The Man in the Brown Suit

There was nothing around me when I opened my eyes. It was as if I were floating inside a void, with infinite darkness stretching as far as the eye could see. After several moments, I saw a dim light, so I started to approach it.

It felt as though hours had passed by before I reached the source of the light. It was an old man dressed in a brown suit, holding a lantern. He extended an open hand, gesturing to me that I was supposed to place something inside of it.

As if I knew what needed to be done, I looked down and saw that in my right hand was a gold coin with the image of a skeletal hand imprinted on it. I extended my own hand, making an effort to drop the coin in the hand of the man with the lantern, but something deep down kept me from dropping it.

I finally managed to let go of the coin, but it was no longer in my hand. I looked up at the man in the brown suit, and he looked puzzled.

"Um, excuse me, what is this place, and why am I here?"

The man looked down at my hand and then back at me. "Where has the coin gone?"

I looked confused. "I don't know. I don't know what this is about either. Am I dead?"

The man nodded. "Yes, and I am here to take your soul to the afterlife, but you cannot go without the coin."

"What happens if I do not have a coin?"

"That coin represents..." [Bzzt]

I watched as the man tried to explain what was happening, but his words were cut off. It was as if I did not have permission to hear what he had to say. Suddenly, the man fell silent and had a look of terror on his face as he looked behind me.

I turned to see that there was nothing behind me, and when I looked back at the man, he was already fading away.

"Wait! Where are you going?!"

"I'm sorry, young man. Your soul… It is not ready for the afterlife yet."

Everything went dark again, and I was floating back in the void, surrounded by nothing but the infinite darkness. It felt as though I was floating there for days, until I felt a tug in all directions of my body. It was as if I were being pulled in every direction. The force became so strong that I couldn't bear it anymore. I screamed, and suddenly I opened my eyes to a new reality.

I was alive.

My body was covered in bandages, and I was sitting on some kind of crude hospital bed. It seemed like I was in a tent that was fashioned from the hide of Direfang Wolves. Lying asleep at the food of my bed was Punisher.

I felt around my chest to feel the state of my heart, and it appeared that I was just fine. In fact, my left arm and broken ribs were healed as well. It was as though I had not died at all. I was confused, so I moved to kick Punisher's head to wake him up.

Punisher jumped up immediately and whipped out his pistol, looking around the room for a target. "Who the fuck did that?"

I slid down the bed a bit further and kicked him in the stomach. Thanks to my agility stat, I could do it faster than he was able to prepare for. "Hey man, was it me you were looking for?"

I smiled as Punisher keeled over and grabbed at his waist. "You're awake! Dude, what happened? I was fighting for my life, and I was watching you and that asshole get into it. He was strong as shit!"

"That was Levon De'Olrath; he's an... or was... and Alorae criminal. The God of Slaughter borrowed his body and used it to try and have me accept him as a sponsor."

"I take it that was a no."

"I told him no."

"I should add him to the list of gods... Or, sponsors? Whatever, the ones that I say no to."

"Yeah, he's a really bad sponsor to have. Gods and sponsors are the same. All sponsors are gods, or at least to my knowledge, they are. Not all gods will choose to sponsor, though."

The flap of the tent suddenly flew open, and a large Veldan man stepped inside. He was wearing a white cloak with red Veldan symbols sewn into it. He was a medicine man, which was not what I was expecting.

"Hey, are you the one who saved me?" I had my doubts, but there's a slim chance that a powerful enough Veldan healer could have brought me back. It was still very unlikely that they could have healed my entire heart to this extent.

Perhaps my vitality stat allowed my body to retain its shape better than I thought? Most of the humans who died from energy exhaustion in my past life had not achieved the same level of stats that I have right now, even though it was so early into the five seasons.

The Veldan shook his head. "No. I am only here to monitor your condition."

"Then how did I survive?"

"I do not know; you were like this when Ashna brought you to our camp."

I looked confused. "Ashna? The daughter of At'tok?"

The Veldan nodded. "It seems you are acquainted with her. She has never looked so concerned for a man who was not of our people before."

The Veldan sounded disgusted for a moment, but his tone returned to neutral. "If you are okay, you should go seek out the leader of the Stormhammer Legion. He wishes to speak with you about events that have unfolded within the first season."

I nodded, and the Veldan man stepped out of the tent, leaving me and Punisher alone again. I looked back at Punisher, a bit concerned. "Hey Pun, how long have I been out for?"

Punisher smiled. "Three days."

"Fuck."