You felt strangely weightless, the pain you experienced previously mysteriously gone from your psyche as you felt yourself float inside a white void. You felt... empty and incomplete as you slowly came to, the white light, blinding at first now soft and soothing to you. A soft music sounded then as, stark against the white surrounding, a shadowy message floated before you.

Game Over.
You Lost.
Continue?
Yes – No

Confusion and fear took over you then, what did it mean 'game over'? Did you... die? Just as the unanswered question started to overwhelm you mind a clear and calm voice whispered into your now non-existent ears.

“You are now dead and are therefore eligible to a new life, should you choose to accept it. That life will start shortly after your departure from this space known as the Purgatory. Should you accept a new life, you will be asked to choose a gender, a race and an origin and be able to remember each succeeding life from this next one forth. Please choose now.”

The voice quieted as the earlier message returned, this time with more insistence.

Continue?
Yes – No

You have to choose your fate before it is taken from you, you faintly sense from the current event, your instincts screaming such at you ephemeral self.

"D-dead?" The word hung in the air, echoing through the vast white void. I held my head between my hands and squeezed my eyes shut. This couldn't be real, it just couldn't. I opened my eyes and was greeted with the white expanse and floating message. I repeated the process, closing then opening, each time praying that I would open my eyes to my bedroom ceiling.

But it never came, each time the endless white and the unnerving message stared back at me. I closed my eyes one more time, calmly, and tried to remember what had led me to this.

The thoughts were broken and incoherent but still there. A normal walk home from class....laughing with friends....stepping onto the road....lights and horns....

I shuddered as the realization came over me. " I really am dead....". I laughed, half out of fear and half out of pure disbelief. I stared down the floating black text weighing my options. "There's no reason not to..." I reached out, pressing my fingertips against the 'Yes'. "...after all...what's the worst that could happen now?" I chuckled nervously at my own joke as the words began to glow.

The words flashed and from them spawned two figure, one male and the other female. Both looked generic with a lack of any facial features or distinguishing mark of their smooth, hairless pitch black bodies. They both laid unmoving and the same soft voice as earlier once more whispered in your ears.

“Please choose a gender, both have their advantage and inconvenient with both their potential and the way others will react to them. The Male form have usually a easier time in a male-dominated environment and is endowed with a bonus of Strength. The Female form, for her part, will have an easier time in female-dominated society and will have a bonus in Charm. Which one will you choose? Merely enter one to pass to the next step of your reincarnation, to choose your Race.”

With that said, both figures started to pose, unperturbed by their nakedness as the male flexed his muscles and the female moved as if she had blown a kiss, the act made eerie by her lack of facial features.

I looked between the two figures now standing before me. Their movements were simple and nonthreatening but something about them disturbed me greatly. The male flexed and posed, the female continued to blow kisses and I continued to stare blankly.

"Sooo....one of you two is the new me eh?" I didn't expect them to answer, in fact I prayed they wouldn't. But speaking out loud seemed to settle me a little. I focused on the male, looking him over. "Haha...you're in better shape than I ever was." I turned to the female, giving her the same once over. "And you... you would be a whole new experience altogether."

I continued to talk to myself as I mulled over the new choice. Hoping that whoever had been talking to me couldn't hear... If they even were a 'who'. That thought caused me to shudder again.

"Alright." I said, stepping forward. "It's tempting to see the other side of life but..." I clasped my hand onto the male's shoulder. "..I'd like at least a little familiarity."

The whole room seemed to shift as you were absorbed by the male figure, the female one disappearing altogether as dozen of male forms, this time more defined but still lacking any type of flaw, formed out of the white aether. The closest looked the most normal of them all and was the only one that moved, under it was some golden words:

Human
Bonuses: Intelligence and Charm
Penalties: Wisdom and Strength

You spied some winged being and even one with a fish's tail in the distance, but felt strangely drawn to keep where you were. The voice, ever whispering, sounded in your mind again.

“Please choose a Race. All race have a specific requirement for use, either in life or death. The only one exempt from such restrictions are the Human Race. Please step into your new skin and proceed to the Origin Room, the last of your destinations.”

The Human male smiled at you then, beckoning you over, seeming confident that he would be chosen. Would you choose him or look around for possibilities first?

I looked at the me that could be. Somehow the addition of features made him a little more unnerving than the plain black figure. I walked around him, inspecting my potential body. It was such a strange thought...the idea that I would become this person.

The figure continued to smile, never taking his eyes off me. As I looked around I could see all of them were watching me. I shuddered a little and stepped away from the human figure.

Though the prospect of a familiar body was very tempting given my current situation. But all around I could see many other possibilities. I decided to see what the room had to offer.

