Ever since I was a kid I have had a code, or motto, or slogan, whatever the hell you want to call it. Don't be a hero. When I was at the age where every boy idolized the heroes that they would read about in comic books, or see in the cartoons. I wanted to be a hero, save someone, get a medal, newspaper article, all that jazz. That changed when I stood up to a kid four times my size and twice my age for another kid who I didn't even know. Most would guess I got my ass handed to me. Most people would be right, I did get it handed to me. On a silver platter, with a side of broken teeth. That's when I decided that being a hero sucked. So I stuck to myself, made a few friends, emphasis on the few. I did good in school, and I was actually passable in athletics, amazing right?
There was only one place where my rule of no hero like activities was null and void. Games. I played them all, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, Dark Souls, you name it, I probably played it and beat it on it's hardest difficulty about a billion times. I always played the good guy. Call me a sucker I know, but it just felt wrong when I would do something evil just for the hell of it. The only game I could be a bad guy in and feel like it fit the game was the Mass Effect series. I played my fair share of paragon Shepard, and I never could go full Renegade, but it was fun to have a few bad choices thrown in every now and then.
Other than games though, my code was law, and remained unbreakable. Saw a problem? Well if it wasn't anyone that I knew and cared about, it wasn't my problem. But hey you know what they say, rules are meant to be broken! Especially if they lead to poor me bleeding out in an alleyway, after trying to protect a woman who I don't know, from a guy who is probably so high he won't remember what he had for breakfast. Let alone the guy who he just shot point blank with a pistol in the chest.
We all know breakfast breaks priority over everything people. Especially when you get that perfect syrup to pancake ratio.
Back to the point though. Bleeding out in an alleyway, trying to protect some lady I don't know, and whose screaming is really interrupting my train of thought. I would like to say I laughed in the face of death, or got back up bleeding from the chest like some badass. But hey, I was only passable in athletics right? Not exactly pure badass material here. In reality I was wondering where the cliches came from, no 'So cold', and I didn't see a bright light. I was kind of bored if anything, adrenaline had pretty much numbed the pain to hell, and I was just watching the blood spread across the white medium sized shirt I had on. Such pretty patterns.
Then I started to feel it, a kind of rushing feeling, just in my head. like I was being pulled somewhere. I didn't resist, not like I had anything better to do, and just sort of went with the flow.
Suddenly the alley changed to a sort of odd office, with really plush chairs. I was sitting in front of a very large dark wood desk. Piled high with paperwork, I mean like mountains, Like Everest. A sound broke me from my paper staring stupor, a clearing throat. My eyes shot to the man sitting behind the desk, a lanky, very pale figure. Couldn't exactly describe the face though, it looked like one of those censored faces you see on T.V.. You know the ones where they-
"If you could pay attention instead of gazing into your own world Mr. Harper it would be greatly appreciated."
Shit, that was the tone that my parents used when I screwed up bad. Like world ending bad. "Sorry Sir, it's just.. I was... Um..." I managed to babble out, sounding like an idiot.
"It doesn't matter what you are doing Mr. Harper, it only matters that you pay attention"
"Yes Sir. Wait.. How the hell do you know my-"
"Irrelevant" The man said, so rudely interrupting me.
"The only relevant question is why you are here Mr. Harper. We have not had one of your kind here for quite some time."
"My kind?" What the heck was he talking about, this 'my kind' crap. and where the hell am I?
"Yes, your kind Mr. Harper. the ones who make my job so much harder than it needs to be."
"Okay I have no Idea what you are talking about, first off where the hell am I?"
The man sighed "I guess it would make more sense to you if I answered the questions that are probably running through your tiny mind."
"Hey!"
"No interruptions Mr. Harper. As for me knowing your name, I know all the names of every human that has ever been born and all those who will be born. I am Death. Where you are, well work it out, you died, take a wild guess Mr. Harper." The man, or 'Death', seemed to spit these word at me rather than say them.
Well fuck, I knew I was going to die in that alley. So he was Death, huh, I expected him to be taller.
"Then what did you mean with that 'my kind' stuff."
Death rolled his eyes, "The ones who die before their time, I can't simply send them to damnation, or salvation, their souls aren't ready to be judged. Thankfully there have only been a few of you, Otherwise the amount of paperwork would be even more than it is now."
"Well if I can't be 'Judged' as you so kindly put it then what happens?"
"Last time I tried simply sending the last one of your kind back to their body, and it didn't work out."
"What do you mean?"
"Well he had a profound effect on human history because of it. the paperwork was a nightmare."
"Who was it?" Damn my curiosoity.
"I believe his name was Jesus Christ."
Well fuck me sideways.
"But that is irrelevant at this time."Death continued, "What is relevant is what to do with you."
Now I'm scared. Well I kind of already was with all of this shit going on, but having an all powerful being (I think he is?) decide your fate with the same tone one would use to discuss the weather is rather unnerving.
"Ah! That will do." Death exclaimed suddenly. He showed the first trace of emotion other than annoyance right then. It was a sickening grin, I mean I couldn't see it, but it was there. Fear level sharply rising.
"I will give you a simple toss."
"A what?"
"Oh nothing big, I will simply just take your soul, give it a vessel, and send it off to someplace where you won't effect the universe that you used to reside in."
"Universe?"
"There are multiple universes, I don't really have time to count them all. But this will keep you out of my hair for a short while."
"Where will I end up?" Fear level through the roof now.
"I do not know, and frankly I do not care, goodbye Mr. Harper"
"Wait what about-"
Before I could finish my so not rushed and completely understandable question, I felt that rush in my head again, and the scene around me changed for the second time. First I 'die' in an alley. Then I appear in an office, now a... Another alley? For a moment my hope soared, it was all just a freakish, and very odd dream. I heard a plane fly overhead and looked up in joy. then my blood froze. It wasn't a plane, and it wasn't a bird, and sadly it wasn't superman either. It was a ship, a spaceship. one that looked oddly familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.
After watching the ship fly the short distance that I could see from the alley, I managed to get to my feet, albeit slowly, but still to my feet. As I stumbled out of the alley, I ran into someone who was wearing what felt like... Body armor under their clothes? As I looked up at the figure to apologize my blood went from Antarctic cold to absolute zero cold. I hadn't run into a human. It was a motherfucking turian.
AN: Hey guys sorry for the wait, I have just had a lot on my plate.
Again ALL criticism is welcome, God knows I need it...
Updates soon!