Paths of the Chosen (Rewritten, Revised, and Reinvigorated)

Daniel Stewart was chosen to alpha test a brand new Immersive VR game, "The Realms". What he doesn't know is that he has also been Chosen by one of the Powers of a far-off world, and is now a pawn in a game much bigger than any he thought he would ever participate in. Will he survive and thrive in this strange new world, or will he stumble and fall, shattered by the ambitions of another? Does he have what it takes to walk the Paths of the Chosen? --- Inspired by the Chaos Seeds novels, TheDespaxas's The Gamer, and a wide variety of games and books, although the world, characters, and systems are my own. Expect high fantasy, magic, combat and intrigue, love and loss, grief and passion. This story is intended for adult audiences and contains explicit sexual content, profanity, and violence (including sexual violence, although not by the protagonist and not as a focus of the story). Chapters with such content will be clearly marked, and all explicit sexual content will be behind spoiler tags. I prefer my stories to have happy endings, and especially in these uncertain times, I feel that it is important to maintain hope. While this tale will reach some dark places, I promise to you that, when all is said and done, the villains will be justly punished and the heroes will prevail and prosper. Remember: it is darkest before dawn, but dawn always comes. Please note also that although this story does not have the [Harem] tag, it does have an extremely slow build into a polyamorous relationship. Additionally, starting with Champion (book two of the series), the [Multiple Lead Characters], [Female Lead], and [Non-Human Lead] tags would also apply to varying degrees. This is a complete, ground-up rewrite of the original Paths of the Chosen, following feedback from here and elsewhere. It is now written in the third-person limited omniscient perspective and in the past tense. In addition, while the major plot beats are unchanged, most of what comes between them has been reconsidered and rewritten, with pacing and characterization as a special focus. --- Update schedule: 2 chapters per week (Monday and Thursday), not counting bonus chapters. Chapter length is roughly 2,500 words on average, +/- 1,000 words. Chapters with explicit content tend to be longer so that they are still worth reading for those who would prefer a fade to black. --- Cover art by Agri Karuniawan (@artofagri). View more of their work at https://www.deviantart.com/iamagri.