And then you died.

You remember that moment, bloody and dark as you struggled to take your last gasping breath, something sharp grinding against the bones of your chest even as you fell numb from the multitude of sharp sensations which permeated your body working their way though you with every breath.

Shrapnel.

… you couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t move. Even your fingers you could feel were a mangled mess of odd angles.

You could barely even cry.

You were dying. You were all but fucking dead and you could only guess why as your mind worked franticly though the settling haze and your body failed you systematically. Your eyes were gone, you could feel the ruin which lay where they’d been the darkness which engulfed you seeming more real than anything else you’d ever encountered in your life.

You were at deaths door.

And it was funny, you couldn’t help but think, with your ruined fingers, ringing ears, and stolen eyes, how that even if you survived this, however improbable that was, you’d never enjoy the things which had been your passion in life. Books, games, your phone.

Fuck it. You were going to fucking die now. You were going to die alone in a crowd, cut off and bleeding out. Not even the strength to say the last words you wanted to. No chance to leave a legacy of even words on your dying breath. Funny, your actual last words had been professing your undying loyalty to a video game faction in a franchise which had eaten a good chunk of your life.

For Da Horde!

It seemed ridiculous now… laughable almost. But you couldn’t laugh. You could barely even groan. You would soon enough die.

Oh how your mother would cry, you knew this well enough. Tough as she was, no one took losing a son well, you thanked god that at least she’d still have your sister to look after and dote on... more. You couldn’t complain, you did after all help spoil that little brat. You didn’t tell her that you loved her nearly enough, you think.

It was getting harder to breath, thick liquid now within your lung, as you weezed your last breaths.

…

… I don’t want to die.

…

… light. Light flooded you like the sun itself, your ruined eyes staring deep into the brilliance of forever. So was this death? Was this eternity which you needed to walk into? The light at the end of the tunnel which you’d heard all those who were good would walk?

You reached out, and before you unfolded an image which you needed to brace yourself to see.

A screen. Upon it was written a small scrawl which defied all that you knew, all that you believed. You looked at it, reading it over and over, and over again despite being completely dead and blind.


Your Old Life Has Ended. Would You Like To Try Again?
Yes                                          No


Huh… what… what was that? You didn’t know anything else than what was before you, you couldn’t do anything else but will your hand up, broken and weary as you tried to choose even this the vaguest grasp on life which you were clearly hallucinating.

Yes.

You chose it, choking back a sob of pain. The box flickered and changed, now containing a very different question.


You’ve failed at your last attempt, would you like to lower the difficulty rating?
Hard-Mode           Novice            Training-Wheels


You couldn’t help but chuckle a little, this thing an affront to your pride as a gamer, and yet, didn’t every just always tell you that you lived life on hard-mode? You were taunted and teased for how you managed to find difficulty even in what others always called the ‘simplest things in life’.

You were tired.

But your pride wouldn’t allow you to choose Training wheels…

Ponderously you raised your hand once more, Novice your selection. Then the box simply disappeared, its shimmering lightness replaced by a rushing dark which crawled its way into your illuminated world, mixing with and surrounding you as it did.


To Aid You In Your Endeavors You’ve Been Given A Rare Skill.
DEVOUR: Eat a substantial amount of any Exp Baring Enemy to gain or Strengthen Skills.


So strange... you couldn’t help but think as your world faded to black. You always did like games where you ate your enemies for power ups. You couldn’t help but giggle a bit as the world closed in around you.

You remember nothing else... before you Awaken.

“He’s heavily injured.”
“Took blows to the head, I doubt he’ll be the same.”
“It’s a shame, though I can’t say he’ll be missed, he was always a weedy runt.”
“True, and no amount of healing in the world can restore a mind so utterly shattered… in truth I’m almost ashamed that we’ve gone so far for what seems barely a breathing body.”
“We’ll leave him here, maybe he’ll at least wake up.”
“Well there’s no one to spare to tend to him, and he’s got no family or close friends.”
“A few more days. We’ll give him a few more days.”

Your eyes flutter awake, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling as groggily you reel from the discomfort of a hard bed. You try and try again to take stock in your senses, memories of damage invading with every breath. You should not be able to see, you shouldn’t have been moving.

You should have been dead.

But you were not… and slowly you tried to take stock of your new condition.

And couldn’t help but stare at your now strange hand in wonder.



Your hand…
[] A dark hand of three fingers, huge and thick.
[] A slender hand, pale and pink like your own had never been.
[] A blue hand of three fingers, ropy and powerful
[] A green hand, strange and thick with muscle.
[] A grey hand, emaciated and rotting...


You were always good at…
[] Choose one mundane real world skill or profession.


You ease yourself up from the bed trying to get a good look at your surroundings.