A roll of the dice?_A new savage Beginning

“Where the hell am I?” That was the first thought that went through Mark’s head. He looked around the odd room, it was somewhat small, everything painted white but he could swear he saw something swirling on the walls but once he focused, it was gone.

Next to him a couple of feet away a mirror. No it showed lush scenery. He looked down and he wasn’t wearing the hospital clothing anymore but some basic rugged linen pants and shirt. He had been laying on a stone brick tablet. He got off and saw a table with 4 chairs.

An orb that definitely had stuff swirling inside placed on the table.

“A palantir is a dangerous tool.” He muttered the line of one of his favorite movies out loud. Now he had to touch it. He reached out, tentatively wondering why he was stupid enough to touch the shiny but he couldn’t help himself.

He almost grazed the orb, but his ‘near-touch’, ignited the swirls into infernal flames. His brain felt hot and he jolted away. “Hmm definitely not touching that”. He murmured.

“That is probably for the best”. A voice boomed through the room and as Mark looked up, two figures greeted his sight, sitting in 2 of the chairs at the table. A man, fierce eyes with flaming irises, flames danced where one would normally see someone's eye color. Dark skin, flaming red hair and a striking face. “Ganondorf?” Mark thought to himself.

It was the closest resemblance he could think of but there were stark differences between the fictional character and the man in front of him.

Next to him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen but somehow he felt zero attraction for her, as if his body, mind and soul simply knew; he was an ant and she was a goddess. And that’s when it struck him. He frowned and he took a defensive stance almost innately. Arms at rest but tense.

“The two of you are gods, deities”. His heart, pounding. Was this it? His life being weighed? “I don’t have coins to cross the river styx”, he said.

The man smirked: “Keen sight and mind! I don’t think a mortal has ever grasped that this quickly without us telling them, don’t you agree Nirvana”? His voice held power, enough power to kill Mark. To extinguish his existence. “And what on earth would deities, such as ourselves, do with coins? You mortals have an odd understanding of how we operate. Sit down boy. No need to stand there as if we will attack you.”

He flashed a dangerous savage smile, “I do like your spunk”.

The woman smiled and it almost felt like his eyes would blind from the sheer force, still zero attraction which fascinated Mark to no end. “You are right Artis my love he’s surprisingly observant for someone who is so closely aligned to your pantheon”. She teased but her eyes showed a love Mark had never seen before, he couldn’t believe how Definite, inevitable, TERRIFYING, tender, absolute, a whole slew of terms bombarded his mind, it felt like he was going to break and he had to look away, the agony of wanting someone to look at him like that again stabbing in his chest.

“Too painful for you huh? That little shit Sadanis has left his ugly mark on you.” Artis pondered, his gaze searching. “To watch my fires of war, without a shred of fear and to behold the love Nirvana has for me for a few seconds. You are an incredible specimen when it comes to mortals, are you not Mark”?

The fiery man had eased up on the threatening cadence in his voice, looking at Mark, gauging his reaction.

Mark sat down. Artis chuckled, “your audacity is fascinating”.

Mark took a breath. Him? special? “I wonder, what you see, I feel anything but special”, he responded, his mind turning inward, what had he achieved? A wife whom he had loved with all his heart but who had cheated on him while he was on his deathbed probably not the first time either.

His children took up so much of his time, always trying his best, helping them with their issues, schoolwork, had they respected him? They looked at him the same as his wife. They took him for granted. He never really excelled at anything mainly because he ended up taking care of the lionshare of the household. To support his wife’s career. But the more money she made, the colder she became.

He had fought in two wars, meaningless wars in his youth. So much of the shit, he had dealt with, was because of how he didn’t receive the help he needed back in those days.

Suddenly he felt immense peace, all the pain gone, intense love enveloped him like a blanket and for a moment he couldn’t make heads or tails out of it.

After a few seconds he regained his senses looking at his hands. The woman, Nirvana, had placed her hand on his. She looked at him searching.

“You are an odd mortal Mark”, her voice soothed him, he relaxed.

”So much anger, rage and fury, no wonder Artis took such a liking to you, but such a gentle, sensitive soul as well.

You wished for nothing more then to be loved and yet surrounded yourself with souls who couldn’t or didn’t want to connect with you. You kept pouring out your energy, your effort draining yourself, in the vain hope to be loved and in the end you were betrayed”.

Her words should have been be painful but it felt like soothing acceptance to him, he felt his eyes water at the sheer hopelessness of it all.

