WARNING: this chapter has gratuitous truck violence.
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Prologue- Trucks and Gods are basically the same thing
For a quiet, introverted woman, twenty-three-year-old Anastasiya Dimitrescu never wanted to leave any kind of significant mark on the world. Born to a Russian mother and Romanian father, she grew up in a relatively normal part of Panama City, Florida. When the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the world, she was elated at the potential of not having to go out in public, even more so when her favourite video game series Resident Evil came out with a new title. She got a kick out of one of the villains having the same last name as her, even if physically they were certainly polar opposites.
Having beaten the game in the first five hours of its release, she yawned and stretched, glancing at the pink wall clock she had made in a fit of creative energy a year or so ago. Seeing that it was almost nine o-clock (in the evening), Ana decided that she would risk going out to the store, since the lockdown restrictions had been relaxed enough that people were allowed to go and buy essential supplies and she had been slightly neglecting to do that in the hype of Resident Evil Village's impending release.
Putting on her mask and grabbing her purse, Ana quickly started her car and made her way to the store. As she was turning down the street that would take her to her destination the quickest, she had a moment to be surprised before a huge truck plowed directly into the driver's side of her car.
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"Wh-where am I?" were Ana's first thoughts. Her second thought came quickly on the tail-end of the first. "HOLY SHIT, WHY ARE THERE CLOUDS EVERYWHERE?"
She whipped around when she heard a coughing noise somewhere from within the mass of clouds surrounding her. The young woman then backed up as quickly as she could when a tall figure, almost as tall as her newest crush Lady Alcina Dimitrescu, stumbled out of the clouds.
"Sorry, the cloud machine's on the fritz again!" they said in a voice that seemed to shift from male to female with every syllable, waving the last wisps of clouds sticking to their form. "Now then, let's have a look at you, girlie."
"Who the hell are you!" Ana cried out, trying to turn around and run away from the looming stranger but to no avail. "What do you want with me?"
The figure sighed and snapped their fingers. A second later, Ana found herself sitting in a room that looked suspiciously like Lady Dimitrescu's bedroom in the game. The figure then flung themselves down on the large bed and yawned before turning to face the frightened woman.
"Like most of my kind, I go by many names," they began. "But you can simply call me Author. As for what I want with you, that sort of ties in with my name since imma rewrite your history."
"Why would you do that?"
Author laughed. "Ding, ding, that's another for resurrection questions bingo!" When they saw Ana freeze at the word 'resurrection', they nodded somberly. "Yep, sorry to say but you died. Ya kind of had a close encounter with a wayward Entity who, for some reason, likes to disguise themselves as a truck." Author shrugged. "You're not the first to run into them, or have them run into you as the case may be."
"So…I'm dead then?" Ana asked dumbly, slouching in the soft velvet of the armchair she was in.
"Yeeahh, sorry darling, but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes," Author said, a consoling undertone to their voice. "On the plus side, since you were a victim of an accidental death caused by a universal Entity, you qualify for resurrection!" Author clapped excitedly as party poppers and confetti exploded suddenly out of nowhere. "And better yet, you get to decide what universe you get to be reborn in and whatever circumstance, personal or otherwise, you wish to have! Yay, you!"
Ana blinked, taking in exactly what Author was suggesting. A small part of her was raging against the situation she found herself in but the more she considered Author's words the more her excitement at the opportunity in front of her grew. She hadn't really had many friends before and lived alone from the rest of her family. Ana was, in every shape and form, the quintessential shut it.
"I'll do it!" she cried, making her mind up. "I mean, I'd have to be a complete idiot to pass up this sort of thing." Author nodded in approval and Ana stood up. "So, whatever and wherever I want, right?"
"Within reason," Author said, raising a finger pointedly. "For instance, since this is your second life, you can't wish for true immortality, but you CAN ask for longevity and the ability to keep your youthful looks so long as you, y'know, don't die." The deity paused. "Actually, that's the only rule, so let's get this new character creation session going!"
Author clicked their fingers again and Ana found herself in a blank room lined with walls full of softly glowing orbs. It kind of reminded her of the scene in the first Matrix movie when Morpheus was showing Neo the ropes, but glossed over that quickly when a blank, humanoid form appeared in front of her.
"This will be the template of your new body which, when you've finished it, I will be transferring your soul into," Author explained. "Of course, what you'll be making is your future adult form, since you'll be reborn as, well, a baby." They then grinned. "The best thing about being in Purgatory is that you can take however long you want to make the most awesome vessel!"
