[ WP ] Confronted with Death , he offers you a second chance at life upon completion of a trial . He lays in front of you three paths to choose from : blood , sweat , or tears .

Thomas watched his pulse weaken on the heartbeat monitor. 
 
 After 3 long years and who knows how many dates with chemo-cocktails, this was it. The machine did not beep as steadily, and its glowing green bead did not peak as high. 
 
 His life was fading. 
 
 As a scientist, he knew what came next. The doctors would inform him that he needed to go under, that it was his best chance. Into the great black expanse of unconsciousness. But he knew he would never come back out. 
 
 Thomas clenched his jaw and formed a fist. One regret burned in his chest like battery acid. His daughter, Clara. 
 
 He imagined that she was sitting on her balcony with a cup of coffee, gently kissing the sun. 
 
 He should have spoken to her just one more time, to make amends, before the plunge into the black sea. 
 
 `` Thomas,'' came a thought, distant and unfamiliar, `` you are about to die.'' 
 
 Thomas scanned the room. It was empty. 
 
 `` Thomas,'' the thought intruded with coldness, `` You can have your daughter. You can mend this regret. I can help.'' 
 
 The heartbeat monitor broke out in rapid chirps. Thomas felt a rush of blood to the head and a black fog creeped into the peripheral of his vision. A vivid memory of his daughter came to him. She was sitting on his lap, filling in a coloring book. 
 
 He was afraid. 
 
 `` I will give you a thousand lives, and a thousand deaths. But you will find your second chance. In time, you will find your daughter. But you must choose a path,'' the voice cackled like river stones echoing in the empty halls of eternity, `` Blood, sweat, or tears?'' 
 
 Thomas watched the black fog roll into the center of his vision, and felt the weak knock of his heart against his sternum. 
 
 `` Choose, Thomas! Your last breath is upon you!'' howled the voice like a pack of coyotes in the desert night. 
 
 Thomas opened his mouth but his breath was ripped away from him. The heartbeat monitor screeched a long high note. 
 
 Thomas was dead. 
 
 The black fog gave way to a million starlights fluttering and streaking, and a great swirling abyss flushed and yawned before him like the Milky Way. Thomas floated in a spinning vortex. He saw lightning flashes in great thunderheads and Clara's soft face in the warm summer sun of the front lawn. He smelled fresh cut grass and heard his grandmother's laughter. All around him. Swallowing him hole. 
 
 `` Wait, wait!'' Thomas screamed as he tumbled into the dark expanse, `` I will take your deal! I choose-'' 
 
 The expanse collapsed into a black void. 
 
 There was silence. 
 
 With a rushing torrent of wind Thomas sucked the first breath back into his lungs. He was under the scorching sun and his bare feet warmed on the sand beneath him. 
 
 `` I'm alive!'' Thomas cheered, raising his arm in the air. 
 
 His smile twisted in confusion as he realized that in his upraised hand, he held a sword. 
 
 `` Why am I...'' He started, but eleven other contenders, equipped with wooden shields and tridents, eyed him in annoyance. 
 
 The men were crowded in a small room behind a rusted steal gate. Through the gaps in the barrier, Thomas could see the red sand of a small arena. A throng of spectators were perched on stone bleachers. 
 
 Thomas scanned the room for some way out. He ran to the only door he could find and heaved on it with all his weight. The door was locked and sealed. 
 
 His heart sank. 
 
 `` A thousand lives,'' came an echo that only he could hear, `` a thousand deaths.'' 
 
 Then the rusty gate lifted, and the men screamed as they dashed into battle. 

