[AN]: I hope you are doing well. I had the idea of this story a few years ago and never actually did any writing about it. I did some general world building with it and thought of some stuff, but no actual story. It randomly popped back into my mind yesterday, and I couldn't get it out of my head so I decided to write some down.
There will be no regular releases on it like there is for my Skyrim Fanfic. I eventually plan to write more with it, but Altering Skyrim is my main focus right now. If I do write more, the chapters will not be this long.
If after that warning you still want to read it, let me know what you think.
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The piercing sounds of an alarm going off woke Rictus up from his traditional lunchtime nap. After quickly turning it off, he let out a large yawn as he slowly got out of the hammock. It was a beautiful fall day in the city. The sun was shining, and there was a cool breeze blowing signifying summer was over and winter was coming.
Rictus looked fondly at his little napping setup. The roof of his office building was a great place to get away during his lunch break. No one else really bothered making their way up, maybe since they didn't know the code for getting up here. Treating the janitorial staff with respect was always a smart idea. He had set up his hammock near one of the corners of the building by the stairs. It provided just enough cover he could keep his upper body in the shade while taking a nap. Originally, he just sat looking at the sky while eating lunch, but a couple weeks ago he had snuck his hammock and some hooks which fit nicely in the brick mortar to really take advantage of the space. On nice days, he would generally eat his lunch and then take a little nap while swinging on his hammock and enjoying the outside.
Sadly, his hour lunch break was over. Those datasets weren't going to clean themselves. Thankfully, he was almost done with the cleaning process and then he could start his analysis. Statistics and data analysis were not the most glamorous jobs, but it paid the bills and then some. It wouldn't be too much longer before he would have enough in his savings to get a house with some land where he could start doing what he really wanted. A doggie daycare, Christmas tree farm, corn maze, and pumpkin patch with a small garden and a chicken coop was the dream, maybe he would even finish his Skyrim Fanfiction he had been writing while sitting on his farm. Those things were a long way off, and he lacked experience in those fields, but it was still the dream.
"WWHHAATTT?!?!?!?!?"
The loud screams brought him out of daydream. He quickly looked over the edge overlooking the back alleyway. Looking down showed him something he was not expecting at all.
"Holy balls of the pope…" The words slipped out as he stared at the sight before him. A strange circular diagram was glowing like something seen out of an issekai anime. There was a hazy outline of a group of people inside the circle which slowly started fading away. He couldn't help but stare as he leaned out getting a better view and checked if anyone else saw the strange sight.
Aaaand he fell.
The bricks he had been leaning against had come loose. Apparently, the hooks he had stabbed into the mortar between the bricks had compromised the structural integrity. Him leaning so far out had been the final stressor causing them to fall away and him lose his balance.
The final thoughts going through his mind was how fast the ground was approaching and wondering when his life would flash before his eyes.
A sickening crunch was heard as Rictus's body slammed against the concrete. The glow from the magical looking circle had almost completely diminished. The lights from his eyes disappeared simultaneously as the disappearance of the circle.
Darkness.
Darkness was his only greeter as he slowly came aware of his surroundings. The walls were a pleasant shade of black just like the floor and ceiling which appeared to stretch far into the abyss. The void was all consuming.
"Huh. I always thought heaven would be a lot brighter than this. Maybe this means I was wrong? I still enjoyed my life even if that is the case, so I don't regret it."
The 'floor' he was laying on was extremely comfortable though. The void of sleep would be much better than this void. He moved his arms behind his head to try and get a bit more comfortable. Before he could fully fall asleep though a thought struck him like lightning.
'Wait….I can move my arms? Maybe mom really didn't mean smart when she called me special.' He started sitting himself up after that thought. The 'floor' he was laying on really was just a thick carpet if he trusted the feelings in his hand. So, he wasn't in some kind of endless abyss or void, but just a room with no lights in it.
Deciding to take some initiative, Rictus slowly stood up. Thankfully, he did not harbor an unreasonable fear of the dark, or utter silence, or being totally alone in a strange environment. Being a man among men meant he did not have unreasonable fears like that. His fears were totally reasonable.
He pushed the fear of falling into hole or running into something dangerous out of his mind. The pesky thoughts and memories of falling off the roof were quickly snuffed out and shoved deep into the recesses of his mind. He always had a talent for internalizing his feelings and not being overly expressive with them, at least that is what his family partially jokingly told him.
