Hello! Welcome to my new story, I've been lurking on this site for many years. I have even posted a couple of stories that I deleted, mostly because I consider myself a way better writer tbh. I would like to thank you for even clicking on my story, I know its a kinda generic premise, but I promise to mix it up and not stay too close to the original story. Anyway, I made this M just in case and for some stuff down the line.
His face rushed with heat as he tumbled to the cold, wet ground. The dull, aching pain radiated from the place where he was punched. He shook his head slightly, slowly picking himself off the snow-ridden ground. Suddenly pain erupted from his side, almost like a hot iron stabbed into him. The kick sent him tumbling across the ground once more than he heard the two men chuckle.
"You know you could have just paid the fee, you and your sister could have been left alone," The man told him, crouching over him. He told himself to stand up, to fight, this type of moment had played in his head 100 times. He always told himself he would jump on the metaphorical grenade and now he has to face the consequences. His father had always instilled the attributes of honor and bravery. His father was dead because of those values, and now Ryan worried he would follow the same fate. The man picked up the back of his hair and he winced in pain.
"Normally we would give you another chance, but you made us look a fool in there with your slick tongue of yours. So, what should we do with you" The man said. Ryan with adrenaline running through his vein said the first thing that came to his mind, completely forgetting his situation.
"God, you guys are trying too hard to be the cool type of gangsters aren't you. If you get riled up by some fucking words, you must have thin skin." To their credit, they let him finish before slamming his face into the ground. With a sickening crack, his ear rang and a metallic liquid leaked into his mouth. The only person who Ryan could wish he could say goodbye to is his sister. She deserved more than him. His younger sister was smart, and he could never get her into any type of schooling. He was finding it hard to focus on the surrounding things. A loud noise penetrated the haze and sharp pain filled his whole side. Blood pooled around him, the warm liquid staining the surrounding snow. Ryan was finding it hard to breathe and for the first time in his life, he wondered what was on the other side. He wasn't an atheist, just didn't follow any structured religion, but the thought of the void calling to him didn't scare him. How he saw it if this was the end, and nothing was after this, at least the pain would be over soon. Ryan was having to breathe quickly and rapidly now, and pain rocked every breath. Soon he couldn't fight it anymore and he slowly closed his eyes and soon the cold vanished, then the pain, and then all that left was the void.
When white light filled his vision, it shocked Ryan. He rubbed his eyes, and he sat at an oak table; the table was adorned in a white and gold embroidered diamond-shaped cloth. A white porcelain tea set sits on top of a gold tray. He panicked and feel where his wounds were supposed to be, yet he found nothing.
A door to the room opened, and a woman walked in. As Ryan looked at her, he found it hard to focus on her. It was almost like every time he looked away her form would shift, but when he looked back nothing would have changed. From what Ryan could tell she was a tall, well-built woman, standing a bit taller than him, about 6 foot he would guess. The Woman had golden hair that went down to the waist. She had a soft and fairly round face and she looked happy and young. She sat across from him and started pouring a cup of tea, occasionally glancing over to him. Ryan was so shell-shocked at this situation and couldn't bring himself to talk.
After taking a long sip from her cup, she set it down and gave him an enormous smile. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't started shooting off questions like others before you." Instead of lighting the mood as she meant, it just made his mind race. It scared him to ask a question to the women.
"Am I dead?" His voice was calm and decisive, but he knew the truth. He found it a little funny that this situation made him more scared than those gangsters that potentially killed him.
"Yep" The way she put it so simply made him think this was some sort-a fucked up joke but she could see his apprehension "Ryan Sam Sneed, your father died when you were 10, and your mother when you 19 forcing you to take care of your younger sister." Dreadful memories bubbled up, and he was ready to interrupt her, but she held out a finger. "You made a promise to yourself on the day you became your sister's guardian that you would do whatever it took to let her lead a normal life, How do you think that promise worked out." The women's words shook him. He had told no one that only told himself in times of super high stress.
