Shades of the New World

Chapter 1: The Wandering Soul

In the battered ruins of a barely standing watchtower, a disheveled man was faithfully staring at a body of a man in soldier's garments. A sniper rifle could be seen on the dead body's hand with some bullet cases littered on the ground. Streaks of dark blood flowed from a bullet hole in the man's head, already clotting at some spots. The battle continued in the area, with distant gunshots breaking the eerie silence occasionally.

The sniper's two comrades soon came to the hiding spot and found their ally with a bullet stuck in his head. They forcefully shoved down their emotions down their throat and one of them went on to check on the body, while the other reported his findings into his communication device.

His tone was polite at first, but it soon started to sound more hostile and vulgar. Finished with his call, he drew a cross across his chest.

He spoke to the other man and received a weary sigh in reply. They nodded at each other. No further words were needed.

One of them carried the body and went on to walk towards the end of their cover and stopped, while the other grasped his gun tight in his hands and followed the other behind.

The slovenly man followed behind the two soldiers intently, his eyes never leaving the dead body.

The free soldier threw a stun grenade towards a place he suspected enemies to be. Sounds of footsteps scattering away with panic entered their ears and the grenade exploded. A loud bang resounded in the area, and the two soldier's ears were stunned with a dizzying ring. Since even they felt the effects of the stun grenade, it wasn't hard to imagine how it was like for the people who got hit by the thing on a closer range. The two comrades ran towards the next cover, with adrenaline rushing through his veins. Scattered gunshots came towards the two's way, but thanks to some luck and the stun grenade, none of them hit their marks.

The two continued on their way towards their base in a similar manner and eventually reached a spot where they would be safe after crossing a long open area.

The disheveled man was following behind them as usual.

Just as they were about to use another stun grenade to make a final run for safety, something clanked on the walls and fell behind them.

The two instantly recognized it as a grenade and made a mad dash towards safety. A hail of bullets came towards their way since the enemies knew they would appear there. This time, the bullets hit true and the two soldiers fell to the ground with a heavy thud one after another, blood trailing from numerous bullet wounds on their body.

The man who was watching offered a prayer towards the two and continued watching their dead bodies in silence. The battlefield fell silent for the ensuing few minutes. The communication device on the two's bodies activated for a few seconds, with confused shouts coming from the other side. Then, some enemies came to loot the corpses of the three soldiers, taking their ammunition and weapons.

None were able to notice the man that was staring at the three bodies, still and silent.

Time passed slowly, but finally, a glimmer of interest appeared in the man's eyes. One of the corpses started convulsing violently. The body of the sniper. Then, another soldier phased out of the dead body, this one seemingly alive and well, identical to the dead one on the ground. Confusion appeared in the revived soldier's eyes, but gradually it was replaced with the realization that he had already died. He fumbled about his surroundings, trying to understand what happened to him.

He then saw the bodies of his two comrades only ten steps away from safety and realized that they died trying to recover his dead body. The sniper started mourning the deaths of the two, crying and screaming "Why?" over and over again through the sobs.

But after a few moments, the revived soldier then started screaming with pain, his mouth frothing and his veins convulsing.

The disheveled man sighed with disappointment at the familiar sight. The soldier's thrashing suddenly stopped and he eerily looked towards the man who was staring at him. He then ran towards him with a mad grin, screaming and shouting in the process.

The soldier tried to bite and claw at the man, but the latter avoided the attacks with practiced precision. He then played chase with the soldier for a bit until the soldier's energy seemed to run out and his body was starting to fade away.

"Not this time either... Sigh, why do I even bother with this? They all turn mad after a few seconds and run out of energy after thrashing about. At least this one had the decency to disappear fast. I certainly don't wish for something like last time to happen, when I had to run non stop for three days," the man muttered, thinking about the previous spirit that revived.

"Guess I'll go back to civilization again. I certainly don't wish to spend my time staring at dead bodies. Hopefully, by the time I'm back, they would stay sane permanently What should I do when I get back, though..."

As the soul was ruminating his next decision, a female voice called out to him from behind.

