Authors note: I'm just going to put this once in this story, but let it pertain to all copyrighted materials. I personally own nothing about this story except my own added characters or my own ideas. I have another story posted here but after receiving some great constructive criticism, I decided to do a rewrite. Hopefully this one will turn out a little better. Also, my schedule is erratic because I work nights, I can't guarantee any specific upload schedule. So just know that I'm always working on this in my spare time.

Chapter One

You know that feeling you get when you start to wake up? That sort of half in and half out feeling where half of your brain is still asleep but your eyes are opening and starting to see and your ears are starting to register sounds like your breathing or things similar to that?

That's sort of how I've been feeling for a while now. Unfortunately though, I am not waking up on a bed or dozing on a recliner in front of a television or something comforting like that. I'm currently floating in a sea of pitch black.

I don't have any memory loss or anything of the sort so I do think I know where I am, but I kind of don't want to be right.

Or at least, I didn't want to.

You see, I've been floating here a long time. I'm not sure how long of course, because I don't have a clock or watch handy, or much of anything, really.

Looking back in my memories, I can remember who I was, what I did for work, my hobbies, what I did for fun and the people I hung out with. I can even remember my last few moments of full consciousness. Well, two moments. The first was a moment of confusion as I felt my heart thudding erratically and then not at all, and the next moment, I was here.

I even know what the erratic behavior was and what caused it. I had been born with a heart defect, and ever since I was a kid I knew my heartbeats would be more limited than that of someone my age.

Honestly, making it to seventeen was a good accomplishment when I wasn't expected to live past the seven to ten range.

But all of that leads me to here, floating in a void. It's really not that bad if I'm being honest. It's just so boring. It took me a while in my semi conscious state to realize all that had happened.

Now, I went through the five stages, just like anybody would. I denied what had happened, saying that it had to be some bad dream or I was hallucinating.

Then I was angry. Angry at the fact that I was born defective, angry at myself, my friends, doctors, the world. Name anything you could think of. Chances are pretty good that I've cursed it loudly and petulantly in this void I now call home.

After that I tried to rationalize it to myself. You know how it goes. The bargaining. 'Maybe the next life would be better', or 'maybe this is just the long trip to heaven', or my personal favorite, 'if I could just get out of this good forsaken void I would do more with my next life'.

But after a terribly long time passed, even that thought faded and was replaced with a melancholy that I personally didn't think would go away. I despaired at my situation. I felt like I cried a river that would put the Styx that flowed through the nine hells to shame. I wailed my lament to a void that sucked my words from the very air like… well, like a void.

And finally, just like time tends to, it cured even the incurable sadness that had pervaded my very soul. What was left in its wake was a cool acceptance that left me floating without a care. Whatever happened would happen.

I feel that acceptance even now, but now it's accompanied by an all encompassing boredom that leaves me wanting anything to happen to end this monotony.

After another period of incalculable time passed, I noticed that I wasn't the only thing in the void anymore. I had no way of knowing which direction was up or down or left or right, I had no sense of any movement of any kind, but I could see something drifting towards me as if it were a boat on the ocean. The void was devoid of any kind of light, so to see something that was almost completely black and to see it as the brightest thing that I had seen in forever was slightly jarring.

The entity drifted closer and I was able to get a better look at it. It was mostly composed of a swirling mass of smoke that was varying shades of black. The wisps trailed and dissipated behind it as it moved, and every few seconds the shroud would part and reveal a face that was different each time I saw it. Male and female, young and old, human and inhuman, there was no discernable pattern.

Finally it got close enough and drifted to a stop.

"I don't believe that you're supposed to be here."

The voice was quiet, and sounded like old parchment rubbing together mixed with the rustling of wind through dead leaves.

After complete silence for who knows how long, the sound of the voice was as melodious as anything I had ever heard.

"I don't think I am either. Are you?" I asked back.

The leaves of its voice rustled quickly before going silent again and I can only think that it was a laugh.