Ana, with those words in mind, thought long and hard about what she wanted her adult form to look like. Eventually, she reached a decision and waved at Author who had conjured a hammock while they waited and was currently swinging in it whistling tunelessly to themselves.
"Okay…don't judge me on this or anything…" At Author's encouragement, Ana continued, a small blush on her face. "I-I'm a huge fan of Meagan Fox, sooo…could you make my adult self look like her? Just with red hair, since I've always loved my current…er…former hair colour. Oh, and give me like, golden eyes please!" She then had a flash of inspiration. "A-And the tattoos of a Borderlands Siren!"
Author raised their eyebrows. "A bit 'loud' for an introvert. You'll certainly turn many eyes with this look." They waved a hand and the blank human shape morphed into that of the actress Meagan Fox, with long, luscious red hair and deep golden eyes. "Seriously, 'loud'."
Ana shrugged self-consciously. "Well, new life, I may as well try something new right?"
Before she had died and come to Purgatory, Ana had been an average girl, but had also leaned on the lower side of 'smoking hot' according to some guys she had hung out with. While she may have been attractive to some, she had always preferred to keep to herself, which had always confused her more outgoing female friends. For this new life, why not at least be on the higher scale of smoking hot, was her reasoning at least. Besides, with what she was considering for her personal circumstances, she wanted a look that matched them.
"Well, that's your physical look done and dusted, what are you planning to be able to do in it?" Author asked then.
The human let out another breath before replying. "I would like to be reborn in the Marvel Cinematic Universe."
"Ooh, good choice, we've had a few people go there." At Ana's surprised expression, Author shrugged. "Hey, like I said you weren't the first person to have a close encounter with the truck kind. But don't worry, you won't run into anyone else. Every person we resurrect gets their own universe, but can't cross over into anyone else's. Confusingly enough, their universes can have their own multiverses and even though I'm a god my head hurts from trying to explain it."
"That's…really cool, actually," Ana smiled. She then returned to explaining the details of her next life. "Right, so, as for my circumstance, would it be possible to give me the both the abilities of Maya from Borderlands and access to chaos magic? Maya's my favourite video game character, though Lady D certainly gave her a tough challenge, and I've always wanted to be able to do magic, especially of the chaos variety."
"Alright, cool choice my adorable little goth." Author said in a light teasing tone. "And as a bonus, cos I like ya, I'll make the Siren wings, actual physical wings instead of those, admittedly cool, situational ones. Also, I should probably lock your Siren abilities to your soul so that if you die, those powers won't destabilize the universe by seeking out another, potentially unstable, individual." They then hummed thoughtfully. "Ya know, I'll even give you this, since you'll probably need it because of your Siren nature." The deity held out a hand and a small, purple stone that Ana recognized as being eridium, a mineral element that enhanced a Siren's abilities. "I'll even take away the addictive side-effects of it."
"This seems a little like favoritism but thanks," Ana said, carefully taking the crystal. "I mean, I thought you were gonna say no to the chaos magic at least, since its one of the most powerful abilities in Marvel."
Author scoffed. "Please, I once had a guy that went into the Dragon Age universe who wanted to be able to turn into a high dragon and have direct access to the Fade as a source for his magic. Trust me, you're actually one of the least wacky requests I've had to deal with and you didn't ask for true immortality." They turned their head and muttered quietly, "Can't believe that guy used that magic to make a harem out of all the characters, even the golem!"
"Oh…okay then…" Ana mumbled, not entirely sure what to make of that. Deciding to ignore it, she looked over her new body. "Well…I think that's about it." She paused. "Wait…will there be any sort of consequences if I decide to change the outcome of the MCU?"
Author considered her question before shrugging. "Hey, it's your next life; the way I figure it, you can deal with any that might occur if you interfere." They then leant forwards conspiratorially. "But personally, I find it far more entertaining when the Reborn mess around in whatever universe they decide to go in. Just food for thought, y'know?"
Ana smirked and nodded in agreement. "Cool just wanted to know if I'd be getting divinely screwed if I did something like that. Since there isn't though, I think that's all I needed to know!"
"Alrighty then, let's get you into your new universe and life!" Author declared, clapping her hands. "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit, but I can't control where exactly you'll be reborn. Good luck and watch out for purple testicle faces!"
The last thing that Ana saw was, ironically, a bright white light…