Death is only the beginning

The night felt heavy, Elias stood at the edge of the street in thought as he made way to cross the street.

He was tired and weak, his life was too full of struggles,too full of endless days working just to scrape by and tonight was like every other day.

He pulled his worn jacket tighter around him as the cold bit through the fabric.

He sighed, stepping off the curb to cross the empty street.

His body ached from the day's labor, his steps sluggish. Just one more night, one more day to survive, he thought.

He was crossing the street when a notification buzzed in his mind sending an electric shock down his spine.

[Initializing...! ]

[Welcome, player 223]

[You have been chosen!]

[Welcome to the game of the gods]

Elias stood frozen in the middle of the street, his pulse a drumbeat in his ear as his heart raced.

What is this?

Some kind of prank?

The words seemed too absurd to be real, too impossible to comprehend.

Gods? Game? Chosen? He was just a boy, an orphan who barely scraped by and who'd never even done anything that required being chosen by the Gods.

He glanced around. There was no one else in sight. Just the lonely streets, the glow of distant city lights, and a sense of something... strange in the air.

Suddenly, a loud, screeching noise from the street pierced through the haze of confusion.

Elias turned just in time to see the headlights of a truck bearing down on him, its engine roaring. His mind couldn't process it in time.

This can't be it!!

This can't be how I die!!.

But it was.

There was no escape.

The world shattered as the truck collided with him, and everything went black.

***

The world didn't stay silent for long.

When Elias awoke, he was no longer on the street.

His eyes snapped open, his lungs gasping for air, but there was no pain.

No truck, no collision.

Just an infinite void around him, darkness stretching on endlessly.

A place where nothing existed, yet everything hummed with an unnatural energy. The very air felt alive.

He staggered to his feet, trying to make sense of what was happening.

Am I dead??

The thought clawed at him, and his body tensed.

A cold sweat broke across his forehead as he realized that his body wasn't hurt. His heartbeat was calm, his breath steady as if nothing happened.

But this....this place....was wrong. The sky wasn't a sky. The ground wasn't a ground. It was all... too real to be a dream, but too unreal to be reality.

And then, from the depths of the darkness, a voice. Low. Unyielding.

"You have been chosen."

Elias spun around, but saw no one. No figure. Just an all encompassing shadow. His heart pounded harder in his chest.

This wasn't a dream. This wasn't a joke. He had died, and now he was somewhere else, alone.

The voice continued, echoing through the void. "You are here because fate demands it. You were chosen to play the Game of the Gods.

A game of strength, wit, and power. A chance to ascend. A chance to become one of us."

"Wait... Gods?" Elias stammered, unable to grasp the full weight of the situation.

"What do you mean? What's happening? I don't understand!" what game??this has to be some kind of mistake!"

"There are no mistakes," the voice replied coldly. "Only destiny."

Before Elias could respond, a glowing orb materialized before him....a sphere of pulsating light, swirling with colors he couldn't name.

It hovered just out of reach, its brilliance both mesmerizing and terrifying.

"Touch it," the voice commanded.

Elias hesitated, his instincts screaming at him to run.

But there was nowhere to go. Slowly, his hand extended toward the orb.

The moment his fingers brushed its surface, a searing heat surged through him.

The energy wrapped around him, binding him in place.

He cried out as his body trembled,falling on his knees,gasping, his mind flooded with sensations too vast to comprehend. Strength filled his limbs, his senses sharpening to unnatural clarity.

His vision blurred,and in the chaos, his mind screamed:

What is this? Why me?

And there, amidst it all, was a whisper: "This is the Aether Core. And now,it has found its host.

And, then the world spun again

When Elias's vision cleared and he was no longer in the void.

He found himself standing in a vast, open space, a throne room of some kind, built from glistening stone, massive pillars rose to impossible heights,their surface carved with intricate symbols, with towering figures standing around him.

Figures that radiated power.

Their eyes gleamed with divine light, each one staring at him like an insect beneath their boots.

The gods!

One of the gods, tall, radiant, with eyes that blazed like suns, stepped forward.

You were meant to die, but fate has granted you a second chance.

A second chance to compete for the ultimate power."

Elias was still reeling, his head spinning from the revelation.

The Aether Core pulsed within him, its energy far too overwhelming for someone like him to control.

"You're too weak," the god continued, his tone almost pitiful. "You have potential, but no mastery.

Death has severed your tie with a patron God and now you are free. You are unbound.

You will have to fight, to prove yourself, to survive."

Elias' hands clenched into fists, but his legs trembled beneath him. He felt small....so small....in front of these towering figures. He had no idea what he had gotten into. The gods... they seemed so distant, so beyond him.

"What do you mean, 'prove myself'?" Elias croaked, the fear barely hidden in his voice.

The god's lips curled into something like a smile. "You will understand in time, Elias. You may not yet be ready, but the game has already begun. And now, you must play."

You will fight. You will survive. Or you will perish again."

Elias' eyes widened in horror. The gods had not just chosen him....they had given him a test, a trial that could cost him everything.

The world he knew was gone. And in its place, an even greater, far more dangerous game had begun.

He had died once. Now, he had to learn to fight, to survive, to rise above them all.

He fist clenched tighter into his hands.

I won't just survive," Elias muttered, his voice shaky but defiant.

He met the god's gaze, his fear simmering into something else.....determination. "I'll win."

The hall fell silent, the gods exchanging unreadable glances.

"Bold words," the radiant god said, his smile deepening. "But words alone won't save you. The game has begun, Elias.

Elias felt the core's energy surge again, crackling through his veins like lightning. He didn't know what lay ahead, but he refused to back down.

He had been chosen. He had been thrown into their game.

He didn't ask to be chosen but if the gods thought he would bow to them, they were wrong.

Elias had no intention of being their pawn.

He was the WILD CARD!!