This time, you return to wakefulness with a clear understanding that the pain which, to you, is only a split second old is nonetheless a memory. That memory is so intense, however, that you still scream and arch your back, writhing naked, save only for your soulbound haversack, on the ground for several long seconds as your newly-reborn mind processes all of the information, and all of the immense ocean of pain, from the last few minutes of your previous life. Once you manage to wrestle your mind back to the present and sag down to the dirt-covered canyon floor, you slowly begin to go through the incredible numbers of prompts which are demanding your attention.

YOU HAVE DIED

As you are Chosen, Death's door is not a one-way trip for you. Your soul has forced its way back into the Realms, but at a cost.
Each time you die, you will lose all progress towards the next level, as well as a random amount of progress in every known Skill, up to 1 full level (to a minimum of level 1.00). In addition, it takes time for your soul to re-form your body and return to your spawn point. When you respawn, only objects which were bound to your soul and on or very near your person will respawn with you. All other objects will remain with your corpse.
Know this! Because the strength of your soul has been degraded, it has taken you longer to re-form your body and return to life, and you have lost more experience and skill experience. Although your soul will gradually heal over time, just like your body, there are serious consequences to expending soul energy. If you continue to use your own soul as fuel without allowing it to heal, the consequences will grow more and more dire and immediate. Be warned: If ever your soul is completely depleted, not even being a Chosen will save you from a true death, and there will be nothing left to proceed into the afterlife.

Well, that was just great. Good to know these things ahead of time. That's not really fair, you tell yourself, I absolutely should have expected consequences for using my actual soul as a power source.

Next, you go through all of the Skill-related prompts.

Congratulations! You have reached levels 9 and 10 in Riding. You are now an Initiate in Riding; in addition to the benefits from previous ranks, you gain 50% less discomfort from your mount's gait.
Congratulations! You have reached levels 9 and 10 in Centaurback Riding. You are now an Initiate in Centaurback Riding; in addition to the benefits from previous ranks, any centaur you ride will become very slightly more submissive towards you every time you ride them. This benefit stacks indefinitely, but it will gradually wear off if you do not ride that centaur for long enough.
Congratulations! You have reached levels 6 through 12 in Leadership. You are now an Initiate in Leadership; in addition to the benefits from previous ranks, every other member of a party you lead gains a +10% bonus to their share of the party experience.
Congratulations! You have reached levels 2 through 5 in Beast Magic. You are now a Novice in Beast Magic; all non-sapient animals will be one step more tolerant of you.
Congratulations! You have reached levels 3 through 11 in Animamancy. You are now an Initiate in Animamancy; in addition to the benefits from previous ranks, you gain +25% resistance to soul damage caused by external sources, and you gain a 5% bonus to earned experience.
Congratulations! You have reached levels 28 through 31 in Fire Magic.
Congratulations! You have reached levels 7 through 13 in Vivimancy. You are now an Initiate in Vivimancy; in addition to the benefits from previous ranks, whenever you summon or create a living creature it gains +5 levels.
Congratulations! You have reached level 9 in Spears.
Congratulations! You have reached level 11 in Light Armor.

Well, at least you're going to be able to abuse the death-experience-loss exploit to get some more experience to make up for the tens of thousands you burned using Soulfire and Phoenix Pyre. Also maybe a couple of spells. Speaking of which...

Congratulations! You have learned the spell Soothe Beasts and the rituals Fortify Soul, Lesser Soulbind, and Summon Golden Fawn.

