UNFORESEEN ENCOUNTER II

I heard familiar voices arguing and wailing in the distance. My curiosity got the best of me, and I couldn't help but eavesdrop.

"Why would you let him go out?" a male voice said, his tone filled with anger and frustration.

"I did not think anything would happen," a female voice replied, sounding defensive.

"Who are they talking about?" I wondered, trying to make sense of the conversation.

"Of course you didn't, you never think things through," the male voice retorted, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"What is that supposed to mean?" the female voice asked, her voice quivering.

I strained to hear more, to understand the context of their argument, but before the male voice could finish his sentence, the voices began to fade away. The noise grew quieter and quieter until all that was left was a pin-drop silence that hung heavily in the air.

My heart sank, and a sense of unease washed over me.

"I can open my eyes," I muttered as I slowly allowed my eyelids to part, expecting to find myself in a familiar setting. Instead, I was met with a disconcerting sight—a seemingly endless, pitch-black void. The floor felt strange beneath my feet, like water, and I couldn't see anything around me.

As I glanced down, I was startled to see my own reflection—a teenage guy with curly black hair, brown eyes, and a slightly chubby physique.

"To be honest, I haven't missed this body a single bit," I grumbled, feeling a sense of frustration.

"Since I'm back in my old body, does that mean I died? Figures. I couldn't even last ten years. Damn it!"

I looked around, realizing that I was in a place of complete darkness. "So what's going to happen to me now, and what the hell even killed me? One moment I was walking outside, and the next, I'm completely blanked. Bet the gods won't pity me this time. At this point, I'm just useless," I muttered to myself.

Desperate for answers, I decided to explore my surroundings. I lay down on the strange, water-like surface beneath me and stretched my hand above, trying to reach what seemed like a distant sky, though nothing was distinguishable in this eerie void.

"I wonder if this place has mana," I wondered aloud, my voice echoing emptily. "If it does, I could probably channel it and possibly escape."

I sat up, crossed my legs, and brought my fists together linearly, focusing my thoughts.

"Just as I thought, this place is completely empty—a vacuum, for that matter. I'm even lucky I can breathe at this point," I continued to talk to myself, my voice breaking the eerie silence of the void.

After a moment of contemplating my predicament, I decided to walk around, attempting to make some sense out of the bizarre void in which I found myself. The distant memories of my previous life floated to the surface, but they were like fragmented pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Everything was hazy, leaving me with a gnawing sense of unease.

As I ventured further into the dark expanse, something unusual caught my eye—an anomalous white figure standing out like a beacon in the darkness.

"Hey!" I called out, my voice echoing into the emptiness, but there was no response. I couldn't even hear the sound of my own voice. I thought, "Maybe they can't hear me," and decided to close the gap between us.

As I drew closer, the distance separating me from the enigmatic figure closing to about a hundred meters, I decided to initiate a conversation.

"Hey, do you perhaps know where this place is? I think I actually died again, and considering I don't know how all this works, I wanted—" Before I could finish my sentence, the figure pivoted toward me, revealing her distinctly female features.

She had an otherworldly beauty, with white, silky hair and sparkling eyes to match. What truly caught my attention, though, were the two white horns protruding from her head, curving forward in an elegant and somewhat menacing fashion. Her appearance was unlike anything I had ever encountered.

Curiosity battled with caution as I continued speaking, "I wanted to know if you could—"

Before I could complete my request, she stretched her hand out, and a swirling purple aura began to coalesce around her palm. My eyes widened in surprise, and I took an involuntary step back. In a matter of seconds, a shining white and purple substance materialized before her, ready to be unleashed.

Panic surged through me as the unknown energy shot forward, impaling my vision. I let out a guttural scream, unable to process the searing pain that coursed through my right eye. It felt as if I were being stabbed repeatedly, the agony intensifying with each excruciating moment.

"AAAARRRGGHGHHH!" I howled in torment, unable to form coherent thoughts amid the overwhelming pain.

My right eye throbbed mercilessly, as though a thousand needles were piercing it relentlessly. The dark void around me began to fade, gradually replaced by an all-encompassing white light.

I clutched my injured eye with my hand, my body convulsing involuntarily in response to the searing pain. Through the blurred haze, I could make out the figure of the white-haired woman as she retreated.

She turned to face me, and her voice echoed through my disoriented mind, "EACH LIFE CARRIES THE RIDDLE OF EVENTUAL DEPARTURE…."

"Huh?" I managed to mutter, my words coming out as a jumbled mess. The pain in my right eye was gradually subsiding, and I blinked several times to clear my vision. The void continued to shift from dark to light, and I felt myself being pulled away from that enigmatic figure and her cryptic message.

In the midst of my confusion and disorientation, a deep sense of unease settled in the pit of my stomach. What did she mean by "each life carries the riddle of eventual departure"?

//// NEXT CHAPTER: UNFORESEEN ENCOUNTER III ////

Edited by: JJ