Chapter releases Monday 10-12pm EST 

I'll add a discord link in the next 3-4 chapters

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The world is a cruel place. It tends to seek out the kindness in people, kill and exploit it. After it has finally squeezed out the good in people, it spits out a shell of what its victims once were, filled with hate, wanting to inflict their sufferings on others, becoming a tool of hatred and taking. Unfortunately, Browning is one of those tools.

Browning was born June 17th, 1998, into an average family, as an only child to Garvey and Yui Browning. They were good parents. They nurtured him to the best of their ability in the hopes of him becoming a good person. Browning was above average in intelligence until high school, where he peaked, developing a passion for firearms and military technologies. He went on to work for various companies such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Osh Kosh, Raytheon, and even overseas companies, like Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.

Eventually, he made his own company that caught the eye of the government. Browning and his company began developing weapons for the US government, leading the way for technological breakthroughs that changed the art of war. However, somewhere along the way, Browning began to realize that what he was doing wasn't good. He successfully secured the United State's position as the number one superpower for hundreds of years to come, yet, many of the world's problems remained. The government did nothing but fill its pockets and armory.

Browning refused to develop any more weapons for the government, so they used his family to force him to continue. Browning attempted to flee to France with his family. Unfortunately, the government caught him. They killed his family, and Browning silently obeyed, making weapons at a much slower rate. A few years later, Browning escaped the government's grasp while on a business trip to Russia. He sought refuge there and began developing weapons for Russia. It was not a better choice than making weapons for the US, but Browning had nothing to lose, and he only wanted vengeance.

Several years later, the Russians had no more use for him. So they sent him back to America to let him do what he wanted with a week's worth of protection. After years and years of being manipulated, Browning never got the revenge he wanted.

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A disoriented Browning slowly opened his eyes. He was lying down in a lush green meadow, surrounded by grass and flowers. Browning remained lying down as his mind adjusted to the situation.

"Is this heaven?" Browning thought.

He looked at the cloudless light blue sky with a dazed expression.

"The sky- I haven't seen it so clear in 40 years..."

A light breeze washed over him, lightly brushing grass against his face, which annoyed him into sitting up. He put his hands out in front of him in awe and clenched his fists.

"My old body..," He thought.

He looked at his arms and admired his old form. His muscles weren't that large to boast. However, they were well-defined and built for practicality. His body seemed to be from the time of his enlistment. He then looked at his clothing, even more confused. He was wearing a black Multicam combat shirt and pants, which fit snuggly against his slim yet lean build. He was also wearing a tan chest rig, a tan tactical belt, and various tan webbing. Holstered on his right thigh was a Beretta 92X. On his shoulder was a patch of his company's logo. The logo was a blue bullet surrounded by blue atomic orbitals. NxT Kinetiks was the name of the company.

He had a radio, an IFAK, 16 15-round Beretta mags, a knife, and two empty pouches on his chest rig, and on his tactical belt, he had two extra Beretta mags, a mag dump pouch, two grenades, and two glow sticks. He also had a smaller IFAK on the left side of his thigh webbing and a backpack which he did not check its contents.

Browning smirked. "A little obsolete, huh?" He thought, inspecting the outdated equipment. "I will say, it is very high quality. Though, the fuck they give me this in heaven for?" After checking his equipment, he checked his surroundings.

"It's so green..." Browning thought, gazing at the stunning scenery. "Finally, I can rest peacefully now..." Browning sighed and laid back down, stretching his body out. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before staring at the sky again.

"So I really did die, huh?" Browning thought. A wave of thoughts and emotions swept over him. He did not know whether to be glad or regretful. He remained to stare at the sky in deep thought. Memories began to play out in his mind like a movie. He wondered how things would be had he done things differently. Five minutes of staring at the sky later, Browning sat up and sighed.

He pulled out his Beretta and inspected it. He checked to see if there was anything in the chamber then he took out the magazine. He took a bullet out of the magazine and examined it.

He held it closer to his eye and squinted. "9x19mm Parabellum, some sort of armor peircing..." He said. He balanced it on his index finger. Then he shook it around. "Perfect grain shape and amount of gunpowder for optimal use on various firearms." Browning thought. "This is some high-quality shit..." He put the bullet back in the magazine, loaded it back into the gun, pulled back the slide, and holstered it.

Browning sighed and said, "Fuck..." He got up, yawned, and stretched. He glanced around the area and began to explore with no objective in mind. It seemed to be in the middle of spring. The meadow he was in was just a large clearing in a forest. Browning entered the woods and walked in a single direction, looking for nothing in particular. The forest was vibrant with life. Browning could hear various insects and the chirping of birds. After around 12 minutes of leisurely walking around the forest, Browning made it to a clearing with a lake.

The lake glistened and reflected the sky off its surface, giving it a blue sheen. Browning was stunned and stared at the lake momentarily before walking towards it. He got on his knees and stared at his reflection in awe. He really was a younger version of himself. Browning was very Eastern-looking, inheriting most of his mother's traits. He had black hair spread apart in the middle, a light goatee, and brown eyes. His eyebrows naturally angled in a way that made him seem angry all the time.

Still looking at his reflection, Browning smirked and narcissistically said, "Looks like I still got it."

He mentally gave himself a thumbs up and dipped his hand in the water. He felt the cold water around his skin and swayed his hand in the water. He submerged his other hand and cupped his hands. Then he scooped some water, brought it up to his face, and drank it, not caring for any potential sickness. He sighed and wiped his mouth.

"Fresh..." Browning thought. "Probably the freshest I drank in years."

Browning sat down, leaning to one side supporting himself with one arm while looking at the lake. He continued to look at the lake for half an hour until being interrupted by noises behind him. Immediately upon hearing the noise, Browning swiftly turned around and drew his pistol. Behind him were four fantasy-looking creatures, which shocked him, and instead of shooting them, he kept his gun trained on them on the odd chance they were angels. The creatures were equally shocked, looking at each other and making strange noises.

The creatures were green humanoids with no hair, long noses, and ears. They were wearing loincloths and armed with crude weapons. Browning recognized them as goblins, but to be sure, he waited for them to make a move, and they did so. One of them snarled at him and threw a rock at him, and he immediately responded by shooting all of them in the head. His movements were quick, almost mechanical, and Browning had only used one bullet for each of their heads. After he dispatched the four goblins, he quickly checked his surroundings. After checking, Browning walked over to the corpses to inspect them. However, as he was nearing the bodies, a translucent board of text appeared in front of him.

Combat Won

4 Goblins (+80 xp)

-End of Chapter