{As we open our story, we would like to take a moment for a disclaimer. This is a fantasy based work of literature, based on anime. We do not condone nor wish to encourage any individual to commit suicide. All life is precious, and if you are having these thoughts, then it is time to make a change. You are obviously not happy, but there might yet be small things that truly make you happy. We urge you to begin by focusing on those things. Perhaps they are hobbies or other activities. [FYI for me, I have a few distractions, writing is one of them.] If that does not work for you, find someone to talk to, someone who you know that would be deeply hurt by your passing. Don't know someone like that, or just do not want unnecessary attention? Sometimes, although we hate it, we may have to talk through our problems in order to solve them. Right now, you are debating with yourself, life or death, so technically you are already talking about the problem, just not to someone else. Find someone, anyone, a doctor, priest, fireman, police officer, or a random nice person that you will never see again, if that is what you want. We care, we will listen, we will help. Even for a moment, if you do not wish to linger. You are not alone. Look at it this way, if I am writing this message to you, in a world of over a billion people, odds are someone will listen to you. Cheers and keep that chin up, you are far from down and out! You are bigger than this, and you deserve a fighting chance!!!}
A young man stands on the edge of a roof, overlooking a huge vast city. The wind blows through his hair as he turns to look behind him. His medium length black hair waves as he turns. He is an average build, five foot eight inches tall, not muscular but not fat either. His eyes green as emeralds, the eyes that she fell in love with, and his face pale as a ghost from never going out into the sun. He was a recluse, how she ever had a chance to fall in love with him was a miracle. Never the less, she loved him, truly, more than breath itself. Watching him now had to be the most painful experience of her life because she knew she could not stop him. He was.... lost to her, as much as her heart yearned to leap into his arms, once more, the impact would surely send both of them over the edge.
"I never wanted you to see this." He says. "I just wanted to be left alone."
The tears flowed so heavily from her beautiful, light blue eyes blurred by her tears that she could barely see straight. "Why, Richard?! I LOVE YOU!!! Can't I help? Can't I do something to change your mind?!!" She falls to her knees, five feet from him. "Please, baby, please just come back home with me. I need you! You are my everything now, please don't take that away from me!!!!!!!!!" She sods, trying so hard to speak clearly, but her sobs choke her voice.
"I am sorry, I really didn't want this to turn out this way." He turns his back to her. "But I can not stand this world any longer."
With those words, he slowly tilts forward, falling off the edge to his unavoidable demise.
She leaps quickly, trying to grab him, but he is already gone, falling sixty stories to the pavement below. Her cries echo in his ears as he closes his eye, awaiting the sweet release of death.
"I was not unkind. I was a loyal employee. I love you too, Becca. I am sorry, mother, for anything I ever did to upset you. Dad, I will see you soon. Sis..... please find someone to love, forever." All these thought rush through his mind, just before he hits the pavement.
"Another human planted in the ground, like a seed to a tree that will never grow." A deep voice echos through the darkness. "Unacceptable."
It is a grizzly scene. Blood and body parts everywhere. The police are horrified to find three arms, on the scene, two still crusting each other's hands.
"Why?!" The Captain of Police asks. "Why didn't they come to us first?"
Elsewhere, a man awakens, sharply, as he lays in the grassy field. Sitting up quickly, he looks around, confused and dazed. His short, spiky brown hair gleams in the sunlight, his eyes..... emerald green, his skin is tanned from laying out in the sun, he is five foot eleven inches, muscular and toned like a gladiator. He stumbles to his feet, whipping about wildly for an explanation.
"Didn't I just die?" He asks himself. "I jumped off a roof, landed on the pavement...... I must be dead! This HAS to be the afterlife."
As he rabbles on to himself, a wagon drive by, on a nearby road. An older man stops the wagon and peers out at the young man.
"Are you okay, sonny?" The man shouts.
The man turns quickly. "You there, where am I?" He shouts.
"Havensroust!" The old man shouts back. "South of the Aldermen Empire." The old man slaps the rains and rides off, quickly.
"Havensroust? Aldermen Empire?!" The man questions himself. "Where the hell am I?!" He shouts at the sky.
After a while, he begins to compose himself. Searching his belongings, he finds a dagger, a few vials of oddly colored liquid, a map, various coins in a bag, and a gently worn ring. Besides his apparel, which seems to be made of cheap fabrics and leather, he has nothing else on him.
"This is far too odd to be the afterlife." He says as he pinches himself. "Oww! Ok, this is real. But how did I get here?"
He again looks around, but no one is nearby. Pulling out the map, he examines it closely.
"Ok, so that old man said I was in Havensroust..... south of the Aldermen Empire...." As he speaks he traces his fingure on the map and locates Havensroust. "Okay, found that.... now, what is nearby?" He circles the area, on the map, with his fingure and locates a small pond to the east. "Guess I need water, so I will go there first."
He picks up all the things he unpacked and heads east, following the sun's arch in the sky. Once he nears the pond, he hides behind a bush having spotted a few animals drinking from the water. They are deer like, in appearance, with tan hair mixed with patches of white around their chests. He slowly picks up a rock and readies his dagger.
"I have only one shot at this." He thinks to himself.
He throws the rock causing a splash, in the pond, in front of the animals. They scatter quickly, one runs straight for the bush, where he is hiding.
"Bingo!" He thinks.