He could feel his face contort in confusion, and he couldn't help but glare at the women across from him. "Who the hell are you, lady?" venom was clear in his voice, it almost came across like a threat. She seemed to be unaffected by the words. He could swear her smile widened.
"Well, to put it simply, I am the creator of everything." She moved her arms out to motion for everything "I am the alpha, the omega. Most commonly God" she put her arm on the table and rested her chin on her hand. "But I prefer Alpha, god just seems too grandiose." Ryan almost stopped his eyes from rolling but didn't care enough to stop them. "Ok, if you don't believe me I'll prove it to you." In a flash, Alpha disappeared and a perfect copy of himself sat across from him before Alpha reappeared.
To say it was creepy was an understatement, but he believed her. "So, if I'm dead and your god does that mean this is heaven?" she smiled once more, threatening to become creepy.
"Not quite to say this was purgatory would be more accurate" she folded her arms leaning back "Down worry, you can go to heaven if you want, your a good enough person" Alpha leaned forward "I want to make a proposition to you, mostly because I'm bored. They cut your life short so I want to give you a second chance." it shocked Ryan that he never pictured god to make deals or get bored, it was strangely human.
"I'm guessing there are caveats, or nothing bad would happen to anyone. Also, I want to know what would happen to my sister." Alpha smirked slightly before she spoke up again. "She ends up jumping from place to place for a while, it's the worst years of her life." the entire time Ryan has been in the presence of alpha, she has always been smiling so when her expression grew somber it worried him. "When she finished high school, she went straight into college and met the love of her life. She had a good rest of her life with him." She shook her head slightly, seemly to change back to her normal jovial attitude. "Well, of course, the two major agreements are: You can't return to your own would, and you must complete a goal in that life." Ryan was slightly worried these terms were vague, but he wanted to play along.
"Do I get to pick where I go? What happens if I fail." Alpha seems to give a little shrug at both before speaking up "I mean you can pick where you go, but where's the fun in that." she leaned back "If you fail that's the end of the journey, you come live in your own personal heaven, assuming you don't become a terrible person in that life," Ryan let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding in. He had nothing left to lose, so why not this could be fun?
"Deal. For where I'm going, dealer's choice" he said confidently. Alpha seemed to lean forward, and she had a smug look on her face, Ryan feared he had fallen into a trap.
"Well, it seems like you might become one of my favorite humans. Ok, here is your goal; A war is coming there are 3 faction leaders that deserve to live but they are fated to die, save them," her heart pounded. defying fate, sure why not? "Because you don't know where you are being sent "I'll, give you a gift, and one request." he smiled at his fortune and thought for a good 10 seconds about the request. Something that he wanted to have happened in his world, but never could fully commit to.
"Can I be a girl in this go around?" To alpha's credit, she didn't even flinch, just simply nodding.
"Well, I do wish you luck. I'll check in at some point. Your goal is important, but don't forget to have fun!" she waved her eye's turning a deep shade of blue, and suddenly his vision goes black.
Cold overtook their senses and the ground underneath, had a chilly dampness when Ryan tried to open his eyes he was met with a darkroom. Ryan could make out dark outlines of shapes as his eyes slowly adjusted to his dark environment. He tried to move his hand but quickly found it to be stopped. He was chained to the wall and looking at his arm almost shocked him; it was thin and he could see the bone through his skin. Giving himself a once over, he noticed quite a few things different. The goddess had kept her word he was now a girl, the ragged clothes left little hidden. Ryan quickly decided that he would probably need a new name because Ryan wasn't a girl's name.
Sounds of footsteps and voices cut through her thoughts. Light slowly filled the room as outside the lone cell stood two men. The one on the left reminded her of a plague doctor, and this one had all black on. Instead of holding a torch, a small mote of fire. The other made her blood run cold. She recognized this snake anytime. The pale almost paper-white skin bulging vein and huge forehead and dark black eyes looking her up and down in a way that made the skin crawl. Solon a mage from those the slither in the dark.
