"It wasn't supposed to be like this!"
Kaito, a young man with depressed eyes, screamed at the beautiful city filled with lights that lay in front of him. His face was a mix of anger and despair, with tears running down his cheeks. In truth, Kaito planned to kill himself today, which is why he was so frustrated. He wanted to let it all go before dying. The young man with dark, gaunt eyes and unkempt long hair decided that he would jump off a building so at least he could be remembered, albeit for a short while. Kaito had truly nothing—no friends, his father died at a young age, and his mother left home because she couldn't take care of him anymore. He was all alone in this unforgiving, sad world with no shoulder to lean on. The reason why Kaito was all alone wasn't anyone else's fault—it was his. Coming from a rich family, he isolated himself and thought he was superior to all the others, that none were worthy to be his equal, that he could do everything he wanted alone. But clearly, that ideology was flawed, because now he was alone with nothing, having recently dropped out of college and with no one to give a damn about him.
"Fuck it!"
The young man, screaming, hopped off in a leap and stared at the concrete floor that was getting closer and closer. The young man suddenly thought, "It's so unfair. Why should it be me? Why me? I'm supposed to be superior to the others!" The man was truly detestable; no wonder nobody cared about him—he was insufferable and very unlikable. As he finally hit the ground, it was as if the stars in the sky were celebrating with joy, which wasn't really true; that was just his imagination. Perhaps he had imagined that due to his desire to be noticed.
As blood splattered on the ground, the civilians were suddenly in a state of frenzy. They were horrified at the mangled corpse that lay on the ground. In the end, he did manage to be remembered, as someone among the countless that unfortunately decided to take their lives.
"Argh! My fucking head hurts so much!"
With a pained groan, the skinny man's vision started to unblur. He took a long glance around his surroundings. In front of him lay a temple that looked strangely mesmerizing. It was an old ruin made from a crystal-black material—perhaps obsidian—he wasn't entirely sure. Moonlight poured through the holes in the roof, casting eerie light on the few stairs leading up to the temple's entrance. The temple looked like something out of the Aztec Empire.
"Is this the... afterlife? I wonder," the young man, whose eyes were devoid of emotion, mumbled to himself. As his curiosity got the better of him, the man suddenly thought, "These cannot be the gates to Hell... right?" But then he dismissively shook his head. It was no use to think about it too much after all. As he entered the temple, he was suddenly struck by a cold wind.
"It feels like someone is licking my spine. Eurgh!"
Inside the temple, there was chaos. What must have looked like a proper, majestic temple looked pathetic now—kind of like Kaito. In the middle of the vast, empty room, there lay a shrine. It was carved out of gold, so it still held, but it looked quite in a pitiful state. As the man got closer to the shrine and finally touched it, some bizarre runes lit up with a weak violet light.
"Just what the hell is happening to me right now?"
The man looked devoid of emotion, his voice quiet yet sad. When he read the runes though, his eyes widened in fury due to what he saw. In front of him lay simple runes that he had never seen before but could mostly understand their meaning.
"We, the #$#@!, didst take pity upon thy life and hath granted thee a second chance in another realm. We verily hope thou may learn from thy past transgressions."
Kaito's face flushed red with rage.
"MY MISTAKES!?" he screamed out loud in fury. "I DID NOTHING WRONG! IT'S YOU BEINGS WHO GAVE ME THIS SAD LIFE! I WAS BETTER THAN EVERYONE, BUT YOU TOOK THAT AWAY FROM ME! YOU SAY YOU GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE, BUT YOU TOOK MY ORIGINAL LIFE!"
The man had tears in the corners of his eyes from the rage. He was truly angered, but he knew that no one would respond—after all, the temple was empty.
In a fit of rage, he tried to hit the shrine with all his prowess. Just as his fist was about to make contact, he suddenly got blown away by a defensive force field. As his body violently jerked away, he struck the wall with violent force, shattering it into fragments and revealing a shimmering amethyst liquid beneath. The man blacked out for some time but quickly woke back up in surprise. Groaning in pain, the man shot a look of confusion towards the shrine.
"Just what the hell is happening to me!"
A cold liquid brushed against his bare feet, snapping him into awareness. Only now did he notice he wore nothing but a tattered strip of cloth. Kneeling, he inspected the strange fluid with wary curiosity.
"Ah, I am so thirsty. I underestimated how tired dying makes one become."
After letting out a deep sigh, the man caught sight of a rat scurrying toward the liquid. It darted to the source, took a few quick sips, then vanished into the shadows. The man suddenly had a thought:
"Well, if a rat can drink it and be fine, then surely someone as great as me would be fine too, then."
With that, the man cupped his hands and scooped up the shimmering liquid. As he brought it to his lips, a sweet, enticing aroma rose to meet him—richer and more fragrant than any flower he had ever known. The moment it touched his tongue, the liquid bloomed with flavor—sweet and cool like spring rain, yet rich like honey kissed by sunlight. It was unlike anything he had ever tasted—otherworldly, almost divine.
But then something strange happened. He felt every single vein in his body pulsating in pain, his heart was beating uncontrollably, his lungs felt like they were burning, his mind felt like it was being crushed by a mountain, and every other part of him was wailing in unimaginable pain. As Kaito let out a screech sounding almost inhuman, his veins started to shine ever so slightly with a deep violet color. After what felt like an eternity, the pain finally subsided, and the man felt extremely strange, as if he was no longer comfortable in his own skin.
Kaito slowly stood up, trying to ignore the painful headaches he was having. He took a glance at his own reflection through the reflective surface of the obsidian-like material the temple was built out of. At first glance, he looked his usual self—a skinny boy with long unkempt hair, a face that was more or less handsome. But something had changed. Instead of his usual deep oceanic blue eyes, his irises had changed color, becoming a deep violet shade.
"Why the fuck do my eyes look like that!?"
As the man kept staring at his reflection through the walls, he suddenly realized that he felt much more powerful, as if he could crush a boulder.
"This place gives me the fucking creeps. I should just get the hell out of here and find someone to take advantage of!"
It seems that even after death, the man's arrogance had clearly not worn off. Stepping out of the temple and staring at the full moon that illuminated the tapestry of the sky, the man took his first steps outside of the jungle in hopes of finding someone else.