Ten long years had passed since he entered this world.
A video-game like world in which people were forced to complete sick trials and fight monsters just for the amusement of some higher beings.
After ten years of surviving on scraps, sleeping with one eye open, and watching good people die in terrible ways.
Now Gene Riven finally stood at the end of the line.
A blue screen popped into the air right in front of his face.
[PLAYER GENE RIVEN HAS REACHED STAIRS OF ASCENSION]
Gene stood at the top of the endless white steps and stared at the massive double doors blocking his path.
The doors were carved from black stone and stretched up higher than he could even see in the dim light.
He leaned against the surface and pushed with everything he had left in his tired muscles.
The room was huge.
It was a giant hall that made Gene feel like an insect walking into a cathedral.
Seven omniscient figures sat on massive thrones that went all the way up to the ceiling.
Their faces were totally hidden in dark shadows so Gene could not see any details or expressions.
They just loomed over him in complete silence.
Another message flashed right into his eyes.
[Congratulations for completing Re:Genesis]
[You can now choose the following path]
[Immortality]
[Godhood]
[Death]
Gene looked at the options floating there in glowing letters. His face was totally blank. He did not feel any joy or relief after all this time.
He was just tired deep in his bones and wanted it all to be over.
'Immortality, Godhood, or Death,' he thought bitterly.
'Wow, what a great selection. Where is the option to bring my friends back?'
He had lost literally everyone who fought by his side just to reach this stupid room.
Losing Elena to the demoness made him numb and now the beings who set this whole thing up wanted to pay him off with a multiple choice reward like it made everything okay.
"Why did you do it?" Gene asked.
His voice sounded rough and broken in the giant empty hall.
He looked up at the towering figures sitting in the dark.
Silence hung heavy in the room for a long moment before anyone answered.
Then the figure sitting right in the middle leaned forward slightly.
"Because we could."
Laughter suddenly filled the hall.
They were actually laughing at him and mocking ten years of human suffering and all the blood spilled on their floors.
It was all just a fun little joke to them.
Rage finally broke through Gene's heavy exhaustion.
'You arrogant bastards,' he thought.
He did not hesitate for a second and grabbed his black sphere from his belt and threw it straight at the god of life in the center chair.
The sphere spun through the air fast and aimed right for the target.
But it stopped dead right in the middle of the room. It just hung there floating in space because it hit some invisible wall.
Before Gene could even react to his failed attack his right arm simply fell off and hit the floor.
Blood sprayed out across the polished stone.
He just stared at his shoulder for a second before the terrible pain actually kicked in.
Then his left arm dropped away just as easily.
Next both of his legs were severed right above the knees and fell away like useless dead weight.
Gene crashed hard onto the floor as his cuts started bleeding.
'Well that is just great,' Gene thought wildly as the pain clouded his mind.
'Ten years of surviving hell just to end up bleeding out on the floor.'
"You should have just chosen one of the options," a booming voice echoed from the ceiling.
"What a complete waste."
A blue notification popped up right next to his cheek.
[God of Death sends his consolation]
Gene bit his lip until he tasted blood.
His mind was getting very fuzzy from the pain and the heavy blood loss.
But then he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
A small glass bottle had fallen out of his leg pocket when he got chopped apart.
It rolled to a stop a few feet away from his face.
"Humans are such pathetic creations," another voice sneered from above.
[God of War judged you too greatly]
Gene totally ignored the prompts and the arrogant voices above him.
He started to squirm on the floor using his chin and the remaining muscles in his shoulders to drag himself toward the glass bottle.
Every single inch felt pure fire and he left a thick red trail behind him.
He looked like a crushed bug crawling across the stone but he refused to give up.
He finally reached the little as he bit down hard and yanked it open before spitting the cork away.
Then he tipped the bottle over with his mouth and swallowed the dark liquid that poured out.
In a few seconds his whole body immediately caught on fire.
It was not normal fire because the flames were completely black.
[Existence Flame]
It was a special fire that did not just kill a person. It burned away their very existence from the timeline.
A way to make sure the gods couldn't play with his soul.
"Foolish human thinking he could change this," the god of life said while looking down at the burning mess on the floor.
Gene stared up at them through the black fire.
He only felt the deep burn eating away at his soul.
'I will kill you all,' Gene swore in his head as his vision started to crack.
'Even if it is the very last thing I ever do.'
The black flames grew higher and completely swallowed him up.
The grand hall faded away and then there was only total darkness.
[Good morning players]
[Re:Genesis Begins in an hour]
[Please prepare for the trial]
Gene woke up with a massive gasp.
His head pounded with the worst headache of his entire life as he stared up at a stained white ceiling.
'What?' he thought in total confusion.
He quickly brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes.
His hands were actually there.
He kicked his legs under the thin blanket and felt them move.
The pain of being cut to pieces still buzzed deep in his nerves but his body was completely whole.
He rolled out of the bed and almost fell over as he looked around the small room.
There were old clothes on a chair and some dirty dishes on a wooden desk.
It was his old apartment from the city.
The place he lived before the sky changed color and he was transported.
He grabbed his phone from the desk to look at the time.
The screen lit up and showed the camera view by accident. He froze in his tracks.
A weak looking guy with messy black hair stared back at him.
He looked so young without the scars and then his eyes landed on the date on the top corner of the screen.
He had actually traveled ten years back in time an hour before it started.
Gene threw the phone on the bed and ran out the door.
He went to the rooftop to see a screen on the sky that's displays the time.
It was exactly one hour before the first trial would start. Down below on the crowded streets people were walking to work and stopping to point up at the giant numbers.
They were probably taking pictures for social media and wondering if it was some kind of movie promotion.
None of them had any idea that their regular lives were completely over.
Gene walked slowly to the edge of the roof and rested his hands on the concrete wall.
He was not going to run away.