II

"Dude, get up already." a deep but smooth voice said in annoyance. "People usually don't take this long."

Dylan slowly came to with the realization that someone was talking. He couldn't make out what was said, so he decided to open his eyes.

When everything focused he noticed his vision was filled with a mans face.

'Well you could call it a man or I guess it could be a woman.' Dylan thought as he contemplated this attractive strangers gender.

The person then swept their slightly long, blonde hair out of their face, revealing bright green eyes.

With that motion Dylan could see their entire face. He had to admit he was a little star struck. 

"

It's about time." the person said. "You got slim-pickings when it comes to worlds to start from, so lets get going!"

Dylan stared at the person in utter confusion. He wasn't sure where he was or why he was there.

"Names Homer," the person said as they stretched a hand to help Dylan off the floor. "and you died."

Dylan eyes narrowed as he heard what Homer said.

That was kind of abrupt.

'Dude has got to be  fucking with me,' he thought.

He tried to remember what happened before he woke up here.

'Oh,  fuck, that's right. I found Lila and then it felt like i got hit by like nine semi-trucks.'

'No shit?' he thought.

"Thank God!" he shouted.

Granted he was still shocked from the trauma of seeing Lila unresponsive. He was worried for a second that he might have to keep on living his horrible existence without the one thing that made it worth it.

"God-sss. With and 'S' young man." Homer said with a whimsical tone. "And oddly enough one of them would like you to thank them in person."

"Look, I'm just going to cut to the chase here. You died, and were randomly selected to participate in the GodGate's trials. You may be asking yourself, 'What is the GodGate's trials.' Basically certain souls that are deemed worthy are given a chance to keep all their memories in the next life."

"These souls must go through 3 different Gates and live three different lives. Each Gate is a small universe created by the God of Space and Time.

These 'pocket dimensions' house various different worlds, with different forms of cultivation and gaining power."

"As a GateGear it is your job to grow to the highest level of power in each world. Once you become the hegemon over the new world you must face 3 trials in order to ascend. Don't worry the trials will be explained if you manage to make it that far."

The first Gate is called the NaturalGate. This Gate houses a world that will give you a small advantage at the start. You will be born into a small noble family and will have a high percentage of  Karma. Karma is the probability of receiving exclusive rewards or knowledge during your time in the world."

"So, in short, you will be given a head start and a straight road to power. The success rate of this Gate is around 80%. Most people will manage to reach the heights of power required to advance."

"The second Gate is called the FairGate."

"In this world you will be born with minimal assistance. Perhaps a farmers child or the bastard of a poor noble. The Karma given in this world varies. Everyone starts with equal Karma but the amount will grow or decrease based on deeds done in said world. If you become the king of a prosperous nation your karma will grow and you'll have a very strong path. If you choose to betray and prey on others you may find it harder."

"Because of this the success rate of this Gate tends to be lower at around 60% success rate."

"The last gate is called the PrimalGate. This is the final obstacle to fully accomplish the goal of a GateGear. The karma is practically non-existent and if I'm honest the success rate is rather low. Luckily most people after pushing themselves to the brink of power, twice, tend to be okay with losing their memories and simply reincarnating."

"You got to understand these guys tend to live for thousands of years to accomplish this goal. I'd say one out of every million souls manages to get through it."

"Sorry for the info dump, this job is just agonizing sometimes," Homer resounded. " I've given the same speech millions of time's. It gets old."

Dylan thought over what he just learned. It was a lot of information but he felt he had a good grasp on what was going on.

"Do I have a choice?" he asked.

"Well, kind of," homer said. "Maybe I should take you to see the God I mentioned. She'll be able to clear up some of your doubts or questions."

With a snap of his fingers the world blurred. Homer vanished before Dylan's eyes and what replaced him was confusing at first.

He was currently in the middle of a beautiful courtyard. A fountain made of marble sporting a statue of a woman laid in the middle.

The rest of the yard was neatly cut grass besides a raised stone platform that housed an outdoor setup that reminded him of a seating area of a backyard on earth. The main difference being every chair and the table they surrounded were made of pure, clear glass.

A beautiful woman layered in white robes sat at the furthest seat from Dylan. Her icy gaze penetrated his soul. He felt like he was being scolded by a strict parent even though nothing was said. 

He began to slowly walk his way towards the platform but when he blinked he found himself seated adjacent from the woman.

Here hair was white. Dead white. it lacked any type of shine or gloss. It reminded him of paper. Her eyes were also lacking in brightness. They were a coal-like color with hints of purple.

"Hi," he said. "I think Homer sent me. Honestly if I'm not supposed to be here I'm sorry. I'm not even sure how I got here."

The whole situation felt surreal but he felt like he just had to go with the flow. Worst case this was all a dream.

With Dylan's apology the chill he felt was suddenly dissipated by an adorable giggle coming from the intimidating woman. 