I could swear I heard the male human sigh as I walked away.

The voice, too seemed to sigh as it started droning the name of the races as you passed by them, most not moving and looking like statues, representing their unavailability as you walked through the white room.

"Elf, Giant, Dwarf, Lizard-man, Angel, Demon, Undead, Fay, Lycanthrope, Spirit..." The list did go on and on as you explored, making you feel strangely dizzy with the outpouring of possibilities.

After a while, you found that the only other option you had was that of the Undead, a chilling prospect as you looked at the waxy skin of the dead you staring at you unblinkingly from slightly glowing eyes. Even more worrisome than that was the fact that most race were unlocked by a specific form of dying, like the Merman that needed you to die by drowning to unlock. Rare were the ones that needed something to be done in life, like the Robotic you that needed a great knowledge in all sort of technologies.

As you pondered upon you fate, the human and Undead Races steadily approached you and stood before you, the others retreating farther away. The voices whispered you onward. It was time.

I looked between my only two unlocked choices. The Human male, looking at me expectantly, and the undead which watched me though glowing, unblinking eyes. I thought back over the choices that were currently unavailable to me.

"So...that means I'll just come back here each time I die?" I said. Once again just speaking out loud for my own sake. The idea of some of the more gruesome deaths still made him shiver, but know that this place existed did ease some of that anxiety.

"Alright then..." I said, taking a step towards the human. "The voice said step in....so...do I just..." I took another step and my foot passed into the human figure, disappearing with a slight ripple, as if into water. "Oh wow...". Another step, and then another, and my vision went white.

I blinked, looking though my new eyes for the first time. The void came back into focus, the undead walked off into the distance like the others. A door shimmered into view in front of him. The words 'Origin Room' hung in the air over the door. I reached for the knob and pulled it open.

The voice resonated inside the room as soon as you entered, a strange whispering of what seemed like thousands of voice feeling the air as it spoke.

"Welcome to the Origin Room, please choose your date of birth, nationality and whether or not you will have any magical powers. We welcome you to the last stage of your rebirth!" The voice boomed suddenly as a mirror appeared out of thin air, showing your future body as an infant, changing appearance softly like a chameleon as your body regressed to that of a fetus.

"Please understand that you will be in a different universe and will therefore be expected to know nothing that a small infant should know at first. Please keep your knowledge hidden until the proper time."

The mirror reflected both your reflection and strange symbols that you instinctively knew as eras and nationalities, from a parallel universe than the one you just left to a fantastical realm full of dragons and magic.

I blinked as I watched the transformation in the mirror. I wasn't sure what was worse, watching my body change like that or the fact that these things were starting to bother me less.

I grinned, excited by the possibilities, and reached out to the mirror. I looked though my options. I could be poor or rich, the son of a revered hero, the orphaned child of a pariah....I kept scrolling and the choices kept coming. Skilled with a blade, deadly with a bow, gifted with magic, or any mix of the three. And then the countries... warring nations, peaceful kingdoms, wild outskirt societies.

After flipping though choices for a while I had set up my 'self' for this new world. I lived in a relatively peaceful town surrounded by forest and mountains. I would be the adopted son of a local blacksmith. My parents were lost in a bandit raid on the village many years ago. 'Not exactly groundbreaking but hey, whatever.' I was decent with a spear but preferred to use magic. I can't believe I almost didn't take magic...'

"Ok" I called out to the void. "What now?"

As soon as that question was uttered that a squeezing sensation, the first sensation you experienced since you awakened in the white room, took over your whole body, shrinking you to and infant and putting you through the painful experience of birth. It was dark were you where, and you heard a sobbing woman behind you as a cooing voice wrapped you in something scratchy but warm. You were born.

As asked, you soon discovered through the arrival of your new father that you were born to a blacksmith family as the Voice from before once more whispered in your ear; "Prologue: Infanthood you may not reach your Status or find Quests besides the one of Survival. Do you want more information on this quest?"

I wriggled a little in the wrapping. It seemed like I had little to no control over my body for the time being. As the voice whispered in my ear I found myself wondering if I could talk. Then decided it was probably best not to try.

'Yes' I hoped I was right in assuming the voice could hear my thoughts. 'Some more information would be nice...' This was very strange. MY body seemed to do some things on it's own, mainly crying. I started to wonder if I would be living out these first couple years as a strangely-aware infant.

I found myself wondering what my new parents looked like. In fact, I was curious as to what the whole room looked like. It was still dark and my new eyes weren't fully open yet.

A soft chime filled your mind then as a message seemingly only visible to you glowed in the dark. It shifted from now and then and was a warm golden colour, nearly stark around your dark surrounding.

