I was lying in bed, not all that sleepy, just examining my life of quiet despair. It was not that bad, not compared to so many others. My kids were grown and had turned out well. While my wife and I were still together we lived separate lives. It had been years since we had shared a bed, and longer since she had shown an interest in me as a man. Sure she cared that I was working and maintaining the comfortable lifestyle we had, but as for caring about me as an individual, I doubted it.

Over the last 10 years, I alternated between having good jobs, periods without work, and occasionally jobs that kept the wolf from the door. Never quite getting to the point of having enough money for the extras in life. All I could look forward to was more of the same and it was getting harder and harder to find a job. Too old, for laboring work, Too experienced to be considered for the roles that I was trained for. The economy had slumped, and even the minimum wage jobs had dried up.

The curtains were open and it was summer, so while it was late the sun had barely set, so the sky was that dark blue with shades of purple that only happens when the sky is clear and the moon is not visible in the sky. As I tried to compose myself for sleep, the sky brightened. The room became flooded with light, not bright sunlight, but an intense purple. There was no sound yet my body was vibrating as if I was stretched out on a speaker. I attempted to get to my feet, yet I was unable to move. Fear started to cause my heart to race. It soon became to match the underlying vibration of my body, all my muscles lost control. I just knew that I was having a heart attack, yet there was no pain. The light became brighter, it was as if it was a UV light, but things that should glow were not, and others that should not have fluorescence were. Everything slowly reached a point of equilibrium. The glow compressed into a hemisphere that encapsulated the bed and little else.

It was as if there was a spherical shield that had me as the center. Rather than a sense of dread or fear, I started to wonder what was happening. As quickly as the light had arrived the sound of destruction started. The wall behind my head shattered, and the roof exploded up into the sky. Next moment I was startled as I realized that hemisphere was indeed a sphere and it launched through what was left of the roof. The sphere had a slow spin and it kept moving into the sky, I was able to look back at my house and saw the walls smashing into the neighbor's house, the roofing irons scattering across the section. A hole had appeared in the ground beneath the space previously occupied by the bed. Water sprayed out of the roof cavity and from the shattered remains of the bathroom. Throughout this time I was still unable to move and even as the rotation meant that I was facing the ground there was no sense of acceleration. In the distance, I could see two other purple spheres moving up.

It seemed like every few minutes, as the sphere rotated with each rotation, pieces of the remaining ground beneath the floor fell away, soon the walls had tumbled away and all that was left was the bed, and myself. As this occurred the walls had not moved but had become slowly more opaque but I could still see the other two spheres, I suspected it was because they had approached, or perhaps I was approaching them. I had lost all sense of motion and perspective. As the other spheres approached. we moved towards a vortex of energy. As we approached the wall slowly collapsed about me, the edges of the bed became eroded, and the sense of rotation stopped. At some point, I had gained the ability to move my eyes, yet the rest of my body seemed completely disjointed as if it did not exist. Soon all that was left within the sphere was my body, even my clothes had disappeared. Yet I could not feel any worry or concern. My emotions, which let's be honest were not at full power before the event or whatever it was that was happening, had receded to the point of being unimportant. All that seemed left was my intellect centered in my head and something that was resonating in my chest that seemed to represent me. As an atheist, it looked like I was going to have to revise my worldview. It looked like there was something that represented me other than my memories and intellect. A spirit. My mind was shocked yet the emotions that could have been expected were non-existent. While my thoughts had raced even as my body appeared to have been reduced to atoms and discarded. My spirit had moved to the point where it was within my thoughts. It was as if all I was had been reduced to a mind that surrounded that which was uniquely me.

As this process approached completion I approached the vortex. As the sphere entered the vortex, all awareness of anything external disappeared. Yet while my time sense was confused I could feel the passage of time. Time passed with no external stimulus. I should have been suffering, I could feel my spirit toughen and my mind sharpened which was the opposite of what my understanding should be happening. After a time, which was not measurable, I had only my thoughts to examine what was happening. I became aware of something joining me in the space that now seemed without limits or constraints. Whatever it was, it felt like more of automation, while my mind resonated with it, my spirit was unaffected.

As only a mind/spirit I could not have heard the voice that seemed to fill my mind.

