Chapter 2: Between Light and Shadow

First-person narration:

I woke up with a stifled gasp. My chest rose and fell rapidly as I tried to figure out where I was. But there was nothing around me. Nothing.

It was an immense space, with no visible walls or floor, a place that was both white and dark at the same time. As if light and shadow were intertwining without reason, with no apparent source. I tried to look at my hands, and though I could feel them, I couldn't see anything, but at the same time, it felt weird, like they were floating in a dream.

Panic started to take over. I tried to move, but my steps made no sound. I screamed, but my voice was lost in the vastness. There was no echo, no response. It was like being trapped in an endless limbo

"This can't be happening…" I muttered, a chill running down my spine. My last memories were blurry, but one clear image stabbed into my mind: the kid on the street, the truck approaching, and then... the lightning.

My breath became erratic. Had I died? Was this the afterlife?

"Hello!" I screamed with all my might. "Can anyone hear me!"

Silence. A silence so deep it began to suffocate me.

Weakly, I sank to my knees. Wait… do I even have knees? I didn't know if I was really breathing or if it was just the idea of breathing that kept me conscious. My mind was looking for a rational explanation, but nothing made sense. This place... wasn't normal.

I tried to run in any direction, but every attempt left me in the same spot. I tried to hit something, but there was nothing solid. I screamed again, louder, until my consciousness seemed to waver, but everything stayed the same.

Time Skip: ?

"Well... this sucks."

I wasn't scared anymore, but boredom was killing me. Seriously, there was NOTHING to do. No walls to scratch, no ground to kick, not even something dark to stare at and lose myself in my thoughts.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" I murmured, not expecting an answer, because, of course, there was no one here.

I tried to think of fun things, but it was hard without any stimuli. I tried to imagine music, but it didn't sound right. I tried to remember my favorite food, but without flavor, it had no point. Even counting numbers seemed boring after a while.

"Great. I'm stuck in nothingness, and I can't even play with my imagination."

The silence, as usual, had nothing to say about it.

"What the hell is going on?"

Suddenly, a murmur began to fill the space. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but the words felt like they were inside my head, surrounding me, clashing with each other. Like I was connecting with something... someone. Or many.

"Your pain will be legendary!"

"Feel my fury!"

"Justice has come!"

"My people are strong. I will lead them to their destiny."

"Die, fool!"

The voices came quickly, as if they were coming from all around me. Each phrase hit me like a lash, one after the other, and I didn't know what to do with them. They felt intense, filled with rage, strength, some emotion I couldn't identify. It was like someone was throwing their shouts at me, but I couldn't see where they were coming from.

"Enough!" I screamed, though I wasn't even sure if the voices could hear me. But they didn't stop. They kept coming, one after another, until my mind started to collapse under the weight of those words. What did all of this mean? What was happening?

The sound kept going, unstoppable, as if I couldn't escape it. And the worst part: I felt a kind of pressure, as if the voices were asking something of me, but I didn't know what.

"This doesn't make sense…" my voice murmured, drowned by the roar.

But nothing changed. The noise kept going, relentless.

The voices kept swirling around my head, and honestly, I didn't know if they were inside me or if the place itself was spitting them out. I tried to calm down, but… why? Nothing changed. I was stuck here, not understanding a damn thing.

I had no idea how much time had passed. A while? Here, in this hole, time makes no sense. I just knew those voices didn't scare me anymore; they just annoyed me. Like they were yelling things I didn't even understand.

I stood still, waiting for something to happen, but of course, nothing happened. Everything stayed the same. This damn place was still the same pointless void.

And then I started to lose patience. My head was about to explode. "What the hell is going on?!" I screamed, feeling like I couldn't take it anymore. "Say something, anything! Let me out of here, please!"

But the same noise continued, as if everything was completely against me.

My breathing sped up. "Who the hell is doing this?" I begged, almost with tears in my eyes, because I didn't know if what I was feeling was fear or pure frustration. I didn't understand anything.

The silence returned, heavy, as if it was waiting for something. And there I stayed, between chaos and emptiness, not knowing if what I was feeling was real or if I was just losing my mind.

...

Many centuries later...

I still remember when everything clicked. Something in my head, like a switch had been turned on, and the pieces started to fit. The truth is... I don't know how to explain it. It was like an instant connection with something bigger, something that was already inside me. Like suddenly I knew that I wasn't just an ordinary guy. No, now I'm… a god.

The god of heroes and reincarnation. And, damn, that changed everything.

My memories, which used to be just confusing flashes, now began to take shape. I knew what that meant. I knew what I could do. It was like this immense weight was falling on me, but also a kind of... power. It was a strange feeling. On one hand, I felt like I could do whatever I wanted, and on the other, it was as if the whole universe was watching me, waiting for me to do something.

