POV
I feel bored… I don't know how long I've been here. Maybe a day… maybe a year… or perhaps much longer. I've already lost the ability to measure time, though I suppose that happens when nothing exists that allows you to count it.
The only thing I know… is that this place is enormous. Vast beyond comprehension. A bottomless abyss where there is no up, down, left, or right. Only absolute darkness, eternal, as if I had been ripped out of the universe and thrown into the forgotten corner of existence.
I can't move my body… well, I don't even know if I still have one. I don't feel arms, legs, heartbeat… nothing. I just float, suspended in this infinite nothingness, trapped with myself and my thoughts.
Well… at least I don't need to eat. Or drink water. Or sleep. Or go to the bathroom.
I guess that's a relief… because honestly I have no idea what the hell I'd do if I could feel the urge to take a shit in the middle of eternal emptiness.
Although, being honest… I'd trade that a thousand times over just to taste food again.
Damn… I miss eating.
I miss a greasy hamburger, the kind that makes you feel guilty after finishing it. I miss freshly baked bread, hot coffee in the mornings… I even miss the cheap instant meals I used to swear I hated.
I miss sitting around like an idiot for hours watching shows that probably weren't even that good. I miss staying awake until three in the morning watching anime saying "just one more episode" and ending up watching twelve.
I miss reading absurdly long fanfics that nobody should enjoy that much.
And yeah… I miss watching porn. Way more than I'm willing to admit.
I don't know how I got here.
The last thing I remember… I was walking down the street. A normal day. Nothing special.
Then I heard a horn.
A loud sound… way too close.
I turned my head…
And after that… nothing.
Absolute silence.
I woke up here.
No answer, No body, No one. Nothing.
And ever since then the only thing I do… is think. Remember. Repeat over and over every fragment of my life so I don't completely lose my mind.
I've remembered everything.
My fourth birthday when I cried because I wanted a Cars cake and my mom bought a dinosaur one because it was cheaper.
The first time I got into a fight at school defending something stupid I can't even remember.
My first bicycle.
My first phone.
My first time getting drunk… which ended with me hugging a toilet like it was the love of my life.
My first kiss… with my cousin.
…
Don't judge me.
We were kids.
I think.
I also remembered the last year of my life.
I was twenty-three years old.
Twenty-three damn years.
And for the first time I felt like my life was finally about to start going somewhere.
I had quit the miserable job at that shitty factory where they exploited me for a salary that barely let me survive.
My plan was to start something of my own.
A bakery.
Me, my brothers, and my mom.
Our business. Our effort. Something that was ours and not some bastard's who got rich while we broke our backs.
And speaking of bastards…
I still remember with almost religious satisfaction the day I quit
.
My boss… that insufferable egotistical bastard who walked around the factory thinking he owned the world just because he inherited the company from daddy.
That arrogant piece of shit with legs who once ordered me to go get him a burger from a food truck… sixteen kilometers away from the factory.
Sixteen. Damn. Kilometers.
And on top of that… he made me pay for it.
He didn't even reimburse me.
That day I realized I hated that son of a bitch more than I thought was humanly possible.
But the day I quit…
Ahhh… I can still feel it.
I walked up to his office.
I thanked him for "everything I had learned"… told him he could go straight to hell… said I hoped he choked on his stupid hamburger…
And by the way…
I confessed that one time I added my special sauce.
Let's just say… it didn't exactly come from the kitchen.
The expression of disgust and fury on his face…
Beautiful.
Simply beautiful.
Although the best part came after.
When I said with the biggest smile of my life:
— Oh, and by the way… your daughter liked it.
I'll never forget how he almost had a heart attack.
You could say… that was one of my greatest memories.
…
Ha.
What irony.
I spent my whole life worrying about money… bills… work… the future… responsibilities… making it to the end of the month… disappointing my family… failing…
And now…
None of that matters.
I have no debts.
No obligations.
No stress.
No fear of the future.
Because there probably isn't one.
It's just me… in this eternal darkness… remembering a life I may have wasted… or maybe not.
Although if I'm honest…
What hurts most isn't dying.
It's not knowing what happened after.
Did my mom open the bakery?
Did my brothers continue with the plan and smash my phone and my computer hard drive?
Did anyone cry for me?
Does anyone miss me?
Did my boss survive the heart attack?
…
I hope not.
That bastard.
…
Haaa…
Being dead is boring.
