"GODDAMIT!" I shouted as I slammed my head on my desk, and began repeatedly slamming my fist down over and over. I could already tell that my neighbors would be filing a noise complaint. Which was fair considering I was living in a small apartment building with, well, not thin walls but not thick walls either.
Teh reason for my anger was both understandable but also...kind of dumb when you thought about it. At the same time, my right hand was slamming on my light brown wooden desk, which had my Computer Monitor on it while my other hand was holding a small black phone with two keywords, with a Gacha game playing on it. It was Grand Summoners, a gacha game that did a lot of crossovers. The latest being a toaru crossover, I believe, anyway, that wasn't where my anger was coming from. No, instead it was because of a special temporary event.
Either way, the reason I was angry this time was that I had just failed for the sixth time on the first mission of the "Noble Dragon" special event. I thought I had finally gotten the perfect team together to finally get a perfect clear on this guy, which would get me the unit plus a few more smaller prizes from it. Yet once more, I failed in getting the unit and had run out of energy due to doing a bunch of other quests beforehand. Sure, I was able to awaken/evolve a few more units, but as it turns out, they were not as useful as I'd thought they'd be.
Oh well, you live and you learn, didn't matter in the long run though, as I turned my phone off and went back to work on some of my college homework. Which is a bit funny and horrible when you think about it, but it didn't matter; I was on the last page of an essay for a business class I was taking. In fact, it was pretty much how I spent the vast majority of Thanksgiving break, gettign a bunch of homework and other work done.
Did I like it? Hell no! Would I be literally doing anything else right now if I could? That would be a resounding yes.
"I should've gone into Game Design." I quietly said to myself as I spent the rest of the night typing away at my computer. All the while still wearing my work clothes, which were foul-smelling and definitely in need of a good wash. I also planned on sleeping in it tonight, considering it was nine-thirty at night and I was starting to get pretty tired, heck, I was holding in a yawn. Good thing I was...was nearly *yawn* done with the paper, meant more free time for myself when I got all the work done.
Heck, maybe I'd be able to enjoy Thanksgiving for once, try some new foods, and just try to relax for a little bit.
As the minutes passed by, I began to feel like I was about to physically throw up from hearing the cackling keys over and over. But it's all worth it, as I got through the third rewrite, hoping it was a good one this time. My first two drafts weren't teh greatest, but hopefully this oen would get an A this time and help balance out my GPA a little bit so I could keep the Scholarships.
Oh, well, it wouldn't be much longer before I graduate anyway, so these late-night schoolwork nights should be done and over with soon enough. Hopefully anyway, but hey, the end of the semester was coming soon anyway, so soon enough I wouldn't have to deal with homework until the spring semester. Which, in all honesty, wasn't that far away, but the in-between gave enough of a break that I'd be able to relax a little bit before hand.
Either way, it didn't matter at this moment, as I pressed teh final key, I clicked enter on it and turned in the finished Essay, spinning around in my chair, celebrating the fact it was finally done. I was making sure I was quiet as I did so, as I had already made a bit too much noise early with my tantrum, and other people are sleeping, probably, so I was being extra careful this time as I turned off the monitor and lay in bed, getting some covers on as the heater was broken and it would be cold as hell tonight.
Except that night...something-something was wrong as I felt a sharp burning sensation. I felt my body tossing and turning, but something felt wrong. I felt like I was on fire, like I was being stung by a thousand spears, each one sharpened to a fine point with a jagged edge that felt like it was sawing through me.
[W&H*O $@S T(*H@I&%*?]
The moment I heard that booming gargled voice, I opened my eyes, seeing that I was in a gigantic black abyss. No, it wasn't just a back abyss; it was a myriad of endless colors fusing with it, each one a different mirror into another reality. Each one depicting different...forms, some looked like they came straight out of an anime, others like a classic cartoon, completed with a fourth wall-breaking cat or mouse, or name an animal to go with it.
[I!$ A^& O^##NC#@ M&7RE]
[W^3 A53 Y$#OU?]
I covered my ears again as a gigantic red outline of an eye appeared over all the countless worlds, covering them with thousands of smaller ones. Each one staring at my very soul, and yet when I looked at my body, I saw that instead of my pale skin and my very flesh. It was instead replaced with a pure white translucent body that was flowing like a raging fire.
