[-Fate Erased-]
[-Initializing-]
In the enveloping darkness, there was a subtle stir. A faint consciousness awakened, jolted into existence. It felt akin to a fetus gaining awareness within a womb—unnatural and disquieting. The light twitches that jolted each muscle awake conveyed an absolute sense of weightlessness.
A loud ringing invaded their mind, their heartbeat suddenly discernible. Their eyelashes fluttered, struggling to open. An internal pressure urged them to open their eyes, but each attempt felt as though sand was being rubbed into them. Soon, they realized the absence of air entering their lungs, their hands feebly rubbing at their throat, choking on nothing. Every sense was overwhelmed by a numb burning and chill, every nerve screaming.
[-Finalizing-]
Suddenly, clarity and calmness began to ripple through their being. Everything slowed down and settled.
Instead of the confused, feeble attempts at functioning, it felt more as though they were awakening from a very long coma. Breathing eventually resumed, as if they had only momentarily forgotten how. Their eyes, once burdened as if by a mountain, now seemed possible to open with some concentrated effort.
Opening their eyes revealed a world devoid of light, a complete void. Their heart dropped at the terrifying sight, wishing they had never opened their eyes.
In a flaring attempt to block nothing, they raised their hands and stopped in surprise. They were well-lit, though no light source was visible. Their hand was pale and seemed to glow ethereally. Their skin was fair, but not delicate; after a moment of observation and noticing their nakedness, they realized their genderless.
Suddenly, a white plane with black text materialized in front of them, contrasting sharply with the surrounding void.
[-System Finalized-]
Then, as soon as it was read, another window replaced the previous one.
[-User Creation Toolkit-]
Suddenly, a very large plane appeared, filled with countless sliders and tools that could alter every cell in their body with enough patience.
Confusion quickly overwhelmed them, faced with a plethora of options. They found themselves speaking in a language that felt both natural and foreign, born out of their confusion.
“What the hell?”
The ‘System’ seemed to understand their confusion and swiftly altered its appearance.
[-User Creation Toolkit
Suddenly, everything was much easier to understand. While the previous options weren’t removed, they were now grouped and minimized. There was even a perfect image copy of them on the side, allowing them to see the changes directly from any angle.
Despite their hesitation, even after long moments of silence, there was no change. Not knowing where to start, they began by examining themselves with the tool provided. However, as they looked, they accidentally activated a feature that made a perfect copy of themselves appear in real space. It was devoid of a soul, an empty shell waiting for possession.
Reaching out, they tried prodding the face of the puppet and accidentally smashed its face as if it were soft clay. The deformity was terrifying, and the mistake was immediately reverted at that thought. The ‘System’ intervened once again.
“What are you? Where am I?” they questioned, their voice echoing into the vastness of the void, only to receive no response.
Adjusting to these circumstances proved absurdly challenging, not merely because their existence seemed to have just begun, but because they harbored a defiant certainty that they had existed before this place. The more they thought, the more they felt a burgeoning sense of self, like staring into a foggy mirror that would gradually clear over time.
Refocusing on the task of creating a body—since there seemed little else to do—they strangely found that their preferences became clearer the longer they molded the avatar. Identifying as male felt natural, as if it had always been this way. The idea was still jumbled, but creating a female avatar felt incorrect and appealing for the wrong reasons.
'He' began to mold the avatar into an image that struck a balance between correctness and attractiveness. It was a reiterative process, with frequent restarts and undos as he gradually approached the final product. Faint memories of a sense of self from some point before began to clarify, yet they remained so distant that there was little attachment to them. The process of creation itself was therapeutic; otherwise, he might have gotten lost in his thoughts and overwhelmed by confusion.
The features were refined into a slim-muscular male body that seemed a mix of both intimidating and sharp. Standing tall, the avatar held no expression, yet its stoic image seemed imposing, with tousled dark hair swept back. The eyes were the most striking feature: a jade-blue color with pupils as still as the void in which it was created.
Looking back, he felt quite proud of his avatar. Although difficult, the system's modifications were easy to learn. It was hard to judge how much time had passed since the beginning of the project, but in the absence of any means to perceive time in the void, it probably didn’t matter.
[-
A new 'notification' suddenly appeared. While he was immersed in the creation, he wasn't devoid of thoughts. He realized that the system messages he had been receiving resembled those familiar from video games and other forms of media. He promptly submitted the avatar.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
[-User Forum-]
The process of submitting closed the previous notification, and after a brief pause, a new menu opened. This time, instead of a plethora of confusing tools, there were boxes that appeared to be filled—a forum—something he understood in concept, though he wasn’t quite sure if he remembered how to actually use it.
Reading the forum was surprisingly easy; he wasn’t even sure what language it was, yet he seemed already fluent. Either the System had granted him this ability, or it was something he already knew. When he thought about it, he realized that he had been reading every window thus far without even noticing! It was obvious but not something he had directly thought about until now.
The forum asked for basic details: Name, Age, Blood Type. There were many boxes, but only a few seemed mandatory. He was stumped on a name and decided on the age of 26. For Blood Type, he chose O-. He filled out some options randomly and skipped others that seemed unimportant; did any of this really matter?