And honestly, I felt a bit lost. A god? Me? I didn't even know what the hell to do with all of this.

Now that I thought about it, those damn voices… they were way too familiar. Like I had heard them before, somewhere deep in my brain that was now starting to open up. They were the dialogues of the "Heroes," those epic characters who always had grandiose phrases in the game that drove me crazy. Although I couldn't remember what that game was, I did remember those phrases, those damn phrases that echoed in my head. "Your pain will be legendary!" "Feel my wrath!"... How could I forget them? It bothered me that I couldn't put a name on that damn game, but I knew for sure that those voices weren't a mistake. They were from those heroes who always thought they were the greatest, with all that drama.

The difference now was that I wasn't listening to those heroes, no. I was the damn god of those heroes. Now I understood that those voices weren't just memories of a game, they were pieces of that old life. Somehow, all of this connected, as if those voices of heroes were now part of me, of my domain.

"Now I'm the one who controls all of this," I muttered, feeling a little calmer as I realized I wasn't just a spectator.

The feeling of power was strange, but the most terrifying part was realizing that I was no longer tied to this damn void. No more.

The void disappeared, and what replaced it was a snowy forest. I didn't know exactly how I had done it, but I had done it. A snow-covered landscape, with tall trees stretching toward the gray sky. Snow was falling softly, covering everything. It was a cold, serene place, a little lonely, but perfect for thinking. Perfect for feeling like I finally had some control.

I was no longer floating in that shapeless empty space. Now, I was standing in a place I had created myself, a place where everything made sense. The mountains in the distance gave me a sense of grandeur, and the cold air brushed my face, reminding me that this was real, or at least as real as I wanted it to be.

I didn't know when I decided it, but at some point, amidst all the chaos of everything that had happened, I chose this place. And I did it. My mind had shaped this space, this landscape. At first, I just stood there, taking in that I, now, had the power to do something like this. I could mold this damn void into whatever I wanted.

"I guess you're the new god ..." said a deep voice that resonated like an echo in an empty cave.

I turned around, where did he come from? I hadn't sensed anything…

I just stared at him, still a bit puzzled. What the hell was going on? Another god was welcoming me? Seriously, this still didn't make sense.

"And who the hell are you?" I shot back, frowning as I crossed my arms, feeling more angry than confused.

He didn't flinch. His gaze was calm, as if he already knew what I was going to say, as if he had been studying me for centuries.

"I am Ouranos, god of wisdom and knowledge. I have felt the birth of a new god, and that is the reason for our... meeting."

Ouranos didn't seem to be affected at all by my attitude. There was a calmness in him that made me feel like a little kid, even after all the shit I had gone through.

"Why didn't you show up earlier?" I asked, stepping toward him, a bit annoyed. "I was alone in that empty space, trapped in nothingness, not understanding shit. Why did you wait so long to appear?"

Ouranos looked at me for a moment, his eyes deep and serene, as if he had already anticipated my frustration.

"It wasn't the right time. You needed time to adapt, to take form and create your domain. Showing up earlier would have interrupted your process. Now that you've changed the void of your domain into something tangible, now we can talk."

"And why didn't you tell me that earlier?" I shot back, clearly annoyed. "Why wait until now? I was alone in that empty space, trapped in nothingness, not understanding shit."

Ouranos stayed silent for a few seconds, as if his calmness gave him an advantage in any conversation.

"Because now that you have something to stand on, we can discuss what's to come. The cycle of lives, for example, doesn't make sense without understanding. It's part of what being a god in your position entails."

Ouranos didn't show any reaction to my defiant tone. He simply remained silent for a moment, as if what I said didn't matter. Finally, he spoke with the same serenity as always.

"I expect nothing from you. What destiny gives you doesn't depend on what you want, only on what you can learn to control. Your power, although immense, needs to be guided. And despite your attitude, you still don't know how to use it properly."

I laughed, mocking his words a little.

"Guided? Don't make me laugh. I'm not your dog for you to tell me what to do. This…" I said, pointing to my domain, the snowy landscape I had created unintentionally, "is what I did on my own. Can you do something like that?"

Ouranos looked at the landscape with absolute calm.

"It's not about what you can do. It's about what power requires of you. The creation of a space, for example, is just a reflection of your will. But that's not enough for a god. The heroes, those you will influence, have destinies that must be fulfilled. And for that, a god must understand more than just the power of creation."

My eyes flashed with frustration for a moment.

"And what am I supposed to understand? All of this is stressing me out, damn it."

