Knowledge Thief

“And then the Shin got a mysterious power-up. He easily countered the evil god’s sword and pierced the sword deep in the evil god’s chest. As his last breath faded, the evil god saw Shin being enveloped in a golden light. Shin got whisked away to his homeland and it all ended abruptly just like it started…” spelled out Lee as he wrote the final lines of the novel.   He leaned backed after spell-checking and sending the mail to his publisher. His energy was completely drained and his mind lamented about his struggling life as a novelist. Growing up in an orphanage without a proper education made him struggle during the formative years of his life. He started working odd jobs to earn his daily bread and living. He struggled to get a basic degree and got into copywriting and then into ghost writing novels. Slogging throughout his thirty something years of life, he hadn’t had a chance to live a free and adventurous life that he wished for. However, he felt that this new novel would help his life if it becomes successful.   He stared at the night sky from his dimly lit flat and he lazily stood up to make his dinner. He trudged towards the cupboards in the corner to choose an instant ramen bowl as his dinner. While he was in his kitchen preparing the bowl of ramen, the lights went out due to a power cut. The dark room was now lit only by his open laptop screen. He stumbled across the room to repurpose his UPS that was powering his laptop to power the emergency light in the room.   After some trial and error in the dark, he managed to connect the lights to the UPS. It was in that exact moment that the power came back. The immediate surge of power took him by surprise. He felt a sudden shock that jolted him out of control. He could not feel his body and his breathing was waning. He knew he was going and he could do nothing about it.   'What a shame, I want to be sad but I am more relieved than sad... Death is much better than this hard and shitty life...' thought Lee. Even as he resigned himself, there was a small hopeful thought that crept into his mind, 'Oh! If only I had born differently, I would have learnt everything and been anybody... What's the point of living diligently only to die a dog's death.' 'Oh! How much I wished to live at least one day with complete freedom from all responsibilities.'   If anyone had been there, they would have heard Lee softly mumbling his last words. Sadly, no one was there while his mumbling words waned into deadly silence and his soul left his body and all the earthly shackles. Lee felt free as he felt himself rising up towards a white light. As he turned around to look at his body one last time, he was silently wishing for a miracle.   Perhaps because of his wish or through some act of god, he saw a wormhole open up right in front of him. The wormhole sucked his soul in. When his soul entered the eternal darkness of the wormhole, he felt his senses go numb and his consciousness fade.   ......................................................................................   When his consciousness returned, he felt trapped in a dark cage that restricted all his senses.   'Hello, can you hear me?' called out a gracious voice.   Lee wanted to speak but he couldn't. While he was thinking about what to do, the voice replied 'I am sorry... Can you try to speak now?' asked the voice.   Suddenly, he felt his throat relax. He asked 'Where am I?' in a hoarse voice.   'I will tell you everything, but let me finish everything necessary first' said the voice.   He was now blinded by the intense brightness that shattered the darkness. He felt relief in his eyes and his eyes adapted to the light. As he started his focus, he could start to see a beautiful green forest in front of his eyes. The forest was magical and it looked like it was lifted right out of a fantasy land. As he was enjoying the scenery, his ears opened up and he could hear the leaves rustling in the wind and the mild chirping of the birds.  He was overwhelmed with this this incredible soothing feeling that relaxed him. As his sense of touch came back, he could feel that his palms were rested on the soft grass and his head seemed to be rested on a moist tree trunk. He felt like he was laying on silk and enjoying a vivid 3D experience. He slowly tried to turn around, but wasn't able to do it.  As he was thinking about forcing his actions, the voice shouted 'Are you an i***t, I told you I have to finish right?'  He felt ashamed and stopped trying to move. He shifted his focus to the sprawling fields of grass in the distance. There were lots of animals grazing it and there were farmers beyond the grass fields tending to their fields. The beautiful forest and the sprawling fields in the distance captured his heart.  But what captured his attention more was the massive walls that stood at the end of the horizon. The walls looked like it could touch the sky even from this distance. For a moment, he felt that he might be dreaming and this is a pleasant dream that his mind had cooked up in his dying moments.   'Quit daydreaming and try to move now' called out the voice, and he realized that he now had some control over his body. He turned his head slightly to locate the owner of the beautiful voice. He thought that maybe his mind dreamt about being with a beautiful woman while he was dying. He was sorely disappointed to see no one there.   'Ha... Ha... Ha... Got you!' mocked the voice. 'Expecting a beautiful woman, are we?' teased the voice.   Lee was embarrassed to the core. He calmly asked 'OK now show yourself, who are you?'   'OK. OK. I will show myself' said the voice. Then a small golden butterfly came into his view. The butterfly then morphed into a scrappy little girl. The girl had a tomboyish appearance and she looked like a teenager to his eyes.   While he examined her, she said 'you aren't in a dream, you are really dead. You have travelled to our world.'