Arthias Fier woke with a groan. His head was pounding violently, but he was alive, somehow. He remembered being pushed into the hallway of his workplace, even though there was an active shooter alarm sounding. The last thing he remembered was his coworker smiling as he ran behind him, holding the hand of his girlfriend who was laughing as they escaped. All this while he was being gunned down. Just his karma for his sleazy lawyer career, he supposed.
:NOTICE - The subject of transfer, Arthias Fier, is conscious and awaiting his GIFT. Generating Familiar Being for conversation.:
Behind him, Arthias heard a vaguely mechanical voice and a crackling, staticky sound. Turning around, he saw a woman walking from a light generated by nothing, who mirrored his girlfriend, or he guessed, betrayer. But he felt nothing at the sight of her, nor her betrayal. Years of being kicked by life in a society that distrusted men of his status numbed him to being used and discarded.
"Where am I," he asked, his voice wary of the newcomer.
:Your life in your old world, has ended. Sufficient negative emotions were detected, allowing you to be chosen for reincarnation.:
"But I hold no negative emotions, and to be quite frank, I don't really care about what happened. I don't need this."
:Your emotions were noted as such. But you are not the only one in there. Please bring forth the true you for this conversation.:
Arthias' eyes widened at this statement. It had been years since he acknowledged his own mental issues. But it was true, he was truly only a coping tool in his old world, a fragment of his true being, created to survive in a world with laws against violence and self preservation. But his true self? This being wanted to converse with who he truly was? This was always the most unwise course of action for him. Yami was not someone, or rather, something, that did anything "wise". But screw it, he was dead now. Who cared what happened now.
Arthias closed his eyes and focused inward, walking the mental hallways of his mind, moving towards the door locked deep within. Along the way, he also stopped to wake the others up, as he'd need all the help he could to reason with Yami. Upon reaching his door, he rose his fist and rapped the back of his knuckles on the large gilded door.
"What do you want, Arthias? I told you I was not going to interfere anymore. You even agreed not to disturb me."
"Well, seeing as we're apparently dead now, I figured there was no point in you staying in there anymore."
"Dead?" The door gradually scraped open, and a dark shadow with dim silver eyes looked out at him. "What do you mean, we're dead? How have you managed to fuck up that badly? And why are they here too?"
Arthias looked back at the other versions of himself that were created over the years. Joshua, the first legal name of the body, and the most timid and weak willed. Created to quickly cover up his true nature, and given the name of the body to avoid confusion. Then there was Stryker, created to save Joshua from his first crush who cheated on him. He was also was just cold and distant with people. Next was Shane, created when Stryker decided to go into hibernation out of boredom. Shane was outgoing and friendly, but it was all a ruse to keep people from learning too much about the mental instability. And finally there was Kotushk, the one created before Arthias. Kotushk was created to be responsible for surviving the last few years of school, when his world subjected men to grueling aptitude and physical tests to determine their place in society. And after those exhausting tests were complete, Arthias was created to handle the rest of life, with input and knowledge from the rest. Only Yami stayed put in his room permanently, as he was disinterested in anything that didn't require violence.
"We're all here because apparently death is not the end of us, as you believed, and you're required to be in control. I figured the rest should be present as well."
"Hmph. Don't lie to me, they're here to control me should I become annoyed."
"Well, I guess. I can't say I care anymore what happens considering the trash life you thrust me into controlling."
"Oh be quiet. You knew damn well the world sucked. It's not my fault you decided to go out there with optimism, should've left that to Shane."
"Whatever. It's over anyways, might as well see what this is about, eh?"
Yami grumbled but began to walk towards the center of the mental institution. The rest followed at a safe distance behind. While none of them were as strong as Yami, they could bring him back by force if he should begin to rampage again. And whereas half of them were amused at his weeb self naming choice, none could deny that darkness was what he was. All the most negative emotions and traits they could feel usually stemmed from him. And if he chose to fight them in a mental fight, he could erase or neuter them easily.
Eventually they made it back to the control room of their mind, an ever changing place that shifted based on who was in power. As soon as Yami assumed power, the office chair Arthias used to sit in immediately turned into an extravagant throne, jet black with gold inlays. A dark purple floor spread from under it, climbing up the walls, becoming veined with red. Always the most dramatic, Yami always changed the room to the edgiest he could. Finally, Yami opened the outside eyes, projecting the outside vision into the control room.
:NOTICE - The true controller has been detected. Welcome, Yami Fier.:
"So you know our names and when we are here to speak. Impressive. I've already heard we're dead, so what further use do you have for me?"
:I have detected your animosity towards your life. Despite not truly living most of your life personally, you do retain and accrue the feelings of the others, and thus have grown to resent everything you knew.:
"Yeah, so what?" Yami yawned theatrically, propping his head up on his hand. He looked around seeing nothing but white everywhere and being on the ground was annoying. Especially seeing as this woman before him was standing over him. "Can't you make this place less bright? I hate the color white like this, feels like a damned hospital."
:NOTICE - Rearranging meeting facility.:
Slowly, the room began to close in on itself, and the stark whiteness faded into a muted silver and grey. Between Yami and the being, a small circular mahogany table rose from the ground, and a red tablecloth fluttered from above to cover it. After, a cup of tea materialized on the table, followed by a chair rising from the ground next to it. Yami raised an eyebrow before standing up and stretching, and walking over to sit at the table. Sniffing the tea, he was pleasantly surprised by the smell of Earl Grey, his favorite type.
"Alright, this is better. Why don't you have a seat too? I'm sure an after death talk won't be short."
The being walked to the table, conjuring a small, circular silver throne. Sitting down, she looked at Yami before creating a plate of brownies in the center of the table.
