Besides a sky lit up by falling stars I sat at a table for two.
"So what's the plan."
"That man is training another heir again. Looks like we'll have to nip it in the bud."
"Interesting. Do we have to kill it or can I use it?"
"That depends on whether it fails or succeeds the training. If our sabotage is successful then go ahead."
With a smile, I raised my glass for a toast.
"Cheers."
And with that, the end of another world was set in motion.
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"Where… Where am I?"
Dawn looked around. He couldn't see anything at all. He couldn't open his eyes. Something grainy surrounded his entire body. He could feel the oxygen around him slowly being used up. That was when he started panicking.
Dawn stuck his hand out. The soil was compact and hard but crumbled when he touched it. His head emerged from the ground. Feeling the familiar feeling of the wind through his hair, he looked around to see that he was at the edge of the forest. He shook the dust off his hair and noticed a few things. A long, winding road led to a village along the horizon. Green hills surrounded said road and for as far as he can see, there were plains.
"How'd I get here?"
"I didn't suffocate?"
Dawn got up. Standing on his two feet, he noticed the tree behind him looked different, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Besides, he had bigger fish to fry.
"Nikko? Gantz? Sykes? Where are you guys?"
Looking around, he couldn't find any trace of his party members. Even when he returned to the original campsite he couldn't find any of them.
"Guys? Where are you?"
The anxiety hit him all at once. What if his friends were dead? Were they killed by the ghost thing? Did they die of suffocation? The questions and possibilities were overwhelming. Overcome with worry, Dawn ran back to the tree and began digging. To his surprise, there was no one buried with him.
Although I also want to find them, returning to civilization has a higher priority. We better get out of Lunarport before something bad happens. Here, considering you need something to light up the path ahead, and you need to tell the time, I'll give you something that helps. Beneath you, around 5 cm Northwest of your left foot, dig down exactly one foot.
"Foot as in a limb or 6 inches?"
<6 inches. God, why are feet such a hard measurement? 30.48 centimeters. No more no less.>
Following the voice's instructions, Dawn began to dig into what was presumably the point where the voice had instructed him to dig. He couldn't get a perfect measurement because he forgot his ruler on the raft, so he had to rely on instinct.
"Hey… What's this?"
In his hand, he held a small wristband. It had a childish design, the strap had a baby blue coloring to emphasize its orange head. Orange? What Dawn was holding didn't look like a wristband at all. He'd say it looked more like-
Dawn stared at it in disbelief. This was the second time the voice had materialized something weird. Even weirder was that the orange part was currently a deactivated shade of grey. Considering its shade of grey, it probably was similar to Gantz's broadcast, meaning it had to be activated in order to work. He tilted his head to the side and began shaking the object in hopes of somehow activating it. He then tilted his head closer when suddenly,
"It is now noon, Superstar!"
a mechanical, yet soothing voice rang out.
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Dawn put the watch in his pocket. So far he had collected two objects, not of this world. A "WE M9A1 BERETTA" and "Watch" which he has stored in both his pockets. After a while of planning his next course of action, he decided to head towards the village he saw. When he asked why they shouldn't search Nikko, the voice told him it was because there was something He wanted to teach him.
He looked around to see if there were any nearby villages and then he saw a quaint village on the horizon. He turned around to gaze at the gloomy forest that he had woken in. Although Nikko and the gang could be in there, he decided to go to the village and ask around first. There is still much to learn about Lunarport. The vivid feeling of the presence of the strange woman and the feeling of falling into a really deep hole is something he'd rather not feel a second time. Content, he turned back and followed the long dusty path to the village.
After about four hours, the strange voice spoke.
"It is now 4 pm, Superstar!"
Dawn decided to sit down and rest. His legs were at their limit and demanded a break. He then took out his waterskin (It was a supply he was carrying around) and began to drink. Pouring the cool and refreshing liquid down his throat, he began to lament his weakness, Dawn felt wistful about the fact that he failed to defeat the apparition.
"Couldn't beat the damn ghost. What can I even do?"
Dawn suddenly stopped walking. A line that couldn't be ignored had just been stated. A superpower other than his immortality? Maybe he could get strong quickly after all.
"What?"
Dawn decided to pay mind to the voice's statement. Previously he thought that his immortality was the only ability bestowed upon him by the voice, now he a flicker of hope that his journey would be a little bit easier.
In his mind, Dawn wondered why Voice hadn't mentioned this in the contract or any time during his many years of existence. With an agitated voice, he replied out loud.
"So how do I use it?"
"Give me at least a vague explanation."
"What?"
