It All Started With Lightning

Rebirth

Göbeklitepe was surrounded by police. The police had given Mehmet, Selin, and Merve a chair to sit on. Sitting on old iron chairs, the eyes of the trio were still wide open and filled with tears. Especially Merve's face and body were still covered with Serkan's blood. Small parts of Serkan's body could be seen in her hair. None of them could speak. While hundreds of policemen did their job, time did not run out for them. The image of Serkan, who exploded in front of their eyes, was still playing in their minds like a movie scene.

A skinny policeman with long hair, a mustache, and a leather jacket took an empty chair from the sidelines and sat down in front of the trio. He watched their silence for a while and finally spoke, unable to bear it.

"Wake up, it happened. He's not coming back, even if you wanted him to. Let's hear it, what exactly happened?"

The trio awoke from their awkward silence, they looked at each other and the two girls nodded at Mehmet. Mehmet began to explain.

"Sir, we just wanted a double date. We came from Adana this morning." The police cut him off. "No, skip that... Son, how did the boy die? Tell me about it."

"All right, sir, but we don't know anything either. Almost everything feels like a coincidence. Merve had forgotten her glasses, she could not see the things below. Serkan is also strange, he gave the guide a hundred dollars for Merve and they went down. After that we only see that after Merve and Serkan kissed, Serkan's foot stepped on a stone and he hit his head on one of the pillars. I guess you saw it too, there was something like a button on the pillar where Serkan hit his head. Did he pull the lightning with it? What was he doing? I don't know. Then a lightning ten times bigger than the pillar hit Serkan's head, the last one we saw. The boy's body almost disappeared into nothingness". With these words, Mehmet started to cry. It was painful for him to see the death of the person he called his brother, whom he had not separated from since childhood.

After hearing Mehmet's side of the story, the police made a decision.

"All right, don't do too much. It's done now, there's nothing more to do. Now two policemen will take you to the station, sign the statement, and go home. We'll call you later if anything happens."

"As you wish, sir," Mehmet said, still with tears in his eyes. A uniformed policeman came and took the trio away.

The leather-jacketed policeman went down the stairs to where the button was. He examined every inch of the pillar but found nothing. He turned to the forensic policeman in white next to him and asked.

"Did anything show up on the x-ray?"

"No, sir, it is an empty, ordinary concrete pillar."

After receiving this completely blank answer, he turned his head to the hole punched by the lightning above. After much thought, he came to a decision. The air was still filled with dark clouds as if it was going to rain, but there was no sound of lightning.

He turned his head to the right and saw his assistant struggling while he was having dinner with a policewoman.

"Harun!" he shouted. "Come here!"

The policeman named Harun hastily dropped the kebab and ran.

"Sir." Harun came as fast as he could.

"Clear this place."

This order from his superior confused him because dozens of policemen were working there at the moment.

"What happened, sir? Why?"

"Son, don't ask questions at work." This order from his superior confused him, as dozens of policemen were working there at the moment.

"As you command, sir." He said and started yelling at everyone around him.

"Come on, clear this place out. Come on, now, fast!"

After a few minutes, when he confirmed that there was no one left, he returned to the man with the mustache.

"Boss, it's done. I sent everyone."

"Good. Stand back a little." He pushed Harun back with his hand.

He approached the pillar with the button on it. Under everyone's excited eyes, his finger moved to what looked like a button. Serkan's friends watched him too. They wondered if this was a coincidence.

Harun shouted just in case. "Boss, wait, the bomb squad will be here soon!"

The commissar looked back. "Son, who knows in how many hours those idiots will arrive? Should we wait for them now? "He said and pressed the button with his finger. For a long time, the whole crowd waited for the lightning that split Serkan into atoms, but nothing happened. The commissar pressed a few more times, but still nothing changed.

He turned to Harun, "Let's go. There's nothing here. My pity boy died by accident." Said.

"Okay sir!" said Harun. Everyone else left, leaving two policemen to guard the place.

When they arrived at the police station, the trio's statements were taken. Finally, they signed off and made their way home. This had never been a fun double date for them. After that, Serkan's smiling face was always hanging in the corner of Mehmet and Selin's house. Merve, on the other hand, was never married and always remembered Serkan's misfortune in her mind.

