Chapter 2 - Dream

Did I die?

That question rang inside my head. It rang and rang and rang. Then there was ringing. Not the question, but this ringing was like in movies when the soldier is nearly hit by a missile and the missile explodes near the soldier. That kind of ringing.

Is this death? Not what I imagined.

If you think that what happened next was the cliché seeing-the-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel, then sorry to disappoint. There was nothing of the sort. It felt like I've been in this dark place for an eternity. The only thing I could hear were my own thoughts.

Was I really dead?

Is this the afterlife?

Not what I expected. I wonder what's next. I couldn't help but think about that game. Although I was quite disappointed with the start, I was ecstatic when I knew about the graphics. I keep thinking that I'm still in the game, yet, despite all the positivity, I can't also deny the possiblity of me dying. I would've chosen a mage class if I had continued, that would have been cool. I would have lit up this dark area. As I keep wondering and thinking why I'm in this dark void and what it is, the stinging ringing in my head slowly vanished.

I felt gravity weighing down. I felt like I was falling. I don't feel the gravity pulling my body, but my consciousness.

I was falling.

Falling and falling. Until I stopped. If I could puke, I would've. Instead, the ringing turned into static noise.

Then I heard the wind howl. I felt the cold breeze of the night. I felt my shoulders, hands, and arms move. I was in a hollow silo-like pillar. In front of me was a door that formed an arc. Runes decorated the outline of the door. I paid no heed to it. After all.. Wait. I thought I died. What am I doing here again? I wondered where I was for a moment.

"Nothing's gonna happen if I stay here," I tried to get out but there was some kind of invisible force blocking the exit.

A system notification popped up.

[Character Selection]

[Please choose only one]

I was shocked. The UI was like Heaven's War. The character classes even had a drastic reduction. From so many character classes to choose from, only three remained. They didn't even seem like a class.

[Fighter]

One who excels in the art of combat.

[Academic]

One who excels in the art of thought.

[Builder]

One who excels in the art of creation.

It was not a very thorough explanation. Is this another chance in life? Hey, I've been a positive person, what could go wrong? Well, I could die again. I shrugged but I dismissed the thought.

[What do you want to be?]

The system is quite hasty. Still, I had decided what I wanted.

"I want to be a Builder!"

Blue rays of energy enveloped me and transformed my clothes. I now wore dark blue leather armor, black shirt, grey wolfskin fur was draped on my shoulder as a mantle with the head of the wolf as a hood, thick brown gloves, black leather pants, and brown leather boots. Magically appearing on my waist was a belt. What hung from it was a wrench, a notebook, and a pen.

"I wonder what's happening to me. I kind of hope I was dreaming," I whispered to myself.

This was all quite sudden. I felt shock and excitement. I could feel an adventure coming. Nothing beats this. Not even my dead-end job that paid quite well.

I got out of the silo and found more people, also in a confused state. I observed my surroundings and realized that we were in a high tower. About 10 storeys high. I could see the vast lands around, there was a thick forest, a grassland, a lake could be spotted, in the distance was a mountain, the sky was clear and the stars could be seen. What was strange was the moon having a red glow on one side, it was faint, but I could see it.

If this was still a VR Game, it wouldn't be as realistic. I could use all of my senses. I could smell the evening breeze, I could feel the cold air, I can acutely hear a cricket a few feet away. In a VR Game, hearing was only possible.

There were 9 of us in this tower's top plaza. Three of each of us wore the same clothes.

There were three people that sported a brown leather armor, white tigerskin draped their shoulder as a mantle and a tiger's head as the hood, black shirt, grey gloves, grey leather pants, black leather boots. However, what was attached to their belts were different. One was a miniature pair of steel gloves, another was a miniature bow, the last was a miniature sword. I'd say these were the Fighters.

Another three of these people wore green leather armor, brown stagskin draped over their shoulders and had a horned stag's head as a hood, brown shirt, green gloves, brown leather pants, and dark-green leather boots. One had a staff hanging from the belt, the other a wizard's hat, and the other one a claw. These are probably the Academics.

Then, two people wore the same clothes I wore. One had a hammer, the other had a hatchet. I guess we're the Builders.

We were all anxious. No one was saying a word.

Then we heard footsteps slowly climbing up. We hadn't noticed the stairway on the other side of the tower due to us trying to take in all this new infomation.

As the footsteps stopped, we were at the ready, it felt like we had known how to do this before. We squared up, the miniature weapons immediately grew and flew into our hands. Like veterans, we readied to launch our attacks.

"Calm down heroes! I am not your enemy!" A raspy voice that seemed to be from an old man shouted.

Heroes? This is a dream, right?