Mark found himself nodding. “That’s the general gist of it”, he responded. And Mark pondered again; he remembered being naive, overly trusting, how it got him hurt over and over until he was jaded, silent piss and vinegar on the inside. He knew the people that ‘cared for him’, had been full of shit but he ignored it, he had ignored it so hard, preferring the sweet lie vs the cold hard truth. He simply couldn’t stop hoping things would change.

“You fought, in your own way, the war of acceptance”. The man Artis speaks up, a hopeless war but you fought it nonetheless, stupidly, foolishly you kept fighting. The man Artis grins.

“That heart of yours, such fury! How often did you want to kill those around you? But you kept fighting, controlled yourself”.

Artis takes a moment and continues: “but as much as I love a man who won’t walk away from a war, a fight. You wasted your whole life on pointless wars. It had no meaning, no value”.

”Is there a point to all this?” Mark’s sarcasm started leaking out.

“There is”. Nirvana says. “You have a deep connection with 3 pantheons, that of war, love and strife. We took the liberty to withhold Sadanis from this meeting. He overstepped with your previous life. You suffered more because you were given all three of his marks, his curses to feel the suffering more. A potent mark of strife, misery and suffering”.

“That… explains a lot”, Mark said. He always wondered why the pain never seemed to numb how it had always been so vivid.

“Because of how you lived your life you managed to build up an enormous, end of life karma” Nirvanna said. Artis took over.

“Karma builds up faster when decisions are difficult for you on a personal level. And as irony would have it. Most of the things you did, were difficult for you.”

Artis smiles again. “In a way, you banging your head against the wall, your whole life is why we can do this.”

Nirvana continued.

“Most people like you, with 3 of Sadanis marks end up as serial killers, school shooters or psychopaths, you held out though”.

Mark shifted uncomfortably, he was getting tense and tried to ignore how accurate it was

The toxic environment he himself had helped create inevitably led his mind to some very dark places. The urge to kill had become so familiar he didn’t even pay attention to it anymore. He hadn’t crossed those lines adhering to: A flawed evil man always living righteously, he had always felt horrible and ashamed for feeling the way he did. Now he was told it was basically some sort of curse?

Mark tried to take it all in stride, he had been a nerd and read many isekai stories during his last year, to keep himself occupied. The isekai part of what he found himself in didn’t bother him at all, the dissection of his character, was far to close for Comfort.

Mark sat there, listening to these two entities powerful enough to snuff him out and he didn’t have the puff to be scared or get excited but his annoyance flared, his gratitude response, for this second chance, was muted.

“A new life”? He repeated for posterity sake. “So this is like those isekai or rebirth stories”?

“That is right”, both Artis and Nirvana had spoken in unison, Nirvana smiled and motioned for Artis to keep explaining.

“Yes, a new life. We will impart into you a blessing that will function similarly as one of those game systems with data screens detailing your progress.

But I must warn you. This isn’t going to be like those stories where you read about people gaining power within seconds. The blessing we bestow upon you, will give you choices in the shape of skill sets, perks, discipline’s and feats. When you select any of these you won’t innately gain them but you will gain the innate knowledge and most efficient method of mastering these skills”.

Artemis waved his hand and a couple of screens appeared in front of Mark’s face.

“Take your time to look over the information and ask when you have a question”. Nirvana told him.

She took her hand away and as soon as she did the warm blanket was gone the all too familiar negative swirl of thoughts started to brew again. Mark paid little attention to his old negative thoughts and instead focused on the new shiny toys he got. Somewhere that little kid inside him stirred like it used to, so long ago.

Name

Mark

Role

Class

Strength

dexterity

constitution

13 (+1)

intelligence

wisdom

charisma

manifestation(none)

Available points

LvL

High Kin

human

the most common of the sentient races, their flexible nature means you will find them all over the realm, considered primitive by a few of the other sentient races.

Savage

you have a brutal and crude nature, you can handle the pain, some think you actually enjoy it and although you will keep standing when the frail drop dead, it’s hard to keep up with other people’s, progress.

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Where others gain 3 attribute points when gaining a attribute perm, you instead gain 5hp + con mod and 2 attribute points.

Hardy

You have one and a half the stamina you would normally have, based on constitution.

