Prologue

Somewhere out there in a dark room, there was a woman, laying on a bed apparently sleeping.

It seems normal enough quite an ordinary thing for sure, but sometimes, to truly be able to see and understand the truth and significance of what's right in front of our faces one needs to dig deeper.

[... Reconnecting host, please wait for further instructions... Reconnecting host, please wait for further instructions... The host has been successfully reconnected. Initiating the 'Welcome back' protocol]

['Welcome back' protocol at 25%...]

[50%]

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[Hello Talia, Welcome back to the world of the living]

Talia wakes up startle to an unknown voice that appears to be coming from inside her head, she jumps back in fright and hits her head on the headboard.

"FUCK. Who said that? Who's there?"

She tries to look around but the room is pitch black.

"Where am I? Why is it so dark in here? Turn on the lights"

[Hello Talia, I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment. If you could please stay still for a couple minutes, and keep calm that would be greatly appreciated]

"What the... No... thank you"

Talia gets up and starts blindly roaming around the room trying to get a feel for her surroundings while looking for the light switch.

"Ouch.. FUCK"

She hits her leg on something hard, stumbles back, hits the back of her head against the wall and decides to just sit on the floor where she's standing and question the voice about what's going on.

"Hey uhm... voice in my head, what's going on?"

[Finishing updates, If you could please stay still for a couple minutes, and keep calm that would be greatly appreciated]

"What's your name?"

[Finishing updates, If you could please stay still for a couple minutes, and keep calm that would be greatly appreciated]

"Ughh, fiiiiine, but only because this room feels like a maze and I would rather get out of it in one piece, not because you told me to"

Talia lays back against the wall and impatiently waits for the voice to be done with whatever it is the voice is doing, Talia has no clue.

"Are you done yet?"

[...]

"Is it almost over?"

[...]

"Are you ignoring me or just busy?"

[...]

"It's really rude to ignore people like that, you know? if you're a voice in my head I'm like your landlord, I could totally get you evicted"

[...]

"Okay, you said a couple minutes, are you just messing with me now?"

[Update completed, Sorry about that, those last few updates needed to be done while you were conscious to better]

"Wait wait wait wait, what are you talking about?"

Talia interrupts the explanation to ask confused about what's going on.

"Aren't you like a fruit of my imagination or something? Are you an actual person? How are you in my head?"

[Yes and no, but that's not pertinent at this point in time. I am not a fruit of your imagination though, I am a system, earned by you because of things you've done in your previous life]

"What do you mean previous life? What happened? Why can't I remember how I got here? What's going on?"

[Well Talia, I am sorry to have to be the one that tells you this but you died]

"What? How? When?"

[I am not allowed to tell you how at this moment, for it could upset you too deeply and damage the still forming bond between system and host, as for when, technically two years ago]

"Forming bond... Did.. Did you kill me to try and possess my body or something, are you some kind of parasite trying to manipulate me?" Talia asks panicking a little and wondering just how fucked she is right now.

[Try to stay calm Talia. No, I'm not trying to steal your body or anything like that and I did not kill you. As I said before you earned me through things you did in your previous life, I am only here to help you]

"Then, what am I?"

Talia tries to look at her hands in the dark room and frantically touches her face and body to make sure she still has one.

"Oh I'm still in one piece, Thank God" She calms down a little after checking.

[Yes you are, you have been giving the option to reincarnate with me to assist you, we are currently at a room in limbo, not quite dead, not quite alive]

"Option, as in, I can refuse it?" Talia questions.

[Yes you can, this is a reward, not a punishment, if you do not wish to reincarnate, your soul will be let go from here and you'll move on to the after life you've already earned, though for the record, seeing how curious, adventurous and the over all agent of chaos you've been in your previous life. I'm pretty confident you would appreciate the options that we have prepared for you]

Talia frowns at that accessment, thinking over her options.

"How come you get to know all of that, but all my memories of this so called previous life are fuzzy? "

[They are this way to keep you from being overwhelmed with information, they will come to you slowly over time as you adapt to your new circumstances]

"What is a system exactly? Also, what's your name? Do I just keep calling you voice in my head? system? tenant?" Talia smirks, thinking herself to be hilarious over her stupid little joke.

[Oh, yes, Sorry about that, between the incessant questioning while finishing our upgrade and checking on your health after that little lesson in self destruction, I must have gotten distract]

"Our? I... It's just like too dark in this maze of a room" She blushes, slightly embarrassed.

[Sure that's why. You can call me Clover. A system is basically a tool to help you grow stronger faster, most times surpassing what you would be able to accomplish on your own and honestly just breaking whichever laws of nature you end up being held under]

"Oookaaaayyy... Sounds like cheating to me, but since it would be in my favor I guess it's fine then"

[You seem to be taking all of this surprisingly well]

"Not really, it's just like, you're either telling me the truth and I'm dead or you're lying and there's nothing I can do right now anyways other then follow your lead and see where it goes, or I'm hallucinating somewhere, to which I'll just go along in case it gets interesting, you know"

[That's... Some surprisingly solid points for this situation. Would you like to hear your options now?]

