Once again, Angelus woke up to darkness surrounding him. And once again, he wondered if he had died. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was left in a void to lose his sanity, he did just flip off the god of death. He certainly wasn’t going to get a cozy afterlife after that stunt, but he didn’t regret that one bit. Towards the end of his “test”, Uwrath had been nothing but cold and unfeeling towards life as the people said he was. Angelus took a breath, expecting the hollow breaths that he felt when he was in a soul body. Instead, the desert that was his throat decided that wasn’t going to happen, forcing him to cough. It was a weak, dry cough, but one that brought him to his sense.

“What?” He rasped, sitting up and bringing his hands to his throat and mouth. He felt around his body with his hands. It felt like flesh, but he still wasn’t sure. He gripped his hand and gave it a sharp pull, there was no stretching, but he kept pulling. He pulled so hard that he nearly dislocated his wrist. “I’m-I’m alive?”

Angelus looked around, trying to find out where he was. But started to feel lightheaded when he stood up from the bed he was on, not to mention how weak he felt. He tried to walk, but he stubbed his toe on a table that he didn’t see. The sound of shattering glass followed when he this the floor, followed by a few choice words from him. He was in pain, but he didn’t care, he was alive and he welcomed the pain. He had survived, and the pain right now felt like the kisses of Vernal. Laying on his back and cradling his toes, he looked to the ceiling of the room.

“I knew I could make it without your help.” Angelus chuckled, raising up a hand and lifting his middle finger. He wasn’t sure if Uwrath could hear him or not, but if he could, then Angelus wanted him to know just how special he thought he was. He may have missed out on the class of a lifetime, but he could face his family knowing that he didn’t gain a class at the expense of man’s life. He was in the middle of trying to get back to his feet when something popped up right in front of him. He was started at first, but when he saw what scared him, he choked up.

Congratulations, Angelus Myrefall, you have passed my test.

“What?” Angelus wheezed. A grey box was now appearing right in front of him, telling him something that he wasn’t sure how to feel. He knew that he didn’t kill that man. He was sure of it, and yet, Uwrath was telling him that he had passed. He was going to give the message more thought, but more text appeared, taking the last message’s place.

you were the first man that I had found with the magic capacity and potential to use my class. But as you know, I do not hand out my classes freely as some of the other gods do. Classes to me are a responsibility that both man and god share. And that was a responsibility that I was not ready for, but circumstances have forced my hand to find a man worthy of my class.

I had offered you what you had been dreaming of for your entire life. All that you had to do was take the life of a man that you would never know. I had told you that you would face no consequences no matter who you picked. I had told you that you would never know who it was you killed. And you had told me you would not take the class, not at the price that was offered.

Even when I had told you that the two men were truly one, that the man was a killer in a life he had left behind. I had even told you that you would die if you did not kill that man and take my class. Yet, you had still stood against me, stalwart and unyielding in the face of a god. Most would do the same task I presented them before the sand of my glass hit the bottom

You have shown me that there are mortals in this world who hold the same values as I. Though I may be the god of death, I do not wish for the death of any of my sister's innocent children. I know that there are some people deserving of death, and the man that I told you to kill, was innocent.

His name was Hinata Aragón, a snow elf who had dedicated his younger years to protecting the Crystal Forest and its children. He had been through many fights and taken many lives, all of which looked to harm both the people and the forest. Your decision to not end his life gave him more time to with his two children and wife. Showing me that you are not quick to judge someone, even at the words of a god. Death delivered on an impulse is a life that could have been lost in vain.

Angelus Myrefall, from all that you have shown me, I can truly say that there is no better man that I would want to give my class to. I will warn you that the responsibilities that come with this class are great, but from the character that you have shown me, I think that you will be able to handle what the world throws at you. To receive full details of the responsibilities, visit one of my temples and call out my name.

Until then, try to understand your class, and accept my gift, Angelus.

He read the text, once. He didn’t believe what he just read so to be sure, he read it twice, he still didn’t believe it. He read that same text ten times before he had started to laugh.

“I got it.” He said, breathless, reading the text once again. laying his head back, he covered his face with his arms and kept laughing. For ten minutes, he laughed before the laughing turned to sobs. He had been so worried when he was deciding on whether or not he should have taken the man’s, Hinata’s, life. In his head, he made the decision that he felt was right morally, but was definitely the wrong choice to other people. Who would give up a class that Uwrath, a god known for not giving any class, has made?

Angelus wanted to enjoy his relief longer, but the text disappeared, replaced by what he was hoping to see at the ceremony of awakening.

Congratulations! You have been granted a Champion’s class from Uwrath, the god of death.

Class title: Reaper

“What?” Angelus said, shocked at what he had read. “T-This can’t be right.”

