Death and Rebirth?

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A dismal wind blew across an empty street shrouded by the gloom of the night. The high crescent moon shimmered in its cold rays as if indifferently watching what seemed to have become a tragedy. In this area, a section of the road became shrouded by flames and formed a circle around a fatally wounded boy in a blood pool. 

Nero remained motionless as if his soul had already left the world. Yet, as if to prove such notions wrong, an odd change occurred.

As if driven by something, a shuffling sounded, followed by the appearance of a few familiar blobs of light. They floated from all sides, soon arriving at Nero’s position as they formed a circle around his body as if aiming to observe his face.

It was a spooky sight, but there was something even more abnormal in this situation. Nero had suddenly opened his eyes, his blurry vision catching sight of his current predicament that seemed no different from death itself.

His body felt cold and lifeless, with no strength to move a single muscle. Every bone in his body felt like it had shattered, as if he was nothing more than a bag of skin and disjointed organs.

My body… I can’t move. Am I going to die? 

He questioned as he felt his life slipping away, the icy cold pavement on his back and the blood that seeped out of him with each passing breath giving him a sad feeling.

What would happen if I left my mother behind? Who will protect her?

Nero’s weak arms trembled, and his eyes showed fear, not for himself, but for the lack of knowledge of the unknown. Soon, he began to recall a memory, a time he had buried at the core of his mind.

✽✽✽

It was a brutal scene within an alleyway shrouded by darkness. In this dangerous area, a young silver-haired boy who didn’t look a day beyond 13 years of age had fallen under assault by a team of thugs. They stepped on his back and bashed him with metal pipes, laughing at his weakness as his bones cracked.

It was a genuinely savage view that many grown men would find hard to bear. However, much to one’s surprise, despite their violence, no attempts could break the boy’s body or spirit. His tears dried up, and his eyes shone firmly; he forcefully absorbed the blows while gritting his teeth.

Why would such a child suffer such danger and not call for help? It’s simple, the child knew no one would come, and thus, only he could protect what was most important to himself.

Yes, a child’s most important thing, the first being he welcomed at birth, his mother. Below this child was an unconscious beauty who seemed to have fainted from some illness. She lay unaware of his torment as he silently covered her body with his own, shielding her from the greedy wolves of these dark streets.

“Bah! He’s so boring. Look, he’s not even crying anymore. Let’s go, since he’s willing to die to shield this sick bitch, then let him die on her corpse. There are plenty of finer chicks to play around with anyway!” The leading thug said as he spat on the child’s back.

“Man, he’s not even moving. I guess you’re right. We’ve done him in quite harshly. I’m beginning to feel sorry for this gutter filth. It’s a shame we couldn’t sample that fine miss, but I guess that’s it!” Another thug said.

“Count me out as well!”

“Me too!”

Soon after, metal pipes falling onto the ground sounded as the other thugs grew tired, leaving along with the other men.

Only the silent and dreary alley filled with bloodstain and a struggling boy were left behind; he panted heavily before biting his lips and resisting the urge to faint due to the immense pain all over his body.

“Mother… I will protect you…” he said while he struggled. He slowly rose to his feet and grabbed his mother, placing her over his shoulder.

Once this happened, a sharp pain forced him to halt, making even his eyes turn over as if he was losing consciousness. His body was only moments from falling to the ground, but suddenly, he heard his sick mother’s voice in his ear. 

“My… sweet… Nero, don’t burden yourself with me, and focus on your life. Your destiny is beyond here, never fall back or lower your head… to anything… to anyone…”

Her words resonated in Nero’s mind as a change occurred. A power he never knew had sprung up from the depths of his body, gifting him the strength to do the unthinkable.

His body, which fell backward, halted as if defying gravity, balancing his form with his feet spread wide. He gritted his teeth and forced his torso upwards with everything he had.

“I… will never give up!” Nero shouted with a beast-like roar, forcing himself into a standing posture. Oddly, he had begun to carry his mother toward their home far away from this location.

However, if one looked at him carefully, they would notice that though he moved with solid steps, his eyes were blank, a sign that he had lost sentience, for what carried him was no longer his thought but overwhelming willpower.