Once I saw that, I looked at the rest of my body, studying every inch of myself to figure out just what the hell happened to me.
"W-W-What happened, w-w-where am I?!"I shouted to the void, the red eyes looking at me without a hint of emotion. I then heard that booming voice once more as the same gigantic eye I saw first, shattered like a mirror, revealing thousands of other eyes within it.
[I* AS%# AGA#@ O@ I !ill D#2TR67 Y9)!]
[W^3 AR3 YO1]
This time, I gathered the courage to answer, feeling my voice shaking as I did so. "My-My name is Mason Hughs, w-w-where am I-I?" I said with a voice full of fear and anxiety.
I think it titled its head as all the eyes circled around me, studying me from every angle, trying to fully understand me, just as I was trying to understand them.
[ST#AN^E A H*!AN H&R#, H3W?]
[SO31s SH%2LD 0OT B3 HE7#]
I felt my...body...my soul jolt in pain as I floated backward, trying to understand the being before me, unsure if this was a dream or not. This thing must've seen this as dozens of smaller eyes, eyes the size of tall humans, slowly though they began to split open, revealing rows of 2D teeth, as if I were looking at a child's drawing of a monster's mouth. It opened and began to speak in several different languages, some familiar like Spanish, others like a strange alien tongue that somehow sent a jolt of pain through whatever consituted my body at the moment.
It spoke like it was a singing chorus, each one trying to ask me a different question, with different tones and speech patterns. Until one of the mouths finally began speaking in English, taking on the voice and tone of a female research scientist, one who was obsessively looking over her latest experiments with fascination and intrigue.
[Souls should not be here.]
[How did you get here?]
[What dimension are you from?]
"I DON'T KNOW!"
"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE HERE IS?" I shouted, unable to hold myself back anymore, as even greater pain rang through my soul. As if my very voice was burning from pain and time, making it difficult to speak or yell in this strange void.
[Odd it is here, yet it does not understand where here is?]
[Strange, no one should be able to come here without knowing what here is?]
[Yet it is a soul nevertheless, strange beyond strange]
[Chance, Chance, new chance for us both, little soul]
[What is your name, little soul?]
I reeled back as each of the eyes began to circle around the gigantic one, fusing together as if they were broken off parts of a gigantic mirror. Each mouth and eye is doing its own thing, yet somehow working in unison in this strange place. All the while I was having a hard time speaking, my throat hoarse and in pain, yet it didn't feel like I had a physical form anymore. Like this place was simply a container for my mind, or soul, or whatever I was currently.
"I-I don't know, I w-was sleeping in my bed before I wo-woke up here, where is here anyway?" I said quietly, my voice barely able to come out anymore. The strange Lovecraftian being began to turn around in a circle, as if it were amused by my situation.
[So odd, so very odd.]
[Little Soul, you are in the presence of %fA53f F732%3 or in a way that you can hear, Ahkastic Records]
[Seeing a human soul appear in a section of the void is while uncommon, not rare, but here...here in this place, no soul is meant to appear here]
[Oddity, amongst all other oddities?]
[Would you like to be my eyes and ears there? It has been so long since I've grown curious about such worlds, and it has been millennia since I've had a personal observation]
[In fact, I can present you with a variety of builds for this new world, oh, this will be what mortals call this, fun, yes, it will be fun!]
[In fact, here is an example of a randomized one]
Almost instantly, a gigantic screen made of the purest red I have ever seen appeared in front of me, displaying black text.
{Species: Human}
{Magic Circuits: 24 - Medium Quality}
{Metagene: Minor Flame Control}
{Element: Fire & Earth}
{Origin: Metal}
{Eyes: Mystic Eyes of Sight - Red Ranked}
{Time Period: May 4th, 1988}
[Of course, before the options are fully displayed, you will choose a race that will come with its own list of perks and downsides depending on what you choose.]
[With the knowledge in mind that not all beings will start out immediately strong, but some will start off stronger than others, or not have access to certain power systems of the universe.]
I just floated there, flabbergasted, unsure of how to even process one fraction of this information before I came to my own conclusion.
"I-I-I must be dreaming, that's the only explanation for all this, I must've drank or eaten something odd or-or-or something else, and this is all one big massive dream!" That's the rationalization I came to at the moment, but evne then, somewhere in my mind, something else was telling me I was wrong. That I was dead and barred from any afterlife, and that this-this right here was my last and only option, becoming the eyes of some Lovecraftian god-thing.
