My name is Jack, and I am now thirty-seven. In my life on Earth, I made a name for myself as a beta tester for Ash Studios.
The life that I lived was quite a simple one with my only concerns being my survival, success, and the well-being of my younger brother Tim.
Tim had called me today when I was home to come downtown to a local ice cream shop to discuss something that could not be discussed over the phone, but needed to be discussed in person.
I had to use the city bus to make it downtown since I was unable to drive because I was born paralyzed from the waist down.
"Hey, Jack over here!" I heard Tim exclaim as I was trying to move my way through the crowd without bumping into anyone.
It did not take long for him to show up amongst the crowd of random people, and this time he was not alone. He had a tall average-built female with long brown hair and green eyes with him.
"Who is this fine lady little brother?" I asked as he walked behind me and started to push my wheelchair.
When he got behind me, I said in a much quieter voice to him, "Do not tell me that this is another one of your many conquests".
"No, Jack, don't be absurd!" He quietly exclaimed to me.
"I'm sorry that I did not introduce myself sooner. My name is Casey." The lady said as she bowed to me.
"Hi, my name is Jack. I am Tim's older brother. How did my messed up little brother meet someone as cute and polite as you".
As we started to make our way to the ice cream shop I started to hear the sound of police sirens going off, and they kept getting closer.
Briefly, after I heard the sirens I was able to see a black van that had a few men dressed in everyday clothes and wearing masks.
Everyone around me started to instantly panic as the cops started to shoot at the tires of the criminals.
The criminals started to shoot out of their van as they drove down the road at many of the civilians running around the street; as the criminals started to shoot in the street I was caught in the very edge of the spray of bullets.
I then started to see blood gush out of the side of my head, and Tim rushed over to try to stop it.
"Brother do not die on me. I do not want to lose you because that would make me alone in this world." Tim said as he started to cry and his tears made contact with my hair.
The entire world around me started to turn red because all I could see and smell was the blood gushing all over my head.
After that, everything started to fade away and I noticed that I was no longer in the street of my hometown.
As I felt around my head I noticed that there was no bullet hole in my brain. Then I realized that I was able to stand on my own two feet. The feeling of this caused me to fall on my butt.
Then I jumped out of joy, and I started to run around in circles cheering out loud because I was finally able to walk.
While to everyone else, it was quite a simple thing to be able to walk and run but to me, it was a new marvelous thing that was entirely new to me.
I stopped running around and chose to look around. Then I noticed that I was in a plain white cube-shaped room.
After I looked around, I noticed the only thing in this room was a screen that kept appearing directly in front of me. The screen said do you wish to begin your new journey yes or no.
"Is this some kind of advanced video game that I am supposed to be beta testing? Either way, I think that I am going to enjoy myself on this journey wherever it takes me.
I then clicked yes and a list of options was available to me on a variety of screens that surrounded me.
You have chosen to accept the offer to become a heroic candidate for The Reincarnation Protocol program.
As I heard that female voice, I suddenly stopped looking at the screens and panicked, not knowing where the serious female voice came from.
"Where are you?" I asked trying to figure out where the voice was located.
Then I noticed that a female who was wearing a one-piece dress and had short hair almost magically spawned in front of me.
"This should make things easier for us to communicate, and also help with the rebirth process". The projection said.
"Wait, rebirth; are you telling me that this is an isekai. Like with dwarves, elves, and magic?". I rushed over to the AI and touched it with a lot of sparkle in my eyes because I always loved fantasy worlds when I was on Earth.
It did not matter to me if it was a world from a book, or possibly even the world of a video game. I always found the idea of possibly going to another world quite amazing.
"Well, I will disclose to you that you were not chosen at random to become a candidate for The Reincarnation Protocol program. I chose you because I believed that you possessed a certain level of strong-willed Independence".
"That is even more awesome that I was chosen because, in all of the Yokai stories that I have read, people were always randomly killed by a truck."
"Well, then, let's get started on your selection. The very first option at your disposal is your race.
Since you are reincarnating as a hero you will not be able to select any of the dark races."
As I started to scroll through the menu I was able to notice a variety of different options that were available to me.
"I could be a human, a variety of different elves, and a variety of other species, including Demi-humans," I said as I scrolled down the list of races until I found the perfect one for me.
"I choose to be a member of the dwarf race". I said to the AI.
"I hope that you understand that if you choose to be a member of the dwarf race you will not be able to cast spells. Your species uses magical ore to make magical weapons. They also can use Ancient rune magic.
So are you positive that this is the race you want to be a member of".
"Yes, I want to be a dwarf!" I exclaimed due to my love for the dwarf race that I had developed as a beta tester on Earth.
I truly found dwarf lore and culture quite amazing.
"Now as a dwarf, you must choose what type of family you wish to be a member of".
As soon as the AI finished speaking my list changed.
The new list in front of me contained a variety of what would be classified as classes in a video game.
"What kind of dwarf would I want to possibly be?" I asked out loud as I scrolled down the list. "It seems that I could become anything from a simple merchant up to a prince".
"Yes the options available to you are almost limitless. Perhaps you should choose a family depending on what your goals are in your new life that you have been given".
"Then I choose to be a warrior".
"The final step is now to choose what type of warrior you wish to become in this new life".
"I want to specialize in wielding a great sword".
"All right, that has been finalized. Enjoy your new journey as a dwarf". The AI then said as it.
I then noticed that the area around me vanished and I was in a bed in a house. I chose not to pay attention to the area around me since it was nighttime and got rest instead.
If what this AI said was true, that I was reincarnated into another world, I was going to be enjoying this new life that I have been offered since I had nothing really to leave behind on Earth.