It was a pretty dark room and three guys were sitting on some red comfy chairs while their gazes were very concentrated to their fronts. Looking closely. One could see them grabbing some popcorn at regular intervals out of a big paper bag that was placed right in front of the trio.
Those three individuals were gazing at a flickering giant screen. And not only them but other people around them did the same.
The current location these three are at the moment was a movie theater. And the guys looked at the currently newest premiered movie of Star Wars. It was Episode 8 - The Last Jedi.
After the movie was over and the credits rolled was the time where the lights in the theater slowly brightened up. Most people slowly stood up and left the place.
Just the three guys stayed in their seats and remained somewhat silent until no one was there anymore.
"....Jack, why are we here again?", asked one of the three. He was the one that had the blandest facial expression right now. Or should one say the most unimpressed and bored one?
"Sorry, Ben...This one was weirdly weak in its delivery...I am kinda disappointed myself.", answered the other guy who seemed to react to the name Jack.
"It's not like Ben actually wanted to watch this movie anyways. You know him. Getting him to like something is really a wonder in itself. I actually enjoyed myself. But you are right about this episode. It is weaker than the last one...", commented the last guy to the words of his two friends.
Jack chuckled lightly and looked to his right. He was looking at the guy that talked a moment ago. "Yeah, true that." he patted his friends left shoulder. "At least our David here has somewhat of a normal taste.", he added to his words and looked back at Ben to his left who brushed those words off like an icicle.
"I am grateful that you guys invited me and all that, but I already told you. I won't really be thrilled to watch this...", said Ben pretty nonchalantly.
Jack only sighed. This guy was really hard to impress. He was the weird stubborn type who stayed defensive against anything basically new.
But if something interesting came along that he started to like, then he would start talking about it non-stop and annoy the people around him without a care in the world.
And that would be quite alright if he didn't start to like the weirdest shit. It was mostly fantasy with happy things in it that just made his delusions grow and let him distance himself from reality. It was saddening just thinking about it.
Jack also had a weird thought about him misusing spice if he ever would have a chance in the Star Wars. After all, what this guy didn't like the most about star wars was one thing. And that was the gloomy bitter mood it gave him. The world was too dark for his taste. To close to reality.
Ben would very likely fall into depression at some point or become some sarcastic asshole never taking anything seriously and who always was grumpy.
Then again. It could be one way or the other. Jack wondered how it really would end up if they ended up in the Star Wars universe. Just like in those transmigration novels he reads from time to time. But he knew that it was just a dumb and naive daydream of his.
And just to be sure. He was no expert in that world either. Just like his friends. And that meant that even he himself would probably die very easily in that universe.
He had some basic knowledge and even that knowledge was weirdly jumbled up from different sources like the movies and some games.
Comics? Not even once. But even then David and Jack still liked the universe of Star Wars very much.
So they tried to somewhat indoctrinate Ben to like it as well.
Sadly this episode was probably a bad start to begin their manipulation. It probably even backfired at them since it was disappointing for them as well.
Jack´s thoughts about this episode were just plain and simple: ´What the hell did they do to the franchise?´
He liked most of the changes in the 7th episode and it started somewhat interesting but then it totally drifted away from the path it had established. Should he blame the production of this movie?
Well, it was useless to think about it now. He also slowly became tired and yawned.
Looking at his watch, Jack stood up. "Let's leave since we are done here. Want to grab something to eat at BK?", he asked both his buddies.
Ben smiled after hearing he could get something to eat. Especially if it was for free. "If you pay, sure.", he answered Jack immediately and also stood up.
"Damn greedy bastard. I wonder if the world will ever cease to exist at the moment we see you taking the receipt on your own volition...", commented David from the side after he stood up as well. He said it in a friendly tone and Ben knew he got a little tease for his greedy nature.
"Hurry up or I will leave you behind.", said Jack as he was already close to leaving the movie room. The other two hurriedly followed suit after him.
---------
Outside the theater, it was already dark since the premiere was held in the late hours like most movies do. They started moving along the dark streets of their city. It was only a few minutes of walk to BK. So it was very easy to just walk there.
Who would have known that some asshole with a gun and mask on his face would dash out of a corner when Jack checked his smartphone for a brief moment.
The guy started talking hastily and threatened the trio. It was very clear by then that this guy was a robber.
