Chapter 5: A letter from God

David was not a torture expert. But people that he usually had to deal with were all trained professionals. And breaking some of those captured highly trained professionals was not a very easy task. That is why in their, agency there was a separate department made specifically for torturing.

He never learned the torturing techniques as he was more of a field agent. Then later on he took command of a secret black-ops team. So he never really got the chance to enter the seminar on advanced torturing techniques. But he did know how to convince people to open their mouths. He was not just an expert in it.

Plus the guy name Gori is a civilian. It is unethical to torture a civilian, but hell, there is no UN in this world. So David after taking the knife from the back of the bulky guy, moved towards Gori…

He then grabbed the hair of the Gori. Then he pulled him up. He then put the knife on the neck of the boy and said menacingly…

"Let's have a nice chat shall we?" David said…

***

The boy broke down as soon as David cut off one of his fingers. And then he told David everything that he needed to know. And after David got all the information he ran away from the hut.

David didn't want to die once again so he decided that it would be for the best to run away from this village. This way he would avoid dying one more time. As well as he needed someplace safe and quiet where he could digest the information that got from Gori…

It turns out that David had somehow managed to get himself trapped in the body of a 10-year-old boy. It came as a shock to him that a 6-feet-tall boy could be a 10-year-old. But Gori said that this was due to his Siberian heritage. And Siberians grow very tall and strong very fast.

According to him, Solaris came to this village about 5 years ago. He was brought here by his aunt and then was abandoned here. And when Gupalo found out about him, he recruited him into the ranks of his thugs. Gupalo recruited him as Siberians are known for their savageness as well as their fighting skills. And he thought that Solaris would become a great asset for him.

Solaris was a good fighter and he could even beat some of the adults at his age. But due to his heritage, no one liked him in the village….

About 2 days ago Solaris went to the ocean for fishing. There his boat was capsized and then he was washed ashore. Gupalo's right-hand man found him with a golden pin in his hands. And that pin was the reason that Gori and the bulky boy kill him.

Gupalo said that he wanted to give a big compensation to Solaris for the pin. That is why last night, Gori and the bulky boy came to Solaris's hut and killed him by choking him to death. They planned that they would kill Solaris and get the compensation for the golden pin from Gupalo in his stead. They plan to do this after they would cook up some story about how this golden pin was a joint property of both them and Solaris.

Like they have planned, they killed Solaris last night. But the next morning they started having second thoughts about their plan. It was because they could get caught if someone noticed the choking marks on Solaris's neck. That is why they decided that they would burn his body and the hut that Solaris lives in.

This way they would be able to cover their tracks…

***

David when heard this story he felt bad for Solaris. A boy that is not even 10-year-old has to live with this kind of bunch. But after listening to the story of Solaris, David got more curious about why the hell was he here?

He never believed in God, soul, or any other mumbo-jumbo. But currently, in his situation, he started to think that maybe all the supernatural forces are real. Because right now, the only way he could really explain the situation is by a very insane theory that he cooked up. And the worst part was that the theory he came up with was based on the mumbo-jumbo that he didn't believe in…

He didn't know much about body possession, but he had heard about souls taking control over the body of someone else. Most of his knowledge on this topic was based on Bollywood horror movies.

When he was a kid he used to watch Horror movies a lot. And most of the Horror movies used to have a similar type of story….

A long time ago, some unfortunate accident would happen. And in that unfortunate accident, some innocent soul will be killed. Then that innocent soul would turn into an evil soul and start haunting the place where it was killed in. And then many years later the protagonist will come to the place with a group of his friend and girlfriend. The ghost would kill most of the protagonist's friends and then would try to take over the body of the protagonist's girlfriend. Then protagonist will save the day with the help of a ghost expert or a priest that lives nearby the haunted place…

Unlike the movies, David's current situation was very different and confusing. If he makes peace with the fact that he is indeed a ghost and he somehow took control of the dead body, then what is he supposed to do now? He can't even remember how he was killed. And most importantly he can't understand how his ghost traveled to this alien planet?

There were a lot of questions in his mind, with no answers in sight. But David had some hope. He had the letter. As the letter came to him, he understood that maybe this letter could give him some clues about what was happening to him.

But David was afraid that maybe Gupalo would send his men after him. So David decided that first, he would find a quiet and safe place. Then he would read the letter. And then he would decide what he should do next…

***

David didn't dare to go deeper into the village. He feared that he would come across Gulapo's men again. That is why he chose the safest option that he could think of at the moment. That is why David ran towards the beach. He decided that it would be easier for him to venture out of the village by walking beside the beach rather than by going through the village.

