Author’s Note: I’ve decided to post my writing prompts here too. I hope you enjoy them. Oh, and please do tell me what you think of them. –Jiggly
Original Prompt: Every time you should die, you are given a choice. You can die or live with the consequences. Snap your neck? Die or live with the pain while your body heals?
Prompt posted by: /u/cole_train_8
Link to Prompt: CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REDDIT THREAD OF THE PROMPT
The Undying
Fei Wong was an avid reader of the otherworld genre which was quite popular among webnovels.
So, while he never believed that he would eventually find himself reborn in another world, when it did happen, he expected to have some sort of cheat.
Unfortunately, while the world he was reborn in was the stereotype sword and magic setting that most otherworld webnovels used, he was a perfectly normal human being in their world.
He had a set of fully functioning limbs. He did not have any disabilities. He even had a decent face, perhaps even above average, as he would find himself stealing glances at himself from time to time. He could use magic, though he could only do so after training like any other human being. His mana pool was exactly normal for his species and age. He could gain exp either by gaining renown or by killing monsters, but again the rate was exactly as everyone else. Be it his makings, his insight to sword or magic, or the rate at which he gained exp – which is often what separates the talented from the untalented – no matter which way you looked at him, Fei Wong was a perfectly normal human being.
To others, being born with no blemish or disability could be a blessing in and of itself, but Fei Wong was not a normal man. He was a man reborn from Earth with his memories intact! How could he accept being born into an otherworld setting without any cheats?
Fei Wong grieved.
In the end, however, he had no choice but to accept his fate.
And so, after many years, when Fei Wong was old enough to be accepted into the Adventurer’s Guild, he became an adventurer, and set out to fulfill one of his many childhood quests. He would become a famed adventurer and live a life full of excitement unlike the boring days he spent back on Earth. So what if he was just like everyone else? Fei Wong would show the world that despite being perfectly normal, he would leave his name in the annals of history to be remembered forever.
That was what he decided. That was what he set out to do.
So why?
Why…
WHY AM I DEAD!?
On the snow-buried lands of Frozengrave, whereupon the undead roamed the land, was a skeleton looking down on a bloodied young man’s corpse, from which a blade stood out.
The undead scratched its head for a bit before trying to take back its blade, but…
*THUD
When the undead tried to pull the sword for the umpteenth time, its hands slipped and it fell on its bony tushy again.
While this was going on, a bluish ball with a tail was floating near the corpse.
Why? Why did I die? It lamented. This was none other than Fei Wong’s soul.
He had planned out his trip to Frozengrave, where he would uncover the grave of the legendary Frozen King, which was said to contain the Frozen King’s inheritance that could turn any mortal into a god-like existence.
If Fei Wong could just gain the Frozen King’s inheritance, he would be sure to leave his name on the world.
But alas! The moment he met an undead, he died!
But I prepared! I prepared so hard for this!
I swung my sword countless times as a child! Despite my average talent, I stuck to my regimen! I even learned holy magic, which my average talent was unsuited for! Because of that I had to spend 10 times more time than the geniuses of the church!
How could I just die like this?
But complain as Fei might, there was no changing the fact that he had in fact died. All that time spent training for this ridiculous trip into Frozengrave, which not even the most veteran adventurers would seek out, had gone to waste. Frozengrave, which had been dubbed ‘Land of the Dead’ or even ‘Niflheim’ was indeed not something a neophyte adventurer could overcome.
Perhaps if Fei were the protagonist of a story, a miracle could happen. Like for example, a certain box popping out within his mind that could help him return from death.
Yes, there was indeed such a box, wasn’t there?
The moment Fei Wong died, a box popped out within his mind. It read: Continue or Give Up?
Unfortunately, the man was so caught up with his death that he didn’t even notice it.
After a long period of sobbing and gnashing of teeth, Fei Wong finally noticed the box within his mind.
Huh?
What is this?
Could this be? Could this be a game over screen?
After a moment or two, though still confused, Fei began to ponder how to make a selection. The moment he thought ‘Continue’ with the actual intention of ‘continuing’ and not just reading, the screen vanished and he found himself staring up the sky. When he looked a little lower down, he could see the skeleton scratching its head.
“Ha… Ha Ha… Ha Ha ha!”
It started as a twitch, then a stifled laugh, until it became a full blown laughter.
“I live yet!”
As Fei Wong picked himself up, he saw the skeleton in front of him back off with a look of shock on its skull.
“Ha ha!” Fei laughed as he pulled out the skeleton’s sword from his chest.
