Only in a distant memory. Very distant that I barely remembered. Once, when I was young. It was the memory of being wrapped in the warmth of another person’s embrace. Except, I do not have any recollection who and when. Was it the mother who bore me in her womb for over nine month. Or was it the father whom I do not knew their purpose in family construction other than planting their seed.

Even the place where I grew devoid of this particular warmth. How blissful I felt. However, my mind became shrouded with the cloud of doubt. I opened my heavy eyelids to find the answer. How dazzling and tantalizing it was. Never once in my short dull life have I seen something like the one before my eyes. A space of pure white and bright light with nothing else in the corner of my eyes. It was hard to describe when there was no details that could be illustrated.

A spark of blue light illuminated amidst the blank white. Pop. Baffled I was when I saw what suddenly appeared before my eyes. A cute little panda. A mini panda? Smaller than the size of a baby panda. Perhaps, the size of an adult male palm.

[Hello! Nice to meet you and, welcome new host, Ayeena.]

It’s voice reverberated through the wide endless space. I was shocked. That was for sure. But not rude enough to ignore the sincere greeting given to myself. “Hi,” I replied in a small voice that still echoed through the space.

[I am sure you have many question you would like to ask. However, please let me explain some details before answering your incoming questions.]

Giving a nod of approval, I said, “go on.”

[I am your guide system with my serial number P002208K77. You have been summoned as one of the successful candidate, tasked with missions in order to safely retrieved your life. Your actual body almost met it’s end before its time. However, the main system managed to cease the deteriorating health of your actual body and put it into the state of comatose. By completing the missions, you will gained the privileged to undo the misfortune before your death.]

Although the explanation was not complete, it was enough to understand the gist of what was happening. Despite having no impression of the last thing that happened before I was here, I knew for sure that my life had reached its end. That was, until I noticed the line that the system had said.

“What does it meant my body met its end before its time? Am I not supposed to die yet?”

[We could say it was something like that. The matter of life and death was a secret of heaven and shall not be disclosed. However, as there are many deviant lunged forward to interfere with the worldly affairs, our system was thus created. It is our effort to bring back the order and restore the balance.]

“Wait,” I said, beckoning the mini panda to stop talking. “What does summoning me, or us, into this place had to do with your effort?”

[The system creator was a being that could not and must not interfere with the human’s life, for fear of disturbing the balance. Thus, we the guide system were created. However, our system could only go as far as guiding the human involved and providing some information that could be used in the missions. In the end, it is the choice of you human that decided your own fate.]

“Was the human involved referred to those who were affected by these so-called deviant?”

[Yes, host.]

“But… what if I do not mind my short live. I simply do not have any more will to keep on living.”

Although the memories in my mind had somewhat became vague and blurred, I still had the memories in my heart that refused to go through my everyday life. My life had always been me surviving each day just to keep alive the next day. There was one particular memory that stuck on my mind and my heart. The day I came to realize that not everyone live the way I was.

Not everyone grew inside the lonely and cumbersome institution. Not every person lacked the love and affection of a family. What even funnier was how I came to knew the fact that every person was born from a mother and a father at the age of five.

Even among the children in the institution, I was isolated and forsaken. The adults would stared down on me and sighed every now and then, telling me to learn. When I asked what do I have to learn, they would clicked their tongue and berated my rudeness. Except, I do not knew which part of my words should be considered rude.

My gaze was fixed on the mini panda floating in front of me, and I added, “there was nothing left for me there, and nothing I look forward to. Can’t I just proceed with the next life instead?”

[Host, the main task for the missions was to love the pivotal key person in the disturbance of the world balance.]

“Love? I don’t even understand the concept behind the term, and you asked me to love. Was that supposed to be a joke?”

[Host, the main system do not choose you or the other candidate without reason. It is precisely because you are you that you are chosen for this mission. Before you could love another, you will have to learn to love yourself. Host, as your guide system, please heed my advice.]

“What?”

[Accept the mission and you will see more of life than you have ever know. Although these are missions, it also served as guidance and experience for you when you gained your life back.]

Humankind had no said for when they wanted to live and when they wanted to end their live. What in their hand, was how they lived their life. It rubbed me in the wrong way when I felt as if I was being forced to keep living. I let out a long sighed, and said, “when do I start the mission and what is this mission about?”

[The missions instruction is as simple as love the key person. The key person referred to the one whom their action had cause a disruption in the world balance which lead to the end of the world.]

“That simple?”

[That simple.]

“You said missions instead of mission. More than one?”

[Yes, host. Fear not. Depending on your performance, the number of your missions might not exceed 10.]

“Haha.” That would mean, if my performance were bad, the number of missions might increased. I don’t even knew how would the assessment work.

[Preparing the portal… Preparation complete… Preparing for transition… Transition ready in 3… 2… 1.]

The pure white space glitched in disharmony. Buzz. Whirring sound echoed, piercing into my eardrums. It was disturbing that I could not help wincing my eyes and covering my ears. Few second later, the scenery changed.