Mirrond: Killashard, you really chose the best possible time for modifying your review :D

Resus: Yeah… We’re not blind and we know that last few chapters were flooded with boredom… It was supposed to represent Varths’ emotional problems… but here we have a temporary solution for his unstable mind :P

Mirrond: … CHAOS. Because CHAOS IS STROOOONG!

Resus: And likes to show up early for the party :P

Mirrond: So, you know, Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne, etc.

***************************

Chapter 15: I just don’t know what went wrong…

Nothing seems to live here. Barren, empty landscape extends in all directions. The earth is grey, burnt but still moist as if the fire and a storm fought for dominance not so long ago. A skilled eye could even trace blood soaked in the dirt and dust. All around raging elements clash with one another.

“The Border, huh? It suits you, sister.” A mighty figure clad in black, thorned armor stands in the middle of this endless field. Even though, as far as the eye can see, nothing stays the same for long, shaken by vagaries of the elements, the area around it is calm and stable.

“Stop it. I am not in the right mood to listen to your ramblings.” Another mighty figure appears out of nowhere. White robes and stern face.

“You’re never in the right mood.” Shadow grins. “I guess that eternal period of yours could actually explain why you never found yourself a man.” He doesn’t even consider this as a joke, for him it is a way to hurt her. With Shimmer’s absurdly inflated ego doing it is actually quite easy - all he needs to do is question her position as a center of the universe and… she gets angry.

“So, why did you want to meet me?” Shimmer ignores him and changes the subject. Shadow gives out a loud sigh. Making his sister throw a tantrum might take a while.

“We have technical problems with the system. It was meant to work with two Chosen Ones, not three. I’m trying to fix it, but it would be best to avoid overusing RLGS for some time.”

“You could’ve just send something with a message, without making me go all the way to the Border.” She has a bored expression written on her face. It’s fake, Shadow knows her well enough to know that she is really angry.

“Well, yeah I could.” He conjures a look of genuine ‘Holy shit, I didn’t thought about this’ on his face. ”But hey, now we’re both here and I can openly say right to your face that you’re an idiot because you let the Old Gods copy your summoning magic. So yeah… YOU’RE AN IDIOT!” For just a second a look of pure fury could be seen on her face, but she quickly erase it.

“I am not an idiot. And I am not responsible for the fact that you did not add any safety margin. I hate myself for letting others convince me that letting you do it was a good idea. I should have done it myself.”

“I did add a safety margin.“ He informs her calmly, interrupting her hunt for scapegoats. Another typical trait of her character - she is never wrong, it’s always someone else’s fault. Truth to be told at most cases it really wasn’t her fault… Shimmer’s plans were always well thought, even Shadow had to admit that, although only in his mind. “It was created with three primary users in mind, just in case. It’s the Old Gods fault for tampering with things they don’t understand. They tried to create their own version of a spell linking their hero to the RLGS - probably because they couldn’t figure out how to use the default one - and this sick abomination they made jumps all over the system spiting random data and sucking parts of my code… I’m spending most of my free time trying to repair the errors, but I have no physical access to the server, and the last person who knew how it work died together with Old Empire when The Dark was disconnected. Do you have any idea how hard it is to create such complicated magic systems without even basic knowledge about how they work?! With nothing more than few fucking tutorials?!” He is practically screaming at this point, but that’s only acting, he’s not mad… he’s doing it because she absolutely DETESTS being shouted at.

He decides to avoid mentioning the fact, that he actually expected the Old Gods to do what they did from the very beginning, maybe without the part about creating a really shitty connection spell… He even went as far as leaving few security holes to make copying the summoning much easier - now he’s certain that it was a good decision, without it the Old Idiots would most likely decimate the population of that other world before succeeding with their own summoning. Shadow never even bothered with some stupid nonsense like safety - the third slot was added with either Old Gods or Destiny and her faction in mind. Shimmer’s reaction after hearing that would be fabulous, but it could end up in an early war and her faction was stronger than his. Old Gods gaining insight into summoning magic was never a part of the plan, so what he did was practically a treason, as he purposefully made their common enemy stronger.

Well, who cares? It’s not like anyone can find out… and it certainly spiced things up a little. Now let’s just hope that Destiny won’t try anything stupid…

“Do. Not. Raise. Your. Voice. At. Me.” Shimmer’s voice interrupts his thoughts and Shadow sighs irritated. Making her angry was just so easy… and enjoyable. Although decapitating her and putting her head above the fireplace in his bedroom would still be better. For now her last Chosen hangs there, and while he’s a nice decoration, it’s just… not the same.

