Chapter 1: Choices

[Title earned 'Puppet of The Divine']

The air was hot, and the land resembled a canvas painted with blood. There was no sound, no movement, just the remnants of what was living. My head turned to a sword amongst thousands stabbed into the ground where my reflection was present. My appearance consisted of short white hair stained with dried blood and dim golden eyes. I was covered in cuts and deep wounds all over with a chunk of my torso taken off. 

'Another bad run…I'll do it in the next one.' 

"No more.." As my lips parted without my will a defeated voice escaped. 

'..Is there anything else?' I thought to myself.

Usually a retry option would pop up around now..

"I give up…" A nearby sword was picked up with my remaining hand being drawn to my throat. 

'...' 

I had no control over my body at all. Though calling it my body was a lie…It was Aureus's body. I'm simply an assistant. 

The blade pressed against Aureus's throat being dragged across the skin lessening the already low blood remaining. But the thing about the wound is that it wouldn't heal even if a god intervened.

All because a skill was activated. 

[Using skill 'Killer.']

It was a skill that showcased how deadly things can get. It was a skill that could kill anything, undead, immortal, or even the reincarnators heard about in stories. You name it, it can kill it permanently. Though the activation condition was that the user had to deal a fatal injury, all this skill did was make the death permanent. But why was he using this skill on himself?

I was met with my answer as soon as Aureus finished bleeding out and I was met with a game over screen without a retry button. 

[Game deletion is commencing: 1%]

'What?!'

[4%]

'No!'

[9%]

'No stop! You can't delete so abruptly.' 

I could feel my heart rate getting dangerously fast. 

[13%]

'I was so close..'

[16%]

The only answer to my cries was the increased speed of the percentage rising. At this rate the game wouldn't last for longer than a minute. What did I expect…it was a shitty game that nobody played. 

'No that's a lie…'

Yeah it was 

'I played it. Day in and day out I played as if my life depended on it.'

For one reason…

'To change his fate. To change this crappy ending.' 

I relived every moment I spent on this game as Aureus as I looked at the increasing percentage. My heart rate reached an all time high as I cursed out the devs of this game in my mind. And finally I made a statement that I don't know why I did. 

'I could've done it. I could've saved him..I could've properly ended this crappy story!'

[84%....86%...89%..9- iERR0R!]

'?'

[Are you confident?]

'What?' 

My heart rate was still racing and my emotions were still out of order. I couldn't tell whether to be confused or angry right now.

[Are you confident you can change fate?]

I don't know why but instinctively I responded.

'Yes…Even fate wouldn't stop me.'

[Prove those words true.]

'Hu-'

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Few seconds before

A wind filled with the smell of different floral scents blew into the room pushing the curtains away. In that room was a nurse who was changing an I.V. for a boy who looked no older than 16. The boy had a VR headset on as he usually did. 

After changing the I.V. The nurse sat by the boy's bed peeling an orange.

"He should be awake in a few minu-" Cutting off the nurse was a sudden spaz of beeping noises.

Her eyes widened as she looked before she opened her mouth to yell. 

"Code Blue!" She made sure any doctor in the area would know. 

Suddenly multiple doctors walked in looking at the heart rate monitor. 

They immediately administered beta-blockers to slow down his heart rate only to be met with no results. They tried everything they could to make sure the boy lived. However, everything they did resulted in nothing as soon after, the beeping instead of being erratic and uncontrolled became one long beep. 

"Time of death, 14:00" 

The doctors and nurses had an expression of grief as they looked at the boy that had spent most of his life there. 

—---------------------------------------------------—------------------------------------

It was warm, very warm. 

'Is this death?'

My entire existence felt like a mere collection of thoughts. After all, I could do nothing but think. 

In this state of nothingness a familiar 'voice' sounded in my mind. 

[Character Creation]

'Huh?'

[Create your appearance]

'Whatever..let me enjoy death.'

But it wouldn't, the voice had been with me even after death.

[Create your appearance.]

'Shut up'

[Create your appearance]

'Alright!' I was losing my patience.

[Create your appearance]

'How?!' Not even knowing why I entertained this voice. 

[Envision it]

If I could punch the source of this voice I definitely would.

I imagined a body with lean muscles and healthy porcelain skin without any blemishes. For some reason during this process I thought about Aureus who had white hair and golden eyes. So, I imagined the body having short black hair that covered my forehead and parted in the middle along with silver eyes. 

In an instant after I imagined all of that I felt pain replacing that warm feeling I had finally grown used to. It was as if somebody was stretching and moulding my very existence. Soon I gained the familiar sensations of being able to move my arms and seeing light. Though at this point I wasn't seeing light since I instinctively covered my eyes with my forearm due to not being able to adjust to the brightness. 

[Select your race]

"--What?' I questioned with a voice unfamiliar to me. 

[Select your race]

I moved my forearm and slowly opened my eyes to look around me. 

I was in what looked like the sky. I was standing in the clouds and in front of me was a familiar game screen. 

'Purgatory?'

It was the familiar sight of the game window I had seen for nearly a decade. 

[Select your race]

On the screen was a list of different races I had recognized from the game. 

