1 A show to die for

And then, he was born. What? Is it not a satisfying way to start it all? You mean to ask why "And then" was used instead of "It all started with" or "At first"? The answer is quite simple, it's because it was not the start.

A man was one day selected, and his name was John Cena... No it was not, sorry, the temptation could not be resisted. His name was Blaze Sherwood and would later be known as the Dawnbreaker. He was chosen to travel the multiverse, one adventure at a time, inserted in unknown locations and burdened with tasks ranging from trivial to earth shaping. How was he chosen and what was the point of all this? The point of it all was to entertain a bored god, as it often happen when a god is involved, and he was chosen at random like thousands of others to be one of the participant in its reality show.

To complete the tasks given to him, he would be bestowed with powers, a reward gotten before he even did the task, a loan if you will. He would be sent to face dangers and unfathomable threats that would be much too real for the common man. Death was not something the fickle god had thought of preventing. After all, it could just pick up a new toy if any of them broke. And so, this was why a good number of chosen participants died and needed to be replaced.

Blaze was one such replacement. Sent in a void of pure white with only his mind and body. The God told him of its hobby of watching people living adventures and broadcasting them across all universes. He told him that he would be one of those participating in the show. Blaze thought of refusing but the god just laughed at him, refusal was not permitted. He could only surrender himself to this all powerful entity and make the choices it was asking of him. Refusing to do so would only make things more difficult and life-threatening for him.

Before he could think about asking to be given more information, a lottery basket was suddenly presented in front of his consciousness. The basket seemed enormous and was made out of an unknown golden material. In it, dozens of trinkets glittering and throbbing with power. However, every time he tried to look clearly at them, he was unable to focus his gaze and all of them remained blurry.

He was asked to pick four items at random in it, those four things would then belong to him.

Since free things where offered to him, he accepted them without complaints and drove his hand into the basket. He was surprised to see that his hand seemed somewhat ghostly. He could see through it and it's contours were fading into nothingness. Had he died? Where was his body? The supposed god told him to not worry about it, he would get a brand new body soon and he wasn't technically dead. It didn't make him feel quite better but since the god refused to tell him more, he had no choice but to comply.

Once his hand was in the basket, he tried once more to see what items were in it but even if he focused all his senses on them, he couldn't clearly identify what they were. He found it really strange and marvelous but this wasn't helping his situation at all. Hopefully, he would get something useful. The item he picked was revealed to him only once it left the threshold of the basket.

First, he got a coupon written Very important participant or VIP on it, granting him a hundred free participation points every year. From the ramblings of the entity, he gathered that those 'PP' would let him buy more powers and items, more of them could only be a good thing. He did not know for how long he would be in this "game show" but he knew it was at least ten years if the thing could be believed. Some extra points could not possibly hurt him.

He then received a pill identified as Soundtrack of your life. Reading the instructions, it said it would automatically generate a soundtrack fitting with his life at all times and he could even make it heard by other peoples. This could only be entertaining, there was no practical use to it. Surely it should be considered as a miss, he hoped he would get something more useful on the third draw.

The third item he took was a contract saying that he would receive ten thousand dollars or equivalent delivered in his safehouse every month. The entity told him that he would not receive access to his safehouse before he had completed the first adventure but in the future it would be useful.

This meant that there would be more than one adventure did it not? The god proceeded to confirm to him that his participation would be permanent. After this adventure, another would follow and another again until his death. Blaze would never get out of this. Blaze felt a bit angry but there was really nothing he could do about it. Instead of complaining, he decided to focus on how to survive this and shoved his hand in the basket again.

The last thing he picked up was an invitation letter. This letter could let him take another participant into his team by giving him or her the letter. If the other accepted, they would then share their safehouses, participation point pools and everything else at the cost of augmenting the difficulty and danger of everything. This increase in the challenge difficulty was to take into account that he was not alone anymore. To him, it was just the thing he needed, to not be alone. He would surely be driven crazy if he was to roam the multiverse alone. The entity laughed and told him that he would pick up companions in his journey, he would probably not be alone even if he did not have this, but even so, that seemed like a good draw to him.

