Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

Yet, there was a question on his mind.

‘Why did the Thread of Fate stop Ron?’

And another one.

‘Why didn’t it pull me up?’

These were the questions whirling on his mind while he was falling down when the bombs below his feet blow up, and when his body was embraced with the painful heat.

‘It’s good...’

He felt happy about the fact that those threads prevented Aaron from jumping down. If his shield was strong enough, Aaron could probably survive this explosion.

He could survive.

.....

That was enough.

His surroundings were going white and the intense heat was burning his body. He couldn’t see anything but his mind was oddly clear.

‘At least, he is there to take care of Ariyan.’

Huh... He was leaving Ariyan alone once again. He was supposed to take care of him until Kain woke up, but he kept leaving the kid alone.

Alone...

‘Ariyan will be lonely.’

Those words kept repeating themselves in his mind. They echoed in his brain with the same voice as the kid who was repeating them while crying, as if haunting his consciousness.

Was he even conscious now? He didn’t know. He couldn’t feel any pain anymore. He didn’t know when, but he had also stopped feeling the heat at some point. He also didn’t feel like he was falling anymore. All he could see was white. White. Endless white.

That was weird but also fortunate. He didn’t really like the pain and the heat... Did he finally die?

‘Fate...’

How very weird.

How very odd.

He never believed in anything like fate and destiny but... he couldn’t really find any other justifications for the thing that just happened.

‘Could he see my fate?’

And there were no other explanations for those words.

‘Fate...’

A strange word.

‘Fate...’

Why was he thinking about fate in such a situation? When he was already dead? Do the dead need a fate? Huh, what does a dead person think about? Do the dead even think?

Where was he? What was this endless white he was seeing?

‘Fate...’

All of those questions were on his mind, but Kairen kept thinking about that only word.

‘Fate...’

The word repeated itself on his mind again and again with no reason. It was silent, and in that silence, only that word was echoing in his mind.

“May the world grant you a new beginning.”

A sudden, faint voice made Kairen startled.

“May the universe give you a new home.”

The voice was unfamiliar. It was a voice male voice Kairen had never heard... Or maybe he had heard it before? It was familiar and at the same time, unfamiliar.

“May the Nature bless your body. May the Time gift you longevity. May the Principle allow you deliverance.”

Where was the voice coming from? He didn’t know. Wherever he looked was white. There was no one around. He couldn’t understand where the direction of the sound was.

It felt like it was coming from all directions...

And it also felt like he was hearing it from within his mind...

“May the Fate protect your destiny.”

The voice was sinking low...

“May you find what you’ve lost here.”

And it got gentle and kind of warm, having some longing in it and some remorses.

“Huh?”

The voice of the man then was gone. He couldn’t hear anything anymore and the area was back to silence again. Kairen looked around in wonder, though he knew he wouldn’t find anything in his surroundings.

‘What just happened?’

Who was that voice? What was he saying? Was he with Kairen, or was he with someone else? How could he even hear voices after he has died?

“Whoah!”

A loud and excited voice of a kid made Kairen’s heart jump up in shock.

“It’s red!”

The kid kept on yelling.

‘Ariyan?’

No. It wasn’t Ariyan. The voice was different and also sounded like it belonged to a kid older than Ariyan.

“It’s so beautiful!”

The voice was coming from all directions, but also from inside his mind.

‘What is so beautiful?’

“What is so beautiful?”

Someone repeated the question on Kairen’s mind. It was the same voice as before. The voice of the man who was saying those strange words.

But strangely, the voice was different than before. If you described the previous tone of the man as warm, gentle, and sad, this once was a cold and emotionless, almost irritated one.

“Your hair!”

The kid exclaimed.

“Red hair... Red... So pretty!”

“Tsk!”

The kid muttered excitedly while the man clicked his tongue.

‘Red hair?’

Kairen instantly thought of someone. A red-haired man he had seen a few months ago. Someone who came and go so abruptly that Kairen couldn’t even talk to him.

Kairen could finally distinguish the owner of the voice.

“Kiddo, get lost!”

“No!”

“Get away!”

“Noo!”

“You are filthy! Get lost!”

“I don’t want to!”

“I said...”

“First you...”

“Brat...”

The conversation between the kid and the man continued until their voices got quieter and quieter until Kairen couldn’t hear them anymore.

“....”

He looked at the empty space around him.

.....

“What is next? Hello? I’m waiting!”

There were no responses.

“Huuu...”

Kairen heaved a sigh in irritation. Wait, can the dead sigh? Can they get irritated? Huh? Didn’t he just talk? How did he do that?

“How should I get out of here? Hello?”

Do all people get trapped in a white space after they die and are forced to hear strange voices?

Sshhhh

Something popped up in front of Kairen’s face.

‘Huh...’

It was a red ball of light, floating in front of his face.

“....”

Kairen stared at the ball with a blank face. The light floated right on the tip of his nose.

“....”

Shhhh

“....”

Shhhhh

‘Huh?’

Kairen closed and reopened his eyes.

‘Why do I feel sleepy...;

His eyelids were suddenly so heavy that it was hard to keep them open. He was so sleepy he thought he could fall asleep at any second now.

Can the dead... fall asleep? Can they even feel sleepy?

Kairen had no way of knowing the answer to those questions as his heavy eyelids closed on their own, leaving him no choice but to fall into a deep sleep.

“Mmmm....”

Kairen let out a groan.

The bright light that was shining on his face was interrupting his sleep. He pressed his eyelids on each other and turned his head to the other side, trying to fall asleep again, but he couldn’t. The sleep had long run away from his eyes.

It was sad, but he had to wake up-

“Argh!”

Another groan left his lips, this time not because of the light that was bothering him in sleep but because of the pain that he was feeling all over his body. The pain was so intense that Kairen was almost in tears. He shot his eyes open and attempted to move his body.

“Oh, you are finally awake!”

TAP

He heard someone’s voice before a hand was placed on his shoulder.

“EEEEK!”

Kairen gasped in surprise and looked up. Someone was looking down at him while grabbing his shoulder...

‘Wait, what is going on?’

He blinked as he stared at the red-haired man who was staring at him. He was slowly starting to understand the situation he was in.

He was laying down on a bed. A soft blanket was covering him while an even softer pillow was under his head. He was inside a big room that was lit by... some candles? There was a window just beside the bed, but the outside of it was complete darkness as if it was the middle of the night. And... someone was sitting beside him on the bed and... bandaging his arm?

“Huh?”

Kairen stared at the red-haired man sitting beside him.

“What the...”

Wasn’t he dead? What is going on?

Kairen tried to pull his hand back and free it from the grasp of the redhead, but as soon as he attempted to move, intense pain struck his whole body. A pain that was so bad that it made him unable to breathe for a second.

“GASP!”

He took in a deep breath, barely holding himself back from crying in pain, and looked back at the man who was still looking at him in silence.

“What is...”

No, that wasn’t the right question.

“Where am I?”

The man looked at Kairen’s arm, cut the rest of the bandage he was using, put Kairen’s hand back on the bed, raised his head, and stared at Kairen in the eyes.

“Don’t you already know?”

‘No! How would I know? Answer me you creepy tomato!’

Kairen didn’t say those words out loud. He had seen how this man surpassed the power of the whole saint, so he didn’t dare make him angry.

“I don’t. Where is this place?”

The red-haired man smiled almost instantly.

“Welcome to the afterlife!”