The Whimsical Fate of A Heir

"Hmmm…." 

A heavy groan echoed in the abyss of nothingness, as a being, a soul perhaps, stirred with its consciousness flickering to life. 

Aside from the persistent thrumming sound that echoed what felt like an eternity as it awoke its consciousness, the first thing that registered in its sensation was the coldness. Not the bone-chilling kind, but a pervasive, all-encompassing coolness that seeped into its very being. 

"Huh...what?" a raspy voice, barely a whisper, escaped its lips. Out of nowhere, it suddenly felt a dull ache pulsing faintly behind its eyes causing him to squeeze them shut against the sudden assault.

thump~

"Ugh…" The being involuntarily groaned. As the being's head felt gradually pounding like a jackhammer, it tried to open its eyes, but its eyelids felt heavy, to the point the being felt that it had no eyelids to flutter at all. 

"What the heck?!" The being's voice cracked, a sharp cry cutting through the silence. As the surge of panic began to claw its way up its throat, the being took a shuddering breath, forcing itself to calm down. "Okay… okay."

With a tremendous effort that almost strained itself, the being forcefully opened its own "eyes", expecting, somehow, the harsh glare of fluorescent lights or the dim glow of a street lamp—something that the being was familiar with. 

Instead of what the being had hoped for, there was nothing. In its sight, there was only a featureless inky black expanse stretching forever in every direction with no colour, noise, or signs of life. In other words, it's just an endless void.

"Huh…?" The being's voice trailed off, a mix of confusion and fear colouring its tone."Where the hell am I?"

The being tried to pinch its cheek, desperate to jolt itself awake. But its fingers, or what should have been its fingers, met with nothing but space. Panic began to rise again, a cold sweat breaking out on its nonexistent brow. "What the hell? This has to be a joke."

"Why can't I feel my fingers?" The being muttered, immediately tried to lift its calloused arm, to feel its weight, its solidity. But there was nothing. No sensation, no pressure, no weight, nothing at all. "No..no..no…"

"Where are my hands?!" The being muttered, feeling the cold dread coiled in his gut before trying again, focusing all his energy on moving a finger, a toe, anything. But its "body" wouldn't respond. It was as if he wasn't even there. "What the hell is happening right now?!?!"

The being, now gripped by a sense of dread, began frantically speculating. Was this a dream? A nightmare? Or perhaps some twisted experiment gone awry? 

The more it thought, the more questions arose, each one more dangerous than the last, including a very terrifying one that the being immediately shot down when it came into its mind.

"Okay, okay, let's think more properly and rationally," it muttered, trying to regain its composure. As it attempted to reign in its emotions, the being began a one-sided conversation with itself.

"Alright, let's think," the being muttered, trying to calm its racing heart. "How did I get here? What was I doing before this?"

It racked its brain, desperately searching for any clue, any memory that could explain its current predicament. But the more it tried to remember, the more elusive the past has become in its mind.

"I can't remember anything," it whispered, a wave of fear washing over it. "Nothing at all."

As it delved deeper into its memories, a horrifying realisation struck it. It couldn't remember its name.

"My name!" it exclaimed, panic rising within it. "What's my name? Who am I?"

The question hung heavily in the emptiness. A sense of panic clawed back up its throat. Taking a shaky breath, the being tried to calm its racing emotions. "Alright, let's just calm down and think for a second."

"First things first – why the hell can't I remember who I am?"

The being squeezed its eyes shut and tried again, harder this time, forcing its mind to recall any memories or information that could help the being to remember. But its mind was somehow full of swirling darkness, so he couldn't tell any useful landmarks.

"This is insane! I can't even remember my own name! Or even how did I even get here?"

A desperate laugh escaped its lips, a humourless sound that dissolved into a choked sob.

"What am I supposed to do now?" The being whispered, his voice barely audible. "I'm lost, alone, and completely and utterly forgotten the simplest things."

As the realisation dawned on it, a wave of despair washed over the being. It was a ghost in its own life, a nameless, faceless entity adrift in a void of nothingness.

Ba dump~

Out of nowhere, a sharp pain shot through its head, a sudden, intense spike that made its eyes squeeze shut. It felt like a thousand needles were piercing its skull, a relentless assault on its senses. 

"Ugh!" it groaned, its voice thick with pain. "What the hell is happening?"

As the pain intensified, a flood of information began to pour into its mind, a chaotic torrent of images, sounds, and emotions.

It was overwhelming, a sensory overload threatening to drown the being's mind. "Uugghhhh….!!!"

It struggled to grasp onto the fragments of memory, desperately trying to make sense of the chaos. And then, amidst the storm, a name emerged in his mind, a single word that anchored it to reality.

"Victor," the being, Victor croaked, the sound barely a whisper. "That's right, my name… it's Victor Gabriel." 

"Thank goodness…" Victor muttered, feeling relief but it was short-lived as he quickly realised that the question of how he ended up in this desolate void remained unanswered. "What was I doing before this? What happened that led to this?"