Blaze swallowed the "soundtrack of your life" pill and was pushed along the void to his next set of choices. As the all powerful entity was saying, Blaze would be sent to a world, in this case, a world he knew from games and animated show featuring a lot of monsters and their trainers. The first mission he had would be to survive ten years in this world. On the surface it seemed quite simple but the real thing would surely be much more dangerous than what it seemed to be from the point of view of a children's video game. The proof of his theory was the fact that a lot of items on the list of things he could buy before going were seemingly odd for such a peaceful place. For example, a sniper rifle or combat training. Could a peaceful world really need those things? He doubted it.

He chose to make his choices as if he would be thrown into some kind of distorted hell version of the games he knew. He chose his equipment and the knowledge he would posses as the god was telling him the rules.

It was quite simple. Nothing he could do could possibly break the world but if he brought something unexpected, like a gun in a medieval world, the world would try to reject him as an anomaly and his tasks would become incredibly harder. The good thing was that whatever he bought from that world "PP shop" came from it and thus would be absolutely safe to bring.

Whatever he bought in any "PP shop" and some specific things like quest rewards or in this case a full team of six monsters would be his to keep forever and very few things could deprive him of them. Of course, if he lost an item or destroyed it, it would still be lost, they did not have some kind of divine protection they just belonged to him.

If he died, he was dead for good, as the voice had said, all of this was and would stay very real. He wasn't in some kind of simulation, worlds were created and grown just for this, nothing in them was fake. If he wished, he could take an origin for himself in that world so instead of appearing there out of nowhere, he would get the advantage of having been grown there. He would have all the related knowledge and common sense of that world. The downside was that all his old memories would be lost for a time, slowly coming back to him over the course of years until the very moment when the timer for his quest would start. The age when his quest would start was determined at random and complications would plague him without his knowledge.

Because the roll of the dice determined that he would start once he turned seventeen, he would have gained an additional thousand and seven hundred participation points before the quest even began. He planned what to do with the amount god gave him upfront and the points he would gain later. He even kept himself a three hundred and fifty points in spare in case something happened.

He took or planned to take all that he thought would be useful, a flak Jacket, a sniper rifle, a laptop, a wingsuit, a rebreather, a savant mind, physical fitness, knowledge in combat, survival, mechanics, computers and a bunch of miscellaneous items that would make his life easier.

Like all good adventures from that world, God told him, he needed a starter. He went for a shiny chesspawn (1) who knew synthesis at birth. His guess was that since all was real, he would not be limited by four moves, being a grass type, he would have a whole lot of status effects attack and be a well rounded fighter in general. He would probably aim for something like an haunbla afterwards but since he would be born in Gleanne, it would probably take him a while to find one.

With all this, there was no way he would die. What could possibly happen to him? He was confident in his chances of success. He would gain a lot of power from this and would be able to cruise through the next jumps easily. The only thing that really concerned him was that when he would at last get out of that world, he would be twenty seven in that world which was older than the present him. He would have lived longer in a video game world than in the real world. To him, that thought was disturbing but in the end, did it really matter? From what he understood, the chances of him ever going back to his old world were abysmal.

Since he was ready, he was sent to the world, his knowledge and equipment would be bestowed upon him shortly. And then, he was born. Is it not a satisfying way to end this? Let's not bicker about that again.

***Aurora***

Meanwhile, In another space as blindingly white as the one Blaze had been in, another participant was selected. Her name was Aurora Stardust, surely her parents had a funny naming sense. She would come to be known as the Silent Starstorm but right now, she was just an angry girl.

What did the voice mean she had no choice in the matter! She wanted out! Her life had been good all around and she had school to attend to. Of course, she loved adventures very much but this was way beyond unacceptable! The voice rebuked her mercilessly. Not only did she have no choice in the mater but she would also become a television star?

"Fine then" She mumbled while crossing her arms, she would play along.

God continued to explain, after all, he wanted an interesting show. As in any good adventure, she could still die he told her. She made no reaction to this. She wasn't afraid of death. Was it because she had a childish view of the world or because she was as brave as a hero? The answer was both. She had a childish view of the world and was also foolishly brave.

