POV: Ethan
I am surrounded by darkness. So it is true. There is no heaven or hell in the afterlife, no light at the end of the tunnel. There's only the Void. Pure, undisputed darkness.
But what is that smell? Seems like something metallic. Copper maybe?
No, there's something else as well. Something vile and putrid. Is this how the afterlife smells?
Wait! I can smell! How can I smell?
My hands instinctively move in search of a nose, and to my surprise, I find it. I have a face, a nose, a mouth, two eyes. But they are shut. Oh, that is why I can't see.
I open my eyes. Darkness still surrounds me. But it's substantially faded. I can see.
I look at my hands. They are not my familiar hands. There is no flesh, no muscles. They look like an exoskeleton made of hard scales. The fingertips in my palm have formed into sharp claws.
I quickly examine the rest of my body. My human body is gone. Continued negligence towards my health made me fat and soft. I even had an inflated belly. They are gone now. I am lean, and my entire body is covered with the same hardened scales as my hands.
But the biggest difference is the curved horns that have emerged from my skull. I must look like a demon.
I clearly had a heart attack. Even now, when I put my hand on my chest, I can't sense my heart beating. Am I still alive?
What is going on?
Suddenly, a screen flashed before my eyes.
[Congratulations!! You have leveled up!!]
[Your talent [Awareness] has been upgraded to [Free Will]]
I leveled up?
I gained a talent called 'Free Will'? What does it mean? What happened to me?
The screen lingered for a few more seconds before disappearing into nothingness without any further explanation.
My eyes are now mostly accustomed to darkness, and I can see further than ever before. To get a good idea about my surroundings, I turn around and stop. Before me is a sight I have never seen in my wildest nightmares. I am standing on slightly elevated ground inside an enormous hall. Its walls are so high that I can't even see the ceiling. But on the floor, just a few steps before me, lay a heap of dead bodies.
They are human, like I once was. Their faces contracted into eternal agony, male and female alike. Some are missing limbs, some have gaping holes in their torso. I spot two bodies missing their heads. Sticky dark blood soaked the ground beneath, mixed with other body fluids.
If I had seen a scene like this when I was human, I would have screamed in terror. But I do not feel anything. All I do is murmur, "Oh, so that's where the smell is coming from."
My own thoughts disturb me to the point that I conclude I am definitely not a human anymore.
A wave of memories floods my mind. I remember myself suspended in this dream-like state, where I am neither awake nor asleep. I remained a passive observer as things just happened around me. I see myself fighting with these men and women who lay dead before me now. I defeated them. Once they were dead or on the verge of dying, I even devoured their flesh.
Human flesh.
I remember enjoying myself, savoring the taste. And I do not feel any remorse for it even now, as if it's the most natural thing for me to do.
But that is not all. Those men and women fought me with some strange abilities I have never seen in my human life. They hurled balls of fire, thunder, and even water jets at me. Some, on the other hand, fought like medieval soldiers, with swords and shields. It's as if... a game?
That can't possibly be the explanation, is it? That I am inside a game. And these players are trying to kill me like some non-playable character? Or a monster?
But in the game, monsters and NPCs are bound by rules. They can go out of their way and make decisions for themselves. And here I am moving freely, thinking freely. I am still me. I am not controlled by...
"Oh shit." Words come out of my mouth involuntarily as the realization dawns on me.
It's the earlier screen I saw previously. I did gain a talent called [Free Will].
Excitement runs through me as I think about putting my theory to the test.
"[Status]," I command with authority. Unaware if it will even work. But it does.
The bright screen appears before me once more, but with different text. It now reads,
[Status]
[Name: Alerion]
[Current Title: Master of Dark Arts]
[Race: Primordial Demon]
[Class: Prince of Darkness]
[Age: Unknown]
[Current Level: 120]
[Current status: Health: 5000/5000 - Mana: 10000/10000 - Stamina: 850/850]
[Primary Statistics: Strength: 500 - Agility: 275 - Intelligence: 1000 - Mastery: 800 - Physical Def: 10% - Magic Def: 25% - Spell Amplification: 10% - Damage Reduction: 5%]