In the deepest depths of purgatory lay the souls of the most legendary creatures to ever exist. Down there are souls of Dragons, Titans, Kings, Emperors, and there are even rumors of Divine Beings existing down there. However, we are at the top layer of the inescapable realm of purgatory. 

On the top layer of purgatory there is nothing but the souls of weaklings, people who did nothing in their lives and died early within their existences.

Two beings walk side by side as they make their ways leisurely through the first layer of purgatory. 

One of the two is a simple looking old man with an ashen white raven on his shoulder. A deep scar flows down his race from his forehead and over his right eye. Both of his eyes are white like snow, yet he doesn’t seem blind.

The other person looks a bit more sinister than the old man as charcoal black wings spread out from within his middle back. The infernal creature is over twenty feet tall and his body is riddled with horrific battle scars. The demon’s burgundy colored body is accented with flames and his eyes burn like two unyielding suns.

The two seem to be somewhat friendly as they converse with each other like they are equals. The souls within the first layer of purgatory cower in fear or flee as the dangerous duo make their way towards the staircase leading to the second floor.

However, when they make it to the entrance, the ashen raven on the old man’s shoulder screeches loudly. The old man is startled as this is very uncharacteristic of the raven, and proceeds to lean closely to the raven.

The raven whispers a few sounds into the ears of the old man, while he nods up and down repeatedly. The demon, known as The Warden, throws the old man a quizzical look and is antsy to proceed to the next floor. 

Without explaining his reasoning, the old man swiftly starts walking away from the stairway to the second floor and towards a grouping of cowering souls. The souls are so weak that they are unable to create forms and simply live out their unending lives as balls of pitiful ectoplasm.

The group of souls try to flee from the old man, however he is swifter than one would think and quickly herds the group into a corner. 

Having his prey trapped, the ashen raven on the man’s shoulder flies into the ball of souls and grabs a hold onto one with its beak. The soul tries to resist but is unable to escape the beak of the ashen raven.

The ashen raven retreats back to the shoulder of the old man and hands him the soul. The old man holds the quivering soul within his hand and slightly tilts his head in curiosity.

The old man speaks and a deep, raspy voice flows from his mouth.

“Hmmm. Are you sure about this?” 

The raven gives one nod, which gives the old man further reason to inspect the soul within his hands. Thoughts race through the head of the old man.

‘It seems so weak and cowardly, yet the Lord himself has chosen this soul… Maybe something about it is special that I am just not seeing.’

The Warden finally walks up behind the old man and is slightly frustrated they are spending so much time around worthless souls.

“Advisor, what is the hold up? Why are we sticking around here?”

The Warden’s voice is extremely hoarse and is so deep and powerful that the air around him trembles with each passing word. 

“Lord has already chosen, and this is the soul he wants for now.”

The Warden’s eyes burn ever brighter in surprise and have a hint of anger residing within them.

“What? Surely you jest! We have Dragons, Titans, and more down in the depths and the Lord chose this as his champion?!”

The Advisor shakes his head back and forth slowly. He takes a deep breath to steel himself and finalize this decision. 

“I am not one to joke around. The Lord has chosen this soul specifically. He said his reasoning was ‘It will be a tasty story to tell for millennia’ and left it at that.”

The Warden relents and lets out a sigh. This is their Lord’s first chance in a long time to retake his past position of power and The Warden does not wish to squander this opportunity. However, he is just a mere servant to his Lord and knows his advice will just fall onto deaf ears.

“Fine. I just hope the Lord will not regret his decision.”

The Advisor nods to this statement. He goes to cast a teleportation spell out of purgatory, but is stopped by the massive hand of The Warden grabbing The Advisor’s shoulder.

“Before you go, give it this. At least maybe then it won’t die immediately.”

The Warden pulls a bundle out of cloth that is wrapped messily around what seems to be a  battle scarred weapon.

The Advisor takes this weapon and nods his head in approval. He then swipes his left hand to the right and a bright blue circle of incantations appear below the man’s feet. 

After a few seconds and a quick chant, the blue circle rushes upwards, consuming The Advisor, his ashen raven, and the meek looking soul that still has no idea what is going on. 

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Where…

Where am I?

Last thing I remember was a bright flash and…

*SPLASH*

A large bucket of liquid is poured onto the head of the man who just regained some semblance of consciousness, causing the man to spring upwards on the beds.

He breathes in and out heavily as he wasn’t expected to be suddenly doused all over his body.

The man’s eyes spring open and search around the room wildly for the cause of this sudden disturbance. His vision is extremely blurry at first but slowly manages to focus on the objects around him.

It isn’t long until he notices an old man with a deep scar on his face and an ashen raven on his shoulder. The old man gives him a toothy smile and strikes up a conversation with no hesitation.

“Greetings my Lord. I assume the soul to body transfer went well?”

