The morbid feeling of death and unconsciousness evaded him as he woke up from his sleep. His upper body became erect as his legs stretched out promptly. He noticed his life bar which was ¾ full, quickly extend itself till completion. As he darted vivaciously at the marks and scars that he had gotten during the escape from the Ethereal Woods, he noticed an inhuman event called instant regeneration. The dead skin and peels of flesh had been shed off like a snake’s skin and his wounds completely healed.

The life bar reaching its max value also reflected his change in sensation in his physiology. It was like he had taken painkillers but instead of numbing the pain, it completely removed it. His body and the healing mechanics were doing wonders that he thought he would only ever see in comic books and television. He felt like Wolverine but after that shock of regeneration, he immediately averted his attention to his surroundings.

Tanatswa was in a man made hut, crafted with some fine precision and effort. It was tiny, had mainly thatched grass, bamboo and chiselled stones that seemed to be hammered in to fix joints together, and it generally seemed homely. Baskets containing fruits and vegetables were full and looked freshly picked. The room was segregated by half with the use of some contraption that looked like a curtain made of leaves. Tanatswa began to hear subtle movements and became rather paranoid. He had avoided the danger of the Ethereal Woods and the dark figure who taunted him into a battle he would clearly lose, but who knows what would be lying beyond the curtain. “Was it his saviour or was it his foe?” were what he was thinking in his head as he tiptoed to the curtain. He clenched his fists, ready to strike and unveiled the other side of the room. What he saw, led him to a peculiar moment he had never encountered in his past life.

Tanatswa saw a petite but curvaceous woman who was probably 5’6 in height, half dressed in a violet and black unitard. Her reaction was that of alarm as she turned her body vigorously to face him, as if she were preparing for an attack. The motion made her exposed ample and tantalizing B cup sized breasts jiggle in a rather sexually alluring way, disarming Tanatswa’s solid grip.Upon the woman realizing that it was him, she looked embarrassed and covered her breasts. She then screamed out, “Get the fuck out!”Tanatswa felt the shame as well as the sensual joy of viewing her body unexpectedly and then ducked out, covering his mouth and having dissonant facial expressions as he slowly pranced around, precariously in the little space the rest of the hut provided.

He was sharing a hut with a woman who he just saw partially naked and to make matters worse, his fine tuned upper body was exposed and his pants that were barely hanging on were in tatters. This was a really unique situation and he began to go through his mind, delving deep into the recesses of what he last remembered before going unconscious. The imagery was murky and what he could only visualize was him grabbing onto what seemed like a rope and eventually landing on the ground to see a silhouette of someone who probably saved his life. After 5 seconds of pondering he, realized that the person he had journeyed to find was that woman. The sounds of panting and activity went on pretty quickly on the other side of the curtain and soon enough, a fully dressed petite woman with a faded hair colour that looked like it was partly blonde and pink, appeared before him.

Apart from her petiteness, she had a rather neotenous face; large oriental eyes and a dimple just below here right eye. She had a mid length undercut hairstyle with faded sides that seemed to be growing back but with a natural colour that contrasted the chemically coloured hair on top.Her nose was narrow and had a smoothed out top. Her cheekbones were slightly out and shaped which gave her a certain feisty edge in appearance. Her skin was devoid of makeup and her lips looked slightly dry. Her anatomy and skin tone of caramel and light brown made her seem as if she were of mixed race.Her unitard was tight and it fully complemented her bust, which still imprinted her nipples.

She had a chinchilla from an animal that he couldn't tell was from. For her pants, she had slightly shredded just above the knees denim jeans. The rips looked like they were from bites or claws. It seem rather pointless to have them on because they kind of made her look ratchet. Her high cut tennis shoes looked like they had survived a war and were the very peek of being battered and ugly. Their eyes met and the girl who seemed a bit dainty was now initiating communication with him.

“Ahem… Your wounds they are completely healed. That’s incredible! It's no different from when I… wait. How are you feeling?” she asked, taken aback by the absence of any of the scars that were on his body. Tanatswa was also taken aback by her focus on his healing. He thought she would scold him, but alas it seemed like that wasn’t of prime importance. Upon her asking how he was feeling he gave a delayed response of, “I feel better… Sorry about getting into your…” She then immediately interjected, “Just forget about it, you saw my boobs, blah blah. Let's focus on bigger issues. My name is Shami, what’s yours?” He then immediately replied, “Tanatswa.”

