How long had he been sitting here. Ten minutes? Half an hour? The ordeal that had transpired left him thoroughly confused and in shock. Every attempt to consider his situation left him crippled with emotion and distraught. Where was he? why had he been brought here? He was certain that he had died, but that was hardly the strangest thing that had happened. What happened after was so much stranger.
Why couldn’t he have just stop existing? By all accounts he had been an atheist, but it was obvious now that there was more to it. Although it wasn’t like any afterlife he could have possibly expected.
Carefully he recalled the events that had happened after the accident.
He had found himself afloat in a place impossible to describe. Maybe it was nothingness, or perhaps even endlessness. The experience was utterly contradictive in so many ways. Feelings of being stuck as well as feelings of being completely untethered from everything made it hard to wrap his mind around what was happening.
After an indeterminable amount of time a voice echoed. The voice was overwhelming, reaching every place in both the external space as well as deep inside the very core of his consciousness. It took a moment before he was able to understand the words the voice had said, but there was no sense of urgency and it seemed the voice allowed him to take his time to process it all. What had the voice said to him? Ah, that’s right.
“We greet you, Kane Joyner.”
The moment Kane remembered what the voice had said it immediately continued.
“Your karma is insufficient. You shall not be allowed entry.”
Before Kane had a chance to respond a chorus of voices exploded.
“He is to be sent down.”
“His circumstances are special.”
“The laws are absolute.”
“Entry is forbidden.”
“A chance can be awarded.”
It was hard to follow most of what was said, but Kane knew it was not said to him. Some kind of discussion had been going on. Still he felt oddly uncaring. Absorbing what was going on like a baby having a first experience.
“Kane Joyner.”
Kane focused on the voice that had called out to him.
“We have reached a conclusion. A choice will be given. Choose to be judged now or to receive another chance.”
Deep down he felt it was bad to choose to be judged, but it was hard to focus on why, it was hard to care about anything in this realm. Choosing another chance felt like a weight far heavier instead. Part of him wanted an easy way out, a large part. Still he reached deep inside, trying to listen to his own voice.
Another chance. He was unable to utter it vocally, but the voices caught on right away.
“We have withheld judgement. You are to be sent to one of the abandoned worlds. Live mortal, you will receive no third chance.”
And just like that, he had found himself standing on a small clearing in a forest. Back in his own body, but not back on earth. Two things made that obviously clear. One was a thin black spire far on the horizon reaching extremely high into the sky and the other a vague spot in his peripheral vision. The absurdity of it all was not lost on him. Then when he consciously tried to look at the odd spot, this absurdity quickly overwhelmed him.
Name: Kane
Age: 26
Race: Human (Commoner)
Class: None
Health: 100%
Experience: 0
Strength: Average (46)
Endurance: High (64)
Constitution: Average (57)
Dexterity: Low (38)
Intelligence: Very high (81)
Willpower: Very high (86)
Perception: Average (52)
Charisma: Low (35)
Beauty: Average (42)
Luck: Very low (13)
Class Bonuses: None
Skills: None
Karma: Extremely Evil (-2291)
Please choose your class:
Farmer | Gatherer
Everything that had happened in such a short time. Everything about his situation. It had caused him to choke. Emotions were welling up from deep inside, aiming to overpower himself.
It was not that he lived a bad life. Unremarkable perhaps, but he had considered himself a good person. Perhaps he didn’t always speak the truth when he should have, but he never outright lied. Perhaps he didn’t always choose the best course of action, but he always abstained from choosing badly. If anything, his life had been guided by inaction. But where was the crime in that.
But then that accident happened. He had tried so hard to prevent it. He had tried so hard to stop it. Unfortunately he had slipped and not only failed to prevent the accident. He had made it so much worse.
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How many people had died in that accident? Twenty? Thirty? Maybe even more? Had he killed those people? Was that even fair? Is he really a murderer?
And now this. Brought to some other world for a chance of redemption? A chance to right whatever it was that had been wrong about his actions? And on top of that all, a choice to become a farmer or a gatherer in an unknown world that is shackled by some strange system and was dubbed to be abandoned by the Gods themselves?
“Why…”
His throat felt dry and sore as he knelt down onto the ground.
“Why.”
He racked his brain trying to make sense of it all. Sorrow, despair, anger and confusement bubbled roughly on the surface of his consciousness.
“What about my friends... What about my family?”
Gritting his teeth and holding back a choke he raised his head and looked towards the sky.
“What about my mother. What about my little sister! You put me here in this strange world. Give me some awful choice because you judged me evil? It was a fucking accident!?”
His voice grew louder and raspier as his emotions boiled over inside of his mind.
“What would have been so wrong about just stopping to exist? What is this afterlife I don’t even fucking care about? Why can’t you just let me die and disappear, huh!”
His hands grabbed into the soil as fury and anger washed over his face. With tears falling and snot pouring out of his nose he shouted from deep inside his core.
“Who are you to judge me!? I killed fucking nobody! It wasn’t, it wasn’t even a fucking mistake.. I slipped. What was I to do! Nothing! Let everything just, just… just happen!? Fuck you and your afterlife, you fucking fuckers!”