As the animal reaches the bush it attempts to leap over it, but he pops up and stabs his dagger into its chest, bringing it crashing to the ground, on its back. The animal is dead. He quickly looks around for any others, but they have all fleed the area.
"Caught myself some dinner, have plenty of water, guess I should make a fire." He says to himself.
As night begins to fall, he gathers wood and leafs, for the fire. Before starting it, he skins the animal and cuts it into manageable pieces.
"Looks like I will have a lot left over, but if I do not eat it now it will likely go bad quickly." He says to himself.
He starts the fire, using two rocks, and begins to place each piece on a makeshift spit, propped up by other branches he found laying around. The smell of cooking meat instantly reminds him of home, of Becca and all the times they cooked together.
"I'm such an idiot...." He thinks to himself. "Why am I alive?!!" He shouts angrily.
His shout is answered by a grunting beyond some nearby bushes. Richard turns quickly to see what made the noise. As he tries to focus his eyes he sees an abnormally large bear lumbering towards him. The bear roars and stands on its hind legs.
"YES!" Richard shouts with joy, running up to the bear. "Kill me!"
The bear is thrown off guard by this sudden advancement and stumbles a bit, landing back on all fours.
"No, no. Get back up and do it right!" He screams.
The bear backs away slowly, not knowing what to make of this crazed man.
Richard thinks quick and leaps at the bear catching hold of the fur on its back. "It is you or me, do it!"
The bear frails about trying to knock Richard off, to no avail. Finally, the bear stands straight up and falls backwards, pinning Richard under his weight. "I am hungry, human, not a barbarian." It grunts.
"Y.. you can talk?!" Richard asks, both surprised and in pain.
"Yes. Why are you acting so squirrely?" The bear growls.
"I.. I think you used that word in the wrong context, Mr. Bear." He chuckles, still pinned underneath the bear.
The bear turns over and places his paw on Richard's throat. "I know how to define a crazy person flailing about with no regard for his life." The bear gnashes his teeth. "Do you have a death wish?"
Richard turns his head slowly and smiles at the bear. "I guess.. you could say that."
"I did say that!" The bear becomes more annoyed. "I asked you a simple question, yes or no?"
Richard quickly wiggles his head enough to bite the bear's paw. The bear screams in pain and retracts his paw.
Richard leaps to his feet and grabs his dagger. "Come on!"
The bear backs away again. "Stay away from me, you crazy human."
Richard runs and slashes at the bear, out of instinct, the bear slashes back, cutting Richard's throat. Richard falls back, clutching his throat as blood pours onto the ground.
The bear looks sadly at the dying man. "I really didn't want to do that."
As Richard's eyesight begins to blur, he hears a deep voice echoing in the darkness. "Unacceptable. I did not give you the gift of life for you to throw it away so blatantly."
"Wh... who are you?" Richard asks, weakly.
The bear responds. "I have no name."
The bear's voice did not match the one Richard had heard, so he asks again. "Who gave me life?"
The deep voice speaks up again. "I am Fate. You seem very ungrateful for my gift of life, therefore, I will not allow you to die until you have fulfilled your purpose here."
The bear looks curiously at the man. "Who are you talking to?"
"What is my purpose?" Richard asks the voice.
"You shall soon discover that for yourself." The voice fades out.
Just as the voice disappears, a bright light flashes and there stands Richard unharmed.
"Your wound.... it.. it's gone." The bear stumbles back.
Richard touches his neck and then turns, punching a tree with all his might. "DAMN IT!!!"
The tree breaks under the blow and falls with a thunderous crash.
The bear backs further away, scared now for his life. "Demon! Agregor!" He shouts.
Richard turns back and collapses to the ground. "Why... why can't I just die?"
"Whoa! Just calm down. Maybe you're just hungry." The bear says as he hands him a piece of the cooked meat.
Richard takes a bite and instantly is hit with flavors he has never experienced with meat. "What are these animals, they taste so good?"
"Granders, they are a delicacy in some places, tastes reserved for Kings and Queens." The bear replies.
"I have way too much for just myself, would you like some?" Richard asks.
"Don't mind if I do." The bear sits and begins eating another piece. He looks over curiously. "So who were you talking to?"
"Fate, apparently.." Richard rolls his eyes.
The bear coughs a piece of meat out of his throat. "FATE?!"
"That is what the voice said." Richard glances over at the bear. "What, you know this person?"
"Not exactly, only from legends and rumors. The legend says that Fate is the bringer of life and power. Also, something about a chosen few that would receive his blessings." The bear says.
"Well, he can take his blessings and shove it, I don't want this." Richard throws down a bone in anger.
"I somehow doubt you have a choice." The bear says. "So what is a ranger doing out this far?"
"How am I supposed to know? One minute I am jumping off a roof to my death and now I am stuck in this body. I do not even know if I am in the same world." Richard says annoyed.
"Either way sounds like you are stuck here, Agregor." The bear responds.
Richard stands quickly. "What does that word even mean? Is that this guy's name?" Richard asks angerly.
"Easy, it means 'other worlder'. Fits you, considering what you did to that tree." The bear backs away slowly.
Richard looks at the fallen tree and then at his hands. "I didn't feel pain from that!"
"Another two blessings for you, lucky lucky." The bear huffs.
"You can have them if you want!" Richard holds out his hands.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. You are stuck with this." The bear points his paw.
Richard looks up to the clear night sky, light with stars as far as the eye can see. "What have I gotten myself into?"