(HEY! Wake up!) I heard a Raspy voice talk to me, it sounded just like a rat's voice. "Five more minutes." I said as I turned over. (Nah! I've been waiting too long for this moment for someone to ask for 'Five more minutes'!)This guy was starting to get annoying. I opened my eyes to see a small floating ball of gray fuzz with rat ears, two black eyes and one long slender tail, and no mouth. The sun was high
(Ugh, finally you're awake.) Said the Fuzzball. "What the fuck Are you s'post to be!?" I asked, I'm convinced I had lost my mind. (I am the Rat God! I'm here to help you on this perilous journey!) It cheered. "Oh cool, do you have an off button?" I said rudely. The Fuzzball recoiled in shock (Hey man that's uncalled for! Besides, you need what I got to offer!) It said, "Oh yeah, and what is that?" I asked. (Mountains of information! Some of which is extremely important.)It said with a serious undertone. I kicked back and started sunbathing. The Fuzz ball got in front of me and looked annoyed.
"Hey, ya know what?" (What?) "You're in my sunlight...move." The Fuzzball literally turned red with anger. (Unbelievable! Un-fucking-believable!!! I waited for millennia for a Champion rat to make it to the Ratling stage and they end up being a rude little shit like you!?) It yelled in anger. "Yeesh, now I know where our kind gets it's short temper." I quipped. The Fuzzball sighed. (Can you please work with me for just a second please? I'll answer any questions you have.)He said trying to keep his composure. "Please, I can just use analysis if I need any help," I said. Fuzzball's eyes opened wide in surprise. (Wait… Analysis? But that's a skill only Otherworlders or Reincarnations can have…) It said putting the pieces together. "Ah fuck, me and my big mouth." I said, realizing my mistake. (You ain't a summoned hero so that must mean you're a reincarnation! You're a former Human! Ha, no wonder you're so thick headed!) It said cheerfully. I facepalmed myself for my stupidity.
(Look 'human', if it weren't for me you'd still be back there getting tortured so how about you at least cooperate with me for a few seconds?) It asked. I sighed. "Fine, I'll hear you out. Oh and you can just call me Rat by the way." I said. (Hmm... where do I start?) it Asked. "How about you just tell me about yourself?" I suggested. The Fuzzball cleared its throat.
(As I told you before, I'm the God of rats. Me and other animal Gods were tasked with protecting the beast-kin people… Of course as my name suggests, I was tasked with taking care of the Rat-kin people.) It explained. "I'm guessing that didn't go so well," I said. (The Mouse-kin were very similar to us, they were close allies with the Rat-kin. our kingdoms were only a few miles apart... Their God, the Mouse God... was like a brother to me, I trusted him dearly...) A single tear went down It's face. It wiped it with his tail (At that time a different race existed. They were called the demons. They got into some war with the humans, I forgot what it was about. The Demons weren't easy to take down; they had extremely powerful magic. It lasted a century and multiple heroes had to be summoned. It ended when a four way alliance was made between the Beast, human, elf, and dwarf nations. all of them teamed up to fight the Demon race but they wouldn't give up and eventually drove their race to extinction.)
"So, what does this have to do with the Rat-kins?" I added
(Well one day a man showed up at a Rat-kin village he was badly wounded and needed help. The Rat-kins healed him and and took him in, giving him a place to stay and food to eat… The man was very thankful and once he got better he started helping around the village becoming a well liked member of the community… One day a party of knights showed up at the village looking for the man, as it turns out he was a half demon champion. The people refused to turn the man over. So you know what the knights did?) He asked me. "What?" I asked (They slaughtered them, All of them, women and children included. In the chaos the villagers gave the man time to escape back to the Demon kingdom... When my people found out about this they were furious, I don't blame them so was I. My people demanded an explanation from the human kingdom and for the soldiers responsible to face justice! But the human nation denied this request, In fact they said that village got what they deserved for harboring an enemy champion. The anger of my people was immense. In Fact they declared war on the humans because of this. I asked for my brother to help me get revenge on the humans but he refused to help me. In fact he and his people out right Betrayed us, taking the humans' side. I had never felt so betrayed. My people only had one ally to turn towards... The Demons.)
This is an entertaining story! "Then what happened?" I asked.
(My People got allied with the demons and started fighting with them. Rat-kins were not to be underestimated, we were some of the best assassins and dark magic users of the Demon army! Our technology was cutting edge and our weapons were highly sought after in the demon army. We were almost unstoppable!) "Emphasis on the almost." I said. ( In the end the human's alliance was too powerful, the demon Race fell and the Rat-kin was getting absolutely destroyed.)
(In their final battle I decided to help my people in their time of need. I joined the battle and started Slaying anything that wasn't a Rat-kin. This was my greatest mistake ever. It was a grave crime for a god to help mortals beyond Blessings and support. In the middle of the battle I was stopped by all other beast Gods Including the mouse God, I stood no chance against them. As for my people, they were defeated by human heroes from another world.)
( For my crimes against the natural order I had my soul separated from my physical body. Do you know how painful that is? Having your soul ripped out isn't exactly a comfortable process, especially for a God. The agony is still engraved in my mind. My Body was locked up and contained in some secret location on Althera and as for my soul… well you can see what happened. I'm nothing but a lone spirit forced to wander the Planet in complete solitude for the rest of eternity...)
"Oh... and what happened to the Rat-kin?" I asked
(Well you've met them already. All Rat monsters are descendants of the fallen Rat-kin! My people lost their final battle. The humans used a weapon to curse the entire race. The curse of 'limited intelligence'! It made it so that My people's intelligence stat wouldn't pass a value of 10, And with their god being weakened it caused them all to devolve back into Ratlings! I have a very close connection to all Rats if I'm weakened, so are they. After all of this, any new Rat children born would start off dumb and Feral unable to evolve into a Ratling… Eventually all remaining Ratlings died off and all that was left were feral Rat monsters...)
"So that's like the whole story of the Rats? So why am I so important to you? What exactly do you need from me?" I asked. (The curse isn't perfect. Sometimes there's a hiccup of sorts and a rat is born without it. I call them Prodigies. I have a theory… since you chose to be a rat the system must be having trouble giving a human soul a curse meant for rats-)
"Now hold on buddy, I never chose to be a Rat!!!" I corrected him. (Wha-? Then why did you get reborn as a rat?)He asked. "Some stupid Goddese confused me with someone else and 'corrected' herself by making me a fucking Rodent! God I hate her for that!"I yelled. (Goddese? What did she look like!?) he asked. "The details are a little fuzzy but I do remember her having Blond hair and Red eyes,"I said. (Hmm, Nope, I don't know any Goddess like that. She must've been new.) He said. He snapped back to his original point.
(Ok long story short You're the only one who's made it this far. Everyone else died day one or before they could make it to the Ratling evolution, and you seem to have a natural talent for thievery so I have an offer for you; find out where they're keeping my body and the cursing weapon and steal it back!) They exclaimed. "Sounds hard, what exactly do I get in return?" I asked (Well for starters you'll need to do it if you ever hope to be something more than just a Ratling, once you reach Level 50 you'll never be able to evolve as long as i'm like this. Second, I happen to know of multiple locations where My people use to keep their most advanced and powerful artifacts, they could help you a lot in your journey.) "Sounds good but what do I get as my advance pay?" I asked. (Hahaha!!! Spoken like a true thief! That's an easy one!) It spun around in joy.
(I'm going to teach you how to do Magic!)