The pain is all gone. Yet, I also feel nothing at all at the same time... A pure void.

It was before I knew it that my own freedom was taken from me in an instant.

The disease completely robbed me of my strength and I was chained down to one spot.

I managed to stay conscious when I wanted to however until I got tired and would fall to sleep normally.

The many colors that I would use to see were now limited, and the faces I see were limited.

Despite having a family who was kind to me and cared about me a lot, I always felt forlorn when I wasn't feeling pain.

Before I was ten, I used to be able to see the world. When I became ten, I was confined to the bed due to a disease I had gotten.

I was told that I had a completely unknown disease that couldn't be cured. But, the disease couldn't reproduce in my body.

So I fought off the disease for years, until seven years later, I got a check up and I was told that the disease was starting to die off and that I would begin to regain my strength when I became eighteen.

I became very hopeful at that point and I felt that I saw a light at the end of the tunnel I was in.

On the day I became eighteen, my family started to celebrate my birthday differently. I had actually started getting my strength back and would feel less discomfort in my body throughout the day, every day.

When I blew the candles out however, It ended up becoming the equivalent to blowing out the fire of my life. That day... Was very painful...

During the night, I was peacefully sleeping until I was woken up by the servants who would serve my family and was lifted the bed without warning.

They brought me out of the room and continued to move me through the house. I smelled... smoke.

I then saw the flames on the walls of my house, and felt the quivering of my servants as they neared the flames and braved it. Soon, I felt the flames on me and I cried out in pain.

A part of the house appeared to have broken off and fell, stopping my servants as it obstructed the path with debris and flame. They then went back a bit to possibly get away from the flames. I lost consciousness soon after however.

However, I awoke to a surge of pain and I screamed. A part of the house with flames on it landed on top of me and was not only burning me alive, but was also threatening to crush me.

I was saved shortly after and was brought onto an ambulance. Something I learned about before I hit ten, I did think I would eventually ride on one due to my disease, but not because of what happened today.

I was rushed into the hospital and was rushed into a room where they then put a weird thing over my head. Shortly after, the pain I felt ceased.

I stood up and looked around where I was, and could see a window showing people that were in the room with me were operating on me. I looked away in an instant.

Where my gaze landed however, was on a child with absurdly long white hair that reached down to her thighs. Her eyes were purple which was an unseen feature in my world.

She gazed back at me that moment I laid my eyes on her. It was as if she could read my soul.

She then waved her hand at me, beckoning me. I slowly went over to her.

Before I reached her, she turned around and started walking. I continued following her.

She suddenly stopped after a while, making me panic a bit until I decided to stay still as well. It was then that there was finally color. Instead of a pure black void, it became grey.

Lines formed around me as if it was some sort of wireframe. And when I looked behind me, there was a doorway highlighted in a green wireframe. And below me, I was on a grey square.

When I looked back at the doorway, I noticed it was moving away from me and was descending. No, that is wrong.

I was moving away from it and I was ascending. I looked back at the child that was by me and she was looking straight at me as if predicting my confusion.

We had a bit of a staring contest until I backed down to discomfort. I looked forward again and saw a doorway highlighted in a black wireframe.

We were approaching it slowly but surely until we finally arrived. The child began walking again and I followed her.

She went through the doorway and I did the same. The surroundings once again turned into a pitch black void.

Except there was a desk, and someone was sitting behind it. She shared the same features as the child, but was more of an adult.

"Mother." The child finally spoke for the first time. The girl behind the desk looked up from whatever she was looking at on her desk and smiled at the child.

"Astoria, mommy is proud. Come here." She said as she beckoned her child over.

She spent a while with her child, stroking her head and I thought I was forgotten until she turned her head to me. I was extremely enamored by the appearances of the mother and child.

"Welcome to the Interstice of Prism. You died huh?" I was dumbfounded by that completely random statement.

"Wait, what?" I asked in confusion.

"Look over there." She said as she directed my attention to a window with a finger that to what I perceived, appeared suddenly, peering through showed the hopeless looks of the people who were operating on me and a screen that showed a horizontal line.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I questioned the girl. Her peaceful expression remained unchanged.

"Caiyaly sees that you are still confused. Allow Caiyaly to explain. The moment you were hit with that 'disease' you were doomed to die. It's impressive that you managed to survive that long through just sheer will, and even almost rid yourself of it. Caiyaly is most certainly impressed by your actions. But alas, the SYSTEM could not allow you to live in that world any longer. So the SYSTEM manipulated the weakest people around you and even manipulated the environment. It's most interesting how it was forced to even change the composition of the flammable material to make it close to explosive. It nearly even killed someone else on accident. But despite all of that, I'm afraid to say that all your efforts were all in vain. You have died in the end." Caiyaly said while looking at me straight in the eyes, or at least that is what she calls herself.