Of course, no one of them had any real fighting ability and they raised their arms up. Seeing that his prey was obedient he leads them deeper into the dark alleys. Stopping at some point he started to scream at them to give him everything they had. From money to other valuables like smartphones. Even car keys as well. Just everything that was of some use. This robber didn't bother about being picky.
They obeyed the robber until someone out of the blue started shouting to them. It was a passing person that saw the robber pointing a gun at them. Immediately the person ran away.
Out of fright and probably somewhat because of inexperience while doing his robbery the masked guy triggered his gun and a bullet was let lose straight and Jack his chest.
It was instantly and realization only hit Jack after he started to feel pain in his chest region as well as his head starting to buzz.
Grabbing his now bleeding chest out of pure instinct, he seemed to try to apply some pressure but the blood was now oozing out in frightening amounts.
The bullet had hit his heart. There was no turning back anymore. A straight bullseye. Such luck.
He fell to his knees and started to breathe haphazardly before going into shock. He pucked some blood that came up his throat and faceplanted himself on the street.
He could barely hear his friends shouting out to him. His eyes were still open in shock straight to the direction where the robber was. A shadow that was his friend Ben assaulted the robber in pure anger.
While he did that stupid move, he got shot once. Only being hit in a limb he still kept going and was just rewarded by another bullet. A fatal one this time around. So he just slumped over in front of the robber.
´Idiot....why...´, thought Jack with a steadily becoming heavy mind.
Seeing that he already shot two people and felt that the last guy would only be a witness in his crime, the robber seemed to steel his resolve.
The masked guy started to point his gun in Jack his direction with somewhat shaky hands. It was right at the position where David was still standing in shock.
Letting some more gunshots out of his gun. Jack was pretty sure that David was also silenced and killed. It was a pretty obvious conclusion since the robber still looked at all of them a few seconds and started running off.
Now the three friends lay in a stinking dark allay. They lost their lives just like that. What a fucked up way to die...
Jack his consciousness slowly faded to darkness after he let many thoughts run wild in his head. Most of it was those past life memories. It was true after all that ones life flashes past oneself at the moment death was approaching.
-----------------
[Soul, what is thy name?]
Those were the first word he ever heard in the darkness that surrounded him. It was the first voice he heard after what felt like a millennium of isolation.
Jack grasped whatever consciousness of himself he still had left and answered out of instinct to the voice that reached out to him. "I...am...Jack...Shea...", he answered truthfully. He didn't even know how he could still answer this voice but he still somewhat did. It did cost him nearly all his remaining strength doing so.
[Soul, what is thy desire?] - Was the next question it asked and Jack was already too tired to answer again so only silence remained for a while.
[...Examining the Soul´s status....10%...15%.....70%....100%. The soul is in a state of dissipation. Abnormality detected. Emergency treatment activated. Healing soul. 3% 29% 80%...ERROR...Can not heal...Using cosmic shard to heal...Done...How does the soul feel? Can the soul talk again?]
"What the hell is going on?", asked Jack immediately and noticed that he felt much clearer in his mind and finally had some control of what seemed to be his thoughts? With him being still somewhat disorientated. Those were the words he asked in a state of semi-confusion.
[Good. The soul is not in danger anymore. Proceeding with the protocol. Souls name is Jack Shea. What is thy desire, Jack?]
"Desire? I....", said Jack and suddenly remembered his death and his friends. "I! I want to live! I don't want to die that way! And my friends! They didn't deserve that! Damn it!", he shouted now while feeling pure rage at that bastard that killed them because of fucking money. One could feel how the dark space around him somewhat trembled.
[Calm down, Jack. I am sorry to tell you, but I can not revive you to your old world. You died and the world that you were from has discarded you.]
"No way...Then what am I going to do now?.... Wait, what is this place anyway?", asked Jack after a short while of silence.
[This space is what you mortals call afterlife. It is the deepest part of your own self - your soul. That is why I addressed you as such. Now, you are somewhat lucky to have been chosen to be reintegrated into another world of the myriad sea.....]
"So reincarnation is true, huh...Will I lose all my memories? Well, I guess it will be a good thing after one has so many damn bad feelings about one's death...", commented Jack and seemed to have interrupted the being in its explanation.
[That is not entirely the case, Jack. You will have your memories of your past life intact. I was just about to get to that part. Normally you will only be able to choose the world you get reintegrated to as a gift for being murdered by a sinner. But in your case, there was a small malfunction in the cycle and you had to wait much longer than most souls do. The higher-ups decided to let you get the benefits of choosing the world, your race in it, and your appearance. To that, you also will receive 3 wishes of your choosing. Of course, all these benefits have restrictions. If you encounter one of those. I will tell you.]