Like Blaze, she felt surprised by her ghostly state but she felt it was much more interesting than scary. She marveled at it for a good moment, trying out all sorts of things like passing her hand through her own stomach, completely ignoring what the entity was telling her. She started listening again only at the mention of free gifts and the appearance of the golden basket. Excited, she sent her magic ghost hand in it eagerly and got items out with a smile on her face.

From the basket, she drew a pill on which was attached a note reading "Immortality pill" The thing counted as if she drew twice but she didn't care, once she ate it, she would become immortal! It was a perfect pick! She thought to herself, laughing in her head. She instantly threw it in her ethereal mouth and swallowed it. She didn't even ask herself how a ghost could eat a pill.

Then, she got a small bottle with a glittering liquid in it. The liquid was called a sprinkle of magic and would supposedly unlock her latent magic powers. Magic was awesome, she drank it immediately as well. She had no idea how to use said magic but she felt extremely excited none the less. The taste was terrible, it was a weird mix of cherry and iron, packed in a wrapping of fish oil. It slid down her throat while giving her a painful grimace. Immediately after she finished it, strange and fuzzy knowledge appeared in her head. She gathered these were the instructions on how to use the magic in question but she failed to understand it. No matter, since it was there, she only had to think about it later.

All her wishes had been granted only with that basket. Magic and immortality combined with endless adventures, what more could she possibly ask for? Aside from sending her back home right now, she meant.

She had one final draw to make. Excitedly, without wasting time, she threw her small hand in it and got a ticket out. The ticket read "One free item in the PP shop"

She started laughing out loud, this was already all too easy. What could that god thing possibly do to her now? She mocked it in her head. The only thing she had to do was to live in the world of those cute monsters for ten years? Nothing could be easier, might as well enjoy it. She had the choice to be born rich, why not take it. Then, money and gear wouldn't be a problem, adding the ability to wield Auras and the ability to speak with battle monsters with the help of the free item ticket, she would be able to make a lot of cute friends.

It would all be a piece of cake. God explained the rules to her but she wasn't really listening, she was already dreaming about her future cute animal friends.

In the end, she finally realised she had made a small mistake, there would be more adventures and worlds to explore after this one it said. Well, no matter. She had all she needed for now, she would find the rest when the time came. Onward to adventure! she exclaimed as the laughing god sent her to the same world as Blaze by pure coincidence.

She seemed as fickle and energetic as the god who had sent her to her doom. She had not chosen a starting monster, she seemed way too excited to remember. Out of pity, god gave her a starter at random, it fell on a budding-saurian, a shiny one of course. How lucky could that girl be?

If she came out of this alive, she would have lived twice as long in that world than in her own. The immortal god couldn't find it more funny, concerned about school? She should have been concerned about that world full of literal monsters waiting for her instead. To laugh in the face of a god, you better be ready for the consequences.

***Blaze***

Blaze was having a nightmare right now. He knew it was a nightmare as he had them almost every night. By now, he could recognize them almost every time. Like all nights, he dreamed of impossible things, sometimes of another life, sometimes of crazed battle monsters ripping him to shreds. He dreamed of murderers and butchers slicing him up like ham, dreamt of house appliances murdering his mother gruesomely. Every night he woke up screaming in panic as if he was about to die. He knew full well how to recognize those nightmares but still could not escape them and the terror they brought him. He was a kid like any others, why did it have to be him? Couldn't the nightmares go plague fuckface next door?

This time, he was dreaming that he had been punched full of holes by the stingers of a goblin-scorpion. He was there, bleeding out in front of a candy shop as people were laughing at him and stuffing their mouths full of sugar. This was not what was scarring him, he had long since learned how to resist the fear of seeing himself dying. What he was really afraid off was the sight of his childhood friend Gilly. She was sitting in the shade of a tree seemingly made of blood. As the tree was ever so slowly enwrapping her in its fine and bloody limbs, slowly unwrapping her skin from her flesh. She was not paying it any mind. She had her eyes closed and a soft smile on her lips as she was tearing off all her toenails one by one using only her own fingers. The whole scene was taking place bellow a sick purple sun burning feebly in a landscape of darkness and gruesome smiles.

