Chapter 2: Death and Rebirth

11 : 55 2/2/2026 : Kennesaw Georgia

*Thump*

Closing the door to my car after parking on campus, I started heading to class.

-Only have a few more months left..-

I was a 23 year old who nearly had a Masters in computer game design, it's basically computer science except in the realm of games.

I had always enjoyed coding, to have the freedom to create my own world in the form of a game let me realize at least part of my unrealistic wish for true freedom.

It let me turn my dreams into something I could show to others, and it helped me realize my talent for visualizing things, even if they were super complicated.

-Man if only I lived in one of those novel worlds with magic, I think I'd be pretty good at it.- As I thought about what I'd do in a fantasy world, I let out a little chuckle with a smile on my face. -Haah.. if only..-

Walking through the campus, I smelled the food trucks that made my mouth water and my stomach growl.

-I wish I could grab something but..- I checked my phone and saw the clock display 11:59 on the screen.. -15 minutes till class starts..-

I quickly tried to put my phone back in my pocket but I was froze.

It felt as if time had been paused.

Reluctantly looking up, I saw a baseball-sized black sphere a few meters in front of me.

I never thought I had a fear of death, but looking at that black sphere made my legs go weak.

But I didn't fall over.. I couldn't.. I was stuck, unable to move.

After what felt like an eternity I managed to calm down some. I took deep breaths trying to not panic, to bring my focus back and process the situation but blurry memories started to flash in my mind.

-Is this.. death?-

Suddenly an unfathomable darkness encompassed everything. I couldn't see, hear, taste, or feel anything.

It felt like the air got sucked out of my lungs and I couldn't breathe.. I couldn't do anything except exist.. -what.. is happening...-

Having no control over anything was horrifying to say the least.

But before I got absorbed by my own fear, out of nowhere, a pulse of heat ran through me causing my body to scream in pain.

It was a pain you couldn't even imagine, it felt as if my very soul was being ripped apart and my body shredded. It was an incomprehensible pain.

Barely being able to hold onto my sanity I tried to just focus on something.. anything I could think of.. but my mind was blank.

Just when I was about to lose the grip I had on my sanity.. the pain dissipated to an incredible, soothing sensation.

Being able to 'breathe' again was a miracle but I still couldn't think of anything other than, -What the hell was that..-

But as my mind calmed, something appeared in my mind.. something like a memory..

It was a dragon-looking creature with snow-white scales and white horns. It had a layer of ice layering its horns and sharp and icicle-like protrusions from its tail and the back of its legs.

It had some sparse feathers on its crown and along its back with two massive wings.. it was a truly beautiful creature with an indescribable air of majesty.

As I got entranced by it, a voice appeared in my head.. a calm and sweet woman's voice.. "You are, Vasilias Ragnarok"

As the name was said, my head started to ache in waves of pain as seemingly random knowledge got shoved into my head.

Unable to stop it, I simply passed out.

Upon waking up, I felt like I was floating in a pool, but the temperature was just right so I couldn't tell where it touched my skin.

I tried my best to move around but I felt a wall of some kind around me.

Pushing as hard as I could, I fell over onto my back. -But I'm.. rolling?-

-Uh oh..- Worried I might roll off some kind of ledge or roll into something, I simply froze.

After I came to a complete stop, I tried to stretch out on all sides, roughly getting a feel that I was something the shape of an egg.

*Crack*

-So I'm in something oval shaped.. is it an egg? I think I heard it crack-

Winding up my front leg to break out of the 'egg thing' I was in, I suddenly realized, -wait I have 4 legs and... are those wings and a tail?-

Just as I was about to break out of the shell, some knowledge randomly surfaced in my mind.. -Ah right.. I'm a dragon now.. The dragon named Vasilias Ragnarok..-

Breaking out of the shell, I was hit with a sudden yet extreme hunger and began eating the shell like it was muscle memory.

After feeling a little satiated from eating the egg I finally took some time to look around.

I was in an absolutely gigantic circular room with fancy gold trim and carvings on the various pillars supporting the freakishly tall ceiling. The entire room was white and gold, with a massive pile of gold and treasures in the middle.

I was sitting on top of it with 2 other eggs next to me, a small bundle of feathers below each egg so we werent laying right on the treasure.

It was truly beautiful but now wasn't the time to be admiring it.

Looking down at myself I noticed I had white scaled forelimbs with a very slight blue shade when looking at an angle. On my feet there were small, snow white nubs I assumed were supposed to be claws.

I spread out what I hypothesized were wings, and surely enough, behind me were two large wings with the same bright white scales.

Looking back by my butt I noticed I also had a pretty long tail.

"Hehehe" -I'm beautiful- With a bright, childish smile, a sudden wave of confidence washed over me.

I truly felt like I was the strongest in the world, it was a very euphoric feeling.

Looking around the room again, I noticed something that had caught my attention.

Slightly covered by the massive pile of gold was a purple and black cube, slightly bigger than me.

Although it looked like a cube, it was fundamentally different. -A tesseract?- Although it was just a guess, it was the best I could think of.

It didn't make any noise even though it seemed to move in place.

It had a very surreal beauty to it and after staring for quite a while, a deep desire started to surface. Everything in my body was telling me to touch it.

Almost as if in a trance I slid down the pile of gold and touched it.

The moment I did, a mechanical voice appeared in my mind. "Conditions Met: Activating Procedure ◇̧̕≠̧҉∬̷§̷̸͏§̧͜͢†̶̷͢‡̴͞∝̶̢̕""

Chapter end