A River beyond the Hill
Waves of milky water lap at his feet, bones, and jewels scattered across the bottom of the river. A horizon lies beyond the river, to infinity, and goes in forever. Blood-red poppies bloom at the river's shore, a sweet scent permeating the air making the little crow standing at the shore a little drowsy.
Inhaling deeply, the crow swam across the river of forgetfulness and embraced a new life. Moment by moment, he is forgetting, whether it's a memory or a feeling. An attachment to his old identity is soon forgotten, and when he swims, he will be reborn at long last into the paradise he was told about ever since he was young.
The end to the little crow's story has concluded, and with that ending a fresh start in a new world.
Shisui had been having a horrible day so far.
He stayed up all night writing chapter 413 of his story and then woke up at 10:00 AM.
He then remembered the fact that he had a date planned out today and that said date starts at 12:00 PM, which means he overslept- a lot.
Because of how difficult the traffic was in San Francisco, he decided to abandon the idea of using a car to get to the mall altogether and walked there.
Walking through the crowded streets of San Francisco that smell of weed is an excellent way to start your morning. Ignoring the people begging him for money with signs that say "God Bless", like they couldn't afford to write another word on the cardboard.
(Not trying to be offensive but why not add the simple word of “you” after “God bless” his writer senses are going haywire for that single word.)
After finally arriving at the mall, he searched his pocket for his wallet and had the realization that amidst the rush he was in preparing for the date; he left that at home too.
So he had to walk all the way back home to retrieve the wallet and walk to the mall for a second time. Now he’s wearing a smile as fake as plastic to cover up how pissed off he was at the universe and god today.
Stirring his matcha latte, sitting on a bird poop-covered cafe bench. He waited for his date to arrive.
"God, could this day get any worse?" Shisui thought, knowing that this wasn't the worst he had to endure and that he should be grateful that none of his friends had died yet.
(To answer his rhetorical question, yes, the day could get worse, but Shisui didn’t know that yet.)
To pass the time, Shisui decided to take out his phone and began checking up on the statistics of his newest chapter.
Only one person other than himself has read it and there’s only one comment from the one other reader.
Not to complain about his loyal reader Neal, but was the Wattpad algorithm that bad, that nobody else ever even chanced upon his book, which was probably better than the badly written ABO is still on top of the chart for Supernatural.
[ My beloved reader (Neal) Sry gonna be late]
Seeing a notification banner pop up while scrolling through a light novel he was reading, he went to go check on his text app.
In a matter of seconds, 3 more text messages popped up after the first one.
My beloved reader (Neal)
Mon, Jun 24 at 11:33 AM
Sry , gonna be late
Mon, Jun 24 at 11:33 AM
Traffic really bad
Mon, Jun 24 at 11:34 AM
Gonna take at least another half an hour
Mon, Jun 24 at 11:35 AM
Same meetiop right?
...
"Well, that sucks," Shisui thought with the new information, knowing that 30 minutes in San Francisco traffic is likely going to translate into one and a half hours.
"Maybe I should go window-shopping for a bit." Shisui thought as he exited the Mall's food court and went up the escalator, admiring the technology of this world while watching the people on the first floor gradually become smaller like ants on a marble dollhouse.
There was a Movie Theater and some more high-end fashion shops which he explored for a bit before getting bored and moving on.
Checking his phone, he found out it was already 11: 52, which means the designated time for his and Neal’s date was about to arrive.
Going back to the bakery, he bought his Matcha-Latte at, he looked at the menu, deciding whether or not to get something else. Which is probably not good since he planned on taking Neal out to a fancy restaurant reservation for lunch.
(Shisui still can’t get used to how peaceful and boring this life was. Not when his previous life was as a magical child soldier who killed people for a living. The fact that he had time to be bored was a shock in it itself.)
Ding dong Ding dong
The ringing of the grandfather clock, the centerpiece of the mall, alerted Shisui that it was 12 o’clock now.
It was also the time when the first scenario started in America.
The free service of planetary system 8612 has been terminated.
Channel So-1120 has been opened.
The constellations have entered.
The world goes silent, a moment in time forever remembered. The calm before the storm
The main scenario has started.
Soon after the message appeared, the world around him erupted in a cacophony of endless noise.
He can faintly make out the sound of a monster's roar in the distance. Something that wasn't supposed to exist.
( It all goes downhill from there.)