Blaze woke up at the fifth toenail, jumping almost a feet in the hair above his bed before falling off the side of it. He smashed his head on the floor board before taking back control over his senses and movements.

A soft music of relief was playing in the background as he sat back up straight. That music had been following him for as long as he could remember, always changing to match his mood and the situation. Sometimes, he thought it was fun to have such a thing following him but he mostly felt the opposite. It wasn't exactly because it was annoying or distracting, it was more because of its very existence. He was aware that this wasn't normal at all, no one else heard music in their heads all the time. This in addition to the frequent nightmares often made him wonder if he was insane. Did insane people know when they were insane? For now though, the music didn't matter, only the nightmare preoccupied him.

He was about to analyse what had happened like always but he didn't have the chance to do so. Once he heard the music change to something with a little comical note in it, he knew what was about to happen. He knew because it was not the first time Gilly Linton sneaked in his room at night. Her head full of messy copper hair popped up from the top of the bed with a look of sadness and worry in her almond shaped green eyes.

"Blaze... Are you ok? Did you get hurt while falling? Should I go get your mom?"

"No, I'm fine, rather, what are you doing here again? I thought I said to not do that anymore."

"But I'm worried about you Blaze, everybody in town knows how bad you sleep at night. I just wish to help you."

Blaze got up quickly and sat near her, approaching his hand from her face. She turned red and tried to slap his hand away but he expertly dodged it and his fingers reached her, moving her hair out of the way to reveal a new bruise on her forehead. He probably elbowed her in the face again while he was struggling in his nightmare.

"You see, that's exactly what happened last time too. This is what you get for sneaking into other peoples bed at night."

"I don't care about that, no one's gonna see it anyway, what's more, your mom let me in, I didn't even have to crawl up the window this time."

Even if she climbed up to his window, he had locked it to stop her from doing that very thing.

"Mom let you in?"

"Yeah she did, she is worried about you too you know?"

"Well, she shouldn't. Nightmares never killed anyone. Besides, there's nothing either of you can do. I don't even see how slipping in my bed is supposed to help me sleep. And also, We are not that small anymore, people are going to talk."

"Don't care. She said sprawling herself on his bed. It would be the truth anyway."

"What truth? You come sleep in my bed on your own!"

"I'm just waiting for you to say it, please be my girlfriend, is it that hard?"

"Yes, of course, as if."

"Hmpf! Am I not the most beautiful girl in town! Say it, I'm the best, and also your best friend of them all."

"Yeah, mostly because there are no other girls our age. Since you had no choice but to befriend boys, out of a lack of choices you picked me by default and mostly pity."

"No! That's not true at all and you know it!" She said giving him a kick from under the sheets. "You're just grumpy because of your nightmares."

"Maybe but it doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't be in my bed right now."

"Deny it all you want Blaze but one day you'll be mine for sure."

"Isn't that almost exactly what fuckface told you just yesterday?"

"Ho, is this why that catchy comeback was in my head? In any case, he's got zero chance at all, I'm already taken."

"Is this the real reason your sleeping in my bed? To annoy the neighbor by making him believe you're going out with me?"

"Of course not, I'm really here because I love you. Would you like a kiss to prove it?"

"Absolutely not, why don't you go out with him instead? He is more handsome, has more money and his family controls a good half of the town, plus he's got a strong Clamsteel."

"But he's an ass, this beautiful me couldn't possibly go out with the likes of him."

After a small sigh, he pushed her on the side and made himself a place on the bed, desperately fending off her sneaky arms.

"I'm sure the moment you get your hands on a battle monster, you're going to do big things, I just know it!" She said.

"There's no way I can get one, I've got no money and that asshole next door isn't letting me get one at the lab anytime soon."

"But there's only you and me left, all the rest of the gang left years ago! He can't just stop you from getting a monster forever can he?"

"I'm sure he can, at least as long as his father will be both the prof and the mayor, he can do what he want."

"Maybe your dad could do something..."

"Be honest, when was the last time we saw him?"

"Can't remember..."

"Four years ago, he came to bring mom some flowers told us he loved us real much and left on the morning the next day."

"This is so annoying!"

She sat up in the bed, unlocked the window, opened it and screamed towards the neighbor.

