Chapter 1

  TJ greeted the new world with a broken nose and fiercely muttered profanities. He’d been on a run with his son Junior in the jogging stroller, but before he k, ran into a wall that simply hadn’t been there just before. As he fell to the unfiving ground, TJ reached out to the stroller, ready to calm Junior however necessary, but his hands touched nothing. Fiercely wiping at his watering eyes and blinking rapidly, TJ could see clearly once again.

  There was no stroller, no Junior, and no Riverview Park where he’d just been.

  “The hell is happening?” He asked himself as he pushed himself to his feet. Trying to clear his vision and headache, he pihe bridge of his nose for a split sed befasping in pain again and f more tears to his eyes. Yeah, the nose was definitely broken, the blood dripping in a stant patter. He wao focus on feeling bad for himself for a split sed, but instead and more importantly…

  “Junior? Junior! Thiago!”

  He was in a pure white room, an om light casting no shadows around him. The panic he’d tried to kill instead rose as he shouted for his son while the walls seemed to close in on him, but before true hysteria could set in, every emotion was suddenly washed from his body, leaving him cold, dispassionate, and docile. Words appeared before him on a s not uablet’s while the same words echoed through his head in an androgynous voice.

  Wele to the iion of the Divine System.

  Twenty millenia have passed sihe Assion. Now abahe divine realm has grown stagnant, and once again, the Throne must be filled. Your p has been chosen to serve as the proving grounds for the hopeful divines. Embrace your diviage and prove yourself capable of succeeding where your aors failed.

  Bloodline: Kukulkaed as Bloodline of Majority.

  Tutorial locatioermined. Initial Css Quest initiated. Transmission to Tutorial grounds has begun.

  There was a brief time for the words to settle before an additional s appeared before him, the words just as forceful but somehow benevolent.

  Partit Thiage Harris IV, do not worry about the wellbeing of Bystahiage Harris V. He is bei safe until the pletion of your Tutorial. Prove yourself capable of withstanding the pressures of the divine and worthy of asding to the Throne and he will be returo you.

  For the briefest moment, TJ’s emotions were returo him in an overwhelming wave, “What the fu–”

  Before he could curse, TJ’s bodily autonomy was once again taken from him and his mind faded to bess. An intermiime passed, and sciousness returned.

  TJ sat bolt upright, looking bad forth, hoping to see that, trary to the statement made by the stupid s, Junior was nearby. A bunch of something pokey stabbed into his upper thighs and butt, and he pushed himself to his feet as he looked around. Not only was Junior o be seeher was his stroller, nor the familiar paths of Riverview Park. He wasn’t in Tempe anymore, but the mountains. Fighting hyperventition, TJ tried to see what he could. The trees all around were pines, and, in an additional attempt to ground himself, TJ leaned in towards the one and sniffed deeply. Same sweet smell as the ponderosa pihat made up the Tonto Rim forests. Plenty of pine needles on the ground, with scrub brush all around. Near as he could figure, he was still in Arizona, just up in the mountains somewhere. Maybe near Fgstaff or Payson? At least 100 miles from home. Whatever had happened was feeling more and more real, sihe pounding headache wasn’t one of a hangover, and he’d id off all alcohol since Junior’s birth. He pulled his pho of his pocket to check the GPS, but the thing was dead and totally unresponsive.

  As TJ gathered himself, he felt just how cold it was here. A warm afternoon in January in Tempe could reach as high as the mid 60’s and he’d been running in gym shorts and a tank top. The sweat still hadn’t dried, and the cold breeze through the trees set him to shivering. “Please tell me it’s a dream.” He muttered to himself, as he pulled his backpack off, the wet straps chilling in the air that he figured was just a bit above freezing. He had a light sweatshirt in the backpad pulled it on, keeping the hood up. Even so, the chill had already set into his bones and TJ rubbed his hands together as, despite his best efforts, the wave e, fusion, pain, and everything else washed over him and stole away his rationality.

  The bleary pain of his broken nose and the taste of blood in his mouth didn’t matter, because something, some worthless sack of sick had taken his son. He didn’t know where Junior was, but TJ was going to find him, and make sure that the toddler was safe.The only thing that could at least partially calm him was the nebulous, maybe believable reassurances from the random words. Yeah, no, he wasn’t about to calm down, but for now, he o make sure he didn’t die of exposure or something before he found his son, since he could feel the cold wind whipping through the loose shorts he wore.

  He stuck both hands deep into the pockets of his jacket and shrugged up his shoulders against the biting winds while looking for the peak. From there, maybe he could orient himself. Before he could, though, another one of the windoeared before TJ and a diluted form of the artificial calm washed over him once again.

  Beginning Tutorial. Css Quest initiated.

  All desdants of the divine will embrace the Path of the Zealot, the Acolyte, the Disciple, or the Neophyte. Before you qualify to be blessed with your first sliver of the divine, you must prove your mettle, your determination, and your ability. For each of the paths, there is a different Quest to plete. plete the requirements for one of the four Csses, and you will begin your path towards the Divihrone.

