Fate/Beyond Chapter 1: Fate Is Cruel. (Patreon)

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

Groaning the young man grabbed his alarm and shut it off as he looked at the time. Seeing that he had managed to wake up quite early for once he stretched a bit to get his bones working and rolled off his bed.

Struggling to keep himself awake the young man decided to wash his face with cold water first before doing anything that required his brain to work. He sluggishly forced himself off of the bed and slogged his way over to the bathroom.

His apartment was... mostly barren. Tiger was only a desk, a bed, a wardrobe, and a drawer inside it. But it wasn't because of neglect as his apartment was clean.

It was just depressingly empty, only a laptop could be seen on top of the desk the walls were a desolate white. Uncaring of the depressing room he eventually reached the bathroom.

He put up his hands on the sides of the sink as he peered at his reflection.

"I look like shit."

Indeed he did.

Reflected in the mirror was a young man with a shaggy mop of brow hair that reached his neck. With dull brown eyes and deep eye bags that screamed sleep is for the weak. He would have looked fairly attractive if not for how unkempt he was.

He had a lean but powerful frame, with several faint scars because of scratches. He stood at 5'10(178cm). Shaking his head to restore at least basic function he bent down and washed his face with the ice-cold water leaking from the faucet.

Feeling less like a walking corpse he made his way over to the kitchen. Once he arrived he checked the fridge but much to his chagrin there was no milk left to make cereal so he had to go to the store to buy some.

Reeling in a sigh he begrudgingly put on a white shirt and black pants as well as a hoodie jacket. Grabbing the essentials aka. phone, key, and money he headed out to buy milk.

But unfortunately for our permanently sleep deprived and grumpy, he forgot a crucial fact that was a big factor in this plan. And this problem reared its ugly head the moment he opened the door to leave the apartment building.

"Fucking rain."

He failed to realize the fact that it was raining currently due to the blackout curtains in his apartment. Outside the apartment building, it was raining heavily with winds so powerful that the rain went down at a 45-degree angle. Hell, he even saw a goddam cat get carried away by the wind and some weaker trees get snapped by it.

But seeing as he already made the effort to put on pants and a jacket/hoodie he decided to bite the dust and step outside the concrete confines of his apartment that protected him from the furious and ferocious rain outside.

The moment he stepped outside it felt like he got pelted by thousands of ice-cold drops of water. Because that was precisely what happened. Regardless, he needed that milk. So with determination and resolve of a father, he started his stride toward the store to acquire milk.

The ice-cold rain was incredibly irritating but he decided that he could use the shower.

The winds were so powerful that he had to lean forward to not get thrown off balance by it. But he had long decided that he was getting that milk for his breakfast and dammit some wind wasn't going to stop him from it. And thankfully the store was decently close to his apartment so he reached it without much issue.

but he failed to realize a grand fault in his plan that completely ruined everything he worked towards.

The stores were closed.

And so were his hopes of cereal.

Now he had to take a walk of shame back to his apartment without milk and clothes that were soaked down to his underwear with ice-cold water. Then mournfully eat his dry cereal while contemplating his life decisions.

Hanging his head in defeat he shamefully started making his way back to his house. Cursing every single god that managed to grace his tongue on the way back. But as he did so the winds started picking up to a dangerous degree.

Unfortunately, just as he decided that it would be wise to take cover until the rain subsided to a manageable level, it seemed that the rain decided on petty revenge for his curses as it picked up a particularly heavy and large branch and launch it toward him.

Right into his family jewels that is.

The moment that branch made contact with his precious he swore he could see a picture of his distant future family fade into the void. And right after the shock and sudden precognition came the pain of a heavy branch landing light on your no-no zone that sent him to his knees.

But it seemed like the bastard Zeus wasn't satisfied yet.

Unlike the first one the moment the second pillar of light struck him everything went blank. At least he died standing.

---

Huh, the afterlife wasn't all it was hyped up to be.

Like most people I expected either the big man upstairs to meet me and then punt me down to the boiler room. Or just nothing at all, only oblivion.

But this wasn't really like that. Sure you may survive getting tagged by lightning once, but twice? No dice. I was definitely dead, unfortunately.

So this was the afterlife huh? Highly underwhelming and completely out of my expectations.

Because now, it was just me floating in the void butt ass naked surrounded by infinitely distant colorful dots of light. And this weird looking indescribable swirly looking thing of light. Not exactly something someone would expect from the afterlife. But it was alright. Though looking at the swirly twirly really made me uncomfortable.

Regardless, I didn't have a choice as I couldnt close my eyes and the whirly burly twirly hurly????????? was right in front of me. But the more I gazed into it the more intense the pain became. Until it felt like a surgeon was operating on me while I was conscious. All the while 5 men drove sledgehammers into my body.

My very being screamed, but I endured. I wasn't about to die a second time to a goddamn oversized spinning flashlight. Dammit!

Thankfully my display of endurance and willpower seemed like it gained the respect of the giant flashlight.  As the pain started dimming along with my consciousness the last thing I saw was a blurry panel floating in front of my face.

Unlike the first one the moment the second pillar of light struck him everything went blank. At least he died standing.

---

Huh, the afterlife really wasn't all it was hyped up to be.

Like most people, I expected either the big man upstairs to meet me and then punt me down to the boiler room. Or just nothing at all, only oblivion.

But this wasn't really like that. I feel somewhat alive and there is no oblivion or big man. And there was no possibility I was alive either.  Sure you may survive getting tagged by lightning once, but twice? No dice. I was definitely dead, unfortunately.

So this must be the afterlife huh? Highly underwhelming and completely out of my expectations.

Because now, it was just me floating in the void butt ass naked surrounded by infinitely distant colorful dots of light. And this weird looking indescribable swirly looking thing of light. Not exactly something someone would expect from the afterlife. But it was alright. Though looking at the swirly twirly really made me uncomfortable.

Regardless, I didn't have a choice as I couldnt close my eyes and the whirly burly twirly hurly was right in front of me. But the more I gazed into it the more intense the pain became. Until it felt like a surgeon was operating on me while I was conscious. All the while 5 men drove sledgehammers into my body. Not the most comfortable thing. To the point where I didn't know if I was in hell or not.

My very being screamed in agony, but I endured. I wasn't about to die a second time to a goddamn oversized spinning flashlight dammit! It felt like an eternity as I stared down the swirling light. But I persisted regardless.

...

Thankfully my display of endurance and willpower seemed like it gained the respect of the giant flashlight.  As the pain started dimming along with my consciousness the last thing I saw was a blurry panel floating in front of my face.

---

Darkness.

Darkness.

Keba- Darkness.

Everything was just dark. As if plunged into the void, completely devoid of any light as if someone gouged out my eyes.

Did that goddam flashlight make me blind? Wait, Im dead, I shouldn't have eyes, how can I go blind?

But until this line of thought could continue I "woke up". There were a few problems, however.

This wasn't my body and this wasn't my bed either.

"...What in the goddamn...?"