The first time I died, I panicked.
Well, anyone would've panicked at the face of death. Anyone with a sane mind, at the least.
But death wasn't like…well…death, at all. I didn't stop thinking, I could still see. And yet, an uncomfortable feeling overwhelmed me. It felt as if I had broke a universal law, an unforgivable rule. I defied death in its face.
There were a few factors that would lead to my death. Firstly, the man in all black, carrying around a gun, wobbling around after a few-too-many drinks. Second, the endless traffic. It was night, and I was being flashed with car lights every passing second.
The two combined was already bad enough, but someone in the universe just… wanted me dead, I supposed.
The final factor was the little girl, standing conveniently between the man and the road. It was a test of my own faith.
The man grabbed the girl, and shoved her aside to the road, laughing hysterically.
"Move, bitch!" Occasionally, he would burp or make some incomprehensible noise.
The girl shrieked. She fell into the curb, and landed smack in the middle of the two-way road. A car, as if things couldn't get any worse, started speeding down the concrete.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I couldn't remember my voice. In fact, I could barely grasp on the fragments of my name, let alone my voice.
Without a second thought, I ran and jumped for the girl. The moon, covered by the clouds, shone through. I could see the man, surprised, then loading his gun to kill the witnesses. I could see the car, too fast for me to notice that the man in the vehicle was the same man who pushed the girl.
It would be too late for me to save the girl. I tried to grab her, but we both ended up on the street. There was no escape but to sit as the car rammed through us. I braced for impact.
I never felt the pain, never felt the impact.
Instead, I saw myself in a different universe. My eyes could only comprehend so much. I had went from the blinding light of a car, surrounded by screams, to the blinding light of the sun, positioned in a grassy paradise with an occasional chirp. My body refused to move, so I sat there and watched.
It was the world of my dreams, a fantasy that wouldn't have been possible to exist in reality. Yet, the cliffs perched in front of me, the grass danced through my knees. Nearby, there was a town, and I could hear the calm murmuring of the townsfolk.
Just then, a box popped up in front of my eyes. I immediately recoiled, for I did not want to experience the feeling of uncomfortableness again.
But I could not escape the box. It was simply there, following the movement of my eyes. And it was not an ordinary box. It would be one of the interfaces someone would see in a video game, the kinds that show your levels.
Instead of levels, though, I read the characters that would say, "Start Simulation."
I looked around. I tried to move but couldn't. Either I sit there for eternity and suffer, or I accept the offer and…find out what happens next. I chose the latter, without a second thought.
I tapped on the screen, and confetti shot out of the small, two-dimensional-like figure. Again, I recoiled.
A humanoid figure flew from the screen and immediately sucker punched me in the face.
"Good. You have your senses back." The voice was feminine. "Last time, the other dude just exploded and died like that. Don't be like that dumbass… Oh, you're new here."
I took a minute to think before I carefully responded. "Sorry, but… who are you?"
Her body was the size of my hand, like a fairy. Two small horns and catlike ears sprouted from her head, and her skin was an odd texture and color.
The figure laughed. "Welcome to Kyria, kid."