Chapter 1: He Died

"Ugh..."

Caelan slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was the darkness. There was nothing around him.

"Where am I?"

He instinctively moved his arms, but his body felt strangely light. He looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings, but there was nothing he could see. He couldn’t even tell if he was standing or floating.

"What happened?"

Caelan tried to remember what had happened before this. Then, suddenly, the memories came rushing back.

He had been walking home when he saw a woman in the middle of the road. She had called out for help, and the next thing he knew was that he saw large debris from a construction building fall from the air.

And then...

"Wait..." Caelan’s green eyes widened as the scene replayed in his mind.

He remembered running toward the woman and pushing her out of the way. That’s when the debris fell to him instead. Pain had exploded through his entire body before everything went black.

"So... I’m dead?" He remained silent for a few seconds at his question.

"Yes." All of a sudden, a woman’s voice answered him.

Caelan nearly jumped at it. "The heck? Who said that?"

He quickly looked around again, but there was still no one there. Then he heard a small laugh coming from somewhere beside him.

"You really are calm about this."

"Calm?" Caelan frowned.

"Who are you? And am I really dead?" He fired the questions one after another.

"Technically, yes."

"What do you mean, technically?" Caelan became even more confused. Before he could ask anything else, a small blue light suddenly appeared in front of him.

His forehead creased as he stared at it. The light slowly grew brighter until the figure of a woman appeared within it.

She had long black hair cascading down her shoulders and wore a simple black dress decorated with silver details. Her appearance seemed almost perfectly suited to the darkness surrounding them.

There was something strangely otherworldly about her.

"Who are you?" That was the first thing Caelan asked.

He couldn’t help but stare at her. She was beautiful, but there was something more than beauty about her. A strange aura surrounded her, making it impossible for him to look away.

"You can call me Elara." The woman smiled as she raised one hand. "I’m the Goddess of Nothingness."

"A goddess of nothingness?" Caelan stared at her.

"So I really am dead?"

"Your old body is."

"That’s not very comforting, you know..."

"But don’t worry. I didn’t bring you here just to tell you that." Elara let out a soft laugh.

"Then why am I here?" The confusion in Caelan’s voice was slowly being replaced by curiosity.

Elara became quiet for a moment before finally answering.

"Because I made a mistake."

"A mistake?"

"Yes." She looked at Caelan with a slightly troubled expression.

"I was watching the mortal world when I saw what happened to you."

"You mean when I saved that woman?"

"Yes."

"Anyone would have done the same, you know." Caelan frowned.

"No." Elara’s expression suddenly became serious. "Not everyone would have."

Caelan didn’t know how to respond to that. He had never thought much about what he had done. He had simply seen someone about to be in an accident, and he had reacted.

That was all.

"You were supposed to live for another forty years." Elara slowly walked toward him before stopping a few steps away.

"What? Forty years? Are you serious?" Caelan gave her an incredulous look. If that were the case, then why was he here?

"You weren’t supposed to die that night." Elara nodded as if it was to comfort him, but it just made Caelan fall silent.

"So I wasn’t supposed to die?"

"Correct."

"Then why did I?"

"Because I told you I made a mistake." She said it so casually that Caelan didn’t know whether he should be angry or confused.

"So what happens now? Am I going to live again?"

"You will..." Elara raised her hand, and a strange golden symbol suddenly appeared in the darkness. "But I cannot send you back to your old world."

"Why not?"

"Because your death has already changed the future."

"That doesn’t make any sense."

"I know." Elara smiled. "But it doesn’t need to."

"Then what can you do?" Caelan sighed.

If he was supposed to live for another forty years, then what would happen to him now?

"I can give you another life."

"Another life?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Here."

Elara pointed toward the golden symbol floating above her hand. When she raised it into the air, the darkness surrounding them suddenly disappeared.

And all of a sudden, an enormous world appeared before Caelan.

There were enormous mountains stretching across the horizon, forests that seemed to go on forever, and cities surrounded by massive stone walls.

Far in the distance, he could even see a tower standing above the clouds.

Then something glowing flew across the sky.

"What is this?" Caelan couldn’t help but wonder. The world before him was nothing like Earth.

There were no towering skyscrapers or busy streets filled with cars. Everything looked almost unreal.

Just what kind of world was this?

"The world of Aurelith."

Elara smiled as she said the name.

"It’s a different world."

"This is..."

Caelan slowly looked at everything in front of him.

"A world where magic exists." Elara completed his sentence as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Magic?" Caelan swallowed.

"So, Caelan..." Elara looked at him with a big smile on her face.

"Do you want to live again?"