Soothe Beasts: Beast Magic, level 5. Some say that music soothes the savage beast, and that may be true, but Beast Magic is far more immediately effective. Casting this spell will cause one or more animals to grow less hostile towards you and your party or warband. Each target becomes calmer and less likely to attack gradually; the speed of the effect depends on the intelligence and Willpower of the target and the spell power of the caster. This effect continues for a period of time even after the spell has ended, but is not permanent. Cost: 50 Concentration per target. Duration: Concentration, plus spell power minutes. Casting time: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 2 hours.
Fortify Soul: Animamancy, level 5. This ritual protects the target's soul from outside influences, helping both to reduce damage to the soul and to protect the soul from effects which might alter or corrupt it. The target gains 20% resistance to soul damage from external sources and 25% resistance to effects which would affect their soul in a negative manner. Cost: 50 Concentration, 25 experience. Duration: Concentration. Casting time: 10 seconds.
Lesser Soulbind: Animamancy, level 10. Through the use of this ritual, an Animanancer can infuse an object with their own soul, causing it to be Soulbound to them. Having an object Soulbound to you carries many benefits, from always being able to locate the object while within a certain distance of it to severe penalties for anyone else who tries to use the object. As a Chosen, there is an additional benefit to you: any object which is Soulbound to you and near you when you die will be brought to you when and if you return to life. This ritual can only Soulbind common, uncommon, or rare objects, and cannot Soulbind an object which is already bound. Cost: 500 experience times rarity multiplier. Duration: Permanent, until final death. Casting time: 1 minute.
Summon Golden Fawn: Vivimancy, level 10. Golden deer are magical creatures heavily steeped in life energy; simply being near a golden deer will restore small amounts of Health and Psyche damage. This ritual summons a very young golden deer which is not capable of participating in combat but still has the Aura of Life Ability of an adult. Cost: 100 Concentration, 1 sprig of leaves edible by a golden deer. Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour. Casting time: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 6 hours.

Well, Fortify Soul is a cheap way to train Animanancy -- 25 experience is nothing at this point -- and at least if you ever die and revive again you'll probably not have to wake up naked. Soothe Beasts also definitely has potential uses, and having an AOE heal which doesn't rapidly consume your Stamina has to come in handy, even if it's tied to a fragile, non-combat creature.

Next, you decide to check and see just how badly your Animanancy rituals damaged your experience. Phoenix Pyre cost you a lot, from what you remember.

Current experience: 578,436. Experience required for next level: 620,000.

Congratulations! You have advanced from level 10 to level 15.

As a Chosen Helltouched Human, you gain thirty Attribute points to distribute and your Willpower and Charisma increase by five. You also gain 125% advancement towards any Skills; this advancement may be spent in 25% increments. Allocate these within 72 hours or they will be randomly assigned. Honor thy Patron and follow thy heart!
You have received 50 Talent points to spend on any of your available Talents.

..."What the fuck?!" You manage to croak out through your parched throat. You open up your combat log to figure out what in the Hell happened.

Aidan Lostlorn's party has earned 1,068,775 experience for killing 1,236 assorted Manikins, 4,391 Dark Vines, 1 Dakhol Savage, 1 Deathbramble Heart, and 1 Ancient Tannath Taig Corruptor.
You have earned an additional 1,527 experience from Stolen Destiny.
You have earned an additional 7,634 experience from Initiate rank in Animamancy.

Twelve hundred Manikins? Four thousand Dark Vines? There were a lot of vines in the Deathbramble Heart's chamber, but not nearly that many! And you know you only killed 40 Manikins in Bannagh Macht. Also, Ancient Tannath Taig Corruptor? It was just called "Tannath Taig" in your combat log. Then again, it had easily handled your entire party by itself and managed to raise an army of the undead more than a thousand strong...

But still, the math doesn't add up entirely. You sift through your prompts and find another couple prompts which fills in part of the missing hole.

You have earned 1,350 experience for reaching Novice rank in two Skills and Initiate rank in five Skills.

You have completed a Quest!

Earn Your Place:
Requirement: Cleanse Bannagh Macht -- SUCCESS, killed the Deathbramble Heart.
Hidden Optional Goal: Kill the source of the corruption -- SUCCESS, Ancient Tannath Taig Corruptor permanently slain.
Reward: 2,500 experience, increased reputation with Starchaser tribe.
Additional Rewards: 22,500 experience, increased relationship with entire Starchaser tribe, greatly increased relationship with everyone who witnessed the death of the Taig.