A champion, he had just gotten a champions class. He couldn’t believe it, the stories, the myths, and everything that Angelus could get his hands on would talk about how when champions were born, both trouble and prosperity would soon follow. Angelus once again smiled, it was from both joy and fear.

There was another story that came to mind when he thought about it. When Solaris, the Champion of Fire, had fought the beast of earth, there had been both carnage and destruction for entire mountain ranges. But the magic that had left the beast’s corpse after its core had been extracted had left the land over half of Astera perfect. New forests had been born, more minerals had been found, and harvests had been more frequent. But the land that had surrounded the fight had been turned barren and nearly incapable of growing anything. The land was called the Ashen Desert named after the champions title. That was told in the story, The Ashen Pheonix, a book that Angelus didn’t have, but a story that was told by Olivia. She would say that it was a common tale that was always verbally passed down from person to person.

Angelus shook his head and tried to keep those thoughts out of his head. Now wasn’t the time to think about that. He knew that Uwrath had mentioned something about responsibilities, but he couldn’t mean a Champion beast. It had been so long since the last one. Almost five hundred years, why would one suddenly come up now? So with bated breath, Angelus thought the words that would change his life.

“Status.” Instantly, a new screen had replaced the text, and he saw the status screen.

Name: Angelus Mryefall

Class: Reaper (Champion)

Level: 1

Mana: 100/110 (0.7 regen)

Magic to next rank: 0/200

Soulbond(s): Spiritus Cavea

Strength

Constitution

Agility

Intelligence

Mana capacity

8

12

10

7

11

Traits: soul siphon, Blood mend

Skill: Blood dart, scythe slash, Soul Shield

Angelus’s breath began to quicken the more he read. The first thing that had caught is attention was the fact he still had Spiritus Cavea with him. He had thought that Uwrath would sever his bond with the scythe the moment he was sent away. But no, he was still bonded with the weapon. He wanted to wait until later, but he couldn’t so without thinking, he said the words that would summon any soul bonded weapon, He called its name.

“Spiritus.” he muttered, and in an instant, he felt his soul being tugged. His eyes then widened, he just summoned his weapon without any thought. He looked around the unfamiliar room and prepared for Spiritus to break down the walls. It was what happened to Zepher when he received his bonded weapon, Horizons Edge. when no doors or walls had broken down, Angelus sighed dejectedly.

“I figured that would be too easy.” He made to take a seat on the bed that he fell out of, but something shot out of the shadows. Angelus, with the help of his improved reflexes, caught the object. “Woah.” He looked down at his hands, thinking first how fast he was to catch something the way he did, then his eyes fell on his weapon. It looked exactly like when he left it, menacing and cruel. It was hard to believe that this was now his weapon to use. He knew that it having a soul bound made it an incredible piece of equipment, but a weapon. He just didn’t expect it, most people when talking about weapons would always be quick to bring up swords, axes, daggers, and even whips. Never had he thought about a scythe being a weapon, it was forever thought of as a farm tool by everyone, maybe someone on Astera used it to kill someone, but it was probably because it was the only thing that was close by. The thought made him grin, a soul bound weapon that was unique to him, it would stand out and wouldn’t be confused with anyone. Leaning the scythe on his shoulder, he looked around and tried to find where it came from.

He saw no hole in the wall, no broken windows, and he didn’t remember hearing a sound. Looking at the scythe, he wondered how it got in if nothing was broken. He wanted to find out, but he also wanted to find out what his class was, so keeping the scythe on his shoulder, he looked back to his status and leaned on the bed that he woke up in.

From the look of his stats, it looked like his class was meant to try and keep him alive, seeing as most were set in the constitution.

In Astera, the stats at level one were always a good indicator of how the class would function, as each stat had a different function that would affect the adventurer in different ways.

Stat points placed in strength were an obvious one, that would affect how strong and how much damage the adventurer can do.

Points placed in constitution were somewhat mixed, as constitution would affect the rate at which the body healed, how tough the body was, and overall health.

Points in agility were also mixed, as agility affects speed, dexterity, reflexes, and for some skills, cast time.

Intelligence was confusing, as it didn’t truly affect how smart you were. What it did do, was affect the mana regeneration, magic strength, and problem-solving. So while you may not get smarter with more intelligence points, you do start to see answers more clearly when encountering a problem.

For mana capacity, the more points that were put in that, the more mana you were able to handle. To Angelus, that really didn’t make sense to him, as he felt that since mana had to do with the body, constitution should be the one to affect mana capacity. But who was he to question the gods' decisions?

“I’m a Champion.” He thought, but he shook that thought out of his head, he couldn’t go thinking like that. But after what he had gone through, he felt that he was allowed that one thought. He felt his excitement increase as he looked at the skills that were at the bottom.

