"Is he alive?"
"Someone call an ambulance!"
"There's so much blood..."
The voices floated above him like distant echoes. Bryan couldn't move. His body felt cold, but strangely, there was no pain. Just a weird floating sensation.
How did I end up here? His thoughts drifted back to just minutes ago.
---
Few minutes ago
Bryan cursed under his breath as he squeezed the empty lotion bottle.
"Just my damn luck," he muttered, tossing it into the trash while dragging his boxers up.
His small apartment was a mess, just like his life. Posters of Zandeya, his favorite idol, covered the walls. Her smile was the only thing that made his miserable days bearable.
Sighing, he grabbed his wallet and headed out to the convenience store. The night air was cool against his skin as he walked down the poorly lit street towards the store.
The store's fluorescent lights hurt his eyes as he shuffled through the aisles. He grabbed his lotion, fresh tissues and paid, avoiding eye contact with the cashier who always looked at him with judgment.
Damn him.
On his way back, he saw her, a girl with long black hair crossing the street. For a split second, his heart stopped. She looked just like his Zandeya.
Then he saw the truck.
It barreled down the road, its headlights blinding in the darkness. The driver was looking down, probably staring at his phone.
"Watch out!" Bryan screamed, panickedly as he tried to get her attention.
The girl froze in terror the moment she saw the truck.
Bryan didn't think. He dropped his bag filled with his valuable goods and ran. His body moved before his brain could catch up.
Just what am I doing?
He wondered as he pushed her hard, sending her tumbling to safety.
Then came the impact of the truck crashing into his body.
His body flew through the air like a ragdoll. Strange, how time seemed to slow down. In those endless seconds, his life flashed before his eyes.
The bullying at school.
The lonely nights.
The dead-end job.
The dreams he never chased.
Dying as a virgin.
Never talking to a girl but instead preferring the comfort of his hands and trusty lotions.
What a joke my life has been, he thought as his body hit the ground.
As his vision blurred, he saw the girl's face, as she screamed, calling for help. Up close, she looked nothing like Zandeya. What a fool he'd been.
"If I only i had power, money and authority in this life." he whispered, blood trickling from his mouth as he was filled with regret, "No one would have stepped on me the way they did."
Then the darkness swallowed him whole.
---
Pain. That was the first thing Bryan felt when he opened his eyes. Not the dull ache of broken bones, but a sharp, stinging pain of fresh wounds.
Is this the afterlife?
"Wake up, trash!"
A kick to his ribs sent him rolling on a dirt floor. This wasn't the afterlife or even the street. This seemed to be elsewhere.
Bryan blinked, confused. His body felt wrong, smaller and weaker. His hands were rough with calluses. Wait these weren't his hands.
"Look at him, still trying to get up!" a harsh voice laughed.
Bryan's vision cleared. He was in some kind of training yard. Stone buildings rose around him, and mountains loomed in the distance. Four young men stood over him, all wearing the same gray robes.
The biggest one, with a face like a bull and arms thick as tree trunks, grabbed Bryan by the collar and lifted him off the ground.
"A cripple like you dares to breathe in my presence?" the brute sneered, his breath hot on Bryan's face.
Cripple? Bryan wondered as he tried to move his legs, but he moved it without problem.
What was this lunatic talking about?
"I... where am I?" Bryan croaked. His voice sounded different too, younger.
The brute's eyes widened. "Did I hit you too hard, surnamed Xiao? This is Moon Sect, where you've been sweeping floors and emptying chamber pots for the past three years of your miserable life."
Moon Sect? Chamber pots? Who is Feng?
"Bao Chen, that's enough," a softer voice called out. "Master Li will be angry if you kill another labor disciple again."
Bao Chen, the brute finally dropped Bryan like a sack of rice. "You're lucky, cripple. But stay away from my girl or I'll finish what I started."
The four disciples walked away, laughing among themselves.
Bryan lay on the ground, his mind racing. This wasn't his body. This wasn't his world. Yet somehow, he was here.
He'd died on Earth. He remembered the truck, the pain, the darkness. Now he was... somewhere else. In the body of an apparently crippled servant named Feng.
As he tried to sit up, something stirred deep inside him. A warm sensation spread through his chest, like a tiny flame coming to life.
What was this feeling? It felt like... power.
A bitter smile formed on his lips. Wasn't this what he'd wished for? Power?
"If this is my second chance," he whispered, watching Bao Chen's retreating back, "then I won't waste it."
The flame in his chest grew warmer.