Chapter 2 Returned

— 10 years later —

Under the starless night sky, even the light from the moon area was hidden behind the thick dark cloud roaming over the land. The only light that was shone on earth is the artificial light from the neon light from many buildings. The sound of bugs and animals was strangely silent, only the sound of wind passing through the trees can be heard, all of this is the same as the night of misery ten years ago.

In a large eastern shrine built with fine wood, Within the roof of the main shrine building in the center of the main shrine, a white stone pillar slowly turned black at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.

The white pillar that was now entirely blackened started to emit many cracking sounds, and the crack began to spread from the bottom of the pillar that was underground.

Crack... Crack... Crack….

The crack spreads throughout an entire pillar before it starts to crumble from the top down and turn into black dust piling around the dark hole where the pillar once was.

Then, the dark smoke-like substances leaked out from the underground through the hole where the pillar used to be without anyone knowing.

The dark substance lingered in place for some time as if it was waiting for something. As time passed, the leaking stopped and the mass of dark smoke-like substance floated out of the shrine toward the dark sky and flew to the town nearby.

…

Within the comfortable embrace of darkness, a spark of consciousness began to take root as the feeling around his body slowly returned to him after a long absence of consciousness.

Slowly, his eyes begin to register the light piercing into his eyes… It was the morning sunlight that was beginning to grow hot as it had already passed 8 AM.

"Cough! cough cough!" The first voice that came out of him was the coughing sound as he remembered the last memories of the sad and regretful face of his former girlfriend.

The man slowly got up and looked around trying to see where he was currently at.

He was sitting on the bed made by piling a few cardboard boxes. Above his head was the corrugated iron roof that also has a big hole where the hot sunlight can pass through and woke him up, its height was also not that great. He thought that if he were to fully stand up, his head would have hit it. It appeared to be he was sleeping in a small shack built from recycling material one could easily find in the garbage.

"Oh! You've woken up? young man! How are you feeling?" A rough voice of an old man sounded out bringing his attention toward the entrance of this little shack.

A caucasian old man looks to be in his late 50, his black long messy hair at the length of his shoulder has some white hair lock, and his beard and mustache fully cover his mouth but his eyes only display his sincerity and good-natured as if he was looking at a good old grandpa during his childhood. The old man's cloth is quite old but was still well maintained even with some of the patched-up work on the cloth was clear to see.

"I'm ok, thank you very much, but how am I here? Where am I?" The young man asks in confusion.

"You didn't remember anything?" The old man asks with a worried look as the young man shook his head indicating that he didn't remember anything.

No, he did remember but what he did remember was a nightmare where he lost his life and was betrayed by the one he loved and trusted the most. Otherwise, why would he still be alive?

Seeing that the young man suddenly went silent as if trying to recall something. The old man decided to speak what he knew.

"I don't know what happened to you lad but, I found you lying unconscious in the alley while naked."

Hearing what the old man told him, the young man's interest was piqued.

"Me? unconscious? naked?" He repeated.

"Yeah… also…" The old man looked down at his shirt pocket, picked up a card that was kept there then gave it to him.

"Here, I found it in your hand, You firmly hold it and don't seem to want to let it go. I don't know what it is but it should be important to you." The old man said and placed that card into his hand.

The young man picked the card up to see what it was, and he saw that it was a prototype card he kept in his shirt pocket the day he died… no it should be a nightmare.

[Is it actually a nightmare?] The young man asked himself as doubt slowly crept up from his heart.

Card: Dilmun

Picture: -

Rarity: Legendary

Type: Unique-Location

Description: [Tap: Get 1 Non-Elemental Mana], [Get 1 Additional Elemental mana for Each Element's Location in the field (Maximum of 1 for each element).], [Pay 2 Mana and draw a card.], [Indestructible], [Eternity], [Soul bound]

Flavor text: The birthplace of the gods where the gods reside. Forever out of human reach only the soul of the virtuous could live beside the god for eternity.

The young man looked at the card that was still in prototype, this card was printed out from the printer in his apartment. There's only the outline of what he wanted it to be but the effect still needed to be tested and it didn't even have a picture as it was only just a prototype.

He touched the card and found that it was made of strange material that would always return to its shape no matter how he crumbs or fold it.

[This is strange…] The young man thought to himself while looking at the card.

