A groan escaped Erik's mouth as he slowly regained consciousness.
"Owwww my head…" he grumbled in pain as he rubbed his head with his hands.
"Where am I ?" Erik asked to himself as slowly, the pain was fading away.
However, when he raised his eyes to look around, Erik couldn't help but being shocked when he realized he was in a white room of some sort : everything around him was white (walls, ground, ceiling). He was wondering how he got here as his last memories were of him dying in Central Park after being shot by this hooded bandit.
But then he noticed another thing.
In the middle of the all-too-white room, there was a table-like object and two chairs, one of the front and another on the other side of the 'desk'. Apart of him, there was no one else here… or so he thought because a few seconds later just as he was about to get up and walk across the room to approach the desk, something unexpected happened :
"Welcome, young man..." a masculine voice filled with wisdom and age echoed a second later.
"What ?" asked Erik in shock before yelping in pain as a bright light filled the room, coming from the other side of the desk.
The young man was trying to block the light with his hands, but it proven to be unnecessary as, a few seconds later, the light went out, allowing Erik to look back at the desk.
To his amazement, sitting in the chair across the table was an old man with white robes, fair skin, and a grayish-white beard. In his eyes, which were completely white, Erik could feel a power shining through them as well as an infinite wisdom that no mortal could hope to achieve.
"Who are you ?" asked Erik the newcomer after a few seconds of stunned silence.
"You have no idea who I might be ? Not a single idea ?" asked the Old Man with an amused smile on his wrinkled face, his eyes sparkling.
"No I don't, sir..." responded Erik with sincerity while shaking his head.
The Old Man released a sigh before looking back at the youngster in front of him.
"Well, I will be blunt : I'm God…"
Blinking in surprise, Erik stared at the Old Man with wide eyes before snorting "Yeah, right… Don't take offense but I don't believe you..."
"You are not the first one and you won't be the last, young one...Believe whatever you want, I'm not here to force you to believe my words… " calmly said the Old Man with a shrug of indifference before speaking again in a more serious tone
"Back to business, what to do with you..."
"What do you mean ?" asked Erik with some confusion.
"Well, you weren't supposed to die so young… you should haven been living your life and die of old age like anu normal people... and because of it, I will give you a choice..." explained the Old Man in a grave tone and a stoic face.
"What choice ?" asked Erik with some curiosity.
"Its really simple : you have the choice of either going to the Beyond to be reunited with your father… or I will reincarnate you in a world of your choice..." responded the Old Man with a twinkle in his eyes.
Erik blinked in shock at the news and for a minute or two, he stand silent, thinking about it. He had heard of reincarnation, of course, but he had never been one to believe in such things.
'When you die, you simply die' his father had once told him.
Look like it wasn't entirely the case.
"Can I be anything I want ?" Erik asked his interlocutor in an intrigued tone.
"Yes you can ! Thanks to you Humans and your imagination, you can be whatever you want : an animal, a Dragon, an Elf or even a God !" explained the Old Man with a chuckle.
"Cool !" Erik whispered with bright eyes, causing the old man in front of him to laugh with a clearly amused look.
Then, the aged man snapped his fingers and box filled with cards appeared before him. Erik was a little surprised by this and was starting to believe that maybe the old man from before was who he claimed to be (the key word was "maybe").
Shaking his head to regain his senses, the young man watched the Old Man take all the cards out of the box before placing them one by one on the table. Soon enough, the table was filled with numerous cards, all of them were turned upside down so you couldn't see what was on them. The Old Man was now looking at him with a patient look on his face.
"What is it ? Some sort of tests ?" Erik asked him with confusion.
"No it is not… Each of those cards represent a being : be it a God, Mythological Creatures, a human or a common animal… Some have powers and others don't..."
"So I'm supposed to choose one ?" Erik asked with a frown before adding
"But didn't you say I could be whatever I wanted ?"
"I did : just tell me what you're interested in and I'll clear some cards… sounds fair ?" asked the Old Man with an eyebrow raised.
"Sounds fair… but can I say where I want to go first ?" Erik asked the Old Man after a moment of thought.
"Of course ! Where do you want to be reincarnate ?" God asked him with curiosity.
"I want to go to Alagaësia !" Erik answered with a small grin.
Whenever he would go to the Library, he would read whatever books he had in hands but his favorite ones belonged to a series written by Christopher Paolini : the 'Inheritance Cycle'. He loved the books greatly and it would be amazing to be reincarnate there.
What he liked the most in this story was that people were fighting, not against monsters (if you don't count the Ra'zacs or the Urgals) but against a Tyrant King. That and the fact the heroes were all fighting for freedom and peace instead of glory and wealth was a bonus. Of course, he had several other favorite books, but this was his 'Number One'.
"Very well ! Now the cards..." The Old Man replied with a nod of acceptance before gesturing to the cards laying on the table.
"Let's see : first of all, I don't want to be human again..." Erik said sternly as he looked at the Old Man.
What was good in being a Human anyway ?
Humans were weak (despite their weapons), greedy, arrogant, and destroy anything they touch ! Most Humans had no respect for Nature and see themselves as Top-Dogs because they were intelligent !
The Old Man nodded his head, no trace of disappointment or reproach was on his face as he waved a hand : instantly, several cards disappeared in thin air.
"Now ?" he asked the youngster with calm and patience.
"I don't want to look too much like a human…" Erik responded after a minute of thought.
