"I am Atulla, a Goddes that oversees the welfare and longevity of worlds."
A figure composed of sparkling white stardust spoke with a power that reverberated throughout the imperceptible white room as well as the mind. She appeared to be shrouded in a nebulous veil of moving colors and stars, with the only part of her that seemed solid and stationary were her glowing porcelain eyes, devoid of any pupils yet staring with palpable intensity.
"I have brought you here to present you with an offer to aid me in my task, as I am but a single entity responsible for all too much throughout the cosmos. Your unfortunate, premature passing gives you the qualifications of possessing a sound young mind and body, perfect for adapting to the new environments you would be sent to, should you accept. You will be regarded as a hero and savior to the inhabitants and be granted eternal life and youth as compensation for your deeds. You will gain power unlike any you have ever known, wielding magic for the greater good, and the only price you will pay is to uphold your duty as my apostle. Will you accept this task presented to you, Roy?"
---
Roy opened his eyes to find himself standing within a dense forest, light poking through the treetops dappling the undergrowth in a warm, mystical light. Glowing butterflies leaving trails of shimmering dust in their wake fluttered between the tree trunks, fluffy rodents of all kinds scurried into hiding amongst the bushes, and birds took off from the branches above, all startled by the sudden appearance of a man in their midsts. He found himself adorned with a set of leather armor, equipped with a bandolier, quiver, sword on his hip, and bow slung over his shoulder. A backpack seemingly stuffed with contents weighed him down, and just as he was about to examine its contents with giddy excitement, a slime, complete with a crystal embedded in its midsts, dropped down to the ground in front of him. He felt like he was living out a fantasy as he drew his sword and went to work on the monster before him.
---
"We have to take him out right now! His army is too strong for our men to handle. The lives of us here is a small price to pay to win this war. But I daresay we cannot do it without everyone participating. I will gladly not only risk my life but lay it down to save this nation and its people. If any of you disagree, then we are done here."
"This is a foolish risk. Even with all of us, it is not a guarantee. We need to retreat and regroup to increase our chances of assassinating him. If we fail here, it will all be over. If you want to go out there and die right now, be my guest. All that will accomplish is delay the inevitable. Sure, you might save a few lives today, but they will die anyway come tomorrow."
Roy sat at this table of bigshots, feeling out of place as he was brought here purely for his expertise with the bow, which became his signature weapon at the recommendation of Atulla. Everyone else present was of at least some renown, with the two men leading the arguments standing at the top of the food chain. He felt the pressure weighing down on him, as he had been sent here to be the savior of this world, but he felt his abilities were laughable compared to the stakes at hand. All he could do was sit by and follow orders and go down whichever path the men before him chose. The course of events had already been set for this world, and he had been too powerless to influence it enough to make a difference.
---
Roy lashed out in frustration at anything he could within the dark cave he now found himself in, which amounted to doing no more than kicking at the rocky walls. The only source of light by which he could see came from glowing teal crystals embedded in the walls, of which there were not nearly enough to illuminate all of his surroundings. Roy felt his previously hard-earned powers, his strength gone, reverted to the same state he had been in before he met the Goddess. What was more, unlike his previous start, he had nothing on him save for a tunic, pants, and a pair of shoes. No armor to protect him this time, no weapons to fight with, no food to see him through his first few days, and no clear way out of this cave. But he did not care much about his current situation. He had failed. Roy had been presented with the most perfect opportunity he could have ever hoped to gain, and he failed. The arrow he had unleashed had flown true, but it had not been nearly strong enough to do real harm, let alone kill. He felt the guilt, remembering the stricken gazes of those that had fought with him as they realized it was hopeless. Roy knew they should have run, but he could not get himself to abandon the people. He let himself be dragged to his death, to take the one opportunity granted to him to make a difference but with it doomed the rest. He now had no way to know the outcome, the fate of that world. And he did not want to. He felt like he would get crushed by the guilt of potentially being the only one to survive when he had been the one sent to save them. He stood there for the longest time, sobbing, shaking, and convulsing as he thought of everyone and everything he left behind that he could never see again.
The rumbling of his stomach woke him from his stupor, his tears having long since dried out. He knew he could not waste time. He might not even make it out of here alive if he did not get going, so he scanned his surroundings only to see a note on the ground beside him.
'You were not strong enough. Your reputation was nonexistent. Do better this time.'
If this start was a punishment for his failure, he did not mind. If anything, he welcomed it as an opportunity to do better, strive for more, and save this world was expected of him. He vowed he would not fail this time.
---
Roy sat, tired, at the prow of the airship, waving his one good arm for the masses crowding the streets below to see. Throughout the city, his projection was cast upon the many steam clouds pouring out of the vast chimney tops lining the skyline for all to see, intermittently replaced by the image of the decapitated head of the All-Devourer secured in chains behind him. It was over. It was not perfect, and he had lost many friends, accomplices, and comrades along the way, but he did it. He made use of his knowledge that disaster was coming and nipped it in the bud by playing prophet and establishing a team. Once again he felt like his strength was lacking, causing a bud of worry to grow at the back of his mind as to whether he will be able to succeed the next time over. He knew he did not have much time left. The Corruption had gotten to him and was eating away at him at this very moment. But there was nothing he could do now save for present a final show of strength for the people he will soon leave behind. That is how he found himself at the center of this parade of celebration, waving and smiling as if everything is alright, but it all soon becomes a blur to him as he eventually feels himself collapse and fall into the next world.
