You Have Died!

"W-what?" Max stammered, gawking at the glowing box in front of him. It looked almost like a text window from an RPG. He stuck out a hand towards the thing, surprised when he actually managed to touch it. It felt similar to a touchscreen as he ran his hand across it, though oddly chilling as well. It changed its content as he thought this.

Calculating Karmic Inclination...

As soon as he finished reading the new text, countless more of the things popped into existence. These new boxes didn't stick around for very long, disappearing after a couple of seconds and being replaced shortly after. Though unable to read most of them in time, the young man caught a few. 'Avoids Public Events: +3 CI', 'Holds Doors For Others: +1 PI', 'Highly Competitive: +5 AI'.

Despite how vague they were, he had a gut feeling he knew who they were talking about. If there was any doubt, it didn't last long when he saw one to his far left. 'Self Imposed Seclusion (5 Years): +10 CI'. That settled it. These boxes were talking about him.

"Oh, I get it," he said to himself as he shook his head, "I'm dreaming right now. I probably just stayed up too late playing Great Age again. I better wake up so I can go to bed for real." Now knowing that he was asleep, he tried giving himself a slap. Instead of waking up next to his computer desk and making sure he didn't drool everywhere, he was still in this black void... now with a stinging red mark across his cheek.

So this was one of those dreams. Couldn't just tell himself to get up. No, he just HAD to see what weird junk his subconscious had mixed together tonight. At least it wasn't the nightmare this time.

Status (SLEEP) is not currently in effect

And now his subconscious was somehow chiding him as well. Great.

Unable to do anything but wait, Max did just that. After a minute of the windows coming in and out, they finally stopped. The initial one made a cheery ping like a notification.

Calculation complete!

Dream or not, Max was curious what 'Karmic Inclination' he would have. If he were to guess, he'd be somewhere on the good side of things. As if reading his mind, the window expanded itself into what looked like a character stat spread.

Name: Max Magnus Makenzie

Jobs: None

Race: Human

Karmic Inclination: Chaotic Aggressor

HP: 100

MP: 100

END: 3

MET: 8

DEX: 8

STR: 3

APT: 10

POW: 10

Perks: Undiscovered

The young man blinked as his eyes scanned over those dark red words over and over. 'Chaotic Aggressor'? What was that even supposed to mean, subconscious? Did the inner him think they were some kind of ruthless warlord?

Before he could reflect on any self hatred he might have, Max began to sink down. This didn't register to him until he noticed the window appeared to be floating upwards. He grabbed at it in a panic, managing to get hold of the cool surface in time. His hands were on fire as he struggled to keep his grip, cursing his lack of exercise every second of the way. The text on the window changed once again.

Your world and patron have been assigned.

Enjoy your new life!

Max gritted his teeth as he tried fruitlessly to hoist himself upwards in defiance. There was no way in hell he was going to let some stupid box tell him what to do.

It disappeared. With nothing left to hold onto, he hurtled into the dark below. All Max managed to get out was a sharp, "OOOHHH SHHH-"

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He opened his eyes despite never having closed them, staring down at the ground he now knelt upon. Dark stone bricks, with some form of intricate looking circle painted on.

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Maybe he'd question that once he could manage to stop shaking. His thick arms were wobbling more than gelatin in an earthquake.

"Ah, finally!" Max managed to force his head up to see where the feminine voice had come from.

Sitting on a humongous throne made of glass was a dragon. She seemed to be looking over a scroll—hold on, a dragon!?

She was at least as large as three story building, and ticked every box you'd expect: scales, horns, four limbs, wings, tail, the whole shebang. Outside of that, every single color seemed to be present somewhere on her, giving her a look similar to a rainbow bird.

The most surprising thing to Max wasn't even the mythical creature that was sitting in front of him nonchalantly; it was how at ease he was after the initial shock. Even for a dream, he'd imagine he'd have been more terrified.

"Let's see here," the dragoness said as she pulled out a pair of reading glasses from seemingly nowhere. "Max Magnus Makenzie. 23 years old. Ooh, Chaotic Aggressor, just what I like. Bit of an odd stat distribution, but we can work on that. Died of a heart attack..." She was silent for a few moments. "at 23? 276 POUNDS?! What is this?"

She took off her reading glasses and put aside the scroll, looking down at the still kneeling Max. "Stand," she ordered sternly.

Body moving on its own, Max found himself standing and his shaking stopped entirely. He watched as a giant slitted eye got uncomfortably close, looking over him carefully. "Oh for the love of..." she trailed off.

With a resigned sigh, the dragoness moved back to her throne, a hand placed onto her snout. "I can't believe it. He gets a valedictorian, and what do I get? A NEET!"

"Hey!" Max objected without thinking, earning him a draconic stink eye.

"Quiet, you. I suppose there's no use lamenting dice that have already been cast. Now, where was I?"

The dragoness looked off to the side for a moment before getting a look of clarity... at least, that's what Max thought it was.

"Oh right! Introductions." She gave a light 'ahem' and looked back down at Max with a more serious look. "You have perished and left your soul adrift. Without any strong attachments to your world, it has been made the property of the system. One of the things the system does is send out souls like yourself to other worlds that need them. Following so far?"

Max nodded and she carried on. "In this case, it decided that you were best suited to be my chosen."

