“10,000 stages of rebirth
All will try, Many shall die
For only one will find self-worth.”
-Source Unknown
“Qhyhu jrppd jlyh bry ys” an old man with long, white hair, madly flipping through the pages of an ancient tome, reads aloud. Dirty rags riddled with holes covers his thin, frail-looking body. He was in the middle of a giant library with an area farther than the eye can see. Every single bookshelf is filled with books with identical titles and covers and an occasional moving stream of black smoke can be seen in the distant.
“Well it’s about time. It does not take a person 52 years to find a single phrase. I was getting bored,” a voice rumbles.
“Well I humbly apologize that fighting all those imprisoned gods did not entertain you,” the old man retorts.
“I was entertained but only for a moment! After you killed nearly three-quarters of them, they don’t even approach you anymore! They don’t even destroy the books! I haven’t seen any action since then! And now that you’ve finished, I won’t ever get to see you in action again,” the voice complains.
“Well, I’m glad that I’m not your entertainment slave anymore.”
“Aww. You don’t mean that. I know you love the spotlight.”
“Because I’d love to taunt death.”
“Oh c’mon, that’s entertainment, baby. The audience gets what the audience wants! And it only happened once.”
“Once? You were supposed to warn me when one of those gods snuck behind me. If it weren’t for my sixth sense, I would’ve died! And what audience? You’re the only one watching me!”
“Correct! I am the sole audience of this show I like to call “Loud and Obnoxious Library.” I’m also the producer, writer, cameraman, co-producer, lights, mechanic, host and safety regulator.”
“Safety regulator? I had multiple near death experiences!”
“Well, the producer bribed me with a few coins. Oops. Teehee.”
“What’s with th-. You know what, I’m finished talking with you, Axis.”
“Oh don’t be like that. We still have some more time till he arrives! Don’t you want to spe-. Oh blasted. He’s already here to pick you up! I guess I’ll have to leave now, I’ll miss you. Keep in touch. Hugs and Kisses! XOXO! Toodaloo!” the voice sputters before starting to fade away.
Seconds after the voice left, the ground starts to shake. The stone floor fissures apart as a massive, metal door emerges from the crack. A charging tusked beast is smelted onto the door; circular handles, connected by red chains, hang lifelessly, like a nook; and scenes of war and massacre is carved into onyx door frame.
The door slowly creaks open, letting out a green light that lit up the entire library maze. A young man with curly, brown hair steps out of the gate and approaches the old man.
“Mr. Cygnus, welcome to the final stage of the Circle, Resurrection,” the young man says in a businesslike fashion.
“And you are...”
“Who I am is irrelevant, Mr. Cygnus.”
“What will I call you then?”
“You do not need to refer to me, just ask a question or state a statement. I will respond,” the young man smiles.
“Well, okay. Did you know you had Fifty Shades of Almost Black in your library? I had to read the entire damn thing, aloud. Do you know how much I had to suffer?” Cygnus asks the young man, a little annoyed by his attitude.
“I am sorry you had to read that, Mr. Cygnus. I was under the impression that we had already taken that out. I truly apologize,” the young man says, bowing.
“I expect that book to be taken out ASAP. I still have nightmares! Alright enough horseplaying, what do you got for me?”
“As you wish, sir,” the young man bows, “I am here to guide you through the Circle and to your next life. Your next life will be determined by the number of points you have accumulated during your stay. In addition, points can be used to purchase packages that will give you a headstart in your next life. Now let us calculate your total points.”
The young man’s orifices glows in a white light, as if there is a light source within him.
“Base score calculated to 100,000. Bonus points for first to finish the Circle, 50000 points. Record Time, 50,000 points. Congratulations, you have a perfect score of 200,000,” an almost robotic voice spits out.
“Not too shabby,” Cygnus smirks, rubbing his chin.
“Due to points exceeding 150,000, a deity position will automatically be given to you. You may buy any packages on this screen. Any leftover points will be disposed of. Enjoy.”
A rectangular screen pops up in front of Cygnus displaying a large list of different package encompassing every topic the universe has to offer, from cosplaying to harem kings.
Each topic consists of five types of package: Trash, Basic, Good, Excellent and VIPs Only. Each type consists of an improvement of everything the previous package offers in addition to their own content. The price of the packages are ten times more expensive than the last. Though the price tag increments at a constant rate, the level of content rises exponentially.
Cygnus scrolls through the screen, reading each and every package with extreme scrutiny.