"Really?", he asked in disbelieve for confirmation. At the same time, he slowly focused his mind about the things that were said. There are higher beings after all, huh.
[Really. Now, let's start with the world of your desire...]
"...Okay then...Hey, wait! If I have 3 wishes then that means I could bring my friends back to life?", asked Jack now with a somewhat happier mood while thinking about them. He could save them.
[Tracking...The souls Ben Reyn and David Plibri from your old world are already in their 483rd time of reintegration. Current status: Souls. Wish is possible.]
"Nice! Then my first wish is that I want my friends to be reincarnated with me. And they should have the old memories they had when I died in my old world.", stated Jack his first wish with enthusiasm. He did notice that those guys seemed to have lived other lives in other worlds already. So needed to be specific about the lives they had in his old world like him.
[Tracking...Backup loading...Wish granted. Both souls will be given random races and traits though.]
"What? Ehm...alright, I guess. Do we at least start at the same location?", he asked.
[All three souls will start in the same location with pre-existing story backgrounds of some sort. All souls will be synced to their previous ages since your wish was to reincarnate as a trio. Meaning, all of you will have bodies of 20-year-olds.]
"Phew, that's good. At least no searching around for some babies. Well, that would probably have been my second wish in a way. Now...Oh...Hehehehehe" Jack started laughing sheepishly for some reason. "Please set the world to Star Wars. And the time...Somewhere around the Clone Wars. Preferably before it started."
[Navigating through the myriad sea. World found. Entering Time Matrix. Time set...Done.]
"Well, let's see. What is next? Oh, right. My race. Hmm." he thought for a while after his words and got a slightly interesting idea. He wondered how that would end up later. "Make me a Sith and I mean not those dark force users but the species."
[Creating lifeform...Genome "Sith Pureblood" found...Activated... Aged to preset soul age...Opening genetic manipulation tool. Please use the sliders to define your detailed appearance.]
With those words said a big screen appeared with many sliders and options on the sides. In the middle floated a genderless body with red skin. It was a pureblood Sith. At first, Jack didn't know how to use the sliders but he noticed just thinking about them made them move.
The very first thing he did was to make his gender male. No way in hell would he change that after he still had his memories. Then he dived deeper into the options. There were even some that had weird effects on his body later.
It was like those weird 4X strategy game creation options where you could gain more traits than your chose race had or mix it up. But that was at the cost that one would have to also balance it out with weaknesses of some sorts like lower fertility And that mostly meant detrimental outcomes.
So he kept his distance from those options and didn't fiddle too much with them since he was pretty happy with his already good suboptions for the sith race. And they didn't have those bad detriments since those are sub-options tailored right to the race. It was like choosing your class in MMO.
For example, he activated his genetics that made him a sith warrior. With that, he would gain a natural high fitness and his metabolism would be extraordinary. With that, his lifespan would also slightly increase.
Of course, all these options represented the peak of the current race. In canon star wars there would be no such high pure bloodline like his. Such a splendid specimen under their people that gained the most from their races blood would be likely hunted down or have a very high standing.
Maybe kings or royals that breed under each could achieve that but...That was too grotesque. At some point, there would also be more deformities than the asked results.
Maybe one could call this race he made a High Sith? Just like the elves called themselves differently? Anyway, Jack somewhat derails in his thoughts while thinking about the options.
In a nutshell, he could basically change between better body traits or better mental traits. He chose to take the body traits since with what he had still in mind about his wishes, he didn't need to be that intelligent. Not like he would become a genius anyway.
But one thing was for sure. He never would let himself be so weak as to just give in to despicable people like that robber...
The mental trait, of course, would have influenced his next option where he needed to choose between primal blood connection and strong inherent force sensitivity.
But here as well, Jack chose the primal blood connection over the later since it enhanced his senses without the use of the force and activated some more genetic options in the slider menu.
Activating the strong innate force sensitivity was also double-edged since it also stated that he would become more prone to his emotions while using the force. Meaning to say that he would lose himself in the dark side much easier. His emotions and mental state being like some maniacs. That was a no go for him.
Sure, the primal connection was just as bad but that could be trained and suppressed. In a way, it was exactly the reason why the Sith were dark side inclined to begin with.
