Blackness. Pure void meets me when I awaken. I'm laying on my back but I can feel my armor, so not much time must have passed. I try to open my eyes but nothing happens. I look around my self and notice that they are already open. I know this because despite the nothing I currently reside in, I can see my body. My translucent, glowing, wispy blue smoke form of my body and armor.

  'Ah... I fell in battle.' I stand and look at my hands. My whole body is the same color and make up of my aura. The only difference is that I am dimmer than how it usually glows.

  "That is because you spent some of your very essence to fight beyond death." A voice that sounds old, young, and doesn't sound any louder than a whisper despite it reverberating throughout the entire space. I spin around and meet Death himself.

  A figure vaguely masculine stands there, a good 10 feet away from me. He wears his cloak with its hood up, draping over his skeletal body entirely. The only bone visible is the bottom half of his skull and his bony hand grasping his scythe. The scythe looks brand new but rusted in places, and the same could be said about the cloak. Perfect cloth with shifting tears and loose fibers.

  His cloak moves as if it were a ghost. 'Fitting, I suppose.' I muse to myself and despite my current situation I feel calm. Fulfilled even.

  "I don't suppose you're here to guide me to the great beyond?" I ask the angel before me.

  "If this were a normal soul leaving this plane, yes. You are not normal however." The voice comes from everywhere around us and his mouth does not move. His skeletal grin with not even a twitch.

  "What do you mean?" I inquire the being. He lifts his hand from within his cloak and points at me with a bony finger.

  "That. Your form. Your will. You should have just died and become something with much less form and shone much more brightly. Like a star in the heavens above. Yet here you are. As you were and dim." Death lowers his hand while his cloak moves to a non-existent wind.

  I feel worry now. "Have I done something wrong? Some great sin?" I ask quietly, awaiting judgement.

  "No. Nothing of the sort. If anything you deserve a reward for your service. You have slain many of those vermin. Those lowly mancers that make a mockery of my domain." Death speaks the word vermin with such hate that it's almost a loud growl amongst whispers. A sneer almost takes place on his visage.

  "Then... What happens to me now?" I ask, relieved but still worried about being dimmer than I should.

  "I offer to you, a deal. We can try to make the journey to beyond with your current state, or I drop you into a world that will allow your soul to heal. That world, however, needs a hero such as you. Someone with skill and morals to fix what is broken." Death holds his hand out, waiting for a handshake.

  'What to do, what to do... I'm growing dimmer as we speak. My soul is weakening and my supposed journey to what lies beyond will already be bad as is. It would seem my duty as a knight has yet to end, even in death.' I ponder my options and then walk closer to him.

  "I will go to this world. I will serve my duty as a knight." I say and grasp his hand, resolution in my voice.

  "Excellent." Death says with excitement. Way too much excitement. His bony fingers grasp tighter around my ghostly hand.

  "I will send you there right away, as we don't have any more time. I am sorry that I can't explain anything more but you will figure it out. A man of your skill and wits." Death's skeletal grin seems to grow wider as he speaks.

  My smile falters some as Death uses his scythe and rips a hole in space. The portal has jagged edges and swirls with an infinite number of stars along with all the colors of the rainbow in the form of dust. It would be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen if it wasn't actively sucking everything into it. It tugs on my hair and Deaths robes. It grows stronger and stronger until it sweeps me off my feet and I'm parallel to the ground, still being held in Deaths grasp.

  "I should mention that you won't be human any more. Your soul will still be you and thus will have your aura, so don't fret. Farewell, for now." With Deaths final words, he releases me. I tumble through the portal and everything is blindingly bright. I am flung through the vast cosmos and watch in awe as the stars appear and vanish behind me at incredible speeds.

  After only a few moments, a planet comes into view. It's similar in makeup to my old one. Mostly land but has a fair bit of oceans. The one major difference I can see while I'm flying toward the celestial object, is the fact that half of the surface is covered in some kind of darkness. I only catch a glimpse of it but I feel deep inside myself that it is wrong. Something that does not belong is clinging to the world like a parasite.

  Before I can think anymore on the subject I am approaching close to the border between the unnatural and natural. I see something flying above the clouds, something floating in the heavens like I. It looks like some kind of machine, and there are lots of them. They remind me of ocean faring vessels, but without sails and sleek smooth metal. They are massive and seem to be battling some other rather strange vessels.

