System's POV
chapter-2

An old man stood before a five-year old boy, who was lying on a hospital bed.

The child's entire body was covered in bandages, making him look like a mummy that was about to be placed in a coffin.

On his body, the only visible parts were his black hair and firmly shut eyes. Eyes that would forever remain closed, for he would breathe his last in a few minutes.

It was late at night, and the nurse had just finished making her rounds. Because of this, no one but the five-year-old child and the old man were inside the room.

"You worked tirelessly for thousands of years, and you've performed your role to the best of your abilities," the old man said as he held a glowing silver orb in the palm of his hand.

The beeping sound of the apparatus beside the boy's bed fluctuated a bit, indicating that his vital signs were slowly deteriorating.

"Since you wish to defy Fate, then I shall give you a chance to prove me wrong." The System God snorted. "I want to see you suffer and despair, like the Cannon Fodders you've tried so hard to protect. Prove to me that it is possible to choose a different ending by becoming one of them."

The beeping sound of the apparatus signaled that the five-year old boy had finally died after sustaining severe injuries from an explosion that he had gotten caught up with.

After making sure that the soul of the child had completely left its body, the old man pressed the silver orb in his hand against the boy's chest, immediately merging with the latter.

Soon, the beeping sound from the apparatus returned to normal as it detected the body's stable heartbeats. It was faint, but it proved that the boy had been revived by a miraculous power.

A power that could only come from the hand of a God.

"Before I killed you, you swore that you would screw me ten times over, right?" The System God, Deus Ex Machina, chuckled. "Foolish child. How can you screw me if I screw you first?"

Drawing intricate runes with his finger, the System God opened the Status of the unconscious boy and looked at it with a sneer on his face.

He cleared everything on the Status Screen, leaving it blank with the exception of the boy's name, age, and race.

Another chuckle escaped from the System God's lips as he messed around with the settings of his unfilial son, who dared to defy him.

After a few minutes, he looked at his work with satisfaction. The status screen then merged with the child's body, making it glow faintly for a brief moment before returning to normal.

"I look forward to our next meeting, Thirteen," Deus Ex Machina said, and on cue, he slowly turned into particles of light. "By then, you will understand that your naive way of thinking has no place in the grand scheme of things."

When the System God finally disappeared, the room descended into silence.

The unconscious boy, who was lying on the bed, remained still.

And yet, from the corner of his right eye, a single tear fell, heralding the beginning of a tale of a System, who would touch the lives of many people and change their Fates for the better.