Magical

 Gradually, his consciousness returned to him. Everything was calm just like he had expected the afterlife to be; so cold and lonely. Lucky enough for him, since he was already dead, he would find comfort and solace in his momma's embrace and just that would give him the warmth he required.

He didn't open his eyes at once; he first smiled at his expectations which was of course seeing his mother's smiling face first on opening his eyes. 

Next, little by little, he let his tightly shut eyelids loose then with a little more effort he pushed his eyes open and just like he had expected, his mother was sitting next to where he lay patiently waiting eagerly for him to open his eyes.

"Mama." He hollered softly with a dreamy voice. He was so glad that he really saw her first. Unfortunately, this half dreaming state of his faded away. When he spoke, his senses awoke fully ushering the full reality to him; the same reality where his mom was no more. 

He no longer had a Mama to cover him up so he wouldn't catch cold and thus on that cold night the cold wind transversing lonelily from the north to the south became his companion.

He still didn't believe it, something was not right to him: everything looked no different from a night he spent alone whenever his mother was away on her routine night shift at her place of work.

He lay on a barely covered mattress with his shirt almost covering his face.

"Is this how I am welcomed and ushered into the afterlife?" At least he expected to see a couple of his dead friends and neighbors hanging around his bed even if his mother wasn't around especially those who were so dear to him. 

"Am I still alive?" He asked the dark night in doubt and a click in his head replied his rhetorical question.

[Name: Sunny Raven]

[Race: Scanning...]

[Level 1]

[0/100 exp]

[Strength: 10]

[Agility: 10]

[Stamina: 10]

[State: Normal]

"What the hell is this? Something the only the dead see?" How does this answer my question. "Am I still alive?!" 

Everything was still confusing to him. He thought he knew the answer to his earlier question but he dreaded even the thought of still being alive. There was only a way to confirm his fears and he didn't hesitate to check it out once it occured to him.

Looking around him it was not difficult to tell he was within his bedroom and thus he kept wishing that he was either dead or that all that occured earlier was a dream. Since no one lived in the same house with them, if all that happened earlier was not a dream, then he should certainly see his mother still lying in the balcony and if he is unable to see her ghost, then he is certainly alive. At that moment he had no problems believing superstitions.

He quickly sprang up from his bed and headed straight to the balcony which he could of course trace even if there was no source of light in the whole world.

Every step he took towards the balcony increased the rate and magnitude at which his heart thumped.

His nose was already confirming his status at the moment as the smell of dried blood filled his nostrils but he still wanted to see for himself if he was really still alive. This was indeed confirmed immediately he stepped into the balcony. Laying at the exact spot and exact unnatural position he left her was the woman he had known to be his mom all his life. According to his theory, If he were dead or dreaming he was sure he would have seen nothing or rather a living woman or a ghost.

Seeing her corpse brought back the all the emotions that bottled up within just before he leapt down the balcony but he didn't jump off immediately not before satisfying his curiosity or he would die with an unanswered questions.

"How the hell am I still alive?" He thought hard. "I jumped off and... and..." He could not remember anything more than that. Not even when he fell below the sixth floor. No doubt he passed out during his fall but why and what happened next? "How am I here? Why am I still alive?" In response to his questions he heard another click in his head once more.

[Daily quest received]

[Stay alive]

[Reward: +5 exp]

Again another question resurfaced in his mind. "What the hell is this? Why are my seeing this? "Why should I obey it?" And as usual he got no reply.

He kept racking his brain for answers but it was impossible to get any. Everything he had been thinking about after waking up was extraordinary and it made it obvious to him that his curiosity could not be satisfied at the moment perhaps it would be after his death or during the course of his stay at the afterlife so without wasting time he got ready for another leap off the balcony after all what was life without his mom?

He didn't think so much of suicide as he was in the lowest point in his life.

But just when his gaze met with the expressionless face of the full moon and it Immediately brought back memories and sent strength and encouragement pulsating through his veins. His mother had given him several words if encouragement while they watched the moon so it was not surprising that sighting the moon was enough to make him reconsider committing suicide.

He had wondered often times why the full moon always seemed to have a message for him. 

The moon had been his companion as long as he could remember. For reasons inexplicable to him, it energized him and always brought hope and assurance to his gloomy nights; a good reason why he did most of his homeworks from school.

For it's sake those who bothered to listen to him called him a nocturnal animal because they felt the sun of the dawn had the same effect on them. The only one who understood it all and showed him how to use it to his advantage was his mom. 

Before the moon's face they hung out and made the most out of the energy it proviɗed him with even when she felt so weak after her days job. The moon's energy coupled with her piercing words of inspirations made his late nights sleep worthy and they were more than sufficient to make him understand that she would not like him to come over just yet. Just like she always said "It's never over until it really is." The memory of that alone made him sit down instead of leaping down smiling sadly at the moon which seemed to assure him that there was a brighter future ahead; One which his momma wouldn't want him to miss.