As David ran by the beach, he started enjoying the moment. Blood was pumping through his whole body, his adrenaline levels were off the charts. He simply missed this feeling. David was a man that was born for this kind of life. A life that is full of thrill and adventure. And he lived such a life back on earth as well. But as he got older, he couldn't keep up with his adrenaline addiction. But now in this new body, he started feeling alive after a very very long time.

Soon, David made some distance between himself and the village. The beach ended after a 3-4 km jog. And as the beach ended, David also started seeing the borders of the village. As the village ended, he started seeing dense vegetation ahead of him. He then deep into the vegetation as they would provide excellent cover from the sun. He came to a stop after some time. After he made sure that no one was following him, he sat down under a tree and opened the letter that came from the portal…

Dear David,

Your confusion, anger, and frustration are valid. After all, you are now stranded in the body of a young being on a different planet. This was all done by my selfish desire. And I apologize to put you in this situation. But this world needs your help. If you don't help this world then this world with its billions of its inhabitants would die a horrible death.

While you will be forever trapped in this world for all eternity. You will die and then will come back in time over and over again. And the only way to break the cycle is by destroying 13 Broken Shards and killing 13 Marked people.

Due to some restrictions imposed on me, I cannot tell you more about the world you live in. I cannot even tell you more about where to start. But I believe that you will be able to find out more about this new world eventually.

Take Care

Yours Sincerely

GOD

P.S-> At the back of this letter are some of the essential information about the gifts that I bestowed upon you. Please have a look at it.

'The… fuck is this?' David inwardly thought.

He first thought that this situation was very strange. But after reading this letter, David realized that his situation has become more absurd than before. According to this letter, GOD sent him here. How the hell can he believe that? And since when God started writing letters in English. Because as far as he could remember, Jesus Christ use to speak Latin, if he is not wrong. This whole letter felt like a scam to him. And it also poses a big question about the power that David currently possesses…

David had made peace with the fact that he could go back in time whenever he dies. This power that he has, it is very strong. He didn't think about it at first, but after reading this letter he started questioning his power. Does this power has any limit? What happens when he dies of old age? Will keep on coming back to this time? Will he ever be able to die? Thinking about all this stuff, David started to realize why the hell that woman in the brightly lit room called this power a curse. If this is indeed the curse she was talking about at that time.

David then turned the page around to see what was written on the backside. He saw that on the backside there were a bunch of instructions…

Instructions.

1>This world is on the brink of destruction. You have to destroy the Broken Shards or by killing Marked people to extend the time you have before Armageddon hits.

2>Every time Armageddon hits, you will travel back to the hut where you started your journey.

3>You can mark a save point at any moment in time. When you will die, you will always return back to save the point that you have marked.

4>You just have to think about the word 'save point' and then after that moment whenever you will die, you will return back in time to your save point.

5>You can only have one save point at any time.

6>If Armageddon hits then your save point will be erased and you will return back to the hut that you woke up in.

7>Your inventory has an unlimited amount of space. You can story any non-living things or plants in that space.

8>Your inventory also can retain some items after you die. For eg, if you stole some money and then die, then you can retain the money that you stole before dying.

8>The ability to retain some items cannot create copies of unique items or above

9>You have the ability to see a Marked person.

10>You also have the ability to recognize broken shards as well.

It was a lot to digest…

David read the instruction two to three times before he set it aside. And after reading about his abilities, he started to think that his abilities are in a sense broken. They are very powerful. He could do anything he wants in this world and forget about the consequences of it.

If he thinks about it, then he could commit fraud, throw the money in inventory, and then commit suicide. And just like that, he has a clean slate. This ability of his could literally make him a god in some sense. Of course, this type of ability was also a curse.

Once David read a book about an immortal that roams the world in search of someone that could kill him. And by reading that book, David understood that reality, death is a gift. People portray death as something very negative. But that is not true. It is the most beautiful thing in the world. But only some people see it that way…

While sitting under the shade of the tree, David asked himself a question "now what?"

He didn't like the fact that he was being forced to do something that he don't want to do. He was grateful for a second chance in life, but still, this whole ordeal of killing and destroying felt fishy to him. After all, why should he have to do some bidding of some god? Isn't God some sort of entity that could do anything he wants? Isn't he omnipotent? Even if he wants someone to kill someone, then come down here and do it himself. Why should he do his bidding?

This God who sent him here wrote the letter how he was so apologetic and how these tasks were some kind of noble deed or something. But David knew better, this was just plain old slavery. And David didn't like that.

But for now, he was entangled in this web of slavery. He needs to formulate a plan. Otherwise, he would be stuck here with his thumbs up in his butt…