---
"Please, send me back! I didn't mean to!" Roy howled on his knees into the starlit sky, butt naked. "It was an accident. No, it was my mistake. Just one more chance and I'll do it right, I swear! Please?"
---
"Why am I even here? It's been fifteen years, and nothing has happened. I don't even have the hero class! Atulla, do you hear me? This is the third world in a row now that I had no role to play. Am I doing all of this work for nothing? I'm seen as a madman, a doomsayer. At least tell me what is going on."
---
Roy collapsed facefirst into his clean new bed. He had just gotten out of the wilderness and to his first settlement since arriving at his latest supposedly doomed world. He was tired, mentally drained from all the pressure and expectations of saving worlds only to be left without purpose, eventually dying prematurely from one cause or another and restarting the cycle all over again. He had decided to take a much-needed break until finally some danger to the world revealed itself. He was confident, with all of the experience under his belt, he would be able to amass power quickly enough to deal with whatever might or might not show up.
About a month later, what appeared like a bolt of white lightning struck from the clear skies above the peaceful and idyllic town of Cragside, as if the Gods themselves came down to smite a pedestrian in the streets.
---
"Hey, seriously, thanks for helping me there. Thought I might freeze to death." Roy said as he brushed the snow off his clothes, careful not to fall into another hidden pit.
"No way was it that serious." Hayla, his guide over the mountain pass, told him with a slap on the back. "At worst, you might have had to sacrifice something to Gaia. I reckon even the memory of your favorite meal would have gotten you out, although if you ask me, that is a steep price to pay."
Although he had eaten all kinds of food over his many decades spent traversing all manner of mystical and magical worlds, the mention of a favorite food brought about memories of a simpler time back on Earth, sharing a meal with his family.
"You know, thinking about it, I might just take death over that memory," Roy said in all sincerity.
---
"It's not a matter of me giving up, but rather my body giving in." Roy barely managed to get out between breaths, bent over with his hand on his knees. "What are you made of?"
"Determination and goat milk," Hayla said as she took a swig from her canteen, the contents of which were still a mystery to Roy. "We gotta get you over the border. They are bound to catch up with us if we rest now."
"I could give a sacrifice to Gaia, fight them off."
"That will only give you power, not strength. You don't even have anything worthwhile to offer anyway. We live in a world where the strong get stronger. You and me? We have to climb that first hurdle to even reach the starting line, and they are already halfway through the race."
Roy cursed himself for dragging Hayla into his mess when he was already so powerless in a world where power was everything. He had simply needed a guide, but she turned into a trustworthy companion over the last few months, and he would loathe losing that.
"Let's go."
---
The tip of the sword flew right past Roy's eyes as he threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the stab that caused a shockwave of wind to erupt in a cone behind him. He used the momentum to put even more distance between him and his adversary, but being prone placed him on the back foot in an already disadvantageous fight. He tried his best to scurry to his feet before getting sliced up but was too slow when he felt the blade tear into his backside soon followed by a shockwave that flung him through the large double doors of the clifftop monastery, dislodging the bow from his grip. Pain coursed throughout his body as he rolled on the tiles, his ribs broken from the impact. He did not let pain slow him, as it was his life that was at stake.
Roy pushed himself up to his feet with a groan, clutching his side and feeling his blood pooling from the clean cut. The harsh and cold wind stung his wound, but the snowstorm provided him some cover as he made a mad dash toward the cliff edge, with no time to look for his weapon. He could feel his adversary gaining on him with ease despite the weather, and he cursed himself at his rotten luck to have run into someone this skilled. He did the only thing he could at this moment and lept down the sheer side of the mountain without hesitation. A tether of lightning like a bungee cord sprang into existence at his feet, connecting him to where he jumped from as he plunged downward. The wind and snow whipped at his face as he fell facefirst, not daring to slow his fall until the very last moment. This resulted in him misjudging the distance to the ground, as visibility was poor, and the snow blended in, plunging him all too fast deep into a mound of snow. If not for his sturdy, well-honed body the fall probably would have killed him. He pulled himself up and climbed using the lightning tether like a rope. The sheer length of it was making it exhausting to maintain, and he knew it acted as a beacon to his location so he dismissed it as soon as he broke back out onto the surface.
Roy's hope of escaping quickly dwindled as he soon felt a menacing aura nearing from above, and he spotted the dark blob of a figure slowly gliding down toward him.
"Shit! Gaia!" Roy shouted into nothingness, his voice drowned out by the howling wind. "I offer you my memories! Give me the power to escape!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt the result of his actions. A deep regret boiled up inside him as his memories of Hayla began dissipating like dust in the wind. He felt a newfound power coursing through him as he turned to lightning and vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving behind nothing but a single tear.