“And what if I raise it even FUCKING HIGHER? You’ll complain about me to father?” Aaaand… she snaps. She feels insecure about being father’s successor, because she believes to be superior to him. That belief isn’t shared by many Lost Deities, which is a permanent source of frustration for Shimmer. And now Shadow’s provocation ends with her throwing light magic based javelins, each with enough power to vaporize a small mountain. However, none of them hits the target, as Shadow skillfully dodge laughing loudly to taunt her even more. It might as well be their millionth fight at this point, and she is an absolute antithesis of a creative person, so predicting her movements is absurdly easy for him. Only after she notices that it’s just a waste of her power, she stops casting spells and the bombardment ends. And instead of trying another attack she speaks.

“You said that we should avoid overusing the system, but isn’t your Chosen the only one actively using RLGS right now? The other two are still in the passive mode as I recall.”

* * * * *

The preparations for the play continues and with them my torment. I know I’m much too dramatic with this. But come on. A furniture…! It’s official that I’ll be a table. Today we spent all day making our costumes and decorations. There’s no cardboard here so for decorations we use mostly wood. At least we only have to prepare one scene so there’s minimum props needed for the overall scenography. And, of course, my costume. Sabir and Tamia are going to have actual clothes (yes, even a small, functional chestpiece of an armour for the general) but me and Ronta have to make our costumes from wood.

And no, we didn’t get any tools for the job. This is the role of our assigned Novice. She seems to be proficient with some type of water magic and cuts the wood as we need it with it. When I think about it it’s actually quite silly that the magic is used for such a task.

Anyway, nothing much really happened today… except for one thing that was actually quite disturbing. Near the evening, when we attempted to play the whole thing for the first time. At the end of the scene - right before the curtain would fall - the general kicks the table which breaks from that kick. It’s supposed to be an accident or something… And when we get to that scene and Sabir pretended to kick me my blessing screamed with warnings. I was in no position to react in any way, but then… nothing happened.

And now I have even worse feelings about this whole thing. I was thinking about it throughout the entire evening… and only then I finally understood what was that about. And what Sabir is planning.

He’s going to wait until the play… and then, before the entire class, he’ll kick me. He’s older than me, and most likely much stronger, so this is gonna hurt… and it’s going to be just… so… humiliating. I can totally imagine Shadow never letting me forget that moment through carefully placed remarks about kicking tables… no, Now that I know Sabir intents I have to think about some countermeasures.

* * * * *

“Oh, yeah. What an enlightening remark. What’s going to be your next discovery? ‘Oh, the sky in the Real World is blue! What a surprise.’?”

“Can’t you just shut up? No, of course you can’t. Well, now that I think about it…“ Aaand… she makes a ‘now I’m gonna get you!’ face. Shadow’s bullshit alert starts ringing loudly. ”… don’t you think that your Chosen is just a powerless idiot? It took him so long to assimilate his host’s mind, while my Chosen did the same in just six months. Quite an achievement, don’t you think?” Shadow sighs mentally. This wasn’t surprising at all. His knowledge about the system he created - and the magic behind it - was much bigger than Shimmer, or any other Lost Deity, could imagine. He was good enough to put a few carefully placed holes that allowed him to spy on both Shimmer’s Hero and the guy summoned by the Old Gods. Sure, he couldn’t use the knowledge acquired that way without arousing suspicion and nasty questions. But he likes to know things.

Actually he expected her to mention this earlier, just to feed her ego by showing him that her summoned hero is superior… it’s quite surprising she waited for so long.

* * * * *

No more whiteness. That’s a long awaited change for the better. The feeling - or rather a lack of one - of not having a body was awful. And that continuous scream, like desperate cries of an infant. I don’t know what was that about but I’m glad it’s over now.

However, it seems like now I’m an infant. And my parents are angels. They look like angels anyway. They have white, feathered wings… And that’s it. Enough to look like an angel if you ask me. Although my… father?... with his long dark hair and really impressive moustache doesn’t look like a stereotypical angel.

Curious part of it is that I don’t have wings. Or at least I don’t feel them. My movements are drastically restrained and I can’t look at myself in a mirror so I can’t be sure whether I have a pair or not. But, I’m pretty sure that I’d feel them - or at least feel different then in my previous body - so my guess is that I’m wingless.

What’s more, from their clothes and this room’s interior design I deduce that the technological advancement of this world is somewhere between Earth’s medieval and renaissance. And that my family is rather wealthy which surely will come useful in the future.

Still, most peculiar observation I made while still in the whiteness. Namely, the language here bears uncanny resemblance to my native polish… Granted, there are differences here and there. And I can’t quite understand it, but I’m not in total darkness about it. And obviously it’ll be easier to adjust to a variant of a known language than learn a new one from scratch.

