Chapter One: Limbo

Corwyn Hallows stared up at the massive monolith of black slate rock. Its form was a beauty, and its color only highlighted its contrast with the rest of the realm he found himself within after death.

An endless blank white plane of timeless white sands; Limbo, the eternal realm. It was to be his afterlife, one that Corwyn didn't exactly mind. Time didn't have any real meaning in the realm, and he simply wandered, lost in recollection, regret, and nostalgia as he reviewed his memories of a life once lived.

In his wandering of the plane, he found this monolith. It never did anything, even after he touched it. Even after he scaled it. He eventually wandered away from the monolith, yet every once and a while he'd navigate himself back to the massive black structure that was so out of place in the endless and infinite realm. How he did so, how he knew where it was, he didn't have a clue. He just...did.

Like right now, Corwyn Hallows stood before the massive black rock that reached up into the skies of the blank white realm with shades of slight gray for contrast. He'd climbed the massive monolith once before, saw nothing more than an endless white. It was a nice view, even if it wasn't any different than how he saw the realm on his own two feet.

Corwyn crossed his ethereal legs and hummed a soft song that his memories recalled. He got lost once more in his former life, in which he wasn't anything special. He was Corwyn Hallows, yet that man didn't mean all that much to Corwyn now, save a name and a life once lived. He had his name, his memories, yet he was...detached from the emotions and feelings tied to such things. The only thing that remained would be a slight sense of nostalgia, a dash of regret, and a bit of sentimentality.

A light shone before Corwyn's eye, coming from the monolith. Corwyn titled his head in surprise. 'That had never happened before.' He wondered. Nothing had happened before in this realm of remembrance.

The light faded and in its place were words, or symbols. Corwyn couldn't read them, yet as he stared harder at the words, they started making sense.

"Why would I wish to live again?" Corwyn asked the words that had questioned him.

There was another flash of light as the symbols rearranged themselves.

"Hmm, you do have a point. There isn't all that much in this realm; why would I want to stay?" Corwyn conceded to the words point.

The light flashed once more.

"You wish to give me a boon? What for? You are already giving me life. Now you wish to further involve yourself in my new life? What do you gain from this insignificant mortal?" Corwyn gestured to himself.

The monolith shook slightly.

"Not of my concern? I guess it really isn't." Corwyn hummed. "What would this boon be? What life shall I live? Where shall I live?"

"Anything? Anywhere? Wow. I'm paralyzed with choice." Corwyn chuckled.

"For where I'd like to live...this reminds me of those stories I used to read. Yes, yes. Those...Isekai stories." Corwyn laughed. "Send me to a world, a world of fantasy! That sounds fun. It sounds ideal!"

The monolith agreed in a flash of light, before asking for his boon.

"For my boon? Hmm, when you say anything, it gives me too much choice my friend." Corwyn shook his head. "Hmm, well, I want Power. Power is important. Individual Power, not one gained through systems and governments like my old world. A power where free-will is back by strength, not by ethics and morals."

The monolith whispered a suggestion.

"You have an idea? Oh, oh. You'll choose it? Why would I want that...ah. Anything, as in anything you desire to give me. That's the catch, huh." Corwyn chuckled. "Well, surprise me, I guess."

The monolith whispered its choice, explaining its functions, its power, its depth.

"Well, I can't say I'm disappointed! What do you call it, Friend?" Corwyn asked, his ethereal form standing up.

"Ah, The Inspired Enchanter...well, I can't call you creative." The monolith flash with an irritated light.

Corwyn chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Well, how are we doing this entire new life deal? Transmigration, Reincarnation, Body Possession, Fusion of Lives?" Corwyn asked as he stretched his soul. Didn't want to pull a muscle, did he?

"Which one do I want? Well, I don't know much about the world. Will a Drop-In Transmigrant raise any eyebrows?"

The monolith flashed a bit of light on the world he was descending down to.

"Hmm, so there's some truth detecting beings in this world, and lying would be of poor choice." Corwyn shook his head. "Well, I guess I'll just say I'm from Albuquerque and refuse to elaborate." The ancient soul shrugged. "Anything else? Nothing abnormal that might attract attention?"

The monolith warbled a strange light. "What do you mean my soul looks weird?" Corwyn inspected his ethereal form. He looked humanoid, however, Corwyn's soul looked nothing like what he did when he first came to Limbo.

The monolith explained in a lengthy flash of light.

"So...Limbo has different 'gravities' in which souls as they wander are ground into the sands that make up this realm." Corwyn waved to the endless dunes of white dust. "The higher and farther a soul wanders, the more unique gravities afflict their soul, eventually, without fail, grind their soul to dust, to which you exude some of the strongest gravities around you...and I climbed you." Corwyn gave the monolith a confused looked.

"Look, you might not get around that much, but I think Limbo's chilled out for the last few...eons." Corwyn started, "I haven't felt any of these 'gravities' or struggled to go anywhere in Limbo for the most part...well, there was that one time when I wanted to see what was at the bottom of Limbo and started digging, but really, I think you're just exaggerating here." The soul crossed twin gray skinned arms over his chest, thick steely muscles pulled on a marbled form hardened and refined to perfection. His eyes were a brilliant white and they stared at the monolith with utmost confusion.

Unlike many souls, Corwyn's form was solid. There wasn't any ghostly transparency, just steely muscle and stoney skin that had weathered dust storms for eons inside this realm.

The monolith flashed with light. "So, my soul is a bit strange, and beings might get confused when they see me? Will they be hostile?" Corwyn asked.

The monolith flashed negative, then explained. "Ah, so I'm like a collectors item. Interesting." The soul rubbed his chin in thought, "Well, I see no reason not to want to Transmigrate, 'Drop-In' as it's called." Corwyn decided.

The monolith flashed.

"How do I want to look? Hmm, just pull from my old body, just...maybe air-brush it up a bit. Make it nicer? Refine the genetics? I'm pretty attached to my sense of identity, its what kept me sane for so long, so connecting with it would mean a lot." Corwyn Hallows smiled up at the monolith.

It flashed, then started to rumble. Corwyn nodded, and looked to the skies.

Limbo shook, and a lance of light fell from the sky, falling down on the awaiting soul.