Main Quest: Survival

Survive the next week by not starving, freezing or succumbing to illnesses or natural hazards.

Rewards:
Unlocking of the Quest interface.
10 XP.

This quest seemed easy enough, you hoped, but nothing was sure in this medieval world... as you were examining your new quests you heard a deep booming voice talking about a son and potential name. As soon as that last word was uttered the world seemed to freeze as the same voice whispered to you once more.

“What will you be named?” It seemed you had the choice of your own name, an option you did not have in your previous life. What would you be called?

I watched the gold letters floating in front of me in the now frozen room. All of these things that only I could see were pretty interesting. I would have to remember not to acknowledge them in front of other people, lest I be called crazy.

I now had another choice, while it was a little less dramatic as picking a new body or new reality, it was still very important.

I thought for a moment, considering the possibilities.

'Owen, I've always liked the name Owen.' I 'said' to the voice. I assumed the family already had a surname.

Time resumed it's course then, as the proud parents smiled in the dark.

"Owen, it's a good name, my love..." Your mother said to your father as she cradled you on her thin, exhausted form. She sounded near the end of her life like this, even though she still was young, you gathered from the sound of her voice. Will you grow up motherless?

As soon as the thought speared through your mind, a cold fear took hold of you as a new series of letters accompanied of chimes sounded in your mind;

New Quest:
Mother Dearest

Please roll the DICE of Fate that will appear before you, if it is lower than the number already on the dice, your new mother will survive, if it is not, she will die shortly. Please do not blame yourself for her fate, you may also abandon the Quest to be Motherless.

As soon as you finished reading the message an elaborate a hundred-faced dice appeared before you, the number on it's face being...

The 100-sided dice lands on 68

Would you try to save your new mother? She may be useful in the earlier phases of your life...

(First off, I'm so sorry for the lack of activity. There was a local convention this weekend and I had people staying with me. I didn't want to be on Mene while I was supposed to be playing host ><)

I stared in disbelief at the words in front of me. Deciding my own fate was strange enough, but the ability to directly influence others like this was something new entirely.

77 was certainly a high number, and would be hard to beat. But the idea of just letting her die felt wrong. I felt a knot in my stomach and brushed my fingers against the die.

Finally I swallowed and picked it up. 'I have to try, I can't just let someone die like that...' I rolled the die.

((It's alright, and the die must be lower than 77 for her to be saved, so it's pretty easy, just use [ d i c e ] 100 [ d i c e ] without the spaces to see your results, it will digitally make the roll for you :)!))

(( oooh i didn't know it was actually a thing.))

The 100-sided dice lands on 80

Quest Successful

Reward:
Happy Family Life

As soon as the dice stabilized did your new mother's condition did the same, her breath evening out and the flow of her blood diminish to a bearable level as she fell into a regenerative sleep. You were bundled in more clothes then and given to large arm you surmised as belonging to your bather as his booming voice neared as he talked to you.

“Don't worry, my boy, your momma's gonna be just fine, the healer said so don't cry. I'll take care of ya, how about we go and leave your momma and the kind ladies to rest, eh? We have some father-son bonding to do and the nearness to a warm fire will do you some good.” Chuckling, the strong man walked while gingerly cradling you to his barrel chest as you were brought to a warmer and brighter room just beyond what seemed to be a rather flimsy wooden door and into what seemed to be the small house's den.

The room war square in shape with a smouldering fire set in a pit in the middle, a small cauldron hanging just over it, filled with what smelled like hot water mixed with medicinal herbs. It was soothing and you felt yourself slip into slumber, comforted by your father's rumbling voice as he told you about himself, your mother and about this new world you now lived in.

The night passed, and you did not remember much besides that you felt like sleeping a lot and only awakened to cry for attention readily given, your mother's milk and to complain about the dirty and wet feel of you relieving yourself. Dawn peeked then and you were given back to your still exhausted mother.

You awakened then, wanting attention, how would you get about waking your mother? Would you prefer sucking it up so to speak and letting her have her rest?

Optional Quest Unlocked:
Momma's Boy

Awaken your mother without any incidents.

Rewards:
XP 5
Warm Blanket

I squirmed a little next to my mother, looking at the new floating text in front of me. I thought for a moment.

'What WAS the best way to go about this?' I looked up at her, still very much asleep. 'I suppose I could just cry but...that seems kind of cruel.'

I looked to the text again, still thinking. 'Well...the quest was optional. An I had been up multiple times during the night. Maybe it would be best to let her sleep for the time being.'

I yawned and squirmed a little more. 'Yes, that is for the best.' I gave my answer. 'I'm not going to try to wake her.'