“I’m going to be honest. There really is no other way to say this. We’re here again.”

“Yeah, I was going to say, but I’ll admit I was hoping I was misreading the situation.” I recognised the voice. It was the same voice I heard as Earth was demolished from basically underneath my feet. A lot had happened since then, but it would be nearly impossible to forget anything about those strange moments before my life shifted completely.

From down-and-out nobody to a rising star. Ostensibly blessed by Dionysus, I grasped at every ounce of power the System had offered me and came up smelling of roses. Lizard-flavoured roses, I guess, considering my shift into a draconic lineage. Looking back at the moment I chose to chase greatness in the form of a kobold, I smiled. Then, frowned. “So, this isn’t a dream, then?”

“Nope. While I’m sure you know this is entirely out of my control, a mistake was made in your revival process. Who could have seen that coming?”

“Not me,” I answered, voice dripping with sarcastic venom. I was once again relegated to a formless shape, only sort of existing in a place not quite the void, but right next door. My soul was stronger than the first time this had happened but I was still cast adrift until whatever this controller-being was doing resolved. “So… what does that mean?”

There was a noticeable pause. I couldn’t see the face of the being I was conversing with, but I would guess they were looking a little conflicted right now. “Not going to lie to you, Isaac,” the voice replied, using my once-real name and taking on a truly apologetic tone, “it’s not great. You’re probably not going to love how this will all play out if you were attached at all to your old life. The second one, I mean.”

“Ominous, but okay. Let’s say I wasn’t too attached. The ball was still just getting rolling, so to speak. What now?”

“Rolling with the punches will go well for you. The higher level workings of these things are truly indescribable to your single-digit dimensional mind, so this isn’t a perfect explanation but it’s close.

“The world you were living in, Gaia, has been returned to The Tree. This happens literally all the time, considering the whole vastness of infinity thing, but it’s still rare because… infinity. This is why I don’t like working with the mundane. Anyway, Gaia gone. People gone. All your magic gone. Think of it like jumping right back to the first time you did this.”

“Oh damn. So, square one… again? Do I get to actually see out a lifetime when you put me back or what?” Getting pissed off wasn’t going to help anything, I guess. Best to just get it over with, hopefully squeeze out some benefits if I can. What about Dion? The gregarious god of revelry, Dionysus himself, had been real. Was he gone, too?

I didn’t ask because for all I knew, that might get my god buddy in trouble. Not that I cared too much, either way. For myself, holding onto that little piece of secrecy was the same as keeping some control over the situation. If Dion was still out there, then maybe I wasn’t completely up shit’s creek.

“Mmm, I’d hesitate to say square one. More like, square one squared. Not going to fuck you over here, though obviously you can’t have too many advantages. To give you a little peek behind-the-screen so to speak, the Tree realigned itself to a new timeline. Normally, this wouldn’t even be felt by the highest of gods but you’re becoming something of a special case. Looking behind the veil twice? Lucky boy.”

I thought about the situation I had left behind on Gaia. It all felt… hazy. Like that time was the dream and this was the now. There was a callousness to the way my memories faded even as I tried to grasp at them. What had the goblins’ names been again? And that weird hyena bird thing… what was it called again? A Simurgh? Damn. That’s what I remember?

I tried not to dwell on the strangely distant sense of loss I was feeling and focus. Sounds like I would at least get some advantages or something from going through this situation twice. “A new timeline? Does that mean anything for me? Is there another version of me running around somewhere?”

“Oh, good point.” There was a strange grunting noise, seeming to vibrate the voidspace I found myself in. It stopped quickly. “Okay, no more double soul in the universe. Good catch, Isaac. We actually jumped back a fair bit, about eight aeons. Be we, I mean the Tree and the people who noticed it, which includes you, you little freak. All that to say, your puny little soul couldn’t handle actually moving through time, so I’m putting you back basically where I found you.

“On Gaia?” I asked, wishing I could raise an eyebrow I didn’t even have in this form.