Besides, choosing one option didn't fully negate the other one. It would just be harder to learn and master the force. But he still could feel the force nonetheless. At least he hoped so. He never felt it because in his old life there was no real energy?
But what he was about to do later would negate that anyways. Again...Hopefully. Being a strong brute was already a plus and what he wanted most right now. Being able to do something without the force at the start would probably help.
After some further time of tinkering with the sliders and options, his sith slowly took shape.
He had raven black hair that went down to his shoulders. The best way to describe his style was this: bland. It just looked like Alucard´s hairstyle from Hellsing. It even had that slight curvy volume in it.
The hair was maybe not really pureblood enough but he didn't care. If he could change things, then he would change his body to a state that he felt would feel like it was a true god among any race.
That meant he made his sith look very handsome in terms of human tastes. What could be regarded as ugly anyway? He really didn't know how Sith viewed Humans but since he would be the last pureblood, it didn't really matter much. He made him look good in the eyes of humans. So his own eyes...
Was he even really qualified to do so - who knows.
The thing was that since he activated the primal blood connection to his ancient Sith heritage, he had a lot more of those bone protrusions on his body. And he couldn't get rid of all of them. But then again. They looked like they would protect him.
They were numerous and in many places. For example on each of his shin or forearms. There was even a bone-cage on his pectoralis as well. The same was also at his neck and adam's apple.
Traveling to his face, there were also somewhat long bones where his eyebrows should be and two smaller bones at his chin that went down like a mini goatee.
In a sense, they gave off the feeling of some sort of biological battle armor and would make him look intimidating by nature. So he ignored them and even started to like them at some point after he finished sculpting his new body as if using a sizzle.
Everything was just made perfect. How ironic. And slowly he started to get to the finishing lines.
His eyes were a clear yellow mixed with a tinge of orange at the edges of the iris where a black ring resided and framed said iris. The black long hair made it even more menacing looking. Red eyes would also have looked nice but he chose it to be so. And he could change them when he later chose to embrace the dark side...
All in all, Jack could just smile about his creation because this 188cm tall muscular sith was really a beast even amongst devils. He also added small pointy ears to the design to truly make him look like a devil of some sorts.
And don't even mention that slightly extra large piece of bone he had between his legs. Jack actually chuckled after creating his little friend. It made him wonder though. And he didn't just say that he had a bone there out of no reason. Even there he had some corrugated bone protrusions. Or ridges as one calls them.
How would it change his feelings while having intercourse? He did consider moderation in size though and let it camp at about 25cm. Hopefully, he didn't fuck up his sex-life with making it too big or those bones hindered him...He was actually somewhat conflicted about this.
[Ahem...It seems you are finished gloating about your masculinity. Now, your last two wishes, please...]
It looked like the being that was talking to him before finally reacted and became impatient. Did he also hear some sass?
"Alright. my second wish is that I have the highest form of connection with the force that is possible. I mean that it at least could rival Anakin Skywalker as the chosen one.", he stated and was not sure if he phrased that right...
[Analysing...Establishing...Granted. "Millennia-old Child of the Force" was granted as a passive individual trait. In combination with your racial preexisting Force Sensitivity trait, it evolves into "True Force Being". Should I explain the trait?]
"...Yes, please?" Jack was a little bit confused that a trait evolved. He didn't think that would happen.
[True Force Being: A being born in the deepest parts of the force that aged for millennia until its birth in a mortal body.
*Effect: Increases the connection with the Force immensely.]
"Alright.....Looks like I lucked out somehow? Well, last wish. I want a system like in The Gamer and you as my system guide.", he said and would grin at this moment if he could show any expressions.
[....Gran...Wait, what? You want me to follow you? Do you even know who I am?....]
A deep silence was the only thing that Jack gave the being and waited if it would grant the last wish.
[*sigh* Granted. But only you will be able to talk to me, Jack. And only you get the benefits from the system until you unlock the mentor skill to train your friends and level them up. Until then you are on your own. Also since I am joining you, some things of your system will be locked for a while until you reach a certain requirement. Until then, good luck in surviving. Dying with you would suck...Transportation commencing in 3...2...1...]
"Huh!?", exclaimed Jack after hearing its words, but he also wasn't fast enough and a flash of light went by his eyes...
He was now teleported away and his new life would begin. He wondered how long he would survive until he meets his inevitable demise once more. And not only him. But his friends as well.
May the force guide them, but not bind them.