Kane breathed loudly, listening for an answer. Of course none came his way, only the sound of the wind swaying softly through the branches and brushes. Suddenly there was a slight crackle behind him, still furious and filled with rage he turned around and faced where the sound was coming from only to see a large cat like creature leaping from the thick brush straight towards him with its claws stretched out.
“-Fuck!”
The two clashed, Kane barely had time to protect his neck with his left arm, blocking the cats jaws with nothing but the flesh on his arm. Kane roared, unable to feel pain. He was just filled with pure rage. Everything was bullshit, everything sucked. Ignoring the claws that dug into his chest and sides he repeatedly slammed his right fist into the cat’s head, but it refused to let go of his arm.
Noticing hitting the cat wasn’t working he slammed his thumb into it’s eye and the cat hissed loudly. The cat was much faster, but he weighed more and the struggle thus continued as the two were interlocked in the fight of their lives. Kane thought only of destroying his enemy. Roars from Kane and hisses and squeals from the cat echoed into the distance. Somewhere along the line his left arm had been broken, but so had the cats lower jaw. Kane had been close to ripping it off completely.
Finally grabbing a split branch that had a fairly sharp point, Kane managed to dig the natural spear into the cat’s chest and after a short struggle the cat had finally given up as it breathed its last.
With his heart pounding and his body covered in deep cuts he screamed towards the heavens. His left arm hung limp at his side and his right hand was bleeding profusely from the many teeth holes. He knew he was in very bad shape. This cougar like cat had probably been aiming from him since he appeared and had stalked up close to him. All the more reason to scream at the Gods for this absurd gift. This absurd choice. This absurd world.
“I refuse!”
“Give me back my life! I don’t accept this!”
“Fuck you! You hear me! Fuck you!”
The strange spot in his peripheral vision was flashing brightly.
“Fuck off! Farmer? Gatherer? Don’t make me fucking laugh. Fuck off!”
“Who gives you the right to meddle with my life so!”
“Fuck! Fucking… Fuckers!”
“I despise you! I hate you! I fucking refuse!”
After some more time cursing the silent heavens, a calm returned to him as he slumped down, his body starting to reel with the pain from his many wounds. Releasing the tension on his muscles and mind he breathed in deeply. His face had been plastered with spit, snot and blood.
He had lived a boring life. He used to have no regrets about it in his past life, yet he regretted it all now. The things he had wanted to say to his family but never did. The times he blew off his friends, but deep down really didn’t want to be alone. He had been shackled by his own devices. And now he was shackled at the ‘mercy’ of the Gods? He was dying. He shook his head. No. For the first time he had opened his eyes and stared not in confusion and shock, but with determination instead.
He had been given a second chance at life. A shitty second chance perhaps, one that was ebbing away from him this very moment. But a second chance nonetheless. He will not live this life at the mercy of God’s laws nor anyone else's for that matter. He will create and follow his own. This time he wanted to live true to himself. A life of action!
He really didn’t want to die.
He stood up, probably entirely on the fuel of his adrenaline, wiping his snot filled face with his blood soaked hands as he once more focused on his status screen.
Only to find himself to be rather surprised.
“Huh.”
Name: Kane
Age: 26
Race: Human (Commoner)
Class: None
Health: 9% (Bleeding)
Experience: 12
Strength: Average (46)
Endurance: High (64)
Constitution: Average (57)
Dexterity: Low (38)
Intelligence: Very high (81)
Willpower: Very high (86)
Perception: Average (52)
Charisma: Low (35)
Beauty: Average (42)
Luck: Very low (13)
Class Bonuses: None
Skills: None
Karma: Extremely Evil (-2291)
Please choose your class:
Farmer | Gatherer | Fighter | Berserker | Juggernaut | Herald of Principle
Seeing his health drop from 10% to 9% before his eyes, he ugently hovered his consciousness over the classes presented to him.
Farmer
Grants bonuses to endurance. This class has the ability to grant various skills increasing efficiency and effectiveness for planting and harvesting crop. A skilled farmer can even find success in his craft in the most infertile regions.
Gatherer
Grants bonuses to Endurance and Intelligence. This class has the ability to grant various skills pertaining to knowledge of and ability to track a wide variety of useful resources. A skilled gatherer always finds what he needs.
Fighter
Grants bonuses to Strength, Endurance, Constitution, Dexterity, Willpower and Perception. This class has the ability to garner skill and talent with weapons and fighting styles of every sort. A skilled fighter can bring to knee the most dangerous of foes.
Berserker (Rare)
Grants all potential of the fighter class including skills pertaining rage and anger at the cost of intelligence. A skilled berserker is a force to be reckoned with.
Juggernaut (Very rare)
Grants all potential of the berserker class and grants extra bonuses to strength, endurance, constitution and willpower. A skilled juggernaut is an unstoppable force of fury and will.
Herald of Principle (Unique)
The Herald of Principle is both unbreakable and unbending. A force of absolutism shackled only by his own tenets. This class grants the ability to invoke a doctrine and principles holding power capable of shaking the foundations of the world.
“Hmm…”