Suddenly, the gleam of a knife being unsheathed shone brightly. 3 men jumped out from behind a nearby rock onto the pathway. Dawn stood up and went on his guard. Three men, with brown skin and dressed in slightly torn clothing, closed in on him. One, dressed slightly better than the other two, was assumed by him to be their leader. The lead bandit then announced:
"Hey, Hey! Empty your purse on the floor and give us all your money! Or we'll take your life!"
"Got it!"
The sheer desperation and fear of death gave Dawn newfound "courage". Using his newfound abilities, a rock began to materialize in his hand. Emerging from his palm, a basalt-based rock fell into his other hand. Adopting a pitcher's stance, he swerved around and threw said rock.
"Take this! Rock Toss!"
After naming this newfound ability, Dawn used all of his wrist strength to fling the rock. The rock flew through the air like a bullet and hit the lead bandit square on the head immediately knocking him out cold. The other two bandits were frozen with fear the lead bandit fell to the floor. The two bandits, without little hesitation, prostrated themselves and sat on the floor begging for mercy… Or so Dawn hoped.
The rock swerved through the air and shattered the moment it hit the bandit. Either the bandit had a really strong torso or Dawn's Earth abilities were really weak.
"Fuck," thought Dawn.
The bandits inched closer. The lead bandit was visibly agitated by the rock and didn't look willing to spare him, even if he got down on his knees and begged. With resentment, Dawn fell back to his last resort.
"Dammit. I'm gonna have to resort to my trump card."
Dawn said aloud hoping the bandits would be too intimidated to continue by this statement. His hopes were betrayed shortly afterward. The bandits looked even more agitated by this. The lead bandit then shot back:
"What are you going to do huh? Throw another one of your rocks at me? You're patheti-"
With a poof, Dawn took off running. The bandits were left dazed as Dawn mustered up all of his strength to flee from the scene. After figuring out what was going on, the extremely irritated bandits began to give chase. The chase went on for a while before eventually, Dawn tired out.
"I think I lost them," he said to himself.
He noticed that the village was closer than when he first started. He was probably going to reach it in 2 or 3 minutes. The serenity of the blue sky and grass surrounding the road seemed to have a calming effect on him, allowing him to think more rationally. He had several things to worry about like, finding Nikko, but that was a lower priority than returning to town. Deciding to learn more about his earth abilities and to change the topic, he decided to question the voice about his rock ability.
"Why is my rock abilities so-"
"Ok."
Eventually, he arrived at the village. A huge sign painted with some form of acrylic told him that the village was called Trist Village… Trist Village? Dawn suddenly recalled an earlier conversation.
"I thought we were supposed to be going to Clore!"
Suddenly, a nearby person turned to him. The stranger wore a leather tunic and seemed to be a local farmer. The man spoke up.
"It seems you were a target of Lunarport's curse. They say that there's a tree somewhere in Harry's Pass that connects Lunarport to a nearby forest called Auris. You were teleported. Clore is more than 100 miles away from here."
"Ok,"
He looked around, the stalls were bustling with sales, it seemed like a flea market is being held here. Crowds of people were haggling at counters. The sounds of horse-drawn carts rushing filled the air. Dawn needed a way to find the money. He checked his pockets for things to sell, but the waterskin, watch, and gun are far too valuable. He looked around the town for jobs, checking for someone willing to hire him, but then he decided against it as it's too time-consuming. Just when all hope seemed to be lost, the voice spoke.
If I'm right this universe should have an adventurer's guild.
"Huh?"
Dawn understood. He felt excited to start his first commission at the adventurer's guild. He dashed through the town passing houses made of straw and clay to search for something that resembled an "adventurer's guild" and sure enough, he saw something.
A building, much cleaner and more expensive than the rest, sat at the town square. That's it. Dawn entered and scanned the room. The walls were made of polished marble and the floors were polished. Huge marble pillars supported the ceiling, which was very high indeed. Receding into the unlit areas of the balcony, many doors were leading into numerous amount rooms. Opposite the front door, there was a counter and a corkboard. At the counter, a woman dressed in a light green shirt with streaks of white was sitting. The receptionist was a woman who looked between the ages of 20 to 35. She also wore her black hair in short buns and watched Dawn with expecting eyes.
He approached the billboard to see it riddled with parchment with foreign languages written on it. The parchment looked particularly old and dark, which was different from the seaweed woven parchment he was familiar with.
"How come I can read this?"
< It's one of the eleven languages I taught you. Jauger, remember?>
"Jauger? Oh you mean the extremely squiggly one?"
"There's an extermination job here. One for exterminating… Gotters? It seems to pay well and it also says here that I need a party of 4 to do a quest."
"Yes, you are correct. Do you want me to sign you up for one of the available parties?"