"Yes please, show me what you've got for me!" Talia exclaims, excited about what Clover has prepared for her.

[First option: Deny reincarnation and simply move on to the after life.

Second option: Reincarnate as a Witch in a world of magic.

Third option: Reincarnate as an engineer in a world of science.

Fourth option: Reincarnate as a super powered individual in a world of super heroes and villains.

Fifth option: Let me choose.]

"Seems interesting enough, let's go from the top, first option is out obviously, the second one seems awesome, like what kind of witch? would I need to make potions and stuff or would I have the magic inside me?"

[A little of both actually, there's a pretty good variety of paths to follow on that one so it's ultimately up to you what you'll end up relying the most on]

"Makes sense I guess, about the third option, isn't engineer a career? how would that one work, would I just have a random title or something? "

[Yes and no, you would have the title, but you would also have the knowledge, I as the system would mold the specializations accordingly of course to help you with it, but you would intrinsically have the basic knowledge already to start with]

'This sounds fun as well, to be able to build incredible things and such, but can it really compete with literal magic though? Same goes for the fourth option, magic can do what both of them can and more. The fifth option though, that sounds like either a trap or a hidden prize or something' Talia ponders.

"Clover"

[Yes, have you made your choice yet Talia?]

"Almost, just one last question before I do to make sure, what does the fifth option entails? Are you just gonna choose one of them for me?"

[I knew you catch that, no, I would choose something else entirely just for you, but you'll only get to know more about it if you choose it]

'Shit, is definitely a trap' Talia starts to weigh her options carefully.

[Don't worry though, you can change your mind and choose option one at any point before the actual reincarnation]

"So the choice is not final?" Talia asks in hope of being able to choose the fifth option to learn more about it before deciding to come back to the witch one in case it's garbage.

[Sorry Talia, the choice is final, you can only get the first option back in the terms I gave you already]

"It's okay, it just complicates things a bit, on one side magic, on the other something either better or way worse, is it at least as good as magic?"

[I can't tell you that Talia, you'll have to see for yourself]

"Shit"

'magic or gamble, MAGIC or something potentially better or worse, on one side I would have so much fun with magic, on the other I would be forever wondering about what I potentially lost.'

"Clover"

[Yes Talia]

"You'll be with me no matter which?"

[Yes Talia]

"Option five then, whatever it is, we're in this together now so I'll trust you for this one"

[Excellent choice Talia]

"..."

[...]

"TELL ME WHAT IT IS ALREADY"

[Maybe later, you have further options to go through at the moment]

"You're just teasing me now, right? Just tell me already Clover"

[So for your next option you get to choose one for an innate protection that no one will be able to break through]

"Seriously? answer me Clover!!!"

[One: Protection of the Mind: No one will be able to take control of your mind, read your mind or affect it in any harmful way no matter the means used.

Two: Protection of the Body: No physical harm will come to you, no one will be able to puppet your body and such no matter the means used.

Three: Protection of the Soul: No one will be able to affect, extract or destroy your soul no matter the means used.]

"Uuugggh " Talia groans in resignation. "Option one please"

[That easy? You don't want to ask anything else about them first to make sure?]

"Not really, no"

[Okay then, you have selected option one: Protection of the Mind. Now your last option will be about your mission, I can give you the options for that or you can just let me choose again]

"You mean like last time where you still haven't told me anything about it?"

[Yes]

"Ughh, fiiiiine, at this point knowing the other options will just make me more frustrated with you anyways, just like, no murder, or anything involving harming kids, you know?" Talia sighs in resignation.

[Of course, I'll make it a good one]

"What now? You said that was the last choice, right?"

[Yes Talia, are you ready to begin your new life?]

"Not like I can do much else in this dark maze of a room you put me in anyways"

The lights turn on and Talia finally sees the room she's in, There's the bed she woke up in one corner of the room, a bedside table, and a wardrobe by her side. The walls are white the furniture is simplistic all in white wood, no windows, no door.

[What were you saying about a maze?]

Talia keeps looking around trying to understand what happened earlier. "N- Nothing really, but uhm why didn't you just turn on the lights earlier? there's literally nothing much around here" She says opening the bedside table and finding a pair of blue, fingerless gloves inside and putting them on.

[You'll be reincarnated in]

[5]

Talia runs to check the wardrobe.

[4]

She finds a silver ring with a blue jewel in the mess she's making while throwing all the clothes out of the way.

[3]

She puts it on her left pointer finger.

[2]

She keeps looking through the mess seeing the corner of a little box reflect the light in the pocket of a formal black coat.

[1]

She jumps to grab it as everything suddenly goes white.