After the two policemen went to the police station, they wrote a report about the incident. In the end, the commissar put a red "unsolved case" on the file. A blue " Accidental Incident" with the stamp. He stamped his name. He sealed the file in an envelope and handed it to the uniformed policeman standing at the door. "Send this privately to Ankara. Here you go." He said.

Then he turned to Harun and said, "Son, we've been here for three months and I haven't had a beer yet. Isn't there anything nice about this city?" he said.

"Oh, sir?" Harun looked at his watch and said, "The shift is almost over. I'll take you to a nice Sira night tonight, boss, and we'll have a drink or two."

"Well, let's go." Said the commissar, picking up his leather jacket and walking out the front door.

And so Serkan's misfortune was forgotten forever in the dusty pages of history.

...

Somewhere in the middle of the cosmos, a shapeless ball of light floated in space like a leaf. That ball of light was the soul of the unfortunate Serkan, who had just died. He had died, but his soul had been preserved, perhaps because of a one-in-a-hundred-billion chance. The main reason his soul was preserved was the strange lightning that struck him. There was something different about this lightning, which looked like other lightning from the eye of the storm. According to the records, it was the strangest and largest lightning the world had ever seen. The difference in size with the biggest lightning ever recorded was more than 5 times. Also, the color of this lightning was a bit strange. According to the researchers, this lightning was not a white-blue-violet mixture as usual, but a purple color with red tones. Scientists had long searched for this purple-red lightning that had struck the unfortunate Serkan but to no avail. All this was now lost in the river of time. The past was no more than a dream.

Serkan was now conscious, albeit in the form of a soul, on the verge of madness, drifting into the depths of the cosmos. He was always talking to himself in his consciousness, complaining.

"Let me have a good life for once! Dude, every time I try something, every time I laugh a little and get happy, shit has to come out, right?"

"Offff, offfff!"

"Anyway, I have to calm down now. I'm in the middle of nowhere, how can I stay calm? Remember, Serkan, remember, where did all those books you read, those light novels, go? Shouldn't I have been born in a different body in a different world by now? I've never read anything like that. What the hell is this?"

Finally, he was able to calm down a bit and had a chance to look around. He was in the middle of nowhere. He could only see the few bubbles passing by. When he looked closely at one of those bubbles, he realized that it was a planet! He wanted to move towards the nearest planet, but his soul form was too weak. He was drifting completely against his will.

"How did the guy in the last novel I read strengthen his soul? Remember, Serkan, remember! Your head always remembers all that shit, is it time to forget?"

After a while, he remembered the book. But the main character of the book he read grew up eating other souls around him. When he looked around, he saw nothing but those planetary bubbles. Then he thought of other books he had read. Solitude refreshed his memory.

"Wasn't there a system or something in these dead and reincarnated people? Shouldn't I have it too?"

"System! System!" he shouted for a long time but got no answer. He didn't know how much time had passed, but by his estimation, he had been drifting for several days. He was neither hungry nor thirsty. All he wanted was for a goddamn planet to stand in front of him and take him in right now. He wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, he saw two bubbles approaching each other. As soon as the two approaching bubbles touched each other, Serkan was so scared that bad thoughts immediately came to his mind. "Explode! Explode! Explode and I'll die. I've already died once, and as a soul, that's it!"

But when the two bubbles came into contact, there was no big explosion as Serkan had imagined. It was like two thin glass balls colliding, shattering and scattering glass shards from the bubbles. Serkan thought this was an opportunity and prepared to face the glass-like thing with all his might. "Come on boy, this could be a chance. What's the worst that can happen?" he thought.

It happened as he thought, the piece of glass that came towards him stopped in the middle of his soul light and slowly began to melt in Serkan's soul. Serkan felt himself getting stronger somehow, but he couldn't explain it. What happened next was a complete catastrophe. Serkan's second thought also came true. When the planets crashed after the two bubbles exploded, a huge black hole was formed. This black hole showed a high gravitational force to absorb everything, including Serkan's soul. Serkan's soul was too weak to endure it yet. He desperately tried to absorb the other pieces of glass that were taken with him, but no matter how much he absorbed, he couldn't get rid of that black hole. One last possibility in his mind, he shouted to try again. "System!"

