Living Life As A Game: Through And Through 22 Neither God Nor Devil

In a place where time was an illusion and hours could be years or centuries could flash by as moments, Elizabeth had no clue how much time had pa.s.sed before a random flash of brilliance jump started her from her hibernating state. She still couldn't move or feel, but from the blaze of prismatic light before her, she could see all the colors under the rainbow. She could hear the chimes of an ancient soulful hymn. And she could smell the gentle fragrance of budding flowers.

Abruptly, the flashing colors, that brought meaning to the empty world of static void, receded in strength as the blinding silhouette of a cardioid heart the size of a speck of dust slowly grew larger in size, and eventually became identifiable as it approached Elizabeth's cold unfeeling body.

As the heart closed in on Elizabeth, it flew in a straight line until eventually it phased right through her forehead. At that exact moment… BOOM! The world of void literally had its walls of reality disintegrate before Elizabeth in an omnidirectional shockwave. From her body as the epicenter, all the void that fettered her and locked away her freedoms and feelings shattered as a pearly white domain returned Elizabeth to a relatively normal state.

Elizabeth now able to move, took a look around and found that she was completely naked. It didn't seem to matter as she wasn't really in the corporeal world as she had found out when that heart began integrating with her. The dust-like speck was her reward from completing the Choice Quest, and given who it concluded, it was safe to a.s.sume that she had embarked on the "Path of G.o.d and Justice."

As Elizabeth floated in midair processing through what she had just received, the speck that floated into her forehead was making its way through the metaphysical barriers to her soul. Elizabeth understood at the moment of contact with the speck that she would remain in this "Soul Land" until the speck made way into her soul's core.

She fully enjoyed the feeling of being a free flowing soul, and watched with marvel as her Soul Land changed and grew with the speck's continued advances to the center of her soul. Elizabeth didn't receive any messages from the various functions that now governed her reality, which came off as an odd surprise. But, given that the speck's integration pretty much accomplished the same thing as her functions, she wasn't too b.u.mmed out. She already understood that the further the speck advanced, the more it would affect her Soul Land, and the better it would be for her future foundation as a cultivator.

As time pa.s.sed, increasingly breathtaking phenomenon began manifesting in this originally empty and desolate world. The most immediate and noticeable change was that the white domain emanating from Elizabeth began expanding. It started out as nothing more than a layer of white aura coating her body, but as the minutes came and went, the domain grew to meters; dozens of meters.

From the white domain, a solid transparent floor solidified underneath Elizabeth's feet, and as the domain grew, flowers started to spring into life from its nurturing warmth. When a "white sky" started to form above the transparent footing, the flowers matured and blossomed into perfect little bundles of Gardenias. More and more territory was consumed by the ever growing white domain until the cardioid heart made contact with and entered the core of Elizabeth's soul.

As the pure and flawless speck touched the core being of Elizabeth, it underwent an unexpected metamorphosis. All was not going as planned, the first sign being how the little world that was carved out in Elizabeth's Soul Land began to twist and deform in a sporadic and random fashion.

The cardioid heart which previously had an unparalleled sheen of white, began to crack and weak rays of dark and sinister light peer out of those cracks; the rays only increased in strength as the world developed under its current transformation. The white domain warped to the brink of collapse as its hue shifted to vector black.

The transparent ground, which had begun to manifest infinitesimally small celestial bodies, also shattered into pieces as if to mirror the changes to Elizabeth's Soul Land. From its pieces a yellow and black muddied mess of earth took shape as the floor, and the white Gardenias with creamy fragrance all but were consumed in an aura of sin and l.u.s.t. They were tainted with an air of malice and were sacrificed.

In the Gardenias' place, cl.u.s.ters of Black Dahlias sp.a.w.ned. Their salacious and wild fragrance complimented the shift to the tune of the ancient chimes as literally everything within Elizabeth's Soul Land loss all semblance of its previous state. As the changes to the world continued to develop, at the cusp of their completion, the cardioid that had been cracking and breaking apart with the core of Elizabeth's core finally shattered.

As it finally crumbled in on itself in total collapse, the world Elizabeth saw around her was similarly through with its changes. Only, after a moment pa.s.sed and the pieces of the shattered heart fell from the core of her soul, time stopped and moved in reverse. The Soul Land remained unchanged as Elizabeth once more lost the ability to move and feel, but within her soul the fragments of the shattered heart began to reform.