[Select your race]

'Alright alright shut up.'

This robotic voice wouldn't even let me process this in peace. 

'The chances of this being a dream are high but..'

My mind rushed through the memory of that conversation I had with the game right before I died. 

'Maybe I did get a chance…a chance to change things.'

I recognized that this was a plot in many of the novels and animes that were trending nowadays. But the reason I was mainly confused was because in Purgatory you couldn't create a character you had to play as Aureus. And even then you were barely playing as him. 

Purgatory was a shit game that was known by all of the gaming community. When it came out there was a bunch of hype about the first ever immersive virtual reality game with realistic graphics. Don't get me wrong the graphics were amazing, quite literally replicating reality perfectly. But it wasn't an immersive hell you couldn't even choose your actions. It was a basic story mode game as virtual reality. The most you could do is pick between four options and sometimes there weren't even four. Even then some players like myself stayed because honestly not being able to make your own choice was kind of stress relieving. Plus it was first person so it was still kind of immersive. But the thing that made players leave was the ending of the game, no matter what choice you made the tragic ending stayed the same no matter what. 

However, even after everybody slowly left I stayed because of one element that gave me hope. Each run of the game affected the next, the choices you had the first run would not be the same as the second and not the third. Many players noticed that and also had hope but around the 20th run is when everybody gave up. But I stayed for many more around, each round was like 20 hours of gameplay each. I played 8 hours daily for around 9 years so around 165 different rounds. And not once had I seen a character creation option. 

[Select your race]

I scrolled through the hundreds, nearly one thousand races in front of me. I narrowed it down between a few choices. It wasn't as easy to do as you'd think since each race has its advantages and disadvantages. 

'Dragon, Phoenix, Demon, Angel, Spirit and Chimera.'

In terms of strength and or potential these were the best choices. I immediately crossed out Demon and Angel since they'd require me to either live as a psychotic or an obnoxiously faithful individual. Then I crossed out Phoenix because it's too flashy for my liking. So it's between Dragon, Spirit and Chimera. Dragons are old and wise, plus they have the dragon eye trait. It'll be a useful trait since it'll allow me to look into the true essence of something. Also, one of Aureus's masters was a dragon, and she was fairly powerful yet simple. As for spirits they have amazing late game potential and abilities. One of the spirits Aureus fought was literally the embodiment of death. They are also ever-changing; they're the best adapters in the game; if they had a physical body they'd only have to do things a few times to engrave it into their muscles. 

As for the chimaera…there was one example of a chimaera in the game. It was a human with the abilities of an elf and a demon. It had the ability to control nature and consume souls to get stronger making it annoying as hell to deal with. But I'm not sure if there are other kinds of chimaeras. If there aren't then I can cross it out as an option. Why the hell is this so confusing?

[Select your race]

'Fuck it'

I made my choice by using my hand to click the option I wanted.

'Chimera'

[Choice made.]

'Finally.'

[New choices appeared due to your race]

"Huh?"

[Choose your sub-races]

"..."

I saw the race selection again and I was shocked beyond understanding. If I could laugh I would but no sound was leaving my mouth. 

I had to choose three races to be mixed with. Combination wise there was an amazing combination. I selected three races, Dragon, Spirit, and Axolotl. Why an axolotl? They have the best regeneration amongst the races, even regenerating organs, and with the draconic and spirit essence it would only be enhanced. 

[Choice made. Which race's form do you desire?]

'I'll take a dragon's appearance.'

[Understood]

'Are there anymore sele-' cutting me off was my answer.

[Choose a class and sub-class]

'There were classes in the game but never sub-classes.'

Plus classes aren't usually inherent but rather acquired via a training or some mystical item. I looked at the list of a bunch of classes of which I recognized some. 

'Aureus went through 3 paths, a melee fighter, a ranger and a wizard. What ended up suiting him the most was a wizard which was apparent by the tenth round. So if I wanna be able to support him…'

I selected the swordsman class because the sword is the easiest weapon with the most combinations. And I can attack enemies close range and buy time for Aureus to cast his spells. Why did I choose based on Aureus? It's because my goal is to save him, so it's only obvious that I'd choose based on him. 

Now for my sub-class…I saw an interesting option amongst the many.

'Librarian.'

There was a librarian in some of the last few runs. Apparently it's a class possessed by only one person at a time. And it's acquired via a book found in a dungeon if I remember correctly. They also weren't made for combat since their main skill was 'Shelf of Memory'. This allowed them to store their memories as books in a library inside their head basically giving them a photographic memory. While it's essentially useless in this hell-like game, I could make use of it perfectly. With a photographic memory, dragon eyes, and a spirit's adaptability which I'm assuming I'll get then I should be able to learn things at a rapid pace equal or maybe surpassing Aureus. The only thing with Aureus is that he is a class that wasn't on the list for obvious reasons. 

'An Evolver.'

They're also known as god candidates; only a few appear in every race and Aureus was the first one to appear amongst humans in hundreds of generations. That plus he had a unique trait that allowed him to absorb the knowledge of those he's killed. So from his class that gave him a god-like talent literally and the trait he evolved at an inhumane speed. So, I chose my options in order to catch up to him, otherwise I'll simply be another person that he'd lose. 

