"I'm afraid you're quite dead, my young man."
"I see..."
That's the first thing I could only say in this situation, sitting on a comfy chair inside what looks like a comfy wild west style office with a man in his forties with a black handlebar mustache, wearing a black suit and a bowler hat facing me with some slight pity but understanding.
Normally most people would freak out that they died and their lives has cut short, but considering what was happening back home and me, along with my parents and siblings comes to terms with it and accepted the inevitable that just happened like not too long ago... it is kind of jarring when thinking about it.
"So what happens next?" I asked the man in front of me.
I do not know who he is, other than waking up sitting on the couch with him staring at me from behind his desk and the fact he's telling me I'm dead must mean that he; is the Grim Reaper.
"That is correct lad, and I'm here to help you to your new destination... Provided if you accept it, of course."... Apparently he's a mind reader as well.
"Ok... what do you mean by if I accepted?"
"That is precisely as what I mean, I'm here to give you a second chance for a new life." he finished and waits for my reaction.
Which didn't take long as my eyes widen in surprise at the offer and also suspicious. If there is one thing I learned as my time as a human on Earth, nothing is ever free and always has some sort of deal that I must do.
"That is quite correct; for you see we need of someone that is... More open minded, able to think outside the box and willing to do the right thing." The man/reaper says.
"Ok... What exactly do you need my help with? Like, I don't mind given a second chance for a new start but I'm pretty sure there are plenty other people than me that would fit the role to help out with whatever problem you guys have." I asked with honesty.
Like seriously, I'm just one guy with love for games and taking it easy than some brain dead politician or greedy corporate leech. What exactly do I have that qualify me to be choosen for this?
"Truth be told, your father was actually given the offer." The man Stated, which made me really surprised at hearing that "However, he refused and told me to give the offer to one of his kids as they deserve it better than he did."
Dad... Even in afterlife you still looks after us.
"I see... Alright, I accept." Not gonna let this chance be spoiled since pops gave it up to one of us so gonna at least try and help out whatever the hell the problem is.
"Good, very good." The man smiled as he leaned back on his office chair "Now to answer your question as to why we need a mortal's help is due to a law that we're not allowed to intervene with the mortals affairs... However, we got a bit of a problem with this universe due to some... Complications."
"And that is?"
"Constant genocide of hundreds of species at every 50 000 years, not only has this become an issue to the stability of the galaxy and the soul stream but the amount of death has attracted... uninvited guests."
It took me few seconds for my brain to register what he just said and how familiar that sounded, until it finally clicked and me eyed widen in surprise and horror of where they want to send me away.
"Wait a second! You're sending me to Mass effect universe!?" I exclaimed.
Not gonna lie, a part of me feel excited due to have loved Mass effect universe years ago, but as I gotten older and looking into more of that world it's definitely of not of faintest of hearts due to the dark themes, corruption in politics and shadow wars with different agencies. Fucking hell, I'm just a dude that works with forklifts at some random storage building for packages that needs delivered to other countries! I'm not built like a body builder or trained at the military, hell I don't even know how to fight!
How the hell am I supposed to fight not only the Reapers but fucking Cerberus, Shadowbroker and whoever the hell this uninvited guests the Grim reaper mentioned!?
"Calm yourself, I understand your worries." The man calmly stated, raising a hand that somehow manage to make me calm and sat down again as I apparently had stood up during my panic.
"Like I said, I'm here to help you to have a better chance to survive but hopefully the current inhabitants of the Milky way galaxy would actually listens to the warnings... But I'm getting the feeling their leadership would still be in denial of the truth." he then took out bunch of sheet of papers as he handed them over to me "In fact, not only are we going to reincarnate you into something that isn't a human, but to give you your own personal army as well."
The moment I began reading what it says on the paper, my eyes widen in surprise and hope, as I realize what he's going to give me as an advantage for my next life against the overhwelming threat of the Reapers.
"You're going to give me the Gamer power? a RTS version at that?"
"Indeed" He answered, then his gaze turn serious "Normally we do not give this kind of powers to anyone, due to so many have abused the powers of Gamers; causing too much havoc that it taken the board many, many years to fix the holes in realities in each universe those lunatics were sent in. So right now, we're desperate enough to grant you this powers in both hope and in faith that you will use it for good and not for selfish desires."
"...Were all of them humans?"
