A boy, Sebastian, with ragged, torn clothes covered in mud and dust, was bathed in the glare of street lamps.
His breathing was so shallow, his chest barely moving up and down, that most would think that he was dead.
There was no movement in the alley except the faint twitches of Sebastian's body, and there were no sounds except the whimpers that escaped him. The streets, illuminated with the yellow shine of the street lamps, mixed with the silver glow of moonlight, would have painted a truly beautiful picture if not for the pitiful surroundings.
Towering red-brick walls with faint cracks lining the edges, green overflowing dumpsters and black trash bags, and the comforting smell of homeless man piss and cat shit.
The silence that filled the place was broken by a faint curse. Sebastian stirred where he lay and opened his eyes, groggily getting up on one knee.
His face was malnourished, cheeks sunken, eyes hollow; his body was frail, so frail that he looked like the evening wind could blow him away. He had deep dark circles under his eyes, a clear indication of sleep deprivation. He looked less like a human and more like a zombie.
Sebastian let out a long, humorless laugh. "Guess today's the day I end it. Looks like I wasn't able to accomplish anything in this damn life."
Sebastian had been thinking about killing himself for a very long time, but never had the guts to go through with it. The world had abandoned him at a young age, and in return, he was about to abandon the world.
Shakily standing on both legs, Sebastian started limping towards the end of the alley and into the main street. What greeted him was scorn from the walking pedestrians, children pointing at him like he was an exotic zoo animal, and open disgust from people who were avoiding him like the plague.
They might have been right; maybe he was a cause of misfortune, after all, his parents had killed themselves, his cousins acted like he didn't exist, his aunt and uncles stole the money his parents had left for him, and even his cat died. If he wasn't cursed, then maybe he was just worthless, maybe no one wanted to live because of who he was.
'Who am I kidding, those bastards were probably just jealous of my beautiful face.'
On the way to his destination, Sebastian started laughing like a maniac after elbowing a man who was muttering something about him being a disgraceful beggar.
"Serves you right, you bitch. Hahahaha."
Just a few blocks ahead, Sebastian could see a beautiful bridge made of red steel, lined with golden lanterns that glowed softly, their light reflecting on the still lake water below.
'Such a beautiful place to end it all.' The saddest part was that he felt nothing while thinking about ending his own life.
As he was making his way towards the golden bridge, a single useless thought was slowly consuming him from the inside.
The last words his mother had told him before they had jumped from this exact bridge.
"My son, we don't want to leave you, but death has chosen its successor." His mother had said this with tears streaming down her face.
'Back then, I hadn't understood what she was talking about; I still don't, but maybe it was all an empty excuse to leave me.'
Walking for a few more minutes in the comforting silence of emptiness, Sebastian finally arrived at the center of the bridge. He climbed the safety railing and peered down; the lake mirrored his pale figure..
He took one last look at the world that had forsaken him, and then he jumped. Just before hitting the lake surface, the water bent like molten glass and shattered.
"What the— " was his last thought before everything went black.
---
Sebastian was scared of death even though he wanted to die. After all, at the end of the day, he was still a human, and like any other human, he felt fear. Because of this, when he jumped, he had expected death to be cold, final, and chillingly terrifying.
But death was not like anything he had expected; death was warm, like a mother's embrace, not cruel; it was impartial and inevitable.
'This is peaceful, I should have done this a long time ago.' Looking around, Sebastian could see nothing but black every direction. No sound, no light, just a lack of everything.
Even Sebastian was swallowed by the endless void of nothingness.
'Why am I able to still think? I thought I was supposed to just... vanish'
Before Sebastian could think more about his weird situation, he felt the void stir, and he could hear the screeching sound of glass cutting glass.
The sound started getting louder and louder, and polished black marble started forming below him, in sync with the sound.
The black sky overhead started turning into a depressing shade of gray, and finally, white walls replaced the only visible patch of void left.
The room was lit by giant, black chandeliers, and the walls were lined with torches burning with blue fire. The bizarre place was completely devoid of furniture except for a giant Statue of a crying woman.
The statue was so beautiful that it looked almost godly. For a moment, Sebastian almost compared the statue's beauty to his own.
'While it may be beautiful, I'm definitely better. What is all of this? Now I'm completely sure that I didn't die. First, the river shattering like glass, then I didn't vanish, and now this.'
'Something is definitely wrong.' The words echoed through Sebastian's mind, and he started to feel chills down his spine.
Sebastian started to move towards the statue, his every step cautious. He had an instinctual desire to kneel in front of the statue.
Stopping in front of the statue, Sebastian placed his hand on the head of the statue, and he immediately regretted it.
His hand burst into a torrent of fire, burning his skin, muscle, and bone, the flames started changing color, from red to orange, until finally they settled on an unnerving blue.
The air was starting to fill up with the stench of burned flesh and the sound of boiling water.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Sebastian's scream tore through the silence, terrified and endless.
Within the span of a few seconds, his body crumbled away. Fingers, arms, legs, all of it turned into ash.
---
Sebastian's eyes snapped open. Pain flooded his senses. The lingering sensation of being burned alive was still alive in his mind.
Before he could even think, a black window flickered into existence right before his eyes.
Status
Name: Sebastian Nekros
Age: 17
Rank: F
Affinity: Life, Death, soulflames
Bloodline: Locked
Attributes
Strength: F
Agility: F
Endurance: F
Perception: F
Willpower: F
Luck: unpredictable
—
Titles:
-Son of Death
-Apostle of Life
-Anomaly
---
'What the fuck?'