Afterlife… NOT

Everything around him was dark. He felt like he was floating but, at the same time, he felt that his whole body was very heavy. He didn even know if he was asleep or awake. He struggled to fight off the feeling. He tried moving a finger in hopes that it would at least lessen the anxiety of being in the dark void. However, he found out that he was unable to move even a single muscle, let alone a finger.

Instead of a body, he realized that maybe only his consciousness was in this vast darkness. He tried to remember what happened before this.

College entrance exams were over. He managed to pass the exam in a local college near his town just the day before so he was relaxing inside the confines of his room playing online games. Soon, his life would start to change. Things would become tougher than it was in his senior high school years and he would have to think about working soon. For now, however, he just wanted to relax and take things slowly.

His light brunette hair swayed a little as he gathered some mana and targeted the middle of the enemy base with an AoE attack. His equally light-colored eyes, ranging between dark amber and bright gold depending on the lighting, were almost entirely covered by his long, unkempt fringe. He stared in concentration at the monitor as he read all the enemy swearwords directed at him. He looked at the words with disinterest but his eyes showed silent determination as he killed enemies nonstop.

{

[System Notification] You have killed an enemy.

[System Notification] You have killed an enemy.

[System Notification] You have killed an enemy.

[System Notification] You have killed an enemy.

[System Notification] You have Leveled Up!

[Axel4456!] Hey, Seth! Its been a while! Hows your summer vacation? You
e still not finished with this quest?

[Axel4456!] Did you pass the exam? How is it? Man, my old man wanted me to go to his old college school so I had to pack the day after tomorrow and leave -_-

}

He scowled as he stared at the monitor. This guy… Whats the point of having usernames if you
e going to be called by your real name anyway?

{

[NotInTheMoodToChat23] …

[Axel4456!] I feel like you just thought of some sarcastic remarks. But as usual, you
e too lazy and typed …

[NotInTheMoodToChat23] You
e good.

[Axel4456!] Im serious here, idiot! We should meet tomorrow and hang out before I leave! Its going to be difficult for me to visit for a while so we should all meet tomorrow afternoon! Ill tell the others too!!

[Axel4456!] And don you dare make up some lame excuses this time!!

[Axel4456!] You know we
e here for you, right?

[NotInTheMoodToChat23] Haha

[Axel4456!] Wait, brb! The noodles I ordered has arrived! Haha

[NotInTheMoodToChat23] …

}

Noodles…

Everything started out as just a whim. It was almost midnight and he realized he also felt a little hungry despite the abundant dinner he had with his mother. Hmm… That idiot Axel must have ordered it much earlier. At this time, there was rarely any open store nearby except the convenience store in the neighboring street. However, paying extra money for delivery when it was just a five-minute walk was such a waste.

{

[NotInTheMoodToChat23] Its your fault. Now Im craving for noodles too. Brb

}

There was no response.

He stood up from his swivel chair and stretched. It really was quite late. But his craving should come first. He took his wallet and phone with him and quietly exited his room. His mother must be sleeping now. He silently left the house and walked towards the empty but well-lit street. The moon hung up high in the sky and he looked up as he inhaled the cold night air. Taking a walk like this every once in a while wasn all that bad. He even hummed a little as he walked.

His steps quickened when he saw the familiar corner leading to the other street where the convenience store was. The moment he turned into the corner, a blinding light suddenly hit his eyes. He squinted to see what it was. His eyes widened when he recognized it. It was all too late.

The huge truck swerved in his direction, the driver seemingly sleeping in front of the wheels. Seth was rooted on the spot as fear paralyzed him. The next thing he knew, his whole body had become numb from the impact and he felt his skinny small frame get thrown a few meters away before he rolled over on his side, unmoving. It was like watching a movie. He felt like a spectator, watching whats happening from somewhere else. Everything was just too fast that it all felt unreal. And then theres pain. Everything felt painful. His whole body was in agony. Even breathing was a huge torment. He could barely smell the tangy, metallic scent of his own blood pooling on the roadside but he could definitely feel the sticky, hot liquid pouring out from his body. Little by little, he felt his whole body go cold.

Was it the end? Was he going to die…?

As darkness enveloped him, his consciousness only had one thing in mind. His mother… She didn even know he left the house. What would happen if he died? She would be living in that house all alone. She was the sole person who understood him the most during the time when he badly needed help… To think he would make her sad like this again. And his few remaining friends too… he hadn seen any of them for quite some time now. To think he always used some lame excuse to ditch them… because being with people was exhausting for him.