✽✽✽

The memory faded as the world of this alleyway vanished in blackness, returning Nero’s mind to the current time.

He was still in his dangerous precedent, one which he could perish. But, this time, rather than feeling helpless, his mood returned to one of unyielding will.

Yes, I decided that time. Didn’t I? To never give in, no matter what I face. I must live! 

Nero shouted in his mind as his weak eyes became filled with power. Even though his situation was now worse than in his memory, he didn’t want to give up or falter. He bit his lips to try and stir his senses, as even the tiniest speck of pain can keep his brain active, forcing him to stay awake.

With his mind now calm, he could see things more clearly despite his weakness; his eyes shifted to the right, where he saw his mangled arm crushed to bits by the heavy-duty wheels of the truck, and even the precious cake was grounded to nothing.

He never thought he would end up like this. He was starting to feel a surge of anger at his predicament. He thought it was a pity, as he only wanted to treat his mother to a good meal. Soon, he noticed the strange blob of lights hovering around him, looking like spectators waiting to see if he would join them as a spirit.

“Are… are you here to see me die? You… you can forget it, even… even if the odds are against me, I will live!”

Nero cursed at the top of his voice, using every ounce of his strength. He had hoped it to grant himself a miracle, but sadly, it only caused his wounds to worse, he coughed out a chunk of blood, and his firm eyes grew dim once more. The world around him fought to turn dark despite his overwhelming willpower, which he struggled to resist.

“Argh! Why…? Why can’t I do it? Is this really my fate?” Nero asked in a weak voice as he found that no matter how he struggled, the coldness only grew, and now he couldn’t even see anything around him as if he’d gone blind.

“Mother, please… forgive me…” Nero muttered weakly as his eyes lost all light as his head slanted to the side, finally releasing his last breath.

Nero had died, it seemed like a complicated thing, but there was nothing more straightforward. Those who struggled against it, and won, were those who had earned the right to live, freeing themselves from its untimely jaws. As for the latter, they were mere victims of its ever-so-mysterious fate.

Silence reigned as the strange lifeforms looked at Nero’s corpse from a distance. It seemed as if they were waiting on something, a thing which soon after appeared. At the moment of Nero’s demise, a light had formed at the center of his forehead, a dazzling silver ray much smaller than the other blobs of light.

As if excited about this, the blobs of lights floated closer, nearing Nero’s head. They were only moments from arriving at the light source. But as if they sensed something, they halted, bouncing up and down in the space as if anxious. They scattered from his position in rapid movements, hiding at nearby locations as they started to tremble.

Suddenly, a noise sounded from nearby. A figure loomed in the darkness, casting two eerie red lights from what seemed like the hood of a medieval robe. The strange being stood in silence. The hems of its robe stretched out into the unknown as it slowly reached its arms to the side.

The darkness molded around its palm. It squirmed and formed into the shape of a lengthy pole with a curved blade at its end. A weapon found only in folklore, the renowned partner of demise, the death scythe.

After conjuring its weapon, the being floated towards Nero, stopping before the blob of silver light that floated above his head. The being stared at it for a moment before it raised its scythe and brandished it toward the light source. The scythe’s edge left a trailing white line as it swept through the wind, aiming to harvest the lingering soul.

It was sure it would carry out its mission, but when it was about to connect the light, there was a disruption. One which caused the strange entity to halt its attack as it lifted its head, gazing towards the bright stars of the universe up above.

The entity could see a change amongst the countless stars that lit up the heavens. A giant golden ring shone at its depths as if calling out to something.

The being remained silent for a moment; it lowered its head once more to stare at Nero’s icy corpse before speaking in an eerie whisper-like tone.

“The Power of Death… callssss upon you. It seemssss… that fate is on your sssside.”

After saying those words, the reaper-like entity walked away in silence, and soon after, his figure receded into the shadows.

Though Nero had died, fortunately, he was not among those who had lost their right to live; with his superior willpower, even in death, his body had refused to accept its fate, forcing a metamorphosis.

