Fire. Fire was everywhere. I felt that my very being was engulfed. I was being sucked into a void, a void that did not end. I fought against its pull as much as possible but could not win. My loss was close. The air was being sucked out, as my consciousness was leaving me. I still resisted but this time instead of fully resisting the pull I grabbed at it. I heaved on it with all my will. I would not fail. For my father, for myself I would not let it end here. I finally grasped something. It felt like the endless abyss itself was in my hand. What should have eaten me was now mine? This doesn’t make much sense does it? But who cares now there is a chance I might come out of this.

I decided to devour that which sought to devour me. I didn’t know if this would even do anything or if it was all in my dying mind as a delusion meant to assuage the dead and help them pass on. The cold that had seeped into me became as ice in my veins now.

I swallowed.

I felt it.

The surge of endless darkness was clawing at me. My insides screamed. I thought for a moment that I was somehow being burned from the inside out. But I knew with my entire being that instead of burning I was freezing. It is like when one puts his hand in a really hot fire and it feels cold. This is just the opposite. So cold it burns.

And so I burned. Burned like the darkest sun to ever set its self in the deepest pits. Burned with hatred and rage and the incongruity of it all. How could we be blamed for a man who chose to be killed instead of seeing reason? And the whole reason was because we would not forge him a sword? REDICULOUS!!!!

There was a pulsing around me. The darkness began to pulse. I still burned but it felt as but a simple bit of cold. Finally the dark itself cracked and light burst in through it.

I was blinded.

Wait I can see enough to be blinded?

Slowly the light faded but only enough to allow me to see beyond the chasm the crack had become. I floated out of the crack. There was an endless white room. Endless in that it was like the darkness but I felt I could see now instead of the lack of from before. I turned around and there was the crack. It was tiny almost like a scratch but so obvious as it marred the perfect white walls. Slowly at first and then faster pure blackness flowed out of the scratch and enveloped me trying to pull me in. Instead of succeeding it seems I absorbed it instead. This continued until the scratch itself disappeared. I’m mind boggled by this point. What is going on?

A voice. It was everywhere but nowhere at once. A deep voice filled with power.

“I have seen your plight young man. And give you this chance to live again. I have but one concession you must make to.”

I look around me but see no one. Slowly I answer, “I will live and find those who harmed us. I will live to see them gone. Tell me what you wish of me?” by the end my voice is almost screaming with my pent up fury.

Silence reigns for a moment. Then “I like the look you have. So I’ll make it simple. You may live again only if you use what you make use of the tool I give you. It will work in perfect conjunction with what you wish to accomplish. A small trinket, but it is powerful. Will you accept it?”

I thought for but a moment. “Yes whatever it is I will take it. You who have given me this chance will be my god.”

Laughter explodes from all sides. “I’m no one that special, hah, but if you really want to then just call me Loptr.”

“Then, Loptr, you will be my lord.” I try to bow but everything looks the same now. So there is really no telling up from down.

“Well then have fun with your second life. I will pray you are able to get what you desire.” And then the silence came.

Slowly the white room changed to a gray room with seemingly endless horizons. I waited here for a bit wondering what was next. I still felt the cold, but it was a familiar thing to me now. It did not feel as it did before like and endless nothingness trying to devour me. Instead it felt like an endless nothingness that was inside me. Not much of a difference but the thoughts were what counted.

Time passed in this state. At least it seems that it did. Maybe no time passed at all.

A voice rang out from everywhere.

-The scan on your iris and vein…wait a second your not a player!-

The frantic sounding person seemed to be upset about me not being a player. Well good I’m glad I’m not one of those indiscriminate killers…yet at least I guess.

-It seems there has been an error. One moment p-

Her words were cut off. It seems like a lot of people are not allowed to finish their sentences lately.

-Thanks for waiting I am the admin of the account registration A.I. we noticed an abnormality within our A.I. It seemed to be trying to state to us that you weren’t a new user but instead were also an A.I. We’ll be manually logging you in as it seems we need to perform some diagnostics on her. Sorry about that.-

A new voice rang out after the other female one was cut off.

I thought about how to answer this and decided I should just go with the flow on this one. “No problem sir. I understand that these…what was it again… A.I.’s? Have many erm, problems.”

