I had died, kicked the bucket, shuffled off the mortal coil, pushing up daisies, and so on and so forth. How I was still cognizant and thinking I had no clue; however, wherever I was, it was nice. That was of course ignoring the unknown amount of time I had panakcied about my current circumstances, without any body one could get wrapped up their own thoughts easily

I didn't have eyes to close or a head to lean back, but I liked to imagine I did such things. This warm, primordial blackness that I dwelled in made me want to rest, like how your eyelids tugged ever downward when you were tired.

I couldn't; I didn't have the functions, either. I had tried dozens of times, screaming, thrashing about, and many more things. I didn't have a body to do that. Did this mean I was just a soul? I didn't know, and I could feel that faint numbness pulling at the edges of my mind.

So, I relaxed and let my thoughts fade away. I couldn't even be sure that time had passed, and if I was mortal, I was sure that the nothingness would have been maddening, but it was just relaxing.

However, I was broken from my rest when a voice much like that of a slightly feminine voice sounded out in the void: "The heavens crumble as they did for more than thirty thousand nights and dreams. And as time passes by without mercy, this moment shall mark another opportunity for change."

I started as the voice spoke. I didn't have eyes to blink in shock or breath to catch in surprise, but this was the first sign that something else was here. Heedless of my shock, the voice marched on: "This is a predestined message that is meant to explain your situation to you. Another hundred years had elapsed, and so you are meant to take the Eleventh seat from a long line of people like you. Whisked away from your home, you were brought here to do the work of heroes and gods-"

Another voice cut the speech off, this one somehow red like blood. I could almost hear the dripping in the corner of my mind. "Enough. Nobody cares about any of this. You've died and will now be reincarnated into another world. You'll keep your memories and get to decide your new fate," the voice explained, but underneath that, I could hear a faint hiss of anger.

"I'm sure you're a smart enough monkey to figure out the other details along the way. Let me make one thing clear: you don't deserve this boon. So I'll be making things harder for you to balance this out," she continued, her voice still carrying the quality of red—the faint sound of dripping blood stained my nonexistent ears.

Then, as she stopped talking, information filled my mind. They were all choices, dozens of them. My mother and father, if I wanted to have siblings or should they be stillborn. Kindling inside me, I could feel a faint golden flame, energy to build my own destiny.

I got to work, time didn't exist here, so I had no clue how long I spent thinking and musing, but as I made choices, that golden flame burned lower and lower until it became guttering embers.

As each option was slotted in and the flame simmered, lower, euphoria filled me. Grander than my meager attempts at painting, sculpting, or writing! This was the very act of Creation itself! I was writing my own tale, and even as I spent my precious energy, I would have grinned if I had a face.

However, as I reached near the end, my thoughts stumbled to a halt as laughter filled this formless space from who I now knew to be 0^0, the Usurper and holder of the bloody Seat of Causality "Now, don't you see it? You and everybody you love will die. Nothing will guard against it, over the course of eternity the smallest chance becomes certain. I can guarantee this with absolute certainty. Accept this." She told me, perverse glee filling her voice as the drip dripping of blood stained my thoughts.

"Luckily for you, you get to have a say in how it happens. Look over the God Script and determine which letters shall mark the ending of all those you've chosen." This time she was annoyed and upset but her voice faded away without further comment. I on the other hand was still frozen as what seemed to be an entire alphabet was crammed into my head.

Az is I am, Buki is God, Vedi is Know, dozens more letters and the bare basics of their meaning swirl around my nonexistent brain. The golden flame of potential was burning lower in my chest as I tried to think about how not to condemn my new family to horrible deaths.

"Psst, hey!" A young, almost childlike voice whispered into my mind, breaking me from my fugue. Her voice was a brilliant gold and flitted in and out of my mind like ephemeral magic. "Pick my mark, and I'll grant you a boon; how does cheating death sound?" "Do not interfere!" 0^0 shouted, cutting off the other voice. "Do not listen to her. She'll merely play with you before throwing you away, just like all of her other toys."

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I wanted to reply, but I had no voice to speak with, so I could merely listen and think. I didn't know who the gold voice was, but she was another goddess, and if I could cheat my Destined Death, I would throw my lot with her.

That didn't absolve me from having to pick. I could avoid it; looking at that mark, I would be born with the knowledge of how to cheat death, but I still had to put it into practice, and the others who I chose wouldn't be free from Destined Death unless I helped them.

Buki, meaning God, was the letter I settled on for myself, and as some of that golden flame escaped me, I heard a mocking laugh. "I am going to kill you, you know that, right? This is not some destiny you can avoid; this is a promise. You have locked our confrontation as your destiny, but fine, I'm sure you won't end up like Keter. After all, you're so special, aren't you?" she said with an audible sneer in her voice, "Come at me when you're tired of your pathetic tortured life. I'll put you out of your misery," she continued deadly serious but that sneer not quite fading entirely.

I hesitated on her words for a few moments before moving on. She may kill me, but I would have to face her; until that moment, I would be free from death and free to learn.

Next was my sister; I didn't want to continue her to death. She, above all my other compatriots, didn't deserve to be killed due to my meddling; it also didn't help she was the ruler of a nation.

However, looking over the scraps, I saw something that might work—Myslete, meaning thought, combined with Zhivete, meaning live. The combined word signaled a death of thought. She would fall into a coma, never to awaken, but would escape unharmed even when Destined Death should fall upon her.

"That's right! Cheat the system! Show that bitch that she's not all that she thinks she is!" the goddess who I knew to be SRTR, goddess of Fate, cheered me on, and for a moment, I enjoyed it a reprieve from the blackness that surrounded me or the red of 0^0.

"Will you shut up!" 0^0's voice thundered, and my mind cringed away from her shout. Unlike before, where she had kept a regal and somewhat godlike tone even as she derided me, now it was younger and like a child throwing a tantrum.

Pushing aside her voice, I continued my choices. I had very little of that golden flame now, just mere embers. However, that was barely enough to nudge a few things in my path, even if their deaths would be nasty.

Upunth, my sister's bodyguard and, hopefully, my teacher in dream weaving, would die of torture. I had slotted in Kako, which meant change, so he would slowly change from living to dead. I didn't like it, but beyond adding Zhivete to it, I had nothing else I could do, and only the barest scraps were left. With this, I hoped I would be able to squeeze out the barest scraps of time to teach him how to avoid Destined Death.

My last choice here was my one and only companion. Araith, the last of true dragons, even if they couldn't exist anymore, would serve as a powerful and helpful companion. Of course, I had to choose her Destined Death just like the others.

Zelo was the letter I settled on, meaning very and meant to be chained together. Of course, I didn't have to, and so by leaving it blank, her Destined Death was a battle of legendary scale, the very thing that would go down in history. This meant she would stay with me, I didn't plan to sit around, and the mark of SRTR that ensured I could cheat Destined Death also meant I would live an exciting life.

The last embers of that golden flame burnt away into nothingness as I made my final choices, and I felt a deep, hollow void in my chest. I knew immediately I would remember this feeling forever, the sensation of being able to build my destiny lost forever.

The comforting blackness then changed, and I could feel something trying to pull me away from it and towards my new life. As what made me up fled from this plane, I heard the two voices, each speaking to me directly in ways they would seldom do again once I was born.

"You will fail and die; I know this and will kill you when you attempt to face me. Run, hide it matters not, I will be there at your end."

"Good luck! I'll be watching you, my new Protagonist!"