Picking an arbitrary direction, he started walking. He stopped after just a couple steps though. Moving like normal in an unfamiliar pitch-black room was not a smart move. Walking into a wall like wouldn't be unreasonable with moving normally. Not wanting slam into a wall, he slowly shuffled his feet while holding his hands outstretched. A zombie would be jealous of his posture and movements. Hopefully, this type of movement would keep him from running into anything dangerous or falling down. He would continue moving until he hopefully found a wall. Then he could follow the wall around and maybe even find a door or an exit. With such a solid plan, Rictus was confident with his eventual success and salvation.
After not hitting anything for a few steps, he started walking a little faster. Unfortunately for him, he did not think of everything. He did not account for protrusions which would go right between the foot of space between his outstretched arms and miss completely with his shuffling feet. The impact on the middle of his chest was not a hard one, but the suddenness of it caused him to stumble back.
"Who the hell puts a pedestal right in the middle of a room? I'm just lucky I was a little hunched over or else I would have risked my family jewels being first contact." As he gave himself a friendly pat, a warming sensation started radiating out from the impact on his chest. It started off like warm bath water, but soon transformed into molten carbonite. The screaming, crying, and begging for relief which would be common from experiencing such a tortuous feeling definitely didn't happen here.
Finally uncurling from the fetal position he chose to rest in because it was comfortable, Rictus stared down at his chest and the still warm feeling there. Of course, he saw nothing at all since it was still dark. Running his hands over the spot didn't reveal anything either though. Maybe it was just a bad dream.
"This endless darkness may be starting to get to me. Maybe the pain I felt was a from my psychological instability and emotion turmoil from potentially dying and has resulted in some physical manifestation of pain. Or I may just be a little pansy who cannot handle a little pain. Since I have that light as goal, I should keep moving towards it. I was getting tired of the dark anyways. Wait…is that actually the famous light at the end of the tunnel? Was this all just some great trial placed before me or have I just gone a little insane? Eh, moving towards it is a better plan than just waiting in the dark. I'd rather go meet my fate head on than wait for it to come to me. Definitely not just bored and wanting to get out of the darkness." He slowly trailed off as he continued moving. He normally did not talk to himself quite this much. The drastic changes seemed to have unsettled him more than he cared to admit.
The light continued to get brighter and more defined as he got nearer. The light actually was spilling around a doorframe. Before he could get too much closer, the door was thrown open and the intensity of the light made him close his eyes in response. A powerful voice boomed out before he could fully open his eyes, "Who are you?"
The voice continued with his questions. Each one seemed to add a weight on Rictus's shoulders as he found himself kneeling on the ground.
"I asked, who are you? What is your purpose hiding in that room? How did you get here? Who sent you?
The barrage of questions from a stranger and the unsettling power of his words would have left a normal person stumped and stumbling for an answer which would never come. Rictus was not someone so weak. Using all his wits and determination, he slowly looked up at the person. "Hey, how are you?" The fake polite greeting which people asked all the time without actually wanting to hear how someone was actually doing was the first thing out of his mouth. He could have slapped himself for such a dump response.
There was no response from the other person for a moment. Rictus slowly opened his eyes and gazed up at the person standing before him. He could not really see any features of the person beside their general outline since the blindingly bright light was still framing them.
A soft chuckle escaped from the stranger. "Haha no one has asked me that in quite some time. I appreciate you asking despite not really caring about the answer. It is more politeness than I am usually afforded."
The lights behind the person dimmed as the room Rictus was still in slowly brighten. The person standing before him was an interesting one. They looked so distinctively plain. It was a totally unique face which for some reasons Rictus felt he would inexplicitly forget what they looked like as soon as he turned away. The dichotomy of unique and forgettable was starting to mess with his brain a little. Not looking directly at the persons face seemed to help alleviate the uncomfortable feeling.
The strange person motioned for him to stand up. "I am sure you have a lot of questions, and frankly so do I. Follow me, and we will get our answers." The commands gave no room for dissent or discussion. The odd compulsion to follow this person and discover what was going had Rictus following the person without any more questions. He wasn't really sure why he was just casually following them but couldn't think of a good reason not to at the moment. He shrugged as he decided to just go with it for now and see what was going on.
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"And that is how it goes."
Taking a moment to reflect on the information he just learned, Rictus tried to organize his thoughts in a simpler manner. "So, to sum it all up, the scream I heard was actually the heroes being summoned to this world. Then I just happened to be unlucky and fell into the summoning circle before it fully closed which brought me here. The reason there was no one in the room when I showed up was because the hero had already left. You happened to feel something was off in that room ad went to investigate where you found me. I am technically corporal here although this is not my original body."