I found myself palpitating, shaking with befuddlement. This girl who appears the same age as me knows my entire life story. And I was filled to the brim with questions, all of them begging for answers.

"I can tell you have a lot of questions for me, and I believe it is in your best interest to ask away." Caiyaly told me.

And I so I began, "What is the SYSTEM?" To which she immediately replied.

"The SYSTEM is something you are not yet allowed to understand. You will have to discover that for yourself. Although I have definitely implied that the SYSTEM can control your world. That is all you are allowed to know."

"Why did the SYSTEM aim for my life? Why did it have to ruin my childhood?"

"You were not supposed to be born in that world in the first place. Your existence in that world was detrimental; extremely harmful to it. It ruined your childhood because it couldn't kill you so quickly otherwise it would do unnecessary damage to the world. Caiyaly apologizes on the behalf of the SYSTEM for it's failure to grant you a quick death. But frankly, Caiyaly doesn't actually think you should care about that for now, in the near future, you should talk about it to the SYSTEM itself." She smiled while saying the last sentence.

"Are you a goddess?" I attempted to check her reaction but she doesn't have any single change.

"Yes, Caiyaly is indeed a goddess. Trying to test Caiyaly is completely futile when your in Caiyaly's domain you know? I will forgive you, but the other two might not. Especially Phyriam, Caiyaly recommends you to be more restrained around her. If you meet either of them that is... Well actually you will have to meet with the two of them in the future eventually."

"I am sorry. I-"

"You are not sorry. You yourself may think you are but in the end, you will have learned nothing from this and will repeat this mistake you made in the future." Caiyaly cut me off.

"Well, for another question, why did I not belong in my world?"

"The reason why you do not belong in 'your' world is in a correlation to what you just did. You dared to test a deity existence you just met. That world is not ready for someone that is the likes of you. If you were left alone, the world would be in ruins by now, and you would be experiencing more pain than you would be now."

"What will happen to me now that I am dead?"

"Well, Caiyaly has good news for you on this topic. You have been picked by the SYSTEM to become a precursor in another world, in other words, you will be reincarnating in a different world as a new sort of existence. Hence you will have authoritative power in the next world. This world is called Brumane. It is a world of magic like some of the fantasy stories described in the world of Isia. Something that I should make you aware of is that Isia will actually be connecting to Brumane soon. So as the precursor, it will become your duty to protect Isia as Brumane as it is now can completely glass the world of Isia as it is. Your body has been completely replicated and will be fully materialized the moment you have stepped into my domain. Otherwise you would be a spectral being that would dissipate in seconds the moment you stepped into Brumane. When you arrive at the next world, it is up to you what you want to do. However, Caiyaly won't simply force you there alone, Caiyaly will force you there with someone of your choice. Here are three existences that you can choose to accompany you for life as long as their lifespan allows it. When you choose one of them however, don't be surprised if the other two become your enemy however. Despite Caiyaly's saying this though, neither of these three will remember what happened here in my domain. For the first week, whoever you choose will become completely despondent and will only remember logical information that I have given them. After that week, they will become completely amnesiac, and they will only have their personalities, and the basic language and logical functions. It is then what you wish to do with them. During the first week, they will become completely 'robotic' or whatever the denizens of Isia call it. They will have no personality until the second week when they lose the implanted memories Caiyaly has made. This is to ensure your survival for the first week as the SYSTEM is unsure whether you could survive the first week normally." After her extremely long explaination, a gigantic structure appears behind her that looks like an hourglass mechanism.

Instead of sand like a normal hourglass, it appeared to be a viscous, colored green fluid instead. It look like a container for making compounds in a lab. It constantly rotated, yet the liquids inside didn't budge an inch.

In front of the large structure were three people that had an expression that you feel like they are not themselves. They were standing still like statues and were looking straight looking in the same one direction. As if they were without thoughts of their own.

"Here are their names if you were to look above them." I look above their heads like she told me and saw their names displayed in a writing that I know.

Tigus Romant Moris Fabio Vestrius Nomica

Two of them were male while the last one was female. I decided to choose the female immediately. "I choose Vestrius."

Her ever unchanging smile was directed to her child who was next to her while she said to me, "Very well then, now for the most important thing. You have to choose a class here. However you don't really get to choose out of much. There are actually very few choices you can make due to your inability. Hence, Caiyaly will actually clarify what every choice you have. Now, pick one you wish for me to describe from this list here and decide which class you want." She waved her hand as a vertical rectangular shape forms in front of my eyes with words that I can read as well. Here is what is displayed in front of me:

Spirit Novice Mage Novice Magician Novice Noble Citizen Fighter Cleric Novice Prankster

Only eight choices. There was only one choice I didn't have much interest in. First let us point out the elephant in the room. "What is the difference between Mage Novice and Magician Novice?”

