5. Birth

Pain.

That was the first thing Callie felt. She still felt lost inside a void, but finally, finally she felt something besides the vast nothingness the goddess had left her in. It hadn't been long in that void, but any amount of time felt like too much when there was nothing to feel or see or do.

The pain was almost rhythmic as she felt squeezed, over and over again. She tried to push whatever squeezed her away, but she couldn't seem to move properly, she was just too confined.

Finally, light began to filter into her existence and she desperately stretched towards it...

...System downloading...

...Upgrade 2.0 Found...

...Downloading Upgrade 2.0...

...Upgrade 3.0 Found...

...Downloading Upgrade 3.0...

'What?' Callie listened to the strange voice in her head, completely confused. For a second, she couldn't think what the crazy voice was talking about, until her befuddled mind slowly remembered the goddess saying something about a system like a game being used on the planet she was going to.

She'd also mentioned something about an upgrade. Mystery solved, Callie started stretching towards the light once more, before she felt large hands grabbing her from the darkness and pulling her out into that light.

Air finally pulled into her lungs, and Callie instantly sucked it in as hard as she could. She hadn't even noticed she wasn't breathing until the moment she felt the air on her lips, but the air felt so good as it passed through her lungs.

A hard slap on her bottom startled her into a loud cry of pain, and she blinked up at the person above her with an aggrieved expression.

Finally, looking up at the large giant above her, Callie understood what was happening.

She'd just been born.

...System Upgrade 2.0 Downloaded...

...System Upgrade 3.0 Downloaded...

...Loading System...