I stared up at the beings in the sky, their ethereal wings radiating power. Their faces were radiating with light. So bright, that I couldn't even see any features. Their robes were pristine, flowing with the wind...
The first being spoke.
"I am the angel Lyralis, the Messanger of the Gods, and the Seraph in charge of Hero Accomodations. The gods have taken pity on your race."
...Messanger of the gods? Hero accomodations..? What did that mean..? Why was I here? I wanted to go back... I didn't deserve to be here.
However, the angel continued, seemingly ignoring my inner thought.
"The lands of Izalith are in peril. The fates shake. The demon lord wakes. And upon his throne of souls and gold, he has committed sins that can never be atoned."
...What was up with every divine beings speaking in riddles? It made me want to jump off a cliff. The others, however, seemed completely mesmerized.
"And that's why we summoned you here, heroes. Everything has a price. We humbly plead of you to save our world from certain doom, just like we saved your lives from certain death."
People started to mutter. The crying stopped. Everybody was started talking about the mission.
However, I simply stared blankly at the ground.
Why did they bring me here..? I'm useless. I let the only people that meant more to me than my own life die.
"You are weak now. We all know. However, the gods shall offer contracts," she continued. "A sacred bond. Accept one into your soul, and you shall be blessed. In a moment, the thoughts of gods will be shown to you. Their desires. Their interests. And all you need to do is choose. Through them, you shall have power. Through them, you shall have purpose. Without them..."
She let the words linger in the air before finishing, soft but absolute.
"You shall remain as you are. As dust."
A chill swept through the field. She didn't need to elaborate. The message was clear. Those who refused would be left behind. Powerless. Forgotten. Irrelevant.
Around me, whispers grew frantic. Some people clasped their hands in prayer, others pleaded with no one in particular, scrambling to prove themselves worthy. Some fell to their knees before they even heard the names.
However, with a single motion of her hand, everyone suddenly stood still. I felt something control me from the inside of my own bones. I suddenly shot up, and was forced to stare at the Angel. It was absolute control. Something that I couldn't even fathom to fight against.
"However, do not panic. Allow me to explain the system first." She said, as she waved her hand. Suddenly, in the air, manifested what seemed to be a hologram connected dots. Each connected to each other, climbing higher and higher, forming a giant tree, with every branch and leaf included.
"Once you accept a contract from a god, you will be gifted a system to help you grow. It is called a 'Skill Tree'. Every god's tree is different. By following the will of your gods, you will gain 'Skill Points', which will help you unlock nodes on the 'Tree'."
The tree suddenly zoomed into the trunck, showing the layers of dots and lines that made up the bark.
"These are the 'Trunk Nodes'. They are the roots of power. Purchasing a node here will gift you a stat increase, as well as a Passive Skill."
"Static increases will augment your body and soul, while Passive Skills will gift you basic abilities that do not require activation. You cannot progress in the tree without purchasing enough Trunk Node first. A stable foundation is required for absolute power."
The angel waved her arm, and suddenly, the tree zoomed back, before focusing on one of the branches.
"These are the 'Branch Nodes' They contain Active Skills, special abilities that require activation to use. Every ability changes with the Gods. No ability is the same."
The hologram zoomed in onto the leaves.
"These are the 'Leaf Nodes'. They are Add-Ons to the Active skill. For example, for the active skill 'Summon Lesser Spirits', can be upgraded using a leaf node, increasing the number and abilities of the Spirits. It can also lower cooldown times."
Finally, the tree zoomed out again, before focusing on the absolute peak of the tree, where golden Nodes' in the shape of apples lie.
"These are the absolute highest nodes of the tree, the Fruits of Apotheosis, also known as the Ultimate Fruits."
"They shall present to you a Final Skill, the most powerful skill giftable to humans by the gods. They are a reflection of the Gods' authorities, and will be the peak of power. You can only unlock Ultimate Fruits after unlocking the entirety of the Skill Tree."
I stared at the glowing tree, at the divine promises of power woven into its branches.
A path to strength. A path to purpose. A chance to rewrite my existence.And yet… all I felt was Hollow.
Power granted, not earned. I had power once, too. It didn't save them.
My fingers twitched at my sides. A familiar weight pressed down on my chest, one that no divine contract could ever lift. I saw flashes of the past... Of hands slipping from my grasp, of desperate cries swallowed by an uncaring world. I had fought. I had bled.
And in the end, I had lost everything that mattered.
So what good was any of this?
