Dexter opened his eyes to find himself in a strange place, one that looked like a cross between a cozy restaurant and a fantasy guild hall. Warm lights glowed overhead, wooden tables filled the space, and a faint hum of life lingered in the air. For what felt like years, he had been wandering an endless void, drifting with nothing but his thoughts. The only thing he remembered from his death was a blinding flash of headlights rushing toward him.
"Oh finally, is this the last one Aqua?" a voice said in a disappointed yet somehow cheerful voice.
"Yes, Lord Tet," another voice said in quiet shame.
Dexter slowly lifted his head and looked toward the voices. A young man with white hair and mismatched eyes stood nearby, his expression apologetic and faintly embarrassed. Beside him was a woman with long blue hair and blue eyes, dressed in a waitress outfit, slumped forward as she moped dramatically.
"Hi there. I'm Tet, God of games, and thanks to this idiot not only did you die early, you were left adrift in an empty void for years," Tet said in clear annoyance, gesturing sharply toward Aqua.
"But luckily we found you, so now I'm gonna give you a choice. Between being reborn in another world as one of my apostles, you'll fight bad guys and monsters save people and all kinds of fun stuff, or you can become one of my adopted children and join my familia. So far, two have chosen to be my kids and three have chosen to be reincarnated," Tet said cheerfully, his mood flipping instantly.
Dexter stood quietly, processing everything, his mind racing as he weighed his options. After a long moment of silence, he finally spoke.
"I'll be reincarnated," Dexter said decisively.
"Aw, really? You don't want to be my kid? Well, that sucks," Tet said with a disappointed frown. "Oh well. So here's how this is gonna work. You're gonna play a quick game of chance," Tet said mischievously.
With a casual wave of his hand, four decks of fifty-two cards appeared in midair. They shuffled themselves rapidly, then spread out into four neat squares of face-down cards.
"So here's the deal. Each square shall decide one thing. The first will decide what world your game screen comes from," Tet said excitedly.
"Game screen?" Dexter asked, confused.
"Oh, think of the menu you see in every RPG you've played. Basically that," Tet replied easily.
"Oh," Dexter said, nodding as he stepped forward and flipped the center card. A runic dragon symbol gleamed on its surface. "Skyrim. That's not bad."
"So that gives you a health bar, a mana bar, a stamina bar, an inventory, a map, a spells and powers menu, and the only thing leveling gives is your choice of a ten-point increase to health, mana, or stamina, and a perk point for one of your skill trees. You'll get a new skill tree every time you obtain a skill, so it's not limited to eighteen skill trees like in Skyrim, and I raised your level cap to five hundred. You still level up by increasing skill level, so be sure to try a lot of stuff," Tet said helpfully.
"There's other stuff too, like how fast your health, mana, and stamina regenerate, but I'll let you play around and figure that out," Tet explained.
"Okay, cool. So does that mean I'm going to Skyrim?" Dexter asked hopefully.
"Oh no, we don't know where you're going yet. That's what this set of cards is for," Tet said with a mischievous smirk.
Dexter stepped forward and flipped one over. The moment he saw it, his eyes widened.
"Oh, Dead Island 2 as a starting world."
"Well, as I always say, zombie apocalypses make the best training grounds," Tet said joyfully.
"You said it was a training ground. I don't have to stay there permanently, do I?" Dexter asked quickly.
"Oh no. Like I said, it's your starting world. Where you settle down is up to you. You'll find a world travel function in your map menu, and as for how to unlock world travel, well, I won't be giving you missions or quests. I want you to have as much freedom as possible," Tet said thoughtfully.
"Wait, doesn't Skyrim's game screen have a quest tab?" Dexter asked curiously.
"Yeah, but that'll just be to help you keep track of tasks that other people give you and ensure they don't stiff you on your reward. It won't infringe on their free will, but it will make them compelled to hold up their end of the bargain," Tet said seriously.
"Now, as for world travel, I'll give each world you go to a grade from F to Ex. F means humanity is going to be extinct. E means at least a handful of survivors. D, hope for recovery one day. C means half the population will survive. B means seventy-five percent will survive. A means ninety percent will survive. And Ex means complete survival. To move to another world, you must ensure a survival grade of at least C, and that's only counting what's left of humanity's population when you arrive, so don't worry," Tet explained.