-Nah it’s just that sometimes they act up funny. We’ll get her fixed in no time no worries. Anyways its not like what she says has any premise here since its obvious to us here that your data is legitimate.-

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He sounded somewhat annoyed about the A.I. thing. Oh well at least he’s not about to remove or something. But I wondered how he knew I was a person and not one of those things he talked about.

So I asked. “Um, sir? How is it that you can tell I am a person and not one of those, eh, A.I. things you were talking about?”

He sounded a bit surprised at this but readily answered.

-Ah we are monitoring your brainwaves and heart rate right now. Plus we have a retina scan and genetic imprint right now in our system stating you are a legitimate player-

I had no idea what all that meant but apparently I passed? Oh well.

-Alrighty then. Lets get started. Let’s see here what was the order of this stuff again. (papers shuffling) Ah here it is. Select the name of your Avatar.-

Hm I wonder if I should use the same name I’ve always had. Ah well not like they will recognize it anyways.

“Devant.”

-Ok. Next select your gender from Male, Female, or Neutral. Though it would be kinda weird for you to be a female or a neutral since you sound preeetty masculine bud.-

Boy can this guy give an opinion. Not that I don’t agree with him. And since I never even knew you had a choice as to your gender before I guess it never really mattered. So I just went with who I am again.

“I’ll just be male then since I have already been one for so long as it is.”

The sound of chuckling could be heard.

-Ah that’s a good answer. I like that. Next, what race do you wanna be? Royal Road has fourty-nine races. You can select from the primary 29.-

Well, this was a bit weird for me. I didn’t even know you could be anything other than human and be sane in Versailles.

“Um, I honestly don’t know. What do you think I should be?” I asked. I seriously had no idea.

-Well let me use this scan and see what pops up as the best option.-

I hear the sound of clicking echo around the area. This room is really strange with voices coming out from everywhere. Finally there was a BEEP sound.

-Hm well the search came up with 3 options. Of course if you want to hear the whole list later that’s fine too. The search has Human, Elf, and Void on it. Wait void is supposed to be a forbidden race. That’s odd. Well whatever it came up in the search so you can choose whatever you wanna be.-

He said this breezily. Man this guy was pretty relaxed it seemed.

“Well I don’t really like elves much. And being a human hasn’t gotten me very far so far.” I said this with only a pinch of venom. I really had to hold back from getting really mad. “so I guess I’ll be a void then.”

-Ok. A void it is. Odd that it popped up. Ah well. What do you wanna look like?-

I didn’t know that I could choose my appearance too. But I guessed that made sense considering I had already been asked so many other options.

I thought for a moment carefully and decided that I wanted to be a nightmare for any who saw me. I wanted to be the end for them as they were for my father and I. So I think I’ll allow my race decide my appearance for me.

“I’d like to be five feet ten inches tall. I want my hair to be shoulder length. I’d like to use my normal appearance as a base and allow the rest to be modified by the racial characteristics.”

I decided this based off two things. One the word void reminds me completely of what is inside me. So I think it will turn out pretty well either way. Secondly, I believe that altering my appearance manually would ruin the effect of the revenge I wanted.

-Ok. Here’s what you look like with all that in mind.-

It was perfect.

Everything about that body screamed that death was here. The height wasn’t even right since I said let the race affect everything anyways. This body was six feet tall. It shoulder length hair at some points but near the center of the head the hair went all the way down to the waist. The body shape was not overly bulky but had a sense of power to it that was undeniable. The head had four horns going up it. Two larger middle horns and two side ones which were swept back just like the hair. The nose had a strong bridge. The eyes were almond shaped and when the body blinked became slits. The pupils themselves were slashes. The appearance was almost lizard like. I wondered if I would have the ability to fly then noticed two nubs on the back of the creature just atop the shoulder blades. I guess that answered that question. I pondered this appearance for a moment then decided it was perfect.

“This will do nicely thank you sir.” I said politely.

The voice seemed to sigh with relief.

-Well everyone has their own tastes glad you like it. So last thing is to select a city and Kingdom you will start at. Oh hold up. Ah never mind. Thought something had popped up for a second. Ok so where do you want to start?-

I was curious why he paused for a moment and what might have popped up. But that was a passing thought and I was back to thinking about where I should begin. Then it hit me. I should start in the city I was born in, the same city that those men were in, the same place where I died. The Kingdom of Joren.

“The Kingdom of Joren.”

-Perfect. Well then welcome to Royal Road then. Have fun!-

I will. Oh I will.