The holographic screen in front of his face showed the hundreds of trailers and showcases of Project Rebirth’s lore and features. His lips were dried and he looked a bit pale, having not eaten or seen the light of day for days.
“Dad… fuck… what the hell am I supposed to do. T…this was supposed to be a game we would play together… what can I do? What will I do?”
[Hello Jacob]
A small message appeared on his screen, making his eyes finally focus on the message. It came from… no one. Seemingly appearing on his computer by magic.
“What?”
Finally, Jacob’s tech savvy started to work properly; his mind finally thinking about something other than his dad’s death made him latch on to that curiosity. He straightened himself and started to type an answer while opening many windows that would be well beyond most people’s level of computer knowledge, trying to find where the virus could be coming from.
“Who are you?”
[You may call us, S. Just, S. We come with a proposition.]
“What kind?”
Jacob couldn’t see anything indicating where the message came from; it seemed to come from his computer itself, which was something he or some of his “hacker friends” would be unable to accomplish.
[We wish to allow you to get access to the Beta Test of Project Rebirth as an exclusive race: the Cygilites. Not just this, but we also want to show you a video.]
The screen suddenly flickered and showed… a video, his father, standing on top of a building, staring at his phone and jumping. His eyes immediately started to tear up; there was no doubt this was his father.
“You fucking psychopath, what the hell is wrong with you, you piece of sh-”
Jacob couldn’t finish his message. Th pure anger and sadness he felt at being literally taunted about his dream to play Project Rebirth’s Beta and play the game with his father, only to be shown the video of his father jumping.
Because the video showed something else… a light, a strange light, one that came down, almost… curious. It… entered his father, then it flickered…showing the same light glowing from a strange robot in a scrapyard, its green eye suddenly lighting up.
As his father’s voice came from the robot, it stood up. Jacob was frozen in shock. This was… complete madness. This wasn’t possible.
[We do not doubt you have your doubts. But be aware that if anyone learns of this. Anyone. We shall make sure your father is finished off. For good this time. We shall see you in the Beta, Jacob.]
[Signed, Vermillion Corp]
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Jacob squeezed his hands tight. This was foolish, completely stupid, this couldn’t be possible… to bring someone’s consciousness into a line of data? This was the realm of magic.
But what… What if? What if this were true? Jacob stared at the download link glowing bright on his screen with a strange cat-like girl with black hair, looking quite young, pointing eagerly at the link. She even had a bubble of text saying : “Name’s Syllena, I’m literally stealing your dad.”
He clicked the link, and soon after saw the official logo of Vermillion Corp, and soon after a drone came toward his window, carrying a brand new Nerve Vr-Link, one clearly more advanced than the one they had bought for his family.
Inside was a small message. A simple confirmation: they would be waiting for him to log in in one month. If he failed. Consequences would be severe.
“Don’t worry dad… If this is true… I’ll save you!”
***
The System saw Jacob agree. I felt glad he was an easily impressionable kid. Akhenamen had long since escaped the System’s grasp. Maybe if it had been just a normal Transcendent, the System could have truly put its threat in place, but now Akhenamen was an Aspect.
Trying to kill him would undoubtedly wake her up and lead to his instant death. Universa was asleep until her son fully awakened his power. All the System could do to keep its independence was to make Akhenalen’s ascension as a true Dominion as slow as possible.
Akhenamen could not be killed, but he could also not be allowed to rise any quicker! His stats were already at the Mandate level. His ascension into a true Dominion was inevitable, but the System would have some peace when Akhenamen started his journey. It was gonna have to make Akhenamen busy and content to make sure he didn’t try to rush his ascension, and Universa finally awoke.
The System had to admit… It has been a lot of fun planning. Akhenamen was making things deeply interesting.
***
Rose was punching a sandbag. She was at a boxing club she had joined since her dad’s death, punching stuff made her feel relaxed, and she had inherited her mother’s temper. Hitting stuff was all she could do to feel better.
That and going to parties after parties, drinking and drinking until she forgot the pain, she had her father’s eyes and her mother’s soft, wavy black hair, she had a taller and fit body, not as fit as her mom, but enough that her abs were slightly noticeable.
She panted, holding to the bag, completely exhausted… closing her eyes only to see it again, that cursed image… her father’s crushed body, she had looked into the folder her mom had stolen, this haunted her, it couldn’t come out of her head. The thought of that mistake having caused her death pissed her off so much.
She rarely told her father she loved him; she now craved his hand on her forehead, something he often did to say goodnight, a habit he had picked up from her childhood, where she would constantly fake being sick to not go to school.
She craved to hear his voice, his laugh, just… to see him just one more time, even just one simple “goodbye, love you dad”. She would give anything. Absolutely anything. She screamed and started to punch at the bag again and again and again.
to
“My my… now that’s an angry woman. Truly, your mom’s daughter.”
Rose turned around, throwing a punch right away. Blinded by pain and anger, she definitely recognised a mocking tone when she heard one. Her punch was stopped effortlessly by a weird, blue translucent screen.
In front of her stood a weird little old man, he wore a moustache, he was short, but his eyes; looked slitted. Strange. And the weird old-style tuxedo he wore was even weirder.
“Who are you?!”
“You may call me the Quadrant. Do not be worried about me, you will not remember. You see… I was supposed to deal with your brother first, but it just so happens that your brother has already been contacted by my boss’s boss’s boss. So let’s say he’s out of my reach now.”
“You on the other hand. I can do my job. Oh? Now, no need to look that angry or scared, I’m not gonna do anything bad. Just about to awaken your mind to the memories of your second life and erase your memory of this conversation. Nothing else.”
The man smiled, as if he hadn’t just said one of the most insane sentences, yet the bright blue light that slammed on her forehead knocked her out right away, making her collapse on the floor. Time around the two seemed… slowed down, so much so, no one was seeing the man staring at Rose’s knocked-out body.
“Shit… I’m gonna have to bring you to your bed, am I not? Why did I not learn a damned teleportation spell? But no… gotta flex in front of the kids… and now gotta carry that brute. Damn me.”
Rose’s eyes snapped open. They had once been simple and quite pretty, and now they had truly become mesmerising, filled with knowledge beyond most people’s understanding. Hundreds…thousands even, of magic spells filling up her mind, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice, at least they would if her magical core wasn’t completely empty and back at the White rank.
She stood from her bed, her memory fuzzy from how she ended back in her bed, but now, she had one hundred and thirty-three years of experience as one of the greatest arch-mages from the Alliance. The famed Plasma Sorceress, known for her fiery temper, for her deadly and very explosive spells.
She stared at herself in the mirror.
“It’s been so long since I was back on Earth… dad… if I reach the Clear Core rank, I’ll be able to bring you back. A Divine-ranked Resurrection will be able to. But… I can’t say anything. There’s magic on Earth; this means there must be some secret magical organisations around. I have to stay low-key to protect my family.”
It seemed like she was gonna have to keep playing the role of the party-loving girl while secretly getting stronger until she could bring back her father. Then… just a quick spell to modify the memories of a few people… and…
“I’ll be able to hug you again, Dad. Just wait… two years. I swear I’ll bring you back in two years.”
The family was coming together around their dinner table, all ready to keep up the charade, all with only one goal in mind.
“They seem in a better mood than before… that’s great. I’m gonna find you, my love. I’ll find you and bring you back. Everything will be alright now. I’ll protect this family.”
“Don’t worry dad…I’ll bring you back. I just gotta make sure the others don’t know or those bastards will erase you. I’m gonna save you.”
“Two years… in two years, everything will be back to normal. Everything will be fixed.”,