone who can be sold was sold, and the women above the age of six were raped without remorse. Their cries still echo in the ears of Bell.

He watched these memories liked it was his own.

"Get up, you useless cur!"

The sound of a man's angered voice sounded in his ears, and the strike of whip shortly followed.

Bell heard but failed to respond. The whipping struck him by the head; it cracked his skin and then his skull. He thereupon began bleeding out.

Once more, the feeling of coldness wrapped around him, death was coming to take him away.

"Huh? Are you dying already? Hmph, what a fragile dog, someone, take this body to the rest of the piles."

Emotions surfaced, it was sadness…no, it was more of hate, but it soon dissipated with the flames of his life.

Once again, he died; he did not live to see the next day or even learn the name of the world he reincarnated on before ending up as another cold corpse.

His body became light, and the emotion of relief when he died in his first life now disappeared.

Bell felt no relief when he met his end.

Unlike the first life where he let go of everything as he found his death as satisfying and had his will to live dissipate, this time, it was different as he desperately clung to life. In the end, however, he failed and died once again.

He met his end as Bell; the light let him travel to another life, but once again, that life was about to end.

"Burn down the witch and her child! He is the son of the accursed Demon! Kill him! Kill him!"

A child born of a werewolf and a human woman, they loved each other, but none accepted their union. Their ending was clear.

The father was beheaded and the woman who was regarded as a heretic witch was sentenced to death by fire at a podium for everyone to see; with chains on her ankles and her child in her bosom she cried out pleas to save not her but another's life.

"Please, have compassion. The child is innocent; he can be a warrior who will serve and protect, please, give him a chance!"

"Shut up, witch!"

"How dare you speak of letting such venom in our midst? You must be wishing for that child to become humanity's vain! Everyone, do not be fooled by the witch's words, burn her and the child!"

"Exterminate them!"

"Burn them!"

She was crying, not for her life, but for the life that failed to blossom merely because he was born from her and her lover's union.

She cried and begged for the child to be given a chance. But all she received was the abusive cries of the furious rabble.

Stones and bottles were thrown at the condemned human who once was a part of their race.

She did no wrong, merely loving a man who was not of her race. They treated her worse than the demons they loathed so much.

Bell, who had awoken in another life for the third time, could feel the tightness of her mother's embrace. She cried as she pleaded for her child to be spared.

Her skin started to burn; she lost her voice as her lungs filled with smoke and burned!

Bell saw this; he could feel her pain. And he can also see her memories. Was it the connection between mother and child? He did not know, but he cried, seeing the memories of this woman.

Uwaaa!

The cries of the child echoed; it was loud and powerful. It should have been pitiful, but the rabble feared the cry of this baby.

"Hurry, increase the fire! We do not know what kind of magic he can cast at such an age! He may be a child, but he is still a demon!"

Just like his mother, he was smoldered and too died in the fire.

Once more, he died, it was short just like the life before. But, unlike the second life, it felt longer than it should have.

The fire, the pain, and the emotions drowned him more than it had before.

'Is this the end?' He died for the third time; his first life had a colorful hue. He had thought that life was beautiful.

He had thought one only needed to work hard to overcome adversities, but he was wrong. Some are just placed in a position where life will be extinguished no matter how much one struggles.

It was painful, and the man who smiled throughout his first life now sees life bleaker than it used to be.

But despite his realization, he still relieved several lives from their death before finding himself in the dark.

Another death was experienced, adding another memory and experience in his pool of mind. At the question of how many deaths he will need to relieve of the eventual end, silence was the answer he received.

Not knowing how much more he will have to go through, he only had one wish – to keep his sanity by the end of it all.

***

One life, two lives, seven lives, twenty lives...; he relived the life of tens of beings, and yet he was only there for the briefest moment of their life.

He was only there to feel their emotion to relieve them of the pain that will come from their deaths.

The man who was spared from a painful death began to experience all kinds it can prepare.

The smile he always wore began to thin-out. He was tired. Tired of dying, that is his only sentiment. The memories of everyone he carries all wished to live, but what about him?

"I accepted my death, but these people fought and tried to live. Why? Why am I still in this endless cycle of death? Is it because I accepted the end of life? If that is so, please, give me another chance to live."

Life is not born of destruction but of another person's life.

A being that can split itself gives life to another with himself as the mother.

A being born from a mother is created from the union of a male and a female.

A genetic monster is birthed through the live cells of other beings.

All life does not come from death; it comes from life.