So, the plan for now is to learn the language, gain as much knowledge as possible… and train, I guess? I know that training anything won’t become available option for a long time, but it’s a part of the plan nevertheless.

I just thought of another minor inconvenience… breastfeeding…

* * * * *

“Quite an achievement, I admit. Your HERO must be quite skilled or just lucky. She practically rewrote the whole process of the soul exchange, probably by using her Host’s body inborn mana. Which is something my Chosen didn’t possess. I wonder if the Old Gods’ Chosen has done the same.” He didn’t. Or, to be precise, he discovered it by accident. But he didn’t accelerate the process, because he didn’t see a point to it. ‘After all it’s not like he had anything interesting to do while being a half year old child.’ HA!

A small glimmer of rage on her face after he stressed the word “HERO” serves as a satisfying achievement. Well, someone had to remind her that it was her Chosen who did it, not her.

“By the way, you madman, now that we talk about the Old Gods’ Chosen… do we even know where exactly was he summoned?” Wow, Shimmer openly admitting that there is something she doesn’t know? IMPOSSIBLE!

“I think… that it was somewhere in between the places we picked. I think they call this country Firellia or something. Or was it Dareh? Nevermind. That’s more or less everything I know.” Well, except for his home address, the name and profession of his parents and every other detail there is to know. Shadow has mixed feelings about this ‘Hero of the gods’ business going on. The Old Gods really seem prepared to spoil him in every way, which normally should be enough to make Shadow hate both them and him. Seriously, overcoming challenges is what makes life interesting, what fun is in making him overpowered from the very beginning!? However, this time it seems different as for some reason he feels that making their Chosen into a King of The Universe will be more difficult task than they expect. The power of hilariousness is strong in this one… or so are Shadow’s guts saying.

* * * * *

So… I am an elf.

This definitely does not fit the afterlife I imagined when I was still alive. It thought more like Heaven or Hell. Not… this.

After the brief talk with that guy who came to pick me up, there was a chaos of colors and noises and then bam - I’m a child. Kinda, I control the body rather rarely, but the ‘god’ assured me this will change eventually. I found a way to gain control forcefully for a short time, but… it’s not like I have anything better to do, so I am not using it. Just observing.

So, again, I am an elf, and this means my parents are also elves. Probably. I don’t really know anything about elves, and there is this strange problem… um… I am surrounded by plenty of people, and all of them are really into serving me. That’s strange, but actually rather nice. The problem is - everyone acts that way, and it’s hard to discern who is who when you don’t know the language… My parents are PROBABLY this two elves wearing slightly richer looking outfits. Isn’t it kinda strange - not being able to tell who your parents are. Maybe all kids have this problem when they are this age, hm. That would explain why they scream so much.

So… that’s my day. I lie in bed, I’m a center of everyone’s attention, I get breastfed (that’s the closest contact with opposite sex in my life, which is kinda sad), and I go to sleep. Or, rather, the other mind does that. I am hiding behind him. This way no one wants anything from me, ha!

I can’t wait to get older.

* * * * *

“I think we are done here since it seems like there is no more matters for us to discuss. Finally, it’s over…” The last sentence she said in a much lower voice, so it was probably only meant for herself. Shadow smiles internally at that, it seems like his little revenge plan might have a chance to work.

“Stop right there!” Shadow’s shout suddenly stops her from moving from the very place she should be for the plan to work. “I want to say something very important.“ She seems confused which will make her reaction slower. “You’re much too proud for your own good, you know. Sometimes, before acting, you should wait and take a look at the ground below you.” And… then he turns his back on her and starts running.

Shimmer looks down… and at that exact moment the explosive spell Shadow managed to place there without alerting her suddenly initiates. Blowing up straight into her face with power of a small nuke.

She’s alive, of course, but her hair's a mess, and most of her armor is now black from all the soot. She’s screaming something incoherent and tries to cast spells at him, but he’s already too far for any spell to reach him.

All in all - Shadow thinks - it was a great day.

I wonder what my Chosen is doing.

* * * * *

I think I’m getting a hang of it. It’s friday evening and I’m back in the mansion for the weekend. And I must admit that the play went better than expected.

Ok. So, throughout the week we were preparing for the play - costumes, decorations, scenography… and all that stuff. And every time we tried playing the scene Sabir chose I was getting warnings from my blessing about that possible, future kick right in the stomach. Not a pleasant possibility, especially if you’re remained of it few times a day - the scene itself was rather short, but Sabir and Tamia still needed a lot of practice to get it right.

