In that white space, there was a chair, and a man was seated with his head down. In that white space beside Ed, he was the other one. He wore a white coat, a blue tie, and pale blue hair. The clothing was so advanced which yet to exist in this world. But the presence he exerted just from being there was no joke.
Ed took a step forward.
'It can't be…' Ed's heart trembled. His heart shuddered with each step.
The white hollow realm space, where he was? Nothing occurred to him, his gaze stuck on the single object that the man sitting in the chair had his head down. But from afar, Ed could tell he knew him; knew him more than anyone in his life.
- - -Ed Orves Pov- - -
It can't be pls be its just my hallucination, nothing else! I prayed with everything I had.
"Pls God, …be it someone else." Yes i prayed. I prayed even though I wasn't a believer yet. In that moment of my life, I called out to god, the being people sacrificed a lot. What about me? Neither in my life on earth nor in this have I ever done a deed belonging to a religion. I was selfish then, why? Why was I so desperate for this? Why did my voice sound like I had given up on life itself?
I was now just before that figure. I was about to speak, but I hesitated. Who could blame me because on a closer look, my all prayer, devotion, on the single plead shattered as if God was mocking me. Mocking me for not being a devotee. Because the figure who was seated was me. Not exactly me, but Kael…the same Kael who had died and reincarnated as Ed Orves, yes, that's me.
Before I came to the world, that was the outfit I wore, how could I forget this was the very outfit my mother gifted, and on the same day I died.
"Kael, you're here at last…No, you should be Ed. Ed Orves" The figure lifted his head and met my gaze. What kind of expression did I wore i don't know. The only thing I knew was that my heart was in a lot of pain; pain I had never felt before, it was unbearable.
"Who are…you?" I asked the obvious
He stood and stared at me dead in the eye, opened his mouth, and spoke.
"I'm you, Ed…You're me, but at the same time you're not." He said
"What do you mean?" I asked confusion visible on my face.
"Ed You have to make a choice," My other self said as he began to stride in that white space dimension.
"What do you mean? What kind of choice? Where is this place?" I had become somewhat stable compared to before, yet that pain still lingered there. I followed behind him as I barraged him with my questions.
"The first question can wait," He said and turned his head back slightly and paused mid-stride, then continued. "This place is our life, Ed. Your and mine linking us together, letting this interaction between us happen, which normally is impossible." He said with every word he spoke, more questions surfaced then answer themselves.
"We have no time, we can do this another time, when the conditions are met," He said, and out of nowhere Two gates materialized. On the left side, it was a normal wooden door; compared to a normal size, it was ten times larger. On the right side, there was a crimson door, carved with some strange symbols, which represented the same symbol that Ed first used his 'Blood Torment'.
"Flick." He flicked his hands together, and a table and two chairs appeared out of nowhere. Ed from Earth sat in front while I took the other chair and sat face to face with him.
"If you choose the left door, it'll be a normal life, but you'll lack the power to protect things you care about," Kael said, his expression unreadable.
"But if you choose the right door. You'll become strong and protect, but you'll never know peace. You'll gain the system's actual power, the true power of the soul."
"But I beg you, please don't choose the right one, I want you to live a normal life, please, whatever happens, please don't choose the right one. Please go through the left!!!" Kael was desperate, tears were falling from his eyes he really wanted to save me.
I placed both my hands on his shoulder as I stood up and said.
"You can't tell me what's inside the right door, right?" I asked
"You're correct, Ed, I can't. I don't have the authority. I'm bound by the system's chain." Kael's expression darkened
- - -
Ed understood whatever waited in the right door was anything but ordinary. Back on Earth, he was a shut-in; he never knew joy. When he was sever his father left the world, leaving him and his mother alone. But his mother couldn't handle the family, and she remarried and brought another man home. Soon she bore that man's child, and Ed was like a shadow that time. He didn't have any talent, skills, academics, or anything to avoid constantly failing in college. He was expelled, and that opportunity gave that man an excuse to drive Ed out. Before leaving his mother had given him the last bit of money and the clothes now the other version of him now wore. Soon after that, he died in a car accident and transmigrated.
To tell him to continue his earth life by going through the left one was telling him to relieve those nightmares. Which Ed didn't want.
"Kael, you're me, and I'm you. You know my decision," Ed repeated the same phrase Kael used
"My life was never one of peace, never compared to this; that one is hell, " Ed said as he smiled and headed for the right door with the crimson one.
"You don't understand, the path you're choosing is one of nightmare not hell. One filled with Blood and torment," Kael said with a trembling voice.
On the other side, Ed entered. This Decision was one of the turning points in Ed's life, and it'll change everything, and there is no return…