She looked over at nothing and grumbled. "One more reason I'd file a complaint if I could..."

"I'm sorry," Max interjected, "but what exactly do you mean by your chosen?"

Looking back to him, the dragoness put out her arms in a grand gesture. "I am the goddess Tiamat! The wellspring of chaos, mother of all monsters!"

This 'goddess' then pointed at Max. "And as one of my chosen, you will wrest control of the world in my name!"

The young man decided he would play along, but was having a hard time showing the same enthusiasm.

"And how will I do that," Max said with a flatter tone, "Ms. Tiamat?"

Despite shooting a sour face his way, she explained. "You will devour the world's current ruler, my brother's champion." She paused for a moment with a thoughtful look. "You only need eat the heart technically, but I say it would be a waste."

Max couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. "Devour? That's a bit much isn't it?"

Tiamat lightly chuckled with a dismissive wave. "Maybe if you were under another god's service. Some might ask that you get the dominant champion to concede, others that you simply kill them. My method shows total power over all others."

"Just so we're clear, you want me to cannibalize someone." Max crossed his arms. "I'm pretty sure that's considered evil in most places."

Rolling her eyes, the goddess stepped off her throne and approached. Instead of squashing him, she instead shrunk down to only twice as tall as him.

"It won't actually be cannibalism as you will see, but you should discard those ideals of 'good and evil' now."

She raised a hand to the side of the circle, which then raised a gigantic dark mirror, seemingly cut from the stone itself.

"Morality itself isn't important to the system, only how impressive your actions are. Those who make a big deal of it do so out of some misguided sense of superiority." She let out a short growl at the end of the sentence before turning her attention to the mirror.

"But enough of that for now. Lay your gaze upon this mirror and behold your enemies."

Max did as he was asked. He wasn't amused.

Staring back at him was an obese white guy with shaggy black hair and green eyes. His appearance was disheveled, looking like he just rolled out of bed. His pajama bottoms and XXL shirt with a skull-and-cross-bones logo further supported that.

She had just pulled up a regular mirror.

"Hmm? What's with that face?" Tiamat asked as she looked from Max to the mirror. With a surprised 'oh', she stepped in front of the mirror. "That's my bad. Let me just fix that..."

The dragoness started making complex gestures at the mirror while Max watched, puzzled. For a supposed goddess, she wasn't very formal. Dreams don't make much sense anyway.

"Alright, now it should work! Let's try that again," she mumbled to herself as she turned around again. "Ahem, behold your enemies!"

She stepped aside, allowing Max to see a different scene on the mirror. A man was sat at a long table with four other people, decked out like he came from an MMO. Large shoulder plates, tabard with a fantastical coat of arms, and an excessively pointy-looking longsword on his back. The others were in view, but they didn't catch his attention, and how could they? The man that he had his eyes on looked exactly like Max did in high school, just a bit older. Smooth face, neatly trimmed black hair, green eyes, and a healthy weight.

"Is that me?" Max questioned as he looked on. Tiamat bent her neck as she looked between them rapidly.

"The odds of that," Tiamat said to herself incredulously.

"What is this?" Max asked, not sure what was going on.

"That's a different version of you... and he's Bahamut's champion."

After a moment of silence, Tiamat squeed in excitement, coming off more like a schoolgirl.

"And here I was, about to complain about how many others he gets! This is a golden opportunity right here!"

Max felt the ground raise underneath him as a pillar, bringing him face to face with the colorful goddess.

"I apologize for what I said earlier, you could be just what I need!"

Failing to see what she meant, Max asked, "How am I what you need? That me looks like he could kill me by sneezing!"

Tiamat had an insidious smile. "I'll be helping with that. But as to what I mean, you'll know exactly what his weaknesses are! It's perfect!"

This was getting to be too much. Max's brain had overdone it with this trippy dream, and he didn't want to deal with it any longer.

"When am I going to wake up?" Max asked to himself.

"Oh, soon enough my chosen," Tiamat replied even though she wasn't the one being asked, "I just have a few more preparations for you."

Just like earlier, Max felt his body move independently of him. His arms were thrust out with open palms.

"First," Tiamat said as she raised her right hand over Max's left, "I grant thee my sub-system."

Out of her right palm flowed dark red tendrils of energy. Like a living creature, it snaked its way from her claws and to Max's. The sensation was invigorating, making Max's eyes widen as it slithered into him. As strange as it sounded, he felt like he was being 'licked' by electricity. Another one of those text windows from earlier appeared, but was colored a similar red.

You have accepted Tiamat's sub-system: Monarch of Monsters

"And second," Tiamat said while Max was still reading, "I shall make you one of my own."

Before he could object, his hand was cut open, drawing blood. He couldn't move in any significant way, body remaining rigidly still.

Tiamat slashed at her own hand, producing a trickle of golden blood. A drop fell into the Max's cut palm. The effect was immediate and excruciating, feeling like he was burning from the inside out. His bones creaked and shook, changing shape into something inhuman. Pain coursed through his body in a way Max never thought he could dream of, literally. And the entire time, he was unable to move an inch.

"That will be all for now chosen one. If you need my guidance, simply use my sub-system." She gave thumbs (claws?) up as Max continued to writhe on the inside, adding one last thing, "Good luck!"

Unable to bear anymore, Max fainted.