"Can't believe they actually made a full-dive virtual reality game..." Jonah said as scratched his head with one hand as he cut open the box that brought a rare smile to his face.
He was twenty-eight years old, no family, no friends, not even a pet.
His life was working until he dropped, going home to shower, then returning until he dropped again.
When the company closed for the holidays was the only time he ever had some time to himself, not that he could afford to do anything if he wasn't at work. So when that time of year came round, he watched anime, gamed and wondered how much longer he'd have to endure life.
Finally after struggling to get into the box, he pulled out the actual console and threw the packaging to the floor. He didn't see the point in cleaning something that no one would see.
"Shame it only had some MMO at release, gaming used to be tailored to introverts..." Jonah grumbled as he plugged everything into his computer. "...With any luck it will be like an anime, we'll get stuck and have to fight our way out..."
He fumbled with every cable, trying it one way, then the other, only to try it the first way again and it worked.
"...I win! Stupid cables. Right, what's the game called again, "Reincarnation Simulator"? What a dumb name, god they ran out of ideas for these things..."
He flicked through the user manual pages with zero attention to what was written, grabbing the headset and putting it on as he lay down on the bed. "...Please either be a reason to keep going or the thing that kills me, I don't want to deal with this world anymore."
With that, Jonah put the surprisingly comfortable headset on and pressed a finger to the built in ear piece covering his right ear.
The experience was strange, starting with lights that were flashed sequentially in his eyes, making him feel dizzy and disoriented before fluctuating sounds played through the ear-pieces seemed to make his body go limp and then a small jolt to the back of his head brought things into focus.
He stood in a white room, though the lack of walls made the word "room" a stretch. It was an almost perfectly sterile-white space, except a few strange furnishings and rather suddenly a voice which came from behind him.
"Greetings..." The voice made Jonah jump, turning to get a look at whoever it was.
A semi-human man in the stereotypical butler's uniform. Semi-human, because he had different coloured glowing eyes, one yellow and one blue and both shifting into a unified green.
"... Apologies, terribly sorry for startling you. My name is Greeter, it is my job to assist you in choosing the perfect reincarnation."
"Oh right, yeah. Well where do we start?" Jonah asked as he looked back to the furnishings; a table, a wardrobe, a chest and a table covered in a red velvet cloth and topped with a form of some kind, quill and inkwell.
"That is the question, where does one start? What must be prioritised in life?..."
"Finding out who we are as people I guess." Jonah looked at Greeter for confirmation, but he simply chuckled.
"...And what do you mean as people? In a world where Demons, Elves and many other races exist alongside humans. What does the word "people" include?"
"All of them, I'd put any species above humans."
"Really? Interesting. Well then, if you approach the table and ink the quill, why not give shape to the person you want to be?" A strange grin spread across Greeter's face, almost imperceptible behind the intensifying glow of his eyes.
Jonah approached the table, the form had several boxes, but nothing to detail what he could choose. "Well he said other races exist and I fancy being the good guy, who knows, might even join the ranks of lucky bastards to meet the live of their life gaming."
As he dispelled the encroaching depressive episode with a bout of hollow laughter, he inked the quill and wrote "angel" in the forms "race" box.
"How interesting, not the choice I was expecting." Greeter admitted his surprise before gesturing and apologising for interrupting.
"Name. How about Jonah Quill, my name's biblical anyway... Size, six feet... Build, average for species... Hair colour, random species norm... Age, equivalent to a human at twenty-five..."
Greeter clapped and gave a hearty chuckle. "Apologies for my persistent disruptions..."
Greeter wiped a tear from his eye. "...As payment for my uncouth behaviour and for being so delightfully unique in your selections. Why not take this before you fill in that next box?"
He reached into his twin tailed jacket and retrieved a book that most certainly didn't rest in tight-fitting attire.
"What's this? "Angel classes", thanks I can't believe the races and classes are secret too."
"Indeed, angels are a unique race, you are the first to choose it. Truly enlightened stroke of inspiration, I wish others made half as interesting choices."
Jonah, assuming it was the usual ego-pandering AI a lot of NPCs had these days, ignored Greeter in favour of reading the class book.
