Jamie initially thought it was some kind of prank Abracadabra was playing.

After all, why would a suddenly luminous book harm him?

All he remembered was that the moment the light from the book struck him, he lost consciousness.

And when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in complete darkness.

Within that darkness, he could see a faint flicker of light forming a small outline.

The outline was... small.

It looked like a cartoon character.

’Hmm... cartoon? What is a cartoon?’ he thought in horror as he realized something was missing from him.

"This is real magic brat!" the chibi figure muttered as it began restoring Jamie’s memories.

The [Sacred Domain of Transitional Souls] had erased a significant portion of them.

As the chibi figure finished restoring his memories, Jamie began recalling his entire life.

"Am I not generous for restoring your memories?" the figure asked.

"Absolutely, sir!" Jamie replied, performing a salute with his non-existent body.

He did not notice that he no longer possessed a physical form.

Only his awareness and soul had been preserved, because of the chibi figure.

"I see... You are terrified that someone kidnapped you from your home, and perhaps even angry that, what was his name... Abracadabra? No, call him by his real name... Abraham. Yes, you think he was playing a joke?" the chibi figure said casually.

"Are you a mind reader, sir?" Jamie asked politely, though discomfort lingered in his voice.

The small figure had read his thoughts like an open book. He had not even spoken Abraham’s name aloud.

"Maybe I am," the chibi figure replied.

"But I have sad news. Unfortunately for you Jamie, you have died and believe it or not, this is real. However as a former fellow Earthling, I would like to give you an offer."

"What?!" Jamie muttered in shock.

One moment he had been reading a book, and the next he was dead. What kind of shit situation was this?

The chibi figure waved its hand, and Jamie felt a cooling sensation spread across his entire being.

"Now, now no need to panic, everyone dies at some point, whether they like it or not.

"And the place you came from is still isolated from the rest of the universe, so no matter how hard you tried, you could have not become a True Eternal being unless that world was reconnected to the greater cosmos."

Jamie remained silent, still processing that he was apparently dead.

The fact that he retained awareness after death only made things more confusing.

"...Is this similar to the Null Year incidents? The ones where people were kidnapped?" Jamie asked, his voice slightly trembling.

The chibi figure paused.

In truth, it too had been a victim of that incident.

And from Jamie’s restored memories, it now understood the situation regarding the Blessed.

However Jamie was a special case, because of the ethereal book that had altered his departure.

And the chibi figure had its own plans regarding that place.

"Jamie, I don’t have much time," the chibi figure lied effortlessly.

"So... will I die?" Jamie asked.

Though he was afraid of death, if given a chance, he would choose to live.

After all, he was still young.

He remembered his early childhood in a daycare facility, raised by a highly advanced robo-nanny.

To this day, he had no idea who his biological parents were.

It would not be wrong to say that he had always yearned for connections. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Truthfully, he had not been deeply shaken by that absence.

He had lived in comfort, even luxury.

In the current era, it was common for parents to raise a child for a year or two before hiring a robo-nanny to handle upbringing until adulthood.

Jamie could only recall faint silhouettes of his parents’ faces.

Whenever he tried to access information about them, the records were either unavailable or blocked.

But he knew one thing.

His parents were extremely wealthy.

Even so, he still had lingering attachments to life.

He had barely begun living.

He was only eighteen.

And there was so much he had yet to experience but now, he was dead.

"Now that’s the kind of optimism one should have about life, even in the darkest moments!" the chibi figure commented, spreading its hands and radiating light like a holy being.

"Please stop reading my thoughts..." Jamie said, slightly embarrassed.

’It seems death loosened a screw in him,’ the figure thought.

"Anyway, what were you going to offer me?" Jamie asked, regaining composure and indirectly confirming the figure’s suspicion.

"Cough! Initially, I considered offering you a grandpa-in-ring or a flashy inheritance," the chibi figure said proudly.

"But considering the world you’ll be going to, I don’t think those would be appropriate, and I don’t particularly enjoy following the usual script, but still, I will offer you three paths!"

With a dismissive wave of its hand, the chibi figure presented three orbs before Jamie.

Each orb radiated a distinct aura.

One was red, another light orange, and the third bright yellow.

’Why are they such vibrant colors?’ Jamie wondered.

He was really trying hard to remain optimistic despite being dead.

At the same time, he doubted the figure would bother pretending to be good-natured. It was clearly powerful enough not to care about appearances.

’Woah... he actually noticed I was trying to look kind by using bright colors!’ the chibi figure thought in surprise.

It hadn’t expected the old trick of using attractive colors to lure someone worked so easily.

After all, to the chibi figure, eighteen year old Jamie was still a child.

Jamie stared at the three orbs for a long moment, carefully weighing his options.

He had no information.

No explanations.

Just colors.

After a brief pause, long enough to feel dramatic, he reached out and chose the red orb.

The reason was simple, his favorite color was red.

The chibi figure froze.

In this decision, it had genuinely given Jamie full freedom to choose.

And it was not disappointed!