  Acolyte Css acquisition requirements: Sy five creatures within the bounds of the Tutorial Area with traps, a ranged on, or from a distance by any other way that you devise. Progress: 0/5

  Disciple Css acquisition requirements: Heal, help, or support five creatures within the bounds of the Tutorial Area. Progress: 0/5

  Neophyte Css acquisition requirements: Dispy the beginnings of the ability to harness your Divine Bloodline in a crete manner. Progress: 0/1

  Zealot Css acquisition requirements: Sy five creatures within the bounds of the Tutorial Area with your bare hands or melee ons. Progress: 0/5

  Again, his heighteiourned, and TJ pulled his hand out of his pocket aly wiped the blood from the stubble above his lips, careful not to touch his he ache of his nose drew his mind from his boy, wherever he was. For now, he o focus on this Tutorial. That was the only clue he had about how to find his son.

  “I’ve pyed enough video games to kinda get this.” TJ muttered. “Four csses, eae different. Zealots are melee fighters, Acolytes ranged, Disciples supporters. But what’s a Neophyte? How’re they different from the others? What’s that requirement mean?”

  Neophyte Cssers focus on allowing the divio ge them, instead of them ging themselves into an approximation of the divihe Neophyte Css acquisition requirement is deliberately nebulous, as embrag the Divine Bloodline is something that differs from one Partit to the , as well as from one Bloodlio the .

  He was almost surprised, but a little gd to have the windows talking ba. “And how do I know which of the Csses I’m best suited for?”

  The primary attributes for the Acolyte Css are, in desding ility, Wisdom, Perception, and Intelligehe primary attributes for the Disciple Css are Wisdom, Intelligence, Willpower, and Perception. The primary attributes for the Neophyte Css are, in desding order, Vitality, Endurance, Willpower, and Toughness. The primary attributes for the Zealot Css are, in desding order, Strength, Endurance, Vitality, and Toughness.

  That… was actually a little surprising. TJ had assumed that, given the Css Quests, the Acolyte Css was a ranger of sorts, but they didn’t rength or endurance as much as Wisdom and Intelligehere had to be something he was missing… but more importantly, before he made any choices, there was another question to ask.

  “Ok, and which Css does the ‘Throne’ or whatever prefer? I o impress it to get my son back, right?”

  The Divihrone is wholly unfeeling. The Divine System has no preference for what Css the Asdent follows, only that they prove themselves worthy of their Assion. Previous Asdents have e from every Css without notably statistical skew in any dire.

  “Then what does it mean that he’s a ‘Bystander’?”

  The Divine System searches for those who are most suited for Assion to the Divihrohose youhan the age of 15 are sidered unsuitable. Those unsuitable are kept apart from the fliherent in the Assion, though there are opportunities for them to join in the test at a ter date.

  “And is someoaking care of him? Is he safe? He’s all alone!”

  Bystahiage Harris V is not alone. He is currently being cared for by the Divine System.

  “You don’t have anything else to tell me? What the everloving FUCK do you mean?” The System’s stupid words, forceful but still somehow kind, echoed in his head, but he didn’t care. He needed answers. Frustratingly, the Divine System didn’t give him any more information on his boy, and TJ, after waiting for another minute, held baother string of swears that would have set his mom’s slipper flying at him.

  “Ok. Fine. I have to trust your word for now. How I see which of the Csses is best suited to me?” There were no words that filled his sciousness, and instead, a page appeared before TJ’s eyes.

  Status Sheet

  J (Thiage) Harris IV

  Race: Human – lvl 0

  Css: N/A

  Occupation: N/A

  Level of Divinity: Dirt

  Divine Bloodline: Kukulkan

  Health Points (HP): 100/100

  Mana Points (MP): 70/70

  Stamina: 80/80

  Attributes

  Strength: 7

  Agility: 6

  Endurance: 8

  Vitality: 10

  Toughness: 8

  Wisdom: 8

  Intelligence: 7

  Perception: 6

  Willpower: 9

  Fixation: 1

  Free Points: 0

  Titles: N/A

  Gng through the status sheet of informatio and Acolyte were looking the least attractive to TJ, sihe “most important” attributes for both of those were the lowest he had. A part of him was slightly offe how low his Strength and Agility were, but he supposed he was now 31, and nowhere near as fit as he once was. The stupid indignation that swelled in his chest was viciously beaten doould he care at all about a stupid arbitrary number on a s? Instead, he looked at the two remaining options: Disciple and Neophyte.

  Disciple sounded ok, TJ liked helping people… but given that children were kept away from all this had him w if he wao be a supporter in the days that came. It’d been years since he’d been to church, but he could remember a couple of things from those Sundays spent in a chapel. God had his ahat healed people and whatever else the Bible said, but He also threw fire and brimstone down on the wicked. Or whoever it was that Nana and the preacher decided deserved celestial punishment that week. To get to his son, TJ would o start throwing fire and brimstone.

  And Neophyte was… different from the rest. And his attributes suited the Css perfectly. Assuming bigger numbers meaer. Right?

  The rger the number o an attribute in a Partit’s Status Sheet, the stronger or more powerful that Partit’s attribute.

  Ok. As ass-backwards as all this was, at least that much made se’d been years siJ could spend aime with a video game, but he could remember from the few MMOs he’d pyed before how important the first days were. The more people knew earlier, the better it would be for them. And for Junior, TJ would focus and learn whatever he could as fast as he could. So, with a deade, he’d find the divine and force it to ge him.

  “Wait, what’s this ‘Kukulkan’ Bloodlihing mean?”

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