1 Purgatory
Chapter 1
Purgatory
"Well well well, what do we have here?"
"What?" I question with a raspy voice feeling quite startled hearing anything within the darkness noticing an odd ripple shaking the darkness in front of me. It's been quite some time since there was any activity in this darkness filled abyss and I must say I'm not in the slightest disappointed with it. I'll admit that when I first arrived in such a similar situation that all the main characters of the fanfiction I read went through I was ecstatic. I was expecting a cool system or maybe a Deity showing up giving me three wishes, but nothing like that happened.
No, instead of those happy stories I've been forced to stay in darkness for god knows how long, unable to move, talk, feel, or do anything, the only thing I've been doing is dreaming... no planning is the better word. A dream signifies something that you wish to have, an ambition in other words, but this will be achieved... I'll make sure of it! When I get out I'm going to gain power, enough power so I'll never want or need again!
I lived a life that was filled with sin and crime starting from a very young age after me and my best friend Johnny ran away from the orphanage deciding that life would be better on the street than spending another minute in that hell hole. We were half right, at first we would scrape by with me using my natural charm to fool people to give us temporary shelter, but that only lasted so long. Eventually to meet ends meet we were forced to go to the mafia and slowly worked our way up doing whatever was required of us from tax collection, murder, torture, we did it without hesitation and without a second thought. This is how the world works, it's kill or be killed and frankly I enjoyed living so I learned to enjoy it, deciding that my moral compass would only hinder me in my quest for power.
When Johnny and I had gained enough backing we killed our old boss making Johnny the leader and everything was good, no everything was great. My best friend and self proclaimed brother was the leader of our organization and we were standing at the top of the world together. Until like everything good in the world that eventually ended too. Johnny got sick and began to become paranoid thinking that everyone was out to get him, something common with people who do the things we do. In the beginning I was spared from such paranoia so I was trusted with all the important tasks from acquiring information to overlooking important operations while doing my best to protect him from anyone whisking to take advantage of his weakening mind.
This worked for a time until even I became a target for his paranoia, but I failed to act, deciding to hold out what little hope I had for my friend, no for my brother. This hope would eventually lead to my death which was a simple shot to the back of the head, there was no last stand or anything heroic like in the movies, I was simply shot while going to put my groceries in the trunk of my car. Truly a pathetic way to die.
I wasn't always here no I was in Purgatory of sorts staying on earth after my death watching everyone alive continue living no one mourning me. My funeral being a burial by sea, my body being made unrecognizable by anyone who was to bring up my body. I watched as my killers removed my eyes, teeth, and fingers before dumping my body in the sea. I had always known that there was a chance that I would die in this business but I never expected my death to come by the orders of someone I cared for.
The rest of my days of Purgatory were spent watching Johnny destroy the empire we made laughing when my killers reported the success of my murder. I watched as he grew sloppy, eventually growing sloppy enough that the FBI eventually raided him and I watched as Johnny put the gun to his head, killing himself before they could capture him, bringing a smile to my face.
Eventually I ended up here where I was forced to stare into darkness thinking about a future that may never come, my old life has ended but I'll make sure to use all the knowledge I gained to make this new one as easy as possible because if Johnny taught me anything it's to use every opportunity you can because you never know when a missed opportunity can lead to your death. If I had gone with my gut and killed Johnny at the first sight of his insanity then I could've lived, I could've taken the seat and became the next head, but that will never happen now.
Enough about the past now it's time for the future. My shock grows as the ripples within the darkness begin to glow red and a beautiful woman whose face looks as if it was sculpted by the gods themselves and golden hair that ends at the middle of her back steps through the ripples staring at me with glowing golden eyes.
"Well it looks like I've finally found one… a Darkness Dweller!" The woman says without hiding any of her enthusiasm showing off a beautiful smile.
"Wh-who are you?" I question with curiosity my voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard because of the lack of use, well restricted use.
"Oh there's no need to strain yourself friend, just think your thoughts and I'll be able to read them. My name is Cersei by the way." She says before snapping her fingers as multiple golden balls of flame spread out brightening the darkness.
"Well Cersei my name is Alexander, but you can call me Alex not to be rude because it is nice to see and talk to someone after all this time but what exactly do you want with me?" I'm not sure whether or not I was able to empathize all of my confusion and skepticism into my thoughts but either way I'm sure I got the message through.
