Prologue

Thinking: 'Cake is a lie'

Talking: "The fool is a lie'

...........

The people say, that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes.

In my case, it was after I died that my life played out in front of me like a movie. Then abruptly it ended, darkness surrounding me once more.

It was only then, that I realised I could move. Looking around the dark space I couldn't help but feel as if something was about to happen.

Then as if summoned, a giant screen appeared with the words; GAME OVER appearing across the screen.

I felt my eyebrow twitch as my face settled into a deadpan expression.

'What kind of death-altering, cheap trick is this?' I thought incredulously.

Static then zipped across the screen, like an old black and white t.v. from the 70's.

As the static stopped, new words appeared on the screen,

"Continue"

"New Game"

The twitching in my eyebrow got worse. Taking a slow, deep breath and letting it out, I felt a calm settle through me.

Centering myself, I thought a bit and decided to take the course of action most logical and reached out to press on the "CONTINUE".

After pressing continue, the screen flickered before going black. After a few minutes it flared up again but this time it said:

[Error, no progress found]

Furrowing my eyebrows as it went back to the two words. This time the "CONTINUE"was greyed out. I clicked my tongue in annoyance then with a resigned sigh I pressed on "New Game".

Just as it did before, the screen went blank, then flared up again but this time the words did not make me click in annoyance. The words on the screen actually sent dread through my heart.

[Error, no New Game found. World Project 29071 exterminated upon the death of a key factor]

The horror and guilt at the realization of what that meant, nearly brought me to my knee's.

Bitter tears pricked at the edges of my eyes before making their way down my cheeks. I chocked down the cries that were attempting to work their way out of my mouth.

'No!' I thought hysterically.

'No! She's not gone, she's not!' I was in denial, I knew logically that the sister I had tried so hard to keep alive, was now dead but it did not relieve the pain I felt at the thought of her being dead.

My dearest little sister and I had been born premature, yet she was ended up being the sickly one. As she grew up, her condition only worsened. My parents and I had done all in our power, to try and help her.

I had actually been on my way to see her to deliver some good news when suddenly, WHAM! I got hit by an ice- cream van.

The news that caused my death was about my sister. She had gained a weak heart and one of the Doctors that I hired said that a heart transplant was possible but we would have to find a strong heart with the exact same qualities. In a burst of inspiration I told the Doctor to test my heart.

He cautiously told me that the hearts were a match, before warning me about the risks for procedure should it succeed.

Understanding the risks and not caring about them so long as my sister lived, I ordered the Doctor to start preparing for the procedure.

Of course, now it was all a waste. I had nothing to live for, my purpose as a big brother was gone.

Staring blankly at the big screen, I couldn't help but wonder why I was here.

As if the fates themselves heard me, the giant screen fritzed before disappearing only to be replaced by a giant wheel-of-fortune. I facepalmed at the absurdity of it all.

A giant SPIN appeared before my eyes. Turning my head to get rid of the word in front of me, I felt my eyebrow twitch return as the word lazily floated into my line of sight.

With a frustrated sigh and the realization that I had nothing left to lose, I hit the spin and left it all up to the fates.

The wheel itself was a gaudy gold colour with flashing lights and a giant red arrow pointimg down towards blank columns. Each column was grayed out and the only thing that could be seen were white cartoonish boxes with giant purple question marks hovering over them.

I smiled grimly to myself as I watched the wheel spin.

'Come on luv, make my day' I thought to myself.

It spun for what felt like hours before coming to a slow stop. Then it started to shine before a huge flash went off, like a camera.

In the wake of the flash, the entire wheel transformed into something a lot less gaudy and a helluva lot more ominous.

The wheel had gone from gold to a wicked black with streaks of silver slithering around it. The giant and almost comical red arrow had changed into an honest to goodness, 16th centuary, copper arrow, complete with engravings and all.

The columns though, was what held my attention. Once greyed out, they now held the most stunning and cringe-worthy visuals within them.