“No, even better. On Earth.” There was a pause, I assume for dramatic effect. “That’s right little Earthling, your planet is back, with a new System built right into it. Well, in this timeline it never left, so I guess you’re the one who’s back, but let’s not focus on minutia.” Personally, I’d like to focus on the little things. Last time I was unceremoniously thrust into a new world, it was more confusing than it needed to be. This time, I wanted answers.

“Compared to you, I’m sure everything is minutia.” Was it even possible to butter up the being I was speaking to? Maybe, maybe not. I’d certainly try, though. I may not be the kobold I once was, but the confidence from that time had changed me intrinsically. “I know you’re incredibly busy and I feel almost terrified to waste your time, so shall we be quick? I’ll ask a few questions at once, and you just answer what you can.” With the strangest feeling of all, the void I was in seemed to nod. I took it as permission and hoped it never happened again.

“Okay, so. First, will I keep my form and powers? Second, if you’re returning me to Earth, why? Thirdly, is this the Earth I remember or some alternate version? Lastly, the System will be there, right?”

“Yes and no. Your soul is anchored to Earth, even now, so it’s mostly just easier on your soul. Not quite your Earth and to loop in answer four, yes the System is there, but not as you remember it.”

“Okay, what the hell does that mean?”

“Are you familiar with version numbers?” I groaned, and the being thankfully decided not to belabour the point. “So yeah, character wipe, world reset and level back to 1. Tough luck. Do you still want to be a kobold when you go back?”

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“To Earth? I’d stand out a bit…”

“Less than you might think once the Shift happens.”

Huh, interesting. “Still, if I could get an option list again, I think I’d look through it a little more carefully this time. I can’t tell you the amount of goblins that tried to tell me I had made the wrong choice in becoming a kobold. A drake would have been better. Kobolds are just goblins with scales.” I shuddered. Who knew there was such a fierce fanbase for the creatures?

“Yep, I can do that. Before I let you go, I’ll explain how the System works and how you can get yourself strong enough that this doesn’t happen again.” What followed was… strange. The amount of information I received was more than I could have learned in ten lifetimes, yet the actual dialogue was fuzzy and when I tried to delve into that knowledge, I found most of it locked off. An entire library of data had just been shoved directly into my soul, but without any way to pull the books from the shelves I wasn’t much more in the know than before. “That’ll work as a start. Once you return to your world, the packet of info will start to leak out as you need it.”

I tried to nod before remembering there was no body attached to my spirit. “I guess I should get to the whole returning thing, then?”

Yep. Stay out of trouble. Or don’t. New integrations are expected to be weird, so whatever you end up doing won’t be too far out there. Oh, and good luck, Isaac.”

There was no gradual shift in experience as I found myself shunted from the void. One moment I was floating in a strange nebulous nothingness as a being of pure essence. I had no sight, no hearing and no touch, yet I had been able to see colours with no name and hear the words of the controller. All very funky and cool.

Now, I was falling. Fast. I was still completely blind, but the sense of inertia was impossible to ignore. A primal part of my consciousness screeched in fear while another, newer part laughed. Humans were scared of heights, but dragons weren’t. Despite apparently having to start again, the marks on my soul had gone nowhere. I was Isaac of Earth, yes… but also Izaark of Gaia. Son of Byzametia, the last of the amethyst gem dragons.

I clutched at the pride even as I continued hurtling through existence towards the next step of my adventure. I was a meteor of pure potential, shooting through the barriers between dimensions and universes until I reached my own. Wherever I land, I decided, I will make my presence known. Treat Gaia like a tutorial and take the lessons into the next world.

It was almost strange how easily I accepted the change in status quo but it made sense, too. The ground under my feet had barely felt real, so when it vanished and I found myself adrift once more, the loss wasn’t so strongly felt. Perhaps it was the more violent emotion which I allowed to fester that made the weaker feeling less noticeable.

Avarice.

