Chosen Wrong

Brine Beckett stood on a street looking around at the passerby, the cars on the street, the people standing in the stores through the store window. 

However, this wasn't his usual people watching while walking down the street. That's what he was doing before. Then, everything stopped.

The people walking on the street. The cars on the road. The birds flying in the sky. Everything came to a halt as though time had stopped. 

"This is strange," Brine slowly said.

"Fret not mortal child," an echoing voice declared. "You are safe."

Brine raised his head as a glowing ball of light descended.

"Greetings child, I am Azichael - a servant of the divine. I have come to ask a great favor of you. Unbeknownst to you, there are countless worlds and universes that exist besides your own. In these other worlds, there are great heroes who are integral to that world's stability. However, an unknown force has been sweeping through various worlds and twisting fate. Events where these heroes lived are instead acting as their execution!

"Unfortunately, whatever this force is, it is beyond our power to stop and its actions cannot be undone. However, the divine has found a means to rectify this alteration of destiny. A chosen hero shall be given the opportunity to have their soul transcend and inhabit the bodies of these fallen heroes to give them new life to fulfill their journey and save their world. Thus we ask you - Brine Beckett - will you be our hero?"

Brine stared at Azichael blankly - mouth slightly ajar. Once the divine servant finished speaking, his moth opened and closed briefly before shutting. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he clapped his hands together and looked at the orb. "So, if I've got this. Multiverse or omniverse - real. Some thing is going around and rigging plot points so protagonists die rather than come out on top like MCs do. And now you're asking me to embark on a multiversal isekai adventure to possess their bodies, take their place, and finish their stories?"

"Um…That is certainly one way to phrase our request. But, yes. That is what we ask of you."

Interlocking his fingers together with both index fingers outstretched, Brine tapped them against his lip before asking, "But why me? I'm a bastard?"

Azichael spoke in a kind, gentle tone. "Do not be so quick to disparage yourself - Brine Beckett. You are more important than you know. Truth be told, we do not know the cause - or perhaps identity - of this phenomenon, nor do we know how much harm its influence has caused. We only discovered it after it made a particularly catastrophic change."

"Your world is on the verge of awakening its own heroes to save it from disaster. But this phenomenon targeted the catalyst that would band these heroes together and set them on their path. This caught our attention and we were able to intervene in time to save the catalyst. It was our investigation into what happened that revealed this series of disasters across worlds. As this was the most recent world affected by the phenomenon and it failed to dispatch your world's heroes, we chose to find an individual from here to be our champion. Looking into the events to come, we found you to be the most consistent and influential figure. Will you help us?"

Brine pointed his index fingers at Azichael and said, "So, there's a metaphysical disaster or mass murderer going around killing people and you found the trail by accident. Then, when you realized what was happening, you panicked and picked the first guy you found. That about right?"

Azichael just sputtered and his orb-like form shook. In truth, it was exactly as Brine said. Realizing the travesty that had escaped their notice, the divine quickly checked this world and found 'the most important person in events to come'. However, the divine servant did not want to admit to this and tried to deflect, "Why would you think such a thing?"

Continuing to point his index fingers at Azichael, Brine replied, "Because you're asking me to be a hero. You clearly didn't check anything about me. If I'm a main character to whatever is going to happen, it's probably not a good thing."

Taken aback by Brine's claims, Azichael floated back but subtly - not that Brine would be able to tell - decided to do as suggested and see who exactly was Brine Beckett. Upon review, the divine servant was taken aback and unable to stop himself from incredulously blurting out, "A three-year-old girl!?"

Brine lowered his hands and looked at Azichael in confusion. "What are you- Oh! Shit, that's pretty far back. Okay, in my defense, I was at that age where if something feels good and isn't wrong, I'm not going to stop it."

"You intentionally molested a small child!"

Brine raised an eyebrow at this while shoving his hands in his pockets. "Not quite how I remember it, but I admit my memory is a little fuzzy about exactly what I did. On the other hand, I'm ninety-six percent sure I've never done that. Plus, if you're an 'upright' type of divine I'm betting you would consider underage smoking and drinking horrible acts; so, you might be exaggerating."

"Smoking is wrong and the consumption of alcohol has a time and place in moderation. How do you justify the feline you molested?"

"Really brushing off the dust with this one," Brine muttered. "Does it say anything that I remember this better than the other memory?" He then shrugged uncommittedly. "Let's see, I was at that age where I still had my childlike curiosity in anything that interested me but also discovering sex to the point it occupied probably 70% of my thoughts. How about my parents took me to see my dad's sister I have zero memories of and left me with nothing to do while they talked and talked and talked and talked and TALKED!" 

After his little outburst, Brine sighed and then looked calmly to Azichael. "Well, now that you know you chose wrong, you can go find someone else."

"Well…Umm…"

"You can't can you," Brine stated. Tilting his head curiously, he thought aloud, "You said you can't undo this mass protagonist death…because it was 'beyond' you…You can't undo things of your caliber and up…" He then refocused on Azichael and accused' "You already started this whole 'save us' thing and now your stuck with me, aren't you?" 

