In an endless, black void rests a figure made of light. In front of this figure is a screen that appears to just be floating in the air in front of them. Something on the screen changes causing the figure to laugh. In a voice that echos through the entire voice the figure exclaims “Finally something interesting to do”. The figure slowly disintegrates into particles of light leaving only the screen to light up the darkness. The image on the screen shifts to a still shot of a man about to be hit by a large black vehicle a look of panic can be seen on his face.

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The first thing that I notice when I regain consciousness was the lack of pain. I was shot then ran over by a truck so I should be feeling at least something. The next thing that I noticed was the lack of any sensation, no sound, no touch, no sight, nothing.

I was was in what appeared to be an endless black void of nothingness. “Am I dead?” I pondered.

I was not sure if it was my imagination but a light appeared in the distance. It slowly moved closer and eventually, its form revealed itself. It looked like a human made of light, the exact opposite of the shadowy figures on screen at the meeting.

“So, the man who felt himself above everyone has been reduced to such a state” spoke the figure in a voice that echoed throughout the entire space. “I can sense confusion in your soul”.

“Just to clarify you have died and I have decided to bring you here” the figure continued “I am Stray the Lost God, the space before you is my domain, I am permanently stuck here because of a seal place on me by a few other gods. I can only be an observer on events happening outside of this space, recently however I have noticed that a part of the seal has weakened allowing me to transfer your soul here the moment you died.”

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“You see, being stuck here is very boring and I can't interact with people, I can't leave through the crack because the gods would detect the flaw and patch it, however, I can give you a part of my powers, release you into the world, and watch the fireworks.”

“The amount of power I can give you is limited but I found an interesting idea. In your world, there was a set of novels that I read where the main character is given a system like that in a video game which grants them quests and gives them rewards for completing those quests. That got me thinking, can I make one of those systems. It turns out that I can, the only problem is that the system has to adapt to any situation it faces, it cant be generous with the rewards to save energy, but it also needs to encourage the host to complete quests.”

“Looking at my options I settled on one, find a shrewd greedy person on the verge of death to turn into the system. Can you guess who is the perfect candidate?”

I try to speak to the self-proclaimed god but no words come out. A sinking feeling appeared in my probably nonexistent gut as the figure of light looked in my direction.

“I selected you because you fit all the criteria, though I did have another reason. You thought yourself above everyone, even the gods, and I find this amusing. I may have a small grudge against a few of them because of the whole being locked away for eternity thing, If you gain enough power you might be able to free me and cause chaos in the lower realms”.

“Well, Melvin do you consent to become a system and regaining your humanity or would you rather have your memories wiped and chance the rebirth cycle? Who knows you might reincarnate as something useful… Like a frog”.

I try to respond to the entities question by saying that I don't want to become a system, but unfortunately, I have no way of speaking due to my current form.

“Seeing that you have remained silent I will assume that you consent to becoming a system, I wish you the best of luck”

The entity waves their hand in my direction and I am assaulted by a splitting headache.

As my consciousness fades I here the entity say one last thing “I have installed a basic interface for you, as well as a tutorial function so that you can actually do something”

“Oh and one last thing, this is important, remember if your energy reaches zero…” I could not hear the last part as my senses shut down and everything faded to black again”