The first, most important lesson I had learned from becoming dragonkind was branded upon my soul in a way that simply losing memories could not remove. Gaia had been my world to claim. The goblins, my lair, the city I had been on the path to taking for my own… they were all gone. Stolen from me by an uncaring System.

Okay. It’s on, fucker. I was, of course, challenging the System itself. How could anyone feel secure when everything they worked for could just disappear in an instant. It made sense as to why souls were not usually made aware of this. Even now, every train of thought I had was a blazing wreck by the end of the line. All I could imagine was destruction upon a ruthless and unsympathetic System.

Right as my manic mind reached a fever pitch, with the only thing in my imagination the complete immolation of the Tree itself, my momentum halted at once. As luck would have it, the System itself had finally appeared before me. I didn’t have an eye to twitch, but the underlying desire was enough for me to feel the petulance was shown.

Species Options

The eggshell blue box with golden lettering was small and simple. I forced down my revulsion and slowly made my way through the beginning choices for myself. I took the time to consider everything I could before confirming any decisions. My time on Gaia felt more and more like a dream, especially as I tried to remember Earth. Was it sensible to become a human again? Once I focused on the System prompt, an uncomfortable amount of options appeared before me.

Humanoid Reptilian Avian Aquarian Demonkin Dragonkin Beastfolk Ceremorph Orkind Changeling Voideborne Luminary

Each option held an actual myriad of choices, none with less than five variations. Humanoids had the obvious ones, along with dozens I had no reference for. What the hell was a Flayerman? I did not want to find out, especially not with my own body. I looked through them all, but only two were actually going to be my choice. Ceremorph? Some kind of brain worm thing, apparently. No, thanks. I moved into the Dragonkin menu, once again surprised by the amount of choices.

Drake Wyvern Cloudeater Kobold Dragonling Amphiptere Hydra Wyrm Basilisk Coatyl Salamander Typhonborn Fafnirverg Chuvash Dragonewt

Honestly? Too many types of dragon. Didn’t they all eventually learn to change their shapes anyway? Anyway, I selected Kobold because fuck anyone and everyone else. I had found a groove and it was working on Gaia, so why not Earth? Moving swiftly on through the process, I reclaimed my old starting species.

Four major attributes, which I could tell governed a slew of things each. Fortitude, Speed, Mental and Will? What idiot chose those names? Apparently a level one Amethyst Gem Kobold gets 30 points spread randomly, with another 6 every level from then on. Except, obviously I got to appoint mine.

Name - Isaac/Izaark Race - Kobold (Tier 0) Level - 01

Title - None

Fortitude - 10 Speed - 10 Mental - 5 Will - 5

Free attribute points: 0

I knew from the information packet I had received that each of these attributes were easily as important as each other. Fortitude was more than just strength or endurance, overlapping with both Mental and Will in places. Speed wasn’t just how quick I could move, but also how fast I could think or react. Having a higher Mental attribute wouldn’t make one smarter, but it would let them become so by improving their memory. Will seemed the most straightforward, generally increasing how quickly or how often you could do something. Stamina and mana regeneration, that kind of thing. It probably helped keep one’s mind in check, too.

Either way, I had a plan for how all this might go down once I got to Earth. The controller being had said the System was coming to the planet, so me being a kobold would hopefully not stand out too much. If it did, then I would just take that in stride, too. I would ultimately try to claim my magic once more, as the feeling of unleashing dragonfire or magic missiles was simply too cool but I had also come to understand something in my time on Gaia.

Power trumps all.

As my body was given to me, remade by the System to be placed on Earth when the process here was finished, I recalled my torture at the hands of the seemingly pristine elf queen and could finally set my jaw.

People were awful. Some of them. Some were interesting and wonderful, but those were few and far between because of the first group. With that in mind, it was power which I would grasp first. Not magical force, not the soft power of alliances, but pure, unbeatable, physical strength. I already knew that a kobold could become as great as a true dragon, so I would just throw myself headfirst down that pathway until nothing could challenge me.

Until not even the System could take what was mine again.