He should get ready for the future ahead of him for the next day he was supposed to join the rest students from many schools on their first teleportation experience into any military academy which have been chosen for them where they would learn to fight in the old style against the Namhors and other interplanetary invaders. There he would be trained and afterwards be inducted into the army of the defenders of humanity and his mother planet, the earth.

Unaware of the existence of other intelligent superior beings with more sophisticated technology than theirs, the humans for a very long time neglected the creation of an army to guard against the interplanetary and intergalactic attacks against their planet solar system and galaxy but were forced to step up when they were unexpectedly attacked by beastly planetary invaders.

Being new to the game, they were dealt devastating blows and their best weapons were easily maneuvered and proved ineffective against the incoming forces. This unreadiness on their part made countless die and even though they are picking up increasingly they were lacking soldiers and that was why from their school a looser like Sunny was recruited.

A well known coward whose strength lay fully on running away whenever trouble comes knocking. His speed was a great advantage to him for if he lacked speed he would have been no better than a dummy only good for other people's trainings, venting their anger and showing off their power and superiority. 

Always filled with impossible ideas and well reputed to be the weird one. Of course nothing more was expected from a 'witchling'. For the witch name name his mother was called by many of those who knew her and it always confused him why she always replied them with a knowing smile.

Many detested and despised them. His mother had only gotten a job because her employer who did not believe in superstition was more concerned of the profit he would make by having a woman skilled as she was work at the back end of his factory's production and this did not go down well with her co-workers. 

They always seemed to find comfort in blaming all the misfortunes on her. 

Luckily for them, their factory wasn't among the countless which had closed down indefinitely because of the attacks of the Namhors thanks to its location; a ghetto which wasn't targeted unlike those in bustling cities.

He stopped visiting her at her workplace because he too doesn't receive any lighter treatment and that was why at times he found comfort in Rover's torture for he was among the ones who did things to without showing any strong emotions against him. 

There was really a good heart behind the thick walls of flesh but most times, it was only blocked from being revealed and radiating by his thick, tough, insatiable skin.

He gazed down to the poorly lit street several metres below him. He wondered who amongst the many who resided within the several buildings before and beneath him thought it so nice to get rid of the poor woman and what would be his or her benefit.

He couldn't point accusing fingers at anyone because it was nothing rare to hear many yell abuses on them on a streets which would usually be followed by this wish or rather an order.

"Suffer not a witch to live." 

They all wanted her dead for no obvious reason. If he should point accusing fingers at anyone, it should everyone. And would love to come back in a good time to pay everyone back in their own very coin but he knew it would be impossible to pay everyone back and it tracks just like his mother willed. But why did she ask him not to hate them like he could do anything against? There were only very few people he have heard about who of course were trained by the military academy who would be able to do something like such and it made something clear to him. His mother believed he could rise to their ranks and even if he had lost her, that also coupled with her advises under the moonlight should be sufficient to keep him going.

He smiled at his mother's corpse and felt bad for letting her remain in the pool of her own blood and letting her stiffen in the position she had died. 

What a lucky boy he had been to be accepted as a child by a woman with a such a broad heart. Whoever his real mother was only mattered a little which was only for the sake of satisfying his curiosities. To him now, what mattered most now was making his mother proud. 

Tears trickled down his cheeks but this time, it felt soothing instead of stabbing. The space she occupied in his heart will never be replaced by another. He mostly felt bad that she had nobody but an ignorant who knew nothing about post mortem processes son to care for her corpse. He only knew he had to have her buried before he leaves for whatever military academy he would be taken to.

"Click." He heard again in his head and a screen popped out before him.

[Daily quest stay alive completed]

[Reward: +5 exp]

[5/100]

Just then the alarm he usually set for twelve a.m to wake him to watch the moon rung.

"What is this?" He suddenly recalled his mysteries for the day. These notifications and how ever he got on his bed after leaping off the balcony."

He tried to think hard and only gave up when he realized that thinking alone could not give him the answer he needed he should leave those mysteries for another day and concentrate on how best to prepare and make the best out of his stay in the academy.

[Quest received: Unravel the unknown]

His brows shot up. He didn't know what it was that gave him notifications but since he loved playing games, whatever that was that was giving he loved it and would figure it out. It was another reason to keep him going. He hoped he would not get bored of the games it played with him anytime soon. At least he knew that before he leaves for the military academy the next day he should find Rover and plead with him to explain what happened to him the previous day to satisfy this new quest that had been given to him.

His belly growled and this made him remember his mother's last words "I made you your favourite lunch don't forget to eat before it gets cold."

It surely must have gotten cold but that would not stop him from enjoying what the last meal she prepared for him with her magical hands. Both the refugees who ran to the slum for safety and the indigenous people in backwards slum they resided thought she was a witch. 

Yes, he had no doubt all through her lifetime she had been amazingly magical.