Distant wanderer

Perception

Expert

Your 5 senses are keen, sharp and sensitive. You have the Body Language perk

Intimidation

Proficient

Your ability to project strength and danger. Coercion, Respectful conduct, frightening and Taunting attempts are all governed by this skill set

Athetic’s

Proficient

Running, swimming, climbing, throwing things. You are a greek Athlete.

health perk: each health perk that you gain as a high kin will give you 12HP + 2x con mod and 1 attribute point. You gained 1 health perk from your race and 1 from your class.

attribute perk: each attribute perk that you gain as a high kin savage will give you 6HP + con mod and 2 attribute points. You gain 1 from your race, background and 2 from your class.

Mark skimmed the Descriptions of his background and skills, he had played dnd before and although it went into great detail and intuitive use of those skills, it only confirmed what he already suspected about those skills.

“Am I right in assuming I don’t get health per level but through health perks and attribute perks, due to my savage trait”?

Mark asked.

“Correct” Artis answered, “savage is my gift to you, it might sound like a trade off but the ability to endure and survive in the early stages are quite important. Survival rates from first level people are”, he paused, “not great. With this i hope you will make it through those crucial early stages. And truth be told given the chance calculations we did, you would have picked that one”.

hit points

stamina

195

class

discipline’s

Heart of Fury

Within you beats a heart that will beat to the drums of war. It is the cornerstone of who you are as a warrior. Your path is about mastering yourself, to make your heart drum with glorious purpose. Your heart holds onto fury much easier then others, you automatically accumulate it during battle and you may gain it when gaining confidence.

* Gain 3 additional fury

* Passively gain fury during combat

Specialization and mastery is limited; you gain +1 constitution for each warrior discipline.

Rage

Fire that threatens to consume all within your personal ragnarok. It is hard to find a warrior not capable of this, and is considered the ace in a warrior’s arsenal.

* Will significantly increase your morale when attacking your opponents and landing consecutive successful hits

* While rage is active all your close combat becomes more lethal as your natural inhibitions “to do no harm”, crumble.

I can Take it!

You are not completely right in the head, you have masochist tendencies, stopped caring about pain or you have an unhealthy tolerance against it. For most it’s a bit of everything, in your case mostly the latter. When in combat, you have mastered applying this into psychological pressure when you willfully take a blow in exaggerated fashion. The total sum of your crazed gaze, intense desire to hurt your opponents that ooze out of your very being. Resulting in a psychological attack that makes even the most hardened veterans flinch if their resolve fails them. They will find themselves stepping back involuntarily. This discipline scales with your ability to intimidate. Those who are of similar nature (trained in this discipline) are unaffected.

skills and perks

Hit points: general sturdiness of the body, the pain tolerance and resilience against death.

stamina: how long you can keep going. An 8 hour workday where you do heavy lifting will consume roughly 70 stamina, 8-10 per hour. Sleeping and proper rest at the end of the day will restore about half your stamina.

“Hardy must be a common trait among humans, otherwise we would never be able to last with regular work hours.” Mark mused out loud, after reading the description of stamina.

“Roughly 70% of the High Kin population is innately born with that trait”, Nirvana answered his question. “Those that don’t have it, usually don’t do heavy labor as a job.”

Mark took in all this new information. Most of it made sense, it reminded him of dnd but from what he could tell but it had notable differences, why did he have something called a role? what was ‘heart of fury’? And why was it a discipline?

Mark raised his hand. “Can I ask you something”? Artis nods: “go ahead”. “What does role mean”?

”It’s a clarification of what you will do in the new world. The world you will be reborn into is very much like those fantasy worlds you read about. Your role could be civilian, it could be martial, specialist, spellcaster etc. It determines in great part how you will function in the cultural setting”. Artis explained, he continued:

“Now due to the unique way you died quite a few things have already been predetermined. ‘Heart of Fury’, ‘Rage’ and ‘I can take it!’ Where all things you will be automatically capable of when reborn, you basically programmed it into yourself during your old life. Try and summon that rage you felt. The one you used to basically kill yourself”.

Mark frowned. He hated being reminded of what drove him to such an extreme act. But he did and as soon as he thought about the rage, it was there, stronger than ever, his heartbeat, a drum that stoked it further, the flames roaring higher and higher! He was going to rip and tear!

“Now let it go, put it away”. Nirvana spoke.

Mark was confused and enraged! how could he let go of this much rage? this stupid BI..!

He took a deep breath not wanting to test, how much of his thoughts they were reading or hearing. he didn’t want to go there and did as he was told.

Shockingly, the mere thought of putting it away felt like he sheathed something inside of himself. He felt… drained but not terribly so. A quick glance showed him that it had drained around 20 stamina tapping into ‘Rage’.