“The difference between Mages and Magicians is that Magicians have much more potential than Mages. However there are multiple trade-offs. If you decide to become a Magician then you will have to forgo your humanity because you are forced to modify your own body to create more affinity with the mana in the next world. As a result of this, Magicians are actually sometimes considered demons in the next world. However, Magicians are purely seekers of the truths. Another trade-off of being a Magician is that even if you face the same obstacles as a mage does, that mage will be able to get ahead of you, because your power naturally grows slower than a mage. But when you both are at the same level, a Magician will always win. You will get a staff along with mana conducive equipment which can aid you in your self-tampering if you wish to choose this class.”

Well, I’m not really interested in forsaking my humanity just yet, so: “What is a Spirit Novice?”

“A Spirit Novice is a Spirit arts user that rely on powerful dead people for their own power. The limits of the Spirit Novice are actually not limited by the spirit’s former power, but the spirit art user itself. It wouldn’t be too surprising if a Spirit Novice had killed someone who has a class that is more than five tiers higher. Spirits can lend you their full power if your not strong enough yourself and you need their strength, but the both you and that spirit will face a backlash. Spirits will also be amnesiac. If you help a spirit regain it’s memories, the spirit will gain more strength. One important thing is that you will lose Mana Points and replace it with Ethereal Power, making it more costly to cast magic spells. You also need a medium which will be provided to you to cast the complete power of the spirit if you wish to choose this class.”

“What are the tiers in classes you are talking about?”

“While that may not be relevant to what is going on right now, Caiyaly guesses that Caiyaly never said that you couldn’t stop asking other questions. There are many tiers in classes, the higher the tier in class equates to the more potential a class has. Out of eight of your available classes, one of them is tier two, five are tier one, and the last two are tier zero. The sole class that is tier two is the Fighter class.”

“What is the Fighter class?”

“The Fighter class is an occupation that relies on one’s fighting spirit and resilience. Caiyaly would not recommend that class as the only reason you have that class available is because you met it’s prerequisites. The Fighter class is not exactly for someone like you however.”

“Are there prerequisites for all classes?”

“Yes, even for the tier zero classes, there are prerequisites, hence, your limited selection of classes.”

“What are the two tier zero classes?”

“The tier zero classes that you have are Citizen and Noble. They are the classes one would normally get right away when being born into this world.”

“What are the differences for the Citizen and Noble class?”

“There are no differences for the Citizen class and Noble class besides their prerequisites and name.” I lost interest in the both of them after hearing that.

“What is the Cleric Novice?”

“The Cleric Novice is a class that is oriented towards healing. You will have weak healing abilities that can heal only small cuts and bruises. You can cure only weak diseases that have barely spread in the recipient’s body.”

“What is the Prankster?”

“The Prankster is a class that is oriented towards dealing damage while remaining unknown. The moment your cover is blown, your likely the one that is in the disadvantage. You deal slightly more damage when you are dealing surprise attack damage than a person without this class.”

A faint curiosity within me bloomed, "What is the Citizen and Noble?"

"They both are classes that give no specialties. Just like Fighter, it isn't recommended to choose this class, but the reason being that the results you get from the class is lesser compared to the others."

"What's the prerequisite to Fighter?"

"The main prerequisite to Fighter is to survive a crisis for a about a local planet year. Other than that, it is also having at least one resistance skill and one self-healing skill. Surviving what ailed you back then allows for the option of Fighter now, albeit, it isn't compatible with your in terms of fighting style. Perhaps later you could choose this, but Caiyaly doesn't recommend it now."

"What do I start with if I were to choose Mage Novice?"

"You will be given a wand and robes to allow more fluid mana movements."

"And for Cleric Novice?"

"You will be given a book for theurgical abilities, a mace, and robes for amplification if your sanctity."

It was then that I decided. “I will choose Spirit Novice.”

“Very well then. Here are three things. One of them will hide because it’s not important, the other will not. Also here is one more thing.” Three different articles of clothing replace what I already have on me. One of the objects appeared in my hand. Caiyaly then showed me one person. A child appears that seems to be a few years younger than me. The child is also unconscious as her eyes appear to be closed.

“This child?”

“This child is the spirit you will get. Getting a spirit will be difficult normally. Especially a powerful one like her. Now that you are finished, you can finalize your choices by looking at your status. Here it is.” A Huge line of text appears before my eyes.

