Prologue - Normal Life

A creak resounded within an empty modern apartment, echoing off its walls the same way the sun reflected around the rooms from floor-to-ceiling windows. The light shone harshly against the white walls that surely dripped with the sins of their owner, of their buyer that exploited millions and taught his daughter it was fine to do the same. The white of the walls disgusted him with their apparent innocence when they housed that girl. Unwillingly, he was certain.

There was no time to be personifying walls, Avery was on a mission. He'd be a man on a mission, except he wasn't really a man, just a person.

Footsteps echoed through the apartment, their pace as fast as their source's dash. There was no response to them, assuring Avery that he had time. Not that he needed it when his prize sat plainly on a million-dollar footrest. How unnecessary.

The sound of his steps near disappeared as he approached the laptop, swallowed by the worry he'd be found by her. He soon began to understand his friend's worry, but he couldn't turn back now. Not now. He had to get revenge for him.

Without allowing a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the laptop, fueled by the overwhelming anger towards its owner, he set himself down and dropped it on his lap. It gave a worrying cracking sound as Avery tore it open to enter the password that despicable woman's far more civil roommate had given him, reminding himself that he needed to work quickly. He couldn't be found.

The screen flashed from ocean blue to a flowery yellow, signaling it was loaded with its sunflower background covered in icons and shortcuts. The red and blue icon for the internet browser was easy to find amidst them all and the mechanic click of the trackpad sounded out, signaling its opening. Avery only had one goal in mind and he headed straight for the email. There was plenty of spam in his inbox that he knew held viruses, ones that would completely jack the laptop. A fitting punishment for that woman's actions, betraying his friend's trust like that.

As he scrolled through, one title, in particular, caught his eye, 'Reincarnation'. How hilarious. Was it supposed to be insurance for your next life? A laugh was ripped from his lungs at the idea, there was no way anyone thought that would work! He clicked on it with one hand as the other wiped pearling tears from the corners of sharp, beautifully blue eyes.

'Dearest Master,

As commanded of me, I send this message in the way of the world you now live in, yet with my failing power, it does not truly exist. Do not try to interact with this message, it will not work. This only exists to you in the form of the final piece of my last mission and power. Although I am displeased with the time it took me to finally reach you, it is my dearest hope that the ideal future comes to fruition.

However, and it deeply pains me to admit as such, I was unable to finish the transfer with the power I had and as such, you ended up in such a place. However, luck, or perhaps fate, is on our side as a recent uptick in the occurrence summoning rituals currently takes place. As I'm sure this was within the calculation, I wish to hijack it to complete the mission departed on me by my dearest departed master. As such is the case, I have claimed the magic to be bestowed on many a hero and gift it unto you.

Please accept my gift, shortyourlink.yws/Selection.'

There was no sign-off.

The corners of plush lips upturned and a sparkle came to enraptured eyes at the most interesting scam Avery had ever encountered. With the laugh that threatened to rise at the sheer blatancy of it all, he knew simply had to give it a go.

Leaning back in his seat, Avery rested his head on his hand, locks the color of midnight tickling the fair fawn of his soft skin. The double click was this time accompanied by the quiet crack of knuckles and an escaped yawn. Mental threats were thrown at the laptop for not loading instantly like he'd thought it would on that place's premium Wi-Fi. Instead, it gradually loaded what seemed to be a lottery page.

So it would be a slower death? That would be fine, as long as his phone didn't go off.

The page was surprisingly well designed. It's night sky and golden aesthetics held a cohesive color scheme and its layout was pleasing to the eye. Yes, Avery liked it.

Without thinking much about it, he dragged the cursor to the 'Start' button and selected it. In response, words began to scroll down the page as if on the edge of a wheel. In typical spinner fashion, it spent a few moments to slow, flicking through options. 'Special', 'Common', 'Common'... finally, it landed on 'Legendary', a predetermined end to entice the victim.

A robotic woman's voice rang out from the laptop, "Acquiring Legendary ability... [Chaos Tamer], successful."

"Extra! Acquiring Unique ability... [User Interface], successful."

The wheel once again began to spin, this time it landed on 'Absolute'.

"Lucky! Ability successfully retrieved, [Eternal]."

The gold-lined wheel spun, again and again, granting 'abilities' such as, [Chant Annulment], a rare skill and [Mana Absorption], an inherent skill. He had to give it that it had a lot of content and some nice flair, even if it was a premade list probably ripped from some game.

As the last one hit its finish, the screen glitched between various colors as the system became corrupted. Within a moment it hit its blue screen before shutting off, signaling the likely destruction of the computer's software.

Perhaps it would have ended differently if he took a moment to wonder why he didn't see the browser never indicated a download or even if he'd stayed alert enough to. However, assured by his thoughts, Avery didn't get a chance to throw the sparking laptop away before everything went away.