Introduction

Inside a dark stone cell, a small figure huddled in the corner. The whole room was lined with magic enchantments that pulsed every so often. The figure was a young teenage boy, with shoulder length coppery hair and emerald green eyes. He sobbed sadly into his arms, still puzzled by what had befallen him.

His name was William DeWitt and he was this generation's most talented wizard. He was born as the illegitimate son of the DeWitt family head Aurellio DeWitt. His shining talent had gotten him accepted by his father and the DeWitt family, or so he had thought. It turned out to all be a lie. They were just enticing him to let his guard down before taking everything from him. The enchantment surrounding him was slowly draining away his mana and life force where it would then be channeled into his half-brother and DeWitt family heir, Ethan DeWitt.

Ethan was his father's true pride and joy, and he William, was just an unwanted accident, a stain on the house of DeWitt. He had no hope, no one would risk offending the DeWitt family for him and he didn't really have very many friends to begin with-his shy personality and shameful family situation precluding him from being too outgoing. He was going to suffer here alone. Slowly, he felt his body cooling down. No amount of shivering could give him the slightest warmth. Then even the shivering became difficult as his strength ebbed. He struggled to keep his eyes open in a last effort to deny the inevitable. However, he still failed in the end to ward off the icy clutches of death.

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  When William's eyes opened he was shocked. For before him lay not the road leading to the gates of the underworld, but instead a lavish room decorated in white and gold. Across from him was a woman leaning casually in an armchair.

Just a glance at her was enough to take his breath away. She had long waist length light brown hair, hazel eyes, and golden tanned skin. She had high cheekbones and a straight nose a faint scar across one of her cheekbones sharpened her appearance. Her entire body radiated danger, she was wearing a white leather crop top with matching pants, leaving her feet bare.

In his daze William noticed that her bare midriff exposed a tight set of abs and a shocking patch of white scarring that took up her whole right side. He, in passing wondered what could possibly have caused such a wound. Such a beautiful woman, the scars didn't detract from her beauty but enhanced it. Rather than her beauty being akin to a flower, she was more like a blade. Sleek, thin, flexible, and oh so very dangerous. 

"Werewolf." A clear voice rang out piercing through his idle thoughts, jarring him back to reality. William realized that he had been inappropriately staring at this woman for sometime now, his whole face burst red rivaling a tomato. 

"W-what?" He barely managed to stammer out in his embarrassment. 

"It was a werewolf," She repeated caressing the scar."My cousin to be precise." Her smile turned slightly malevolent at that line and chills ran up William's spine his instincts screaming danger. 

"But enough about me, let's discuss you William." Her aura returned to calm as she refocused on the young boy in front of her.

"W-what about me?" William stuttered after receiving such focused attention from the most stunning woman he had ever met.

"Are you angry? After all you were cut off in your prime never to reach the heights your talent in magic would have afforded you." She asked with an odd smile, carefully examining his reaction. William was stunned, he had just remembered that he should be dead, or at the very least shivering in the dungeon. How had he come here again? 

"I am angry, no one wouldn't be if they were murdered. I really thought that my father loved me. I don't want revenge or anything, I should have been smarter and seen through such a flimsy lie. Overall I am just disappointed in myself," As he spoke his voice became quieter and quieter, the sadness creeping back in on him .

The woman's laughter brought his attention back to the present as he stared at her in confusion. She smiled at him,"What a cute child you are. What if I gave you a second chance?"

"A second chance?" He repeated in puzzlement.

"Well, it isn't for free. You will join my Dimension Mapping Bureau, work to gain enough energy to rebuild your body and gain citizenship in my Empire. I guarantee that our attainments in Magic far surpass those of your previous world. Think of all you could learn and achieve through your talent. Another chance at life and an unlimited font of knowledge. Do you agree?"

At this reminder William glanced down at his hands only to realize that they were slightly transparent. He was in the state of a soul. After this stunning realization the enormity of the woman's offer also struck him. Even though he suspected it certainly wasn't as easy or simple as her words may lead one to believe he didn't hesitate to agree. He wanted to live again. He wanted to delve into the many secrets of magic and learn as much as he could.

"Excellent! I will send you over there now." The woman said clapping her hands. William felt odd sense of dizziness and when he reacted he was in a completely different space. He was sitting alone in front of a desk that had a variety of knickknacks and papers strewn across it. He heard the sound of a door opening and a bubbly young lady bounced her way in, and then behind the desk.

"Hi, you must be William my new partner! Do you have a nickname you like?Will, Willy, Bill, Billy, well? Oh my gosh you don't know how excited I am! Even though we are just interns, it is a huge step. Soon we will crush the rankings and stand right in front of Her Majesty as she rewards us for our hard work. Although just seeing Her Majesty is a reward in itself, she is just so amazing and beautiful. Oh this one time she- cough cough- ugh saliva can be difficult. Where was I?" The young lady fired off words faster than he could react.