"Let's think," he then muttered, closing his eyes and recalling the events leading up to his current predicament in his fragmented memories but it seemed to be a little hazy. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me."

Desperate for answers, Victor focused all his energy on delving deeper, trying to piece together the puzzle as much as possible. "Ok, the last thing I remember was…"

"Oh god…" Victor soon whispered, the sound barely a breath as a series of images flashed through his mind - A damp, cold, and slightly dark alleyway, the clash of steel, and the metallic tang of blood in the air.

As he felt overwhelmed by the information, Victor suddenly burst into endless laughter, which, if anyone heard it, sounded both tragic and absurd.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….."

It was the kind of laughter that comes from a place of deep despair, a desperate attempt to cope with the impossible. He continued to laugh and laugh until his sides ached and his voice was hoarse.

"I'm dead," Victor finally managed to gasp out some words between the fits of laughter, with his voice barely audible. "Can you believe? I'm actually dead!"

After a while, Victor's laughter began to subside, fading into a series of ragged gasps. He finally managed to catch his breath, his chest heaving with the effort and a bittersweet smile playing on his lips.

"Well, this is certainly a unique afterlife," he muttered, his voice a mere whisper. "I've never been one for the supernatural, but I guess anything's possible, huh?"

Victor paused, with his gaze drifting across the endless void. " I'm dead but somehow I can still think, and feel... exist? This is... so weird."

"I can't believe that I'm stuck in such a bizarre situation," Victor muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. "It feels like this entire thing is some kind of twisted joke."

He paused, his gaze drifting across the endless void once more. "I do wonder if this is what they call the afterlife. It's a lot different than what I expected."

"But I guess I'll just have to accept that I'm dead, and this is my new reality," Victor sighed, his shoulders slumping. "But... what now? What do I do with my time here?"

!?!

For whatever reason, a sudden chill ran down Victor's spine with him gradually recalling the sensation of searing pain in his abdomen and his own life slipping away from him. "Ok… ok…ok…"

"It's fine… it's fine…." he gasped, trying to calm his breathing while shifting his focus on anything. But the pain for whatever reason was so overwhelming to the point that Victor could feel that he was gradually losing focus.

"Goddamn it…." He groaned, trying to overcome or at the very least resist the pain as much as he possibly could and remain conscious. "IT FUCKING HURT!!!"

As the pain intensified, it felt like his very soul was being ripped apart, a sensation so agonizing that Victor thought he might scream. But no sound escaped his lips, only a silent scream in his mind.

At that moment, a light suddenly shone brightly from within him. 

Gleam~

The brightness was so overwhelming that it shone twenty meters around Victor, yet somehow it was able to ease his pain. 

However, the "man" himself was completely unaware of the situation that was happening. Before Victor could notice it, the light quickly yet gradually died down, while Victor's expression had loosened up a bit.

After a moment, Victor soon opened his eyes, feeling a little relief that the pain finally receded to a tolerable level after him blinking a few times, trying to adjust to the darkness while groaning, "Oh...that was fucking crazy." 

"What the hell was that?" He quickly checked every corner of himself, and even waited a moment, tense, anticipating the return of the excruciating pain. But when he understood it didn't come after a while and everything was fine, he sighed in relief and then let out a shaky breath, "Holy hell."

"That was…." Victor muttered, closing his eyes tightly, trying to shake off the lingering terror. "Absolutely insane."

"I-I've felt many kinds of pain before," he then said, his voice trembling as his mind drifted back to his days as a gangster. Victor had endured beatings, stabbings, and even a few near-death experiences. But none of those had compared to what he had just experienced, "It was like… my soul was being ripped inside out." 

"Anyhow, what can I do right now?" Victor muttered, his voice echoing in the silent void. He looked around, his gaze sweeping across the endless blackness. "I can't exactly read a book or watch TV, can I?"

He paused, as a thought occurred to him. "Wait a minute... can I even move at all?"

At first, he felt a bit hesitant. After all, from what Victor understood earlier, he had no working limbs or even a physical body, so how could he possibly move? 

But his curiosity won out, and with a hesitant sigh, he focused his thoughts and willed his legs to move. "Holy shit…"

To his astonishment, he felt himself drifting forward, propelled by an unseen force. It was a strange sensation, like floating on air, but without the physical sensation of air.

"Whoa, that's... weird," he muttered, his voice filled with awe and confusion. He continued experimenting, like moving his arms, legs, and even his head. Each movement was effortless, yet somehow felt real.

"This definitely gonna take me some time to master but at least, it's going to be fun."

As he was doing a couple of manoeuvres while moving through the void, he couldn't help but notice that his breathing was laboured, his heart pounding. To him, it was as if his body was still there and reacting normally despite being far more intense than normal.

"That's so strange," he thought, "It's obvious that I don't have a physical body anymore, so why am I feeling these sensations?"

To Be Continued