Author's Note
Prologue
“Okay… let’s try to recap how you died…”
“Yeah…..…” I said unenthusiastically, not entirely happy about how I died.
It was a nice day, and I had just arrived at the convention center. “Alright! Time for my costume!!” I said before checking my duffel bag.
I didn’t know it then, but that’s the point when my luck ran out and my life was nearing its end.
In all the excitement, I forgot my cosplay at home. My heart sank as I stared at the empty duffle bag in the back seat. The convention was a sea of colorful wigs and intricate armor, and here I was, a lone pirate without his ship. Panic set in as I pulled into the parking lot, searching for a solution. My phone buzzed with messages from friends eager to see my costume. “I am so boned,” I groaned with a sigh.
I went to the nearest Halloween store and quickly got a costume. The only one they had was a skeleton costume, so I grabbed that and put it on. I figured I could probably spice my costume up a bit by getting something at the convention center. I quickly made my way to the main doors, feeling slightly embarrassed, but mostly just relieved to have something to wear. “Oh man… I really hope no one asks me about the costume…” I muttered.
After I managed to get a nice coat, I put it on and admired myself. “Not bad…” I muttered. The coat itself was a gothic, black Victorian-style tailcoat.
Once I had the coat, I continued to walk around and enjoy myself, there were a few slip-ups though. During lunch, the cashier got my order wrong. When I ordered coffee from Starbucks, they didn’t even try to spell my name right.
Then of course, as soon as I left the convention center, I found a hundred-dollar bill in a grate, and just as I was about to cross the street, I got hit by a car.
And now here I was looking at some strange guy sitting in an ornate chair that looked more like it was suited for royalty. I sat in a chair across from him, my chair wasn’t as fancy as his, my chair looked like something you’d find in IKEA, only it seemed a bit crappier, mine was made of plastic whereas he looked like it was made of wood and decorated with gold moldings.
The man in the chair had a smile as he looked at me, he had blue two-tone hair and he looked like he worked out. He had red eyes, a somewhat normal nose, and a strong jawline that reminded me vaguely of John Cena. He was wearing a t-shirt, a jacket with a windbreaker on top of it, and some jeans, all in all, he seemed like a somewhat average guy.
“So, we’re all caught up?” He said.
“That’s pretty much it, yeah,” I said. He crossed his legs and rested his head against his hand, looking confident.
“So, you’re dead… any questions?” He asked.
“A-Are you… God?” I asked.
“Not quite, then again there’s a bunch of religions and cultures and each believes in at least one or more gods, I suppose there might be people that worship me, but I don’t know if I’d call myself a god, I think I might be close though… to answer your question, I believe I’d be classified as a Demigod,” he explained. As he explained he showed images of multiple cultures and faiths.
“Okay… so if I’m dead… is this-,” I began before he interrupted me.
“The afterlife? Kind of, I managed to prevent your soul from passing on, I thought you might like a choice if you’d like to hear it,” he said.
“Okay…..” I said, unsure of his intentions.
“I think I’ll speak plainly from here on out, and right now, I’ve gotta ask… what the heck are you wearing?” He asked, surprising me by his sudden change.
“It’s all I could find on short notice okay?!” I said.
“Dude… you’re wearing a skeleton costume and a coat… what are you even supposed to be?!” He asked, gesturing towards me with his arms.
“I don’t know! I left my costume at home and I didn’t want to look like an idiot!” I said, raising my arms defensively.
“Oh my gosh,” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he furrowed his brow. He looked back at me. “Right now, I’m not even sure what to do with you, I’m supposed to have you be reincarnated as a displaced… but you’re pretty generic, and I’m not sure what would happen if I were to get you Isekai-ed,” He told me. He stroked his chin for a couple of minutes before he spoke. “Meh, I might as well give you some powers and shit,” he said.
Immediately he was right next to me, measuring me with a measuring tape as if he were a tailor. “W-Wha!” I exclaimed as he began poking and prodding at me.
“I know! I’ll make you into a real skeleton! Then I should probably give you some cool and creepy powers to start with, and weapons like some phantom thread fetters, and maybe a bone-looking sword or maybe two, you’ll find out later…. I should probably make sure you know how to use the weapons too,” he said as he stroked his chin. “I should probably give you a spell book, it’ll be somewhere in the world, so you have to find it, it’ll have a few things in there that you should find helpful, and until you find it, you’ll just be a normal, weak, Skeleton,” He said.
“Wait! Hold on! How am I supposed to find the book?” I asked as I held my arms up in front of me. “How am I supposed to know what it looks like?”
He smiled. “You won’t be able to miss it,” he said before continuing. “As soon as you awaken, you’ll be able to sense it, once you find it, you should be able to learn anything you need,” he told me. Suddenly he gave me a devious smirk. “Of course, I can’t exactly do all this for free… I need something in return…. What should I take…. Hmmm….” He said, trailing off as he tapped his chin.
I stared at him, eyes wide, trying to wrap my head around what he just said. The absurdity of the situation wasn’t lost on me, but it was hard to focus when someone was talking about turning you into an undead war machine as casually as ordering a burger.
“I’ll be taking your name, you won’t be able to remember it now anyway, so you should have a clean slate,” he said. I tried thinking of my name… but I couldn’t remember, which got me a little freaked out.
“Now, as for the reincarnation route…. I’m not sure whether I should have you reincarnate in another world, or I should have someone find you after the human race has come and gone…” he said, stroking his chin in thought. Suddenly he seemed like he had an idea. “I guess I’ll flip a coin,” he said.
He didn’t even bother to call it, he just tossed a coin and he caught it and put it on his arm. He looked at it and smiled. “W-what is it?” I asked.
“I guess you’ll have to find that out later,” he said. He stood up, dusted himself off, and straightened his clothes before looking at me and snapping his fingers. After that, everything went dark.