“I have trait skills already.” He said, the excitement making him giggle like a child. trait skills were rare to have early. Legend classes would probably get one trait when they started, but he started with two, and they looked like they were good from just the names. Thinking about the skills, he was taken to another page on his status. This one was focused entirely on his skills. But before he could read that, a box appeared in front of his skills tab.

Skills are manifestations of the gods channeled through your body, and being a champion, you’re magic is the closest to the gods. But that is not the only advantage to being the champion of death, you will also find that like other skills, they will evolve either when you find a new way to use them, or collect enough souls through these skills.

Angelus blinked. “Souls?”

That wasn’t right, when it came to leveling up skills, the resource that was used was magic. That was how every adventurer that he read about would increase their level. If they were a fighter class, they would get their levels through absorbing magic through beast cores. Support classes could get their magic the same way but also were rewarded magic from their god if they used it to help people in some way. The crafter class types would get their magic through crafting, but the best way that he had heard of was either crafting epic items or creating a masterwork. But souls? He never heard of anything like this, waving the text away, he focused on the first skill that was on his skills tab and he felt his heart sink.

Soul Siphon: You have become the champion of death, chosen being of Uwrath’s will. With that title, you have turned into a being that is not powered through magic alone. Any being that is killed by you will be absorbed by Spiritus and be transported instantly to Uwraths domain. You now level up with the souls that are sent to Uwrath.

“So that’s why I have two trait abilities.” Uwrath gave him an ability when he passed the test. The ability sounded terrifying, it made him sound like he would become some type of murderer. Normally fighter classes can’t gain magic from any of the sentient races, as they didn’t have a core for them to absorb, their magic came from the soul. It was the reason beasts would eat anything that they could. They got stronger through the consumption of magic, and apparently, he did as well.

His mind wandered to what the people would think of him if they heard of this. Would they try to keep him from the Champions Academy? Or would they not risk him using this class and put him in chains? He looked at the rest of his abilities quickly, hoping that they wouldn’t be similar.

Blood Mend: Blood is the liquid of life, and for you, it is the liquid that will keep you alive. As long as you’re alive, your blood will mend any injury that causes you to bleed. Any blood that you lose will be recovered at an increased rate.

Blood Dart: Sacrifice your blood and throw it at your enemy, piercing them. The moment the dart pierces its target, the dart will turn back to normal blood. The number of darts allowed to be thrown will be limited by intelligence (1 dart per 5 intelligence).

Cost: 15 MP per dart.

Cooldown: 5 seconds

Scythe Surge: Surge forward with your scythe and harvest the life of your enemy. Distance and speed of surge depend on agility.

Cost: 50 MP

Cooldown: 20 seconds

Soul Shield: Bring your soul out of your body and protect you from magical harm. You will still feel the physical force of the attack, but magical attacks will be reduced. Any physical attack will harm you like normal. This skill will also affect any armor that you wear.

Cost: 75 MP

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Duration: 5 minutes

“Wow.” The skills sounded great to Angelus, he had a good amount of options that allowed him to close the distance, attack from a distance, and a way to protect himself. The cooldown on the Shield seemed to be longer than he liked and the duration shorter, but it was still great. Though he still felt slightly disappointed with something. When he first saw that he was a champion, he didn’t think that he was suddenly going to become a god-like being that could beat anyone. That wasn’t how anyone started, after he was told, that he had the mana capacity to handle the class, he expected that he would be bursting at the seams with mana. It nearly killed him after all.

Looking back up at his mana, it was so low, only 110. He had heard of stories where some people would start out with 200 mana, and those were just from rare classes. He thought he would have mana somewhere around 400.

“But that doesn’t matter,” Angelus smiled. “I beat the odds.”. He lived all of his life being looked at as nothing more than an orphan. Someone to be pitied and treated delicately, like he was ready to explode at any minute. Now he had the opportunity to be more, he was going to be an adventurer. looking at his status again and went back to Spiritus. He remembered when he bonded with it that there was a wall of text that greeted him. He didn’t really pay attention to it, he was already angry enough at the fact his soul was taken from him. But he thought he remembered there being something about an ability that the weapon had. Focusing on the name, he mumbled “status.”

There was more text than last time, and it came with something unexpected

Spiritus Cavea, a scythe that was rumored to have once been sharp enough to cut directly to one's soul. This scythe was once Uwrath’s prized weapon in a war long before the first race came to be. He used it to cut down his enemies and trap their souls in its core using its ability. But centuries of neglect have taken this once godly weapon and made it comparable to the weapons of mortals.

