Atop a large and ominous hill stood a tree that radiated a venomous aura. It smelled of death and it's black branches were void of leaves. The sap that oozed from it tainted the ground near it's roots.
Despite it's foreboding appearance, a young man with bloodied clothes continued to limp towards it. His parents and nearly the entire village warned him of going near the demonic tree, but their warnings didn't matter now. They had all died when the knights came and raided them.
The tree was his only hope now, even if he were to only survive a moment longer. As long as he continued to struggle, he still had hope.
The sound of hooves in the distance behind him told him that the raiders finally noticed him. With what was possibly the last burst of his energy, Alden pushed himself up the hill.
"Where are you going? You're leaving the party too early!" The knight laughed as he knocked the limping young man down with his pole arm. He intentionally avoided a mortal wound to make him suffer longer.
"Wahaha! What do we do now Captain? We still have a survivor!" Another knight caught up and dragged the wounded young man by his hair.
"Look over there! That's a disgusting looking tree! Looks more like a rotting wound! Why don't we let our new friend here taste it first?"
The group of knights all laughed and their captain got off their horse to grab the young man. His breathing was starting to grow extremely ragged, his life was starting to slowly slip away.
"Here, it looks tasty!"
The Captain dragged the young man until they were mere feet away from the tree.
"Bah! Smells worse than the swamp you people call a village! Have a sip!"
Alden had his face suddenly shoved in to the spot where the sap met the ground.
"Aaarrrgggghhh!" The young man howled in pain as the right side of his face burned from the black liquid.
His tired body gained energy once more as he flailed helplessly from the immense reaction. But the knight held him down sadistically without moving at all. Eventually, the young man felt the vision in his right eye go away. When he stopped feeling pain, he stop moving and that's when the knight finally dropped him in the sap.
"Food for this damn tree now… we should burn this repulsive thing later, after all the fun is finished in the village! One of you hang him, he's only unconscious." The Captain chuckled to himself as he started to make his way up to his horse.
"…Pl-please anyone… someone!" The young man muttered as he felt the darkness slowly swallow him up.
"…Even you, cursed tree! Please help me!" He pleaded as he weakly turned his head towards the tree.
"I'll do whatever you would require of me!"
"…anything?" The voice of a young woman suddenly spoke out from an unknown direction.
The young man didn't have time to question it, since he could barely see the light of the sun anymore. He was a hair away from closing his eye for the last time.
"Yes!"
The next thing he knew, Alden didn't feel fatigued or dying anymore. The closest thing to describe this would be a far off dream. He felt his heart stop beating and time itself seemed to as well.
He opened his left eye and found himself staring at someone's soft white legs. His head was softly resting on this person's lap.
"Who are you?" Alden said as he found that he could move normally in this mysterious place. He got up and stepped back a few paces to give them some space to talk. But, he didn't expect the stranger to look so serene.
The young woman shared with him a gentle smile that gave him a pang of sadness for some reason.
Long silky black hair, eyes red like rubies, and an ephemeral aura, Alden knew this girl was no ordinary human. She appeared to be just 1-2 years younger than he was but her sorrowful gaze betrayed an age far more ancient than he could know.
"I have no name."
"…Are you a goddess?" The young man said quietly as he was still enamored by her beauty.
"In a way… that is indeed true."
"Then, are you a demon?"
"We are of the same creator, those poor wretched beings and I."
"…Can you help me then?"
Alden slowly closed the distance between them again, until he met her eyes with his.
A tiny round object floated between them, drawing the young man's full attention. It was his right eye, the one that was currently missing from his skull. It was a place where he didn't feel pain or fatigue but for some reason this wound was still there.
"Since you offered me your eye, I shall grant you knowledge. To see that which you could not, with more than just your human eyes."
"Araaghhh!" Alden fell to his knees in agony as both his right eye socket and his head pounded with pain.
He started to tremble and hyperventilate as strange images and memories ran through his mind. He was born in the village and had been there most of his life, despite that he saw things not possible in this world.
Buildings made of exquisitely cut stone that were not only numerous but blocked out the sky. Horseless carts made of metal that could best any beast in speed. A place filled with sand, another filled with water as far as the eye could see, and finally a limitless sky full of stars.
"…this!?" Alden slowly got up before making eye contact with the goddess?, once more.
"I was reincarnated!? And I have something that I definitely didn't have on Earth." Alden mused as he felt a mysterious power welling from inside himself.
<(Demonic) Gluttony>
"Oh? Now that is interesting." The goddess' eyes shone with curiosity as she floated around Alden.
But as she looked closer, something else was there as well.
<(Heavenly) Gluttony>
"Unbelievable! Not one but two!?" The goddess was in awe of the powers within Alden, this was something she had never witnessed before.
"This is … a system!?" Alden stared at the goddess in wonder, he didn't remember having it in either of his sets of his memories.
"It seems you may have the world's favor after all."