"It's okay," she said. "I know you're probably overwhelmed. My name is Anastasia. I'm the Goddess of Grief."

'Goddess of Grief? That sounds terrifying!' He thought. "No wonder she seems so intimidating.' He stared at her with a questioning gaze.

"Here in GodGate there are thousands of Gods. Essentially any thing or feeling you could think of has a God that represents it. My job here is to help wash away the trauma of the souls meant to be reincarnated. I've helped billions of souls restart their journey from scratch." 

"More often than not most people tend to be okay with forgetting their trauma so my job is easy. Sometimes though I have a strong-willed person come through and have to accommodate the feelings regarding that trauma."

"When this happens its easy to convince them by allowing them to pick certain characteristics or qualities their new being would have. In order to do that I leave some of the seeds of trauma to help dictate the personality of the 'new person'."

"Naturally most people that receive this treatment are either GateGears or someone that is blessed by another God. It's not something I tend to do for free."

Dylan pondered of what he heard for a minute and realized he didn't wanna lose his memories. Granted most of them sucked but he didn't wanna lose his memories of Lila. They were all he had left of her. Almost as if she read his thoughts Goddess Anastasia began to speak again.

"I recently came across one of these souls I mentioned. She was a very strong willed girl. Poor thing lived a horrible life until she found someone that actually made her feel safe and loved. Sadly that was short lived and she didn't want to lose the one small thing that made her life bearable.

Luckily for her, she was blessed by the Goddess of Beauty. Because of this blessing I allowed her to receive the treatment but oddly enough I was contacted by a certain third-party and was granted permission to leave her memories intact."

Dylan's eyes widened when he realized who and what she meant. Why else would the God bring this up?

"Do you mean Lila?' he asked.

Anastasia only gave him a look that could only be described as parental love.

"Yes my child," she calmly replied. "Sadly, you are not also blessed. Which leaves us with only one option to ensure you get the same treatment.

Under normal circumstances you would need to complete all three Gates in order to be granted the chance to reincarnate with your memories. Fortunately for you we have a work around. If you manage to get a blessing from one of the many Gods you will be granted the chance to skip the first two gates and receive a helpful gift when you enter the PrimalGate.

Usually the blessing alone would be enough for me to slightly alter your soul to keep a portion of your memories. However, due to the low amount of successful GateGears my hand is forced and I can only grant you the same treatment if you manage to completely ascend."

Silence overcame the courtyard as the Goddess stared deeply into the fountain. After a few minutes

Dylan finally knew what he wanted to say.

"I'll do it."

  -

A long hall that stretched to infinity was before Dylan. On either side was rows of machines that resembled phone booths. Above each booth was a sign stating which God or Goddess it represented.

Anastasia informed him that he would need to pick one of the booths and after entering them he would be tested.

Each booth held different trials based on the design of the God who owned it. He would receive no information before hand and could only make the attempt once. Luckily, if he failed a system would review his skills and place him accordingly with a God or Goddess of its choosing. 

He was taken aback by the sheer numbers of booths. He has a slight idea of which one he wanted to choose. He knew that he would need an advantage in the PrimalGate and was sure that a battle God of some kind would be the best bet.

It felt obvious.

If his goal was power he would need a powerful weapon and with that he entered a booth with the shape of a large sword on it.

A white light enveloped all of Dylan's senses.

Once his vision returned he noticed he was in a large white room that reminded him of rooms that held boss battles in futuristic RPG's from earth.

Before he could collect his thoughts a plain longsword appeared on the ground in front of him then lines of text appeared in his field of view.

'Defeat all the enemies to advance,' it said.

With the disappearance of the text a buzzer was heard and suddenly fifteen to twenty goblin like creatures armed to the teeth started falling from holes that appeared in the ceiling. As soon as they landed on the ground they let out battle-cries and charged at their prey. 

Dylan quickly dove for the sword and once he retrieved it he took a stance similar to the protagonist of his favorite video game. He was slightly crouched with both hands on the hilt while the blade was horizontal to the side of his body. He waited in anticipation as the goblin's ran at him full forced. 

Soon one of them was close enough to attack and Dylan swung his blade in a wide arc in front of his body.

The goblin easily dodged his assault and countered with its own. In a smooth motion, the goblin leaned out of the way of the blade as it used the momentum to kick Dylan in his side. With his opponent being dazed from the hit the goblin quickly brought down his own blade at a sharp angle.

Dylan felt a hot, searing pain starting from his shoulder and made its way towards his center abdomen.

His vision blurred as he felt the muscles separate under that weight of the goblins blade.

The crooked iron of the goblins weapon dug through Dylan's chest like a hot knife through butter.

He was certain now that this wasn't a dream.

'It couldn't be!'

By the time the Dylan had registered what was happening, he recognized a terrifying feeling.

He was going to die!