Chapter 2 - I am Alive

Chapter 2 - I'm Alive 

I wake up, eyes blinking against the sunlight filtering through the soft breeze, the warmth on my skin almost unreal. I sit up slowly, the grass beneath me soft and cool, like a blanket of golden-green waves rolling across the horizon. For a moment, I just sit there, dazed, trying to process where I am. My first thought is that maybe—just maybe—this is the afterlife. But before I can let that thought sink in, a sharp sound—like a ping, the kind you'd hear from a phone notification—echoes around me.

I flinch, instinctively looking around, my heart racing. Nothing. The field is still as peaceful as ever. Then, I catch something out of the corner of my eye. My right hand… it's glowing. 

I raise it up, frowning. A soft, pulsing light emanates from it, and as I stare at it, my mind feels like it's playing tricks on me. But after everything that's happened—after the void, the truck, the nothingness—I'm past the point of being concerned about what makes sense. 

I shrug, not particularly caring about my safety at this point. I survived that endless blackness, so this glowing hand? Whatever. I tap it.

A panel materializes in front of me, floating in the air. It's a system panel, the kind you see in those new fantasy novels where someone gets transported to another world with RPG-like stats. I feel a jolt of excitement run through me, a kind of thrill I haven't felt since… well, before the void. 

I can't help but grin. "No way…" I mutter under my breath as I start exploring the panel, feeling that familiar sense of excitement I used to get when booting up a new game or opening a fresh character sheet.

But as I navigate through the options, I notice that most of the tabs are grayed out. Shop, Domain, Quests—all of them locked. The excitement fizzles out just a little. But then I see something clickable—*Profile*. I press it, hoping for something interesting. Maybe I'm about to see my stats, abilities, or even a cool class name like "Voidwalker" or "The Chosen One."

What I get… is far less exciting.

My name, Adam, is at the top of the profile screen, standing out like a sore thumb. But that's about it. There's no strength, agility, or intelligence. No fancy attributes like magic or dexterity. Just my name, a level bar, and something called a *Worship* meter. That's it. No powers, no magic, no hidden talents or secret abilities. Just a mostly empty screen staring back at me.

I feel my shoulders slump as I let out a long, disappointed sigh. So much for being the protagonist of some epic, otherworldly adventure. I swipe the panel away, watching as it fades into nothingness, leaving me once again in the calm, golden-green field.

I stand up, brushing off my clothes, which seem strangely clean given… well, everything. As far as I can see, there's nothing but these fields stretching out for miles, rolling gently in the breeze. It looks peaceful, serene even. The kind of place you'd expect to find in a dream, not after waking up from… whatever that void was.

I take a deep breath, the air clean and crisp, almost sweet. For a moment, I just let myself enjoy it—the simple fact that I'm alive, standing here, in this beautiful place. After what felt like an eternity in the void, this isn't so bad. 

"Well," I say aloud, to no one in particular, "at least I'm back and out of the void."

Suddenly, a sharp ping sounded again, cutting through the serene silence. I opened up the panel once more, half-expecting nothing of importance. But this time, there was a message.

"System fully embedded. Welcome to the Worship System."

I blinked at the words, my heart skipping a beat. The Worship System? Before I could even fully process that, the message continued:

"Earn worship by having people believe in you. The more believers you gather, the more features of the system will unlock. Worship can be converted into Worship Points, which can be used to access the Shop and purchase almost anything."

Anything? My mind raced at the possibilities. This wasn't just some regular RPG-like system; this was something bigger. Much bigger. I could feel my excitement rising again, far stronger this time. The words "anything" stuck in my mind like a beacon. Could I really buy anything? Powers, weapons, even immortality?

I swallowed hard, a mixture of excitement and disbelief swirling inside me. A real system based on gaining followers, having people *believe* in me. The more they worshipped me, the more powerful I'd become. It was like something straight out of a fantasy novel, yet here it was, real and right in front of me.

I tapped around the panel, looking for more information.

"So... how does this work, exactly?" I asked aloud, half-expecting the system to reply like some helpful AI assistant.

A brief pause, and then more text appeared:

"The system will provide advice and detailed explanations about items, nothing more. No guidance, no interventions."

My initial excitement cooled a little. "So you're not going to hold my hand through this? Just basic advice and item descriptions?" I muttered, raising an eyebrow. The system didn't respond further, almost as if that was all it had to say on the matter. I wasn't going to get any tutorials or walkthroughs. It was all on me.

As the adrenaline of this strange discovery settled down, I began to really think through the situation. This was real. And if the system was right, it was possible—*very* possible—to gain worship, to have people see me as a god. All I had to do was convince them.

The first thought that crossed my mind, and I couldn't help but smile a little, was the idea of starting a cult. I mean, it seemed like the easiest way to gather worshippers, right? Start some obscure religion, build up a following. A cult leader. Hell, history is full of those, and plenty of them gained power through fanatical devotion.

But the moment that thought fully formed, I kicked it down just as fast. The 20th century had made it clear that being a cult leader wasn't exactly the best idea. For one thing, cults rarely ended well. 

Let's be honest: most cults are short-lived, and their leaders usually meet some pretty nasty ends. Jonestown, Waco—those names flashed through my mind like red warning signs. Mass suicides, government crackdowns, sensational media coverage—none of it pointed to a stable, long-term gig. And even if you avoided that, you had to deal with *reality*. Building a cult in the modern world isn't easy. People are skeptical. There are laws. Not to mention the sheer difficulty of actually maintaining loyalty and convincing people to follow you blindly in an age where any crazy belief can be fact-checked and debunked in seconds.

Then there were the legal problems. Cults get attention—*bad* attention. Governments get involved. Law enforcement, the media, human rights organizations. You can't just start a cult and get away with it like it's some secret society. There'd be investigations, and before long, I'd be labeled a criminal or a danger to society. That was a fast track to prison, or worse.

And let's not forget how cults tend to... implode. Paranoia, inner conflict, power struggles. Leading a bunch of people who think you're a god is probably a recipe for disaster when you think about it. Fanaticism doesn't exactly breed stability.

As I thought it through, my excitement for the whole cult-leader plan deflated completely. Sure, it was easy in theory, but the risks were massive. It wasn't worth it. I couldn't go down that road. 

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, glancing back at the panel still floating in front of me. I needed to be smart about this. I had a system that promised power through worship, but brute-forcing it by starting a cult wasn't the answer. I'd need to find a way to get people to believe in me, to see me as something more than just a random guy.

But how?

The fields of golden grass swayed gently in the wind around me, and for the first time since I woke up here, I felt the weight of this new reality sink in. This was going to be more complicated than I had first imagined.

"Okay," I muttered to myself, standing up straight and looking at the endless horizon. "Time to think of a smarter way to play this."

One thing was for sure, though—I wasn't about to get stuck in the void again.