Although…
Now that I think about it…
A little while ago…
I swear… I saw a light in the distance.
…
Wait.
I don't remember seeing light here before.
…
— I see you haven't gone insane after all this time you've spent here…
The voice appeared out of nowhere.
Deep. Heavy. Strangely calm.
And for the first time since I woke up in this infinite abyss…
Something changed.
The darkness in front of me began twisting, as if the void itself was being torn apart by a force impossible to comprehend.
Then… it appeared.
…
No.
"Appeared" wasn't the right word.
It was more like a part of the universe had decided to materialize in front of me.
It was enormous.
No… enormous didn't even begin to cover it.
Its size defied any logic. I tried to calculate it, compare it to something familiar, but my mind simply couldn't process it.
It was like watching an entire galaxy trying to take humanoid form.
Thousands… no… millions of stars spun inside what seemed to be its body. Entire nebulas expanded and collapsed within it. Arms formed from clusters of cosmic energy. A barely visible face composed of supernovas, black holes, and matter I don't even think exists in my universe.
It looked like one of those Celestials from Marvel…
Although no.
That would insult it.
It didn't look like a giant machine in space armor.
It was… older. Purer. More terrifying.
It looked like…
Shit… it looks like a damn Chaos God from Warhammer 40K.
— Well… not exactly.
The gigantic entity immediately responded.
…
My mind froze.
A chill ran through something that technically wasn't even my body anymore.
No… I hadn't spoken out loud.
I had no mouth.
No lungs.
I had only thought it.
And yet… that thing had answered me.
I could only remain there… if "there" even existed in this place… completely paralyzed.
I didn't know what to feel first.
Fear.
Awe.
Absolute terror.
The sensation of standing before something so absurdly superior that my entire existence, my whole life, all my problems, memories, dreams… amounted to less than nothing.
It was like an ant suddenly realizing it was standing before the very concept of infinity.
I… literally had no idea what the hell I was looking at.
— I don't know what you are…
My voice sounded weak. Ridiculously small.
The entity remained observing me. Or at least I thought it was. It was hard to tell exactly where it was looking when its eyes looked like two universes constantly expanding.
Then it spoke again.
— Well… you can call me a ROB —
Its voice made the entire void vibrate.
Every word seemed to alter reality around me.
— A being so absurdly powerful… that what you call gods, primordial entities, universe destroyers or dimension devourers… are less than bacteria compared to me.
My mind immediately remembered Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh.
The four Chaos Gods. Beings capable of corrupting entire galaxies and warping reality simply by existing.
Without thinking, that image crossed my mind.
So this is like a Chaos God… but infinitely bigger.
— Incorrect — ROB replied again to my thoughts.
— Do not compare me to those four pieces of dimensional trash again. Compared to me… they are like four specks of dust trying to comprehend an infinitely expanding universe. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult me —
I felt brutal panic.
Shit.
He kept reading my thoughts like an open book.
I had no way to hide anything.
I couldn't even lie to him.
— S-Sorry… I didn't mean to insult you…
God… why was I apologizing to a conscious galaxy?
Well… because that conscious galaxy could probably erase my existence from every imaginable plane of reality just by blinking.
The entity stayed silent for a few seconds.
Then, to my surprise… it let out something like laughter.
Although "laughter" wasn't correct.
It sounded like thousands of stars exploding at the same time.
— Don't worry, kid. At least you are aware of your situation. That already puts you above many other mortals I've encountered.
I slightly tilted my nonexistent head.
— …Many others?
— Oh yes. Thousands. Millions even —
For some reason that answer disturbed me even more.
— Mortals who end up trapped in this place… the void between life and death.
Some wait. Some cry. Some beg.
Its tone changed.
Colder
.
Heavier.
— But others… have the arrogance to demand things from me. They try to give me orders. They ask me for power, wealth, women, absurd abilities… as if I owed them something simply because I exist.
I felt chills.
Yeah… the internet had definitely created entire generations of idiots.
The entity continued.
— Some even threaten me —
I blinked.
— …Threaten you?
— Correct —
Its voice turned amused.
— So I decided to teach them humility.
Something in its tone made me feel completely irrational fear.
It was the tone of someone remembering an inside joke.
A very cruel one.
— I send them to places appropriate for their attitudes.
In front of me floating images began appearing in the void.