He kept coming back to the name and couldn't think of anything. For some reason, the Nordic snake Ouroboros came to mind, then he thought about the eyes he created… This left him in deep thought about how to make that work.
“Alden Ouro…” He felt little connection to the name but decided on it just to move forward.
When he finalized his name, the System seemed to acknowledge that Alden was done and flickered out. The void felt empty, until sensations like little snakes coiling under Alden’s skin began changing him from the inside out. It wasn’t painful as much as it was extremely uncomfortable. That was until the bones began to shift and something deeper and more fundamental started to transform. Suddenly, creaking and snapping reverberated through Alden’s body, each snap a shock of intense pain.
Alden wanted to scream but he had no mouth; everything was shifting, almost gelatinous in nature. Fortunately, the transformation was quick, and his body swiftly began to resemble the avatar he had created earlier.
[-Character Creation Finished-]
The new notification signaled the end of the transformation. Alden retched, but nothing came out.
"F-fuck, that felt fucking exquisitely painful!" Alden began to curse the System internally but then finally calmed down after inspecting his new body.
His new appearance felt no different except for the altered limb ratios, but perhaps the pain had already helped him adjust to every new and reformed muscle in his body. Still, he didn’t feel as powerful as his physique might suggest; it felt... perfectly average.
[
[-Analyzing Host Preferences…-]
[-Granting Operative Basic Access-]
[-Beginning Introduction Sequence-]
Notifications appeared in quick succession, making it hard for Alden to quickly grasp what was happening. Soon, the System began its operations again.
[“Welcome, {Alden}! I’ll be your assistant and will now engage in protocol and guide you through your first steps!”]
Alden felt compelled to respond with his most pressing questions, "What are you? Where am I? Why am I here?"
[“[1] I am your personal assistant that manages the tasks you choose to take and guide you on your journey! [2] You are currently in system space, you can customize it to your liking after your tutorial mission! [3] I’m unable to answer your final question, sorry!”]
Alden didn’t like the lackluster answers, “Why can’t you answer? Journey, mission?”
[“[1] Unable to answer question—Reason: No Data / Lack of Authority. [2] Your journey is tailored to you! Travel across the multiverse and do as you wish! The system is designed to help tailor a path to your needs and select objectives that fit your agenda. The tutorial is created to help you discover your ego and future agenda.”]
Alden was still quite confused, but he didn’t exactly have much else to say, “Okay…”
[-Generating Tutorial-]
A vast list appeared, seemingly endless, but it quickly began to narrow down and shift rapidly.
[-Select Mission-]
> Death Note Verse - Objective: Solve the case. | Difficulty: 2/10 | Time Ticket: 6 Years
> Harry Potter Verse - Objective: Graduate. | Difficulty: 5/10 | Time Ticket: 7 Years
> Kenshi Verse - Objective: Conquer | Difficulty: 9/10 | Time Ticket: 10 Years
Three options were presented before Alden, and strangely, he recognized each universe and knew the plot. It was as if a subconscious memory had been suddenly unveiled with a secret code word.
“Why do I know about these already? What does all this information mean?” Alden felt compelled to ask, concerned he might make an uninformed decision.
[“[1] Each mission is tailored to your preferences and relevant knowledge. [2] ‘Objective’ is terminology for how to clear the verse and reap the rewards. ‘Difficulty’ refers to how hard it will be to complete for the current user. ‘Time Ticket’ refers to the maximum time allotted to stay in the universe until being pulled out for hazard prevention.”]
Nodding to the information, Alden had a better understanding of his situation. “What else is there to these missions?”
[“[1] Caution: Since each mission takes place in an alternate universe created for media, naturally, another alternate universe will also watch and criticize. Hence, the user must act as a character within the show without losing audience engagement and closing the media verse prematurely, losing all progress!”]
“Wait, will I be the main character?” The thought of all that attention made him feel a little nervous.
[“[1] Negative. You will be a variable to the plot; your character is decided by how you assert yourself!”]
With a small sigh of relief, Alden continued, "What are the rewards?"
[“[1] Rewards are generated by performance and personal in-universe gains. Examples include: Training for 10 years will be in itself a reward; items consumed may alter your body and carry over; excellent performance may grant system privileges!”]
Subconsciously rubbing the corner of his eye, Alden mulled over the information silently. 'So benefits I gain there can carry over and then be used in future endeavors… only if I complete the objective, everything except practice won’t carry over if I fail.'
Looking back at the mission list, he immediately dismissed Kenshi. Why would he ever choose to live in a world for possibly a decade where he might be cannibalized or worse? It was narrowed down to either 'Harry Potter' or 'Death Note'; when Alden thought about it, the choice soon became obvious.
“I choose Death Note.” All he had to do was solve a case he already knew, so all he had to worry about was audience reception and potential gains. This is likely why the difficulty was so low.
“Wait… what happens if I die?” Alden suddenly realized why the world wasn’t simply ranked as a one out of ten but a two. If the main character wrote his name in the notebook, he would die.
[“[1] Host will be pulled out of universe before immediate death and enter a short coma. All benefits are lost and forgotten. Universe is also permanently closed!”]
[-
After a brief moment of hesitation, Alden accepted, and the void seemed to distort in color before he suddenly opened his eyes again.