As if his last call had been heard, or as if he did not know if his soul power was enough now, a voice in his mind answered him.

[System starting...Estimated time to activate..13 hours 21 minutes..12 seconds...]

"Hahahaha! Hell yeah! I knew it, did I die for nothing? I have a system too!" Serkan was very happy, but he forgot something. When he came to his senses, he saw that he was at the bottom of the black hole.

"No..no no no no. Damn it, I just found the system. Can't it wait a few hours?

Serkan was now forever separated from the universe he lived in before, from familiar faces and pure dreams.

...

Serkan's consciousness opened his eyes in a warm and gentle place. He almost died of fright when he remembered what had just happened. Again he calmed himself down with silly motivational speeches. When he tried to look around, he couldn't see anything. Although he was soul-conscious, he could not interact with his surroundings in any way, but he still felt that he was in a soft and warm place. It was like sleeping in a fetal position under two layers of blankets in an icy house on a cold winter night. Then a surprising thought came to him.

"Wait a minute? Or am I being born in a new body? And is that my body in the womb? Is that why I can't do anything?" This prediction was also correct. He was indeed in a woman's womb right now.

Thinking that he had just escaped the disaster, he thought of the system he had heard before he was sucked into the black hole. Consciously, he called out, "System!

[Sys..tem..Damage...Exposed...Failed...Repair...Estimated Repair Time...Sixteen...Years...Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days...Four..Hours.]

Serkan was disappointed by this notification sound. He didn't even know what it was for, but the system was already damaged. "Almost seventeen years!" he thought.

"Even if I was born now, I will be seventeen when the system is activated. Who knows what will happen in that time? Am I in a safe family? Will my family be rich or poor? I hope they become rich or noble. In my previous life, my family was something like middle class. I don't want to experience the same thing now.

Thoughts were constantly swirling in his mind. He wasn't a very patient person in his previous life anyway, but now he was even more bored because he didn't have a phone in his hand. Crazy thoughts continued to run through his mind.

"I wonder if there is magic or martial arts in this world like in the books I read? I hope there is. I didn't do anything in my previous life, so at least let me have some value in this world. Am I in old age or something? If so, that would be great. I already know all the metals and stuff. I can do a lot of new things. I swear I'm going to be famous. Let the money come, let the women come."

Serkan's imagination was very big. He dreamed with great excitement for days without stopping. Most of them were idiotic, but some of them had a grain of truth. It took him more than three months to have these dreams. Now the five sense organs of his body had formed. Now he could fully feel that he was really in his mother's womb. Maybe it was a miracle of life, but he never felt suffocated or hungry.

...

Theo and Sophia sat across from each other at a large table, the food brought by the servants diminishing plate by plate. Sophia looked at Theo after finishing the last bite on her plate. In a low voice she said, "Honey, I think I'm pregnant."

Theo had just popped a huge chopstake into his mouth. Before he could swallow, he heard those words. With the meat in his mouth, he shouted, "What?"

"Yes, my dear. I think I'm pregnant."

Theo jumped off the chair without swallowing the meat in his mouth. He began to shout, with meat and smiles pouring out of his mouth.

"My baby! That's it! Finally another one!" He ran to Sophia. He picked her up and began to carry her into the bedroom.

"What? What are you doing?"

"We should celebrate, darling!" said Theo. "Hahaha."

When they got to the bedroom, he looked at Sophia's innocent face. With her white skin and charcoal hair, she shone like a diamond among the stones. Her big eyes and sharp chin were enough to make any man's mouth water.

Sophia also looked at Theo. He also had black hair and thick eyebrows, though not as much as her. His angular face had the air of a tough man. But to Sophia, who knew all about him, Theo was gentle as a kitten. That fierce look was just a face he showed to the people under his command.

Opposite Sophia, Theo's body was as majestic as a mountain. He was at least six inches taller than her. Theo was almost two meters tall. Moreover, the combination of his bronze skin and mountain-like body suggested that he was a statue.

As Sophia and Theo began to flirt in bed, Serkan could hear their voices, though muffled. They spoke in a language he did not understand. It was unlike any of the languages he knew and had seen in his previous life.