Sounding slightly defensive, Azichael tried to say something, "It is…You see…We…"

"Shit, you totally are!" A grin appeared on Brine's face. This morphed into a chuckle, then a laugh, and then he about fell over as he held his sides and burst out laughing.

"Stop this mockery this instant!"

"Stop making this so funny this instant," Brine countered through his laughter. 

Azichael quickly calmed himself. "We simply wished to expedite the process should you agree. Since you are not interested, you can refuse and-"

"I never said I wasn't interested," Brine said on his knees as he got his laughter under control. Wobbling a little as he stood back up, he added, "This sounded like something someone more heroically-inclined should do. I don't want to say yes only for you to change your mind later."

Azichael sounded nervous as he tried to dissuade Brine, "The heroes affected by this phenomena have the world on their shoulders. You don't seem like the type to want such a responsibility."

"Yeah, no shit," Brine barked cheerily. "But, seventy-to-ninety-percent of main characters are fucking retards but still get all the best shit and the best girl handed to them. I can put up with their bullshit if I can have- Wait, do I have to do everything exactly as they did?"

"N-No. While preferable if you would maintain events as much as possible, how you complete the heroes' journey is not so important."

"Alright, sounds good to me. So, how's all this work?"

Though it was not visible, Azichael was sweating. Upon reviewing exactly how Brine was important in events to come, he discovered that rather than being a hero or aiding the heroes in overcoming the disasters to come, he was a conspirator. 

The first of many enemies the heroes would face needed an evil champion close to the heroes in their daily lives and would use magic to twist someone into their agent. Unfortunately this someone was Brine. Because he was already twisted, he did not change much and was not fully placed under the enchantress's control. 

In Brine's own words, he would become a plot device for character development. Be it Karley learning to stand up for herself, Kim breaking free of her controlling parents, Cameron escaping his father's shadow, Billy learning to connect with people, etc. All of it comes about directly or indirectly from Brine's wicked deeds against them. 

The reason Brine was determined the second most influential figure after the initial catalyst was due in part to how close a role he plays in 'promoting' the heroes' growth. The other reason was how he maintains as a chaotic or antagonistic force even after the enchantress is stopped and new evils appear. The heroes grow and/or retire, but Brine weaves is way through each generation of hero and villain to play a notable role in every conflict. 

Unleashing this person across worlds is a mistake. Azichael knows it will be even worse than he was originally going to be. Oh, how he wished they had sent him to the third choice - Thompson Oakly would have been a fine choice if a bit unsteady to begin with. 

Still, unless Brine refused the request, he was powerless to do anything…

"Well…Put simply, we will send you to the world of the hero at the moment of their death. Your soul will take possession of their bodies and either play out events as they were intended so the heroes survive or their bodies will be restored and rise from the dead. You will then embark on their journey. To prevent any one world from growing too unstable, you will move through the worlds in sequence before returning to this world and then repeat."

"Okay, it's a chain with each chapter or episode being set in a different world," Brine noted. "Anything else?"

"Y-Yes," Azichael said reluctantly.

Internally, the divine servant wished he did not have to tell Brine the rest. But he relented. "No matter my hesitance, these tools are essential in the task ahead and all would be for naught if I tried to withhold them."

Sighing in defeat, Azichael began to explain, "There are two points of importance that the divine has felt requires particular intervention on our part. The first is in regard to our rescue of the catalyst that brings your world's heroes together and empowers them. Though we managed to save them, they were badly injured and as consequence, they will be weaker than they are supposed to be. They will either be unable to empower the heroes as much as needed or there will be fewer heroes to more concentrate the bestowed power. Furthermore, some heroes have powers that will be lost as a result of their death that are otherwise integral to their journey."

"Thus, we decided to arrange it so our champion would be able to gather power from the various worlds he visits and use it to support the heroes in their own and help mend the deficit caused by any lost power in other worlds."

"So, I go to other worlds, replace the main character, get all their powers, and have those powers follow me through each world," Brine asked for confirmation. 

"Not quite," Azichael said - taking some pleasure in seeing Brine deflate in confusion. "To allow complete transfer between worlds would weaken the dimensional boundaries and further risk destabilization of these worlds to where far more drastic measures would be necessary. Any changes your soul undergoes will carry over between worlds easily enough as they become a functioning part of you. However, other abilities will be more restricted. Learned abilities and skills could be said to carry over between worlds but you may need to train each vessel in their use - assuming the it is possible to do so. Physical items cannot be transferred between worlds at all. Any other potential source of power, we are prepared to…'bend' things - as it were - to allow the transfer of a singular ability you hold great affinity with."

"Okay," Brine said thoughtfully. "Soul stuff is basically a go but otherwise I'll have just the one power and my experience. Eh, good enough. Plus, even if I don't get all the power, I can still have fun with it between worlds. I can work with that, what's the other thing?"

