[Edited]
It was going like any other fight; I was winning like usual... I was weaving in and out his defenses fluidly like Iron Mike himself, I was wearing him down with relentless punches and kicks, feints were flashing every now and then, making him doubt every single movement I made. He tried to put up a fight but it was already too late. He was already out of gas; the referee called it a TKO (Technical Knockout) and announced me the winner.
After I won, I went out to celebrate alone but some 'friends' that were probably just there to leech off of my recent victory and popularity tried to tag along.
I didn't really care; I avoided them by moving through a random alley and headed towards a bar to celebrate alone.
Not a lot of street smarts I know, moving through some sketchy alleys unarmed with all the enemies I made from my career... It was bound to happen, while I was walking, a random BMW pulled up and two men dressed in all black stepped out.
I froze.
They wore ski-masks and were armed with what looked like Assault Rifles, dayum, I knew I lived in a bad neighborhood but I didnt think it was this bad.
I ducked behind the nearest alley, bullets whizzing past the air where I used to be. I sprinted as fast as I can down the alley, I could hear the footsteps of the two men behind me as I launched myself up a rusted, metal fence.
Another volley of bullets came, two of them made contact, one pierced my leg while the other penetrated my lower back. Pain like I've never felt before shot up my body all the way to my brain, nearly paralyzing me but the adrenaline kept me going.
Seeing a random dumpster, I quickly dived behind it trying to get out of view.
I inspected my wounds while trying to keep calm, I was bleeding heaving from my lower leg and back. I knew I couldn't run; they would just follow my trail of blood and finish me off like a dying animal, my brain exploded with anger when I thought of that. I refused to go down like that
Which leaves one option...
Hearing some distant footsteps on the pavement away from my position, I waited until they got closer, and closer, and closer. Until it sounded like they were right across the dumpster I was hiding behind. I didn't hesitate.
I leaped onto the dumpster I was hiding behind dropping down on the first of the two men that I saw.
"Shit, He's here!" The gangster barely managed to utter out the warning in time before I jumped onto him like a majestic gazelle. My elevated position plus my natural weight immediately pinned him down onto the ground. I grabbed a sizeable rock that was nearby and bashed his head in, knocking him out.
All of this occurred in the span of a few seconds. The second gangster already turned around by now and was aiming his gun at me, knowing that there was nothing I could do to dodge with my bleeding leg, I raised the first man's rifle and fired back.
*Click*
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
We emptied our mags into each-other, I manage to get him in the head while he turned my uppber body into a sieve.
The last thing I could do before I died was mouth out a curse to the two men who killed me.
'Damn'
'You'
Before it all turned black.
That happened a few days ago if my track of time was correct and now, I'm here, in what appears to be space but wayyy more depressing. There was no light from distant stars, planets, or any sign of activity, just the endless void... stretching out in all directions.
A sudden bout of anger hit me, boiling up from somewhere deep inside.
Because seriously... after everything, this is what I get? After years of fighting, bleeding, clawing my way up to the top with my bare hands this black nothingness? No heaven, no afterlife, absolutely nothing.
But before I completely crashed out, I quickly caught myself, there it is again. That rage that made me commit mistakes that I wished I could wipe from my memory.
A lingering sense of shame creeped up on me, I quickly switched gears, practicing the breathing exercises my Pops taught me to control my emotions.
Even though I didn't have a corporeal body, I tried to focus on sensations other than my shame and rage. I reached out my senses, I felt...
Untethered.
Weightless.
If this is what being dead feels like, it's kind of anticlimactic.
I always thought I'd go die in the arena, but I guess this was good too. At least I brought my attackers down with me.
Heh. I guess this is what they call peace.
Still, it's funny. All the times people told me to "find inner peace," this isn't what I had in mind. I'd have preferred a cold beer on a beach, not a damn void.
I'm just… tired. Tired of running in circles, tired of breaking other people's bones just to feel alive. Tired of pretending that all the blood I spilled was for something meaningful.
Maybe that's why I'm here. Maybe the universe finally decided it's time for me to stop throwing punches at everything that moves, I definitely wouldn't blame it.
…Still, I kind of hoped there'd be more to the afterlife than floating in a cosmic screensaver. Where's the tunnel of light? The gates? The judgment? A guy with a clipboard telling me if I'm going up or down?
Guess they lost my paperwork.
Maybe this is my punishment for busting all those people's teeth in back in the land of the living.
Figures.
Wait.
What's that?
There's… light. Faint, but there. In the distance, like a star breaking through fog.
For a moment, I think I'm imagining it. But no—it's growing brighter. Closer.
It hums. Not a sound, not exactly. More like a vibration I can feel inside my head. Like someone knocking on the inside of my skull.
"Axel Thorne."
…Huh.
I didn't say that, I didn't hear it, it was just... projected to me. Like I was the one that thought of it in the first place.
"Axel Thorne. You are unmoored. Drifting between life and death."
Well, that's… comforting. Great to know I'm in limbo.
The light formed into a hand, slowly reaching out toward me.
And then the hand touches me.
White-hot pain bursts through me like I've been hit with lightning. Am I going to be be tortured eternally now? Fuck no!
The light floods me, and for a moment, I see images flash before my eyes.
A city of white stone and spires. People walking with strange armor and glowing weapons. A massive tower, reaching into the heavens. And beneath it… was darkness. Monsters roaming in massive hordes, killing these people that I saw in the dozens.
"Live again, if you desire. Seek redemption, if you dare. But know this, this world is not kind to the lost."
Redemption, huh? Heh. That's a funny word coming from something that just electrocuted my soul for a solid few minutes.
Still… the word sticks.
Redemption. Sounds pretty nice huh? Might actually have a purpose other than breaking noses and destroying dreams.
Before I can say anything, the light pulls harder, dragging me through it like a riptide.
And for the first time since my death, I feel something solid beneath me. I gasp as my recently formed body sucked in air greedily.
It takes me a second to realize where I am.
I look up. The sky is… wrong. Too bright, too blue. I looked around me; trees stretched endlessly in every direction, the air was fresh, clean, and without the impurities of mankind.
I laugh hysterically at the sheer ridiculousness of the entire situation.
Authors Note: If you guys have any suggestions or problems that I can fix with this fic, please leave some constructive criticism in a review or comment. I'm still a bit of a newbie in writing so I'll take all the advice I can get!