A man slowly being torn apart by monstrous apostles beneath a blood-red eclipse.
Berserk.
Another trapped in an endless trench while deformed creatures, half demons half soldiers, advanced among mountains of corpses.
Trench Crusade.
Another running desperately while a Tyranid swarm devoured an entire planet.
Warhammer 40K.
And then… worse things.
Much worse.
Entire cities deforming like living flesh.
Oceans filled with giant eyes staring from the depths.
Entities so absurd my brain refused to understand their shape.
Lovecraftian beings whose mere presence seemed to break the logic of thought itself
.
— Sometimes… —
ROB continued with absolute calm.
— I like observing how long it takes before they mentally break.
…
I stayed completely motionless.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
Okay.
Very important.
Don't make him angry.
Don't think stupid things.
Don't compare him to fictional characters.
Don't ask dumb questions.
Don't mention interdimensional hentai.
No—
— Especially that last one —
ROB said with an amused tone.
…
Damn it.
I thought it again.
The being let out another cosmic laugh while I started understanding something terrifying.
I wasn't standing before God.
I wasn't standing before an angel.
I wasn't standing before a divine entity.
I was standing before something far worse.
Something so ancient… so powerful… so incomprehensible…
That it probably saw entire universes the same way I watched YouTube videos to kill time.
And for the first time since I had died…
I understood an absolute truth.
My fate…
Depended entirely on this damn thing's mood.
…
And that terrified me more than death itself.
…
…
…
I remained silent for several minutes.
I was still thinking about them.
Mom.
Dad.
My brothers.
Somewhere in my old world they were living their lives, moving forward… exactly as they should be, and that made me happy.
But it still hurt.
It hurt knowing I would never hear their voices again.
Never sit at the table with them again.
Never argue over who was washing the dishes or who had left the soda bottle empty in the refrigerator.
It was strange.
A few hours ago I was terrified of having died.
Now… I was terrified of leaving behind what it meant to have lived.
Finally I raised my gaze toward that immense cosmic entity.
It was time to move on.
There was no point clinging to something that had already ended.
I took an imaginary breath.
And spoke.
— I accept… where will I go? —
ROB observed me silently for a few seconds.
For some reason I felt like he was evaluating me.
As if checking whether I had truly accepted leaving my old life behind… or if I was still hesitating.
Finally he responded.
— Well… I'll give you two options… —
One of his gigantic hands slowly rose.
Even that simple movement caused entire galaxies inside his body to shift position.
Two enormous fingers extended in front of me.
— First option… I choose the world you go to… and you receive three wishes… although certain restrictions will exist… —
He paused for a few seconds.
— Second option… you choose the world you want to go to… but I will completely decide what you take with you… and believe me… there will be no restrictions on what I can give you… —
…
…
Shit.
That was difficult.
My mind immediately started working.
First option.
He chooses the world.
I receive three wishes.
The problem was I had no idea what universe this cosmic monster might choose.
He could send me somewhere peaceful…
Like My Little Pony.
…
Although that place probably hid psychological horrors I didn't know about.
Or he could send me to The Boys.
Where a psychopath wearing a cape could literally split me in half because I breathed too close to him.
Second option.
I choose the world.
But ROB decides what I get.
And considering how much he enjoyed playing with mortals… he could easily give me something completely useless.
Congratulations, you can fly… but only by expelling gas at maximum pressure.
Or worse.
You're immune to fire… exclusively while sleeping.
Although…
There was also the possibility that he gave me something absurdly overpowered.
Damn…
This was difficult, very difficult.
Several minutes passed while I kept thinking.
Finally I raised my head and had already decided.
— I choose the first option… —
The gigantic cosmic face seemed to brighten.
— Excellent choice… —
Something in his tone made me nervous immediately.
Too much enthusiasm.
Never a good sign.
Then he smiled.
Well… I think he smiled.
— You've already seen that I like to play… after all, when you reach a level of existence like mine… there aren't many things left capable of entertaining you… —
Behind ROB the darkness began fracturing.
And suddenly… something so ridiculously enormous appeared that for a second I completely forgot I was talking to an omnipotent entity.
A roulette wheel.
Gigantic.
Absurdly gigantic.
It was even bigger than ROB, which made absolutely no sense.
Not physically.
Not logically.
Not metaphysically.
Not dimensionally.
It was simply impossible.
And yet it was there.
Thousands… no… millions of names rotated engraved on it.