The pieces moved unnaturally as they reformed an inverse of the previous pure and white heart as a black and hollow heart. A white glow of the previous pure brilliance manifested at the center of the black heart, looking to be a mockery of its previous dazzling splendor. Yet, in another turn of events, this black and evil heart of sin didn't put an end to transformations in Elizabeth's Soul Land even after it was perfected.

Instead, much like before, the rays of pure white light within the black heart also overpowered the evil intent of its cage and another white heart began to condense… Elizabeth didn't know how many times the heart that had been transplanted in her soul changed between G.o.d and Devil attributes. The only thing she could sense was that with each collapse and reform, the heart would lose a bit of both attributes and she would get a better sense of what state it was in.

Eventually, the heart's white and black conflicting lights of intent melded together in a strange grey aberration of energy and a new heart of neither good nor evil condensed with a stable form. The world also stopped its constant reformation as it solidified within Elizabeth's complete grey domain.

The world took on a complete makeover as it now possessed a transparent sky with white embryos of countless unbelievably small celestial bodies. The floor retained the h.e.l.lish look of the evil world, still muddied, black, and yellow. Yet in its current capacity, only Stargazer Lilies remained alive on its apparently viable soil.

A new notification appeared in affirmation with the grey domain that confirmed what Elizabeth already knew. The message also frightened Elizabeth a bit, before the absurdity of the situation was just cast away, lest she dwell on the matter and lose her sanity...

[Choice Quest 1: Choice Of Character (Complete)

Difficulty: D

Choice 1) Remain loyal to your fateful companions and follow through with your promise. (✗)

Choice 2) Capitulate and betray the expectation and relationships of the people you've met along your journey thus far. (✗)

Description: Character and morality are as important to oneself as strength. Currently, you are like a blank sheet, essentially possessing no recognizable personality or moral character. What you choose to stand for and the type of person you choose to become will lead you down wildly different roads along the path of cultivation and the journey to ascension! Choose now and hold true to your choice as an unstable sense of self will cripple your later accomplishments should you be wishy-washy.

Rewards:

#&($)*^&$*#^&*)$#^*$^#()*$&^(*#$^&#$(*#$^&#$^*(&$^*&#^$(*&#)(_#$*(*#^$*([email protected])#_&(*@$^(*#^*@&^(&*^@#(^#$_^[email protected]^&(^&#)*(_^#&_(@^#&*%^@*&(#%(^#@&^%#)*&%^#)*@&%)*(#%^#&($)%*&#@^)(&#%&)*(@^)*(#()$#@^^#

**********: Oh? There's been an error in the system? Mhmm… I guess you didn't really make the choice for Sunny boy to save you, now did you?

…

**********: OH?! I know just what you deserve~ Hehehe, This is some real good entertainment kid. Keep making these encounter in your life spicy and I'll keep handing out these "extra helpful" rewards your way.

Rewards, Updating…

Rewards:

Choice 3) Apathetic Demon: Uh… you didn't really make a stand for your actions and no real resolve was manifested as a result. Thus, upon embarking on the path of both G.o.d and Devil, neither was was an appropriate fit. Consequently… A *** ***** was placed in your soul regardless of the fact and you developed a "unique" core character to follow… Bound by neither the rules of G.o.ds nor the limits of Devils, as an uncaring, una.s.suming, apathetic Demon, anything and everything is possible! No path of cultivation will restrict you on your journey and you may freely choose to practice any skill, orthodox or not. However, because all existing skills and abilities fall in this binary system of cla.s.sification and you are not aligned with either, no skills are easier for you to learn.

**********: Mhmm… What should I give you as the other reward? Choices 1 and 2 each had two rewards to their name, so your "special Choice 3" can't be less than the others!

…

**********: Ay, how bout I just give you some knowledge to keep you from stalling in the foreseeable future? Ha! I truly am the best~

Rewards:

Choice 3) A Creed of Time enhancements, a Creed of s.p.a.ce enhancements, a Creed of s.p.a.cetime enhancements, Grimoire of s.p.a.ce: Spatial Meditation, Grimoire of Cooking: Saintly Chef, Grimoire of Smithy: Saintly Blacksmith.]

Elizabeth's body became responsive again, and from the core of her being she knew that at any moment, she could leave this place as its foundation was complete. She had already seen enough of this world after being subject to its never-ending cycle of transformations. Thus with not a moment to spare, she willed for a door to appear at the center of her Soul Land, and in the real world, her eyes flashed open.