You have earned an additional 250 experience from Stolen Destiny.
You have earned an additional 1,250 experience from Initiate rank in Animamancy.

Congratulations! Your relationships with 85 Starchasers have advanced to Friendly.
They now view you as someone they can relate to and expect to treat them with fairness and respect.

Congratulations! For gaining 85 new Friendly relationships, you have earned 46,750 experience [500 base, +10% Lostlorn title, times 85]. Honor thy friends and they will honor you!
You have earned an additional 468 experience from Stolen Destiny.
You have earned an additional 2,338 experience from Initiate rank in Animamancy.

Congratulations! Your relationships with Ceirios, Ysbail, and Maeryn have advanced to Deep Admiration.
They now view you as someone who is worthy of their utmost respect.

Congratulations! For gaining 3 new Admiring relationships, you have earned 4,125 experience [1500 base, +10% Lostlorn title, times 3]. Cultivate thy admirers and new relationships may bloom!
You have earned an additional 41 experience from Stolen Destiny.
You have earned an additional 206 experience from Initiate rank in Animamancy.

Congratulations! Your relationships with Cai and Llwyd have advanced to Complete Loyalty.
They would follow into the very pits of Hell.

Congratulations! For gaining 2 new Loyal followers, you have earned 11,000 experience [5000 base, +10% Lostlorn title, times 2]. Guard well thy followers, for they entrust their lives to thee!
You have earned an additional 41 experience from Stolen Destiny.
You have earned an additional 206 experience from Initiate rank in Animamancy.

There are also assorted prompts advising you that most of the rest of the Starchaser tribe is now at least to Tolerated, although there are still a heaping handful of holdouts stuck at Unfriendly and Neifion and a couple others -- probably his goon squad -- are still at Hostile. Still, though, there is a considerable amount of experience missing, so you continue sorting through your prompts. Then, after a few more seconds of searching, you find it.

A new Age has come!

A true Miracle has been performed for the first time in over half a millennium. The Chosen champion of a deity has channeled divine energy to cleanse the world of an ancient evil and return the dead to life. A new Age is upon the Realms! The Godless Age is naught but history; today is the first day of the Age of the Chosen!
As a Chosen, you now have access to Paragon Points, which may be spent at any time to gain a variety of rewards based on your Patron, Alignment, Skills, and a myriad of other factors.
Know this! As the Herald of the New Age, you gain several benefits. First, you have access to a new epithet, "Champion of the Cleansing Flame". Second, you earn 100 Paragon Points. Third and least, you earn 250,000 experience.

You have earned an additional 2,500 experience from Stolen Destiny.
You have earned an additional 12,500 experience from Initiate rank in Animamancy.

Congratulations! You have been given a new Epithet, "Champion of the Cleansing Flame"! While acting under the auspices of this Epithet, you gain 1 Paragon Point per day. There are additional benefits to this Epithet which you do not currently qualify for. Do you wish to change your Epithet from "Lostlorn" to "Champion of the Cleansing Flame"? Beware! This Epithet will mark you clearly as a Chosen, for good or for ill!

"Fuck no," You say to the air. "Not yet, anyhow."

The air, of course, does not reply. However, the large black-furred, glowing-silver-spotted cat which pounces on your chest immediately afterward exclaims, "Mrrrow!" and sends a rapid stream of <joy love love love joy safe home love joy>, then lays down on you. Her head is mere inches from your own and her loud, rumbling purr sends vibrations throughout your torso. Instinctively you wrap her in your arms and her purrs somehow grow even louder. She rubs her face against yours and begins to wash you with her rough tongue, causing you to laugh and push her away. Then you hear the soft tramp of hooves on densely-packed stone and you struggle to your knees, turning towards the entrance to the box canyon to see a certain flame-haired Paladin silhouetted against the sky.