Instead of the familiar voice in his head, he was greeted with a new one. It sounded like a gentle hum on the summer breeze. He turned around to see the woman at the counter replying. Her eyes had changed from expecting to welcoming, and her attitude seemed inherently friendly.
"Erm yes…. And you are?"
Not knowing what a party was, Dawn decided to hide his stupidity by changing the topic. Awaiting a reply, the voice sounding of fluttering birds spoke out.
"Amity. I'm the receptionist here at the Trist Village Adventurer's guild. Now there are two open parties."
"Ok tell me."
"First we have a team of four composed of four people named Bennett, Jack, Heckler, and Royce. Currently, Heckler has a severe case of Diarrhea so he needs a fill-in."
Dawn didn't like the sound of that. He had a feeling that'd bring him bad luck. He already had extremely bad luck. Any more, and lightning might start aiming his way. He'd reckon Lady Luck had forsaken him ever since he step foot on the raft.
"Pass. And the other?"
"It's composed of three people named Erva, Eras, and Sebastian."
"Ok, I'll take that one please."
Dawn would take pretty much everyone. As long as they won't hinder his progress (Bad luck) he'd take it to get back to Clore. Although unmentioned, he was looking forward to seeing new companions. Nikko and co. were likable, it's just a shame that he couldn't find them. And to be honest, he was feeling pretty lonely. Talking only to a voice in your head for around 190 years gets to you eventually.
"Ok. I marked their current locations on your map."
Recognizing the word "god" from his contract, he decided to press on. He remembered that his job was to defend Nikko from evil gods.
Unlike this dimension's god of humanity, the gods I know of can travel between worlds. I consider them evil gods because their sole purpose and goal are to slaughter every dimension's residents and to make their dimension the sole dimension.
"Whoa Whoa. Maybe you should've warned me before I chose it. And what about Sebastian, is he a god?"
"Gotcha"
"Well, it says here we meet at a bar across the street."
Wanting a small break from what was happening thus far, Dawn reluctantly agreed.
"It's in the afternoon, after all, I have time"
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The roving sun hung over the sky. Dawn sat inside a bar, bored and tired. He was just taught how to cross a street properly and how to properly use a toilet. The bar wasn't the cleanest, it was quite grimey and the lighting wasn't good, but he was content. The barstool he sat on was barely strong enough to support his weight but he endured. He scanned the bar to find a party of 3 people but nothing of that sort was spotted among the many customers in the building. Displeased, he took a sip of a drink he ordered 3 minutes before. It tasted bad and it made him dizzy, but he wasn't willing to waste the drink.
"Why do people drink this weird drink? It's just bad."
Bringing the strange brew up to his mouth, Dawn took a light sip of the strange concoction. The taste was bitter and sour, which caused his face to retch in disgust. A feeling of regret and confusion swept over him as he put down the drink. Then he remembered what the voice just said, and saw a new hope.
"So if I drink this, the bad gods will die and Nikko will complete his quest safely?"
"That sucks."
Suddenly an unfamiliar voice spoke up in the bar. A voice that sounded like thunder striking a mountain. A voice that sounded intimidating.
"So this is my party member? I was wondering how you'd look."
Dawn turned to the door to see three silhouettes standing by the door.
"My name is Eras, this is Erva and finally Sebastian."
Presenting an old-looking piece of parchment, Eras declared his and his friend's names.
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"This piece of paper holds that much power?!"
In his hands, lay a sheet of paper riddled with writing. It was written in a way that each paragraph was organized neatly into something called a "Clause". Apparently, this piece of paper had the power to make you split the money between the rest of your party.
"Wait so it's like a promise?"
Dawn's interest suddenly died. Up until the voice's statement, he believed the strange paper to be a magical artifact that can bind your very soul. Wait a minute. He suddenly realized something.
"Voice, isn't this 'Contract' the same thing you gave me when I asked to live?"
"So what next?"
The baffling fact promises weren't made verbally was very baffling to Dawn. He believed promises were made only verbally until this revelation came by and shattered that belief. The only problem is that he doesn't know how to agree.
"Oh."
After writing his name down, Dawn looked at his party members. The first (whom he presumed to be Eras) had green hair, a condescending grin, and heavy armor with a skull painted on it. The second, (Whom he presumed to be Erva) was in a suit of light armor. She had a breastplate, some shin guards, only one elbow guard, and a helmet that covered her head. The last was Sebastian who looked in bad condition. He had black hair, several eyebags indicating he hasn't slept in a while, and a tired demeanor. Eras then broke the silence.
"We're doing a quest to slay some gotters in a cave near here. We're going to start soon. Dawn, do you have any battle gear?"
"I don't have any."
Heeding the voice's advice, Dawn reached back and slipped his gun into his pants. His pants had a special compartment near the buttocks which were originally used to store fish.