The person nodded their head while listening to his explanation. "Yes. That is a fair summation, but you left out all the technical details. Would you like me to review those again?"
"No thank you. I umm, left those out since your explanation was too impressive for me to even try and replicate and keep it accurate." A more truthful explanation would be those technical details made absolutely no sense and were not even entirely in English. They would go over the head of anyone from his world since the process did not exist and some concepts seemed to be beyond even the theoretical knowledge they currently possessed. Besides, he understood it was something beyond his control or understanding and decided not to worry himself over it all.
"So, is this the point where you tell me I can go back home as long as I do some big quest or kill the demon king for you, and I will return at the exact moment I left?"
"No. As I thought I mentioned already, you cannot go back. Even if I could send you back, your body already died there so you would not be back alive there. We have already covered the details before, but I will simplify it again for you. You cannot go back to your world and dimension because a bunch of trans dimensional policies and other concepts of things beyond your mortal comprehension. I am not saying that to demean you either. Your soul and previous mortal brain cannot fathom it. I tried to talk about it, but that caused you to start screaming and your soul almost vanished."
Rictus couldn't help but flinching at that last part. He knew all this already, but last time he persuaded the being to try and explain anyways which did not turn out well for him and almost destroyed his sense of self. The being continued talking though.
"Also, this world being a magical world makes bringing people from non-magical worlds significantly easier. The other way around is sort of like a sailboat going against the wind. Possible, but extremely difficult and reliant on other forces. Your body did not make the transition either like the normal heroes do, which means you cannot go back by the only means we have to return people. Summing it all up, you are stuck here until you die again, or I could erase your soul from existence if you preferred."
Rictus placed his head in his hands as he continued digesting everything he heard. It had taken a lot of explaining, and they had actually had this conversation a few times already until the being did something to make him better adjusted for this whole situation. Of his two remaining options, there was only one he could realistically pick.
"Well, I suppose I will just make the best of it. Thanks for fixing my mind up to better handle all this. I usually would not like something messing with my head, but I see the necessity in it. I am looking forward to getting some super overpowered ability so I can save the world though. That will make things better at least."
"What are you talking about?" The blank look on the being face really was not encouraging.
"Isn't this the part where the god which summoned the hero gives him some sort of super ability or blessing or something along those lines?"
"One, I am not the god which summoned the heroes. I just help facilitate their transfer and provide guidance. Two, the hero was given power. I don't know why you are so worried about them in your current situation, but I highly respect your caring nature for others."
"Umm… I was talking about me though?"
This got a raised eyebrow from the being. "Why would I grant you a divine blessing or power? You are not the hero and just had the misfortune of being here. I am graciously giving you a second chance at life because of my oversight which is more than most people receive. No one summoned you or wanted you here."
The brutal honest further depressed Rictus. He figured it was a little too far fetched to hope he would get a super awesome and unique skill which he would use to become powerful, make great friends, go on an epic adventure, get loads of money, maybe save a princess or two, and have everyone love him. He was just a normal person on Earth, so why should he be anything special here.
"Can I at least know a little bit about my new home, so I am not going in completely blind to everything?"
"Of course. First off, transported people seem to like the fact this world has magic. There are two general types of it. The main one is runic magic where people can draw runes or glyphs then supply magic for various effects. The other one is contracting with an elemental spirit which gives some power over that element. Following so far?"
He nodded his head at the explanation. It was fairly straightforward. The magic system seemed simple and similar to quite a few different tropes and stories he had already read.
The being nodded along at his thoughts. Rictus knew his thoughts were being read, but he had already gotten over that fact and the sometimes-inconsistent behavior of the being.
"I agree. Magic is very simple, yet most mortal species still struggle learning it. Also, there are more than just humans on the planet which you will likely find out as time goes on. Multiple countries and various wild unclaimed regions are throughout the land. Most of the rest you will be able to figure out on your own unless you die before, but I am sure that won't happen." The being stopped talking and looked at Rictus almost expectantly.
"…Is that all?"
The being nodded its head. "It is everything I deem necessary to tell you."
Rictus tried his best not to roll his eyes while keeping his sarcasm in check. "Well that just helps out sooo much. Thank you for your great and mighty godliness taking the effort enlightening me."
