Prologue
1026 Words
“Michael Stevens, welcome to the afterlife. Unfortunately, you’ve died. You've served your country well, but your life now is over.”
Someone suddenly spoke to him in a pure white room. The sudden turn of events confused him.
In the room, there was a desk and a chair, and the one who announced that his life was over sat on said chair.
Her beauty is akin to a goddess and appears to be wearing a silk white dress.
She had long, silky smooth golden hair and she seemed to be in her mid-twenties.
The beauty blinked her eyes, which were the same golden as her hair, and stared at him as he tried to figure out what was happening.
“Do you know how you die? Michael Stevens?”
The beauty asked him again with her soothing voice.
Stevens started to recall all of his memories trying to find an answer.
He was on a mission in a certain town in Afghanistan with his squad.
They met insurgents in the town and were ambushed. A grenade was thrown at them and unfortunately, he died on deadly shrapnel.
Knowing that it was certain death, he was dumbfounded at the fact that he is still alive.
“Where am I?” Looking around, he saw nothing but a white room, only a desk in front of him could be seen.
“You're in the realm of gods, as for my name, I am Raphael.”
Realm of the gods, and the name similar to an angel, this thing confuses him even more. However, he didn’t overthink those matters and began asking questions relevant to him.
“Why am I here?”
“You’re here because you died.”
“What about my squads?”
“They are fine, they only sustained minimal damage but you…”
“I am beyond help right?”
He said with a remorseful voice, but he immediately regained his composure after learning that his squad was able to survive.
Raphael then grabbed a paper underneath her desk and started skimming through pages. Her eyes widened in awe as she read through it.
“Michael Stevens, a former Navy Seal, receiving a medal of honor, and also with Joints Special Operations Command, a ghost unit associated with the Central Intelligence Agency, which makes you a black operative. You have the best papers in the history of the United States but you died in a mere insurgency.”
So she was reading his file, she didn't need to say the last part, she could’ve at least sugarcoated it a bit. But her words are true, it is so humiliating for him to die at the hands of insurgents.
“Then as for the matters of why you're here and since you are a best-renowned soldier willing to do anything for the sake of his own country, I’ll reward you, reincarnation.” She declared, throwing all the papers up in the air.
“Reincarnation?” He repeated the words doubtedly.
“That’s right, but I’m not sending you there without the help of the gods—Are you familiar with games?”
“Games? Yes, I do…”
“That’s right, you’ll see in the future the system that I will bestow upon you. It will greatly help you survive in that world.”
With her fluid words, Michael seems to be at loss in the last part of her sentence.
“What do you mean world?”
“Ara, sorry for my mistake, I haven’t mentioned it earlier. So the thing is you can’t reincarnate in your own original world but you can in another world with a new identity.”
Hearing her explanation makes everything clear. Michael nodded, signifying her to continue to tell him information.
“The new world that you’ll be living is different from your own world. There magic exists, fantasy creatures exist, and demi-humans exist as well. If you’re watching some anime or television series with a fantasy genre you will know what I’m referring to.”
“I haven’t watched an anime but I’m familiar with the fantasy settings, I think I can manage…” He stood up from his seat and stood firmly in front of Raphael.
This made her startled slightly.
“Ma’am since I died in my own world I decided that I will not regret dying in the hands of insurgents. I’ve done a lot of deeds for my country and I’m satisfied with that. But since you’re sending me to another world where I can assume in my own words as a soldier, a deployment, that makes you my commanding officer. Ma’am, what is my mission?”
With a valiant voice and gallant posture that exudes the real aura of a strong-willed warrior.
Raphael was charmed, making her blush a little, his daring mindset that immediately accepts his new reality amazed her.
However,...
“You will have no mission, you’re free to do anything you want in that world. Didn’t I mention it earlier? This is a reward, not a task.
“Oh, I’m truly sorry that I always missed the important part. It’s just that this situation is impossible.”
“Pay it no heed, now for the last information, we will ingrain you with that world language so that you can interact with the people there. However, you will not meet them just yet, but when the time comes. You're free to make choices.”
“Okay.”
With his simple answer, Raphael snapped her finger, underneath him was a magic circle.
“Please don’t move out from the magic circle. Please enjoy your new life in another world. Goodbye.”
Raphael smiled at him warmly after bidding him farewell, a magic circle underneath him glows brighter and brighter until his vision is filled with white.
- Writer