I chose the librarian with that in mind and then waited for the next option to pop up.

'If I'm correct it'll probably be trai-'

[Select a trait]

Traits are also known as unique inherent abilities; everybody is born with one and one only. Traits can come with one or multiple sub-abilities as well. With that in my mind I immediately made my choice. 

'Weaver'

One of the villains in the game had this ability and he was also the maker of the chimaera. With this ability he combined the corpses of multiple races and used alchemy to bring them back to life. But after killing him Aureus learned that the ability had more functions than just combining corpses, it could combine anything as long as the person had a proper understanding of it. However, since the villain was more of a scholar he studied different races. But if somebody like Aureus had this trait he could probably combine his skills and abilities. And me having dragon eyes and a photographic memory could do something similar with skills. 

[Selection made]

'Are we done?'

[You'll be reincarnated in the year xx29]

'That's a few years before the game starts'

Purgatory starts like other common story mode rpg games, in an academy. This was the perfect introduction for users to the game though doing it over 100 times was annoyingly tedious. 

[Select your destination]

A map I had seen hundreds of times appeared in front of me. 

'What if I-'

[You may not select Aureus's location]

'Why?'

[Interference with what makes him who he is, is not allowed.]

I knew exactly what this thing meant. The trauma that Aureus had

endured through in his childhood. His father died in order to protect him and his mother from a pack of wolves in the forest. His mother was r**ed by a barbarian in front of his eyes and both of them got sold to the slave market where his mother was forced to endure similar pains time after time until she finally hung herself in the little slave pen that her and Aureus were in. Him getting sold as a slave to a twisted noble whose daughter tortured him in insane ways. And that all happened before I would even spawn in. Then for two years after that he lived in the woods. He then got adopted by a count and enrolled in the academy a few months after.

And I was reincarnating around the time he was in the forest so I couldn't prevent anything even if I wanted to. 

'What run am I reincarnating into?'

I was hoping it'd be the first one so that I could prevent him from accumulating any more trauma.

[Run 67]

'Of all the runs..'

This was the run he met his heroine in. Why was this a bad run? This is also the run where the new problems start to pop up. Each run was different with or without the different choices that Aureus made for some reason. It's as if the world was constantly getting harder each run. 

'Purgatory really is a fitting name..' I realised as I reminisced through all the suffering Aureus endured.

[Select your destination]

I scoured my brain for all the information I could find that could help me choose.

'Oh..that might work'

I clicked a part of the map that was far north similar to the area Aureus was originally born in.

[Selection Made]

'Finally'

[Once reincarnated you will be given 'The System']

'Wait wait wait no.'

[I wish you the best of luck on your journey]

"Stop I didn't consent to thi-"

[Do what I couldn't do. Finish this game the way you want. Reach the end you've been longing for, the End of Purgatory as you will it]

'Wait wha-'

Before I could finish a flash of white light blinded me. The next moment I opened my eyes I was in a forest covered with snow.

[Awakening Trait: Weaver]

[Awakening Race: Chimera]

[Awakening Sub-Race: Dragon]

[Awakening Sub-Race: Spirit]

[Awakening Sub-Race: Axolotl]

[Awakening Class: Swordsman]

[Awakening Sub-Class: Librarian]

[Racial Abilities: Draconic Eyes(Ex), Draconic Heart(Ex), Draconic Circuit(Ex), Draconic Tongue(Ex), Draconic Scales(Ex), Draconic…, Spirit Adaptation(Ex), Spirit intangibility(B+), Spirit Sight(SS), Elemental Form, (S), Spirit…, Regeneration (Ex), Camouflage (B), Breathing (A), Water-breathing (A), Swimming (A), Sensory Boost (S)...]

[Class Abilities: Shelf of Memory (S),]

[Skills: Horizontal Swing (D), Vertical Swing (D), Diagonal Swing (D), Block (E), Parry (E), Basic Footwork (E), Reading (F), Translation (F), Sword Breath (D), Memorise (B)] 

[Trait Abilities: Merge (S)]

"AHHHH!!" I fell back and grabbed the snowy ground digging my fingers into the dirt. The skills and abilities merged with my body altering its entire chemistry. True to my selection, scales started growing out of my skin forcing their way through causing hundreds of cuts to appear all over my body. The only thing that kept me alive was the passive ability 'Regeneration'. I could feel my eyes, internal organs and skin literally melting and freezing repeatedly slowly taking new forms. After what I imagined to be an eternity the process finally stopped and I was covered in blood. 

"Hhaaaa…hhaaaa" I was panting repeatedly trying to grasp every bit of air I could. I was still in a lot of pain but it was significantly better than before. I felt like I could breathe in colours. Cutting off my sudden euphoria was the message I dreaded the most.

[Awakening System]

One might ask, why I was so scared of the system.

[Progress: 99.98%]

Why wouldn't I be?

[Progress: 99.99%]

After all..

[Progress: 100.00%]

It was a boss.

[Hello Host]

One of the very ones I have to help Aureus defeat.