As my eyes open, I find myself in complete darkness.

"You Have Died."

A bizarre feeling rippled through my mind as the message somehow seems to carry itself as an unspoken statement. The voice seemed strangely feminine and carried an almost ancient seeming aura.

"Do you regret dying in such a way?"

Do I regret dying? The memories of my unfair death pass through my mind as I think about the question.

"Not a single person cared about your death. Do you wish you could have made your mark on the world?"

No-one cared about my death? As I try to recall anyone that could classify as a friend, my mind comes up blank. 

"You were powerless in the face of death. Do you wish you had the power to defy death?"

Power? Even though I spent a lot of time working out, it was all worthless in front of a simple pocket knife.

"I can grant you these wishes, and even more."

You can grant me these wishes? Are you... a god?

"A god? Don't make me laugh. I am so much more than a simple god."

A shiver runs through my mind as I contemplate the meaning of the statement.

"If I were to put it into terms you can understand... I would be more of a devil, more accurately the devil's worst nightmare."

What's in it for you? Why would you grant these wishes to me? A moment of silence passes before the 'being' answers.

"Entertainment. As long as you provide me with entertainment, then I can allow your pitiful existence to carry on."

Entertainment?... Memories of my past life flash through my mind. Powerless, Useless, Disliked. All of these words describe me. Never again. Determination fills me as the next few words find their way out of my mouth.

"Hmph. Is that all?"

"I can't say that I dislike that fire... but you will need much more to prove yourself useful to me."

As the devil finishes speaking a white sheet of paper and a red pen appears in front of me, contrasting with the pure darkness all around.

"Sign your name, and let the deal be completed."

After a slight moment of hesitation, I grab the red pen and sign my name.

'Hachiman'

After my name is written, the paper catches fire before disappearing before my eyes.

"Let the pact be sealed."

As the voice finishes, above my right eye, a burning sensation appears before stopping a moment later.

"Congratulations Hachiman, You now bear the mark of Chaos, and you have also become a dimension traveler."

Mark of Chaos? Dimension Traveler? A slight sense of anticipation fills my body before the next words come out.

"Don't let me down"

My sense of anticipation slightly dies down as my rationality returns.

"What exactly am I supposed to do?"

As if in response a blue screen appears in front of me, causing me to jump back in surprise.

 

"As a dimension traveler, you will travel to many different dimensions and fulfill different tasks. You will use your dimension points to pick and choose what advantages you will gain during your time in that dimension. Your abilities carry over between dimensions, but if you fail your task you will be stripped of any abilities gained during your time in that dimensions and you will also lose more things depending on the severity of your failure. As your rank grows, you will gain permanent abilities and aid that will help you in many different dimensions. As you gain the attention of different gods, they may bestow upon you a part of their divinity allowing you to gain insight into their domain. This insight is your 'Remembrance' and the larger the amount of divinity granted, the higher the rank of the remembrance."

This voice felt less ancient and more mechanical than the last one. The amount of information is staggering, and it takes me a few moments to fully digest it.

"So what about paths?"

I realized that the voice didn't mention anything about paths yet, even though it was on the screen. This time the ancient voice responds to my question.

"As you complete different achievements, you will gain access to different paths and these paths will increase your power greatly. After you unlock the paths, you have to select do more tasks to traverse further along the path. As you distinguish yourself and complete achievements, you will obtain achievement points that you can use to advance further into the pathways. Once you place achievement points into a path, you will have to finish that path before moving along to another one"

As the voice finishes, a few golden sentences enter my vision.

Path of the Traveler(1/10) (Unlocked By becoming a dimension traveler)

You traverse many roads and travel to faraway places. Will you go down the roads less taken? Only time will tell...

Path of the Pitiful(1/2) (Unlocked by a divine being taking pity on you)

Your life is so pitiful that even a divine being has pitied you.

Path of the Determined(1/5) (Unlocked by a divine being acknowledging your determination)

You are unwavering in the face of adversity and don't back down in the face of challenges. Why do you continue to struggle?

Path of the Chaos Driven (1/15)( Unlocked by bearing the mark of chaos)

Good, bad. There is no 'right'  cause for you. Your strength grows along many different pathways, unconstrained by emotions. The strong hero, the unbeatable villain, the forgettable cannon fodder, you are each of these but none of them at the same time. What are you?

Path of the Apostle(1/10) (Unlocked by owning one remembrance)

You have stepped onto the divine path. Divinity is more than just strength, and you realize this. Your divinity defines your being, show the world just how divine you are. What kind of divine being are you?

Path of the Unbroken(1/20)(Unlocked by owning Unwavering Willpower)

Failure has never been an option for you. You refuse to lose to anyone and anything. In the face of an insurmountable wall, you smirk in mockery as you punch straight through that wall. You don't lose, you won't lose, you CAN'T lose. What does the strength to never lose mean to you? (This path will be lost forever if you fail to succeed in a quest.)

It seems as though the more points that the path requires, the higher the rarity. This may not mean that the higher the rarity, the better the rewards but it still seems that it would be better to prioritize the ones that require more. After a moment of pondering I decide to put in 20 points into the unbroken path.

Path of the Unbroken(Complete)

After the message pops up, my vision turns black as a feeling of weightlessness fills me.

~Break~

As my sight returns, I find myself on an ancient battlefield holding a single sword and a simple robe. There was an odd sense of imbalance in my body, but it was at the same time. In front of me was an innumerable amount of enemies staring at me with endless bloodlust and holding a variety of different weapons. The strange thing was that I was standing inside of a circle and the enemies in front of me were in a single line stretching toward the horizon. Before I can contemplate what is going on my body moves on its own, placing my sword in front of my body and pointing it at the first enemy in front of me.

"Come"

My voice carried a clear tone of confidence as the first enemy steps into the circle. He seemed to be a simple soldier as he also only carried a single sword and no armor. After a moment of silence, the enemy rushes forward with a simple downward swing.

"Slow"

I simply sidestep the sword and behead him with a single slice, as if he was nothing but a piece of bread. As the body falls I stare at the next person and in the same confident voice, I spoke.

"Come"

//// Unknown amount of time later/////

As the last body falls to the ground a sigh escapes my lips. All around me were countless headless bodies of soldiers, ranging from simple soldiers to the last person who I beheaded who was some sort of king that rose to the throne through war. The stench of blood permeated the air and I started wading through the bodies. If anyone were to look at the area, they would have seen a single figure in a robe and carrying a sword without a single scratch or drop of blood on them walking through an ocean of bodies with an emotionless face.

~Break~

After I finally waded out of the bodies, I found myself back in the suffocating black space greeted by a message.

+Remembrance(Unbroken Rank 1), + 500 Dimension Points, Unlock Path of the Unbroken II(1/50)

That was... interesting to say the least. The feeling of imbalance was gone now, but I could almost feel an aura of strength radiating from my body. I could still remember everything that I did in the vision and all of the moves that I did. Unlike with the Chaos remembrance, it seems like I had a little bit of control of the unbroken remembrance due to the vision that I had. The number of achievement points needed for the second level of the path of the unbroken lessened my excitement as I realize how far I am from my goal.

"Your time here is done. I will now move you to your dimension room, and you will begin your journey from there. I would wish you luck, but you will need much more than that to survive."

Before I am able to respond to my vision darkens again, as I feel my consciousness fading. Right before my consciousness faded, I heard the voice laughing as the depth of my choices finally hit me... I just made a deal with the devil.