After what felt like an eternity lost in silent, numb darkness, a sensation finally broke through – warmth. Faint, distant, but there. It took impossible effort, like pushing against the weight of centuries, but drawn towards that fragile warmth, I forced my eyes open with great difficulty, greeted by the rustling of leaves and the painful shock of sunlight.

  I took in a deep breath, the air sharp and unfamiliar, and tried to swallow the overwhelming urge to break down into tears – an urge that felt ancient itself. I attempted to distract myself, watching the leaves dance in the wind, hearing birds chirp, and smelling the earthy scent of the forest. My fingers brushed the forest floor, cool and dry beneath my touch. Dry? That felt wrong. It had been raining relentlessly for... days? Weeks? How long had I been lying here? The thought sent a shiver through me. But, whatever. It didn’t really matter. Even if I lay here for the next hundred years... what was the point in getting up anymore?

  I stayed like that for a while before rolling over, mechanically searching for the catnip I’d planted on Pip’s grave. But to my surprise, it wasn’t there. The grave wasn't there. No matter where I looked, I couldn’t find any sign of it, no disturbed earth, no catnip plant. Puzzled, I pushed myself up and immediately realized my body... felt light. Impossibly light.

  I looked around properly then, and it hit me—I had absolutely no idea where I was. Pip’s grave was gone, the railway bridge was gone, the woods I knew were gone. This clearing, these trees… they felt utterly foreign. I looked down at myself, and a fresh wave of shock washed over me. My clothes were different. Gone were my worn gray boots, ragged jeans, and thick red jacket. Now I was wearing simple black shoes, black pants, and a black shirt? What… what the hell happened to me?

  With a heavy sigh, I facepalmed. I’m dead, that’s what I’ve completely forgotten. Hahaha. Oh man...

  Just as the thought formed, a strange stillness seemed to fall over the immediate area. The gentle forest sounds – the birdsong, the rustling leaves – momentarily muted, absorbed by an expectant hush. Then, as I took my hand away from my face, an awareness bloomed behind my eyes. Words formed in my mind, luminous and clear, as if projected onto my inner vision:

  ‘Child marked by sorrow, born of profound love… your grief echoed into the soul of Veridia and brought tears to the very sky. Such devotion, even unto death's threshold, is the purest spring of creation. For this, Grim, survivor of sorrow, I offer passage and purpose. A second chance. Aelthara’s Gift. Use it. Live. And perhaps, learn to love life once more.’

  The mental script flowed, each word resonating with an unexpected, almost divine weight. With every word processed, I felt tears – hot and sudden – welling up, tracing paths down my cheeks before falling silently onto the indifferent forest floor where Pip's grave should have been. The luminous text faded from my mind's eye, leaving me stunned, reeling from the strange, intrusive message. Survivor of sorrow? Aelthara's Gift? What the actual fuck?

  The world seemed to stand still for a heartbeat before another jolt of information pierced my thoughts, just as stark and clear:

  < Blessing Received: Aelthara's Gift >

  What the hell... Blessing received? I blinked, bewildered, and the mental text vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.

  And how exactly was this supposed to help me now? Sighing, shaking my head, I tried to push the confusion away. A blessing? 'Aelthara's Gift'? The phantom echo of the words lingered in the silence of my mind, utterly meaningless in the face of the raw, gaping wound left by Pip’s absence. Still feeling off-balance from the strange, internal encounter, I finally managed to push the lingering mental sensations aside and forced myself to look around properly, trying to grasp where 'here' actually was.

  I looked around at the forest again. It seemed… just like an ordinary mixed forest. If this was supposed to be heaven, a lot of people were going to be seriously disappointed. No pearly gates, no fluffy clouds, just… trees. Dirt. Which raised another question… What the hell was I supposed to do now? Wander this forest for all eternity? Blessed, maybe, but completely alone? Without Pip? The thought sent a fresh wave of despair washing over me.

  I stood there, utterly lost, before simply picking a direction and starting to walk. I stumbled over hidden roots and sharp rocks, pushed past ferns and thorny bushes, moving aimlessly forward with no destination in mind. The forest around me was eerily serene, almost unnervingly peaceful, as if mocking the chaotic storm raging inside my head.