The only response The Advisor got back was his Lord’s mouth becoming agape and his brain seemingly unable to process what was just said. The Advisor sighs and realizes he has to start from square one.

“Allow me to introduce myself to your Lordship. My title is The Advisor and I have been sent here by our Divine God to guide you in your quest for glory and conquest.”

The man managed a response that wasn’t his mouth just laying wide open, but this one wasn’t any better as he choked when The Advisor mentioned the words ‘glory and conquest’. The Advisor continues anyways and gives his Lord no time to truly process what is going on.

“You have been chosen by our Divine God to create a kingdom with his name and lead it how you so ever please. We are currently on the giga-planet Liadum, and you currently own the city of Nippon.”

The name Nippon sent shocks throughout the soul of the man, and memories started to resurface. 

I feel like I’ve heard this name before… 

Yet I remember it being from a video game I used to play, but back then it was a full fledged kingdom.

More memories resurfaced and soon even the face of The Advisor became familiar.

He’s… He is the advisor from Endless Battle: Waraxe!

How could William forget? Endless Battle was a video game series that he had spent the better part of his life playing. Thousands of hours were sunk into this Grand Strategy game that let you pick a faction and conquer the surrounding lands. 

Each game varied, most being based off of history however the Waraxe series was different. It took place in a fantastical world in which rats created nukes, armies rose from the dead, and gods ruled the skies above.

However, that was a video game right? Then how am I here now?

William tries to remember as much he can, but he can only remember his past life up till a bright flash, and then everything afterwards is just a hazy mess full of incoherent thoughts until now. 

I wish my memory was so fucked, but I’ll just have to roll with the punches for now. I need more information before I can make a decision.

William tries to get up out of his but The Advisor tries to stop him. Unfortunately the Advisor is too late and the second William stands up his body falls limp to the ground.

“My Lord!” the Advisor yells.

“You mustn’t move around too much yet! Your new body is still trying to accept your soul and hasn’t fully grown accustomed to this change!”

Williams' breathing is ragged as the second he tried to stand his body felt like all of the energy had been siphoned out of it, causing his body to fall and barely be able to recover.

Even with his ragged breathing, William manages to choke out a coherent question.

“What… do… you mean… by new body?”

The Advisor helps William up and sets his Lord back down onto his bed.

“Your last body was completely annihilated so our Divine God graciously granted you the personal bodies they had within their collection. It is said to be a genius master swordsman that lost his life too early, however his body was able to be reconstructed and given to you.”

A cold chill followed by an intense shiver flies throughout Williams' body as he realizes that this body isn’t even his, it is borrowed! William feels like killing himself on the spot due to the fact he is living within someone else's, but also wishes to discover what is going on so holds off on that thought for now. 

Finally catching his breath completely, William tries to get as much information out of The Advisor that he can.

“Why me?”

“I’m sorry but only the Divine God knows that.”

“What happened to my last body?”

“Once again only the Divine God knows.”

William screams internally at these responses.

Of course he knows. If it is who I am thinking about then he knows everything! 

William lets out a long sigh and thinks about what to do next. He is still deciding on whether or not to trust The Advisor and this Divine God.

“What’s the first thing I should do?”

If he is The Advisor I remember then he will give me some sort of starting quest and I will be tasked with conquering my first city or winning my first battle.

“First on your agenda is meeting your servants, and appearing before your people. However, you must rest a little and regain your strength before then.”

Hmmm… Not quite what I expected but this is reasonable as video game logic cannot be used on something closer to reality.

William goes to lay down to get some more rest and is greeted by a soaked, uncomfortable bed. His temper starts to flair at the strangeness of the situation, his current lack of knowledge about his situation, and now he can’t even lay down in peace.

“If I am supposed to rest, why did you pour a shit ton of water on top of me, soaking my bed?”

The Advisor chuckles at this statement.

“That was not me, but the Divine God himself getting bored of your incessant sleeping. Also, I would suggest not using such vulgar language outloud my Lord. Your current town’s culture is very strict so try to use proper language.”

William sighs yet again and realizes his life is going to be extremely different than the peaceful one he was living before.

“Alright, can you at least give me some alone time so I can process everything?”

“Yes my Lord, I will be back in an hour to come get you for your meetings if you are able to attend.”

“Sounds good.”

…

…

…

The Advisor didn’t leave and William is confused if he was actually understood or not. The Advisor simply stared at the man, like he was waiting for something. William tried to think about what to say, and then realized he was a Lord of a town and his Advisor told him to use proper language, so maybe ‘sounds good’ doesn’t cut it.

“You're dismissed?” William asks like he is also searching if this is the correct answer.

In response, The Advisor bows and swiftly heads out of the room. 

William lays fall backwards onto his soggy bed and closes his eyes. Hundreds of thoughts race through his mind and he tries to piece everything together, yet his hazy memories and spotty knowledge of his situation hinder his process. 

Man… Just what have I gotten into?