The sound of a bored sigh was heard as a 39 year old man made his way down the dark, grey streets that defined the suburbs of any modern city. Dreary, washed out. Boring in general really.
Yet, for him, it had been the outlook that he had found to be all too common for him nowadays.
With his hands in his pocket, he tried to fill the empty air with some silent self-commentary. "So this is what my life has come to, eh? Fuck this."
He silently chuckled to himself as he pondered his situation. He had no real right to complain.
He was by no means poor, not to mention his job was anything but boring for a normal person. NASA was at least a job location he was able to make people feel impressed by. But yet…at the end of the day he couldn't help but feel empty about it.
Yeah, it was impressive but at the end of the day, was it really any different from a 9 to 5 for him.
Just like any other corporate slave he would go to work, get his shit done, walk out and go home. The content might have been different, but at the end his day would come out to be just as empty. Was this really what his life had come to?
He felt like a bastard for grumbling about this. It was his choices that led up to this after all. Had he set his mind on something else, he could have achieved it no problem. "That I can confirm."
He arrogantly proclaimed his ability to pull off any job he wanted as naturally as he breathed.
He continued, "But then again, even if I had ended up as something like a movie star or major novelist, I probably would have been just as bored." After all, modern boredom didn't come from the job itself, it came from repeated monotony.
It was something he was hyper aware of. Which in and of itself, was a curse. Even the life of a celebrity with all the glamour and fame ultimately fell in line with the societal need to have a set structure. Boring. It was all so boring to him.
His thought process cut off as he got a message from his phone. "That's odd." It was 1 AM. Not exactly the ideal time to get a text message.
He pulled his phone out and read the name. Little Gremlin. "Time and place, idiot."
He opened the message and got to work.
Big brother are you bored right now
What? None of your business.
I just want to know tell me!!!!
Use punctuation right. You look like an idiot.
Why do you want to know anyway?
I don't know. I just got this feeling, you know?
What the fuck do you mean, feeling?
You're having a weird sad monologue again
"Your punctuation only lasted one message, gremlin." He muttered to himself. He sighed.
Look, it's not like that okay? Ask Arielle if you think you're wrong. She can read me well enough.
It's not that you're sad you're bored right
Okay, at this point you're doing it on purpose.
…
No.
I'm leaving.
:(
He looked at the message with a bored look.
:( :(
He silently stared at the message, annoyed.
:( :( :(
Okay, fine.
Look, I'm fine, okay? If something was happening, I would tell you. I'll always be here, okay?
I knew you would cave
Fucking gremlin.
He watched as she left one last message telling him to take care of himself before pocketing his phone. He sighed, "You don't have to worry about me." He looked up at the sky, "I did that for you." His face hardened as he made his way down the street. "Whatever consequences came, were my choice."
He sighed to himself one last time before putting his hands in his pockets. Walking down the street, he took a look at his left. "If I take the alleyway, I should get home earlier." He shrugged.
He turned, silently muttering, "It's not like I couldn't fight off a mugger or two."
As his footsteps filled the silent air with soft clicking sounds, he looked around. The alleyway was not very well taken care of, being covered in a noticeable amount of grime, enough to cover certain areas completely. Looking down, he could also see the occasional cockroach as well as the little bits of rotting matter that they were feasting on.
"Ugh." That was the one thing that would make him regret walking down this alleyway.
Making quick work of the shortcut, he exited out the other end and stopped at the sidewalk. Looking both ways, he stepped off it and made his way to the other sidewalk across the street.
Then suddenly, his eyes widened. Turning quickly to his right, he saw a massive truck barreling down the street. "Shit!" Jumping out of the way as fast as he could, he felt as his ankle collided full force with the truck, twisting his body midair and making him land shoulder first on the ground.
"Ack!" Rolling to his back, he looked up as he watched the truck leave his eyesight.
"Son of a…" He stopped halfway through his curse as a massive wave of pain shot up his leg. "Fuck!" He looked down at his leg.
Apparently the force of the truck was enough to shatter his ankle, because it was now gushing blood. Biting his lip, he reached for his phone.
"Wha?" It wasn't there. Looking around, he looked at his phone, face down next to him. Picking it up, he immediately noticed how broken it was now. "Please." He hit the power button. No luck.
"Damn." He looked around. There was no way anyone was awake at this time of night.
His house was around the corner though. "Shit." Grabbing on the decorative designs on the wall next to him, he pulled himself up and balanced himself on his good leg. "Fuck that hurts!"
His breathing grew heavy. "I can make it."
He had a spare phone at home. All he needed was to limp a few hundred meters. "Let's move."
15 agonizing minutes passed as he limped across the corner and onto his front porch. "At least my key won't break." Pulling it out and unlocking the door, he tried to step in. "Almost…"
He stepped forward…only to slip on a half empty water bottle. "…there." He got that last word off right before the back of his head collided with the ground. Almost immediately he felt it.
It was a warm, wet sensation characteristic of one fluid. Blood. "Fuck, this can't be how I die."
He had already gone woozy from his foot's bleeding. He couldn't afford another wound. He felt it almost immediately. The slow, dizzy feeling of his life running out. Trying to fight, he felt as his limbs tried to push him up. Or was he imagining it?
He couldn't tell anymore. His mind was too unclear and his eyes were too blurry.
How will I…no. I can't. Not yet. I…
It was too late. Seconds later, he lost consciousness from blood loss. Then less than a minute later, his heart stopped beating.
He felt as his consciousness was silently pulled away from himself and entered some sort of vortex. Not that he could tell at this point.
Not only was it dark, but he was at this point, barely conscious. But it was in this vortex that he heard it. A strange disembodied voice.
{World Notice- Entity ?!?!?!? has died. Processing soul…Error. Error. Error.}
A flash of light shone in the vortex of energy.
{Error…Error…Error…
Deus Notice- Deus Canon has been asserted. Free alteration has been activated.
World Notice- Success. Entity ?!?!?!? has successfully entered the reincarnation cycle.
Deus Notice- Entity ?!?!?!? has asserted narrative hold. Narrative of the main character, Rimuru Tempest has been altered. Entity ?!?!?!? has hijacked the AIF Narrative, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Notice, narrative ?!?!?!? has fused with narrative, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime!
Deus Notice- Narrative ?!?! ?!?!? has been created. Main Character ?!?!?!? has linked to Main Character Rimuru Tempest.
World Notice- Entity ?!?!?!? has had its race set to slime. Entity ?!?!?!? has obtained Intrinsic Skills [Absorb], [Dissolve] and [Self Regeneration].
World Notice- Entity ?!?!?!? has received Unique Skills [Genius] and [Soul Link].
Deus Notice- Entity ?!?!?!? has taken Unique Skills [Predator] and [Great Sage].
World Notice- Entity ?!?!?!? has combined Intrinsic Skills [Absorb] and [Dissolve] with Unique Skill [Predator]. Entity ?!?!?!? has obtained Resistances Temperature Fluctuation Resistance EX, Pain Resistance and Physical Attack Resistance.
Deus Notice- Entity ?!?!?!? has obtained Intrinsic Resistances Spiritual Attack Immunity and Mind Domination Immunity.
Error…Error…Error…
Deus Notice- Deus Canon has been revoked. Narrative ?!?! ?!?!? has been established. Narrative ?!?! ?!?!? has been set to start.}
What? What was that? The man asked as he tried to move. Wait…I can't…wait a minute.
He stopped as a wave of information shot through his brain. "There's no fucking way."