"Ye-"
"Then that's the problem, you guys literally gave reality breaking powers to bunch of humans who is perhaps one of the most easily corruptible species that I sadly have ever been born to, witnessed them doing and is the cause of WHY me, my family and perhaps even the whole fucking entire planet back home is dead because some old fucks didn't want to lose the war they started and decided to drag the whole humanity to the grave by launching every nukes in existence." At the end I stare hard at the man in front of me, not caring that he's the Grim Reaper as ALL of my frustration about humanity has spilled forth and to hear these guys made the mistake of trusting humans with powers? yeah it kinda broke the dam for me as all of my bottled up feelings of constant disappointment and faith in humanity being broken as spilled out.
The man merely stared at me with a blank look, nods as he answers.
"I understand perfectly lad. A good deal, even me among them, has expressed that the idea of giving that powers to humanity and along with some of the other races that has the same problem as them was not such a good idea. But please know this, we did not know what giving the power of gamer to mortals would have happened as this was entirely new to us and we wished to see the results of what would happen and learn from them; to see if this new method could help us keeping most of the world safer."
"...Unfortunately we did not foresee the amount of destruction they would have caused, despite numerous warnings we have given them. They grew too arrogant and believed they could take on the Grim reapers and many other servants to the Primordial gods... Not realizing that we could easily cut the source of their powers and striking them down with ease."
"But right now, after hundreds of thousands of years; we're willing to try again and see if it's worth the risk. With you." He finished.
I sat there as I absorbed the information he has given to me.
Not only there has been others before me and they ruined the trusts of the god like beings that apparently is keeping our worlds safe from... Something.
And now they're willing to try again but with me only.
That's... a lot of trust they're putting on me to not fuck it up.
But either way, I agreed to help and that's what I'm going to do.
Looking down at the parchments to see bunch of lists of factions that I could use for the Mass effect universe, surprisingly half of them are from fantasy games but going to be tweaked to work in space.
After some minutes of reading, thinking and calculating the pros and cons with some of the factions, I finally choose one and gave him the one I want.
The Grim Reaper took the paper gently and read it, his brows shot up in interest as he let out a chuckle "Interesting~" as he then placed it on the table.
"Very well, you made your choice lad and the higher ups are going to tweak the power of gamer a bit so that it will suit with the settings of the universe we're sending you to."
I smiled as not only I would be given a second chance and an army to rely on... Then my smile dropped as I frown a bit as I realized something.
"Wait, when you mentioned that I would be reincarnated into something that isn't human. Do i get a choice to what i would be and look like?"
"Sadly no, Lady Skirra, my boss, is the one who would be making your new body." The man shook his head.
"I see." Bummer, hope it's something awesome.
"Now then-" With a snap of his fingers, the doors behind me opens up and letting in bright light that is so blinding that I can't see what is out there "You may now leave through the door and you will enter into a deep sleep, allowing us to work on both your new body and faction. Once you wake up, the A.I. System of the gamer will help you out how to proceed next."
"Thanks... For giving me this chance." I softly said, as me and him shook hands.
"No worries. Good luck and may the stars shine your path, young man." He said with a smile.
I smile back and nodded, turn around and faced the doorway. Not bothered by the bright light as I took my last steps as a human being toward the entrance and entered the light.
Whatever happens next, I will do my damndest best to fight the reapers or die trying.
This, I swear.
Soooooo.
It's me, back again.
And honestly after months of recovering my health after I finally left the shitty, toxic workplace that not only I have been given more energy and drive to spend but I decided to go back to this type of story after rereading Umbreal Infernias.
I know what I said for the gamer story and my personal view toward it being a crutch for the protagonist to win easy battles due to the amount of bullshit mechanics and passive abilities that makes them overly OP as hell, but just for once I'm willing to give this a chance to start over as this is DEFINITELY not fucking RWBY that has been giving me a huge fucking headache and roosterteeth going down the drain.
So I decided to start over with the Warcraft RTS gamer story with a new setting, one that I noticed is lacking quite a bit so I decided to change that. Warcraft 3 and Mass effect crossover!
While it would contain some of the aspects from the old lore of the Warcraft 3 blending in with the mass effect universe, there are also going to be some supernatural stuff happening as well that has nothing to do with the Reapers, Burning legion or Cerberus.
And of course it's going to feature a Youkai like female character as the MC... Along with whatever faction you people vote for.
That's right, I've set up a poll to see which of the four factions/youkai you want to be used for this story and I'm planning to close it at the end of this week late at night.
If this kind of story isn't for you, you're very much welcome to leave. Nobody is forcing you to read it so don't complain like some spoiled little brat that wants attention 24/7.
Either way, hopes that this story would tickle your fancy and that we all journey together with this story.