A life will blossom from someone else's life. But, there are times when death pave the way for life.

A dog that had died will be absorbed by the ground thus creating a more fertile land for the plants to thrive on.

With tens, no, hundreds of lives making his well of life fertile, the man who accepted death wished to live.

"Life has meaning because of death...

"But death is only meaningful with life.

"Therefore, if one lives because there is death, is he living for death or through death? And once he regains his senses and begins wishing for life, what kind of emotions will he show?"

The light wished to whisk him away. It must have been his lonely delusions, but before he was taken away by the light for who knows how many times now, he heard a voice.

But he disregarded its words and disappeared into the light like he had done so many times before.

He traveled through the light, spiraling around, trying to reach the next body he will possess.

However, this time, there is a difference, for he now wishes to live.

Light drowned his sight, just like before he felt a semblance to pain before fully recognizing his situation. The pain started from his neck, and when he regained his senses, he realized had already been stabbed on the neck.

The pain settled in, but it was not normal, the pain was scorching. Starting from his neck, it traveled throughout his body and reached every corner.

His veins began to burn and twitch because of the searing pain.

There were masked people garbed in all-black before him.

These people were a group known as Grimas.

The name of the man he was possessing was Helios; he was known as a Knight of this world. Having protected millions when war broke out, he was hailed as a hero only to be framed and named as a traitor.

From the cheers of the crowd he received jeers, his family was killed, and he was chased by the people sent by the Kingdom he swore to protect.

"Oh, Great Knight Helios, I am sorry about this, I do not hate you, it is merely work. The Royal Family can't tolerate your existence; you may just cause a revolt. So, for the peace of the Kingdom, die!"

The knife on his neck stabbed deeper. But when the time the man in black attempted to take the knife out, it would not even budge from Helios' neck.

"…I…want to…live."

Weak, that voice of his was soft, but the flames in his eyes were strong. It was so strong that it was burning.

Helios' experience flowed in his head, it was painful, and he could not process it completely. But, with the help of his other lives, with the experiences of assassins, warriors, cultivators, mages, monsters, and more, combined into one, it was sufficient for Helios to attempt living.

'The arteries are severed, if the knife is taken out, I will die from blood loss, if I don't kill them, I'll die…I will live!'

He wishes to cling to life, so he clung to it he did. Using the hands of the hero who swore to protect the land, he grabbed the face of the masked assailant and crushed his head to the ground.

Boom!

The man's head turned into a bloody pulp, and then he turned to the rest surrounding him.

He summoned his power, a power called 'Hewa'. Another form of mana, or qi, or aura, and many more that he had encountered in the other lives.

Channeling it to his feet, he disappeared from sight, the trained body of Helios granted him enough ability to try the impossible – defy fate.

'I need to finish this quickly.'

He was beginning to lose the feeling of his body. Like a ghost, he beheaded two more men, and when he was about to make his next move, the poison in his system settled in, and he lost all motor controls.

Seven men with spears and swords dropped from the skies and plunged their sword in his chest and abdomen.

Skewered, but still standing, Helios raised his hands. He struggled and struggled to stay alive, he wishes to live, but these people would not let him.

Tears fell as he realized his struggles were in vain. His sanity reached its limits, driving what left of his inner strength to the core found in his chest, he began burning his life force whilst screaming the emotions stuck to his chest.

The masked assailants had their eyes twitching, seeing the immense inner strength gathering onto his core. Their covered faces changed, for they knew what was about to happen.

"Helios have you gone mad?"

One of them screamed in terror. Their hearts were in trepidation.

"Hahahaha, you bastards wish for my death, I'll take that fucking Kingdom with me if I am to go down like this!"

The masked assailant wished to stop Helios, but, in the end, the core overloaded, starting from Helios, everything turned to ashes. The mountain he was in was carved, and eventually dissipated with the white light.

Scorching the land and turning everything to ashes, from the mountains, it began to spread throughout the continent and then reaching Seven Cities until finally arriving at the Kingdom that betrayed Helios.

In the world of Helios, a part of the continent was carved, the man who stopped the war and saved millions killed billions after he was betrayed.

As for the man who was known to smile whatever happens in life, who knew not to inflict pain to others killed billions without hesitation. After thousands of lives, he was no longer a single entity but a Legion of different lives.

He was one man, but he was of many.

In the next life, he is ready to kill as many people as needed to grasp the elusive string that is known as life.

"I wish to live."

A voice echoed inside the never-ending darkness.