World Keeper

Chapter 0: Prologue

Well… where should I start? Introductions, I guess. My name is Dale Mitchell. I’m twenty-eight years old, single, and working as a truck driver for a catering company. Well, that’s what it used to be like anyways. I should probably catch you up on what happened.

So, guess I can’t put this off anymore. As I was driving back to the company to return the truck after a successful event, I felt myself growing tired. I wasn’t really surprised, mind you. I had been pulling extra hours with my other job, working as a glamorous pizza delivery guy. Naturally, I did a lot of driving.

Anyways, although I was getting tired, I made sure to stay focused on the road. It wouldn’t be hard to close my eyes for a few minutes once I returned the truck, but I absolutely couldn’t get into a crash. Aside from the heavy fine they’d slap me with, I’d lose my job, maybe even both of them if word got out!

However, as I was turning the corner, my world came crashing down. It ended not with a bang, or a whisper, but with a rickroll. What? Don’t judge, it’s my cellphone’s ringtone. I fumbled in my pocket trying to quickly fish it out, when suddenly there was a loud scream from outside. Looking up, I saw a balding man with dirty blonde hair, glasses, and a large gut standing in the road, staring with wide eyes as my truck smashed into him. He seemed to be trying to make some gestures with his hands, likely signalling me to stop, but the truck didn’t slow down in time.

There was a very loud crash, and I watched as his body bounced away, landing against the pavement with a sickening crunch. His neck and one of his legs were twisted the wrong way. By the time the truck had finally stopped, I was gripping the steering wheel hard enough that my fingers were turning white. I stared in shock as I knew, even without getting out to check, that the man was dead.

I killed him… No matter how you looked at it, I had just killed a man with my truck. Forget just a fine and losing my job, I would even go to jail from this! Beads of sweat were quickly rolling down my face as I panicked, not sure what to do.

It was at that point I noticed something. Nobody seemed to be moving. Not in a ‘frozen in shock’ kind of way. They were actually not moving at all. Some were paused in mid-step, others with their mouth open in a silent scream, even a bird flying through the sky had stopped in its place.

Next, the color seemed to be fading away. Blues, reds, the entire world gradually became varying shades of grey. Somehow, I was still able to move, so I lifted my hand up to my face and watched as the color drained from it. Am I dying? Did I have a heart attack or something?

Next were shapes, which gradually became blurry and indistinct. This one, I was not even immune to, and I felt as though my body were dissolving into water. Looking around, I saw giant buildings swaying before they seemed to explode outwards in messy blobs, which then faded away into nothing.

Finally, when even the shapes were no more, I was left in a grey landscape. Not a single feature could be made out, not of myself, the man I had just killed, or anything. Even my truck had gone away. Well, I guess I can’t take my truck with me when I go. I began to close my eyes and accept my fate, when a strange light appeared in front of me.

Uhm… what? Options

Since I didn’t have hands, I couldn’t exactly press buttons, so I simply focused on Body Designer.

Well… that was straightforward enough. I closed my eyes, or tried to before realizing I didn’t have eyelids. Instead, I simply did my best to picture my old body. Okay, so I may have embellished a bit. Wouldn’t you want to fix your receding hairline, or give yourself a bit of extra muscle if you had the chance? Let a guy try to save some self-esteem here. Besides, if this is purgatory, then at least I’m getting a pretty good deal out of it.

Anyways, after imagining the body, I waited for several seconds, with nothing happening. Then, just as I was about to get up, there was a ding, the blue window changing.

At that point, I could only stare as I was built from the ground up, literally. The grey light making up this world seemed to gather at my feet, and I actually had feet now! Then it started moving up, revealing legs, hips, my chest, everything. In a matter of only a few moments, my entire body had been created. To test it out, I blinked a few times, and I could manage to close my eyes.

Okay… that’s cool… but now what? I looked at the options again, and decided to try out the System Companion thing. Maybe whatever that was would give me some clues on what I could do here?

Well, that’s not really a choice at all, is it? I asked myself, immediately choosing the Default Companion option. I mean, I have no idea what I’m doing. Even if this is purgatory, that doesn’t mean I just want to sit around and do nothing for thousands of years when there is what seems to be some kind of game available.

Hmm… This one took me a while to decide. I mean, obviously I want a girl, alright? Wouldn’t you want to spend an eternity with a beautiful woman? What, you think I should be more upset that I died, that I’ll never see my loved ones again? Sorry, but my parents died a long time ago. And if I had a girlfriend or anything like that, why do you think I would be working two minimum wage jobs instead of aiming for something higher? If anything, dying means I don’t have to go to jail for vehicular manslaughter, and I don’t have to listen to my bosses nag at me.

Wait, getting sidetracked. Closing my eyes, I began working on my ideal woman. It never said it had to be a human woman, right? I pictured a five foot ten woman, with abundant breasts, nice curves, and cute cat ears. Of course, I included the tail to go with it. Her hair was red, matching the color of her ears and tail, and her eyes were green. Hopefully, she didn’t have a bad personality.

Again, I watched the grey light come together, and it gradually formed into the shape I had imagined. Just like with myself, it worked from the ground up. And… just like myself, clothes were not part of the deal. I was not complaining, nor was my lower half, which was standing proudly once the body was finished. A moment later, her green eyes opened, and she smiled at me.

“Hello, Master!” She spoke while bowing, which only served to give me an even better view. “Do you have a name for me?”

Okay… I am man enough to admit that I was stunned for a long moment before I responded. “Uhmm… Terra? Does that work?”

Her smile grew wider, and she nodded her head energetically. “Thank you, it works perfectly!” She stood up and gave a small jump in excitement. Oh yes… I definitely hit the jackpot with this kind of afterlife.

And that was how I became a god. I think, anyways.