¹
"What… is this place? Where… am I?"
"Am I dead? Is this… afterlife?"
Darkness enveloped him, as he drifted in a void of utter nothingness. There was no sensation of pain, sight or smell. He tried to move his body, but he couldn't feel his legs, nor his hands.
"What is happening?" He asked himself.
"Is this just a bad dream?"
"If I am dead, Is my family alright?"
Just immediately after this, a bright light emerged and everything blanked out. His senses seemed to return, He could feel his body again, it was lying on some rough surface. He was greeted with a sensation of relief, knowing that he was alive.
"Am I in a hospital?" He asked himself. But suddenly! He felt a sharp pain running throughout his body.
"Argh!"
"Did it work?" A female voice echoed in his mind.
"Seems like it." Another voice intervened.
Still confused, he slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurred as he noticed that he was lying on the floor, it was a small dull room, dimly lit with lanterns casting a flickering shadow on the walls. He tried to move his face to look at the place where he was.
It was then when he noticed three faces above. Two women and one man, their faces etched in exhaustion.
His gaze shifted on himself. Tattered black pants clung to his legs, nothing covering his upper body.
"What is this place?" He asked, his voice shaking.
They seemed to have ignored his voice as the man asked, "First, can you please tell me your name?"
"Ed… ward" In the condition he was in at that time, he could hardly talk.
"That's good, the transition doesn't seem to have any bad effects on him."
He asked another question, "So, do you remember anything about how you lost consciousness before getting here?"
Edward tried to think about it, but… all of it was blurry. He could not remember much. He tried to focus and force himself to remember.
His face was etched in confusion as he was still lying down, looking at which the man intervened, "Don't force yourself much for now. Your condition is still not stable. Can you stand up?"
"Can I get to know where I actually am?" He asked in a weak voice.
"Edward you say? It's gonna be hard to believe but I will tell you directly." After a short pause he continued, "The world you are currently in, is not yours."
"You have been summoned, from your world, to this one. It is hard to believe but it's the truth. The proof is that your body itself has changed." The woman in his right, added.
"What?" I was in shock, in disbelief. "Is this all a joke? Are they all jokers?"
²
Some time ago…
"What a pleasant breeze..." Sighing, Edward whispered to himself, releasing his accumulated stress and tiredness from weeks of hard work that he had been doing.
Standing at the edge of the deck he leaned over the ship's railing, as he embraced the peace and silence offered by the endless expanse of the vast blue sea.
Amidst this beautiful moment, free from the weight of responsibilities, a voice from a distance called out, breaking his thoughts.
"Hey Ed, help me with the boxes."
If one were to see him, they'd encounter a middle-heighted man with a decent height. A slender figure with short, brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and dark, piercing eyes that sharply contrasted with my seemingly fair complexion, with a long chin.
"Yeah… coming in a moment," He responded, diverting his attention back to the scene.
The one who called him was one of his crew members, Harry. They were currently a part of a ship's crew, working in transporting goods and materials to our country.
There wasn't much stuff on board, just a few large boxes. Which they were keeping inside due to an arriving small storm. Only seven people, including him, were on board.
"Complete your work and get inside soon." Harry shouted as he waved his hand walking towards the door to go inside.
It was a small storm not a big deal, but still, they had to make sure to bring all the important stuff inside for safety.
"Oh yeah… it has started to look like it," He mumbled to himself, acknowledging the subtle signs of the coming storm.
And... Well, he literally messed up and rushed inside because his brain was on a vacation.
He entered one of the rooms in the ship and discovered that five of them had gathered in one room. The crew comprised three females and four males. Two of the men were in the control room, managing and we were supposed to be seated here until further orders.
As the storm began to unfold, they found themselves engaged in discussions about their lives.
"Ahh… after delivering these boxes, I will go on a long vacation and just relax," Harry spoke in a refreshing tone.