  Eventually, the trees thinned slightly, and I came across a small, clear stream. Crystal-clear water gurgled over smooth stones, reflecting the golden hues of what looked like the late afternoon sun. A gentle breeze rustled the treetops, carrying the scent of damp earth and fresh, green foliage. Exhausted, both physically and emotionally, I sat down heavily on a smooth, sun-warmed stone by the bank, trying desperately to collect my scattered thoughts.

  For the first time since waking up in this strange place, I actually took a moment to see the world around me properly. The small clearing before me was bathed in warm light, revealing a breathtaking, almost impossibly vibrant sight. Wildflowers of every color imaginable – vivid reds, deep blues, soft purples, golden yellows – dotted the grassy banks of the stream, swaying gently in the breeze. Butterflies with delicate, shimmering wings like tiny stained-glass windows danced lazily from blossom to blossom. Birds of all shapes and sizes flitted between the trees, filling the air with a constant chorus of melodic chirps and whistles. One particularly bold little bird, maybe mistaking me for a weird lump, landed on a low branch nearby, its feathers a startlingly bright emerald green. It tilted its head, studying me with unnerving curiosity.

  The wind whispered through the leaves, sending a gentle ripple across the stream’s clear surface. Everything about this place felt so intensely alive, so full of warmth and staggering beauty… and yet, I felt completely, utterly disconnected from it all. A stranger adrift in a world that wasn't mine. An intruder.

  Pip would’ve loved it here, the thought came, sharp and painful. She would’ve chased those butterflies, napped in the sun… lived without pain… without the damn lymphoma… A single tear escaped, hot against my cheek.

  I stood up abruptly, walking over to the stream, hoping the cold water might help clear my head, wash away the grief. As I bent down, cupping my hands, I glanced into the water's mirror-like surface... but the face staring back wasn’t mine.

  I saw the face of a boy. A young boy, maybe twelve, with unfamiliar short, black hair and shadowed, haunted eyes. "What the hell..." I stammered, my own voice sounding wrong, higher pitched, weaker. My eyes widened in disbelief. "WHAT THE HELL?!" I screamed, the sound echoing strangely through the peaceful clearing. This wasn’t my face! This wasn’t my voice! What the hell was going on here?!

  I stumbled back from the stream's edge, tripping over my own feet, and fell hard onto my back. Again, I found myself staring up at the indifferent sky, the world spinning, trying frantically to make sense of the madness.

  Okay. Okay. I’m dead. That much is certain. But why did I look different? Why was I suddenly in the body of a twelve-year-old kid with emerald green eyes and deep, endless dark circles beneath them? I was blonde before, blue eyes… there was no connection. My life was already shit… why was death making it even harder? Was there no damn salvation anywhere?

  I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. Salvation... God, I hoped Pip was in a better place now. Wherever that was.

  Slowly, deliberately, I took a deep breath in, held it, and let it out slowly. None of this made any sense. I didn’t know where I was, why I looked like this, or what I was supposed to do now. All I knew, the one constant thought, was what I wanted – to be reunited with Pip. But… did people and animals even go to the same heaven? Or afterlife? Or whatever the hell this place was? What a stupid, great question. Questions piled up like rocks in my head, heavy and unanswerable.

  I lay there on my back for a long time, just watching the sun arc across the sky, moving steadily towards the horizon. My lips felt dry and cracked, my throat scratchy. Finally, thirst won out over despair. I pushed myself up and crawled back to the stream to drink. Kneeling by the water, careful not to look at my reflection this time, I cupped the ice-cold water in my hand and drank deeply. The refreshing coldness quenched my thirst instantly. As I lowered my hand for another scoop, movement in the reflection caught my eye despite my attempt to ignore it.

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  I froze. My reflection was still there, the kid with black hair and green eyes. But right next to it, almost leering over its shoulder in the water’s surface… was another face. A hideous, distorted, green face. Could it be... a ghost?!

  I spun around, scrambling backward in fear, my heart leaping into my throat. Standing just a few feet away, no ghost, but a grotesque green creature, ugly as sin. It had pointy ears, a bulbous, warty nose, crooked yellow teeth bared in a snarl, and unnaturally bright, malicious yellow eyes. It wore nothing but a filthy loincloth and was holding… a knife?! A crude, sharp-looking blade.

