That intense crashing feeling almost to the point of numbing me, always so present in my past life that I managed to suppress since my arrival here, had resurfaced so suddenly. That desire to cease to exist. Not so much because of the excruciating agony or suffering, but more out of a need to escape reality. After all, what had occurred the day before is well beyond the scope of possibility.

Nevertheless, I did not want to die. I wasn't ready to go through it again, and the prospect of returning after death fueled my need to disappear even more.

The initial numbness had gradually shifted to despair at the possibility of being shackled to this life.

What felt like a second chance at life became a terrific existence in the span of a single night. This may have been a different world that I was transported in, but it didn't mean I was its protagonist. Without the modern laws, which I was so accommodated by, and magic which I had no predisposition for, I had slowly started to realise how bad the position I was in and how serious I should take it from now on.

— As the sound of footsteps grew closer, a dense, barely visible fog started engulfing the room. That sensation I had felt yesterday came back. A pure survival instinct, fight or flight, had set in full gear. It was as if death itself had entered the room.

"Awake already, are you Clay?"

What did he just- how does he know my name? Wait, does this mean maybe my party had made it alive too?

"No. They're dead."

Wha- how did he know what I was thinking? Is he reading my m-

"Yes.

Fret not. I have no malicious intent."

"O-okay, could you tell me what happened yesterday and how I survived? I'm sure I died yesterday… T-that excruciating anguish, followed by the nothingness… AAAAHH.”

"Calm yourself. You're safe now. The pain you're feeling now is not real, just phantom pain. Your brain is just not adjusted to being alive yet, and still thinks you've been cut through."

"It still hurts so much…."

"You'll get over it soon enough."

Leif, Sif, Hilda… I'm so sorry… it's all my fault you died. I couldn't help you… I'm sorry.

"Stop worrying about frivolous things. Life comes and goes here. Someone's death is nothing special. Start getting used to it. Also, you've known them for only 2 days."

"Still… They were nice people. They deserved better."

"You barely knew them, but pardon my vulgarity. I'm not used to speaking to people. I might have said something too crude. Still, you shouldn't feel bad about it. Leif was a wretched. He knew fate, and so did his party. They willingly chose to help you, knowing full well they'd have died at some point soon."

How, what, why?

"It's irrelevant for now. You can learn about it another time."

"Can you at least tell me why am I alive?"

"For the time being, I won't be able to go into great depth, but I'll do my best to explain the essentials to you.

You could feel it, right? The presence of death as soon as I entered the room. That was the remainings of Ninurta. Both of us were not born in this world. At the moment of our death, when been transferred here, Ninurta imbued us with its power, so we're its manifestation.

All of us have unique powers, and yours might be unable to die."

"What… that's a lot much information all at once. Who's Ninurta? Why are we here? What's going on? What exactly do you mean when you say I have power?"

"Hmm, I know it's hard to follow, but don't worry about it for now. In time all will be made clear."

"At least explain what the fuck is that about not dying?"

"I'm not sure either. It's your power, not mine, but I think you'd come back to life no matter what happens to you."

No... no, no, no, this isn't good. I actually am shackled to this life, no. Fuck, this is bad.

"How the fuck does it work."

"it'd to hard to explain it to. Forgive me for thi-"

Then the next instant, he tore my right arm apart, causing me to faint from the pain and blood loss, almost as to mock me with the same speed that vampire had.