Prologue
Prologue : La Mort n'est qu'un Commencement
17th of April 2021
—Dying.
I never thought that I would ever die at the tender age of fifteen. It was a concept so (un)real and (im)possible, but it was one that I never really any paid attention. The ignorant me, after all, I believed that one day humanity would vanquish death. How childish, how foolish! But I still believed it... And I still do.
«Confirmed. Extra Skill [Espoir Épris]...successfully acquired»
If I still had enough force, I would have laughed at this desperate situation... I, a person ever so careful in the outside, even to the point of paranoia, died in a so simple way was just beyond irony. I could still hear the sirens in the faraway but there was no hope of being saved... I could sense the rapid depletion of my consciousness.
«Confirmed. Heightened Perception…successfully acquired»
And I would abandon all my friends and my family. How sad... I wished they wouldn't cry at my death...
«Confirmed. Emotion-based deletion of sadness from relatives... Cannot execute. Tampering with emotions require complete comprehension of said-individuals. Substituting with Emotional Resistance… Successfully acquired»
But dying here bleeding rivers of blood because someone planted his knife on the wrong target was just beyond unimaginable bad luck. What good luck I got myself!
«Confirmed. Piercing Weapon Resistance…successfully acquired. Following up with Melee Attack Resistance… Successfully acquired»
It hurt so much, I never experienced pain of that degree. Ah, frankly I wished to never experience that again.
«Confirmed. Pain Nullification…successfully acquired»
Losing all that blood... What a waste... Blood was after all beautiful, with its enrapturing scarlet red colour, one of the marvellous colours representing the precious and magnificent thing called life.
«Confirmed. Extra Skill/Magic [Règne de Sang]...successfully acquired»
How couldn't life be beautiful?! Impossible! After all, life held so many possibilities that it was so, so exciting! Possibilities were the small things making this world alive and still so interesting after all these years.
«Confirmed. Unique skill [Alternative]...successfully acquired»
But it was cold, so cold, colder than ice, colder than the Artic itself...
«Confirmed. Cold Resistance…successfully acquired»
I, who always dreamt of the cold to be a beautiful and pleasant sight to be seen couldn't be more deceived... The coldness in this death wasn't at all beautiful, I couldn't even see the so rare white snow colour... If only ice magic existed, I wouldn't have to wait every other winter to see a little bit of snow...
«Confirmed. Extra Skill/Magic [Magie des Neiges]...successfully acquired»
I didn't even get to realize my ambitions... I still had so, so much to do in this world. I wished that I could learn more, and even more. Because passing away with the so small amount of knowledge that I held sure wasn't satisfying. After all, knowledge was power, and with power anyone could do whatever they wanted. And I was after all someone naturally curious, I was some sort of an intellectual. If only I had more knowledge, maybe I wouldn't die right here, maybe I even could have saved myself...
«Confirmed. Unique skill [Mystères des Étoiles]...successfully acquired»
But the worse was surely to die all alone, without friends, without relatives, utterly alone in this abyss. Dying alone wasn't funny. But oh well, not that I could do something about it.
«Confirmed. Extra Skill [Marionnettiste]...successfully acquired»
Ah, so this is it... Hopefully, I would be able to accomplish my goals if there was a next life...
Then—
Absolute darkness enwrapped me in its ever so sweet embrace.