“It’s exhilarating to see how you have 3 disciplines of the warrior class without actually having access to the class itself. It is incredible really”. Artis got up and towered over Mark. Mark felt smaller than a single celled organism.

“Revel in your FUCKING accomplishments mark! And stop being a little BITCH! I like you, don't get me wrong but holy shit that bitching at the end”! Artis sits down fuming. “You are better than that Mark. You have more value than you yourself admit. And all that potential you had, wasted away”!

Mark sat there, having watched multiple apocalyptic endings of his existence pass by too stunned to feel afraid or respond. His mind didn’t even bother to grasp it. It was so surreal to him, all his piss and vinegar silent. He knew Artis was right; he himself agreed, he had been a little bitch.

”Behind all your walls, all your cynicism you had a heart that wanted to love and be loved”. Nirvana stated, not with the soothing voice she had used up until now. But cold, icy and devoid of that love. He felt himself freezing but his heart drummed in anger.

Mark ALMOST scoffed, but held it at bay, not feeling particularly fond of testing the boundaries of patience these two deities in front of him had. So he calmed down and let the ice get to him. Merely observed what it was doing.

“Don’t be a fool and fall for such one sided love again mark. You and your wife were… not compatible. The difference’s too stark. Neither of you could truly connect, you knew this, you have that ludicrous perception and you still continued on that fool's errand”, Nirvana said.

“What was I supposed to do? Leave”? His voice dripping with anger and jaded cynicism, it wasn’t directed at the two in front of him but more himself, “We had 4 kids by the time I realized all that. I couldn’t leave, wouldn’t leave. I couldn’t be that guy that left his kids to go get the fucking milk. I couldn’t do that, not to myself or them”.

“No Mark, you were scared to be alone”. Artis looked straight through him. “You were scared they would show you the silent contempt you knew they had out in the open. Confirm to you what you knew all along. You weren’t needed, nor wanted. And as understandable as it was after all the sacrifices you made, your relationship with your wife and children ceased to be a long time ago”.

Mark let it all wash over him, it wasn’t so much of shock as it was confirmation of what he already knew. He hated the truth, he hated his own fear of it more.

“So a second life. I appreciate it. Anything you can tell me? Besides the fact that somehow I was secretly, a bit of an unrecognized badd ass in my past life”? He smiled sarcastically at his own compliment still not really believing all of this.

“Yes you were in the end a flawed ashole that turned into a badass despite all the struggle”. Nirvana quipped.

“Ouch the goddess of love calling me an asshole,” he smirked, “that one hurts, a little.”

She smiled coyly.

“Look at that perceptive mind of yours. How long did it take you to figure that one out?” Artis leaned forward, grinning curiously.

Instead of answering Mark retorted with a question of his own. “How much did the relationship between the two of you contribute to the saying: all is fair in love and war?”

For the briefest of moments, the tiniest, most subtle flash of surprise flashed in both their eyes.

Artis and Nirvana both whistled, “no wonder Sardanis blew so much of his karma to give you his triple mark”. Nirvana commented, drawing Mark’s curiosity.

”What do you mean”? His mind burned with curiosity, the answer promised the age old question most people asked themselves at one point in their life. ‘Why me’?

“Because of your freakish perception, you would be so much more aware of how unfair life was to you, it would make you suffer so much more. Feel the pain so much more. Most of the deities were confused as to why he did that. And especially more so, on how he managed”.

“Your ‘god’, the one who manages your realm, your universe, is known by a few monikers since he doesn’t take a name. The Terrible, to other deities, chief among them.

He hates it when other gods mess with his realm, his crown jewel, his mortals”.

“Sadanis, never had that much interest toward your plane of existence.”

Before Mark could ask.

“Yes christians were right but completely wrong. In your universe he was your god. In the multiverse, he is one of the strongest but one of many”.

”How Sadanis managed to sneak into ‘god’s’ realm is anyone’s guess really. He hadn’t paid much attention to your realm, without magic and fantastical entities capable of inflicting mass suffering, his return on cursing mortals with strife was never really all that great when it came to your realm”.

“But I supplied him with a good return for his investment”? Mark asked “You did”. Artis replied. “Also that thing you Mortals do, that ‘science’ thing, got a LOT of deities interested, including Sadanis. That nuclear bomb is utterly devious and had many Deities, including your God, scratch their head on how to Manage that particular conundrum”

Artis Finished and Nirvana continued,

“The good news, is that due to your end of life karma and a few other rules, Sadanis may no longer inflict you with his mark, his curses. Still avoid his shrines in this new world alright? Wouldn’t want to test your horrid luck any further”.