"Fuck you Russ! Let haaaa!"

Blaze reacted quickly and yanked her back down in the bed.

"What are you doing? You're going to wake everyone up!"

"That was the whole point! If you can't sleep, let him taste the same."

"Sometimes, you can be very disturbing you know?"

"Is it not what you like about me?"

"Are we back at this again?"

"I'll be back at it as long as it takes for you to understand."

She said squishing her head in the pillow and hugging him like it was nothing. Before he could even say anything, she changed the subject.

"Maybe the gang is right about your nightmares, maybe you are cursed."

"Cursed by what, I haven't offended anything for all I know."

"Maybe it's a ghost monster. We should find a good dark type to scan your house and chase the ghost."

"Why would I be targeted by a ghost?"

"Who knows? They are really good against psychic monsters, maybe they think you're psychic because you're so smart."

"Then why are they not attacking you too! You're super intelligent too!"

"That is true, yes, I am really intelligent."

There was a long silence then while she was waiting for his reaction but Blaze was hell bent on not taking the bait and said absolutely nothing so she was forced to continue.

"Fine, you are even smarter though, you can remember anything, you remember absolutely everything that happens, you're almost like a robot. You just absorb all knowledge like a sponge, this is amazing."

"No, it's not amazing, I can't forget stuff, so I remember every single nightmare I've had since I was born."

"And that is why I'm here, you see, we've come full circle. I'm here so that the second you wake up from those nightmare, you can feast your eyes on this most beautiful me and be warmed by my love."

"I feel like you're jumping steps here. And also, stop screwing around and release me, there is a limit to how much you can tease someone in only one night and you passed it the second you stepped foot in my bedroom."

"How can someone so intelligent also be so dumb! You can even play music out of thin air while eating breakfast, why can't you understand!"

"Wait, how do you know I play music while eating breakfast?"

"Because I invited myself inside many times to help your mom cook!"

Blaze felt like he was about to fall in a trap but his curiosity got the better of him, he had to ask.

"Why would you do such a thing?"

"To be the perfect wife of course, how could I be a perfect wife if I don't even know how to cook my husband's favorite food!"

It was indeed a trap, she had spouted nonsense again. It was as if she passed most of her time thinking about ways to embarrass and tease him. He was absolutely certain that she thought the funniest thing in the world was to torture him in some sort of psychological warfare in which she pretended to love him. But he would not fall for it, he had known her for his whole life, he knew exactly what she liked and what she didn't and he was not in the 'like' part.

He was a good best friend material because he shared many interests with her and always fell for her dirty traps and jokes But he was nothing more. She was lazy and led him around like hard labor, she used him as taster for her food and used him as a shield against other guys and sometimes, wild battle monsters that wandered in town.

They shared their interest in mayhem and pranks, in glorious combat and unbelievable stories but there was also many things on which they disagreed. She liked fashion, dramas and thrillers. She was a whole two years older than him and always told him all about dramas she watched on TV or clothes she saw somewhere and wanted to buy. He on the other hand, liked to wander around in the woods nearby and the vast world of the outside. He liked to fiddle with mechanical junks and video games like any teenager should.

When on their own, they were functioning human beings, but when together, they were known across the town as some sort of natural catastrophe. Them being in a relationship would be the greatest nightmare of the town and Blaze knew a lot about nightmare. The only person who seemed to want this to happen was his own mother.

"Can we go back to sleep now? I'm dead tired." Complained his best friend.

"Free me then! Stay on your side of the bed."

"The whole bed is my side."

"If you don't behave I'm going to touch your boobs in my sleep by accident."

"There's nothing that stops you from doing it, you can touch them anytime, they're all yours."

"Crazy! Stop your nonsense and let me sleep."

"You're going to wake back up anyway."

"Yes but since I'm a human being I still need to sleep even if the nightmares keep waking me up. Just watch out so I don't gouge out your eye by accident."

"You already broke my glasses again."

"Damn it. There is no space in that small bed for the two of us, it's entirely your fault."