Suddenly, an unusual scene occurred around Nero’s corpse; a silver light glowed around it, slowly lifting his figure from the pool of blood as he soon hovered a meter’s distance from the ground.

By his current appearance, one would mistake him as akin to a god. His silver hair swayed much like his clothing which fluttered wildly due to an unseen wind. 

Suddenly, a mechanical voice sounded in the depths of his slumbering mind.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

Ding!

Connecting to the Universe Ring… connected!

A new user is confirmed!

Analyzing user’s genes: gene analysis is complete!

Commencing Card Matching… card matching complete!

From the bowels of demise, an ancient power awakens. A Forgotten Digitize Card has answered your cry!

Commencing Digitization…

━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━

Momentarily, a marking had formed on Nero’s forehead, a symbol that first appeared as a square-shaped card that flickered with 0’s and 1’s. Nero’s head tilted upwards, facing the starry heavens of night sky.

In the distance in space, the Universe Ring sensed Nero’s change. It shimmered in bright lights as it released a beam toward the world. The ray traveled too fast to be measured and was almost invisible to human eyes. In seconds, it arrived above Earth, bolting down from the sky and falling into the card-shaped marking on Nero’s forehead. Moments after, the mark faded as the symbol of a scythe appeared.

Once this happened, Nero’s hovering body experienced an even more significant transformation. An eruption of dazzling silver energy blasted from his body into the sky at alarming speeds reaching the very ring in the heavens before vanishing.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

Ding!

Inheritance complete!

Digitizer Awakening has been successful!

━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━

After the voice’s words, Nero’s floating body once more fell onto the ground, but as his feet touched down, his eyes opened, shimmering in a reddish glimmer before returning to normal.

Nero, who was now in an even better condition than before, felt that he could see better than when he wore glasses. Even his damages from the accident had miraculously healed. He narrowed his eyes and looked puzzled at his face.

Wha… what’s going on? I was on the brink of death. How did I…? Argh! 

Amid his ponderings, he suddenly gripped one side of his head as if in pain as a surge of unfamiliar thoughts and voices began to sound in his mind.

This headache, and these voices, what’s happening? Who is this man, and what was that spear? I… I can’t understand. My head is… 

While Nero held his head, he vividly recalled unforgettable memories, scenes of an adult dying to some guy unknown, followed by many different random locations of places he didn’t know with a variety of bizarre beings.

I… I can’t take it, my head! It’s splitting apart! Arghhh!

His mind was beginning to grow crazy as if it was moments from exploding, but as if someone detected it, a strange ripple came from the center of his mind, erasing every memory, leaving only the scene of the man dying from a stranger in a robe.

A voice then sounded at the depths of his mind, shaking his very core, “So this is my fate. Was this the price that Pershiya had mentioned? The price of time… to think that the Primal Time Shard would send me back here, but only in this state, I must truly be ill-fated. Haha, sigh, no matter; such is fate’s working. All should happen in its natural order. Young Nero, I ask you only to do one thing: never let your guard down. Do not die to that bastard again!”

Nero was alarmed at this voice. It almost sounded like his own but coarser and gloomy. He questioned, “Who are you? How did you get in my head?”

The voice remained silent as no answer came. Nero was still confused, he wanted to question some more, but right now, the sound of a siren resounded in the distance, along with the rumbling engines of multiple vehicles.

Nero knew he couldn’t explain his current miracle to anyone. He didn’t even understand it and would only get into serious trouble if anyone noticed him, assuming no one had already seen him.

I must get out of here and think things through!

Nero said inwardly as he hurriedly ran away in an opposed alleyway from the street, vanishing at speeds two times his previous rate, unknown to even himself.

The scene here seemed destined to remain a mystery, as no one would know its actual occurrences. No one except for a solitary shadow that lurked in a distant corner. A mysterious man who stood silently with both hands tucked within an overcoat that shrouded his features.

“He has awakened,” the person muttered as he looked in the direction Nero left in silence, his shades refracting the lights from the blazing flames.

Suddenly, he turned his sights towards a few areas, noticing a few other silhouettes. He nodded, causing the silhouettes to move quickly, bustling about hurriedly as he turned and vanished into the night scene, fading into the unknown.