  I see forms shooting down to the surface like falling angels. Vaguely humanoid. It's all hard to see and get grasp on as it's all a blur. I'm already past them and beneath the clouds. The next thing I see is a vast expanse of rain forest. It's a sea of green and browns. With splotches of black, grey, and orange. The forest is burning in some places.

  I fly even faster towards the ground and before I can even see what I'm going to crash into, I slam into something. Everything goes dark once more.

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  < Leroy, GARG.0 pilot >

  'I'm having some shit ass luck as of late' I think to myself while taking cover from the slight drizzle of rain under my wrecked Garg. A Garg is a type of humanoid mech/robot built to fight the things that go bump in the night. Most things that show up don't have names yet because they're just mutated animals and people. 5 years ago some insane asshole decided that he wanted power, and that he'd do anything to get it. This prick happened to be a prince for some small country, so he had access to some resources.

  'I don't even know his name, but who ever that dick head is, he's dead.' I think trying to distract myself from the cold. I'm sitting in front of a small fire heating up an MRE. Just some standardized factory made meal from my home country. I'm from Zillia, a large country that uses democracy to elect a president. It's a bit of an odd place compared to the neighbors. Zillia is one of the handful of places that does the whole president thing, and the others that do are considered pretty weak.

  Zillia, however, is far from weak. It's considered not just a superpower, but THE superpower. Zillia developed the Gargs after all. Zillia has been making drastic improvements to scientific knowledge for the past 40 years at least. Zillia spent most of that time focusing on things used to better the world. More food, better healthcare, anything to improve our lives and others. That all changed when that prince decided to sell his world to some outside thing. Not a God, not even a demon. Some horrible creature that works on a multi dimensional scale. Once things from our nightmares started to invade the world, starting with that small country, Zillia started developing military weapons.

  We started a bit late however. By the time the first Garg prototype was operational, 25% of the world fell to that creature. We don't know it's true name but we just call it The Dark. 'What a childish name. It fits perfectly.' We call it The Dark because it seems to create and control shadows that even the sun can't get rid of. What ever it touches, if it's organic material, it corrupts. Turning it into it's tool and minion.

  Insects, bacteria, plants, animals, people. It doesn't matter. The Dark will turn them into a creature that looks like it got blended and sewn back together. Every corruption is slightly different in shape. There are too many variants to name them for each kind of species so we just call them The Corrupted. Not super imaginative but it does the job.

  The Corrupted eat at the world. Trying to corrupt even the planet itself. In retaliation to the things in the dark, every single country banded together to fight as one. 'It only took half the damn planet to fall for that to happen.' The allying of the world, or what's left of it, only happened recently. It has been almost exactly 2 months. The countries furthest from the shadows were dragging their feet for a few months.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  'Alright, that's enough thinking about the world and it's problems. Time to eat.' I take the MRE off the fire with some sticks turned prongs. It's a simple package. A plastic bag with some kind of foil on the inside that houses the food. This one is one of my favorites. 'Macaroni, cheese, and some hamburger meat. Hell yeah.' I tear the top off the bag and add the boiled mac. I stir the dish in it's bag, then leave it to cool for a bit.

  I look up at my protection from the rain. My Garg sits lopsided and deactivated. I rode in its cockpit from orbit but got unlucky. Got hit with enemy fire, blasted a hole right into its chest. The Gargs left side is scrapped and the left arm is barely connected to anything. My only hope of getting out of here alive is to either get it walking or get it to send an sos signal. Both require it to work at all though.

  'This is definitely the worst day I've had since joining. Scratch that, since birth probably.' I look back down at my meal and see that it fell over at some point, spilling some of my food. 'Fuck.' I sigh and pick up the bag. It still has most of it so I start eating. I don't really have the energy to enjoy my favorite MRE dish. I was drafted but a mere 7 months ago. I was going to school to study the sciences involved in food production. World's safest job. Got dragged into this mess of a war 1 year into the academy.