The level of This weapon corresponds to your own, when you get stronger, Spiritus follows. As you grow to learn to fight with Spiritus, it will adapt and conform to better suit your fighting style. Right now, it is in its basic form, the harvester form. The abilities of this weapon will use your mana as though it was your own ability. Should you ever lose your connection to this weapon or it is destroyed, you will lose its ability Return this weapon to its previous state and let it be known to the world as the Reaper’s true weapon.

Weapon abilities: Shadow storage, Soul Read

Shadow storage: You can store your scythe in your shadow. When it is stored, call its name and it will come to you. Along with your scythe, you may also store a small item, so long as it is put in at the same time frame as the scythe.

Cost: 10 mana per item

Cooldown: 5 seconds

Soul Read: Magic is a product that comes from the soul, and with Spiritus, you will be able to read it. As you cut into a being with magic, you can activate this ability for a chance to read your opponent’s level and magic. The more damage that was done before casting, the higher the chance for their magic to be revealed. (This ability can only be used when the weapon is held.)

Cost: 70 MP

Cooldown: 30 minutes

Reading all of the text, Angelus looked at the scythe in a whole new light. Yes, he knew that it was a soul bound weapon, and yes, he knew that it would level up with him. Almost all the champions that Angelus heard about had a soul bound item. But he didn’t expect Spritus to have such a useful ability. Reading an opponent's ability will always be useful. Brutus would always say that if he became an adventurer and ever got into a fight, to note every ability that they used and assume what else they have. If they shot lightning, they might have a speed ability or a thunder clap ability. To know what they had before they showed all their skills could keep him from being surprised. The downsides were that it appeared to be a chance based ability, the cost, and the large cooldown timer.

The second ability seemed to be just utility. It was storage meant for Spiritus and a small item, however big that was. The most important part was that he didn’t need to carry Spiritus on him everywhere he went. It would respond to him if he called its name, but that didn’t mean he was comfortable leaving it somewhere and calling it when he pleased. That was sure to cause problems for both him and the people. He wondered if the storage would be bigger if he got more levels. But that would require him to do exactly that, level up.

Finally done with looking at all his stats, he took a deep breath and held it. When he let it out, it sounded like a dry chuckle. He was excited for what the world held for him. He had his class, he had a soul bound weapon, and if things went his way, he would go to the Champion’s Academy as an actual champion. He didn’t know what was going to happen in the future, he didn’t know what Uwrath was going to have him do. But he was going to make the most of what the god had gifted him.

A door opened behind Angelus and he turned to face whoever had opened it. It was still dark, but from the looks of it, a woman that was barely older than him, with brown hair and a white mask came in. in one hand she had a board, in the other, the held a lantern with a magic crystal. She was looking down at the board when she walked in and didn’t see Angelus until she had closed the door. When she did look up, the gasped and jumped. Angelus realized what he looked like, with Spiritus in his hand. He looked to the scythe, then to the nurse, and back to the scythe.

“Wait wait wait.” He said, reaching out both hands and trying to calm her. “I’m not going to hurt you, I swear.” The scythe that Angelus let go had then fell onto the floor, stabbing through the floorboards. There was almost no resistance as the blade sunk halfway through the floor. “Aw shit, do I have to pay for that?” The woman screamed again, dropping the lantern and ran through the door, and Angelus went to the scythe. He gave the handle a pull and the scythe came out, along with a good part of the floorboards. “Damn it!”

He heard screaming and shouting outside the door and tried to find a place to put the scythe. He tried under the bed he woke up in and found that the end would stick out the bottom. It then came to him that he had a skill that could hide the scythe for him. Holding Spiritus over his shadow, he thought of using the skill ‘Shadow Storage’. Instantly he saw his shadow turn a shade darker than the rest of the room. Holding the blade of the scythe over his shadow he began to try to shove it down. It was amazing to watch the scythe sink into the shadow like it was made of water. But the moment he thought that the door burst open and a crowd of people came in at once. Angelus couldn’t get a good look at them with the lantern facing them, but the moment they started talking, he instantly knew who they were.

“Angelus, you asshole! What in the world are you doing?” Donavin shouted, instantly showing his concern for him. The rest of the Myrefall crew, while not saying the same words, seemed to show the same concern. It probably would have worked better if Angelus wasn’t in the middle of shoving a large gardening tool into the floor. Once again, Angelus looked to the scythe, to the family and back to the scythe.

“Um…cleaning?” He let the scythe go when he shrugged, expecting it to sink into the shadow, instead it shot out of the shadow and straight into the ceiling. There was confused shouting above them as the staff of the scythe forced its way through the ceiling and to what Angelus assumed was the upper floor of whatever building they were in. Again, the family looked back to Angelus, irritation, concern, and a slight embarrassment written across all of their faces. “I mean remodeling.”