Still, I’ve been able to come up with a plan… a little preventive revenge, and even managed to prepare it right before the premiere earlier today. It required from me to sneak one extra plank for my costume (yes - the table one).

Anyway, the time came and the plays began. The teachers even built an actual stage for the occasion with curtain and backstage. Even some parents - or just relatives - came to see the show, which was kinda surprising… or maybe Veles are the only family with so many heartless bastards? One by one the groups were performing and it was actually pretty entertaining to watch other kids acting up the scenarios they came up with. When the sixth group showed on the stage it was clear to me that we were the only ones using an actual script. And that for this reason we would definitely stand out.

During the sixth group performance the four of us went backstage to change into our costumes. I put on my ‘planked suit’ that made me look more or less like a table, but with that one extra plank. Fortunately no one saw me doing that.

We had to wait for a short while and only then I realised how nervous I really was. It was just a play, but for some reason it felt like the most important moment of my life. The moment which will define me later in life. Were I to become a victim for bullying again or find enough courage in myself to proceed with the plan till the very end and come out as a winner? Now it doesn’t seem that important anymore… but back then it was like a ‘life or death’ dilemma.

Eventually came time for us to proceed on stage. Whole class - even group six still in their costumes - was sitting in the audience.

I’m not gonna replay the whole show here… It involved a lot of talking and arguing between Sabir and Tamia’s characters, some walking around, and then even more talking and arguing… And then, the last part of the scene. The General won the dispute with aristocratic lady who then leaves the room (walks out of the stage) and General’s monologue starts. A short one, mostly about his will to protect Miasto and similar motives… but while talking he gets more and more angry and finally - kicks the table.

It was a good kick. A powerful blow that would hit me right into the stomach and made me suffer in pain right while the curtain would fall… But the plank I put under my suit took most of the force upon itself. The final result was even better than I ever expected. At the last moment I managed to bend a little to the side and Sabir hit the very edge of said plank with his tibia.

The curtain went down and Sabir fell… crying. So… I just made an eight-year-old kid crying. How did I feel about it? … I had mixed feelings. It felt good, because it was Sabir, and bad, because I felt good. Yeah, something like that.

And now, few hours and a carriage ride later, lying in my bed trying to sleep… I still have mixed feelings about it. Well, he had it coming I guess.

I decide to look through the interface. I’m doing this on impulse, I just have nothing interesting to do so I want to look through it and see if there are any hidden hints I didn’t see earlier. Shadow seems to add additional informations in the Codex - who knows why. Maybe it’s a way for him to avoid breaking those mysterious rules? Like ‘You can’t tell him anything about this and that’ so he writes about it in the Codex, because that way he technically doesn’t tell me anything?… I guess, that’s kinda possible? Well, time to open the interface.

* * * * *

“Hello fiery lady, am I dead. I thought for a second it might be a dream, but it doesn’t feel like a dream. Even the fact that I can ask if it’s a dream or not is leading me to thinking that it can’t be a dream. And my dreams tend to fall apart the moment I realise what they are, hence - am I dead?”

“Yes, you are. Hm? You look surprisingly happy about that. Shouldn’t you, mortals, be more afraid of death?”

“And what does it matter now that it’s in the past? It’s not like I can reanimate myself. And even if I could -zombies aren’t exactly welcome in the world. Anyway, what’s your name? Or at least how should I call you? My name is Jakub by the way.”

“And I’m Conflagration.”

“Great. Good for you I mean. A little bit complicated, but sure… if you’re fine with it.”

“O...kay. So, let us get back to the topic. Yes, you are dead. And, well, you were more or less an atheist which means that no one really cares about you now and there’s an eternity of nonexistence ahead of you. So, we - as in I and a few of my friends - decided to… well… borrow you. You are up to some work for us… or do you prefer to cease from existence?”

“Now, that’s actually a hard choice. You see… If I ‘cease from existence’ there wouldn’t be anything left to feel bad about it or even notice. On the other hand I could take your offer and become a slave or something. What am I now exactly? A soul? We’re still in my room and… Is that me? Was there a fire? Everything looks burnt up. So that’s how i died? Burned to death in my sleep? No… I died from suffocation, right? Even before there’s enough fire to burn a person - carbon monoxide is doing it’s job… How did this fire start? No, not important. The important part is your offer and my options - what exactly am I right now?”