As he was floating in that vast darkness, unable to move even an inch of his finger, he was struck with a lonely thought.

He had lived his life this past year hiding from almost everybody else, even from his few remaining friends. He used to be so lively, outgoing, and confident. However, ever since that incident…

He would have shaken his head to remove the thought if he could. The past two years of his high school life had become a living hell for him and, in the end, he had to quit in order to get home-schooled. He became a game addict and he spent his non-gaming hours reading manga or watching anime on the internet. He was also a huge fan of light novels and he loved to spend his hours reading them although he had never left even a single comment or word of encouragement to the poor authors despite his love for the works. For him, it was much better to watch everything unfold quietly from the sidelines, just like a reader.

This must be the so-called life flashing before your eyes right before dying…

He really was dying. He must be. There was no other rational explanation for this strange phenomenon. So why was he still conscious? Or was it the afterlife? Was it usually this dark in the afterlife? Or maybe his soul was still wandering and trying to find his place? He wondered if anyone had seen his body yet… or if the driver even knew he ran over someone. Speaking of his body, he really hoped it wasn as mangled as he thought it would be. Its not that he was in any way worried about how he would look inside the coffin. However, he still wanted to at least look a little more human, although that might just be a lost cause. The impact was quite huge and he was thrown some meters away. He also thought he faintly heard several cracking sounds in his body when he landed. He would hate it if no one would even be able to recognize him. If he had been playing his favorite mobile game, he would definitely hear a woman saying You have been slain! and that would be really annoying since he was not even able to put up a fight. He really would have wanted to die a peaceful death, like dying in his sleep or getting knocked out cold and then hemorrhaging internally. But enough of that.

He was starting to get bored. Just how long must his soul stay in this cursed dark land before he could see the bright light on the other side… or maybe even the hellish fires of the underworld? Was no one going to explain anything to him? No grim reaper who would say this was the end for him or some guardian angel who would weep over his death? He would have sighed if he could.

He didn know how long he stayed there floating in the darkness or how he was able to maintain his sanity. However, the next thing he knew, he could finally see a light at the end of the tunnel… or something like that. Everything was starting to get brighter, although he was still unsure whether he would see a hospital ceiling or if he would see some clouds and singing angels.

He was wrong. He could indeed see some clouds but they were so far up in the sky that it would definitely be impossible to reach them. He found himself lying on his back in a vast meadow in the middle of some foreign forest.

Okay, this was definitely not the hospital. And how could the afterlife be so full of greeneries instead of white clouds?

He sat up and gazed at his surroundings. He was alone. There wasn even a single ant in sight. The air felt fresh on his skin but for some reason, it made his body shiver. Based on the height of the sun, it could only be between the middle of the day or early in the afternoon.

And… what was that he was seeing?

He blinked as he stared at the sky. He immediately remembered Sky Piea from one of his favorite shows Two Piece. Just near the blazing sun, there was a small floating island in the middle of the sky… although, he wasn really sure if it was really small or if it was just high enough to almost become invisible to his eyes. However, it was there nonetheless.

Maybe hes just dreaming. He stood up and brushed himself off dirt.

He was still wearing his white shirt and brown shorts from last night but there was no trace of blood and there was no pain anywhere in his body. He pinched his cheek and he nodded to himself as he felt the pain. This was definitely reality. That was weird. But no matter. Its better to start the afterlife uninjured and healthy. Or perhaps he really was just dreaming and this was just a hallucination from watching way too many fantasy web novels and manhwas.

He could still feel the sting from when he pinched his cheek so it felt really bizarre.

Did the driver perhaps throw his body here where no one could find him? Was he already filed in the missing-persons report in a police headquarters somewhere? Still, that didn explain the lack of wounds or bloodstain on his shirt. Not to mention the floating island… that he figured was better off not mentioned any further lest he finally realized he was going crazy.

Just as he was about to stand up, he heard a sound of a chime ding!

What was that?

And then his eyes widened.

He blinked as he stared in front of him, his hands slowly raising to touch the seemingly innocent Status bar hanging up in midair.

{

[System Notification] You found a lily flower!

}

”Ha…? ” He uttered as he stared dumbfounded at the screen in front of him. He tried to touch it but his hands simply went through it, as if the screen was simply a projected hologram.

He then noticed a small flower