  I finish my meal and put the trash in my bag. 'I've got 5 MRE's left, an emergency blanket, a knife, my service pistol and rifle, and some tools.' I mutter to myself as I take stock. Sighing once more I grab my tools and climb up onto my Garg. Gargs typically look humanoid with massive chests for storage and room for the pilot. The legs usually are pretty stumpy and short, along with being jointed like a werewolves. The arms most of the time are thin but still strong enough to hold the absolutely massive guns that they use. The normal Garg doesn't even have articulated fingers. Just a gun at the wrist and maybe a super heated blade for cqc. The average height of a Garg is roughly 50 feet.

  My Garg is not normal. The damn thing looks like the spitting image of a knight in steel plate armor. Complete with visor that moves up and down over it's singular thin eye. Human jointed legs. Bulky arms, with 5 fingered hands. The thing is a feat of engineering. The A.I. however leaves much to be desired. Normally the A.I. in Gargs are capable of piloting the mech alone, but mine happens to be "more complicated" for a regular A.I. to pilot it. All that and more considering it's a staggering 65 feet tall.

  I'm almost certain my Garg is some pet project of some insane engineer that got scrapped and repurposed as canon fodder. I sigh again for what feels like the hundredth time today and try to get the panel on it's front open so I can work on it. Thankfully the one normal thing about this Garg is the internals, ladders and footholds on the outside of it. Makes it easier to maintain at least.

  Before I'm able to get it open, I hear the sound of something big walking towards me. I feel relief that maybe my luck is turning around and look to see where it's coming from. My blood runs cold as I see trees turning purple and then falling over as it gets closer. That's one of the signs of a corrupted Garg. The trees that I was cursing at for being too tall are now my only hope of remaining hidden. I jump down and snuff the small fire I had and then jump into some bushes a bit away from my Garg.

  The stomping gets closer and I can hear the metal grinding of the Garg that isn't supposed to be organic scream. It is a loud and haunting sound more akin to a train horn but recreated using lungs instead of steam. It finally steps into the clearing created when my Garg crashed into the ground. The thing I see is a disgusting combination of flesh and metal. It has the vague look of a Garg but that's it. I can see where in the joints that they used human remains to repair and replicate a hinge or motor. It stumbles with an uneven gait, searching the crash site.

  I am once again cursing my luck for being so shit today, and hope that it won't notice me and fuck off. That's when it starts to fucking sniff the air. The damn thing is more like a beast than machine. It get's closer and I can smell it now. It stinks of rot and decay. Everything is wrong about the way it greets itself to my senses. The way it smells. The way it looks. The way I can hear it breathe.

  It's so horrible that I start to shake in terror at how wrong it feels. My eyes blur as tears come to my eyes. I have to hold back gags and coughs. I avert my eyes and try to appear as small as possible. It's still smelling the air but then goes quiet. After a few moments I look back at it. I see it staring at me with organic eyes. Many, MANY organic eyes. There are hundreds of human and animal eyes mixed together. It saw me look at it. It bends down and reaches for me with a sickening smile that spreads across it's chest. Opening it's mouth right where the cockpit should be.

  'This is it. I'm going to fucking die. I'm going to be torn apart and then repurposed into this things body.' Is all I can think about. I can't even move. Then a giant metal foot kicks the thing right in the head, knocking it over.

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  < Sir Ocelot >

  I come to my senses slowly, only to find that I'm still in pitch blackness. 'I'm getting real tired of this occurrence.' I think to myself but then some weird green text fills my vision. A series of numbers and letters, all seemingly random. It all goes by so fast that I can't even read what it says before a voice speaks into my head.

  "A.I. CORE ONLINE AND FUNCTIONAL." A man speaks in monotone.

  "Hello? Who's there?" I ask but get no meaningful response.

  "ERROR: UNKNOWN ENERGY SOURCE. ERROR: SYSTEM DAMAGE. ERROR: NO PRIMARY POWER." The voice rattles off more nonsense.

  "Where is my body? What is this? Why can't I see anything?" I start to panic at the lack of anything. I cannot feel nor see nor hear nor nothing.

  "TAPPING INTO UNKNOWN ENERGY... COMPLETE. INIATING SYSTEM START UP." The man speaks. The voice is lifeless. It reminds me of the alchemists homunculus. A human construct with no soul.

