"Where am I? No, who am I?" said a voice as it looked around; everything was white to the point of blindness.
"I remember…My name is Jim, and I died." Jim's memory rapidly returned to him. He was hosting a Harry Potter Christmas Party where he invited all his friends to watch all the movies, dress like wizards, and drink butterbeer. However, he ran out of ice, so he decided to drive to the store to buy some, and sadly, his car lost control due to the snow, and he crashed.
Jim grunted slightly as he looked at this all-white space. "Is this the afterlife? But why is there no one?"
It did not take him long to see a floating white ball in the distance. When he laid eyes on the ball, an instinct to consume it overwhelmed Jim. Without knowing it, he was already before the ball and took a bite, dimming the already small ball.
As he was about to take his second bite, a sense of clarity took over Jim's eyes. "What am I doing?" He immediately knew the answer, as if it had appeared in his mind. He had died but had a second chance at life, with a price—he needed to consume this person's soul and take their identity.
Jim paused, becoming dazed. He did not know how to process the information. He looked at this ball, which he concluded was a person's soul.
"No, I can't kill another person to survive."
As soon as his words finished, he felt a sense of weakness. He looked at his body and realized it was fading — time was running out. The resolute expression on his face disappeared as he focused on the soul.
"Isn't this what happened in those novels?" he muttered with gritted teeth. "I only need to compensate this person's parents and loved ones, living a life he would be proud of."
A few months before his death, he was into webtoons, which led him to web novels, a field made popular by China and Korea. One of the standard tropes is reincarnation, some of which involves swallowing the soul of others to get their bodies. With this flaw and twisted logic, Jim gritted his teeth before taking a second, third, and fourth bite. By the fifth one, his soul was glowing, while the ball only had a small portion left. So, he decided to end things as soon as possible.
Alas, something unexpected occurred. The gray stone on Christian's chest lit up to release a blue light into his head. Then, when Jim was about to take the final bite, a force pushed him back, and the tiny bite turned into a child.
"Where am I? Is this a dream?" asked Christian, who immediately felt extremely weak; he did not think he had ever felt this weak and feeble in his life.
"I'm sorry, kid."
He heard such words uttered and looked in that direction. Someone lunged at him, and his instinct kicked in; he used what he had learned in Capoeira in the past few weeks, rolling on the ground to evade.
"Who are you, and why are you attacking me?"
"You don't need to know; you only need to know I must get rid of you."
Before the person finished, Christian had run away. He realized he was in danger in this situation and made the most logical choice to survive. Sadly, his legs were heavy, each step feeling like he was carrying Aunt Eleanor's car.
"HELP!" screamed Christian, who felt running away might not be the best choice. He did not know how this person silently transported him from his bedroom, but hopefully, there was someone who could hear and come to his rescue–albeit this seemed unlikely.
He did not stop running or screaming despite his weak legs and voice. However, he soon sensed a looming shadow behind him, forcing him to turn over. The other person attacked him with a direct punch.
Without hesitation, Christian evaded to the right. Then, he did a one-handed stand with a very smooth and flowing motion. With the momentum of his body, his legs kicked this stranger in the head. He had been practicing this move for a while at Capoeira and acted out of instinct.
'Useless?' he thought as he realized his weakness was the primary source of his trouble. He rolled on the ground to distance himself from his attacker. 'Damn it, if only I had a sword or a bow.'
As soon as this thought appeared in his mind, a foil appeared in his hand, and he looked at it in shock.
'In that case, can I have a gun?' he thought, but nothing happened. On the contrary, he felt even weaker. Christian then focused on his attacker, who appeared to be as shocked as he was.
"Now, it's my turn."
"Do you think this will change anything?" sneered Jim, showing his disdain; a child with a weapon was still a child. So, he rushed forward to end this pointless battle once in a while. Christian remained calm as he gathered all the remaining strength he had left.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
He stabbed three times at extreme speed, each time targeting a dangerous area. He looked at three holes in the heart, throat, and head before stumbling backward, relying on the weapon not to fall down. Then, the attacker looked at him in horror before his body exploded into a brilliant light that entered his body.
He exhaled deeply, believing everything was over. However, the man reappeared before him, except he was no longer glowing. He immediately took his position, ready to strike again. To his delight, he did not feel that debilitating weakness.
"Wait, let's talk," hurriedly said Jim.
'American?' This was the first time Christian noticed the accent. "There is nothing to talk about."
"No, there is. This was a misunderstanding, and I apo–"
Christian did not listen. He rushed forward and stabbed the man more than ten times in a very short time. Like before, the man turned into a bright light that entered his body. He immediately felt a sense of lightness, power, satisfaction, and completion.
"What a wonderful feeling," he muttered as he looked at his glowing body. "What on Earth is going on?" He was curious but could not understand what was happening, so he thought it was a weird dream. Although he felt an unknown sense of dread that was too real when this person tried to kill him, he could conclude that this was a weird dream.
"What is this?"
He saw something where that person used to be. There was a bunch of silvery vapor floating in the air. Christian immediately noticed some were much larger than others, and some seemed to shine brighter than others. Out of curiosity, he walked to the nearest brightest vapor and touched it.
His pupils instantly dilated as he saw something too vivid to be a dream. He was driving an unknown car and singing an unknown song when the car lost control, and he crashed. A wave of pain rushed into his body, and it was so real that he was about to pass out.
Luckily, he removed his hand as he fell on the floor.
"What's going on?" said Christian as he stood and looked around. He was in his bed and not that white space. "So, it was indeed a dream." He exhaled deeply, and a wave of immense fatigue washed over him. He yawned before lying down and closing his eyes.
Oddly, he immediately saw those gray floating vapors but was too tired and soon fell asleep. Not long afterward, sounds of cracking appeared in his room as a figure appeared.