He jumped in at this rare reprieve to state, "Will is fine, um what internship I am not really sure what is going on. And who are you?" 

"Oh Will is it? That is so cute just like you! My name is Jenny, short for Jennifer of course, which I always thought was a boring name but whatever. The internship for the Dimension Mapping Bureau of course, though we just call it the DMB or the Bureau for short. I am your tech support, while you are out in the field I give you info and other help like that. Oh, I guess I should start from the beginning though since you are from offworld." Jenny giggled.

"We are currently in the Etherium Empire, the best empire ever of course, which spans many universes. However although we are the best empire we are not the only one. There are two other empires that can compete with us, the Balfour Empire and the Maat Empire. Along with the typical legions on the battlefield and fighting stuff that sometimes occurs during friction between us, we have another less fatal way to compete for resources and territory. Dimension claiming, there are countless worlds in existence with more born every day out of the chaos of creation. However, each of these worlds have their own rules and ecosystems that exclude offworlders from interfering. So our job is to infiltrate the world and depending on what our objective is to change the world trajectory without alarming the world consciousness and seize the world into our empire. The exact technical process is complicated so we won't get into that now. We are interns for the Survival Department, you will enter the body of someone who's death is of key importance in the trajectory of the world and stay alive in order to alter the timeline of that world. I will be here giving you assistance from our base of operations. Any questions? "

William was dizzy after the barrage of information, his eyes staring blankly at Jenny. "Um, did you say I have to possess someone's body?" That was dark and evil magic, contrary to everything he believed in. If that was the price for new life then he declined.

"Oh don't worry about that. All of your avatars are willing. We have offered them various things in return for use of their bodies, we are huge believers of free will here in Etheria." Jenny beamed at him full of enthusiasm. William sighed in relief at this news, excellent no evil magic.

"So my only job is to stay alive? How long?" He asked, that seemed easy enough.

"Well, it isn't so simple as all that. Like I said the person whom you are replacing is someone who was going to die. Their death is integral to the 'story' of the world, or the events that surround those few that hold most of the world's conscious energy, the world pillars if you will. So death will come after you as if it has a grudge, and you need to stay alive until the end of the world story. Okay?" He nodded his understanding to her, and then watched as her face lit up in a mischievous smile.

"I heard that you met Her Majesty? Was she gorgeous? Was she amazing? Did you feel the urge to worship at her feet?" Her eyes alight with a scary gleam she stared at him unblinkingly. William backed up as far as possible in his chair, thinking that she must be referring to the mysterious woman he had met earlier.

"I-I guess. She was very beautiful. I don't really know much about her, we only spoke for a short while." 

"Oh but that is so much more than I have. I can only see her in the news. Will, we must top the rankings. I want to meet her so bad!" Jenny exclaimed in excitement.

"Um, rankings? What is that?" William asked hesitant, she hadn't mentioned that in her speech earlier had she?

"Oh geez, I almost forgot. After you have completed your mission you get points based on how well you completed the task, then those points in total determine how you rank compared to your peers. At the end of the year- here in Etheria because time obviously moves differently between realms- those with the highest ranks will be rewarded. We will be ranked with all the other interns, and our aim is to be the best intern so that we can meet Her Majesty. The points are not just used in the ranking, they also constitute as the internal currency of the Bureau to redeem items useful during your missions. This is to prevent those that are independently wealthy from falsely inflating their ranking. Those that use props not provided in the store, will have their points deducted accordingly. Your ranking will also determine your salary for the following year so that is also pretty good motivation. Although you are an intern without a body or citizenship yet, so the higher ups probably have a different method of paying you but I am not sure. Now, let's head to your home base."

Without pausing for breath, Jenny bounced up and led Will out of the room. Entering the hallway, he was surprised by the enormous proportions of everything. Grand marble columns reached up to support elegant arching ceilings with murals of great battles embossed on them. Eventually Jenny stopped before a set of double doors, informing him that these were the dorms of DMB employees and that he should avoid going out alone until he gained a body.

Apparently besides the dangers of his soul dissipating due to the energy of sunlight, there were many races that consume souls. So, he should definitely avoid running around alone. Although the justice system of the empire is complete, it wouldn't do him much good if he has already become someone else's meal. Jenny guided him to his very own room, which at the moment was very simple. It had a bed, a set of table and chairs, a bookshelf, a cauldron, and a flag that held a silhouette of a soaring dragon against a field of purple- the flag of Etheria apparently. Will glanced around his new home with curiosity before being pulled from his thoughts by Jenny's enthusiastic voice.

"Well, now that you've seen it let's start your first mission. No time like the present!" He stared at her incredulously, eh no can we not? Not yet, he needed to brace himself. Unfortunately she couldn't hear the cries of his heart, and cruelly pressed some sort of odd card which sucked him out of the room and out of the world entirely.