"Excuse me, are you Evan?"

The voice startled the soul briefly, with hints of disbelief and puzzlement filling his expression. Then, a mad light appeared in his eyes. He tried to smile, but only a savage grin appeared on his face. He tried to say something, but he could only stutter with his choked up throat and his shaky voice. A million different thoughts burst forth in his mind as they tried to sweep away the battered walls that held his sanity. The man could feel himself falling into a state he knew almost excessively well.

Insanity.

The woman who called out to him hurriedly touched the man's head, noticing the state he was in. A pale, cold light appeared in her hands and the soul felt a sense of calming invade his mind. The broken walls of his mind seemed to mend themselves as he could finally articulate proper thoughts in his brain.

Then, endless rage replaced his insanity as he remembered the state he was put in for three whole centuries. He lashed at the foreign power in his mind, trying to break the connection in a fit of blind anger.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize the extent of your situation. But you must not resist, it's for your own good. If you stubbornly refuse, I can only force it upon you," Said the woman in an imposing manner. Her words carried an intent that seemed useless to deny, as the man was subdued and he slowly regained his calm.

Some time passed, and the man's situation completely stabilized.

The man had a good look at the woman and immediately noticed that her eyes were not normal.

'Everything except her eyes just scream average. A small woman with an approachable round face, wearing a dark bluish jacket with light blue jeans. A type of woman I saw so many times before, but her eyes force me to change everything I would normally think of when seeing such a woman'

There was a constantly flickering blue glow in her eyes and deep within it, a massive and violent storm raged perpetually. She was patiently waiting for him to speak with a calm and understanding expression, but the man found it unbelievable that someone with such a gaze can even make a calm face like that.

After noting the gaze of the woman, the man finally spoke.

"How can you converse with me?" the man slowly asked, a bit unbelieving of the fact that he was actually conversing with someone.

He tried to hold a vigilant expression, but the woman couldn't help but notice the hope in his eyes.

Her eyes flickered again, and she answered.

"I'm like you, but I guess you could say I'm a legitimate existence, while you are a mistake of the cycle that was not supposed to happen"

The man felt no anger at those words. He knew exactly what those words meant since he is the one who led such a flawed life in the first place. He nodded and asked another question.

"What does that mean?"

"I am what you would call an 'ascendant'. We are human souls who were chosen by the 'God' to help manage the mortal souls on Earth. While you belong to a group of accidental entities who fall outside the system of souls, who have the same attributes as us, but not enough to affect other mortal souls. In other words-"

As she was talking, the man interrupted her abruptly.

"Stop. I asked an unnecessary question. Why have you met me now, and what do you want from me?" Said the man hurriedly, impatience filling his head.

He knew that the most important part was yet to be revealed, and he couldn't waste his time on random filler. Not at the moment.

"First of all, let me apologize for the mistake that caused your situation. The previous 'god' of Earth has forsaken his duties, leaving you in a state between life and death. You could only wander the land of the living but not part of it, not in any real meaning at least"

"And?"

"We are here to offer you a solution. You cannot be reborn again on Earth, since you've been in this state for far too long but we do have an alternate solution for you"

The shimmer of hope he showed before now fully occupied his face. The situation dazed him as he stared at the woman. Any semblance of wariness he had had immediately vanished, as he excitedly waited for the woman to continue.

"We will send you to a world different from ours, that uses a very similar, but different cycle of souls. We hope that you can become a proper part of the cycle there, but I can't promise you anything regarding that. What I can promise is that you will live as a person there for until you die, meaning you will not be alone, like in this half-half state of yours."

Various emotions appeared in the man's mind. He was afraid that the woman was lying to him, that it was just a very cruel joke. He was afraid that others of that unknown World will learn that he's from a different world, that they will hate and scorn him when he gets there.

Even though he wanted to change his entire life, when the opportunity served itself on a silver platter right in front of him, he was hesitating.

'I lived a life of solitude for three whole centuries. So why am I reluctant to part with this hell? If the woman is lying, then that's all it is. She'll play me like a fool, and then I will continue my wretched existence. But if she's telling the truth, then'

"I accept. What do I have to do? What must I do?"