“I am Yuusha!” Fei declared, pointing the freshly Fei-brand-blood-dyed sword to the skeleton.
The skeleton, still shocked, looked at the sword, then onto the bleeding hole in his chest, then back to the sword, and then the hole…
After a while, Fei’s eyes rolled over to show their whites, his smile still plastered on his face; at that, he blacked out, and his body fell on the ground with the sword still firmly held within his hand.
The skeleton scratched its head, then shaking its head, it tried to retrieve its sword from Fei’s hand again.
Meanwhile, Fei had turned back into a soul.
No! My second chance!
This time, however, he didn’t fall into depression— because that box had popped out again.
Perhaps I will have a third! or perhaps even a fourth chance!
Or… Gasp! Perhaps I will have infinite chances!
Continue
With a thought, Fei found his mouth filled with snow. He pushed himself off the ground, then after patting off the snow from his face and body, he turned toward the skeleton.
“I’m back!” He said, pointing the skeleton’s sword at it again.
The two hollow eye holes on the skeleton’s skull seemed to grow wider, but it quickly shook off its shock and pulled out one of its fingers, then it threw it like a throwing knife into one of Fei’s eyes.
“UGH!” Fei cried before falling into the snow-buried ground again.
A strike to the eye wouldn’t normally instantly kill a person, but unfortunately for Fei, though he didn’t have the time to check, when he came back to life he only had 1HP. And so, that seemingly simple knife throw –erm, skeleton finger throw, managed to instantly kill him.
Fei turned into a soul again, but he didn’t even bother pondering as he thought Continue.
When his body stood back up for the fourth time, the skeleton’s jaws literally fell to the ground. When it eyed Fei’s body, it could see that its finger was still stuck in his right eye, there was a gaping hole in his chest, and wounds covered his bloody body.
Sparing no time to revel in his newfound undeath, this time Fei smashed his sword into the skeleton.
“Take this, foul monster!”
Clumsily, Fei used his level 3 Basic Sword Mastery to swing his sword toward the undead with all of his strength.
*Clang! The sword cried as it hit the skeleton’s ribs and caused an almost microscopic crack to form on its ribs.
Fei had no way of knowing this, but when he hit the skeleton, the skeleton saw in its mind that its HP Bar of 300 points had decreased by 1 point.
The skeleton was still shocked when Fei swung his sword. It wasn’t until after Fei struck a second time that the skeleton recovered from its shock and slapped Fei through the air.
The finger throw killed Fei instantly, so the skeleton reasoned that a slap that sent Fei spinning several times in the air would be enough to kill him. Unfortunately, while it did indeed kill him, as soon as Fei fell into the snow, he stood right back up.
“Ha ha!” Fei laughed as he stood back up and attacked the skeleton again, before being sent flying by the skeleton again.
“Ha ha!” The same scene repeated itself.
“Ha ha!” And again.
“Ha ha!” And again.
Gradually, the skeleton could see its hp bar decreasing. Before it was at 300, then at 298 after Fei’s first two attacks. By now it was at 250. One could only imagine how many times Fei had to be killed to deal that much damage on the skeleton. Accordingly, Fei’s body was a mess. Though he wasn’t all bones yet, he was in some ways scarier than the undead he was fighting. Yes, especially that huge smile on his face despite one of his eyes hanging from its socket with a skeletal finger stuck in it. Even the skeleton couldn’t help but shudder a chill at the sight despite having lived in the snowy lands of Frozengrave for centuries.
After a while, when the skeleton’s HP had gone down to 220, it finally decided it’s had enough.
“BRAWRRR” The monster cried, as if to say Monster! before running away. It would forever be haunted by the never ending ‘Ha ha!’ of an undying human monster.
“Know this, monster! Yuusha never dies!” Fei declared from behind the skeleton before giving chase.
When the skeleton saw him chasing, it wanted to cry, but alas, it had no tear ducts.
“And Yuusha never retreats!” Fei declared as his sword cried Clang! Clang each time it hit the skeleton.
Eventually, the skeleton decided to dismantle its body and pretend to be dead. Fei didn’t gain any exp, but because he was so caught up in his glee, he didn’t notice that tidbit. He walked away laughing to himself.
As he left, the skeleton noticed that the gaping hole in his chest had already closed up, causing it to shudder. Apparently, the human monster was even slowly healing itself. The skeleton would never forget his figure as it vanished into the distance.
In fact, neither would the world. For in the future, after finding the Frozen King’s inheritance, the world would come to know him as: Undying.
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