Around me, the others buzzed with desperate excitement. They whispered of gods, of blessings, of the futures they could carve for themselves with borrowed strength.
But I knew better. Power was never free. And even if it were, what use was it in my hands?
The angel's gaze swept over us, impassive, unreadable."Now," she said, her voice echoing through my bones, "let the gods speak."
I swallowed hard, but no prayer could save me from what was coming next.
Bright screens suddenly appeared everywhere, different in size, colors, fonts... It was chaos. In front of everyone, as text flooded our vision.
[A certain greater god of battle scoffs at the humans.]
[A certain innocent deity waves hello.]
[A certain lesser wind god takes interest in your nature.]
[A certain bold goddess of beauty ranks the humans based on their good looks.]
[A certain God of lone wolves objects to the ranking.]
[A certain god...]
Words flooded my vision as I struggled to read all the messages. I could see every other window on the field, each different. A goddess of love had a pink heart as a window. A god of war had a shield shaped window. A god of water had a cool, rectangular window that seemed to ripple.
However, I stared at my own messages. They were bleak compared to the others.
[A certain wrathful war god scoffs at your hesitation.]
[A certain forgotten god whispers whispers to you.]
[A certain god of lost causes lingers on your soul.]
[A certain silent deity watches... waiting.]
[A certain god of life takes pity on your soul.]
[A certain god of death laughs at your pathetic nature.]
The others were already praying, leaping in joy, shouting, trying to seem interesting to the gods. However... I couldn't help but feel stripped bare. I could feel all the gods' expecting gazes on me from every angle... However, it all felt meaningless.
The gods' attention wasn't a blessing. It felt more like being dissected. Like insects pinned to glass. Observed. Judged. Labeled.
But the others... They were so loud.
Begging. Dancing. Crying.
Throwing themselves at these unseen, unfeeling forces like children clinging to bedtime stories.
"Please choose me!"
"I'll fight! I'll save the world!"
"I'll be worthy!"
As if worth was something granted through divine approval.As if survival was anything more than a sick joke played by things that couldn't die.
And above it all, Lyralis stood watching us, her unreadable glow still radiating from the sky like a false sun.
"First contracts must be chosen swiftly," she announced. "Once the initial 10,000 are complete, you shall be sent into the Forest of Beginnings. There, you will be tested. And there, you will thrive... or fade."
I could feel the urgency in the crowd twist into panic. Scrambling fingers swiped through their screens. Hushed prayers turned into frantic muttering. Deals were struck with unseen hands. Smiles blossomed like weeds. False bravado to cover the fear.But me?I didn't even lift my hand.Didn't scroll. Didn't read. Didn't choose.
Let them pick their gods. Let them dance for their crumbs.
What was the point?
A contract wouldn't fix what was already broken.
A skill tree wouldn't rewind time.
An ultimate fruit couldn't bring the dead from another world back from the dirt.I had tried before. I had fought before. I had trusted before.And in the end, all I was left with was silence.
So, I stood there. Still. Detached.I knew what happened after false hope, and I didn't want to experience it again.
The gods could whisper all they wanted. I wasn't listening anymore.
And eventually...They gave up.
One by one, the messages faded. The windows closed. The attention drifted.
They moved on to brighter prospects, to louder believers, to people who still thought any of this meant something.
I was just... left there.Alone in a crowd of desperate fools.
A girl beside me clutched her screen, hands shaking, whispering prayers to the gods like she could will them into caring. I just let my own screen fade, my hands motionless. I'd already been abandoned long before this.
And then the light returned.
A blinding radiance swallowing us whole.
Lyralis spoke once more, her voice echoing like the final note of a funeral hymn.
"The first 10,000 have been chosen."The ground trembled beneath my feet. The air itself seemed to split apart.
The light swallowed me, but I barely felt it. My body had been weightless for a long time.
"Prepare for transfer to the Forest of Beginnings."
The divine voices pressed against my skull, but they might as well have been wind passing through an empty house.
Around me, people cheered. Others wept. A few vomited from nerves. But they all clutched their contracts like lifelines, eyes shining with trembling hope.
And me?
I felt nothing.
No god. No contract. No power.
Just the same emptiness I'd carried with me long before any of this began.And as the light tore me from the field and threw me into the unknown...
I didn't care. It was meaningless, anyway.I almost felt relieved.
Maybe this was finally it.
Maybe this forest would be the end of it all.
Maybe I wouldn't have to keep waking up tomorrow, just to suffer.
And before I knew it, I felt myself get wrapped in blinding light once again.