  In blind panic, I kept scrambling backward on my ass as the creature raised the knife, letting out a guttural screech, clearly about to strike. Reacting purely on instinct – a leftover reflex from dodging trouble on the streets – I kicked out hard with both legs, aiming for its shins. My feet connected solidly, sweeping its legs out from under it. It crashed painfully to the ground with a surprised growl.

  I quickly scrambled to my feet, adrenaline surging, automatically falling into a defensive stance. Thank god for those Krav Maga lessons the city cops offered the homeless that one summer… amazing how useful that shit turned out to be. You’d be surprised how often homeless folks become targets for random violence.

  The green creature scrambled back to its feet with surprising agility, its yellow eyes burning with hatred as it growled, aiming the knife threateningly towards me. I took slow, careful steps backward, trying to keep my distance, assess the threat. But it didn’t wait. It lunged suddenly, stabbing the knife forward in a vicious thrust.

  I managed to twist aside, deflecting the blow with my forearm, the blade scraping harmlessly past. But in doing so, my back foot caught on a thick, hidden root. I stumbled, losing my balance for just a crucial second. Pain exploded in my gut as the crude blade plunged deep into my stomach.

  The agony was immediate, white-hot, stealing my breath. I screamed, a raw sound of pain and shock, simultaneously lashing out blindly with my elbow. By sheer luck, it connected hard with the side of the creature’s face, stunning it momentarily, making it grunt and recoil slightly. That gave me the opening I needed. Before conscious thought could catch up, before the full horror of the wound could register, I lunged forward, wrapping my arm around the green monstrosity’s neck, pulling it into a chokehold.

  My mind raced, thoughts colliding amidst the pain and adrenaline. Can I die again here? In this… afterlife? If so, what happens then? Re-limbo? Nothingness? What if this is just some fucked-up test? Will I be punished for killing something? Can I even kill it? Am I capable of that? The rough handle of the knife still buried deep in my stomach, sending waves of nausea and agony through me, provided a grim, unavoidable answer. Yes. Death felt very possible here.

  I tightened my grip, adrenaline overriding the searing pain in my gut. My arm clamped around the creature's throat like a vise, cutting off its guttural growls. It thrashed wildly, clawed hands tearing at my arm, legs kicking frantically against my sides. Its foul breath rasped against my ear, sharp teeth snapping desperately, trying to bite me. But I held on, fueled by pure survival instinct, pressing harder, feeling the frantic struggle slowly weaken beneath my hold. Its movements grew sluggish, more like desperate spasms. The desperate flailing lessened until, finally, its arms fell limp against its sides, the last bit of fight draining out of it.

  Panting heavily, I shoved the now lifeless green creature off me. Its dead weight slumped to the ground. I managed to push myself partially upright, leaning heavily on one hand, before freezing again. Not because of the corpse this time, but because of that sudden, bizarre sensation—information flooding my mind.

  It wasn't a sound, wasn't something I saw floating in the air, but rather stark, glowing text imprinted directly onto my awareness, overlaying my vision without obscuring it. The strange disconnect made my head swim for a second, a wave of dizziness washing over me. The mental text read:

  < You have killed a Level 1 ???. +5 Experience received >

  My breath hitched. Level 1 '???'? What did that even mean? And... Experience? Like in a game? Before I could even grasp the absurdity of receiving 'experience' for killing, the mental text vanished, instantly replaced by new, blazing words that flashed just as insistently in my mind's eye:

  < Level Up. You are now Level 1. Threshold Reached. Veridia's Guidance Manifesting... >

  What the hell?! Level 1 '???'? Experience? LEVEL UP?! And now... Veridia's guidance manifesting? What did that even mean?! My mind scrambled, trying desperately to make sense of the onslaught of game-like messages. Bewildered, I pushed myself fully to my feet, only for the pain in my stomach to return with vicious force, making me double over with a sharp gasp. The glowing words, the nonsensical phrases—they felt like bizarre, misplaced echoes from the fantasy RPGs I'd devoured years ago... Seeing them appear now, after I’d actually taken a life... it felt jarringly, fundamentally wrong.

