"I'll see you monday, Andrew." A voice called out behind me. Looking back over my shoulder, I waved back to my coworker. "Hopefully the new boss isn't as much of bitch as I've heard," I called back, zipping up my jacket.
"You got that right, man. Be careful on the walk home. That blizzard is crazy." I heard him say as walked out the door.
Snow pelted my face as I shivered from the wind. He wasn't fucking kidding. Pulling my hood up over my head, I could hear the dull impacts of the snow dappling across my jacket, soon drowned out by the serene music of my earbuds.
My breath turned white and fluttered away, sparkling as the moisture froze and became a cloud of snow, the street lights illuminating the nighttime ambiance of the city. Through the gentle music, I could hear the rumble of engines as I neared the stoplight, the massive snowflakes whipping by the lights as a blur.
Reaching for my phone, I opened up Tapas and bought the latest chapter of The Beginning After The End, my favourite novel.
"Finally, I can read Chapter 367... goddammit it's a Seth pov," I cursed as I started reading as I crossed the snow-covered road, the light having turned green for me to cross the road.
Years of using the same path had ingrained it into my head and now I didn't even need to see where I was stepping. That was my mistake. I barely registered the under crack and the honk of a car before the air was driven out of my lungs as something slammed into my side. I barely felt it when my airborne body impacted the ground.
Faint shadowy figures crowded around me. I could see their mouths moving but couldn't hear a thing, my skull throbbing as my ears rang. I felt warm, as a burning heat spread all over my body.
My lungs and face burned as I gasped for air. I felt no pain but when I raised my arm it never came up. I only heard the sound of screams as I saw the stump of my arm gushing blood.
My vision darkened as I felt my bones chilling and everything growing cold and numb. So this is where I die huh... Well not like I had much going for me anyways. 16 years old, orphaned with no car, living in my dead parents' home, and struggling to pay the bills.
When I opened my eyes again, I expected to be in some sort of hospital, my surroundings were white, everything was white until I saw a splash of colour, two hazy glowing dots.
Then my surroundings came into focus. This place could be considered hell. If hell was frozen over that is. Pure white ice made up the surroundings, ice as far as the eye could see. On one side of me was a cliff, translucent blue ice acting as the ledge.
"Where the hell am I!?"
"You're dead." A dignified and apathetic voice echoed behind me, sending a chill up my spine.
I snapped around to see a young man no more than twenty-five years old. He had sharp features with short white hair and upturned royal blue eyes that shined like sapphires. The white robes that draped over him had teal accents and faded to a deep blue at the bottom.
But those hazy glowing dots I saw before, those were his eyes.
He sat atop a throne of crystalline ice, its sharp geometric angles made it look regal enough to be a king- no an emperor's throne. Slowly, he stood up with grace, an aura of power and a cruel elegance.
My body was screaming at me to bow, and before I knew it, I was bowing to him, my head held low. I felt terror grasp at the depths of my soul. Is this how Arthur felt when he met Kezess Indrath?
My life already didn't amount to much and he said I was already dead, What the fuck do I have left to lose? I felt myself swallow as I gathered what little composure I had left.
"Who are you and where am I?" My voice came out shaky but clear.
"To answer your first question. I have many titles, but here is one you shall quickly learn to understand. I am Boreas The God of Ice and Storms." He spoke with an apathetic tone that lacked all semblance of emotion.
That lack of empathy or any subtle body language indicating it was non-existent It felt like I was talking to a killer robot with a knife to my throat. But from this overwhelming terror in the pit of my stomach, I couldn't doubt him or he might kill me.
"Secondly, as to where you are currently, this is my domain." He continued as I digested the information.
"Your domain?" My voice was laced with curiosity.
"To dumb it down to human standards, it would be a dimension that let's me do my job as the god of Ice and storms easier." He explained casually.
"Moving on to why I brought you here in the first place." The god continued leaving no time for questions. "It seems that due to the god of Shadows and Trickery Erebus, I have accidentally caused your death," he explained with a hint of annoyance and guilt.
"So you're telling me that you killed me by accident? "I asked dumbfounded.
"Yes," he said matter of factly.
"...."
"...."
"Did you bring me here Just to tell me that before you kill me for good? "I retorted, trying not to let my anger leak out.
"No, I brought you here to make you an offer, an apology if you will, for killing you by accident.'' He replied, sounding like a businessman making a deal.
I remained silent, waiting for him to continue as his glare bore into my skull as if he was prodding through my mind.