I heard or read it was so unclear how this was occurring, but it struck me that this was very like many of the Role-playing games that I had played over the years. This was the first part of a tutorial.

Select Race

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Human - The most common seed race on planet Earth. Average at most things. Known to be very aggressive. Improves quickly, mostly focused on Physical activities.

Partial-Elf - A human with a small amount of bloodline from the elves that were used to seed the growth of life on the planet Talas within universe 9346212784358. This bloodline improves nature-based skills and classes

Partial-Celestial - A human that has a remnant from the Celestials that directed the early direction of life within the universe number 9346212784358. Enhances spirit-based skills and classes

Partial-Demon - A human that has a remnant from the Demons that directed the early evolution of the mind on planet Talas within universe 9346212784358. Enhances Intellect-based skills and classes

Well if I can choose I am not going to pick some normal, so that means Celestial or Demon. In my now past life, my actions were ruled by my mind, seldom did just do things just because they felt right. The phrase “direction of life” made me wonder. Of the choices that I had allowed myself. Partial-Celestial seemed one that offered the most change in my circumstances. Once I selected that option, what can only be considered a paper doll appeared. The range of options had been reduced by the choice of race. I selected a height that was in the upper ranges but not extreme, as I did so I noticed that the bar above the doll was reduced. It was clear that I could only alter my new self so much. The eyes were nearly right, But rather than the sky blue, I moved the color towards the purple that surrounded me when I was pulled from my home. I widened my shoulders this also caused my biceps to enlarge slightly, and then I ensured that my waist was not carrying any extra weight. For too much of my life, I had been overweight and I did not want that again. Playing with varying options I ended up with a face that reminded me of an avatar that I had when I played Everquest, many years ago.

By the end of my manipulations, I still had some changes available but I was content. So I confirmed it. I looked as if I was stable and trustworthy. At least that is what I felt would be the overall first impression. I was then faced with 4 new choices, I could select the starting archetype attribute set. Unlike the games that I had played, I did not get to set particular attributes, Indeed there was not even a numeric representation or description of individual stats.

Select Archetype

Faith - This set of attributes increases the attributes that allow you to influence others. Healing others, to affecting enemies with curses all these types of effects are enhanced by this archetype.

Tank - In this set, you will be able to control the attention of anything that you are fighting. What's more, there will be a variety of options for reducing the effect of any damage that you would otherwise take.

Range - In this set Perception is king. You will be able to stay at the edges of the fight yet deliver massive amounts of damage. This may be by sneaking around and causing critical Hits, to be able to cast devastating amounts of damage from a distance

Damage Dealer - You rely on others to capture the attention of an attacker while fighting close up. The damage dealer accumulates damage onto the attacker the longer the fight the more the damage.

I selected Tank.

I was then presented with three options of the types of default equipment that I would have. I could choose twice from one of the options and once from one another.

Weapon set - Edged weapons

Weapon set - Blunt weapons

Heavy protection set

Shield and sword

While a tank would commonly select either of the protection options, my gaming preference was for a tank that stunned and knocked my opponent out of the fight. So from the Blunt weapon set, I selected a war hammer of a middling size that could be wielded with one hand or in the right circumstance with both. A nasty mace that could be thrown or used in close fighting. And then from the heavy protection set my last pick was a heavy bracer for my shield arm, granting flexibility but allowing the ability to deflect some attacks. Other than that I was stuck with a set of lightweight and very ordinary-looking armor.

How long this process took I have no idea, time was passing but it was not possible to measure the rate. As I had nothing to measure it against. My spirit and intellect had continued to toughen throughout this interval. But once the character creation component of what still seemed to be a tutorial was completed my mind and spirit started to separate and become part of the Image that I had created. As this occurred I finally felt the stress of the position that I found myself in, causing me pain and confusion.

Just as this stress was coming to the point where I felt that I was being injured, the sphere started to become translucent, and I started to feel bodily sensations. I could sense more than seeing the two other spheres that I had previously experienced held within a larger sphere, which in turn rapidly became translucent. This allowed me to sense that again the local sphere was held within a greater sphere which included six other spheres all of which were connected by lines that simply appeared to be fire yet these lines were of varying colors.