Transcendence

by Tenebris Lucifer

Transendence: The Auction

I had died or at least I thought I had. After I “died’ I found myself in a void floating, with my body from before I had gained any of my scars. Floating there I wondered where I was, it felt like eternity but eventually the oppressive darkness gave way to light and soon after, noise much like that you'd hear in the hustle and bustle of a large city came to my ears all the voices drowning eachother out in a cacophony of noise. As my sight adjusted I found myself on a stage in full view of a bunch of “beings' ', I say that because most of them definitely did not look human. I stood there for not even five seconds when a very tall anglo man with two faces began to speak to the other beings

“Welcome Gods and Goddesses to our final soul of the night, here we have the final survivor of the human race, who might I add survived two entire years on the planet's surface.” the two faced man announced. This was quickly followed by what I assumed was hushed murmuring.

“Now then,” He continued “Let's start the bidding at 3 million Karma!”

A being of red swirling sand and fire lifted something up. “We have 3.5 million from the God Set, anymore takers?” The salesman said. Another being that I could only describe as a desecrated corpse lifted something up.

“And we have another bid for 4 million from Vecna! Anymore takers?” This went on for sometime eventually coming down to three beings. The first one was a young women wearing some weird dress with hair that seemed to glow with a gentle light her eyes a kind orange yellow that seemed to flicker like a campfire, the other was a beautiful women who had an assortment of large cats at her side liquid gold seemed to flow from her eyes as she would wipe the tears from her eyes every so often, and lastly there was a bird headed man in a stained lab coat various symbols seemed to float around him as he was vigorously scribbling things down on something.

“And the final bid of 50.00001 million Karma goes to Freya!” the two headed man declared pointing at the women with a bunch of cats. As the now named Freya starts walking towards the stage, I see from the corner of my eye someone lift something else causing everyone present to stop and look at him, mouths agape and eyes the size of platters.

“W- we have an unprecedented offer” the two headed man states nervously, “It seems that one of our patrons is putting up a new bid with an item worth two hundred fifty million Karma, that item being one of his hidden spells. Would anyone else like to put up a higher bid?” I didn't wait even a second before the bird man came up to the stage and grabbed my arm, looking around the room I saw the bird man smile when I heard something pop at my vision shift from the stage to some room

I stood there dazed about what had just happened, and looking around at the room I expected it to be some weird grotesque place. Instead it was a normal, slightly messy, living room with a Tv, a couch, and a coffee table. The bird man sat on the couch and motioned for me to sit with him.

“Who are you?” I asked a hint of my nervousness creeping into my voice.

The bird man smiled at me before changing in front of my eyes, his bird head was replaced with that of the aged face of a tanned middle aged man wearing some sort of eye liner, his lab coat was replaced by a t-shirt with a stylized quill and ink pot on it as well as a pair of black sweatpants.

“To answer your question, young one I was known as Thoth by your people.” he answered me in a kindly tone.

My eyes widened slightly at his answer, “Thoth?” I asked.

He nods.

“The Egyptian god of knowledge?”

“Indeed” he responds “Though I’m not only the god of knowledge, however that is irrelevant as of right now as I need to prepare you.”

“Prepare me for what?” I questioned.

“A death game of sorts, I believe the most appropriate term for your generation is a Battle Royal?” He briefly explained.

My eyes widened in horror as my jaw hit the floor. “You want me to fight in a Battle Royal?”

“Well I’m not going to send you in there unprepared, that would be a waste,” He stated matter of factly.

“A waste of what?”

“Potential of course after all I did pay a hefty amount for you.”

“I don't understand.”

He seemed to ponder this for a small while then started explaining it to me. “All beings have different strengths in the astral body or a soul as most call it, soul strength dictates many aspects of a creature's body and mind, humans such as Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, and Adolf Hitler are just a few examples of particularly strong souls. Yours however is quite possibly the strongest one to date.”

“How would you know that?” I asked curiously.

“Because you survived the mana injection for two years.”

“Mana injection?”

He nodded, “The various gods, including myself, injected a fraction of our power into your world so that we could find suitable candidates to fight for us.”

“You caused this?” I asked as my rage began to build

“Well not me specifically but I suppose that I did have a helping hand in a sense.”

I lunged at him, not the smartest move but I was angry no, more than angry. However, I hit what felt like a soft cushion before falling back onto the couch.

“I suggest that you don't do that, you might accidentally hurt yourself,” He told me to no avail as I kept trying to attack him, eventually resorting to throwing the various things in the room. All of it bounced off of the shield he had around him. Eventually I my rage dimmed and I fell onto the floor, crying. I cried until my eyes were puffy, I screamed until my throat was raw, and then I sat there, dejected, broken. I sat there for what seemed like hours until Thoth came up next to me and started speaking.

“I apologize about what happened to your planet, but you must move on if you wish to survive,”
Thoth consoled me.

“Don’t talk like you know what im going through,” I spat back at Thoth with a much venom as I could manage.

I saw his face fall as he continued looking at me, “I know i have no right to tell you to move on, nor do i know the full extent of your sorrow.” He paused briefly, “However I do want you to win, so I ask that you tolerate me for a time so i can teach you the necessary skills to live.”

I processed this for a while before making up my mind, “Fine, but I want you to give me every opportunity to get stronger.”

He flashed me a smile, “Of course, After all I want you to win as well.”

End of Chapter 1