The window shrunk down to the corner of my vision, displaying a little hourglass animation to indicate it was still processing. Fair, I guess. A whole life was probably a lot of stuff to go through, even if it ended so prematurely.

The feeling of my very soul being held down a little too tightly by a metaphysical vice didn't subside though.

"Don't worry, the feeling will subside once the system is done processing things," the facilitator said, apparently noticing my discomfort.

I grimaced a little. Who knew how long that might take. There seemed little point in dwelling on it, though. "Right, okay, but didn't you say I'd get to have a say in all this?"

"Oh, yes, plenty of choices await! For instance, we offer just over twenty thousand different shades of hair colour to pick from!"

I whinced. So was that going to be the extent of my agency here?

Obviously noticing my disgruntlement, the facilitator raised their hands placatingly. "There are, of course, also more substantial choices to be made," they assured me. "For instance, our next point of order. Your Archetype and Class. Let me explain!"

And then they pulled out a powerpoint presentation.

"You see," they said, pointing at a floating screen just over their left shoulder, "we have designed Venatus as an adventure for everyone." And as they say that, a little corporate design of a planet appeares on the screen, surrounded by a vatiety of sillhouettes. Some were humanoid, I think I could make out some that looked like elves, dwarves, even some that looked kind of animalistic. However, most of them weren't. Those looked decidedly more monstrous, with a much larger variety in the number of limbs and teeth.

"To that end," the facilitator continued in their cheery tone, "we offer a large variety of different experiences largely sorted into three different archetypes. First we have the Adventurer."

Most of the silhouettes faded out, only the humanoids remaining. They became larger and changed into full-colour photographs showing me my earlier guess had been right. There were about a dozen different fantasy species, all kitted out like your average RPG character, with warriors, mages, priests and some more specialised kits.

"These present our most beginner-friendly option. You will be able to create a body similar to the one you are used to and choose a class that has been designed to offer an easy, smooth but certainly limited progression. Of course the class you choose will not define your experience forever, it's more like a set of training wheels to help you get a grip on things. Trying to develop counter to your class will be a little like swimming against the stream though."

"Fuck, this is real," I suddenly blurted out. The facilitator looked a little upset at being disrupted in their speech, but only for a moment. "Sorry, it's just... You really mean this, huh? I died and now you're gonna put me into some kind of fantasy adventure RPG!" Again I got that feeling that, if I had been physically capable of it, I'd be going into a panic attack right about now. "I'll never see anyone I knew and loved again, I'll be trapped in some kind of stupid game and you treat all of this as if I should be grateful for it? This is just so fucked up..."

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And that was it. There wasn't much I could do about it except throw myself into a possible eternity of nothingness. So I just sat there, staring at this personified business smile and really, really wished I could hyperventilate, or feel my heart racing, or anything that would let me actually feel these emotions.

The facilitator waited for a moment. Once it became clear that I wasn't going to say anything more, they sighed, somehow managing to make it sound entirely compassionate rather than annoyed. "Death certainly is, most of the time, very fucked up. I don't know what it is like usually, for other people. I don't know if there even is anything else. However, I assure you, it is my only goal to make it as comfortable a transition for you as I possibly can."

They waited another moment, but I was beyond words right now.

"Now then, would you like me to continue?"

"Sure, I guess, why not."

"Excellent. Next on the list we have the Monsters." Again, the pictures shrunk away and we're replaced, this time showing a variety of beasts. Some land based, some with wings, some aquatic. There was a giant spider, some kind of demon person and even an honest to god dragon. I think, just a few weeks ago I'd have been extatic at the idea of seeing a real dragon. Now, though? I didn't really feel much at all.

"These are a little more advanced. Instead of classes, this Archetype is all about gradual adaptation. You will be entirely free to shape yourself as you wish, even approaching humanoid form if you desire. However, that freedom comes at the cost of approachability. Unlike the Adventurer, you will not have any structured class system to relie on when in doubt."

They looked at me again, probably waiting if Inhad any questions or anything. I don't think I'd be able to come up with any if I tried right now.

"Then, lastly, we have spirits," and the next pictures became much stranger. Faint silhouettes and auras, vague shapes faintly reminiscent of of things too abstract for the conscious mind to recognize. I could feel my subconscious stirring though, as if the images were bypassing my brain entirely and going right into my psyche.

"Spirits are the most advanced option, I'd say. Their physical presence is very limited, and they are often restricted in how they can move through the world, bound by esoteric rules. However, in exchange they are like little gods in the places they are bound to. They have no rigid advancement system whatsoever, instead they grow by learning, shaping their surroundings and building an external powerbase."

Again, a pointed look, waiting for questions. "Just get on with it."

"All right, one last thing: though your Archetype Wil have a huge impact on your experiences, it will not lock you into anything permanently. They are more like guidelines than hard rules. Given enough time, effort and ingenuity, you will be able to replicate or appropriate anything the other archetypes might be able to offer you."

And again a look. This time waiting for my answer.

I felt awful. The vice-like grip around my psyche was still like a low, throbbing headache. Did my choice really matter? Everything I'd known and loved, everything that mattered, was still behind on earth. Irretrievably lost to me. So what was left? What was there to care about?

A little window appeared in front of me, three buttons. One for each archetype. I waited for a second, trying to find the strength to care.