  My eyes are filled with light. It's blinding and blurry. Then they move and twist. I can feel them turn as my vision becomes clearer. There's water in my eyes but it doesn't hurt. I try to blink to get rid of it but find that I cannot do so. I try harder to blink but all I do is cause... some kind of object to swipe across my vision. The water is gone at least. My vision would also appear to have a crack in it. A crack. In my vision. I do not understand.

  I look around worriedly at my surroundings. I am laying on my back against some trees. Some rather short trees, they should be taller. I look down at my body and see metal. I am still in armor but not my own. Where did it go? Why can't I feel anything? I ponder and then look to my left. A horrible abomination looks like it's trying to eat a fairy. The poor thing. He looks so scared. It would seem I get to do some good right off the bat.

  I move to stand and find my eyes locked onto the fairy still. Some weird box appears in my vision, centered on the little man.

  "THE PILOT IS IN DANGER. ELIMINATE THREATS." The voice says, some strange compulsion trying to make me move faster. I allow it and I fly forward with ease, landing on my feet. I kick out and hit the thing right on the side of the head. It bounces a few times and skids to a stop a good ways away. Then there's a weird popping noise and my hearing returns. The sound of something snarling and screaming in some demonic tongue. I look back at the fairy with no wings.

  "Are you alright? Is your name pilot?" I ask but my voice sounds off. Like the voices I've heard come from a wizards constructs or golem. It has an artificial sound to it. My question seems to have snapped him out of his stupor.

  "IT'S GETTING UP!" The little creature yells surprisingly loud for his size.

  I turn to face the abomination. It's disgusting visage of hate turns upon me but I feel calm. I have spent a good chunk of my life killing such monsters back home, I can take this thing. My body moves on it's own and pulls something off my back. 'Ah, a sword. Excellent I can- This is not a sword.' I am holding some strange staff in my hand. It's made of metal and I'm holding it wrong. The box shows up again and tells me it's a 'GARG.0 JACKOLOPE RIFLE: FIRES 40 75MM ROUNDS PER MINUTE'. I don't understand what that means so I grasp it the way it's supposed to be held, the long thin handle by tossing it up in the air and catching it again. I try to bring my left hand up to grab it with both hands but find that I cannot.

  "EXTENSIVE BODY DAMAGE. LEFT ARM INOPERABLE." The voice returns.

  "I see! Very well then." I reply back and then move to hit the thing with my new weapon. I don't like using clubs but it's better than nothing.

  The club smacks into the creatures arm as it blocks the blow, reaches up with it's other hand and grabs the weapon. It tugs on the club and I tug back. Then the creature kicks me in the stomach and I let go of the weapon. The thing tries to hold it the way I first held it but I move in, arm raised in fisticuffs.

  "HAVE AT YE, BEAST!" I yell at it, startling it for but a moment and landing a fist right into it's eye. It screams and back pedals. It grips the weapon and a loud explosion echoes out. A tree falls from a large hole blown into it.

  "AH! It was a crossbow! I see." I say in understanding. Nodding to myself, I kick up and launch the weapon from it's hands into the air. With my leg still in the air, I bring it down hard, crashing into it's head. The thing falls prone and I reach down with my hand. I grab it by the lower spine and place a foot on it's stubby neck.

  "This is the end, abomination! PERISH!" I yell and use my aura to strengthen my body. My foot keeps it in place and I tear into it's back for a hold. I pull up with all the strength I can muster, blue smoke from my aura enveloping my hand and foot. The grind of metal as it begins to tear. The roar of the beast as it's dying. My own scream of triumph as it finally gives way and rips in half. A collection of sounds that sound like music to my ears.

  The rancid beast falls quiet as I hold it's lower half above my head. Organs, blood red and black fall upon me. With a grunt I throw the pair of legs away, then lift my foot and slam it down over and over again. Turning it's head into mush and that mush into nothing.

  I calm myself and revel in the act of killing evil. 'If this world as things such as these, then I am truly needed.' I think and turn around to look at the fairy. He stares at me with shock and awe visible in his face. Then it scrunches into a grimace as he pinches his nose. He looks like he's about to say something then stops. We stare at each other.

  "What the fuck was that?" He finally says. How rude.