"No I suppose not. However I do have an excuse for being here. How did a normal human soul like you come to be here in this place?"

I looked down at myself. Or rather, I imagined I did. I hadn't been able to see my hand any of the times I waved it in front of my face, or my feet below me, but I always figured that was because there was no light. As for why I never felt anything, I always attributed that to being some strange side effect of being in a void. I never had reason to suspect otherwise. Was I really just a soul? I guess it makes sense. I did die after all.

"Well, I thought it was just because I was dead and I figured there was no afterlife. I thought maybe all the religions in my last life had ended up being a crock. Is that not true? Are you a soul also? Is that what I look like?"

The questions bubbled out of my metaphorical mouth like a river. After so long being alone, I couldn't help but talk and try to extend the conversation.

"Well, yes and no. You are certainly able to be here because you're dead, as you wouldn't be able to survive here if you still had a physical form. But no, you're not here because you died. You should have gone to some sort of afterlife where you came from. I can tell you if you'd like."

"Yeah that would be great! It wouldn't really change anything, but at least I would know."

"Okay. Hold still."

It drifted closer and one of its shadow tendrils reached out towards me and I felt a cold chill run through me. It only lasted about a second before it drifted back.

"Oh yours was an interesting one. Your universe was a conservative one, where energy is conserved and reused. Actually, those universes are one of the least common. You're souls energy is gigantic, and that's what drew me to you. You've been reincarnated countless times, and when you die after one of your incarnation, you gain and the energy from growing during that life. When you died, you should have reincarnated into a next life as usual. However your universe was interesting because your cycle goes through time as if it wasn't linear. Your next life would have been set four hundred years before your past life."

I sat there for a minute and thought about that. I've had several lives?

"Why don't I remember any of them?"

" I'm sure you would if you stayed here long enough. Think about it. You're a soul right now. Energy. The fact that you're perceiving this at all, let alone communicating means you've regained at least your last life's memories. Stay here long enough, you'd get them all back."

"Huh. I guess that makes sense."

"You must have slipped through the cracks somewhere in the in between when you died. That's how you're here in the void."

"As for your other questions, I'm not exactly a soul, so no, this is not what you look like."

Its 'voice' didn't sound quite to rough now. It was a little quieter than when we started talking.

"What are you then? Why are you here?"

"I'm a reaper. I reap souls and I send them to the afterlife. I was supposed to be in charge of death in my old universe, but I'm relatively young, and I was chased out by a stronger reaper. I've been looking for a new universe but I haven't found one that's unoccupied, and I'm almost out of energy. Soon I'll be drifting just like you."

A reaper? Like the grim kind? I should probably feel afraid but this reaper has only been polite, and if it's going to reap me, at least I wouldn't just be floating here.

"Wait, did you say you were almost out of energy? What happens then?"

"Well, like I said, I would just be drifting; but before long I would fade. Reapers don't pass on like you souls do "

I started to feel slightly panicked. I only just found someone to talk to, and now they were telling me they are going to die?

"Can I do anything to help?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Well, there is a way you could help me if you really wanted to."

It responded quickly, but with a forced calmness like that's what it wanted me to say.

"Actually, we both have similar problems and I have a solution that will help both of us. After all, you don't want to drift along forever, do you? And I need a way to get stronger."

"Absolutely not. What is this solution?" I replied.

It's smokey tendrils waved about enthusiastically, and it's face took on a more childish visage.

"As a reaper I can use soul energy to fuel abilities, and like I said, you have quite a bit of spare energy. I can use it, but it'll be a heavy cost. My energy is almost gone, I've spent too long in here and even with your abundant soul, it would probably use the last of my life to do anything like what I need to, so part of the solution is that I bind myself to your soul." It said the last part in a bit of a rush, like it was nervous I would say no.

Bind to my soul? A reaper?

"Are there any side effects to that?" I asked tentatively.

