A Shopkeeper's Multiverse Chapter 1: Wasted Life (Patreon)

'*Sigh*, maaaan, this sucks.'

He could only sigh internally, sighing for real would hurt far, far too much.

He knew he would die one day or another, he never feared the concept of his own mortality. He knew one day he would breathe his last. Everyone does and he was no exception.

After all, he had witnessed death many times before his eyes. The concept certainly wasn't a stranger to him.

But even then he couldn't help but lament at the shitty way in which his very life was slipping out of his hands.

He wanted to chuckle wryly but he couldn't even muster that.

'I know life seldom has a grandiose end but really? I really couldn't have gotten anything better?'

He certainly did not expect to die from old age or anything but he would've liked to go out with at least a car crash or something.

*Record Scratch* *Freeze Frame* Yep, That's Me, you are probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.

It was quite simple really.

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Inside a small and quite empty apartment, an attractive young-ish man woke up, not even needing a single alarm. He simply woke up thanks to his internal clock, taking off his cover he got up from the bed.

Now that he had sat up it had revealed his large frame, he was quite tall, reaching 6'2(188 in cm like god intended) even through his oversized long sleeve black shirt it could be gathered that he was quite muscular also, he had broad shoulders and although he wasn't too big in terms of muscle like a bodybuilder that was because of his compact lean physique.

Why he slept fully clothed in summer was a mystery.

He moved to the bathroom after putting on his slippers. His apartment wasn't impressive, borderline deppressive. The walls were a dull grey, random stuff was scattered around, at least there were some pieces of merchandise to show a bit of personality.

A poster of one piece here, a few figurines of other characters there. He didn't really think too much when buying them, the store he passed by sometimes had figurines that caught his eye so he bought them, the money wasn't a real issue for him.

He liked watching anime and reading manga and novels quite a lot. One of his only hobbies really. So he saw no problems with indulging a bit with it.

He reached his bathroom and opened the faucet before washing his face with the freezing water that trickled down.

From his reflection in the mirror, it could be seen that he had dirty blond hair that reached slightly below his neck and it was paired with a pair of intimidating dull blue eyes with dark bags underneath them.

After having washed his face he tied up his hair in a simple short ponytail so that it did not get in the way and headed out to grab coffee and breakfast like he always did.

As he walked down to his local bakery he garnered quite a lot of attention as the people who saw him avoided him, either because of his intimidating presence or because they saw that the others avoided him because of his intimidating appearance.

A normal person would perhaps be demoralized by this, maybe annoyed, maybe saddened, maybe they would try to change their style to be more approachable.

But he had stopped caring about such things long long ago.

It was a normal day. Well, as normal as any other anyway.

He frequented this bakery quite often. They had a very good and affordable coffee and sandwich combo which was his usual breakfast.

Plus the shop clerk was pretty cute around 20ish. She was one of the few people who did not treat him like a... Asshole.

While being treated like that did not bother him much it was a nice change of pace to be treated like a human for once.

After entering the small bakery he waited for the girl fo fetch his order while making idle conversation with the girl, She was quite timid and kept stuttering but he didn't mind, some people were just naturally shy.

He thought about maybe flirting with her but decided against it. He was lucky enough with her talking to him as shy as she was already, no need to push his luck.

After getting his sandwich and coffee he exited the bakery and the moment he did his eyes locked onto some people in the distance. Giving him a mild headache out of sheer annoyance.

3 men dressed in black suits stared him down in a way that he assumed they thought was intimidating. The true manifestations of a pain in the asshole. At this point, he was already used to dealing with such punks.

They are all bark and no bite.

Well, while they were annoying to deal with they weren't a major problem in his life, simply a stern glare and starting to walk in their direction made them scamper off like the little scampers they were.

Why they would bother bothering him when they would flee at the slightest inconvenience he did not know. Though it did bother him that they knew the bakery he frequented.

Ignoring the incident he sat down and enjoyed his sandwich and coffee without being harassed again. Being able to quietly eat his sandwich in the park was one of the only things he looked forward to.

Having finished his meal he threw the trash left behind in the dumpster before walking back to his apartment to finish the latest show he had started.

But just as he arrived in front of his door he saw something unexpected.

'What's this?'

A cardboard box was sitting in front of his apartment door. Then his brain snapped back to the shirts he ordered last, they had certainly come early.  Unlocking his apartment door he took the cardboard box inside, closing the door behind him with his foot before pulling out his pocket knife and cutting apart the tape and opening the cardboard box.

*click!*

His eyes widened as he saw the inside of the box as he heard the noise of something snapping. Multiple iron pipes covered in wires and nails.

*Booom!!!*

He barely managed to cover his face in time before the bomb made a deafening sound and he was thrown against the wall as intense pain assaulted him.

Pieces of iron and nails put holes in his body, breaking some bones and giving his lungs a few more holes to breathe through. It hurt so bad but he could do nothing but grit his teeth.

He was going to die, he knew it, it had put way too many holes in him, shrapnel dug further into his organs with every movement, he could feel pieces of metal dancing inside his lungs. Warmth flowed out of his body as blood leaked steadily through the dozens of entry points.

And that was where we had left off.

He knew he would be left a cold corpse soon when his lungs and heart decided to send in their resignation letters. But before his life could leave his body he decided to rummage through his pockets while his lungs still worked enough.

Finding what he wanted he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and pulled out a single one with shaking hands before lighting it up and putting it between his lips before taking a deep breath.

*cough* *cough*

It was insanely painful and the nicotine invading his lungs did not help one bit. To begin with, he never liked Nicotine or smoking, but he just did it for a reason even he did not know. At least the familiar gesture helped give some grim comfort to him.

He knew there was no heaven out there for him. That would be letting him off too easily.

Well, whatever afterlife existed out there for him he accepted it. Even if the big man decided to spit on his face one last time before kicking him down to the boiler room he could accept that.

His lungs gave out. His heartbeats were slowing down. At this moment his last thoughts surfaced in his mind.

'I really wasted my life didn't I?' A wry smile was left on his lips.

'I wonder...'

'I wonder what would happen if I had another chance?'

With those last words in his mind, he breathed his last.

The world around him had finally faded to a silent black.

A/N: What did you think about this prologue? I would really like to hear your thoughts about it.