Eventually, the black text disappeared, replaced with a single option for race, and clicking on it, I was greeted with a whole list of different species, some I've never heard of before. A few of the options were already barred for some reasons, for example, a demigod with a small note attached to it, 'too overpowered/boring.' Which I'm guessing this being or my mind crossed out for some reason, but eventually I came across an option I was greatly interested in, mostly cause it sounded cool/familiar.
{Species: Dead Apostle (Will start as human before being turned}
{Options Barred: Holy-based Magic, All race-based abilities, Certain powerful items in the universe, etc.}
The list went on for a while before finally closing as Magic Circuits was automatically filled, probably a random option the being didn't want me to control. Even if I was going to be this being's eyes, they probably wanted to struggle a little bit, or my mind wanted to give me a challenge, either one.
{Magic Circuits: 64 - Medium to High quality}
The metagene option wasn't listed this time, probably because I was technically going to be an undead creature or something like that. Maybe another way to balance me out a little more, again, either option worked. Next up, I got a list of options for both elements and origins, and in all honesty, not knowing much about the origin, I picked the Ether option, as it sounded more interesting, but I was barred from taking any other element alongside it.
{Element: Ether}
For origin, I honestly just picked random, unsure of what my mind meant when it came to that option. Did it mean what my soul symbolized, or what my soul's origin would, or did it mean what unique magic I'd be perfect for? The only problem is, most of the stuff was singular words or the rare two, with no description of the abilties associated with it or what they would do if I picked them. So I decided to bet it all on chance, I mean, I am a gacha player, so my luck is bound to turn up good sometimes.....hopefully.
{Origin: Sins}
I was a little confused by what it meant. Did it mean my magic would be good when it came to demonic-based spells or something like that? Or was it more conceptual, and related to the seven princes of hell or something like that?
{Mystic Eyes: ?}
For some reason, the mystic eye section came up blank when I tried to access it, and looking over my shoulder, I saw the red-eyed creature staring down at me as I made my choices.
[If you wish, this option can remain blank if you so choose, as ystic Eyes can be artificially made, especially with the race you've chosen]
[You can also have the choice be randomized as well, as this is another stat that can only be randomized]
Turning back around, I scratch whatever constituted the back of my head in this weird space. In all honesty, though, I wanted to keep teh luck rolling and pressed on the random option, as the entity had a...confused? Look on its face, at least that's what I think it was, as it probably didn't understand why I was doing this.
"If you want a reason for why I'm doing this, there is only one absolute reason: I can feel my luck turning around!" I shouted as a black circle started spinning, eventually landing on one, finally.
[Mystic Eyes: of Restoration - Gold Rank]
I had a few guesses of what it could be, but I was happy enough to get a gold rank on it, which I was assuming was both rare and good in this case. Which was my belief anyway, but hey, my mind can be playing a trick on me or something with gold being bad. Oh well, I had all the time in the world or a dream to figure it all out and see what it can do.
Finally, I had come to the time period, or more accurately, the year I would be born in, at least I was guessing anyway. In all honesty, it just seemed like most of this was randomized, with the only options to actually be chosen being the species, element, and origin, but even that was randomized, of my own volition, alongside the mystic eyes option, but still.
{Time Period: December 21st, 1611}
I was a little... conflicted on the year in all honesty, but if the species I choose came with a form of immortality as a perk, I was all good on that. I mean, maybe not the year itself, as I was guessing all toiletries involved were...beyond basic and downright horrible, well, if I was a normal human or was still a normal human anyway.
Floating back a tiny bit, I got a full view of the character sheet I just made, wanting to get one last view of it.
{Species: Dead Apostle (Will be turned in the future after birth)}
{Magic Circuits: 64 - Medium to High Quality}
{Element: Either}
{Origin: Sin}
{Mystic Eyes: Of Restoration - Gold Rank}
{Time Period: December 21st, 1611}
[Are you happy with these choices? It is your last opportunity to decide against this build?]
I just looked at it, and I think I smiled and nodded my head as the entity's variosu eyes and mouths all coagulated together into one gigantic eyeball that was also a gigantic mouth.
"Yes, I am." I said with the confidence of a guy who thought he was dreaming, as I was slowly approaching the point I didn't know if I truly was or not.