I squinted trying to read some.
Danmachi, Shrek, Cars, Highschool DxD, Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible, Prince of Persia, Marvel, Star Wars, Halo, Mass Effect, Naruto, Attack on Titan, Doom, Warhammer 40K.
…
…
Shit.
My fate literally depended on chance.
I could end up in paradise…
Or in a hell worse than anything any human religion had ever imagined.
Slowly I turned toward ROB.
— …You know… I'm starting to regret this… —
— Too late… —
Cosmic bastard.
There was nothing I could do.
Absolutely nothing.
So I did the only thing I could.
Pray.
I didn't know to whom exactly.
Maybe to ROB himself.
Maybe to God.
Maybe to any entity willing to hear me.
I just hoped I wouldn't end up in Attack on Titan.
I didn't want to become food for a naked giant.
ROB raised his hand.
— Well… let's see where you end up… —
He snapped his fingers.
The roulette wheel began spinning.
And although technically I had no heart… I felt something inside me accelerate violently.
Pure panic.
I watched as the wheel spun at absurd speeds.
Passing through thousands of worlds.
The Boys, Wednesday, Doom, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, Jurassic Park, Marvel, Zombies, Alien, Minecraft, Cyberpunk 2077.
It kept spinning.
And spinning.
And spinning.
While my whole being trembled.
Please don't be Warhammer.
Please not Berserk.
Please not DOOM.
Please not Silent Hill.
The wheel started slowing down.
My terror increased.
Every second felt eternal.
Until finally…
It stopped.
The other words disappeared.
Only one name remained glowing in front of me.
GAME OF THRONES / A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
And then…
Music began playing.
I recognized it instantly.
The intro of the series.
Slow. Majestic.
Around me distant echoes appeared.
The roar of Dragons.
The howls of Direwolves.
The sound of swords clashing.
Crows cawing.
Stags running through frozen forests.
Lions roaring in the distance.
I felt such overwhelming relief that I nearly collapsed.
ROB let out a small laugh.
— Congratulations… you're quite lucky, kid… —
I sighed.
Well… among all possible worlds… this was pretty acceptable.
Of course… ignoring the White Walkers.
Blood magic.
The creatures in Asshai.
The red priests.
The old gods
.
Shadow assassins.
The Three-Eyed Crow.
The Many-Faced God.
And that small possibility of dying because of some noble with a superiority complex.
But… manageable.
More or less.
I looked at ROB.
— Fine… I suppose it's not a bad world… but… what exactly are the restrictions on my wishes? —
ROB crossed his gigantic arms while several black holes appeared behind him.
— Simple. Everything in the multiverse possesses levels. They go from F… the lowest level… to EEXXX+++++… —
…
Who the hell invented that horrible scale.
ROB continued.
— Your destination world… A Song of Ice and Fire… possesses B++ level… therefore the maximum you can bring with you is something of A+++ level… —
I stayed thinking for a few seconds.
Perfect.
I already knew exactly what I wanted.
I slowly smiled.
— Good… then my first wish… —
I raised one finger.
— I want eleven abilities from the Fate universe… all rank A++… —
ROB observed me carefully while I listed them.
— Charisma A++… Luck A++… Learning A++… Eternal mastery of weapons A++… Superhuman endurance A++… Magic resistance A++… Courage A++… Spiritual protection A++… Blessed and adored by nature A++… Loved by animals and beasts A++… and blessed by magic A++… —
ROB slowly nodded.
— Interesting… continue… —
— My second wish… seventeen absolute masteries… —
— Music… Smithing… Art… Cooking… Commerce… Economics… Medicine… Architecture… Naval engineering… Military strategy… Agriculture… Politics… Administration… Runes… Enchantments… Alchemy… and Rituals… —
This time ROB let out something resembling cosmic laughter.
— I see you do not intend to waste anything… —
I smiled.
Of course not.
Then I raised three fingers.
— My third wish… I want to be reborn as Valarr Targaryen… son of Baelor Targaryen and Jena Dondarrion… —
ROB remained attentive.
— But I want to slightly modify the original appearance… —
— Violet eyes… extremely pale skin… dark black hair… but with silver-white strands on the front left side… —
ROB observed me for several seconds.
— Hmm… clearly you want to be well prepared… I approve… —
Then he tilted his head slightly.
— But tell me something… why modify Valarr's original appearance? —
I smiled.