After a while, it became painfully clear to him what they were talking about. The stick of the two-meter bronze statue, as big as an arm, had told him this bitter truth.

"Damn it! It's like he's fucking me! Mom, slow down. What the hell is this? It's like there's a mountain on top of me!"

No matter how much he screamed and whined, he had to endure it because he could not interfere. After a while, he got used to it. 'This must be why babies don't have consciousness yet,' he thought.

After a few months, he was relieved. Now the couple had stopped their activities in bed. 'In our world, it is actually done after this time! Not before,' he thought. He shouldn't have complained, but for some reason, he felt resentment. He was able to translate a few words during this time. He was sure that he could understand everything that was said from the moment he came out of his mother's womb if he had not heard it muffled. His mother and father were very chatty. From time to time, he heard some old voices, but he could not understand their speech at all. Their already weak voices were getting weaker because of the amniotic fluid in the mother's womb.

Of course, there were a few people he could think of. 'Probably my grandparents,' he thought.

And finally, the day had come. He was to be born today, after nine boring months. He understood this from the commotion around him. Someone was always running. Someone went in and out of the room he was in. An old voice shouted one of the words he could understand.

"Push! Push! Clench your teeth! Just a little bit!"

Sophia pushed with all her might. Every now and then she screamed, holding the hand of an old woman beside her.

When she felt she couldn't take it anymore, she screamed, pushing with all her might. "AHHHHHHHHH!!"

Serkan felt a finger touch his head. When that finger found his head, he called four more of his brothers to grab his little head. These five fingers gently pulled him out of his mother's warm womb. When he came out of the narrow hole, he felt cold to the bone. Fortunately, a young girl immediately wrapped him in a warm blanket. Meanwhile, he felt that it was time to finally open his eyes, which he had been unable to do for nine months. As he frowned, he found a beautiful woman in front of him. It was the woman who had just wrapped him in a towel. Without saying a word, the woman placed Serkan on Sophia's lap.

Sweaty and flushed, Sophia felt the most wonderful feeling in the world for the second time as she took him in her arms. It was the same for Serkan. He felt the pain of losing his former parents and the joy of being reunited with a new mother, but he did not cry. The old woman pulled him out of his mother's womb and hurried to the door. Three other people were waiting for her, including Theo.

"Congratulations, sir! You have a son!" said the old woman.

Hearing this, Theo and the other three elders burst out laughing, and Theo shared his joy by giving the old woman a pouch filled with gold.

Tears filled his eyes when Theo walked in and saw his son in Sophia's arms. He managed to control himself and came to her.

He looked at his son, then at Sophia, and said, "Thank you, sweetheart.

He took him from her lap. He looked at everyone, "Your name from now on,"

But Sophia cut him off, "Honey, we already decided that. Did you forget?"

"Ah! Right! How could I forget?"

He turned his head to the baby in his hand. "From now on, your name is William. May God give you, like your name, endless patience and perseverance". Then he began to stroke him. He showed the boy to the others before placing him in his cradle.

After a while, he said, "Now we have to give a banquet. Hahaha! I'll show all the bastards that I have a son!"

Meanwhile, Serkan realized that he had been given a name in his lap. This huge man was his annoying father. He was still angry with him for what he had gone through with his mother, and this anger would not last for many years. When he heard the name, he wanted to open his mouth and shout, but the only sound he could make was "Agu-Gugu". This made his father even happier and made him play with his little nose.

He thought in his head. "Damn, couldn't you think of a better name? What is William? What a cliché. At least if you use a legendary name like Merlin, Arthur, or something. Anyway, I'll change my name when I'm older, who cares anyway".

But what he didn't know was that everyone present had already carved him into their hearts as William from now on.

'From today on, Serkan is no more,' he thought. 'From now on I am William. Even if it's a shitty name.' He said and fell asleep on his father's lap.

After that, a long and tiring journey awaited him.

Note: I'm so sorry about the first and second chapters. These two chapters contain various different terms and 'old saws' since they take place in the 'present day'. But don't worry, everything is fine after the second chapter.

I decided to edit the chapters again. Do not hesitate to express your opinions.