This is the story of an average anime nerd who got his greatest wish, but in a way he never imagined. After all, there is a reason for the saying "Be careful what you wish for!".
My name is Klein and until recently I was a human being living on Earth, in the United States. This is my story, the story of how I died and was summoned to another world, which was my heartfelt wish. But was the fact that I was granted this wish a blessing or a curse?
I was an only child and fell in love with anime at an early age. My love for anime led me to manga, video games and all things nerdy throughout my life. I never had a close relationship with my distant relatives, so after my parents passed away, my only real connections were with my friends who shared my love for anime.
My parents had left me a house that was almost paid for, and since I didn't need all that space to myself, I had my friends move in with me and pay my rent.
Between the rent and working part-time as a pizza delivery guy, I could pay my bills and feed myself, which was all I really needed, since every minute of my free time was spent watching anime, reading manga, or playing games.
As long as I could do those things, I was happy; it didn't matter to me that I was single most of the time or that I could barely survive, because I could always escape to another world.
Isekai, once I found it, became my absolute favorite because I never felt like I really belonged in this world and I always wished I could be summoned to another world to be a hero. I watched or read all the isekai I could find, even if I didn't really like them, the fact that they were isekai was enough for me.
I mean, I was pretty happy until the day a drunk driver ran a red light and crashed into my car while I was making a delivery. I didn't die in the accident, but the bones on the left side of my body were mostly crushed and several organs were damaged. I woke up in the hospital in immense pain even though I was taking large amounts of painkillers.
The doctors told me that I only had a few hours to live at most, in fact they were surprised that I was still alive after the amount of damage my body had sustained. The doctor asked me if I wanted anything, my first request was to stop the pain, but I was told I was already at the maximum allowable dose.
My second request was my phone so I could contact my friends, but unfortunately I had it in my left pants pocket and it was destroyed in the accident. Unfortunately, I had lost the habit of memorizing phone numbers after buying a smart phone, so I had to borrow a phone and log into Messenger to inform my friends of what happened.
My friends soon arrived at the hospital to be with me and, knowing me so well, they brought my tablet from home. Once I had my tablet and was able to read the latest manga episodes that had come out, the pain didn't bother me as much. To my doctors' surprise, I was able to endure the next few days, simply because I didn't want to die without first finding out what happened next in my favorite manga.
But alas, I was only human and on the fifth day after the accident I passed away surrounded by my friends and clutching my tablet tightly.
"Death is but a doorway to another path. Joyce Lavene."
I was sure I had closed my eyes for the last time, but I open them again, though it is hard to be sure they are open as I see nothing but darkness. I know I'm not in the hospital room, that room was never really dark with all the machine screens and flickering lights.
I feel like I'm floating in an infinite sea of darkness, what is this, I don't believe in God so I just feel a void, come on, at least let me be a ghost so I can spy on people and play pranks on my friends!
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- System message: error, no valid belief systems found!
"Huh, what was that voice, are you God, is God a computer?"
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Because you ignored the immense pain, you acquired the Resist Pain skill.
√ Resist pain
√ Level 1.
- You feel 30% less pain.
"Oh, an RPG-style skill system, cool! And these skills look very useful! Good, now I just need some kind of heroic skill or class!"
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩⟩
- Otherworldly system message: error, warning! Due to an incorrect location error, no class can be offered.
"What do you mean by incorrect location, where are you sending me, are you running on Windows or something, and how much longer am I going to keep crashing?"
It seems like I've been dropping for days! I get no response as I keep falling down the tunnel. By now I've gotten used to the feeling of falling.
Voice of an unknown girl: "No! He lied to me! My own father has betrayed me and is killing me! Anyone? Anyone? Help!
I don't want to die! I want him to die! Someone come and kill this monster that was my father! Dark Goddess Krenocia, Ruler of the Underworld, I offer you my soul if you send someone to avenge me!"
Whose voice is that? And why can I hear it here in this tunnel as if it were standing right next to me? Ow! Why is my chest suddenly burning? It feels as if someone has put a red-hot poker through me!
Wait! Is that light? It's a good thing there's a light at the end of the tunnel! It better not be me being reborn as a baby! Now I'm falling towards the light and as I get closer I can see a room, it's a big room and I see people. I feel like I'm not falling as fast as before, but I'm still falling towards the room.
I can see a dais and a throne, and is that a girl being carried? I seem to be heading towards a huge glowing circle with about fifty people standing in it. I hope I don't fall on anyone or die on impact, that would be a horrible end to an adventure that's just begun!
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩⟩
- Message from the Other World System: Final message: welcome to your new world!
Was this the beginning of the story of the hero I had always dreamed of? Or was this the beginning of a cursed story?