"I'm not exactly sure. I've never tried anything like this before. I believe it'll only be positive for you." It replied.

I thought about it for a second and I weighed the options that I had. After a brief deliberation, I decided the pros way outweighed the cons.

"And the rest of the solution?"

"Ill use what remains of my energy to shape the spell, and I'll use your energy to fuel it. What I'll have to do is give us a way to get out of this void, and a way for us to become strong in this next life. And because I'll be binding myself to you, I'll have your best interest at heart. One big thing though, is with the binding, I have to have your expressed consent."

As it spoke, it got more and more serious, and I realized why. This was the point of no return. If I said no, then we would both float along until the reaper died and I was alone again. However if I said yes, then we would go through something that neither of us really knew about beyond the basics. But still, the pros outweighed the cons.

"Ill give you my full consent if you can tell me what happens after we get out. What do you want, exactly?"

The reaper sat for a minute without saying anything, but each of its shifting faces seemed contemplative, like it was gathering it's thoughts.

"I want two things. I want out of this void, and I can't do that on my own anymore. I also want to get stronger, which I also can't achieve alone. I was kicked out of my own universe because I wasn't strong enough. If I bind myself to you and assist you in any way I can to get stronger, than I can have both of those things that I want."

Those goals coincide with my own. I just want another chance at life. I don't want to float endlessly anymore. And if the reaper wants to make me strong to do it, why would I complain?

"Okay. That works for me. How do we start?" I asked, convinced.

The specter drifted closer.

"I take a second to look through your memories and find a way that will make this as seamless as possible."

Its words brought with a brief feeling of fear about something foreign being inside my head, but I pushed that down and calmly let the tendrils of shadow cover my vision. After a second, I felt what could only be explained as another presence in my own mind. I felt it combing my metaphorical brain as I waited. It wasn't unpleasant, just strange.

After a while, I felt the presence settle and I felt an electric shock jolt through me, like I just jumped head first into icy water with a live electrical cable in my hand. The electrifying chill pervaded every bit of my consciousness, but it felt like a fast process so it wasn't long before the feeling started fading and I returned to my normal, pain free state.

"Seamless, huh?" I didn't have lungs, but even to me I shoulder out of breath.

"That was actually the best case scenario. Souls aren't meant to mesh with reapers, so in all the stories I've heard, most of them end not so well. But this was a good start."

I thought I would be mad at that, but all I felt was a slight exasperation.

"Besides, I didn't mean seamless as in a seamless transition. I more meant the spell to put us on a path to power, and more importantly, to get us out of here."

It's tone was exactly the same, but I couldn't help but feel like I was being laughed at.

"You're pretty smug now that your sitting in my brain. Or whatever." I muttered.

"Anyway, how does this spell work? I don't feel or see anything different.

"For someone that has sat in the void for so long without going crazy, you're awfully impatient. It was a big spell, give it time to work."

I grumbled but I couldn't help but think that it was right. Even if I couldn't tell what was happening, if anything at all, at least this was the most interesting thing that had happened to me since I got here.

"See? I think it's starting now."

The voice snapped me back to attention and I could feel my gaze being directed into the corner of my vision. It took my a long minute to realize what I was seeing just because it was so surreal.

Floating in the corner of my vision, was the spinning wheel of a loading sign. No matter how I spun, or imagined spinning, the symbol stayed.

"Uh… What is that?" I asked in a slight daze.

"That's the start of the spell taking hold. I was able to find something in your memories that I was able to copy with all of your energy and my life force. It was in something that you read once. I think you called it a fanfic?"

My mind stumbled to a halt. It saw something in a fanfiction that I read? That… really doesn't narrow it down. Also, it could be bad just as much as it could be good.

" Don't worry so much. We are connected now, after all. Why would I give you something that might be detrimental?"

That actually made a lot of sense. My next question was on the tip of my tongue when I noticed the loading symbol go away and be replaced by something else. Something much bigger, and even more shocking. Hanging a few feet in front of me, was a screen. A slightly opaque, blue screen. Just hovering in space.

