Death’s Embrace

I found myself staring at my bed. There was a truck on it. It appeared to have crashed in through the window. I think I could see an arm sticking out from under it. It looked like my arm. 

“Damnit another one.” A strange voice is heard. When I turn to look, I find myself looking at an empty black robe, and a scythe.

“Are you a reaper?”

“Yup. You’re dead. Sorry about that. You aren’t actually supposed to be dead yet.”

“I was wondering about that. This apartment is on the 44th floor.”

“Yeah. Some of the gods are a little too fond of drinking and gambling, and… well… shit like this happens. C’mon now, I’ll find something for you.”

“Find something?”

“Yeah, there should be someone else somewhere who should’ve died but didn’t. We take their souls since they are supposed to be dead, and just leave them in a coma. You can wake up as one of them.”

“Uh, do I have to? I mean, if I’m abandoning everything in this life, what good is it to continue? Life has been such a struggle, why do I want more of it, when I won’t even have my friends anymore?”

“How about I find you an easy life? There should be some spoiled brats available. It’s not uncommon for their good luck to let them survive things that are supposed to kill them.”

“Eh? An easy life? Where I don’t have to struggle? That might be nice.”

Waking up

“Ow, my head hurts.” Waking up with a terrible headache is not nice. Is this the easy life? My throat is dry. 

“Here, some water.”

“Thanks.” I immediately drank the offered cup of water. It was nice and refreshing. Looking at the person’s face, I noticed they were quite beautiful. I envied the looks of this woman. I wonder what her relation to me is.

“You really drank far too much last night. I was worried you might die from alcohol poisoning. The doctor I called offered this draught to take when you wake, to help get rid of the hangover.”

I drank what she offered, and grimaced. It didn’t taste good at all. However, it seemed to work very fast. I started feeling better immediately. Shouldn’t medications take more time than this to work? No matter. I’m glad to have that headache gone. I’d never had a hangover before, and I don’t think I want to ever have one again.

Now that I can take a look around, I notice the room is quite dark, and I realize it’s very quiet. Was this to help me feel better when I woke? I’d read that hangovers make light and sound a problem.

“Thank you. Um… I’m sorry, but, who am I?” In all the novels I’d read, the main character got the memories of the person they became in addition to their own past life memories. I don’t seem to remember anything but my past life though.

At first, the young lady just stared at me in shock. Then her face paled. Then she ran out of the room shouting for a doctor. Should I not have said that?

Check up

“Is there anything you can do, Doctor?”

“No, I’m sorry. It seems his cultivation is lost, along with his memory.”

… ‘his’? … I’m a man? … Did they put me in the wrong body? I was a woman! Wait, calm down. Don’t panic. It’ll just cause more problems if I start panicking now. Deal with it later.

…

My mother showed up:

“Oh my poor dear boy! Don’t worry, mother will still take care of you, no matter how much trouble you have!”

...

My father showed up:

“Hmph! Think of this as a chance to start over, and make something of yourself!”

…

My ‘lover’ showed up:

“You don’t remember me? I’m your dear lover. We’ve spent many a happy night together. Why don’t you let me help you remember, hmmm?”

“Please leave. If we are fated to be together, then we will surely end up together again. If not, then not. We cannot simply resume as we were.”

“What? Surely, you jest. Am I not pretty enough?”

“Leave!”

Several more ‘lovers’ showed up:

“Did you finally see the light? Surely, only I am the one for you.”

“Leave!”

This repeated a few times.

…

In the end I was alone again with the lady I’d seen when I first woke up. Apparently, she’s my servant:

“Please answer me honestly: Have I done you any wrong in the past?”

“Eh? You don’t need to bother about that! I’m your servant! My life is yours!”

“So, I have then. I apologize. I shall try to lead a better life from now on.”

If I actually knew the history of this man, I have a feeling I’d be disgusted by it. Gall Stone is the name. Even the name is ominous. At least one thing is clear: This really is a spoiled upbringing. 20 years old, and living with no responsibilities at all. I’m not sure what this ‘cultivation’ that was mentioned is though. I may need to do some reading.

Research

After shocking a few people with a request for books on cultivation, I confirmed something I began to suspect but had doubted: I’m in a cultivation setting. I’d read plenty of cultivation stories, mostly terrible ones, but never did I expect to end up in one. I suppose I also never expected there to even be an afterlife, and also didn’t expect to transmigrate into a man’s body. So I guess my expectations have been wrong three times already. 

At least my new body isn’t bad looking. In fact, with a bit of work, I might even be able to pass as a lady… I doubt my new family would be very accepting of that. They seem like the sort to expect at least an heir, even if I make nothing else of myself. I’m a little surprised there isn’t one already. I really doubt the previous owner of this body was living a chaste life.

Reading about cultivation I find that much of what is said makes no real sense. It sounds like there is some sort of inner struggle that takes place during cultivation, but the act of cultivating itself is pretty simple and easy. In fact, it seems to be little more than meditation. How boring.

I suppose I should give it a try.

“Welcome to your inner world!”

“There’s not much here.”

“Well, it’s not my fault you’re such an empty person.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m your inner devil of course! Your evil side!”

“My darkness.”

“Correct!”

“Didn’t we come to an agreement before in my past life?”

“... drat. I was hoping you’d forget for a bit so I could scare you. The cultivation of this world strengthens the divide between us, making it harder for me to influence you if I’m not in control.”

“Wait, does this mean most people only have their light or dark sides in control? Leaving the other side neglected?”

“I don’t know any more than you do. I just rely upon all the information you like to keep suppressed to pretend I know more. Like how you really feel about that maid serving you?”

“Ugh. I’d rather not think about that. She doesn’t have the freedom to refuse. I can’t make a move on her.”

“Yeah, I’d stop you if you tried. Killing bastards who do that shit is what I exist for. Sadly, in our past life, I had to settle for complaining on the internet, and clawing people who piss me off in person.”

“So… uh… doesn’t this mean it should be easy for us to cultivate in this world?”

“Yup. From what that book said, it seems most people just suppress their dark desires, and that’s why it’s such a struggle. So, if we are working together towards the same end, there’s no fight, no struggle, and it’s easy.”

“Just don’t try to make me kill too many people.”

“You know everyone I want to kill deserves it!”

“Yeah, but-”

“You don’t want to kill anyone unless it’s absolutely necessary, I know. You and your paranoia, never wanting to do anything you can’t undo.”

“Death is very, very, permanent.”

“That’s the point.”

***Author Note***

Yup, a full chapter of the main character talking to themselves. Anyway, this is as far as I think I can go without actually building a real setting and story. I’ve got enough stories being worked on right now to not want to bother making a new one for this, so it’s stopping here. To continue this story I’d need to figure things out like: Who is this family? What are they doing? Who are their enemies and allies? Etc. I’d rather put that effort towards something a bit closer to actual completion than this.

However, I can give a basic summary: Wastrel son becomes powerful prodigy, much face slapping ensues. Main plot point that twists things a bit is the struggle over self-identity and how that impacts relations with others. Would probably include moments of someone trying to sabotage the main character by making their darkside stronger than their lightside (changing which is in charge) only to have that backfire. As for why the dark and light sides get along so well: They both desire the same end result, and merely disagree on how to get there.