Out of all eight columns, there was only two with depictions that roused more emotion than the pure angst within my body.

Looking at the visuals, anyone with half a brain could tell that these two depictions were as different as night and day.

Looking to the first one, this one was arguably the one that caught my attention the most. The column itself was black and red, there were shadows creeping along the edges while flames of orange and red licked at the blood splattered ground. Monsters of horror and fiends of chaos were scattered all over the column. In the talons (and tentacles for some) of these creatures were pieces of -what looked like- human flesh. Within the middle of the visual lay the box, where it was goofy and cartoonish before, it now looked more like a cage straight out of a torture chamber. The cage itself was rusted and covered in blood splatter, a giant horned skull padlock was locked over the door of the cage. Lined within the cage above and on the ground was nails, covered in dried, rusted blood.

Shivers crawled up and down my spine, the hair on my neck was raised almost like a cat getting ready for a fight. I grimaced at the phantom heat of the fires that I could see moving on the visual.

Now the second most intresting visual was a complete opposite of the one above. Instead of the fear that the visual before inspired, this depiction gave off a baffling sense of tranquility. 

With the visual column before, I was treated to the emotion of fear, rage, chaos and unease. With this second one I felt at ease, tranquil, blissful and completely at peace with myself.

Between these two visuals, it was the second one that took my breath away, the first one although well depicted made me shudder in absolute terror.

This visual was painted in hues of pastel, gold, silver and whites. Along the frame of the column grew two trees, one on each side and both making an arch at the top. The trees themselves seemed alive and looked as if they moved to an invisible wind. Their bark a silver white while the leaves were green and gold. Within the arch of the trees laid a beautiful landscape. Within this landscape were beings of light and magic, creatures and myths of wonder. The sky is a clear and beautiful light blue, while the ground is covered in flowers of every shape and colour. Near one of the columns edges is a forest of green and gold, a river of clear blue running straight through it, behind the forest was a kingdom that seemed to be made of clouds and crystal. The kingdom stood so tall and looked so welcoming that even though it was a mere visual I could not help but want to enter it. Thi box that lay in the middle had changed into a pair of wings with a circlet in their center. The wings themselves were magnificent, they were sleek with the shape of an eagles wings. Coloured in silver with golden tips, they make to be quite majestic once spread for flight. The circlet a white-gold with opals inlaid and cravings straight from religion's of olde.

I had to take a step back lest I found myself tempted touch the giant and foreboding wheel.

Taking a breath I knew instinctively what these two columns represented.

These were the afterlives that so many people went to, when one died. I knew, deep within my heart, that had I made the wrong choices within my short life I would have ended within the cage and with no way out.

Yet I could not help but wonder if I was not to go there and I was clearly not meant for those wings (as even I knew some of my choices weren't exactly meant in good will) then where was I to go.

Focusing on the other visuals I could see that there were six left, not including the other two.

Staring at the depictions I found myself startled at the realization that these depictions-like the afterlife-were not actually just mere visuals but other worlds entirely!

Staring at them, I came to the exhausting that I was to be reincarnated and not judged to be sent to an afterlife.

Focusing on the other columns I couldn't help the abrupt burst of hysterical laughter.

'My sister dies and I get the sceond chance, what a horrible brother I am' I thought through the hysterics.

Forcing myself to focus on the other worlds I systematically checked each one.

The first world: This is the world of horses. The visual was split into six, each part had a different climate and a different terrain, the frame of the column was that of leather and horse hide. The box had changed into a pelt, the pelt itself was that of a young dappled grey stallion that had four black socks and on it's rump was an eagle brand. While this world was intresting it was not my world.

The second world: It was monochrome, that was the first thing I noticed. The world visual was painted in greys, whites and black. Everything was monochrome, from its people to its buildings and cars. It felt decidedly muted and slightly depressing. The box in the middle had become a guitar case with a stamp stitched onto it. The frame of the column was made of thin steel pipes that seemed to have been welded onto the edges.