“Alright so a zimbo guy, wow, I never thought that I would meet one in this place. You are lucky to have survived, if I wasn’t there that day, I think they would have eaten you alive.” she replied, now becoming more aware of his fine physique.

“So you saved me? Thank you! Like seriously I thought I was going to die again, but this time I was scared. Thank you!” he said poignantly as if he were about to break into a cry. Tanatswa walled towards her to give her a hug but he misconstrued his behaviour for something odd and told him to weight. She decided to duck back into her room to get something. Tanatswa got a glimpse of her back side and noticed her small but well shaped booty tightly fused with her pants, showing her fine curvy hips and the creases of her ass cheeks.

This gawking was unintentionally but he had no idea what had overcome him. Shami came out with some cloak like thing made from an animal’s leather. It was sewn together using pieces of her torn jeans and the holes for lacing seemed like they were made by using small sticks that were sharpened. Shami gave it to him and said, “Put this on.” He got a hold of the furry cloak and put it on before her. As he raised his arms, Shami began to ogle at his abdomen, chest and even arms that looked sculpted. As soon as he was done, her expression went from doe - eyed to serious, but then he unsuspectedly hugged her and said, “Thank you for saving me.” Tanatswa shed a tear, which seemed rather embarrassing in his mind to do, especially in front of a woman, but he really felt like he owed her and no amount of embarrassment could hide his gratitude. Shami felt awkward and believed her personal space had been invaded and pushed him away gently after being hugged for at least 10 seconds. She then said, “Okay I wasn't expecting a highly emotional hug from a big guy, but I guess I have been understating how traumatic it was for you to be chased by these wild animals… Um, before we begin, if you’re hungry feel free to take anything from the baskets. But if you finish my food you're gonna have to help me restock it.

I am a nice girl, but with the way things are in this place, I think I would need any help I can get.” Tanatswa darted at the fruits and darted back at her. She shook her head as assign for ‘Go for it dude’, and then chose to take the pendulous fruits that looked like a cross breed between grapes and popos. The food that Goshem gave you would make any cuisine snob lose their shit, but despite how uncertain things were, at least the fruits were kick ass. Shami went on to say as he picked up the fruits,”If you are the type to fuss over hygiene and shit, I could show you to a nearby stream where you can wash your hands.” Tanatswa declined the offer and said, “Its okay, I am used to them like this, they won’t kill you.” Shami secretly sighed in relief upon him finishing because she feigned hospitality but really didn't want to have to walk him out. As Tanatswa gobbled the fruit, he began to recall his dwindling life bar and then figured that just like when he played something like dark souls and got cursed, it would affect his character’s health. So if he had been completely healed then either his body had some special antibodies or, he took some administered a potion which cured his curse. At this point comparing his current reality to a game was no longer an aberration of thought.

“Hey Shami, did you give me like… medicine? I remember seeing my life bar almost reaching zero before everything went dark.” he said, after gulping down a huge bite.

“Wait you can also see the weird icons and bars as well? Holy shit! I thought I was the only one who had it. Do you think we got operated on like bionic woman and were sent to this place as test subjects?” she said, showing more animation with her gesticulations. Tanatswa had assumed that if the purple being had selected 1000 individuals and the whole point of living in Goshem was to level up, then the UI he was seeing on his peripheral vision was bound to be something universally experienced by all those selected. It baffled him to think that Shami thought that she was the only one who had the UI, but alas he engages with her in thought provoking discussion.

“Wait, slow down, did you say bionic woman and test subjects?” asked Tanatswa with a rather perplexed face.

“Yeah, I mean I don’t think being able to see that is normal unless you get operated on. Like what is this place? And why does my body behave like a video game character? I have an inventory slot and health bar. Like what the fuck? I feel like I am playing Halo in VR but I feel everything, it's so strange and unworldly. And to make matters worse I saw that creepy purple thing that said we are immortal? Don't you find this all strange?”