"The whole point of you becoming our champion is for you to maintain events and carry out the heroes' journeys so to maintain the stability of their worlds. How are you to do this if you don't know how vents are to unfold? Thus, he bestow you this." A translucent screen appeared before Brine. It was entirely white with a keyboard and blinking line to begin typing. "Input your intended goal of ensuring events take place as thy were meant to and a system will take form to guide you along your journey. We believe you mortals call this a Quest System."

"This is sounding so much fun," Brine nodded. Unable to contain his growing excitement at all this, he began shuffling his feet. However, he then looked suspiciously to Azichael, "One quick question. Out of curiosity, can you tell me about the worlds I'll be going to and the people I'll be possessing?"

Though confused by Brine's request, Azichael answered, "Well, there are six confirmed worlds that have been twisted by the phenomenon. In one, it is a world of the supernatural and the hero was to be revived upon his death but has failed to use the pamphlet he was given to summon his savior. Another features a world of superheroes where a savior arrives too late to save the hero and their being murdered. The other is a world of training creatures for sport but the young hero who just began his journey is struck by lightning. The remaining three all have the same quality of having heroes set to reincarnate or transmigrate to other, fantastical worlds but somehow fail to."

"Dead guy in supernatural world, murder victim comic world, dead kid in kid-friendly monster world, and highjacking three isekais. Can I learn their names?

"Of course. Issei Hyoudou, Izuku Midoriya, Ash Ketchum, Suzuki Satoru, Tomokui Kanata, and Satoru Mikami."

Brine look on blankly for a moment before saying, "DxD, MHA, Pokémon, and I recognize the name from Re:Monster."

"H-How do you know this!?"

"Because I read manga and watch anime. You really need to do a etter job of checking this stuff. Like whether the worlds you plan to send me to exist as anime and manga series in my world."

Azichael made various noises that suggested embarrassment and shock.

Leaving the divine entity to wallow in disbelief, Brine focused on the screen before him. "So the intended purpose of this is for me to say 'fulfill the heroes' journey'. But I already know their journey, so what happens if I put something else…" He put his hands to the screen and began typing out his desires. 

Recollecting himself, Azichael argued, "Wait, stop! You are correct, we did not realize the possibility you would already know the events of these heroes' world. Still, we prepared the system to work on the basis of providing missions to progress you toward your goal. There is no telling what sort of system will form if you do something else.."

As Azichael spoke, Brine looked at him but did not stop typing. Now, finished, he kept his eyes on the divine servant as he hit the button on the screen to enter. 

Ignoring Azichael's indignant squawk, Brine watched as a spinning wheel appeared on the screen to indicate it was buffering. He idly commented, "Then you shouldn't have let me say what I wanted and just made a Quest System."

Azichael did not respond as he knew Brine was right. From the moment they learned of his phenomena they had truly been panicking and in a rush to resolve the problem. Not only was Brine hastily chosen as their champion without knowing anything about him beyond his importance, but the transferring of power and system were hastily made decisions. The restrictions to transferring of power was less intentional and more the quickest solution they had that posed the least risk. The system was deemed necessary but they were in such a hurry they did not bother to make it - only making a frame work that would sort itself out later.

Azichael knew this was all because of their own haste. At this point, he had more or less given up and - with morbid curiosity - wanted to see what sort of system Brine had created. 

Eventually the screen stopped buffering and a new one appeared that read: 

For your stated goal of 'fuck all the bitches' and desires for 'mind control', 'attribute allocation', 'invisibility', 'reality manipulation', 'time stop', 'power bestowal', 'enslavement mark', 'physical transformation', etc. a singular system failed to be created. Please choose: Favor System, Power Token System, or Attribute Transformation System.

Azichael just looked on flatly. "Really?"

"What? Hey, I'm going to be neck deep in shit doing all this. The way I see it, what's wrong with getting to have some fun while I'm at it. And hey, I put some serious ones in there. Like 'power bestowal', I thought I could give people powers to make them stronger. Even the self-indulging, wish-fulfillment could have had serious uses."

"True…" Azichael was not so much judging as observing at this point. Why had the system framework put out three systems instead of one? Could it really not find a way to integrate all the requests together? Maybe it was overwhelmed by all Brine's requests. 

No matter how you phrase it, he effectively asked for a collection of powers which the divine servant knew the system was not equipped to do. It was meant to provide missions and provide ultimately pointless gratification. Brine's requests did not fit the intended mold and had resulted in it becoming warped. 

"How about all of them," Brine suddenly said. 

"Excuse me?"

"There's nothing to say I can't have all three, right?"

Before Azichael could answer, the three options vanished and was replaced by a new screen. 

Choice confirmed. Integration of all three systems is not viable. Champion is requested to select one system. Otherwise, all three systems will be randomized per world travel.

"So, I can have all three but only one at a time and it will randomly change each world. I'm good with that," Brine happily shrugged. 

Accepting his words, the screen vanished. 

Brine then turned to Azichael. "So, what now?"