1 Defiant in defeat and death

He winced in pain as he touched his ears and heard only ringing. A dark red liquid covered his gloves as he came to the conclusion that his eardrums were blown. An explosion in front of him sent dirt and debris flying in his direction. Several dirt clods had made contact with his plate carrier and a few had hit his face directly, if it wasn't for his goggles his eyes would've been next.

His senses were slowly coming back as the tunnel vision started to fade, he saw people around him firing their weapons over walls of stone before being shot in the head with deadly precision. The amount of dead bodies around him numbered in the dozens.

"Sir, snap out of it! We need you to snap out of it Stephen!" A young man covered in sweat and dirt was lightly slapping his face. He could hardly read the words that were coming off the man's lips but recognized the man saying his name.

"How many men do we have left Sergeant?" His voice came across hoarse but it wasn't like he could hear it, his ears were still ringing loudly. His cover was shot at by the enemy forces which sent thick dust into the air.

The young man looked around and made a quick count in his head. "We have 13 people left si-." Before he could finish his sentence a well placed round had struck through his helmet and quickly ended the young man's life.

Stephen quickly leaned over and grabbed the dead man's rifle before getting to his knees and doing several quick peaks over the wall, moving several yards after every peak. He saw at least two dozen dozen enemies closing in fast on his position. He looked down the line and saw the last of his remaining soldiers were pinned down. He quickly popped up over his cover and returned fire at their assailants.

The quick return of fire gave his guys enough time to peak over the wall and fire back. The situation was dire but Stephen wasn't willing to let his men go out so easily. They were trained for situations like this and everyone knew what could happen.

Stephen quickly made his way around the corner of a building he had managed to crawl to. As he turned the corner, a heavy punch to his plate carrier knocked the wind out of him and caught him off guard. His attacker was wincing in pain as he held his hand which looked now broken from the impact.

The attacker stumbled back but quickly gained his composure and once again was going back to hit his target. Stephen quickly grabbed the blade attached to his chest and rushed his prey like a skilled predator. His sudden moves dazed his opponent and left him open to quickly be dispatched. The blade entered smoothly through the bottom of the enemies jaw before being cleanly removed and sheathed once again.

"Damn he knocked the wind out of me." Stephen could only lightly chuckle from being surprised. His hand to hand combat was second to none in his unit, he was lucky the enemy didn't bring a gun to a knife fight.

Stephen continued making his way to his enemies flank, the sound of gunfire was slowing and he was worried about his mens condition. He spotted a small squad sized element (4 people) and decided for a stealth approach. He kept out of sight and made his way to a wall that was 15 feet from the enemy. They were slowly making their way to his units position.

Quietly sneaking around the wall he stumbled which caused the weapon on his back to hit the wall making a loud 'Thunk'. The enemy closest to him turned around only to be met with a fully loaded magazine to the face.

Stephen was grabbing another full magazine (ammo clip for those not educated in firearms) from his ammo pouch to lob at another enemy. He unsheathed his knife and lunged at the one who was still recovering from being magazine slapped. His blade landed home in the enemies heart and was quickly pulled free. The fresh magazine in his hand was then thrown again at the closest enemy which missed by a mile.

"F*ck sake I suck sometimes." Stephen said aloud as he closed the distance to the next enemy. A sudden fiery pain was felt in his thigh as his face made a quick introduction to the floor. Landing face first his lip was busted open and he could taste blood. He tried to get up but was quick to be kicked back down.

"Stay down you f*ck, we have your men so give up nice and easy like." The voice said in a mocking tone.

Stephen was up on his hands and knees unaware of what his enemy was saying. He carefully watched his enemies feet out of the corner of his eye, he saw his attacker wind up for another kick. He blocked the blow with his free arm before quickly stabbing the man in his thigh several times. He saw a bright flash and felt the familiar pain in his shoulder, he had been shot again.

"End his life, the bastard stabbed me in the leg!" the man was rolling on the floor sobbing and trying to stop the bleeding.

"The boss wants him alive." The man behind the voice was making his way to the person he just shot.

"F*ck the boss, we are underpaid anyways. I'll shoot him myse-." A well placed round was put in between the man's eyes.

"Too much noise." The man knelt next to Stephen and watched him writh in pain while trying to apply pressure to his shot shoulder.

Stephen was trying not to black out. He was fighting tooth and nail not to lose consciousness. He looked up at the man hovering over him and did the only thing he could do before succumbing to the darkness. He gave him the middle finger with a smile.

"You still have some fight. I like it." The man quickly pistol whipped him and put a hood over Stephen's head.

A jet of cold water quickly woke Stephen up from what he wished was just a nightmare. The sudden cold caused his muscles to tighten and the pain in his shoulder to return. He was chained up by his wrists and dangled inches above the ground.

"Hey I appreciate the shower, can I get a warm towel?" Stephen spun in circles slowly as he was sprayed with more cold water. "You could've said no a*shole!"

"You still have a lot of jokes for someone so close to death." A man stepped into the light. He was tall and built like an NFL Linebacker. He blew the smoke from his cigar at Stephen. "Your men didn't talk so much, I mean you can't really talk with a slit throat now can you." The man said this with a smile.

A sudden pain and sense of guilt washed over Stephen, the only people he considered family were killed and it was his fault. There was no way out of this alive and he knew this. "Can you guys turn the lights on in here, im scared of the dark." Stephen said jokingly, even so close to death he wanted to go out his way.

The man quickly turned around and punched Stephen in the face so hard a few teeth fell out.