"Quite the tragic life you've had. All your family members dying as you grew older and right when you had the chance to get over the trauma, it happened again. But when it was only you left. You didn't even have time to grieve for your mother's passing," he spoke as his eyes softened a bit.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ACT LIKE YOUR SORRY FOR ME!! I DON'T KNOW YOU, AND EVEN IF YOU ARE A GOD WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU WHEN I WAS SUFFERING!!" I shouted as tears fell down my face. I could feel my body shake remembering everything that happened. I lost the strength to hold myself up as I fell to my knees as my breath grew shaky.
He remained silent only nodding in acknowledgment of my outburst. "You're right, I have no right to speak on that. I am neither a kind god nor the type to feel sorry when my actions affect others badly."
"But when a god interferes with my work, I shall not stand by idly. I have a self-imposed rule on myself, when I cause a problem that was brought about by another's influence, I shall rectify it to the best of my ability." He spoke with a twinge of anger not directed at me but to this other god.
Pillars of ice grew from underneath me, pushing me to my feet. He floated towards me, hovering atop a storm cloud that appeared below his feet.
"That is why I peered into your mind, to find the world to reincarnate you into where you could make the most of yourself," he lectured me as he stood in front of me.
He placed his hand on my shoulder, his burnished pale skin glowing in the light. "I have a sister as well, I know how difficult It would feel to lose your family members, and that is why I will give you my blessing and a singular wish granted to you in your next life so you can protect them and live well."
I couldn't find the words to respond, I could only feel thankful towards him. This time I could do something for once, I could protect them this time around, whoever my family may be.
"S-sorry Boreas, I was too harsh on you. I don't even know you," I spoke, feeling bad for the god. He appeared to only mean well, but he did go about it the wrong way.
"Your thanks are unnecessary. Now just tell me your wish, and I shall reincarnate you into that novel you were reading just before your death," he spoke with an accepting tone.
Wait, I'm getting reincarnated into The beginning after the end?! Wait, there's the war that was going to happen. Before I make that wish, I need to know what his blessing does.
"Boreas, what does your blessing do exactly?" I asked
"It would make your mana core have a powerful water and wind affinity, obviously becoming deviant in ice and maybe sound if you accept it. If you don't, then I don't know if you would even awaken it or what affinities it would have," he spoke evenly. It seems he knows about how the world works there at least.
"But also as a god of storms, you might also gain a lightning deviant. Although I do not control fire, you may just be able to control lightning and not fire, but if you can control fire, I assume it would progress slower than ice and wind," he added on to his explanation promptly.
"Okay, that makes sense. And the wish can be anything within reason correct?" I asked him
"Yes, if it's a power or system from another work of fiction I would modify it to work in the world of the beginning after the end," he explained.
"I would like extremely fast learning then."
"How fast exactly?" he questioned, clearly considering it.
"About two to four times faster than how fast Arthur Leywin learns," I informed the god. Arthur leans incredibly fast, so if I am able to start trying to awaken and the second I wake up there, I should be able to gain enough strength to at least protect my family.
"Okay then, you will learn 2.5 times faster than Arthur Leywin does. Now without further ado, I shall bestow the gifts," he said as stabbed his finger into my forehead. A splitting pain throbbed inside my skull, my body felt like it was being electrocuted along with every channel of nerve and blood vessel alike.
I screamed out in agony as lightning surged through my nervous system, frying my nerves as felt my vision slow and start to take in every detail like with each second I could feel my body learning.
After what felt like hours the pain subsided and I pushed myself back up, falling a few times due to the pain and the fact that I hadn't grown used to my body.
"Now for my blessing, my young apostle," he said in an amused tone.
A chunk of ice materialized on his right hand that swirled with a black cloud that crackled with thunder. With a wave of his hand, it condensed to a tiny shard that radiated a bone-chilling pulse.
"This may be a bit cold," he warned before stabbing it into my sternum before I could react.
My body felt like it froze, the very blood in my veins felt like liquid frost, my body temperature dropped so much that I could see the moisture in my breath turn to ice and fall to the ground.
"Good, your soul has accepted it and absorbed it completely. Make good use of it in your life. Now go my Chosen One," he said as I was hit with a wave of drowsiness and my eyes closed once again.
As he sent me into my new life in Dicathen, I was hoping to be born into a nice safe place to a loving family till I could protect myself.
However, we don't always get what we hope for.
I heard a few voices in the distance growing closer every second.
"My god, there are bodies and limbs everywhere. What the hell happened here?... Is that what I think it is?....no way... is that a??" A confident voice said under his breath slowly becoming more concerned,
"HELEN, COME OVER HERE, I FOUND A BABY OVER HERE!!"
"Adam, stop making things up, there's no way a sane person would bring a baby into an... A class dungeon," the voice replied, the calmness transforming into extreme shock.
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