Aliyah Vertremes Ayosci Rank: Trivial Race: Human Level: 0 (0/1) Occupation: Spirit Novice lvl 0 (0%) Age: 18 years old Health Points(HP): 189/189 Ethereal Power(EP): 8000/8000 Stamina Points(SP): 254/254 Strength: 20 Wisdom: 80 Endurance: 15 Will Power: 290 Vitality: 15 Dexterity: 90 Agility: 80 Leverage: 20 Base Spiritual Damage: 80 Armor: 20 Magic Resist: 300 Luck: 180 Base Physical Damage: 20 Perception: 100 Equipment: Min (Inactive) (Soulbound: 30D) White Cloak (Soulbound: 30D) Lost Spirits: Mimi Condition: - Skills: Novice Spirit Arts Lvl 0 (0%) Major Disease Resistance Lvl 8 (34%) Minor Health Recovery Lvl 3 (67%) Unique Skills: Pure Saint's Spirit Lvl 13 (91%) Titles: Pure Saint Enforcer (New) Player (New) Systems: null Blessings: null

“What is in the parenthesis after the three pools are acronym denotations. All items soulbound to you will stay with you after you die. The soulbound has a duration however before it expires. You also have skills retained from your previous life. And your titles will affect your status rather largely. As for systems, you might actually never get one, but they are always powerful. And blessings of course can be a protection, a boon, or curse. That is all that I can explain to you. Are you sure this is what you wish for?”

“Allow me to ask a few more questions, first off, if I were to attack myself using magic, would I hurt myself?”

“That is something that I cannot tell you, you will have to find out yourself.”

“What is the ‘30D’ after ‘Soulbound’?”

“The 30D is 30 days, which is the duration you have before the enchantment on the equipment expires.”

“What is the difference between a protection and a boon?” Caiyaly’s face immediately changed from a smile to a more expressionless face.

“*Cough* u-uhm, there is a major difference between a protection and a boon. If something gives you a boon, then it is rewarding you for an act you have done and it empowers you as compensation. For protection, you will begin to share fate with the existence that gives you it’s protection. You will gain the same effects as one would get from a boon, but the effects from a boon are temporary while for the protection, it’s a permanent effect.” She finished while trying to hide her blushing.

Giving her a weird look as I was confused to what she was trying to say, I continue on: “Last question, does my occupation affect my status?”

“Your occupation always affects your status. Infact, just because your mana is replaced by ethereal, it actually doesn’t mean you still can’t cast spells a normal mage can. However it will be more inefficient than if you were to still have mana. But if you wish to go back to using mana, using spirit arts will take a much larger toll on you. So if you wish to revert back to using mana, I would recommend choosing a different starting occupation.”

“That is all then.”

“Very well then, I will shortly materialize you and this Phoenix Hourglass into the next world. Make sure to protect the Phoenix Hourglass with your life... Literally. Unlike normal people, if you die, you will revive at the Phoenix Hourglass. You can upgrade it later on, to increase it’s defensive capability, but for now, you have to defend it yourself and hide it’s existence from others.” She explained while pointing at the giant structure behind her. How am I supposed to hide something like that. “You will find a way, one last thing, you can come back here anytime your alone with your aide. If someone who is foreign to my domain is nearby you two, then the domain will reject entry to the both of you. Also, time is frozen in this domain. But anything you do here besides what I allow you to do will not take affect. To clarify, you won’t die here if you manage to escape on the brink of death, but you can not heal in this space no matter what you do unless I were to heal you myself. If you get poisoned, you can come here to delay your inevitable death is you wish to do so as when you try to apply an antidote in here, that antidote will go to waste. Also this domain will have frozen time until the Phoenix Hourglass is charged. So if you were to come here after the hourglass charged, you can die, you can heal yourself, you can cure yourself, basically you can do what you can normally do in the outside world. Now good luck.” It was then that my consciousness blacked out.

In the Interstice of Reality.

“Mother, you realize you said near future earlier, but for you, a millennium is considered a near future.” Astoria stared into her eyes while questioning her mother.

“You are saying?” Caiyaly said to her child with mild confusion on her face, this was the first time she changed her expression.

“You basically lied to that girl, you know?” The child continues staring directly into her mother’s eyes.

“Ahahaha, aren’t you aware that your mother is omniscient? Mother can easily influence and predict the future of anyone as weak as her with just a few words.” Caiyaly laughed awkwardly as she explained herself.

“So are you saying that she will live to become a thousand years old Mother?”

“It all depends on her, my child. Just like with everyone else.” Caiyaly says as she cuddles with Astoria.

“You say that...”

“Mother is afraid that mother cannot allow you to finish your sentence.” Caiyaly chides Astoria with a strained smile that twitches. Astoria didn’t continue her sentence due to realization of something. "Please go watch over her."

Astoria nods then disappears from the room in a blink of an eye.