“Well...” he said, darting his eyes at her with slight awe towards her speculations, “I think we are in the afterlife or probably the real afterlife, different from the heaven and hell stuff we were made to believe by our parents.”

“You believe in heaven and hell?” she asked baffled by his logic.

“Yeah, well I died and ended up here so this must be the afterlife.” he said, with conviction.

“You died, wait what do you mean, you're alive right now?” she asked, showing a bit of worry.

“I committed suicide in my past life and then woke up here in Goshem. I am pretty sure you died too in your past life and that's why you are here, right?” he said, slightly getting unsure towards the end of his sentence.

Shami paused and seemed frightened. She began to scratch her head in disbelief. Her neotenous, features became wrinkly and she began to scream out profanities as she shed tears. Tanatswa was literally at a loss for words. What the hell was going on right now? Did he say something wrong? Wasn't everything obvious from the get go from the purple being’s explanation? As he pondered all of this, he could hear her saying to herself, “Oh my god, I did die. I fucken died. I fucken killed myself. That’s what happened.” Tanatswa probably thought she was in denial, then again it's not everyday that someone dies and gets resurrected into another world. Oh shit, that's basically every isekai and xian xia novel ever made.

Shami immediately went into her room and didn't return for what seemed like 5 minutes which made Tanatswa even more confused. Women were a subject matter that he was yet to master and clearly even after death, he still knew jack shit. Was he supposed to follow her into her room and try to comfort her? Wait wouldn't that be him over extending himself considering that they had only just met? This was way more confusing than budgeting his xp for his stats. Soon enough Shami made her return with a face that looked spoiled by wiped out tears and frustration. Shami went on to ask, “You said you killed yourself right? How did you do it?”

“I went to a place that performs suicide by euthanasia near my city. I was actually surprised that such an organisation could exist in a country like Zimbabwe considering how conservative stuff things are, but I paid them a visit and let them kill me. It was painless so at least it was a smooth transition.”

“How can you be so calm saying that? It's like you are not bothered at all by your death. I mean I feel like I made a mistake out of depression, and went to a place similar to what you are talking about…” she said, bothered by his monotone voice and indifference, “but how can you be so sure that this is the afterlife?”

“Well I don't know if this is the afterlife, I mean it's my first time dying and going to the other side so…” he said, seeming uncertain.

“Are you sure or not, like make up your fucken mind?” she asked, almost enraged by his lack of confidence. Shami’s tone triggered something that had been dormant inside Tanatswa ever since he arrived in Goshem. The rage he got whenever he argued with his mother.

“I don’t know why you are getting mad at me? If you saw the message that the purple guy told you just like I did then the 1000 selected and this place Goshem is probably not earth and if you died and I died then we are basically in the fucken afterlife. Stop being in denial!” he said, blowing his temper.Tanatswa then noticed her tear up like a lost child and he began to feel bad. He shouldn't have raised his voice and now more than ever he really felt bad. Tanatswa then immediately apologised and then told her, “Shami, maybe we might not be in the afterlife or maybe we got abducted by some agency that turns people into cyborgs or aliens got us… but let's just figure things out. You are the first person I have seen here in Goshem and I nearly died to an encounter with a pack of wolves and some monster riding a fucken dragon. A dragon! I honestly thought that all the creatures here would be harmless and I mean I got to see a unicorn, just absurd shit left and right, but let’s make the most of what we already know and then come to a conclusion. I am sorry that I raised my voice, it's just that several days ago I took my life and now I woke up here in this place and my body behaves like an RPG character. So to be quite honest, we just need to sit down and figures shit out.”

Shami wiped away her tears upon hearing him finish his dialogue. This world and everything happening to them was a mutually unique experience and they just had to brainstorm and reflect on the past 8 days they had been hear. She had gone through a lot and had made use of all the mechanics provided her, but to say she had fully settled in was a lie. Knowing that there was another person sharing this bizarre experience with her was the first sign of relief for her. Shami then said to him, “Sure let's make sense of whatever the hell is happening to us because honestly, I think I need a break from the madness of this place.”