The Author's POV

"Gasp...Gasp...Gasp"

With bloodshot eyes, I continued going down the rope.

I don't know how long I had been down here, but I presume at least two days had passed since I started going down.

My hands which were riddled with blisters started bleeding all over the rope leaving behind a red trail during my descent. My muscles spasmed every minute making me almost lose grip of the rope on a couple of occasions.

It felt as if I had gone back to the past where I would monotonously be typing on the keyboard with no sense of purpose.

I just kept going and going and going, until my sense of time and reason left my body. Even the pain slowly subsided making it seem as if I was a robot.

Sadly like any other powered object, robots tend to run out of batteries. And that's precisely what happened to me.

My vision grew blurry and my hands slowly lost grip of the rope.

...

It seems like I have died again huh?

Oddly enough it didn't feel the same as my first death, where I only felt endless coldness and loneliness.

This time a warm sensation enveloped my body making me feel extremely comfortable. It felt as if I was back in my mother's womb under the constant nourishment and protection of my mother. It didn't feel bad.....

-Dong! -Dong! -Dong!

Suddenly I heard the loud sound of a bell tolling, causing my mind to spin and my eyes to shoot wide open.

"What just happened!"

Abruptly sitting up straight, I found my body drenched in sweat. Touching my body in a daze I noticed I was on top of a small bed with the bedsheets damp from my sweat. Looking at my hands I couldn't see any trace of the previous gruesome scene from when I was climbing down the rope.

Glancing around, I finally took notice of my surroundings. I was inside a small room with what seemed to be a Japanese tatami-style floor. The room was rather empty, and aside from a small tea table and a large ancient clock that constantly tolled in the corner of the room, there was no other furniture.

"You up kid?"

"Huh?"

Snapping my head to the right, where the voice was coming from, a middle-aged man sat next to the tea table preparing some tea. His carefree movements and his calm demeanor when preparing the tea, blended with the tranquil surroundings.

The aroma coming from the tea filled the entire room prompting me to momentarily relax. But not for long as I immediately jumped out of the bed and warily look at the stranger before me.

Jet black hair, deep black eyes, and a stern but yet kind-looking face.

"Relax kid, I'm not gonna do anything to you"

"Who are you?"

I warily asked without letting my guard down.

If not for the fact that I was sure that he was not there when I was previously checking the room, I wouldn't have been as wary as I was now.

A master

He was definitely a master beyond my level.

Only someone who was leagues above my level could suddenly appear out of thin air without me noticing.

Smacking his fist in his hand, as if he was reminded of something the stern-looking middle-aged man looked at me and spoke "Ah! that's right! I haven't introduced myself yet have I?" Lightly smiling, he extended his right hand towards my direction "A pleasure to meet you kid my name is Toshimoto Keiki"

Instantly my pupils dilated, and my mouth went slack.

"Bu-t but b-ut how? Aren't you already dead!"

My speech stuttered and my body trembled as I looked at the man before me in shock.

"Hey, kid don't be like that."

Laughing bitterly at my reaction, Grandmaster Keiki calmly put down the teapot and blew on the teacup in his hand.

"fuuu...Yes technically I could be considered to be dead but...someone intruded my home waking up the remnant soul I left behind when I passed away"

"R-remnant soul!"

Its main purpose was to split a soul and attach it to an object, allowing a person

inheriting the memories of

managed to put the two and two together and managed to recompose

"Cough...Sorry about that"

loud and said "Hahahaha no worries no worries, I had expected this kind of reaction to happen once

"Ren"

"Scuse me?"

eyebrow and looked at me

name is

rude of me, I still had not asked for your name...a pleasure to

at each other

"Please sit down"

to sit down next to the tea table, Grandmaster Keiki took the porcelain teapot and dumped the contents that were in

"Green or black?"

"ehmm...let's go with green"

lightly, Grandmaster Keiki added the tea leaves to the brewing vessel and slowly poured hot water inside of the vessel

darkening, Grandmaster Keiki let out a sad sigh and a nostalgic looked appeared on

young and foolish like you...back in my time, I lived in a country known as Japan. It was one of the most beautiful places in the world. It had tall and beautiful mountains,

up straight and paid close attention to what

his past, which I already knew, I paid my full-hearted

fictional character that I had created, that

character, and this world was no longer a novel. This was real...and the man before me was

reminiscing his past, Grandmaster Keiki let

a Kendo instructor and

out of nowhere. Massive earthquakes engulfed Japan creating tsunamis everywhere. It was total chaos as people were killed and homes were lost. The world that we once knew started to crumble. Fortunately at the time when this was happening my wife and daughter were traveling on a plane

Grandmaster Keiki clenched the teacup he was holding tightly, as his face burned

second calamity

tried to calm himself down before

the mysterious gates that appeared all over the world. At first, they didn't do anything, they just stood in the air and calmly observed us like some kind of mice inside of a lab. To this day I still remember their arrogant eyes and creepy smiles that took

trembling, Grandmaster Keiki

was supposed to be a remnant consciousness I could still vividly see the sadness and anguish hidden deep within his eyes, as crystalline tears

they deemed us

and his expression which was previously still stoic completely crumbled

wife and daughter

Keiki both a father and husband let the

and patiently waited for him to calm down. A slight tinge of pain hit my chest, as a part of me felt

his eyes, Grandmaster Keiki stood up and calmly

had to

"No, I understand"

my head and got up as

each other eye to eye for a couple of seconds, grandmaster

that my luck

shoji (Japanese style door) and walked outside the room as he gestured me to follow

"Follow me."

soon as I left the room I was left flabbergasted. An inexplicably beautiful garden stood before me.

-Tak! -Tak! -Tak!

in the middle of it appeared a large transparent pond where koi fish of multiple different sizes freely swam in it. Birds freely roamed and chirped around the cloudless blue sky, and occasionally you

around the garden the more I was

red and white slightly peeking the surface of the water almost as if they were aware

stood a small island connected

the bridge, once again my

and surrounded by gravel which was raked to resemble ripples in water, appeared in my line of

"A zen garden."

"It's nice isn't it?"

waved his hand urging me to sit down

is..." I replied as I

we both calmly stared at the zen garden before us. It was strange

I was really surprised when I

silence was grandmaster Keiki, who with a smile plastered on his face continued to look at the garden before

and rightfully so, as I made sure to hide this place from the prying

if they did find this place out of pure luck, I made sure they wouldn't

smile on his face Grandmaster Keiki glanced at me, which made me recall the traumatizing experience I had gone

I'm still being haunted by the rope to this day!' I

"Yes I remember"

so easy