  The sharp, throbbing agony in my gut forced the confusing thoughts away. The knife. It was still embedded deep, warm blood flowing freely around it, soaking my shirt. "Shit..." I cursed under my breath, the strange mental messages momentarily forgotten in the face of immediate survival. What the hell do I do now? What if more of these things show up? Survive now, figure out the crazy later, I told myself fiercely.

  Gritting my teeth against the pain, I tore off a ragged piece of the dead creature's loincloth – gross, but necessary – and stumbled over to the stream to wash it as best I could. Thinking it was clean enough, I braced myself, took a deep breath, grabbed the rough handle of the knife, and slowly, agonizingly, pulled the filthy blade out of my wound.

  The sharp agony made me cry out, my vision momentarily graying out. I cursed again, loudly this time, doing my best to clean the gaping gash with the damp, makeshift bandage. But blood just kept oozing out, soaking the cloth almost immediately.

  Once the wound was as clean as I could manage under the circumstances, I rinsed the crude blade in the stream too – might need it again – and pressed the blood-soaked cloth tightly against the injury, trying to staunch the flow. I couldn’t stay here. If more of these creatures were nearby, or if my blood attracted other predators… I’d be dead. Again. For real this time?

  Wincing with every movement, the pain a constant, sickening throb, I stood up and forced myself to move away from the stream, away from the corpse. But my gaze lingered on the dead green creature for a moment. Doubt gnawed at me... Was killing it really the only option? The least violent one? Shaking my head, pushing the thought away, I turned towards the setting sun. I needed shelter. Fast.

  Each step felt like an eternity, fresh waves of pain shooting through me with every slight movement. No matter which direction I looked, I saw nothing but trees, trees, and more trees. The air was cooling rapidly now as dusk settled, the last rays of daylight painting the forest canopy in hues of orange and gold. My eyes followed the fading light, hoping for a miracle… and somehow, I found one. A large, ancient-looking tree whose massive trunk had a strange, hollowed-out shape near the base, like a small, natural cave.

  I approached it cautiously. The hollow looked dark, but it seemed just big enough for me to curl up inside and find some measure of shelter for the night. Exhausted beyond measure, I leaned back against the rough bark of the tree, my body screaming for rest. The piece of cloth I’d pressed against the wound was completely saturated now, unable to absorb any more blood. It dripped darkly as I quickly dug a small hole in the dirt nearby and buried it, hoping desperately to keep the scent from attracting any unwelcome visitors. Probably a futile attempt, given the state I was in, but it felt better than doing nothing.

  After burying the bloodied cloth, I pressed my hand hard against the wound again, leaning back inside the relative darkness of the tree hollow. I was so tired... so incredibly tired. Just yesterday – or was it centuries ago? – I had lost everything: my beloved Pip, my own miserable life. And now I wake up here, only to almost die again within hours? What the actual hell did I ever do to deserve this cosmic level of bullshit?

  I closed my eyes, trying to conserve whatever flickering energy I had left. When I eventually forced them open again, the world outside the hollow was shrouded in complete darkness. But then, that cold certainty flooded my mind again, stark text forming against the darkness:

  < Life force is fading… >

  Does that mean... I'm dying again? What miserable shit. I closed my eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath, ready for the end. But when I opened them again a moment later, drawn by some sound I hadn't consciously registered, I saw them... The only thing piercing the oppressive darkness was a pair of eerie, glowing green eyes, watching me from somewhere out in the forest.

  I drew in a shaky breath, tears beginning to fall unchecked now. It was inevitable. Another monster. And I was too weak to fight.

  I closed my eyes tightly, hoping only that it would be quick and painless this time. I felt my life drifting away, the strength leaving my limbs, a cold numbness spreading. Faintly, somewhere in the foggy corners of my mind, I heard something—a sound I would recognize anywhere, across any distance, across death itself.

  Pip’s purring...

  A weak, broken laugh escaped my lips. "Pip..." I whispered to the darkness, to the memory, to the hallucination. "Are you here…? Here to comfort me… calm me before I die…?"

  The purring grew louder, closer, impossibly real. A profound warmth, completely unlike the cold numbness of death, began to spread through my body, starting from my chest. Soon, my fading consciousness was consumed by a deep, peaceful emptiness.