Aster had been eyeing this word since the mirror appeared.
He assumed all along that there would be some price to this whole thing. It didn't make it any easier to look at.
He squeezed his eyes shut tight as he opened the section.
The uncanny voice returned once more.
> Retrieving account: Aster Wright... Error.
> Retrieving account: Aster Wright... Error.
> Retrieving account: Aster Wright... Account not found. Creating new account.
Aster opened his eyes and scanned the mirror.
> Name -
Interesting, it seemed it was going to let him choose a name. Instinctually, he wanted to enter "Aster Wright," but that was too short-sighted. The longer he spent in this void thinking, the more obvious one single fact became.
He had taken someone's place.
Somewhere on earth was an angry millionaire who would have a bone to pick with Aster someday.
Anything he could do to avoid that confrontation, he would do.
That was how he justified it in his mind.
He definitely didn't want to choose a cool new nickname.
Definitely not.
> Name - Aer
> Account Tier - Iron
Not even bronze? Well, considering his total and utter lack of choices, he wasn't surprised in the slightest.
> Outstanding Balance Due - $23,500,000
Twenty-three million...
It was more money than he could fathom, more money than he'd make in his entire lifetime. Luckily it didn't seem like he was going to have to pay up today. He would have to find a way to pay it off someday, but that could come later.
> Chosen Recipient - Isabella Wright
Aster's face blanched.
"Oh no." he breathed.
He frantically tried to edit the entry.
> No other recipient options.
> No other recipient options.
> No other recipient options.
> No other recipient options.
> No other recipient options.
The message stared at him.
I'm sorry mom. Seems like I've dragged you into something awful, huh?
> Accept? (Entire balance, positive or negative, will be transferred to recipient upon death or request.)
That was a relief, it seemed that he hadn't truly screwed his family... Yet.
> Account creation complete.
The world around him was dyed white.
> Entering Ascension.
All he had to do was not die.
That couldn't be that hard...
> Good luck.
Right?
-
Heavy knuckled rapped on cheap plywood.
The door swung open. Behind it stood Isabella Wright.
Her eyes were puffy and dark. The house was in disarray.
"Do you have news about my son?" she asked in a stony voice.
A tall and lanky man stood outside in a perfectly groomed black suit.
"Hello Mrs. Wright, my name is Alexander Sutherland, may I come in? It's quite cold."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Do you have news about Aster?"
He smiled a weaselly smile, "That's right. I'm his attorney. We have a lot to talk about Mrs. Wright."
Isabella's eyes softened. She let the conspicuous man inside, shutting the door tightly after him.
A few moments later, a scream shook the cold building.
"Aster did what?"
-
On the 84th floor of the Sheffield Co. skyscraper, a single man ran in a deserted gym.
Garrus Sheffield stared out the window as he ran, every few minutes increasing the speed of the treadmill.
He quickly surpassed the speed a normal person is capable, legs pumping with the efficiency of an Olympic athlete.
He continued this for hours.
Garrus pressed the increment button again, but this time, nothing happened. He pressed it again, twice more.
Nothing happened. He had reached the machine's maximum speed.
He started smashing the button, releasing a frustrated growl.
Suddenly, he pulled his fist back before slamming it into the device's screen, causing to it collapse inwards, shattering everywhere.
The machine shuttered and slowed to a halt. Blood dripped from his hand. The silence of the gym hall mocked him.
It was the place where he had trained with his fellow death game players, friends and enemies alike.
It was the place where he pushed, where he trained, where he invested his everything for his chance at glory.
Now that dream was smashed. He was left behind by all his peers, forced to waste away on earth, falling behind with every second. And it was all because of that dumb fucking plebian.
He told his father that it was silly to do it at the hospital, surrounded by... He had earned an earful with that.
"I didn't build this company with excess and waste, son. Sometimes I wonder if I have spoiled you too much..." his father had said.
Look who was right now, he felt stupid to have listened to that old man's babbling in the first place.
Garrus returned to his quarters to clean himself up.
As he entered, he spied a note on his bed. On it, only two words were written.
>Aster Wright.
For the first time in days, Garrus Sheffield smiled.
"Aster Wright, huh. You don't know it yet, but you're already dead."
-
A man entered a dreamless sleep.
His soul wanders the dark and empty void.
"███████?" He called out.
"Why have you called me here? I have fulfilled our contract just as we agreed." He continued.
"██-"
> SILENCE.
The deafening command echoed through the void.
> You have been getting too casual with me, Mortal.
The man's face paled in fear. He had already completed the most important pieces of their agreement, he had embarrassingly few bargaining cards left on the table.
If the god wanted to...
He didn't dare continue the thought.
> Calm your mind, I am not done with you just yet.
-
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Snare Williams jutted awake to the sound of his alarm. His mind still reeling with the conversation he just had, if you could even call it that.
Finally, he glanced at his phone. Across the alarm read "ASCENSION DAY ONE."
It was time to get up.
He had work to do.
-