“Soul, with your consciousness, memories and, well, character engraved into it. That’s what happens when you die. Body is dead, while mind and personality are brought into afterlife using soul as a vessel. And yes, you suffocated, the computer you left working when going to sleep caught fire and you died. Now, back to the topic, again, shall we? You digress too much. What we want from you is becoming… well, someone akin to stereotypical Reincarnated Hero from the stories you sometimes read. You know, sharp objects, magic, monstergirls - if you are into them - et cetera, et cetera.“

“And just when it was going… oh well. Reincarnated Hero you say? An overpowered character in a world not ready nor prepared for my mighty presence? Or maybe, by ‘akin’ you mean more like an Overlord of darkness bringing pain and suffering to the realm? Be more precise for goddess’ sake.”

“What goddess would you… ah, this one, urgh. No, I’m afraid that both Overlord of Darkness and Reincarnated Hero seats are already taken, as you are not the first one to be summoned… it’s actually quite interestingly complicated situation over there, and we intend to plunge the entire world into even deeper chaos. You will be given, let’s say it, an ability to get really strong, but you won’t be overpowered by default, it will all depend on how hard will you work. What’s more, you will need to at least try keeping low profile, as if people find out that you are a reincarnated person, you will end up being burned at a stake… crucified… or subjected to all different kinds of torture devices that Ancient Earth managed to invent.

“You would make a terrible marketer. Basicly what you just told me comes down to… Work hard and try not to stand out so after all hell break loose you’ll still be able to make it even worse… Terrible. Marketer. BUT! You might have just found someone bored enough to do it. Still, I need more details. Be realistic - you just told me a bunch of nothing and expect me to accept it because it might just turn out fun? Let’s start simple. How many reincarnates are there now? And regarding that complicated situation you mention… How many different sides does it involve?”

“Three reincarnates. Three other factions, desperate to kill each other. And then, me and my friends. The weakest of all sides, but we have a luxury of being able to ally ourselves with one of them. Listen, I would gladly tell you everything about this, but there are rules in this game. We are actually breaking them by summoning you, but that the others can overlook. However, if we go too far, we are going to get metaphorically grounded. I’m giving you a chance to continue your existence, and if you are against it I’m perfectly ok with looking for someone else.”

“I’m afraid you lost me at the ‘rules’... and got my attention right back with ‘breaking’. Sold. You just got yourself a willing soul to be your pawn. Can I just add one rule of my own to this arrangement here? Just a little reassurance for sake of my sanity?”

“It depends. What do you want?”

“Well… It’s more about what I don’t want… You see, if at any point in this little adventure you want me to partake in I will be required to use a magical artefact of awesomeness or anything with a similar theme to it… Let’s just say that you don’t want me to have any contact with such objects. Ok?”

“Artefactophobia? That’s something new. Well, whatever you want. So, right now you are going to get your new body… hidden someplace safe. You are going to spend next few years there. The body we’ve prepared is rather young, so you will need to get slightly older before saying hello to the world. You will also have to learn language, and, well, magic. My daugther will help you there, so, uhm, good luck.”

* * * * *

||======================||

||=====System ERROR=====||

||======================||

The Interface you’re trying to open is currently unavailable due to stupidity and recklessness of all the local gods and deities (except for Shadow). Please, try again later… But not too soon.

Real Life Game System by Shadow666 <3…

Current number of users… 4

What the…

Not only there are four users of the system, but also it’s broken?!

From emotional uncertainty to clear annoyment… And I’m not even sure what irritates me more - fourth reincarnated person, which means only more troubles ahead of me or maybe a broken interface. Great. I mean… he will fix it, right? Right?

***************************

Mirrond: So, say hello to Destiny’s faction everyone. That’s as far as I know last Reincarnated Hero around here. And, well, you kinda know him as he is based on my great co-author. Chapter 16 is going to be a timeskip, and then… things will happen :V

Resus: Yeah… I have no idea what to write here…

Mirrond: That’s exactly what I think about me being an MC… and I feel that way ever since the first chapter! … Now you know my pain. And, as you were complaining and joking about this, I’m going to call this a DIVINE RETRIBUTION. DEUS VULT.

Resus: I think you misunderstand the situation here. This character won’t be “ME” because it would be fucking boring… It’s more like… everything that’s wrong with me without anything to stop it from… exploding.

Mirrond: … blah, blah, blah, nonsense. Get ready for being burned at the nearest stake for mentioning “goddess” (it’s a heresy, THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD). Seriously guys, you don’t want to know. You. Just. Don’t.

Resus: She’s everywhere.

Mirrond: Besides… ‘anything to stop it’ -> If you were in such situation in reality, then you would lose all the possible restraints and you would act exactly like that… so, once again, this is YOU.

Oh, and the lack of tables is intentional. I am saying this just in case. You know, the interface broke etc.