Chapter 1

I awoke to find myself on a stage made of pure white marble. Blinding lights shone down upon me from somewhere above me that I couldn't make out. The harsh light made it so that I couldn't see anything beyond the edge of the marble stage. It was like there was a dark veil hiding what lay beyond the stage, but I did pick out the shadowy forms of creatures there. I say creatures because their outlines looked somewhat human but with more appendages or maybe even wings in the case of one shadowy figure. Whatever the case was, I knew that I was in an unfortunate position. What made things even more confusing was that I knew I was dead, and I hadn't believed in any sort of god or afterlife. 

I tore my gaze away from the darkness and saw that a massive wheel was on the stage next to me, along with an eight-foot-tall man with a porcelain clown mask that had a carved mouth curved up into such a wide and friendly smile that it looked disturbing. I thought it may have been a statue for a moment, but when the head moved and looked down at me, I knew it was real. I saw words on the wheel and turned to read them, but that was when the tall clown man sprung into action, literally. He leaped high into the air and landed in the center of the stage after performing a thripple front flip in the air.

"Here we have our latest soul ready to spin the Wheel of Fate to determine its future. Will he be reincarnated, trapped, or devoured by the void? Who knows, but we're all excited to find out." The clown commentated to the darkness where the audience presumably resided. 

That's when he turned back to point at me with a stylized cane that I hadn't realized the clown had been holding. I heard a roar from the audience chanting, "SPIN THAT WHEEL" as I tentatively reached out and grasped the wheel tightly with two hands. Once I had a hold of the wheel, I gave it a solid tug, expecting it to be heavy since it was so big, but it turned out to be as light as a feather when I spun it. The wheel took off rapidly, not giving me a chance to read any of the myriad options spinning by. Eventually the wheel began to slow while a palpable feeling of anticipation settled over the clown man and the audience.

'The Pits, Hell, Eternal Imprisonment, Solitude, and Heaven' were all options I saw as the wheel slowed, but I focused my attention on the spot where I thought the wheel would stop. There, I saw 'Reincarnation, Animal Rebirth, and Avalon,' which left me praying for reincarnation since I didn't want to be reborn as a cow or pig just to be slaughtered. I closed my eyes and waited until I heard the roar of the crowd, some disapproving, but most seemed positive, so I opened my eyes to find that the wheel had landed on 'Reincarnation'.

"Reincarnation it is, but that also means our friend here had more spins ahead of him, but first for the coin toss, as per usual. As you all know, this toss decides if he gets to spin for powers after spinning for where he gets reincarnated." The clown announced, crossing the distance between us in a single step due to his large legs.

He bent down to my height and held up a coin to me, "Head or tails?" he asked.

"Tails," I responded, finding that my voice came out a lot braver than I thought it would given the situation.

The clown grinned at me and turned back to the audience, "Tails he says," which prompted a large amount of laughter from the audience.

Cold sweat ran down my back, but I kept on a brave face and tried not to look too confused. The clown dramatically tossed the coin high into the air. It seemed to sparkle much more than an ordinary coin should as it tumbled end over end while bathed in the harsh beams of the lights. It gave down with a muted thud as it impacted the man's hand, then he flipped it and placed it on the back of his hand. Then, with a flourish, he let me see the coin that had landed on tails. I wanted to smile, but I had no idea if I had won or lost in the grand scheme of things with this coin toss. The clown merely giggled as he spun around and pointed to the wheel while striking a dramatic pose.

"Tails it is and powers he shall receive, but not before the wheel is spun." He then gestured for me to spin again.

I did, and I watched with bated breaths as I knew this would be extremely important for my future. Every power or power system you could imagine was presented on the wheel. I was too busy inspecting all the various potential options that I almost didn't notice that the wheel had stopped on "40k Psyker". I just furrowed my eyebrows as I was conflicted. I considered myself a decently knowledgeable fan of Warhammer 40k, so I knew what a Psyker was and the powers available to them, but I also knew about the massive downsides. However, that brought up another question, how will my powers work if I don't get reincarnated into the world of 40k?

Seeming to sense the unasked questions swirling in my mind, the clown spoke, startling me since I hadn't seen him get close to me, "The powers will be fit to whatever world you end up in. In your case, I think that will be doing you a favor since it will probably decrease the danger."

I nodded as the clown turned away and carried on hyping up the audience. However, for a brief moment, the lights shone at the right angle for me to peek into the eye hole of the clown's mask. I only glimpsed the eye of the creature within, but I wished I hadn't. I saw a pitch-black souless eye that seemed to glint with madness and dead joy. Not the natural sort of joy or glee either, but like when you are laughing uncontrollably long past when the feeling of joy has already died. I got the feeling that the clown was just as powerless as I was and enslaved to the whims of the audience hidden in the dark. I shivered as I considered the possibility that they were placed in their position by the very same wheel I was spinning. 

"Now that he has his future powers, we just have what world to send him to and what he'll be reincarnated as."

I didn't like the sound of that last bit, but I forced my nerves down and continued to play along since I saw no other choice in the matter. I had no doubt that I was completely at the mercy of whatever beings lay in the dark. I didn't know what would happen if I didn't continue to play along, but I wasn't planning to find out. The clown turned to me and gestured once more. The wheel spun and eventually landed on a world that I knew, causing me to let out a sigh of relief. However, there was still one more spin left to decide my fate.

"Interesting. Interesting. So far, our friend here has gotten very lucky. Let's see if his luck runs out here." This time the clown laughed.

I spun once more and watched as the wheel rotated around and around. I was feeling good so far, but everything could be messed up if I got reincarnated as a frog or a donkey or something like that. However, my luck stayed strong, and I couldn't help but grin as the wheel stopped on something that had the crowd in a complete uproar; the slot I landed on said, "Create a Character." 

"You must be blessed by luck!" the clown said, moving in a blur, and before I knew it, we were face to face, "Were that it I had your luck," he said quietly before he burst out into wild, screaming laughter that contrasted against the hysterical laughter of the audience.

I couldn't tell if they were laughing at my luck or the clown's sudden outburst. As the clown covered its mask with a hand to try and stifle the insane laughter, it pointed up the wheel with its cane, drawing my attention back to what used to be the wheel. Now a character creation screen was seemingly projected onto a large flat surface with the wheel nowhere in sight. I felt that I could mentally choose the options for my character creation, so I mentally went over everything I knew about Danmachi. I ended up going pretty basic for my choices, but I didn't care because basic would keep me alive and allow me to thrive in my new world easily in this case.

[Name: Augustus Ahriman

Race: Human

Age: 18

Starting Traits:

- Gamer's Mind

- Warrior's Instinct

- Indomitable Will

Starting Skill: Inventory]

With that, I completed the character creation and watched as the clown gave a deep bow to the audience, "That's it for this participant, folks" it said while the audience either cheered or booed.

Then the clown pointed at me and I was gone.