Failure at large

Cody woke up in a small room. The walls were black and white brick.

"Ummm….hello?" He shouted and expected to find someone, but the only thing that happened was a small orb of light began to spin into existence.

It suddenly spoke, "H̸̯͛̈̄͒ï̷̙̺͙̈́,̵̨̝̮̹̭̒͐͝ ̷͔̤͆͐̔c̸̺̞̯̩͛̇̉á̴̩͂̓̿̚n̸͉̓̂ ̷͎̎͜͜I̴̮̓͑͊͘ ̴̨̢͚͉̜̔̆́ǵ̶͙̞̰̤̗ě̵̜̼͉̝̂ţ̷̧̼̪̾͗͐͂̀ ̵̬̳̖̤̈̅͊̓y̵͉̮̼̑̈́͋̓õ̸̬̱̙̣̾̂̒̕ü̶̫̜̞̻̮͌͝ ̶̛̼̳̄̒̕ͅs̶̙͍̰̥̼͐̒̽̂ò̶̠̥̬͊͂̀̇m̷̡͜͜͠ę̶̀̎͒t̷͔̉͗͂͠ḩ̶͚̄͌ḯ̴̯̭͖͉͕̓n̶͓̯͉͙͑͝g̴̲̺̺͙̈́̌ ̵̫̺̮̰̃͂͐̓͘t̸͓͓͕̂o̵̦͆̕ ̴̹̫͖̠̗̇ḑ̶̢̤̙͇̃̀r̴̡̛͍̾̓̈́̅ȋ̸̭͓̘̺̔̌̈́͑n̴͎͔̱̩̬̔̀͝k̴̺̖̭̓̑̀̉͝?̶̨̓̒"

"Uhhhhhh, nope, I am good on the refreshments." Cody felt like he understood what the orb was saying.

The orb dimmed slightly, then a mouth formed, "Sorry, my sub-neurons aren't the best at translation. I am "God" or whatever you want to believe, just trying to get this over with."

Cody sat there with his mouth agape.

The orb blushed? "Uh, look, I understand that this experience could be classified as "weird as fuck" to most humans, but it HAS to be done if you would like to continue your existence. Would you like that?"

Papers formed in front of the ball of light, "Oh, unexpected, you have directly aided over a hundred million people, not bad, not bad at all."

The orb started to spin and got larger over the course of a few minutes.

Cody was just staring as the orb slowed down and watched the mouth spit out light.

"Right, right, right. Now. What we have here is a unique experience. Hello, my name is Samuel or whatever pleases you. I have joined my brothers in this vessel."

The orb waited for Cody to react but gave up as papers began to fly around it and writing began to stamp onto the documents.

"Please sign here for me." A document landed perfectly sideways in front of Cody and the being summoned a small spider looking creature that moved to get on Cody's hand.

He went to pull away as the universe stopped him in his tracks and let the insect attach.

The orb let out a sigh, "Apologies, I should have warned you, but now you can sign."

Cody felt a presence in his mind probing him for acceptance. Then when he thought that it would be okay, the spider started to stretch out and spill red ink all over the paper.

The ink formed a weird series of repeating patterns.

The orb watched, "Interesting, Carbon based, haven't seen one of you in a while. Anyway, how do you feel?"

Cody felt a little light headed, but that was probably from fear.

"I feel okay…" he said meekly.

The orb stared at him and sent out a beam of light to scan him, "Right….okay, that narrows your options."

Suddenly images of monsters killing people flashed in his mind, they were strangers.

He grimaced and felt the world call to him, but he ignored it.

Then the images shifted, he saw his mother getting chased by a pack of the diseased wolves.

'NO, MOM!' The scene was cut off.

Then he felt his Grandparents getting torn to shreds. His heart sank. He froze.

He watched his son getting eaten by a giant bug-like creature, and it was taunting him as he screamed.

Then the world came back, "Wow, you are...weird. Most people would have unlocked some form of rage or something. Let me try something else…."

It began to spin as Cody was questioning his entire existence.

'My son? I don't have a son? What the fucking fuck is happening?'

He closed his eyes and was praying that this would be over but then he appeared in a blackness.

He called out. Nothing. No hunger, no pain, nothing. Weeks turned into seconds. Or perhaps the reverse is true.

Cody felt the supreme consciousness gazing at him.

"Hello. My sub-neurons deemed it fit to have me test you. Do not panic. Your body was destroyed, but that was always going to occur."

Cody sat there, "What am I supposed to do?"

The being came closer, it appeared to have elongated from a nebula of stars. Each dot was shining, and the flow was like blood within the creature.

"My friend, please let it come naturally, I have unshackled you so your talent may demonstrate itself."

Cody sat in space, or the void, and felt the nothingness wash over him.

'I can go anywhere in spacetime, be anything, have whatever I wish.'

Eons passed as the being silently observed.

---------------------------------------

A pulse left it as it had discerned Cody was done, "Have you decided what you will be, young one?"

Cody opened his eyes and they were glowing a golden light.

"Yes. I will be the shield."

The being laughed, "For your people?"

Cody smirked, "No, for my family."

"Admirable. Very well. I grant you your title."

Suddenly it came back all at once.

The, now, smallish orb floated nervously as it sputtered around the room, but when it noticed Cody had returned it panicked.

"AH! You are back! I thought, I thought, nevermind." The orb slowly glowed a cool blue color and looked into Cody's eyes.

"What now?" Cody said, nearly impatiently.

"Well, now I unlock your class and you decide your Way."

"Class as in?" Cody was thinking about games, but he needed to know.

"Um, like, Warrior? Priest? Didn't you play World of Warcraft? I swear you did in the past, hang on." The orb began to slowly go through documents.

"Yea, here, you played for years." The orb was confused at his questioning.

Cody felt strange, "How do you know I played WoW?"

The orb looked around, "Uh, dude...are you stupid?"

Cody just shifted in his seat, "I have been away for a while, but I am starting to remember now. Yeah, classes. Continue."

"What do you mean? It was a few minutes? Hang on!" The orb disappeared and reappeared in an instant.

"Oh. You took the test from the original. I..see."

The orb muttered, "Thousands of years isn't great for the brain of mortals, but whatever."

A stack of papers slammed into the desk from nowhere, they were coated in a golden barrier.

"Oh fuck…" the orb began to panic and then disappeared.

[Your Class Contract and Way has been completed, please enjoy your continued existence.]

Then blackness resumed.

----------------------

Cody woke up in a sleeping bag, it was probably a high end one based on the automatic heating that it had.

"So comfy." He nodded off, then a strange object punctured the bag.

"What the hell?" Cody said, then he saw his Papaw covered in slime trying to pull him out of his bag.

'Wait, this isn't a sleeping bag, we didn't have a sleeping bag this nice.'

The cocoon was sliced open and an embryonic fluid splashed all over the ground. Cody felt a pressure as he suddenly had to cough. He coughed and coughed while his Grandpa slapped his back.

"Son! SON! CAN YOU HEAR ME!" Papaw shouted directly into his ears.

Cody nodded in between hacking up each lung.

"Please stay here, I gotta' get Grandma."

Cody slummed to the ground and watched as people all around him were either cut out or pushing with their arms to get out.

The blue goo was covering everyone and it appeared to be jellied as it clung on after broken.

Cody's head was splitting, "WHAT!" he shouted into the air.

[Hello, is this a bad time?] a tattoo appeared on his skin in his language. It wasn't painful, but he felt a cool sensation where it came into being at.

"Yea, bad time." he said.

[Understood, please be careful. Will re-contact at the default time.]

"What?" The message just disappeared and he felt it go dormant as he stood up, going to help his Grandmother.