The sky was pitch black and shimmered with an ethereal beauty as the moon gave off a mesmerising glow. The stars twinkled with a light lustre as they illuminated the night sky and the crickets chirped happily before a groan could heard coming from a distance.
"Uuuugghh! Damn this accursed affliction"
Dressed in nothing but his sleep garments and lying flat on his bed, Kyle couldn't help but groan as he used his hand to block the light coming from his celling. He squinted his eyes as he tried to protect his eyes from the light. Perhaps realising his efforts were futile Kyle chose to ignore the pain from his eyes and instead focus on the book on his right hand. Forsaken Hero, a book he bought for cheap at some garage sale he barely remembers.
'At least this isn't that bad of a read, for a regressor novel that is. Even considering how cliché and overused the whole regressor trope is. I do have to give it credit for its world building, but seriously just how much does this author love the main character. As if it wasn't bad enough for the mc to be a regressor he just had to have a system HUH!' thought Kyle as he used his left hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.
Realising that he might just be a little bit moody because of his eyes and that reading this novel seemed to only agitate him further. Kyle decided to throw the book aside for a while and cool off. Were it not for the fact that he couldn't access the internet he wouldn't be caught dead reading this kind of crap. It was an understatement to say he didn't like the novel, he DETESTED IT. The use of regressors is but the tip of the iceberg, the novel also contained one particular element that made him abhor it. Even to this day he did not know the reason as to why he endured such torture.
BRRRAAAAMMMMM!
KRAAA-THOOOOOMM!
The sky roared as the clouds gathered and released a series of lightning bolts. Staring at the sudden thunderstorm outside his window, Kyle couldn't help but be transfixed towards the lightning shower. His eyes refused to look away from the magnificence of it all, the way the clouds condensed into one, the clear blue colour of the lightning and how it illuminated everything in its surroundings. For a moment it felt as though all his burdens had been uplifted and his eyes no longer hurt.
"Strange, I don't remember the weather forecast saying anything about a thunderstorm"
Kyle has seen thunderstorms before, but never one as enchanting as this. It felt as though his soul resonated with every release of lightning. Deciding it'd be best to pay it no mind, Kyle shook his head as he reallocated his attention towards the thunderstorm.
KKAA-BOOOOOM!
CRAACCCKK!
BOOOOOM!
"It seems to be getting clos- AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHH!"
"RRGHHAAAAAAAAAAA-GGLLUUG!"
His words were cut short as a blue, clear lightning bolt hit him directly on his bed. His skin sizzled as it was being fried to a crisp, his eyes exploded into a mash of blood and gore, and his nerves quivered as they transported the massive amount of sudden information. Before he had time to process what had happened, his brain was hit with an excruciating torrent of pain. All that could come out of his mouth was nothing but gurgled screams of pain.
He wailed internally as the pain drove him near the brink of insanity
'IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HHURTSSS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HHUURTSSS!'
And as pathetic as it seemed he even begged
'SOMEONE ANYONE PLEASE! PLEASE! IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH!'
As Kyle processed the torrent of information, his ears rung and his heart felt as though it was going to burst out of his chest. Blood started to pour out of both his mouth and ears, and he was unable to register anything other than pain. Neither his arms nor his legs could be moved as the lightning made him unable to, no matter how hard he tried. All he could do was just lie there and endure. It was an agonizing ordeal that tugged at a primal instinct hidden deep within his genetic makeup.
His desire for life was multiplied tenfold as he realised, he was on the brink of death
'NO! NO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE GOD DAMMIT!'
His desperation was palpable
'WHY! WHY! WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME! WHY AM THE ONE WHO'S GOT TO DEAL WITH THIS SHIT!'
Plagued with an unknown affliction since young. Having to endure pain that made his eyes feel as though they were in molten hell. Spending all his days in bed doing nothing but waiting for his eyes to heal. Now faced with the doors of death and having to experience a worse kind of pain than the one he felt growing up.
Kyle was absolutely livid, as he thought of all that he had gone through and was still enduring.
'DAMN THIS WORLD! DAMN IT ALL! DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!'
The excruciating pain of being fried alive and the threat of death had caused him to go insane
BUT HIS PRIDE REFUSED TO LET HIM BREAK
IT REFUSED TO ADMIT THIS AS HIS BREAKING POINT
IT REFUSED TO ADMIT DEFEAT
His pride was the only thing that had allowed him to look upon everything with a smile on his face. Thus, when faced with such gut-wrenching and bone-chilling levels of pain, that would otherwise shatter the minds of any grown man and leave them bawling in a pool of their own urine, Kyle did what any prideful man would've done in his situation. Using his insanity, he converted all his pain, past trauma, fear for death and despair into overwhelming anger towards this world and his shitty luck.
It was a coping mechanism born out of a desperate need to salvage the last remains of his minuscule pride, but he didn't care. To Kyle pride was more than just a feeling of immense pleasure and satisfaction or excessive self-importance and arrogance.
It was his everything
It was his entire identity
And while he would be able to come to terms with the fact that were it not for the lightning keeping his body in a perpetual state of paralysis, he would've long soaked his pants with urine. He refused to accept the fact that this was his breaking point.
That's why, as he could feel his consciousness fading, he struggled desperately to open his mouth and deliver one final message. Yet try as he might he couldn't even move a single muscle. The lightning refused to relinquish ownership of his body, but through some kind of miracle or happenstance of fate he managed to force his mouth open.
His teeth had long since lost their white lustre and were instead a mix of brown/black. Deep fractures had dominated most of the space on his teeth. Sparks of lightning gallivanted around his mouth, and his mucosa was covered in large tears that had blood oozing out of them. His tongue had been completely charred and dyed red with blood.
His mouth quivered as he forced it to take on the shape of a word, and as he was about to say a word he suddenly stopped.
His mouth no longer quivered and his body started to disintegrate from the head down.
In an instant his body disappeared completely, not even a single blood cell remained, and as soon as his body disappeared so did the lightning.