The county of Greystone was surrounded by the Earth-Dividing mountain range. The only way out, which connected the county with the rest of the kingdom, was the forest of Duran. This only path via the forest went to Twinleaf Town. And thus, due to the natural obstruction, the economics of Greystone County was perhaps the lowest of all the counties of Risa.
Baron Gaden Greystone's youngest son Alex had just been Attacked by a group of beasts while crossing the forest. Every year this time Twinleaf town hosts the fare of harvest festival. 10 years old Alex and his mother Martha were returning from twinleaf town to Greystone County when 8 of the 10 guards abandoned them and ran away. Maybe the sight of more than 50 beasts together was enough to frighten them to the core. Perhaps their life to them was more important than protecting their lord. Although these beasts were all low tire, for these countryside guards with no magic or martial skills these fang wolves were formidable.
The remaining two guards tried their best to protect the mistress and young lord. Two wolves jumped and killed the coachman on the spot while some of the others attacked the horses. After a few minutes of struggle, both guards were torn to shreds. The beasts continued attacking the wooden carriage until it gave up to their fierceness and broke. Alex was buried under the broken woods. Bumping his head to a log, he fainted. But Martha's screams filled the skies.
5 Hours letter when others reached Martha and other's unrecognizable bodies were found. Although Alex was lucky of the bunch and still alive he never woke up. Many Healers were summoned to Greystone castle but the never-ending sleep continued. Gaden had two wives out of which Martha was younger. Being a poor but the most beautiful maiden of the county Gaden grew feelings for her and married her. Gaden's first marriage was arranged with Barron Petrich's daughter. Shallie Greystone never liked Martha. When she died, Shallie and her four sons were one of the happiest people. If Alex were to be also dead it would have been awesome. Still, the results were not bad. But Lilia cried. She not only lost her mother but her only dear brother was in coma. For a 13-year-old girl, this was truly a devastating blow. The only two people who perhaps really cared about her could no longer interact with her. But life still continued.
Now coming to earth, it was the twenty-second century. Technology had a huge breakthrough thanks to mankind's continuous endeavors along with many geniuses contributing to science and technology. One of these geniuses was Ethen Brown. Although not a scientist to be exact, Ethan was one of the most influential programmers mankind had ever seen. At the age of 16 Ethen participated in the core developers' team of one of the earliest full dive immersive online MMO-RPGs. Thanks to neuro-link this was the first-ever game where players could jump into virtual reality using a capsule-like device. When he was 18 Ethen was the lead developer of "Centralized Resources and Services Chain". An online international system that managed humanity's all occupation holders, recruitments, economy, and their salaries. This was the first time when for everyone a minimum salary for food and necessities was allotted. This was the greatest step in history against global hunger. Other great contributions of Ethen included "Real-Time Surveillance" or RTS which made the roads and alleys secure from crimes and provided quick action against accidents and stuff, the world's best compression algorithm and OS kernel architecture, some AAA quality games, and enterprise software. Apart from being a programmer, Ethen was also a pro gamer. He even participated in many national and international gaming competitions for fun and was really good at it. Thus Ethen was one of the most successful men when he was just 25 years old. Fame, money, everything one could dream was his reality.
However, with great success came great dangers. Although humanity benefited from his efforts, many businessmen and crime syndicates suffered. Cyber-crime became a myth and the poor got a backbone to depend on. And with this came jealousy, hate, and anger. At his 26th birthday reception party, this genius was assassinated. The people he trusted became the reason for his demise.
After Ethen's consciousness faded from the earth, Ethen found himself floating in the depths of a boundless ocean of all colors. There was no top, no bottom, no left, and no right. He had no physical existence, only a spec of consciousness. Millions of sparks were twinkling like stars, yet oscillated in a universal rhythm. His heartfelt emptiness, with no emotions except eternal lingering happiness. No one knew how much time had passed, or if time passed at all. It felt like a millennium yet perhaps a few seconds when he finally heard a voice. It was in no language that he knew yet he could understand everything. It felt like thousands of people were chanting yet everything was crisp and clear.
"Due to your achievements in previous incarnations, you have been chosen as a hero candidate by the will of the multiverse. Your existence shall be tested against endangered realities. The evaluation of your contributions shall pave your path. For the sake of the future your memories, attributes and skills shall be retained along with your existence. The Multiverse wishes you the best of luck."
And that was all. Suddenly everything became dizzy and Ethen's consciousness faded once again. When finally he regained his senses everything was dark. But he could feel soft surfaces around him. He could feel that he was lying on something. He could feel that he was breathing. And finally, he opened his eyes. He knew who he was. He was Ethen, yet he was Alex. Memories of Alex and Ethen flooded his brain, Ethen's death, being attacked by beasts, his youth and childhood, his childhood in this incarnation, the wired dream, and every world of the voice of Multiverse. Alex closed his eyes and sorted his thoughts. Was he Alex the whole time or he overtook Alex's body after real Alex died. He didn't know. What was his purpose of existence, he didn't know. What happened to his mother he didn't know. How much time had been passed, he didn't know.