In the midst of the storm, a sudden realisation came to Edward, as if his soul momentarily left his body.
He jumped up in panic and stood frozen in place until Harry's concerned voice penetrated his ears.
"Hey bro, what's the matter?" he asked.
"The boxes…" Edward stammered, immediately being remembered about the things they had left outside.
"Ahh, shit!!" Harry exclaimed in irritation.
"I'm going out," Edward declared. He knew that he had to fix his mistake.
"Hey hey bro, calm down! The storm is small but risky. The things are the least important ones, and losing stuff during storms is common. It's not worth the risk!"
"I know it, but this was my mistake, and it's my responsibility to fix it. Running away is not an option."
"It has not been much time since we have entered this storm, we can still go out." He declared, wearing a thick safety jacket hanging behind the closed door of the room.
"If that's what you want, I'll come with you," Harry insisted, grabbing another jacket.
"There's still a risk, we'll manage, stay here." He directed the other three members.
With that, he rushed to the ship's deck. Upon opening the door, it was as he had expected, he was greeted by the ocean, completely transformed from what it was before, it was no longer calm.
The waves roared with rage, sending the ship reeling from side to side. It was challenging to even maintain balance, when standing on the floor. Even after that, he had a resolve as he moved forward.
Five grey boxes were kept there, closely held together. Each box was almost the same size, on assumption it would be barely three fourths the size of an average human body.
As he Battled against the unbalancing of the ship, he slowly and with a lot of difficulty, neared the first box.
'Woosh!!‛
A wave struck the ship, making it shudder. Barely maintaining balance, he clutched the box for stability.
Another wave forced through! But he was prepared and held the box tightly. The box was in support of a pole, which helped it to not move away with the force.
But he was not lucky with the other boxes, which had moved at random places. Posing a problem.
With some struggle, he adjusted back and began the task of pushing the box toward the door. Though not heavy, the box still gave him a challenging time in the chaos.
As he struggled with the first box, Harry, who was standing at the door, emerged to help. Wordlessly, he joined for help, pushing the box through the door. The box was almost the same width as the door, but luckily moved in.
Determined, he hurried to retrieve the remaining boxes, successfully bringing back two more.
With only two boxes remaining, one was sent sliding out even farther. When he went for the fourth box, an unexpected wave crashed over the deck, sending him sprawling.
"Argh!..., my leg" Pain emerged through his leg as he fell, it felt like his bone had cracked. Ignoring the agony, he clutched the box, attempting to rise, but another powerful wave struck.
The railing prevented a complete fall into the water, but not without a consequence, he collided with that railing and his hand bore the impact.
"Argh!!" He groaned.
Injured, the pain in his leg and hand made it difficult to move in the storm-tossed ship. He moved forward, shouting in defiance.
"Ah! This pain!"
"Hold on! I am coming to help!" Harry's voice cut through the storm.
Edward forged ahead, holding the box with his injured hand, to take support as the storm intensified. Harry reached out a helping hand, urging to hold on.
He stood at the pole, where the first box was held holding it with one hand and passing one hand towards Edward.
He extended his hand, as he tried to leave trying to grab Harry, the two of them strained themselves to bridge the gap.
The gap grew smaller.
"Just hold on a bit..."
Both of their hands almost reached each other.
"Just a bit mooooooore!!"
They had almost succeeded when the unthinkable happened...
What a cruel twist of fate...
A colossal wave surged from an unexpected direction, shattering their connection. Unable to maintain his grip and a few more waves hitting the ship, he was forcefully expelled from the ship, dropping into the waters below.
"Edwaaaaaard!!!" Harry's desperate cry echoed in the storm, the last sound that he heard before being swallowed by the infinite dark waters.
The moment he dropped into the water everything calmed down immediately.
"Did my life jacket fail? How's that possible? Have I drowned? How can the water be so calm instantly? Was I even in the storm? He asked himself.
"Did I just die instantly?"
"Is this afterlife?"