"Awh f*ck that hurt you ath." Stephen quickly flicked his tongue around in his mouth feeling what teeth were missing. "Are you kidding me? You knocked out my front two teeth and now I have a lithp! (lisp).. itth worth than Mack frigging Tython! You are truly dethpicable!" Stephen let the blood from his mouth just dribble down his chin. A sudden chime played in his head.

"Did you hear that?" Stephen said, looking around for the source of the chime. "Are you guyth playing gameth?"

The large man punched Stephen in the ribs, an audible crack was heard. "You don't know when to shut your mouth do you?" he circled around one more time before queuing the guy with the hose to spray their captive.

Stephen found it harder to breath and was now wheezing, he could tell that his lung was most likely punctured from a broken rib. The cold water didn't help and all he could do was move his head to keep from suffocating or drowning from not being able to breathe correctly. The chime returned, it was like a hand bell was being rung.

The water stopped and Stephen drooped his head down trying to breathe. A sudden purple screen popped up in his vision.

"A Celestial has taken a liking too you." the screen read.

Stephen was beyond confused, the screen looked like some sort of UI off of games he used to play. He laughed at how he was probably now seeing things. He laughed hysterically.

The brute threw another punch but this time to the unbroken ribs on the other side. The same sound was heard and the force caused Stephen to spin slowly. He quickly stopped laughing and focused on the pain.

"No more jokes or laughing huh? Tamed like the dog you are." The man slapped Stephen and got close to his face. "Im going to peel the skin off of you and force you to eat it. Im going to cut your toes off one by one and make a nice little necklace for you." The man laughed and just looked at the weak little man in front of him.

Stephen kept his head low but could see how close the man was just by looking at his feet. breathing for him was painful so he took small shallow breaths. He slowly looked up and saw the purple screen behind the behemoth of a man.

"You have gained the Celestials favor, do you accept the gift." The screens text had changed with a yes and no option.

Stephen thought he was still seeing things he spoke lightly, "Yeth ill take the favor." The chime was heard again and he watched with a confused look on his face as the text changed again.

"The Celestial is happy with your response! Once the requirement is met, you will experience the Reawakening." The text disappeared as soon as Stephen read it and a new text replaced the last.

[Requirements]

Kill the "Behemoth" (optional) 0/1

Achieve death 0/1

Rewards: Reawakening, ????

Stephen thought for sure he was high as a kite. He looked at the screen for a second before looking at the man in front of him.

"Are you Behemoth?" Stephen was hardly able to say this without running out of breath. Every inhale was more painful than the last.

"So what if I am you cockroach, your death will still be the same." The man was still eye level with his prey. He spit in his face and laughed.

Stephen only smiled before taking in a large painful inhale.He gathered all his focus and let his training take over. His legshot forward and made a heavy impact with the Behemoths family jewels. It caused the mountain of a man to lean slightly forward and curl in pain from the crushing blow.

Stephen, with all his strength lifted his legs up around the man's neck and put him in a triangle choke. With his dwindling strength he used his momentum from the hanging chains and rotated his body quickly, snapping the man's neck. He dropped the limp body from his vice grip and started laughing.

"I hope im not crathy and you reward me well you Thelethtial." Stephen said with his lisp.

The Behemoths men were in shock and could only look at one another. Everything happened in a split second and they couldn't do anything but stare in disbelief.

A familiar man suddenly stepped forward and place the barrel of his gun to Stephen's head.

"Too much noise." was the last thing Stephen heard as his vision went black.

He felt like he was floating, everything was still dark but he felt weightless. Pain was no longer present and he felt a small bit of peace. That lasted until a purple screen popped up.

"Mission completed. Optional requirement completed. The reward will be given after the Reawakening." A soothing voice had replaced the text.

"Are you an angel?" The sudden voice confused Stephen but it did not scare him. It felt warm and soothing to hear it.

"She will be your guardian and sense of direction in the new world." A deep voice was the one to respond. It was calm and authoritive.

"Morg Freeman is that you?" Stephen asked while looking for the voice. He noticed a purple distorted figure approaching.

"I am the Celestial who is giving you another shot at life, letting you be my champion." The voice of the figure was losing its patience. "I am the father of dragons, harbinger of Chaos, and the one who's name brings terror to those across the plains of the dimensions. I am known only as Chaos, my true name was lost to me many ages ago." The humanoid fom slowly transformed into that of a massive dragon. Purple flames surrounded the Celestial and gave off a sinister glow.

"So is this some of game or like a trick or something. What kind of hell is this?" Stephen was shocked but not at a loss for words.

"You fool." The dragon said with a scoff. The Celestial let out an ear shattering roar. Which caused Stephen's form to flicker in and out like a weak light bulb. The roar caused Chaos' energy to flare out and engulf Stephen. "You will now accept my Reawakening reward. A small portion of my power will help you destroy any enemies you make. I made this system like the games of your memory. Only in this one, you get one life. Don't spoil it and spread my name, spread Chaos."

Stephen fall to his knees, his form was flickering out of control. His soul, the best way to describe it, was a light blue. Energy radiating from Chaos was purple in color and a raging flame in form. He could feel the power merging with his soul. The sensation was beyond any pain he had felt before. He could feel the power coursing through his soul. A sudden light appeared in front of Stephen and all he could do was writh in pain and scream as the light approached. The light was blinding and Stephen only felt terror.

"Congratulations my king, it is a healthy male. What shall the next heirs name be?" a strange deep voice asked.

"Ha ha, my boys name shall be Talious!" The king let out an excited laugh as his newborn son was handed to his beautiful queen.

"What in the f*cken f*uck is going on here."

Was all Stephen could think as he had been born into a new world. "F*ck...."