One-Shots [Boboiboy]

Waiting for a Next Life

"Tell the others I'll be back soon." Halilintar pulled the sword out and sheathed it by his waist.

When he turned back, Gempa's body was gone, like he was never there.

However, the blood still dripped from Halilintar's face, the only reminder that he once lived the life he lived now.

He wiped the blood off his face and turned towards the rising enemy ranks. The demon king still lived, and that he cannot forgive.

* * *

"It's a good thing I set our spawn points here," Solar grumbled, rubbing his head. "Or else you two will have to walk for miles to find us."

"Isn't that because you died first?" Blaze snapped.

Gempa groaned, massaging his eyes. The pain was gone, and he had no injuries. He didn't ache when he walked, and his bones did not break.

The smell of blood was gone.

Surprised, he moved his hand down to his chest, where it was pristine, no hole or blood.

"What happened in that warlord world?" Ais asked, tilting his head in curiosity. "I only remember the demon lord taking over the Three Kingdoms, and that's it."

"We're on a losing spree." Thorn shivered, thinking back on the bloody war he'd helped in. He'd arrived earlier than Gempa, which he used the time to raid the fridge to drink some long-awaited hot chocolate. "I died because a lot of witches used fire spells on me. I burned to death."

"Witches?" Solar turned to him. "They have magic? Should've stayed alive a bit longer."

"Hali killed me."

Heads turned to him simultaneously.

Gempa was wearing a sleeveless vest, shorts and crocs. It was like he was trying to remember how soft fabric felt, rather than the stiffness of thick leather armour.

"After he told me Thorn died," he muttered. "He said he knew how to end the wars. Then he killed me."

"So you didn't have trust in me?" Halilintar smacked Gempa's head, suddenly revived from the dead. Thorn and Blaze screeched like a girl and threw pillows at him, which Halilintar ducked with ease.

Gempa turned to his partner. "How'd you come back so fast?"

Halilintar snorted. He glared down to his own reincarnated outfit: a black crop top and ripped jeans and biker boots. It seemed no matter which world he ended up in, it always gave him the bad biker or cursed hero fashion.

"I used blood magic and took the demon lord down with me," he said it as if it was nothing at all. "I turned my body into a bomb and threw himself into his life source."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Gempa demanded, furious.

"What? And let you see me trying to train magic for seventy years? No thank you." Halilintar stretched his left arm, whistling. "Man, feels good to have my limbs back!"

They stared at him in astounded silence.

"Seventy years," Solar was the first to speak. "You spent an extra seventy years, in a realm that was meant to die."

"Yeah. So?"

Solar's expression turned dark. "Are... you okay?"

"Okay?" Halilintar turned to him, grinning. "Of course I'm not! But that's all over now. What world are we in, by the way?"

Ais stood from his chair. "I think you should sit this one out." He glared at Halilintar. "We'll handle the heavy lifting for this one."

Gempa glanced upwards. "Why? What's this world about?"

Blaze's face soured, his arms crossed in irritation.

"A world where magic exists," he spat. "But it's illegal."

"Illegal?" Halilintar repeated. "That's nothing. I can just overtake the government and change—"

"Please don't," Gempa muttered.

"—the laws! I already did that a couple of times in that war world."

Ais groaned. "This isn't that war world. Besides, it's useless. None of us are magic users."

Halilintar pointed at Thorn. "Then what's that?"

They turned to Thorn. He was by the corner of the living room, crouched next to a potted plant. Thorn was touching the leaves repeatedly, and the fern simultaneously turned back to a small sprout to a humungous, old fern.

Thorn paused when he realized all eyes were on him. "Huh? What are we talking about?"

Gempa choked on his drink. He was holding a glass with water inside. The glass shattered, water splashing on the ground with the shards.

"You've got to be kidding me." Solar glared at Gempa. He'd just wet the carpet.

"My bad!" Gempa stepped back from the mess. He knelt down to tidy it up, but the pieces on the ground began to vibrate. They were lifted off the ground by an invisible force, and was pieced back together magically.

There wasn't even a single crack on the glass. The only piece of evidence that it was ever broken was the water stain on the carpet.

Ais clipped his nose.

"This is bad," he deadpanned.

Since they stayed in that magic, war-filled world longer than any of them, it would be logical that they would possess similar powers. But Halilintar... He stayed in that world for a record time.

Before Halilintar knew it, their eyes were all on him.

"Don't look at me," he said. "I can't talk to plants or repair utensils."

"Thorn, what was your role in the world before?" Solar asked.

Thorn thought for a moment. "Mostly herb gathering and healing."

Solar turned to Gempa. "You?"

"Equipment maintenance and frontline lieutenant. Why?"

Finally, he turned to Halilintar. Halilintar held his hand up, stopping him from asking, but he himself was holding up fingers, muttering to himself as he counted.

Blaze crossed his arms. "What are you counting?"

Halilintar didn't answer immediately. Eventually, he held out a hand, his thumb and pinky finger sticking out. "I was a combat instructor, magic scholar, a demon worshipper, weapons dealer, exiled, and a blood mage," he stated proudly. "I was just thinking how much happened in that life!"

"I don't see why you're so proud of half that list." Solar's eye twitched. "To me, you sounded like a villain in most of them."

"Eh. Appearances don't matter. What matters is I'm alive and not rotting in some dead ditch!"

"So both Thorn and Gempa have magic." Blaze ignored Solar and Halilintar, turning to the two he mentioned. "Does that mean Halilintar has it too?"

Gempa shook his head. "I don't think that's magic. It's just side-effects from the past world." He turned to Thorn. "Both of us were surrounded by tons of magic users and elixirs. We also hosted a lot of spells and curses."

"Who cares?" Halilintar interjected. "There's no wars! No killing! No blood on my hands!"

"No wars, you say?" Taufan glared. "The world we're in is facing a crisis. There's a rebellion with magic users saying that magic should be used freely, but they're being hunted down."

"That sounds lovely."

"Ew! Halilintar would never say something like that."

"Well, a lot can change in seventy years."

"Okay, boomer."

They all know that Halilintar was going to join that rebellion. And the next day, he left with a note in the living room, saying that he left to join that exact rebellion.

Gempa groaned like his life was already meeting death's door. "For god's sake."