After reading what was written on the screen, I realized just what had been done. And it was beautiful.

[Welcome, Gamer!]

"You gave me a gamer system?" My voice was filled with my shock and disbelief. It was almost too much to believe. A void? Okay I get that. Something about falling in between planes of existence when I died is somewhat believable. I mean, I remembered dying for goodness sakes. I'm just glad I went anywhere at all instead of just fading to nothing.

But a gamer system? Ripped straight from an obscure fanfiction I read at some point? That's pushing it a bit. However, can any gamer fic fan ever say they wouldn't want to be in my shoes?

As I was reading the text in the box again for what had to have been the tenth time, the words disappeared and were replaced.

[Congratulations on your new System! You'll now be sent to character creation.]

As I finished reading the words, they were replaced with a short countdown. The numbers ticked lower and lower and before I knew it, I wasn't in the void anymore. There was no sensation of movement, no flashy lights, no feeling at all. It was still dark too, but I knew I wasn't in the same void anymore. I was now in a dark room, with a floor that looked like black glass. I couldn't see any walls or a roof, but there was a low hanging mist that added some color. I looked all around, but there was no obvious light source, so after a moment I realized that it was the most itself that provided the barest of light so I could see the floor.

[Please choose a class.]

[Fighter 1 Str, 1 End, 1 Dex, 1 Wis, 1 Int per level]

[Rogue 3 Dex, 2 Cha per level]

[Archer 3 Dex, 2 Int]

[Mage 3 Int, 2 Wis per level]

[Swordsman 3 Str, 2 End per level]

In my last life, my dad had spent a lot of time showing my siblings and I how to hunt with bows and firearms each time we went out camping, so I knew I could start an Archer class really well. And who doesn't ever daydream about being a stealthy assassin or a hero with crazy sword skills at least once in their life? But magic? Magic was absent from my world. Science and it's pursuit had robbed even the abstract idea of magic from us. So no, I don't think I'll start with daggers or a bow or sword. I'll go with magic. But first, I wonder what a fighter is?

[The Fighter class is a sort of jack of all trades. It doesn't specialize with a specific weapon, but offers a more broad basic knowledge of many, as well as having skills that increases survivability.]

Okay that doesn't sound too bad because that sounds pretty helpful, but I could grab that class after I max out mage. Max? When do I get to change classes?

[For first tier classes like these, you'll have to get them to max level. But for each class tier past those, you'll only need to get them to level fifty before you can change to a different class. On the bright side though, first tier classes only have fifty levels. Each one after that has one hundred.]

It's a big bonus that I don't have to fully complete each class I choose before I can switch. I'd hate to get stuck with a class that turned out to be something unsuitable for me.

After thinking about all the options, I think I'll stick with the mage class.

[Class selected]

[Finding world that fits starting class]

[…Found.]

When I read that, that screen was replaced with a short sixty second count down timer.

"Hey reaper, do you have a name or should I just keep calling you reaper?" I asked while I watched the seconds tick down.

" Reapers are usually born with their universe, and mine was really new. I never developed fully before being kicked out, so no, I don't have a name yet."

It's reply sounded a little distracted, so I could only assume that it was watching the clock like I was.

"Hmm. Well what about gender? I can't make a name for you if I don't know if you're male of female."

"I don't know that either. Reapers are neither until they decide, and I've never decided. Just call me reaper for now."

The voice was a little subdued, like it was thinking it over.

I went to make the motions of a shrug but forgot I didn't have a body. The seconds ticked to zero and all around me, the space started to brighten very quickly. After so long in darkness, I tried to close my eyes but that didn't work, so I was blinded like I had been staring at the sun all day.

"Do you want the same name as you had in your old life?"

The question was quiet, but I could clearly hear the curiosity.

"I'll stick with Alex, the name I've always had."