I had already thought about that.
— Because one of the great problems of House Targaryen… besides bastards… civil wars… Blackfyre rebellions… and not having dragons… is that the main line has mixed too much… —
I paused.
— Many look more Dornish than Valyrian… and if I'm entering that family… I want it to be obvious that the blood of the dragon still runs strong… —
ROB let out a small laugh.
— Acceptable answer… —
Then he extended one gigantic hand toward me.
Everything began trembling.
The void started breaking apart.
The stars disappeared.
The darkness shattered into millions of pieces.
And I heard his final words.
— Good, kid… everything is decided… —
His voice resonated like the birth of an entire universe.
— Goodbye… live your second life well… —
He snapped his fingers.
And everything disappeared.
…
…
…
OMNISCIENT POV
King's Landing
Year 190 After Conquest
The storm violently struck the walls of the gigantic Red Keep dominating Blackwater Bay.
Lightning illuminated for brief moments the tall black towers of the castle.
Rain struck the stained glass windows like small daggers thrown by the sky itself.
Inside the Red Keep… tension was palpable.
In the chambers reserved for the heir's family… a woman screamed between painful gasps.
Lady Jena Dondarrion had spent hours enduring an exhausting labor.
Inside the room several midwives worked frantically.
Outside the door walked a man incapable of standing still.
The crown prince of the Iron Throne.
Baelor Targaryen.
Known throughout Westeros as Baelor Breakspear.
He wore no armor that night.
Nor carried a sword.
Only an elegant black and red tunic.
On his chest rested the three-headed dragon embroidered with golden thread.
His hands were clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned white.
A few meters away stood his father watching.
King Daeron II Targaryen.
Still.
Calm.
With hands crossed behind his back.
At his side stood Queen Myriah Martell.
And beside them… two of Baelor's brothers.
The young Prince Aerys.
And the severe Prince Maekar.
And wondering where their other brother was.
All waited in absolute silence.
Only the rain could be heard.
Jena's screams.
And the constant crackling of fire burning in the torches.
Baelor kept pacing back and forth.
Finally Daeron spoke.
— Behave like the knight you are, son… you're making even the guards nervous… —
Baelor let out a heavy breath.
— It's easier facing twenty enemy knights in a tourney than waiting here unable to do anything… —
Myriah smiled softly.
— That means you already love that child… even before meeting him… —
Before Baelor could respond…
One final scream crossed the room.
Then…
Absolute silence.
One second later…
The cry of a newborn shattered the tension.
Baelor immediately lifted his head.
The door slowly opened.
An old midwife bowed deeply.
— My king… my queen… Prince Baelor… a boy has been born… —
Baelor practically ran inside the room.
The others followed behind him.
Jena was completely exhausted.
Sweat covered her forehead.
She breathed with difficulty.
But she was smiling.
In her arms she held a small newborn wrapped in delicate crimson cloth embroidered with Valyrian designs.
The baby slowly opened his eyes.
Violet.
Deep.
Strange.
Beautiful.
His skin was so pale that under candlelight it looked like polished porcelain.
Small black strands covered his head…
But contrasting impossibly… on the front left side stood silver-white strands.
Everyone fell silent.
Daeron II observed the child for long seconds.
A strange expression crossed the king's face.
Old pride.
Ancient blood.
Valyrian heritage.
Finally he spoke quietly.
— The blood of the dragon… runs strongly within him… —
Baelor took the child for the first time.
And for some reason… the newborn stopped crying immediately.
His tiny violet eyes looked directly at his father.
As if recognizing him.
As if understanding exactly who held his body.
Jena smiled weakly.
— He is beautiful… —
Baelor observed his son… unable to look away.
He could not know.
No one in that room could know.
That this child would grow surrounded by tragedy, intrigue and war.
That one day he would become heir to the Iron Throne.
That he would change the destiny of House Targaryen.
That the world would remember his name for centuries.
And that inside that small cradle…
Slept a soul born in another universe.
A man who once dreamed of building a bakery with his family.
A man who died too soon.
And who now…
Had been reborn among dragons.
Baelor slightly raised the child.
And announced his name before his family.
— His name shall be… Valarr… —
A thunderclap shook the entire Red Keep.
As if the world itself had heard that name.
And somewhere in some corner of infinity…
ROB watched everything with amusement.
Because the game…
Had only just begun.
...