Death by hypothermia. Definitely something horrid to experience and look at but, given how painless it is, its one of few ways to die quietly. A slow death it is, watching your body crumble away at the hands of the cold. Your heartbeat, slowing down and your strength declining to a level of a crippled elderly. How pitiful.

***

*Music*

A Westminster chime echoed throughout the room awakening me from my slumber.

A dream?

I opened my eyes

A familiar view. It was my bed. I was in my house back on earth.

How strange. The way i phrased it was as if i was not on earth in the past.

No,that's not right. Yeah, i died and got Isekaied into a tower… and died again.

(I think?)

I felt uneasy, knowing something was off about the situation. Which was the truth? Was it all a dream, simulation? Or did i experience all that and somehow went back to earth.

…

I did what was most natural to me. I looked around.

No matter how i see it, it was my room that i had lived in for the past 16+ years of my life.

However, the gut feeling i had never changed. Was it instinct?

I looked at the door of my room that leads to the living room.

(Open it)

It was as if i was being led to open the door. Like the door had a magnetic pull that attracted my gaze to it.

I reached out to the door knob

But stopping myself, i thought “its so cosy in my room why should i go outside”

…I..dont..know

At this moment, my sense of uneasiness was amplified making me feel like was at the edge of my seat.

There i was, in the middle of my room.

Before i knew it, i was sitting on my comfy chair. No longer infront of the door.

Huh?

I tried getting up from the chair, only to find my limbs losing strength, and before i could get up, i collapsed on the floor infront of the mirror.

There, i saw myself. No, it wasn't the teenage boy that i call ‘myself’ anymore.

What reflected in the mirror was a crippled old man that had a pathetic face. The face you would see in an anime where the villain was begging for forgiveness, about to be executed.

Thats me?

Once again, i looked up at the door knob. Only to see a hand grasping onto the door knob for dear life.

Is that my hand?

In this moment i recalled my actions in floor 1.

How i desperately wanted to live. Crying out pathetically…. But most of all. My last thought. Did i think of death as a joke? I may have been granted another chance in life to live out my fantasies. Yet here i am.. mocking my own death? Taking my life for granted?

Small drops of tears started forming on my eyes

I cried.

Looking just like the man i saw in the mirror

Pathetic.

(Do i deserve to cry?)

I felt furious at myself. The pathetically arrogant and self-absorbed me. The me who had been given so much by my parents and those around me yet didn't think to thank them sincerely.

WHOOSH!!

The scenery around me changed. Turning into the white wasteland that i was in. With the door to the hut infront of me.

Only, now the door to the hut was open.

I mustered my strength and crawled into the hut.

As my near lifeless body entered the hut, i felt a warm membrane pass through me from head to toe, healing me.

It felt easier to breathe with the seemingly warmer air and slowly healing internal injuries.

Little by little, i could feel my body again.

Leaving me feeling relieved… but not for long.

I felt the sharp pains all over my body, like i was lit on fire while being stabbed by tiny needles from the inside of my body.

I could hear heart beating healthily again albeit with the speed of an old engine that had just been kickstarted.

I saw my skin colour slowly return to its healthy colour and my nearly frostbitten feet covered in dried blood clear up as if nothing happened.

Despite the supernatural powers acting on me,healing me. I noticed that my muscle pain was still acting up and heart rate was not slowing down

Perhaps this power targets the vital organs first or it just heals internal injuries slower than the external ones

I teared up. Not because of the pain, but because of the fact that i was alive.

I laughed.

Its a bit strange that i wasn't this glad when i found out that i was still alive after dying the first time.

But..

Truly, i am glad to be alive

I closed my eyes and found myself in my room once more.

I looked at the mirror.

“Yup, that looks much better

.”

What was reflected in the mirror was a clear image of myself. With a glad expression ‘I’ smiled