Ouranos stepped toward me, his presence now closer. I could feel his power in the air, like a soft but constant pressure. "You must learn to handle reincarnation, fate, the cycles of life and death. The heroes, though powerful, must go through their own battle. But without someone to guide them, many would be lost. You, as the god of heroes and reincarnation, will be their shadow and their light. You decide how their destinies intertwine."

"The shadow and the light?" I thought, a bit confused. My head was still spinning, but I didn't want to admit that what he said made some sense.

"So, you're saying that… I'm the one pulling the strings, or something like that?"

Ouranos nodded, a small spark of something like recognition shone in his eyes.

"Exactly. You are the starting point for their destinies, the link between them and what they are. But that doesn't mean everything will be easy. It's a weight that no one should take lightly."

I remained silent for a second. All of this was too much shit to process, but for some reason, I felt a little calmer knowing that I wasn't completely alone in this.

"Alright, alright... I'll figure it out. But don't bother me with more lessons, okay? Just tell me what's expected of me, and that's it."

Ouranos smiled slightly, as if he saw right through me and understood my frustration.

"Don't worry, everything in due time. But remember this: no matter how much power you have, the most important thing is how you decide to use it."

With that, his figure slowly faded, leaving me alone in the vast snowy forest. Despite his calmness, those last words kept echoing in my head. And damn, the weight of being a god was really starting to scare me.

I stayed silent, processing what I had just heard. The weight of Ouranos' words was falling on my shoulders, but somehow, I didn't feel the panic I felt before. At least now I understood that I wasn't alone in all of this, though that didn't make things any easier.

I looked at the snowy landscape I had created unintentionally, like a reflection of my inner chaos. There was something in the stillness of the snow that calmed me, but at the same time, it reminded me how fragile all of this was. What was expected of me? To be the shadow and the light of heroes I didn't even know?

"Damn, this is a fucking mess," I thought, sitting at the edge of a snow-covered tree. But something told me that even though I had no idea what I was doing, this would be my burden from now on.

The figure of Ouranos disappeared as easily as it had come, and I stayed there, in my domain, with more questions than answers. But something told me that I couldn't ignore this anymore.

"Now, all that's left is to figure out how the hell I'm going to handle this."

And with that, silence returned, while the snow softly fell over the vast forest. The uncertainty was still there, but at least now it was mine.

Third-person narration:

As the protagonist became lost in his thoughts, absorbed by the weight of Ouranos' words, something began to change in the air. A cold presence slid up behind him, and the soft crackling of the broken snow was the first sign that something else was happening. He didn't realize it immediately, but the atmosphere around him became denser, as if a subtle darkness was beginning to infiltrate his domain.

Suddenly, figures emerged from the shadows of the snowy forest, one after the other, as if they had been waiting for this moment all along.

The first, a warrior in dark and silver armor, filled with gothic details that looked like they were taken from a nightmare. His helmet covered his face, giving him a somber expression, and his imposing figure was surrounded by a chilling aura that caused the snow around him to freeze instantly. In his hand, he held a long dark steel sword with blue runes etched along the blade. His eyes glowed with a blue light, reflecting his corruption by the darkness that seemed to consume him little by little.

The second figure, an elf with an athletic build, approached without making a sound. His long, dark hair fell untidy over his shoulders, casually tied. Despite his youth, his presence was powerful, but the most unsettling thing was his eyes, covered by a black blindfold. His body was marked with strange black scars. In his hands, he held a pair of crescent-shaped war swords, a deep green contrasting with the icy surroundings.

The third hero was completely different. His silver armor gleamed under the dim light of the snowy surroundings, adorned with golden details that gave a sense of nobility and honor. His face reflected wisdom and responsibility. In his hands, he carried a massive war hammer, whose weight seemed nothing to him, with a shield symbol adorned with the emblems of his order, marking his role as leader and protector.

Finally, the fourth figure emerged with palpable strength. A burly man with green skin and messy black hair, braided in several parts, giving him a tribal air. His light leather armor, with interwoven metal pieces, seemed to have been forged in past battles. In his right hand, he held a Magic Hammer, vibrating with ancient power. His face was marked by scars, evidence of his life of resistance and combat, and his gaze reflected determination and courage.

The protagonist, sensing the presence of the heroes, turned slowly. His gaze met each of theirs, but something inside him told him that these were not merely shadows of his mind. They were real, and somehow, their appearance was linked to the fate that had been bestowed upon him.

However, before he could react, the figures began to vanish, as if they had never been there, leaving the protagonist with more questions than answers. The cold breeze blew fiercely again, and he stood in silence, staring at the empty space where the figures had once been.

"What the hell is going on now?" he murmured to himself, as the feeling of being watched overtook him.