Everything is Fair in Love and War

Chapter 1 - Wake Up

I jolted awake with that same knee jerk reaction that you have to falling in a dream. Looking around I can tell that I'm laying on a bed but everything is the same exact shade of white so I have to feel for the edge of the bed before swinging my legs off the side. I see nothing else in this endless expanse of white sourceless light. Just before panic can set in, a voice rings out around me sounding very odd.
"Hello Child," said the voice, sounding both like a whisper and a shout simultaneously. "I apologize that I am the bearer of bad news, but you have died."
"What?" My stunned voice seemed to be muffled in my own ears, as though I was hearing it through a wall. "What do you mean I died? I'm here and breathing, how could I be dead?"
"As you slept last night a storm came through and a bolt of lightning struck your bed frame, through your open window, setting both the bed and yourself ablaze."
"Well, burning to death was always just below drowning on my top 10 worst ways to go, is the rest of my family okay?"
"They managed to put out the fire with little more than some burnt hair and some first degree burns but it was not fast enough to save you."
I let out a deep sigh before crossing my arms. "Alright, I'm dead. So what is this place? Is this purgatory? I feel like I heard somewhere that purgatory is an endless expanse of nothing meant to drive those sent to its halls insane."
A chuckle that seemed to reverberate through my bones rolled through the open space behind me. "No Child, this is not your punishment, but a chance for you to have a new life."
Quirking an eyebrow I ask the empty space. "Why give me a new life?"
"The entertainment, both myself and the lesser gods have been lacking in sufficient entertainment for a few millennia now, so I plan to utilize a new..." the voice drifted off as though searching for the right word. "System to assist with providing the entertainment."
A flash of movement in my periphery caught my attention as what seemed to be a large phone or small tablet fell onto the bed. Picking it up the screen brightens to show a familiar looking interface.

The Waifu Catalog
Start new build?
Continue / Cancel

"What the fuck?" I ask, my tone somewhere between bewildered and deadpan. "Why are you using the Catalog?"
"Human minds are great for what we on the upper planes call: Psionic resonance. That is to say that your species can tap into the psychic energy of the multiverse and some are able to channel it into what you view as works of fiction."
"Wait, so you're saying that books, anime, tv shows, et cetera are all true somewhere?" I ask, holding the tablet just a little more respectfully.
"Most but not all. Now for your chance at a new life, you will have a challenge from the higher gods to you. You will travel from a tier 2 world, completing tasks along the way, through each tier world until you complete at least one tier 10 world."
"Wait wait wait. Why start at tier 2 and not tier 1?" I ask, perplexed.
"Because almost every other Contractor or whatever other title you want to give them picks Pokémon and it's getting kind of boring."
"Ummm, well I suppose that makes sense in a very roundabout kind of way. Are there any rules I should be made aware of?"
"Yes, first of all I have two mutually exclusive boons that you can choose from. First: you can have all of the points that you would receive, regardless of the origin, double. Second: you can have immortality."
I didn't even have to pause for a moment, "Double points, depending on the setting I can get more than enough points to buy pseudo immortality. What next?"
"Whenever you finish your task in the current world you will be able to move on, you may choose to move onto a world of the same tier up to twice, any unused uses of this will be able to be used later on if there is a tier with more realities that you would like to visit. When you move up a world tier you gain credits equivalent to the difference between your previous tier and the new one, for example: moving from tier two to tier three you would receive 30 credits, doubled due to your boon. Any questions thus far?"
"Nope, carry on for a total of three worlds in a tier or keep some of those three in my pocket for future use, and get bonus credits when moving up a tier."
"Very good one more thing, you may take drawbacks to gain additional credits but they are only available for your character generation. If there is nothing else you may proceed."
Looking down at the tablet I quickly begin to make my selections.
Two hours later
Looking down I sigh as all of my choices had been made.