While being an Elf or a Dwarf sounded good, they still looked a bit too humans to his liking even if their behavior and whole culture was different. Once those words were said, several other cards disappeared in thin air after the Old Man waved his hands again.
For the following minutes, Erik would say what he wanted and the Old Man would make the cards disappear and soon enough : there were only twenty five left on the table.
"I think I'm ready now..." the young man said with a smile as his eyes looked at the cards before him.
"Choose wisely ! Because once you have chosen your card, you can never go back…" the Old Man told him in a serious tone.
Erik shivered at this but nodded in understanding before looking back at the cards on the table.
Which one should he take ?
Although there were only twenty-five cards, the choice was not simple... especially since each card represents a different existence. After a few minutes, Erik still hadn't chosen his card and the Old Man in front of him didn't try to rush him, he just sat there, watching in silence with curiosity shining in his eyes.
The young man was sweating a bit as he looked back and forth between the different cards, biting his lips a bit. But then he heard a strange humming sound coming from one of the cards. Curious, he picked it up and the second he did, all the other cards disappeared. Blinking in surprise at the unexpected action, Erik then looked back at the being sitting across him.
"Look like you made your choice..." The Old Man said as he gently picked up the card from our hero's hand and ,ignoring the slight cry of protest from the youngster, he started to look at it.
Erik began to sweat profusely, silently praying that he had made the right choice in choosing this card. The Old Man, him, was humming in thought as he looked at the card but then he turned his white eyes to the young man… before smiling.
"Well, my boy, either you are a lucky young man or you were destined to choose this card…"
His words caused Erik to look at him with a frown of confusion.
"What do you mean ?" he asked the older-looking man with curiosity.
In response, the Old Man handed him the card and, after picking it up, Erik's eyes widened when he saw what was on it : on the card, was the image of a humanoid White Bear covered in electric rays with an thunderstorm on the background. The Creature looked strong and muscular and his eyes were a shining blue.
Under the picture was the name and title of this creature : 'Volibear, the Relentless Storm'.
"Cool..." Erik, despite having no knowledge of his creature, was silently thanking his luck for choosing this card : Bears were powerful creatures and were among his favorite animals.
"Indeed, my young friend : you are the first one who will get reincarnate as Volibear in the Inheritance Cycle World ! You should be proud !" the Old Man said to him with a beaming smile.
"Is he strong ? I mean, what powers does this 'Volibear' have ?" he asked this because he was curious about the Being he was about to be reincarnate as.
"You really don't know?" Have you never played 'League of Legends'? the Old Man asked him with some surprise.
Erik shook his head with a look of sincerity on his face to which caused the Old Man to sigh deeply while muttering to himself
"Out of the thousands of young people out there, I had to come across one who doesn't play video games..."
Hearing this, Erik couldn't help but saying with a shrug "I am not really fan of those..."
Which was true... For him, video games were one of the many things he wouldn't touch because they tend to dumb people down... to the point of making them addicted. And addiction always leads to the total destruction of a person…both physical, mental and emotional.
"I can see that …" The Old Man/God grumbled with a shot glare aimed his way before releasing another deep sigh.
But then, God's face turned calm again as he looked back at our hero before opening his mouth to speak again
"Anyway, to answer your question : Volibear or Valhir is the God of War and the physical manifestation of Storms and because of this, he is pretty powerful. His strength is also something to take notes as he managed to destroy an entire civilization during a long fight with Ornn, another God… Let's not forget that with him being a God, he is pretty much immortal... "
Erik was listening with wide eyes of shock and stupefaction as the Old Man explained about the Humanoid Bear represented on the card he chose : he had never thought he would end up choosing such a powerful individual as Reincarnation but he was NOT going to complain ! It was FAR better than being a simple Human Being !
But then he thought about something…
"And you are okay with this ? I mean, me reincarnating as an Immortal Being ?" Erik asked the old man with a curious eyebrow raised.
"Not really… My job is to make sure the souls either passed the Veil or got reincarnated… I don't care if they become Gods or other silly things because I will still be there to do the same job again and again..." The Old Man responded with a shrug.
"Don't you like your job ?" Erik asked him with a frown.
"I do ! But it can be boring sometimes…" The Old Man admitted before shaking his head to regain his senses as his eyes turned serious.
"Now young man, I'm going to send you to Alagaësia !"
Erik was a bit stunned by the sudden change of topic but he nodded his head in acceptance and understanding. He might not be the only soul about to be reincarnate after all.
The Old Man smiled at the young man but the smile itself put Erik on edge as he saw the twinkle of mischief also shining in his white eyes
"Oh before you go, I should warn you, after the transformation, some of Volibear's characteristics will also also mix with your personality !"
At those words, Erik blinked for a second before shooting a blank look toward the grinning Old Man " Shouldn't you have mentioned the personality thing before now ?!"
"Must have slipped out my mind, farewell young man !" the Old Man replied back with a growing smirk as he waved a hand.
"Slipped out of you-MIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNND !" Erik began to say with a growl before releasing a scream of surprise when a portal opened right under him, causing him to fall into what looked like a multicolor tunnel-like vortex.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKK !" Erik screamed as he kept falling but soon, he found himself blinded by a bright light as the world around him turned white.
(To be continue…)
Note : I decided to use Volibear because we don't see him much in Fanfictions… like Bears in general so, I decided to rectify this by writing this story.
What are you first impression of those chapters ? Send me your comments either by private message or reviews !