"Well friend if you want to know what I want with you I'll have to explain the situation you're in. You see the place that you're in is called the darkness zone, a place in between life and death, everyone passes through here when they die and a very special few stay here, maybe one in every lifetime and we call those beings the Darkness Dwellers.
What's special about Darkness Dwellers is the fact that since you've been in the darkness zone you've slowly been absorbing its energy making you significantly stronger allowing our magic to not do as much damage to you if you're in here long enough. Now combine this with the fact that you're fair game to any Deity because you're not claimed by the big two, Life, and Death, this makes you very valuable to any Deity who may find you. Some Deities will even go out of their way to kill you to stop other Deities from gaining your support.
That leads directly to the reason why I'm here, to gain your support." Cersei pauses allowing me to sort through and process everything she just told me.
"Well, what exactly do you need support with, I'm sure we can make a deal if it's reasonable." I say as I feel a small smirk come to my face. Normally I'd be much more skeptical about making a deal with a Deity, well anyone really, but frankly I'll do just about anything to get out of this so called 'Darkness Zone'
"Oh that's fantastic!" She says with a wide smile gracing her face. "Well then since you're the first Darkness Dweller I've found I would like to offer you the position of being my first Champion and spreading my will across the worlds you go to. As you spread my will of fear, death, and chaos then we will both grow more and more powerful until any other of those annoying Deities won't even dream about harming us!" As Cersei continues her sentence the intensity of her voice rises and the smile on her face begins to look more and more insane.
"So you're saying all I have to do is spread fear, chaos, and death and not only will you release me from this hell but also make me your champion?" I ask, hiding my excitement. This might be one of the easiest deals that I will ever make if that's all I have to do.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, my champion. All you have to do is spread fear, death, and chaos in my name and we will grow in strength."
I release a raspy chuckle and smile at the god… no at my god. I won't say that spreading fear, death, and chaos will be easy but I can guarantee I'll have a smile on my face while doing it. Servitude is a small price to pay for freedom from here. Should I even call it servitude if I'm going to be doing the things I love? "I accept, I'll be your champion." I say with a sense of finality in my thoughts.
"Awesome! Well then we have to get started straight away!" Cersei says with no small amount of excitement in her voice while pulling out a small cup and a knife with beautiful designs carved into the steel making it look more like a decoration than a weapon. In a blur of speed that my eyes were unable to catch, Cersei's hand is sliced open and she's pouring her blood into the cup until her hand heals as if the cut was never there. Leaving the cup floating in the air she reaches into her sleeve pulling out three similar cups one filled with a golden liquid that glistens in the light, the second is filled with an thick dark green liquid similar to that of paint that practically swallows all the light that comes close to it, and the last cup is filled with a red liquid that looks exactly like blood and almost reflects all the light that comes to it.
"Well now it's time for your part of this process. Remember how I said that since you've been in the darkness zone? Well I'm going to need to make you a new body that is able to handle the power of the darkness zone while incorporating my blood in it to make you my champion and before you ask my blood will link us together. . . like a mother and son. It will also help strengthen your constitution so the power of the darkness zone does not poison you, you're basically becoming a demigod." She says as her golden eyes gain a sparkling gleam to them.
"Fascinating…" I mutter to myself looking at her red blood in the cup in front of me. "And what powers will I gain exactly by being a 'Darkness Dweller' and a Demigod?" I question staring into her enchanting eyes.
"Well I'm still a fairly young goddess and have yet to gain any true abilities but as I grow in power and gain abilities you will without a doubt gain some of them even if they are a fair bit weaker. As for you absorbing some of the darkness energy it is still uncertain on how it has affected you but we should be able to find out isn't your new life.
Your spirit is definitely more powerful than it once was with the darkness energy but it won't be able to hold all of that power much longer. Your spirit will inevitably explode from the inside out which is why I must reincarnate you somewhere else to remake a body that is able to control all of that power. In the three cups in front of me are the liquid cores of three fictional worlds that you may be familiar with and once you choose one and drink from it you will begin your reincarnation." She says as the three cups float to me.
My eyes drift from cup to cup as I make one of the most important decisions that I've ever made, eventually choosing my favorite color. "I choose…"