***Aurora***

Hours later, far away from there. A small girl was going to sleep. She was Aurora Stardust, daughter of a famously rich president of an enormous company. It was a company named Starfuel, they produced and sold all kinds of fuel and petroleum based products. To the small girl, not even ten yet, it didn't mean much. Sure she had a bunch of lessons and classes that explained everything to her but she just wished to enjoy her carefree life instead of listening to all those complicated things. She preferred to take strolls in their grand garden, pretending to be in some kind of adventures. Adventures were what she craved, she loved to read and watch TV shows about brave adventurers or super heroes.

Anything she wanted, she would be provided by her parents but it did not matter much to her. She had nothing to do with all the things they gave her, she had no friends to share them with. Instead, she spent most of her time on the internet arguing against random people. She loved to do it mostly because it was one of the only ways she had to express herself.

Being mute, there wasn't much to talk about with the people around her. (2) The butler knew how to speak the sign language, in fact, he had been hired entirely for this matter, but beside him, even her parents didn't understand when she talked. It was all so frustrating, needing the butler just to say good morning to her very own parents.

Sometimes, she wished she could escape her lonely fate and do something like in her dreams where she was an ordinary girl talking to her friends on her way to school. Or go on a long adventure to save the world instead of staying locked up in the mansion.

Today, she had spent most of her day in the library, reading about old heroes tales and had not seen the hours go by. It was very late now, in fact, it was past midnight. She had hurriedly put the book back in the shelve and walked briskly towards her room.

In the hallway, she met with her father, he was probably coming back from playing with one of his girl friend. She guessed this because of the color of his aura.

God had given her two incredible gifts, the ability to see auras and the ability to understand monster speech. The problem was that, since she was mute, she couldn't hold a meaningful conversation with any of said monsters.

To go back to her present situation, whenever he came back from playing with one of these girls, his aura had a deep shade of purple. When he saw her, he didn't slow down and went straight to her with a smile, happy to see her.

"Ho, hello my sweet little angel. What are you doing here in the middle of night?"

(I am Going to bed now father) She signed to him. (I just did not see the time pass. I was reading a very interesting story about a man fighting gigantic monsters without sending any battle monster himself. But now I regret because I am going to be sleepy tomorrow in my studies.)

She looked at his face cramping. She knew he hated that when she answered with sign language because he couldn't understand a thing. Then learn it! She wanted to scream at him every time. But of course, she could not.

"Were you going back to bed maybe? Did something wake you up?"

It was the worst case scenario, she had to give opposite answers about those two questions. Could he not at least give her some time in between to answer? She simply nodded. "Make sense of this, father!" She thought. "I'm tired." Things just got more confusing since the poor man realised his mistake and did not know how to enquire about further details with yes or no questions.

"Hm, well, we will look at this tomorrow I guess. Could you remind Hergis to bring me your school report too while we are at it."

She nodded at this as well. She wanted to argue that it couldn't be a real school report if she never stepped even a single foot in one but there was no point doing this.

"Good, then have sweet dreams Aurora."

He patted her small shoulder and went on his way. She made a silent nod and walked back to her room. It really was an enormous thing, filled with air, emptiness, silence, some more air and finally, a bed big enough for five. She got rid of her white dress, threw it in a corner, or in the vague direction of a corner at least, and hid herself in the massive sheets after putting on her pajamas. Closing her eyes, she hoped a dream would come again tonight, she hoped that something would give life to her day tomorrow, she hoped someone would hear her.

(1) The names of everything have been changed just in case it could get me in trouble. The full list of those changes can be found in a google sheet available freely on my Patreon.

(2) If you also read Born from a divine gamble, you'll think "what is with this guy and mute girls suddenly" but it's really just a coincidence. I do not have some sort of strange fascination on mute people.

()The rules I follow for this are available in details on my Patreon page but in case you really don't want to take a second to follow a link, here is a short version of them.

- Credits of everything are made clear on the google sheet.

- Drawbacks are given at random or forced upon the characters by Patrons.

- No "canon" characters will ever be used.

- Patrons can change the events and outcome of the stories.

- I don't like plot armor but there might be some if Patrons are mean before I get the chance to introduce the full team of characters.

- Good ending not guaranteed.

- No lewd, there might be allusion but no direct thing.

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