"Grab the girl we must make way to the test chambers posthaste, Thales wishes to move forward in testing." Solon tapped his staff on the ground once. "And we are running out of time to prove that we can move to the royalty of the empire. You understand?" he almost shouted at the peon who seemed to stumble with the keys before opening the door and moving over to her.
Ryan wanted to resist, but in the man's grip, she found her body weak and frail. She was soon tossed over the man's shoulder unceremoniously. Her gut hurt from the shoulder pressing into it. She had time to look around, and she almost forgot about the weird techno vibe they have going. They brought her to a large chamber, tables filled the edges of the room, they all had different colored liquids and tools. In the center of the room, a table in the shape of a starfished human and nearby a dull stone about the size of a heart. Her heart beat faster when the man strapped her down to the table, tugging at the restraints to make sure she wasn't going anywhere.
"Go get the others, I will finish the final prep by myself" Solon ordered the man giving a response that she didn't bother to listen to. She heard him walk off and Solon messing with the vials. "You are to be subject zero, a proof of concept, a commoner infused with the power of a crest." He hummed a bit before continuing, "If you live, we might even let you go as long as you do as asked in the world above." He moved to her and brought a vile to her lips "Drink or you will die of pain when we try this." his gaze pierced her as she sipped the potion. "You name girl, what is it?" he folded his arms. "No one from the surface will remember you, but I rather not just have subject zero in my ledger" For her, it's almost like time froze. She went with the first name that came to mind, her old life's online name.
"Rayzonna" She struggled to get out because it felt like her vocal cords were shredded. Solon moved out of her view and the sounds of him working started once more. For Rayzonna she didn't know how much time passed when she heard multiple sets of footsteps, Solon shouted orders, and soon after the room went quiet and 4 men stood at each of her limbs.
"When I start the operation, inject the solution into her and then channel your magic so she doesn't pop like a grape. Understood?" The surrounding men gave nods Solon walked near her holding a vile of dark black material and what looks like a scalpel. She could see him take a deep breath almost like he was psyching himself to start the operation "This is the next step in revenge." He looked around him, making eye contact with each of the men "Begin"
Four sharp pain lanced into her on each limb and for a second she scoffed, wondering if that was it. Of course, it wasn't. Soon after that crossed her mind, the men slowly pressed down on the plungers. Fire erupted into her veins; it was almost like each limb had a mind of its own and they were set on ripping itself apart. She screamed because of the pain, what had she done to deserve this hardship. She couldn't stop herself from writhing in pain. The men pulled away and channeled some sort of magic that kept her pressed down on the table.
Solon got in close and pulled the scalpel slowly, making a cut from her collarbone to her sternum. Rayzonna felt little from the scalpel, but she knew it wasn't the end. Solon took the dark black liquid and said some sort of incantation before pushing into the cut. A new sort of pain entered her body from the cut, it almost felt as a live creature slithered and writhed under her skin tearing anything that got in its way. It spreads through her body until it feels like her entire body is no longer hers. The one place it had yet to travel was her mind, but that luxury was soon snuffed. As the interloper pierced her mind, she swore she could feel it feasting on her thoughts and emotions. She pushed against with all her might, but if the creature was slowed, she didn't notice. It slowly pulled itself into her head leaving the rest of her body pain thankful for leaving her. When it was fully in her head, a slight headache started and she swore she could hear things twice and see frozen copies of the world around her, but when she closed her left eye, such oddities stopped.
"Congratulations men, we have done it." Solon said breathing heavily clutching the table "Tell Thales that we must move to the next stage and to start to bring in noble children, I want to have someone with two crests." the others nodded before one took off, following orders. Another one motioned to Rayzonna, but Solon put a hand up to stop him. "Take her back to her cell. Give her food, water, clothes, and magic text. She will be powerful, as she does to have a crest long thought dead." The pain caught up with her and she slowly let herself drift asleep.
Thank you for making it to the end of chapter 1 hopeful ill have chapter 2 out in a week, but we will see lol. Don't forget to review any input helps.