Life goes on and on and on...

Gray's eyes drifted around the room, slowly falling towards the wooden floorboards. Weirdly he focused on a single imperfection, a slight notch in the wood. It was a blemish to the rest of the floor. Ruining the entire room, he wanted to look away but every time he tried the notches presence could be felt. The damn thing seemed to be mocking him. He could even see it growing bit by bit.

"Did you hear me Gray?" Dean Phang asked, seeing the lack of attention in Grays face, but understanding that it was a lot for the young man.

"How... How did she die." In a weak voice Gray let out.

"Well there was.." Phang began.

"I don't think you want to know Gray, its an awful circumstance." Professor Curr interjected. "The case is still open and the Guardians have yet to find who could of done this."

"I understand Gray that your mother was the last family member in your house, and we the Fate Pre-Academy wish to support you in your time of need. We will handle the services for you. Help you in whatever way we can. You have been a valuable piece of our community the last few years. I hope this can be a small token of our appreciation." Dean Phang told him.

"Thank you, this means a lot to me." Gray said eyeing both man.

They could see the tears forming in his eyes, but choose not to say more. Quietly taking their leave after shaking Grays hand.

Once he was alone again he felt his energy drain from his body, dropping him to his knees. His eyes focusing again on that wooden notch. Slowly he crawled to his bed, climbing on top of it. Preparing himself to go back to sleep. Before he could even close his eyes tears finally assaulted his cheeks.

...

Gray slowly came to his senses in the dark void again. This time though no voices rang out, instead only the statue of 'Grey'. The damn copycat was smiling brightly at him once more. Walking closer Gray noticed that small golden sparks could be seen emanating from the statues body. "What do you want?" Gray said in a sullen mood, remembering that his mother was still dead even in a dream.

"Well seems like mine is gonna be a handful this time.." The statue said. "That seems.. exciting!"

"What do you want?" Gray shouted a little louder than he intended. He was sick of this already, and he had lost his motivation to move forward. What's the point of all his future plans if his mother wouldn't be there to see them? 'Life is just too cruel.'

"What I want... everything I guess." Grey, the statue, said.

"Everything?" Seems to be a bit much to Gray.

"Yes, I want everything and everyone, but right now I want my damn disciple to listen! I will even tell you something, even you will be happy to hear." The statue retorted, almost if it felt exhausted by Grays attitude.

"There's nothing you could say.." Gray started.

"Oh don't you want to see your poor mother again?" Grey said with that stone smile of his.

"How?.. "Grays face filled with hope. "OK, fine you have my attention."

"Excellent!" The statue huffed. "Now let me tell you what exactly is going on. This section of the world is controlled by us. Qast is ours. We share it between the seven of us. We are for lack of a better term Gods, I guess."

"Gods?" Gray said in disbelief, becoming skeptical of the statue in front of him.

"Yes." The statue let out. "And us Gods don't tend to get along. We also live very long lives, and are extremely hard to kill." The statue flexed like a body builder. "We tend to nurture those chosen to be our disciples, either to take over for us or to use to kill another of us. Those selected are our Players." The statue moved to a pose where he pointed at Gray. "We use our Players to shape the world, by giving them our gifts. These gifts can be anything we want, but have to do with what our Godhood is over. For some its a weapon, for others its a skill, but for me its wealth." The statue posed while rubbing his right hands fingers together in the universal money gesture. "All of these gifts, come with a price though, and they're all different. So, do be careful with them. For now I'll leave you with this," he said as a new trinket formed on Grays bracelet one of a golden coin. "to bring back your mother, your going to have to get a lot stronger and find a few more trinkets."

"Get stronger, huh?"

"Good Luck my disciple." The statue said with warmth in its voice for the first time.

...

Gray woke up to find himself once again in his dorm. It was almost dark outside now. "I slept the entire day." Gray said aloud. Looking down he saw that the coin was on his bracelet. "So it was real.." Once his eyes focused on the coin, a golden almost transparent panel lit up in front of him.

- System loading.. 1% -

Was the only words he could see. After some time he noticed that the progress wasn't moving. He gathered himself and stood up while staring at the screen. He was lost at what he was seeing in front of him. A system is something you find in a phone or computer, does he have one in his head now?

- Host, Please feed the system. -

The words on the panel finally changed informing him he needed to complete the process. "Oh my bad, didn't know you needed some food." 'What do systems eat?' Gray thought to himself. 'Technology makes the most since, ill try giving it my old game machine.' Gray tried to feed the system the old machine but for some reason the system wouldn't accept it. "What do you have a delicate stomach or something?"

- Host, Please feed the system with wealth.. -

"Ohhh that makes since I feel silly now.." grabbing a few bills and coins Gray had around the room he finally saw what he wanted.

- System Loading 42% -

Having run out of old change lying around Gray knew he would have to break into his savings. Walking over to a spot he kneeled and started to pry open a few loose floor boards. He grabbed a few handful of coins and cash and fed his system.

- System Loading 68% -

- System Loading 83% -

- System Loading Finished -

- Welcome Host to the 'Wealth' System -