:You are correct. This conversation will cover a few topics. First, reincarnation. Do you wish to live once more?:
"In this world, hell nah. Fuck this world, let it rot."
:Noted. The offer was not to return to this world, however. You would be reincarnated into a new world. It will not be much better than this one, however. You will find it hard to survive, much harder than this world. But should you make good use of the new world's rules, you could easily attain great heights.:
"Not this world, huh? You're not from here then, are you? I've seen this type of situation before, in fiction of our world. Some new world needs a hero, you give them a bunch of cheaty abilities and send them there to save the world. Unfortunately, I'm no savior. I don't care what happens to the world around me, I'm just interested in myself."
Yami helped himself to a brownie, appreciating the taste of chocolate that his world lost in his youth.
:My world is not a world to save. It is an experiment. How to raise overall world power through suffering. Your world would likely be similar, but it is showing decline. I am here to give you a new test. I am not here to save you and give you a new life that you can breeze through. You will gain one ability per each persona you have. But be warned, these abilities will be random, however, they will be suited to each one of you.:
"Not an easy life? But we get abilities? I believe you underestimate inhabitants of my world and our ingenuity. Sure, most of us use our intelligence or cunning to make others suffer, which isn't exactly helping our world out, but don't sell us short. And you're going to essentially give me multiple powers."
:You will technically be getting multiple abilities, but since it is one per each of you, only when that one is in control can you use that ability. And seeing as assuming control is not a fast process for you, as we have seen from studying you, you will find it difficult in life or death situations to switch it up.:
Yami looked at the woman before him. He was internally amused, as she was vastly mistaken about him. The only reason it took awhile to change control was because he had been asleep. But this proved she was not omniscient. And that meant that her new world was probably not as hard to survive as she surmised. This could be interesting. The rest of his personalities inside sighed. Yami was scheming. Never good.
"Alright. I accept your offer. But on one condition. If I succeed in your world, hell, if I make it look easy, don't interfere with me. If I want to take over your whole world, sit down and just watch. Giving me this chance is a gamble just as much for you as me. Accept the outcome peacefully."
:Interesting. Subject show extreme confidence. Very well, condition accepted. But your ability pool will be affected. Do you still believe you could prosper, even if you had no chance of a high level ability?:
"I don't know what you consider high or low power. I can guess it'll translate to something easy for me to understand, or else there'd be no fun in it. But hey, I can't spew bravado if I ain't willing to fail. Bring it on."
:Correct. The abilities you receive, and perception of them will be based on a generic grading system, pulled from your own experience in this trope you claim from your fictious stories. But this is no longer fiction for you. Your life will be on the line.:
"At least it will be interesting."
:NOTICE - Starting the process for GIFT acquisition. Due to arrogance and provocation, all possible skills of B Rank or higher have been excluded from list. Reordering. Yami Fier, please place your hand upon this orb.:
Yami placed his hand upon the purple orb that just appeared on the table. After a few seconds, the orb warmed faintly before crumbling.
:NOTICE - GIFT acquired. C Rank skill, Darkness Control acquired. Now requiring new persona.:
Yami closed his eyes, focusing on the control room.
"Alright, we're going to be changing slowly, no need to show our hand just yet."
Arthias sighed.
"You know you pretty much ruined the trope of us getting godly power in this new world. Why handicap us when we could have gotten more?"
"It's simple. This being is not all powerful. Something is going to fuck up for them, or we're simply going to humiliate them by overcoming their challenge. Either way, we won't be bored. Sounds like this is one of those fantasy worlds where we won't be forced into a stupid little role by society. We're going to take these powers, and conquer this new shitty life. Now go, Josh, you're up next."
Joshua jumped, his timidity showing.
"But what if what I get isn't useful?"
"When have you ever been useful. Just get out there already."
Arthias shut his eyes, feeling sorry for Josh. He was weak, sure, but Yami seemed to absolutely hate him. It was kind of surprising that Josh hadn't been erased yet. Josh scurried to the chair, under scrutiny from Yami and jeering smiles from Stryker and Kotushk. Only Shane and Arthias didn't outright hate Josh, but he could be annoying with his negativity.
Josh slowly opened his eyes, blinking against real light for the first time in years.
:NOTICE - Joshua Fier, place your hand upon this orb to receive your GIFT.:
Josh nervously placed his hand on the newly materialized clear orb. After shining with a soft light for a few seconds, the orb dissipated.
:NOTICE - GIFT acquired. E Rank skill, Low Presence acquired. Now requiring new persona.:
Josh quickly shut his eyes, returning to the control room and shuffling off the stool he was sitting on. Next, Stryker got into control, acquiring the skill of D Rank Weapon Learning. Afterwards, Shane received the D Rank Skill, Politics. Kotushk was up next, earning the C Rank Skill, Speed Boost. Finally, it was Arthias' turn. He opened his eyes at looked at the grey orb in front of him.
"Do I really need to bother?"
:NOTICE - Failure to acquire skill will result in inability to do anything. Highly ill advised.:
"Yeah, I know. It was a question to myself, really. And I might as well since everyone else did it." Arthias muttered as he placed his hand on his orb. After a few seconds, the orb crumbled away. No glowing, warmth, shifting. Nothing like the others. Did he fail?
:NOTICE - GIFT acquired. F Rank Absorption. Sorry about your luck.:
Huh? F Rank. Eww. That must be pretty trash. Oh well, guess I'll be back seating this new life.
:NOTICE - All GIFTS acquired. When ready, go through this door to begin your new life. You will bypass childhood, and attain basic world knowledge. That is the only advantage you will attain. Do not make this experiment too short, Yami Fier.:
With that final message, the figure of the woman faded away and a plain oak door appeared in the room. Arthias shook his head, standing up and walking through the door to his new life, his new world.