“This Chaos package looks fairly decent. Will of the Primordial Chaos God, Deity Level Mana manipulation and Chaos affinity. And all for 100,000 points! Add the VIP esper for 75,000 and the VIP craftsman for 25,000 and I’m good to go! I have magic, melee and items! Glorious! I’ll take these three!” Cygnus shouts out, patting himself on the back.
“Very good, your balance is now 0 points. Would you like to continue shopping or face your judgement?” the blond replied.
“It’s not like I can continue shopping. I’ll face your judgement.”
“Very well, please step through the door,” the young man says as he steps aside and motions towards the flickering green lights.
“Wait when do I get my abilities?”
“In the next life, Mr. Cygnus,” the young man smiles, still pointing towards the door.
“Fun! Let’s go meet this of yours. Geronomi!” Cygnus shouts as he takes a running start before leaping into the light. The walls of book and the cavern ceiling disappears, replaced with foggy green light. The fog is thick, allowing only for vision up to arm's length while the cold wind digs itself deep into the body like a cold knife penetrating to the bone.
“Oi, where am I?” Cygnus cries out, hoping for the young man to answer. After a few moments without answer, Cygnus cries out again, “Hello? Anybody hear me?”
His question is answered with silence.
“Well, shit! I thought that kid is supposed to guide me through my ordeals. Where the hell is he now?” Cygnus shouts into the air.
Within a few minutes of constant flying, or maybe it was sucking, the tunnel exits into a bigger tunnel. What looks like white metal plates decorate the walls while roads made of light are tangled about each other like headphones left in a pocket. Balls of light were flying across these light highways at high speeds like they were late for work.
“Now, that’s a surprise,” Cygnus mutters to himself as he is whooshed away.
The intertwining highways, little by little, faded away until there was only Cygnus’s path. All around, there was only white to accompany him on his journey.
The trip took three days of extreme boredom and bordering madness until they arrived at an eastern looing palace. The path leads path the two jaded lion statues, under the red arch and into a red wall that stretched as far as the yes can see.
As Cygnus passes the jaded lion statues, he notices that they weren’t statues at all but actual living beings. Just by glancing at them, Cygnus could feel his leg grow weak from the difference in power between them. If Cygnus was a pebble then the lion would be comparable to mountains.
Next came the red arch. As Cygnus passes underneath it, a ray of light from above shines on him, burning a mark onto his chest. The mark is circular in shape and consists of different strange runes within its perimeter. Inside, five more circles with runes were seared in while lines connected the different runes together and in the center is a dragon.
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Pictures were carved all along the poles that held up the arch depicting people completing various tasks such as bullfighting, reading books, sweeping the floor. To a normal person’s eyes, each of the picture may seem completely random but to Cygnus, he understood the patterns.
“Those are the 10,000 levels,” Cygnus think aloud, “And that one strangely looks like Epsilon during the Race of Immortals. And that’s Leylie during the World Conquest level. These pictures depict the winner of each level.”
Cygnus stares at the passing pictures, reminiscing the past, remembering his friends. One by one, he moves pass the lingering memories, looking onward. As he relives the experience, tears starts to form in the corner of his eyes.
The pictures slowly pass by and finally after the 9999th picture, the picture of an old man in front of an endless maze of books appeared. His face was weary and wrinkled, his clothes dirty and ragged but his eyes shone with of determination and vigor as if he was giving the finger to those above him.
Time quickly passes by and the gloomy mood is replaced by the bright beams of light. In front of him, stood an immense red wall. It looks like it was built out of bricks but upon closer inspection, you would find that it was built with accurately cut gems.
“It’s made out of dawn crystals?” Cygnus gapes.
“That is correct, Champion,” a voice says out of the blue, “Welcome to your Judgement Day.”
“Wh-“
“Now before you have any more questions, let us meet face to face, yes?”
A magic circle appears under Cygnus’s feet before he disappears into thin air, materializing into a throne room. Before him was a huge man with blue skin with a pharaoh's beard. He dons upon a white robe embroidered with scenes of animals and a strange hat. His orange, braided hair falls down to his shoulder as his white eyes stares Cygnus down. He sits upon a huge throne that resembles more bed than throne.
All around Cygnus were officials dressed in black robes and strange hats, kneeling on the floor with their foreheads touching the ground, lined up in rows after rows. Cygnus scans his surroundings, confused by the change of scenery.
“We meet face to face, Champion!” the blue man thunders. His voice is deep and archaic, like he has billions of years of experience under his sleeve and probably does; it grips onto you and doesn’t let go, compelling one to obey the man.