"These are all pretty vague..." He said after a short moment of study. "...Think I'm just gonna go off script with this one too."
Greeter's eyes flared like a flame given turpentine, enamoured by the pure whimsy that seemed to govern Jonah's actions. "Delightful, you certainly aren't as stuck in your ways as a lot of them are."
"Yeah cool, let's see if guardian angel is any good..." As he scrawled the made-up class into the box, his body changed to match the information he had input.
His body grew to six feet in height, filled out to a healthy appearance with incredibly well defined muscles and his hair was a metallic gold with flecks of ivory. His eyes then began to glow a sapphire blue, dim but flawless.
When his body had grown and finished changing the core structure, two pairs of feathered wings sprouted from his back.
To his surprise though, the process was far from painless; he endured his bones stretching, muscles tearing and reforming and worst of all was the severe itch, followed by a pull and tear as his wings sprouted.
Coated in feathers whiter than snow, except at the base where they were bloodstained. The upper pair spanned his arm and half again, whilst the lower pair spanned up to his wrist.
It was unusual. Normally Jonah would have been pissed about it, but he didn't feel any sense of anger, simply stood and looked toward Greeter before bluntly stating "A warning would have been nice".
Greeter chuckled politely. "Sincerest apologies, Sir. Regardless, now that you have your body completed, your hoodie and jeans are far from suitable. However, I'd suggest going to the mirror to make any aesthetic changes first, though you can head to the wardrobe whenever you see fit."
Jonah headed over to the mirror, a single thought going through his mind. "Well a tatted up angel would certainly be a first."
He was followed by his own laughter as he approached the mirror, then examined his new body, pulling several muscle poses as he took off everything but his underwear.
"The world can wait, I wish I had a body like this in reality, damn." Jonah smiled to himself, delighting Greeter to no end.
"Sir, I believe you made some mention of "a tatted-up angel", there should be a few toolbars before you with pattern options."
Jonah smiled, it was strange being hurried by an AI like a shop clerk trying to go for lunch, but Jonah wondered if it was more excitement than urgency.
He found a shading tool so he could change the colour of his feathers, white at the tips fading gradually to black looked the coolest in his opinion, then he found a cobalt blue diamond-checker pattern and put one on each side that ran from his waist to his ribcage.
"Guess I'm a conservative, that's enough ink for this angel." Jonah laughed, making Greeter laugh as well.
He then looked in the wardrobe and saw something that he had overlooked.
"I guess wings do make clothing difficult, but I refuse to wear a dress, I'm not man enough for that. So jeans and a toga it is!"
Greeter continued to laugh sporadically as he watched Jonah tear off his hoodie, then pull a toga on and tuck it into his jeans.
As he finished and looked down to see the once baggy denim half way up his shin,then he turned to Greeter once more. "I don't suppose you have some longer jeans in that jacket as well?"
With another polite chuckle, Greeter answered. "Unfortunately not, Sir. Never fear however, every good butler can double as a tailor."
The reply was the understatement of the century as he clicked his fingers and they lengthened themselves.
"Well Greeter, you are an AI of many talents." Jonah laughed.
Approaching the chest for what he assumed would be starting equipment, only to find it almost completely empty. Containing a single ear stud, a pair of vambraces and a ring.
"Will you require assistance with the piercing, Sir?" Greeter asked preemptively, as Jonah shook his head and put it in his ear.
"I challenge anyone to find a one-time emo-kid that didn't pierce his ear with a safety pin." He was surprised that the wound healed almost immediately and proceeded to don the ring and vambraces.
"Truly splendid, a most unique, unique individual." Greeter said with a scrutinising look.
"Thanks, you're pretty real for an NPC you know."
"I shall take that as a compliment. Now Sir, it seems it is time for you to be on your way. I sincerely wish you all the best in your new life, Master Jonah."
With another click of Greeter's fingers, Jonah found himself in a different space altogether.
This one was far from vacuous, the same empty white void, but thousands of others, all crammed into regimental formations.
All entirely unable to speak and or move, a timer counting down...
The opening ceremony shall begin in:
10:00
9:59
9:58
9:57