I don''t remembermuch after it happened. I blacked out before the ambulance arrived and only briefly regained consciousnessbefore the end. I knew my family were there, my mother and my sister, they held my hands as the machine beeped and they cried when it flatlined. I heard a doctor say something about time and then I was gone. It wasn''t the way I wanted to go, in my sleep at 150 with a fulfilling life and grandchildren surrounding me but at least my family were there at the end.


    What happened afterwards was unexpected.


    I had been an atheist before so I had been anticipating oblivion with the little conscious thought I had but when my mind grew less foggy rather than simply vanishing it was alarming. I panicked that I had been wrong and that I would now spend eternity in hell, I had always thought I''d have some strong words for god if I ever met them but when that could have actually happened I had been ready to throw myself at his mercy.


    That didn''t happen though, obviously, this would have been a very different story if it had. No, instead I found myself falling, a powerful pulling force dragged me downwards until I slammed down at enormous speed, coming to a complete stop instantaneously and yet not feeling any pain.


    I was blind and deaf for a while, I had freaked out that this would be my entire world now but thankfully that was not the case. I could suddenly sense an enormous eye right in front of me. I won''t lie it scared the life out of me, the eye must have been the size of a small microwave and it looked human. Wrinkled and a cool grey it peered at me, blinking and then suddenly it was gone.


    "Good potential but weak, not really worthy of a divine creature, Avorius send this one to Malik maybe he can use it for something. A monster or something, maybe let a mage summon it? That would be interesting, do that." The voice was old and weary but with it a power like none other I had ever experienced washed over me and it was almost enough to wipe away what was left of me.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    I felt like I was moving but that was all and then I lost consciousness.


    <hr>


    "beothachadh!"


    Again I felt the unsettling sensation of having no sight and suddenly gaining it. I was a glass orb, about 5cm in diameter and I was sat on a table full of other glass orbs. Myvision of the table was astounding, I could see the most minute imperfections, it was such remarkable clarity that I almost missed the man that was standing on the table. My extremely acute vision seemed to end at about 3 feet away from my orb but I could see normally past that.


    The man was in his mid-thirties with a face full of laughter lines, his eyes were an emerald green, his hair a deep chestnut brown. A slim nose pointed towards a pair of small lips that were pressed into a thin line, his brow furrowed in consternation. The majority of his body was hidden by a set of heavy black robes, he looked like something out of a fantasy novel. Now that I was actually given time to ponder my surroundings I began to get an inkling as to what was happening, I had read enough novels to recognise a scene like this. A summoned hero, a tale of reincarnation and growth to be the guardian of this world or something like that.


    So when the man reached out to me I thought this would be it, the start of my adventure. Then he grabbed the orb about 3 down from me and inspected it.


    "Perfect! It only took 2 tries for this stupid spell to work, I was expecting at least 4 or 5 tries before I got one." His voiced wavered with excitement. Then with a wave of his arm, I was sent flying out of the door with the other glass orbs and landed in a pile. We had been in a small hut in a large garden, it had a gentle slope down into a meandering river, it was a beautiful scene. An enormous house was perched at the top of the garden, about a hundred meters from the hut I was now sitting outside.


    I was feeling quite wronged here, the lovely garden doing little to lighten my spirits, I had just been thrown out with the rubbish! That was not how this goes, I mentally ran my hands over my face, a gesture I always did in stressful timesback when I had a body. Now, things had been fairly eventful so far, which is why I wasn''t even surprised when I started rolling off the pile. I had been a little surprised when I rolled all the way down the hill and if I had a face I would have been scowling when I slipped into the water and drifted down river. At least I floated.


    I''m now bobbing along down a stream, no idea where I''m going and this just popped up in my eyes.