“I am Osiris and I will be your judge today,” the blue man says.
“Very nice to meet you, Mr. Osiris but I’m afraid your coworker has a bit of a problem with names.”
“Ah yes, well it’s classified information. So until you’re one of us. You’re not getting his name, sorry!”
“Ah, fine! Let’s just get this show on the road.”
“I do agree,” Osiris says while nodding to one of the kneeling officials, “Fetch the scale and feather.”
The official immediately scampers away through one of the many entrances to obtain the items his master desires.
“Now, while he is off to get the required materials, allow me to explain to you how this judgement things work. We will first remove your heart from your body then weigh it on our Scale of Life in comparison to the Feather of Truth. If you’re heart is heavier, you won’t be reborn until the problem is fixed. If the heart is equal or lighter, then you may pass,” Osiris casually says.
“Did you just say take out my heart?”
“Yes, why?”
“Do you mean like, cutting my chest open then removing it?”
“How else?”
“Yeah well, Mr. Osiris, as much as I would love to be dissected for your little experiments, I’d have to decline.”
“Well it’s too late for that already, we already took it,” Osiris shrugs as one of the officials brings forth a beating heart on a silver platter.
“What!? How?! What!?” Cygnus’s eyes are wide opened in shock patting himself to search for the wound.
“Secret,” Osiris laughs.
The official that had left comes back running with a golden scale and a glowing, white feather in hand. He kneels and offers them to the blue skinned judge.
“Very good,” Osiris says as he takes the items. The official immediately scurries back into the crowd.
“Now, let us weigh your sins against the feather of truth. If your heart is heavier than the feather, it means you have accomplished much evil and will be punished. Equal means the good and the bad have cancelled out thus no punishment nor benefits will be given. If lighter than the feather, then a gift chosen by you will be given,” the blue skinned judge continues. He flips his hand and the scale jumps into the air and carefully places down the feather like he was trying to diffuse a bomb, before carelessly tossing the heart on.
“Hey! What’s with my heart being treated like trash!” Cygnus angrily shouts.
“Don’t worry it’s sturdy,” Osiris nonchalantly replies.
“But that’s the first champion’s heart, shouldn’t you treat it with more care?”
“As you said, it is the champion’s heart, it’ll be extra sturdy,” Osiris mutters mindlessly, intently studying the scale as if it was the answer to life.
“But it’s still a heart! My heart!.”
“Shush now, I am busy,” Osiris waves his hand continuing to stare at the scale like a statue.
By the time he was done, Cygnus was bored out of his mind. He started to touch and harass the various officials, pulling their robes, curling their mustaches, stealing their hats and toher various mischief until the frozen Osiris was finished.
“I have reached a conclusion!” the once frozen statue suddenly shouts.
“It’s about time,” Cygnus says picking the nose of one of the kneeling officials.
“How long has it been?” Osiris asks.
One of the officials with a sharpie drawn mustache and glasses replies, “Two days and 17 hours, sir.”
“I must apologize to our guest for the delay. I usually do not take this long but yours was a special case.”
“Special as in?”
“Special as in, you’ll find out about it yourself.”
Cygnus throws a facepalm,”Won’t you ever give a direct answer?”
“Nope.”
Cygnus throws an even harder facepalm,”Alright, you win. Just tell me what’s next on the todo list.”
“One of the perks of being a champion is designing your own custom race. Since you are a god, your life is your worshippers. The more you have, the stronger you get while the opposite is true. If all your followers die or leave, you die as well. That is, until someone else starts the religion again Thus having a custom race is rather beneficial to you.”
“And exactly how does it benefit me?”
“You can modify every aspect of your race, from the physical parts to the psychological parts. Of course, you can always create your own race in your new life, since you are a god afterall. But can your powers compare to that of the multiverse?”
“Oh, that does sound quite interesting, then. I think I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“Let’s see how you fare,” Osiris laughs as he waves his hand over Cygnus.
A blue box swallows Cygnus and he soons finds himself in a different area. Lines of floating 1s and 0s make up the world around him.
“Welcome to the Creation Menu,” Osiris’s voice breaks the silence,”Create what you want and how you want the way you want. The only limit is your imagination! But be careful, just because there aren’t any limits, it does not mean it will survive in your next world. So just keep that in mind.”
A holographic 3D image of a sphere pops up. Surrounding the image are a variety of different boxes that points to different parts of the body.
“Let’s get started,” Cygnus grins, cracking his knuckles.
And thus Apophis, formerly known as Cygnus, was born..