The being smiled at him instead of taking any offense. He really could not get a read on this god or whatever it really was. Sometimes it read his thoughts, and others times it didn't.
"I knew I liked you for some reason. Mortals tend to forget their place, but you are quite respectful compared to the others who show up here. Now that we have covered everything, I suppose I will send you on your way."
"Wait a second!! You weren't joking about that being all you were going to tell me??" There was no way that was it. This god had to be joking and was about to go into more details about the world to prepare him for the trials ahead of him and give him important information, like if there really were cat girls on this planet.
"No."
The one-word declaration left no room for argument. Apparently this worthless being had no intention of helping in any meaningful way. Rictus couldn't help but sign and feel the depression creeping back up. He didn't think meeting a god to be like this.
"I always pictured God would be more helpful and compassionate when I met him in heaven. Instead of paradise, I got this."
The room got silent at this.
"Did you imply you would meet God? As in you were a follower of a God?"
"Well yeah, I believe there is a God. I am a little self centered and like to think we weren't created randomly from nothing without purpose. Besides, if I was wrong, no big deal. But If I was right, it would make all the difference for eternity. I like to play it safe and not take risks for eternal damnation. I know I wasn't the best or most devout believer, but I still tried to do what I should."
During his little take on religion, the god got a very peculiar look in his eyes while the room around them seemed to fluctuate. The presence of the being before him changed from the nondescript and inconsistent being to one of power and regality. Before much more could happen, the being regained its normal appearance and slumped a bit in its seat. Almost like an office worker whose boss just told him to stay late working on reports before going home even though it was not his responsibility despite it being a Friday and having a hot date waiting on him. Not that Rictus would know from firsthand experience. After a few more moments of deliberation, the god finally spoke.
"It seems you were telling the truth. You will get a small boon after all it seems. Additionally, you shall be able to live freely without worrying about the deities of this world directly or indirectly affecting your life and afterlife, unless you wish for them to do it."
The sudden change was a bit surprising, but he was not one to complain. A small boon was better than nothing at all. Not having to worry about godly influences in his new life was also a relief. He didn't know anything about the ones here, but now he didn't have to worry about them. Thinking logically, the fact he believed in God was the reason for the change in attitude. Before he could speak his question, the other being spoke.
"Yes, there is a God back in your realm. I will not say if there is only one, or if there are more, but at least the one you believe in does exist. The more magical worlds and dimensions have an agreement with the nonmagical worlds which allow us to pull nonbelievers from their worlds as long as the number is very small, and they have the option to return home. Thankfully, your dimension is being considerate and not blaming us for the blunder, which is good."
Rictus was about to speak up again when he was interrupted.
"Your boon will be an overall improvement of your body. I will personally create your body off the template of your old one contained in your soul. You will be the best version at peak physical condition. On top of that, I will double your bodies abilities in a positive way. Examples include, being twice as fast and strong as you normally would, twice as good vision, learn two times faster, require half the amount of sleep, and need half the amount of food and water to survive. Your mind will also be improved to better handle the loss of your previous life."
Rictus was pretty happy with having these bonuses. It may not seem like that big a deal, but it was quite powerful for some things. Speed was a huge one in his mind. In high school he could run the 100m dash in 12 seconds. This means he would now be able to do it in 6 seconds which was 3 seconds less than the world record. Now if he was at the peak physical condition, it would be even more drastic. He would basically become a super solider. Not as good as having a real superpower, but better than the nothing he was getting before. He could feel a tingling sensation slowly cover his entire body.
The god spoke up again pulling him from his thoughts.
"Unfortunately, you will be unable to utilize magic due to your soul's incompatibility with it. The normal heroes go through a process which enables them to do it, but your transfer did not impart the same benefits to the soul. Now it is time for you to go. You have been here too long already. May the fates watch over your journeys."
Rictus could see the light gather round him as he felt a pulling sensation. Seems the god here was tired of him and wanted him gone. He was quite bummed about not having the ability for magic, but at least he had some kind of advantage, even if it wasn't very flashy. It would help keep him alive.
Without Rictus noticing, an additional glow seemed to appear from his chest in the shape of an eye. He was already teleported away and thus did not see the look of surprise on the god's face nor hear his words.
"….That little sneak. When and how was he marked and blessed by the Eye? I thought it took more energy than normal to increase his abilities, at least this explains why that happened. It should at least help keep him alive a little bit longer. He may prove at least a little interesting to watch though, or he will die. Not my problem any longer."