"Are you hungry lad?" The old man asks, bringing the young man's attention to him.

"Oh! What are my manners" The young man suddenly thought of something and awkwardly smiled and quickly put the prototype card into his shirt pocket.

"I'm Daniel, Daniel Blake. You can call me Dan er… Mr." Daniel extended his hand toward the old man with a smile.

"Murphy, Just Murphy. Everyone around here calls me old man Murph or just nosey old man." The old man now introduces himself and then laughs while shaking hands with Daniel.

Old man Murphy brings Daniel out of the shack and points toward a certain direction where there is a water tap that was connected to the building in the alley and a small mirror glued at the wall above it.

"Go and wash up first, I'll bring the food over." Said the old man before he walked in another direction where a street food cart selling grilled meat on a stick was.

Daniel walked toward the water tap and washed up his face before looking at the mirror in front of him.

"What!?"

What he saw nearly shocked him because the face he saw in the mirror was his face, but it was his face that got a lot older and looks to be in his mid early thirties. The last time he remembered it was when he just reached 22 a few days before the incident.

"This… this is impossible… isn't it just a nightmare?" Daniel uttered to himself in shock before going silent and trying to force his chaotic mind to calm down.

After Daniel had washed up his face, He walked toward the old man Murphy who waved his hand calling him to come forward and show a paper bag full of grilled meat.

"Here! Eat it and slowly think. Did you just get robbed or something? I could bring you to the nearest police station you know. The head police there owed me some favor, I believe that even with how shitty this society is he should give me enough face to look into your case." The old man said happily while offering the grilled meat in the paper bag.

Daniel let out a small smile. He appreciated the old man who tried to brighten up his mood while trying to comfort him in his own ways.

"It's ok, uncle Murphy. By the way, what is today's date? I completely forgot." Sanield asks.

Murphy then brings an old smartphone out of his pocket and looks at the date before answering.

"Oh… It's Friday 18th December 2033. It seems you somehow got hit in the head. Otherwise, you wouldn't forget this day." The old man said with a smile.

"What? What day is it today?" Daniel asks in confusion.

Old man Murphy stopped and looked into Daniel's eyes and saw genuine confusion within the young man's eyes.

"You really have no clue, haven't you?" The old man then shows his smartphone to Daniel.

"Here, It's better for you to look at it yourself." The old man gives his phone to Daniel, showing a webpage of the government reporting a very important event.

It shows the details of the Ascension ceremony of crown prince Victor Justius who would ascend to the throne today.

"What!?" Daniel uttered out of shock and stopped staring at the smartphone screen in disbelief.

Now… It was clear that somehow, He died and 10 years had passed and somehow he got resurrected and was returned to life.

He doesn't know why, or how, or has some powerful being decided to give him a second chance.

But… He'll use this chance to try to live his life in whatever way he sees fit as he didn't know when his life would come to an end even tomorrow maybe his life would vanish as whatever held his life or has resurrected him suddenly lost its power, or if it was the higher being who gave back his life has suddenly lost interest.

He wouldn't have any regrets when he breathed his last.

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ As for taking revenge against Victor… let's see what option he has on hand after he has regained all of his assets and wealth.

Now… He needed to gather all of his wealth and get all of his assets returned to him then, he would try to think about how to proceed next.

"Uncle Murphy, Now I know what to do. Thank you for helping me. I'll definitely repay you." Daniel said toward Murphy and returned the smartphone to him.

Murphy looked into Daniel's eyes and knew that he had regained his wits and decided to do whatever he decided to do. He put his hand into the pocket of his pants and brought out two bills with 100 Tessia coins each.

"Take it, lad, I don't know what has happened to you but… Don't lose hope, and if you were to encounter a setback and don't have anywhere else to go. Remember that my little shack will welcome you." Murphy seriously said and put his two bills of 100 Tessia coins into the young man's hand.

"Uncle Murphy…" Daniel uttered as he didn't know what to feel as this is the first time that he received kindness from a stranger to this degree.

"I promise! I'll definitely pay you back tenfold!" Daniel gave his promise as he kept the money in his pocket and then deeply bowed toward the old man.

"Don't mention it" The old man smiles and brushes it off while waving his hand signaling Daniel for him to go do whatever he planned to do.

Daniel smiled and picked up a few grilled meat from the paper bag and walked off toward the bus stop.