"Wait, I only need to ensure that half the population survives?" Dexter said, confused.
"Depending on the world you go to, that might be all you can do," Tet said grimly.
"Now, some worlds are already to my liking, so if you want to go play around in them, you'll have to settle for alternate timelines rather than the main one. But that's a whole other conversation. Anyway, flip the card to decide what character you'll become," Tet said happily.
"I can't just be me?" Dexter said, a bit upset.
"Of course not. What's the point of a new life if you're just you all over again?" Tet said.
"All right, point taken," Dexter said as he flipped a card.
On the card, he saw a teenage girl with long black twintails tied with red ribbons. She had bright amber eyes, tan skin, and wore a blue sailor uniform with the sleeves rolled back. Black stockings and brown shoes completed the outfit. On her hands were black, fingerless armored gloves, and strapped to her back was an odachi with a white handle resting in a pink scabbard.
"Can I try again?" Dexter said quickly.
"Nope. Saki is actually perfect for you. She comes from Oneechanbara Origins and is a professional zombie slayer. You only get her skills and powers at their basic level, but that's still pretty good. Now the last card will determine a starting gift. It could be anything from a unique ability to a cool item," Tet said excitedly.
Dexter sighed and flipped the last card. He saw an image of a dollar sign shattering a barrier.
"Congratulations. You got the multiversal currency perk, which means when you hop over to another world, any money you have on you will turn into the new world's currency," Tet said with a smile.
"Oh, that's pretty cool, I guess. So when do I start?" Dexter said, tilting his head.
"Right now," Tet said, pushing Dexter through the door he had come in through.
As Dexter fell through the void, his body burned away painlessly, revealing a human-shaped mass of pure energy. Just as quickly, a new body began forming around it. It was the same girl he had seen on the card.
Dexter, now Saki, passed out as she continued to fall, with no destination in sight.
------
"Oh shite, hey kiddo, this ain't the place to be napping. Open them peepers and give us a hand already," someone said, their voice strained as they groaned in pain.
Saki slowly opened her eyes, her head pounding as her senses caught up to her. She found herself inside the twisted wreckage of a crashed plane. Wires dangled from torn panels, shattered seats lay scattered across the floor, and crushed metal walls pressed in from all sides, the air thick with smoke and dust.
Groggily, Saki pushed herself to her feet and turned toward the voice. She spotted a young woman slumped against a bent seat. The woman had green hair tied up messily, brown eyes dulled by pain, tattooed arms smeared with grime, and she wore a denim vest over a blue top dotted with white, paired with black shorts.
Saki hurried over and helped her up, immediately noticing a metal rod embedded deep in her gut.
"Shit. Let's get you to a first aid kit before you bleed to death," Saki said, her tone sharp but focused as she supported the woman and carried her forward through the wreckage.
"Well, aren't you a pocket full of rainbows. What, you want to say next that I've got five wee minutes to live? Your bedside manner sucks, love," the woman said, forcing out a crooked grin despite the pain.
Saki quickly found a first aid kit, sat the woman down carefully, and reached for the protruding rod, her grip firm and steady.
"So what's your name?" Saki said with a small smile.
"Oh, well my name is Daniiiii!!!!" Dani yelled as Saki ripped the rod out without warning and immediately began sewing the wound shut.
"Ah, you bitch. Some warning next time. That hurt like hell. So now that you've mutilated me, can I have your name?" Dani said with dry humor, clenching her jaw.
"Name's Saki. Nice to meet you," Saki said with a smirk as she finished the stitching and helped Dani back onto her feet.
"Well, Saki, now that we know each other, and since we both still have heartbeats, I'd say that makes us friends. Now let's get going," Dani said as she started limping off, already searching for an exit.
"Right behind you," Saki laughed as she followed Dani through the wreckage.
(Authors Note:I probably will do resident evil again but I thought Dead Island two would be a bit more fun and Chaotic as a starting world and I'm gonna be Deleting the old chapters as I release new ones)