As Jason's vision faded, the familiar words of the system popped up in front of his eyes.
[You Have Died]
'No sh*t sherlock' Jason thought. 'Will my life flash before my eyes like the stories say? Is there a heaven? I doubt it. No angels came to save humanity.'
Jason couldn't sense anything around him anymore. 'Where am I?'
'What am I? I'm dead but I still have consciousness?'
'Maybe I'm being reincarnated? I hope I don't get reincarnated as a slug. That life would SUCK! Maybe a fish? Nah, I'd prefer a bird. I can just soar through the clouds all day long and enjoy a nice quiet life.'
Jason longingly thought, 'If only I could've seen Beth and the kids again…'
[System Message – As humanities final leader, you have been chosen to decide humanities fate.]
'Huh?'
[System Message – Three options have been randomly selected:]
'Wait what? What's going on now?'
[Option One: Send one final message to Alien Species requesting revenge.]
'Lame'
[Option two: Resurrect as a lich and enact revenge yourself]
'Interesting… That sounds fun. The mighty undead Jason! Muahahaha fear me and my legion of undead!'
[Option 3: Reincarnate into your past self]
'….'
'You can do that?'
'Do I get to choose what time I would reincarnate into?
[System Message – User would be reborn the day before --Might, Magic, Mayhem-- came to your world.]
'That sounds interesting too… Would I retain my memories?'
[System Message – Yes]
'Tell me a bit more about the other two options?'
[System Message -- The system can continue to survive and guide the alien race to wipe out the demons. Or this system could continue to be your exclusive necromancy system if you choose to be a Lich.]
'Calling an alien race for revenge honestly sounds really lame. As a lich I would be unstoppable, but then I would definitely never see my family again. Going back to reincarnate would allow me possibly change everything that happened and make it so we never lose. System, as cool as an undead necromancer sounds, I choose the third option.'
[System Message – User has chosen: Reincarnation into past self]
[Initializing…]
[Count down in:]
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Thank you for choosing --Might, Magic, Mayhem--]
.....
.....
.....
Jason waited for something to happen, but time seemed to drag on for an eternity as he eagerly anticipated to see his wife and children again.
'This time, I will make sure nothing will happen to them. I can not make the same mistakes as before.'
All of a sudden, Jason felt something soft beneath him.
'Is this a bed?'
He opened his eyes to see the ceiling of his old house. He was lying on his old comfy bed again.
'It actually worked?' Jason incredulously looked at the clock on his bedside table. A plain rectangular digital clock read back to him, 09:45am.
'Electricity! I'm lying in bed and the clock works!'
The day the servers shut down and the invasion began, a massive EMP had appeared worldwide; eliminating 90% of the electronics and capabilities of the world. Only the government and those nuts who prepared for apocalyptic scenarios with military grade electronics were prepared for an EMP.
Since that day the majority of the world had no access to anything electrical, so this was a marvel for Jason to see his clock working again.
'What's the date?' Jason wondered as he picked up his smartphone lying on the side of the nightstand. Turning on his smartphone he stared at the photo of his wife and kids that he had as a screensaver. Over the photo lay the time and date.
09:45am
11/08/2045
It was the day before --Might, Magic, Mayhem-- turned on its' servers for the world to join. The first ever Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online game to be released. This game changed everything, and it wasn't until the war against demons was lost that everyone accepted that it wasn't just a game.
'Eight years from now is the day the war is lost and the demons invade. I have plenty of time to prepare for that day, but I need to quickly gather strength and prevent that day from ever coming. Prevention is always better than treatment.'
The defeat of Socrathia was akin to a pile of dominos that had knocked each other over. One event led to another, and they were constantly losing. They didn't have enough manpower in the end because of wars between the nations. They were not only short on man-power, but high tiered individuals were lacking due to in-fighting. The in-fighting came about due to land disputes and petty squabbles which came about because…..
'What is that?' he lifted his head up sniffing the air.
'Is that bacon?' Jason stood up quickly remembering that his family was here!
'Beth!'
Jason quickly went to the door, opening it and rounding the corner of the hallway. He ignored the family photos on the wall, passing his kids rooms. As he passed them, images of blood splattered throughout this hallway filled his head.