“Alright!” Artis clapped his hands, “we have officially run out of time so i'm going to give you a crash course on this blessing that quantifies your achievements for you to browse, see and study.

Now when you are reborn, we will skip the first 3 years of life for you. Those first three 3 years might be a bit traumatic for your pride. Wouldn’t want that.

“We only have some control over where you will be born but you will be a high kin, this world’s version of human. Lifespan is about 300 years and they are a LOT hardier, and better looking than people of your past life. A vigorous active life will do that to you”.

”Now you will come across terms such as fury, flourish and focus”.

”All sentient beings have access to these sources of energy or resolve. It works a bit differently for each individual but the end result is the same”.

“When it comes to combat, this world has 3 main roles, martial, specialist and spell caster. Now you could distribute your available attribute points to become better at spell casting but the discipline’s that you already have, lean disproportionately towards the martial role. On top of that.. heart of fury makes the requirement to gain lots of mastery in skills, difficult. Blocking your path to become an effective spellcaster”

“The role of martial would make you a frontline tasked with”, Artis started listing things.

“mitigating attacks aka tanking”.

“taking on the big dude, brawling or dueling”.

”Line defense”.

”and line breaking”.

“You will be tasked with protecting your allies who if you do your job right, can control the battlefield with spells, or a dagger in the right place. In this new world, this trinity, is the status quo and in general it’s people are respectful towards either of these three roles, understanding the value each contributes.”

“There are also civilian type roles like farmer, government official, builder and yada yada but you don’t strike me as the type that would go for that”.

Artis takes a moment to gauge Mark’s response. After pondering for a moment Mark nods, “yea I like the sound of warrior in all honesty, do they get more of these crazed discipline’s like ‘I can take it!’?”

Artis grins and nods. “I myself in my mortal days was a warrior through and through. Most of my fellow warriors were batshit insane. Kinda like you. Now go on,” Artis teased, “you can show us that crazed smile you are holding back”.

Nirvana rolled her eyes at her lover’s antics.

Mark smiled, a savage smile, a dangerous smile, his reservations that had always kept him in check, crumbling, the damns holding back his rage, breaking. Then and there, he decided he wouldn’t take anyone’s shit anymore, a lifetime of that was enough. He was gonna fuck someone up he didn’t know who, he knew he was gonna.

“Look at what you did, my love he’s going all psycho”. Nirvana scolded Artis, who looked completely unapologetic and continued his explanation.

“A warrior excells in line breaking and brawling. They can tank and hold the line in a pinch and i would argue warriors are only second to knights when it comes to taking pain. But those fucks are nuts, usually zealous too”.

“A weapon master is someone that focuses almost entirely on 1 on 1 duels, they are best at this, so always bring a buddy”.

“A knight focuses on holding the line and tanking but don’t underestimate their damage output.”

“The Fighter is the closest to a warrior and the furthest removed. He or she is only concerned with winning, getting the job done. So they developed disciplines that allow them to perform well in any battlerole for a short duration really well. The most unpredictable of all the martial classes, is the fighter”

”Your greatest strength as a warrior is also your greatest weakness”.

”Momentum”.

“Once you get going you are unstoppable. But the technique’s to stop a warrior are well known. Dueling a dedicated fighter or weapon master will always feel like an uphill battle with your resources limited”.

“You will, even in a group, be a lone wolf. A hound that your allies will use to keep 1 of too many problems at bay. Because of this, the value and weakness of warriors is known. They usually don’t make it passed the first few levels due to excessive injuries”.

Mark heard it all, his brain noted all the significant drawbacks, how the warrior, as awesome as it sounded had a darkness and danger to it filled with blood and gore, screams and howls of agony, the rage he felt, already showed psychotic undertones.

There was a part of him that screamed, a part of him that said RUN! But the one emotion that suppressed it all was the overwhelming need to be able to overcome it all, win or lose. He wanted people to remember him, to stand with a straight back, with his own strengths.

A big sigh was heard that snapped him out of his pondering. “Look at his crazy smile, he’s worse than you were at that stage in your mortal life dear”. Nirvana shook her head.

”I know! Isn’t it awesome? Alright mark trial by fire! You will figure it out on your own! Besides, I don't want to spoil the fun!” With that Artis grabbed mark’s hand and slammed it down on the Palantir looking orb and before mark could respond he felt the flames consume him and all went dark.

A roll of the dice?

目录