The world was swimming, everything was a haze of pain and sadness. Every memory flashed by him in rapid succession leaving him to wallow in his despair.

'So this is Hell, huh? Could be worse, I know I deserve worse.'

Eventually the haze started to lift. The man's thoughts began to clear. His senses sharpened. He could hear birds chirping and animals calling. He could feel the tickle of the grass underneath him. The sweet smell of a forest permeated his nose. The data his body received only proved to confuse him.

'No, this can't be Hell. I don't smell brimstone or hear screaming. If anything if feels more like Heaven. No, that's not right I don't deserve to go to Heaven. For God's sake, I got my heart ripped out if my chest for what I did!'

His thoughts were put to a halt when he noticed the steady beat of his heart in his chest. This information further confused and thoroughly terrified the man.

The man's eyes shot open in panic and he quickly sat up to survey his surroundings. He was sitting in a field of grass, each blade gently swaying in the breeze. Tall trees surrounded the field in all sides. It was dark out, the pale moon shining brightly in the night sky. The man could see millions of stars shining in the sky, beautifully made as if looking at a rich tapestry. The air was cool and inviting, giving the man reason to believe it was one of the warmer seasons. As he looked around he breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed everything around him had taken a subtle red hue.

'At least my eye is functioning. Don't know what I would do without it.'

He slowly stood to his full height to try and aquire a better view of his surroundings. This proved to be difficult as he realized that both his legs were asleep, causing him to promptly fall on his ass.

"Shit, well good job Ryan. Great way to represent the Titan Regiment."

Ryan proceeded to stand, albeit slower, and started to walk around. He stayed within the clearing and only came within five feet of the forest as he examined his new sleeping spot.

"Well... Doesn't look like Sylus's Manor. There were no grass or trees in the gorge. Really begs the question... Where in all the Hell am I?"

Ryan traversed his way back to the spot he awoke at and sat back down to gather his thoughts. Taking a breath, the man began to take stock of his situation. Slowly, he patted himself down, searching for anything useful.

Ryan noticed that he was wearing a pair of jeans, stained dark blue, with black work boots on his feet. A black jacket was open on his shoulders, allowing the man to see a black T-Shirt, with the words 'Mountain Dew' splayed on the front in neon green, underneath it. Reaching up, he breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the familiar weight of his gray fedora perched upon his head.

His relief was short lived, however, as the man realized that his pockets were empty. He stood quickly and scanned the clearing in a desperate bid to find anything of use. He growled in frustration as he realized that he had nothing to help him.

'Really? Nothing?' Ryan's face quickly became acquainted with his hand as the full severity of the situation finally kicked in. 'So, I'm stuck in the middle of butt fuck nowhere, with nothing but the clothes on my back. Not to mention, I should be dead!' Ryan scanned his surroundings once more before sighing in defeat and moving back to his sitting spot.

He contemplated his circumstances. In situations like this, Ryan knew he could fall back on his friends. A stray tear fell from his face as he remembered the fate of his comrades. He cursed whatever cruel God that had revived him and not one of his friend's instead. He could feel his resolve crumbing as the fact that all his friends were dead finally settled in him.

Falling back on the ground, he placed his hands over his face as a cascade of tears began to flow. The man's weeping turned into a snarl as he slammed his fist into the ground.

"I don't deserve this! Why? Why did I come back!" Ryan's tears began falling again as he thought of his fallen comrades and their sacrifices. "Oh God! It should have been Angel! Or Rage! Furnace or Wind deserves this more than I do! Hell, even Reaper would've been a better choice!"

Finally losing it, Ryan curled into a ball and wept over his circumstances. His friends were dead. The love of his life was brutally murdered in front of him. The man who killed her was also dead from his hand. He had lost everything, including his life. He had no purpose. These thoughts kept bouncing around in his head as he contemplated why he was alive again.

Eventually, the tears stopped and all that was left was the man's shaking. He looked up and began studying the night sky. The moon had moved considerably since he last checked and the stars seemed to have grown dimmer in response to his plight.

Closing his eyes, he felt his exhaustion take over. The man allowed sleep to take him as he fell into a shallow slumber, riddled with pain and nightmares.

Watching over the sleeping human, a being floating above chuckled heartily. He pointed at the man, revealing a tiger's arm. "You wish to know why I brought you back and not the others?" His chuckling grew into laughter as he knew that the man below couldn't hear him. "It's because, you are a wild card! And wild cards are fun and chaotic! You harbor your insanity like a cloak, and I can't wait too see it come out."

The being 'tsked' slightly as he noticed how distressed the man was. "Well now? You mustn't have a breakdown yet! This is the first time in a long time that I actually have a plan!" A large scroll materialized in front of him as he began reading it. "Find great warrior, check. Steal great warrior, got it!" His snowy eyebrows rose as he read the third part. "Tea party with Uncle Grandpa? Who is that? Bah, I'll figure it out later. Right now I have to 'convince' a certain Element of Loyalty to do some night flying. Tata!"

With a snap of his fingers, the being disappeared, leaving a pink cloud that dissipated moments later.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed the start of this series. I hope to update quickly if this gets good reviews. Please, this is my first story, so inform me of spelling or grammatical errors so I may fix them. If there is a way I can make the story better, please say so, I'd appreciate the feedback.

Thank you,
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