The third world: This world had me wrinkle my nose slightly, I had never actually been fond of the cold amd seeing as the frame of this column was made out of ice, I knew even before looking that it was not going to be my cup of tea. The visual of this world was literally ice and snow, painted with white and ice-blue I subconsciously curled in on myself as if to keep myself warm. The creatures that inhabited the world was none other than bears, bears of all kinds; small bears, big bears, thin bears, fat bears and bears of every colour. Looking more closely I noticed that there were igloos on the ground and a bear was even entering one. Coming to the conclusion that these bears might live more like humans than their actual bear cousins made me smile slightly. Looking at where the box was, I was enthralled by a gorgeously carved statue of a lean bear. It's fur is ice-blue with black markings cover some of its fur. Around the neck of the bear was a necklace made of gemstones and fangs, something told me this bear was royalty.

The fourth world: The fourth world worried me slightly, it was as if the world had been plunged into the dark era only steampunk had been mixed into it. Looking at the inhabitants I felt some blood drain from my face, it was what the world would have looked like if Dracula had been real and actually succeeded in taking over the world. Yes this visual was of coffins, stakes, wars with humans and vampires and the bloodsuckers themselves sucking on the necks of humans. The frame was made out of the wood of what looked like a very old tree. The box had been turned into a leather duster that had two guns within it, engraved onto the guns was a word each. The one gun which was coloured in crimson and steel was engraved with Loveless, while the other being coloured in black and silver was engraved with Calamity. The duster had its own emblem etched into its leather, the emblem was of a medieval victorian cross, within the cross, etched in green emeralds was two words: Honor and Hunter.

The fifth world: This world had me standing at attention as this was the world that the giant arrow landed on. This was the world that I was to be born into, it looked normal enough, if you ignored all the magic and magical creatures. It looked like your typical magical world but I was going to reserve judgment until I experianced the world itself. The frame was made out of jewels and stone along with pieces of wood. Looking towards the box I felt myself twitch as I realised that this box would not be as obvious as the other ones, in fact it was downright mysterious as it had gone from a box to a chest made out of mahogany wood. On the top of the chest was a coat of arms, in the coat of arms were two creatures, both separated by a glowing orb that floated in the middle. Ignoring the world for now I turned to the last one.

The sixth world: This world had me turning my head away slightly as I tried to control my gag reflex. I understood immediately what it was as soon as I looked at it. The Apocolypse, this world as depicted by the visual was done in hues of black, green, yellows and other muddy colours. There were zombies scattered all over the column, some seemed smart, some not, others fast and others big. Humans were being feasted on while other living humans ran away. It's box in question had turned into a full blown Survival kit, knives and rashens as well as a full artillery complete with ammo. A pair of dog tags hanging from a sniper gun implied that had I reincarnated into that world, my person would have had a military background.

Finishing my observation I conclude that out of all six worlds, the fifth one might not be as bad.

As if it was listening in on my thoughts and waiting on my decision, the giant wheel gave a loud creek before disappearing with a whoosh.

Covering my eyes I waited till the wind (and wasn't that odd seeing as this space had nothing in it) died down before looking at the place where the wheel had been.

In place of the wheel stood the grand chest that had been apart of the fifth world, the chest was wide open as if inviting me to take a look into it.

Cutiously I started walking towards the chest, my curiosity overwhelming my cautious mind.

Finally in front of the box I looked down and frowned, thinking I could be wrong I got on my knees to take a closer look.

"What the Hera?" I questioned feeling very disappointed as I stared at the seemingly empty chest.

Reaching inside I felt my eyes grow wide as two glowing balls raced out of the chest and slammed straight into me. Stumbling back and landing on my tush, I uttered a furious curse at my own stupidity. Getting up I glanced down at the chest, intending to give it a quick kick, I was surprised to see something inside. Before I could check what was inside, I felt the world spin before everything went black.

To be continued....