The woman smiled and lightly chuckled.

"Don't worry about such things. In all honesty, your existence here is disrupting the balance of the cycle, so we had to do something about you, anyway"

The man smiled brightly at that, the madness in his eyes threatening to take over again.

"Great... Great! Oh, how could I have imagined it would be like this?! No matter! Let's just get it over with. Send me to that world! Now!"

The man's words started to lose coherence, and he madly shook the woman with his dirt ridden hands. The other nodded with a sigh, then muttered something unintelligible.

A dark spot flickered in the air and then violently ripped apart the surrounding space. The air fluctuated for a bit, and then it finally seemed to stabilize. The woman pointed at the dark spot and said to the spirit.

"Enter that black spot and just keep chanting Alvox. Don't stop until you either feel nothing or until you lose consciousness.

"Okay!" The man said eagerly and tried to jump right into the darkness, but the woman's hands stopped him.

"Strive for eternity or strive for true death, lest your broken existence comes back to haunt you once more," a cryptic warning came out of the woman's lips.

Her words shocked the man briefly, but after a second he nodded gravely and jumped into the portal without hesitation.

Soon after the man left, the woman sat on the ground and sighed.

"He's slightly unstable, but it's not a problem in the long run. He'll most likely stabilize in his new mother's womb, so I don't have to worry about his mental state too much. After this, only fate will have a hand in his life now. Though, he is quite interesting, so I can't be sure that the Empress will intervene..."

Her thoughts seemed to amuse her and she continued muttering.

"The first anomaly to appear after the Highest authority abandoned his duties. Living in solitude for three hundred years, while also keeping himself from turning into an instinct embodiment. Heh, such stubbornness"

She stood up with some effort and patted the dust off her clothes. Her eyes looked tired as she thought about her next target. She thought about the thousands of 'mistakes' she had to slay and her eyes flared brightly.

"Fucking 'gods' and their whims"

***

"Alvox, Alvox, Alvox, Alvox" the man chanted the words the woman told him as he felt his body being stretched beyond the limits of any living human being imaginable. There were incomprehensible things happening around him, with planets and stars turning into pulled noodles, and he himself joining their ranks.

An infinite amount of dots became lines, and together they became a white plane that filled his entire vision.

The surrounding phenomena slowly stopped, and he felt his consciousness fade. He would sometimes be aware of his surroundings, but more often than not, he would be asleep.

During the lapses of consciousness the man had, he could feel himself trapped in a membrane of flesh, with sounds of blood circulating around him. He guessed that he was in his new mother's womb and that single realization brought him immeasurable happiness.

'I will live once more!' the man would declare with his newly forming brain cells. How he was even able to think, he didn't know. But it didn't matter. He would live once more...

...

The man could feel his weary mind heal during the time in his new mother's womb and the landscape of madness that is his mind slowly mend itself to a healthy state. He felt assured that he will not act like a madman after he was born, but with his birth becoming more and more imminent, he developed a different worry.

He started wondering about what kind of world he will go into. It could be the stone age for all he knew. He would still be happy if it's like that, but there's a big difference between a modern world and an ancient one.

The human desire was one without end. Take one thing, and you would already think about the next thing you could gain.

'The woman told me to strive for eternity, so I'd guess that people can become immortal in that world. Perhaps it is a world of immortals and gods?'

The man decided that it's not worth worrying about such things and patiently waited for his birth. But with nothing else to do inside his mother's womb, his thoughts would naturally be directed towards the dreaded topic.

And finally, the day of his birth had come. He could feel his body being pushed to an opening that emitted light, as his skin scraped through flesh, which he could only guess was his mother's nether regions.

'Who knew how uncomfortable the process of birthing was to an intelligent being,' the man was thinking, but a problem seemed to emerge as he could feel himself getting stuck on something.

He fell in and out of consciousness during the whole thing, and at one point he even felt like he had died, but when his consciousness reemerged, one word put an end to all of that, and the man knew his life had started in the new World.

"Eviendra"