He stopped, held his head for a moment, and shook it to clear his mind of the terrible images he had come home to in the past. He took a deep breath and rounded the last corner that would take him into the kitchen.
Standing at the foot of the oven was Beth. She was 5 foot 8 inches tall, with cascading auburn hair. Even after giving birth to triplets, she still had the rocking body of a model. She and Jason were high-school sweethearts who got married right out of high-school, and she had gotten pregnant shortly after; giving birth to their fantastic triplets.
Jason was standing in the hallway, staring at her with his jaw hanging loose.
"D*mn. Your still as beautiful as I remember" He muttered absentmindedly.
Turning around after hearing something, Beth's baby blue eyes landed on him and a smile that could light the world spread across her face.
"I made bacon today! We're having an early celebration since you're leaving the military today!" She said enthusiastically as she reached to the cupboard where they kept the plates. Her thick southern accent sweetly spread throughout the house.
"It will be ready in just a few minutes." Beth flashed her dazzling smile over at Jason once more as she set the table.
Jason quickly strode over to her, taking the pile of plates from her and setting them aside as he embraced her in his arms. His eyes glistened as he held her in his arms, her sweet strawberry scent filling his nose as he breathed in deeply and whispered in her ears, "I missed you so much Beth, I love you more than anything."
Surprised, Beth returned his hug. 'Where did this sudden show of affection come from?' she wondered. She sighed with happiness, 'nothing beats hugging this hunk of muscles,' and she melted into his arms enjoying the comfort and safety his embrace always brought her.
After a few minutes, she slapped his but and pushed him away. "Unless you want extra crispy bacon, I need to get back to cooking." She winked at him, gave him a quick kiss and rushed back to the stove where the sizzling pork was giving a slightly burnt smell.
Jason chuckled, began setting the dining table and asked "Where are the kids?"
Beth replied, "Where do you think? They're at school right now wishing they could have this great breakfast with you! You got home from deployment pretty late last night you know."
Jason was part of the special forces for the Navy. He would often be deployed all over the world to participate in secret missions that he could never tell his family about. Today was technically his last day in the Navy and was his last chance to change his mind and re-enlist.
He had promised Beth in the past that no matter what, he wouldn't sign any re-enlistment papers today; however, when he arrived on base his Chief had given him an offer that he couldn't refuse.
The offer held a re-enlistment check so large that it would pay off all his debt, and allow his dad to receive the medical treatment that they weren't able to afford at the time. Jason had immediately signed the re-enlistment papers and gone home to a furious wife later that evening.
That decision had put a huge strain on their marriage, and it wasn't until later that he realized that the money wasn't going to come immediately. It would take years for him to receive that money, and his father passed away from cancer without receiving the medical treatments he had needed.
Not only that, but due to being in the military he and every other serviceman had been forbidden to play --Might, Magic, Mayhem-- causing them to miss out on many unique missions in the game that only appeared in the beginning. The Users who had obtained those quests had become famously powerful individuals in game, amassing all sorts of fortune.
One opportunity missed can lead to another, and once the military realized the potential of --Might, Magic, Mayhem--, it was almost impossible to catch up to the other users.
"I was thinking babe… You know that game the kids were asking to join? --Might, Magic, Mayhem--?" Jason asked.
"Yeah? What about it? I thought you were against the kids playing it since there's going to be a ton of blood and gore in it?" Beth responded, while bringing the bacon and eggs over to the table.
Jason sat down in his chair eagerly, eyeing the mass of eggs and multiple strands of bacon that Beth had placed on his plate. 'I hope she doesn't get pissed off at me for allowing our 9 year old's to join this game…' He thought for a second on how best to word it to his overprotective wife.
Nervously he said "I think it would be a great opportunity for me and the kids to bond together some more. It's supposed to be a super realistic game, so I can take them camping, and adventuring. We can learn magic together and you know, they've been asking to play this game so much. Supposedly this game is the hype of the century!"
She stared at him, listening to him go on and on about how he changed his mind and why he thought it was a great idea for them to play the game.
"Even you could play this game!" Jason finally declared, smugly thinking he had laid a perfect case to his wife that she couldn't refuse.
Beth was staring at her food at this point, and it seemed a shadow had come over her.
"Even I can play this game?" Slowly she looked up, danger seemed to radiate off her pupils.
At this moment, Jason knew… he F**ked up.