Clear skies.
That was the first thing Gabriel saw as he opened his eyes.
He stifled a yawn, struggling to remember where he was or what he'd been doing.
The last thing he remembered was clearing Immortal difficulty in his favourite game, Age of Ruination. He had been slaving away for years, trying to achieve the impossible.
Beat the game with the worst race on the hardest difficulty in Ironman mode, The lowly Human empire.
The Devs were particularly malicious when designing them. Humanity had one of the worst infantry units, being overpowered by Orcs, Lizardfolk and all sorts of nasty creatures. Their warbeasts and cavalry couldn't compete with the Beastmen and Demons. Their ranged units and artillery were outranged by the long lived Elves and short statured Dwarves respectfully. Not to mention their spellcasters were outclassed by every other race that could communicate with the Leylines.
The only redeeming quality Humanity had was their tenacity to resist the odds stacked against them. No matter how horribly outmatched they were, their units leadership behaved normally. Not routing until the last moments whereas all the other factions would crumble if they were to face similar odds.
That wasn't much compensation, considering a fly would be crushed by a sledgehammer no matter how brave and unyielding it was.
That's why no one had managed to finish an Immortal Campaign with Humanity. Sure the lower difficulties were doable with a lot of hard work but getting onto the Immortal Leaderboards with Humanity was an exercise in futility.
Until now.
Gabriel smirked with satisfaction, going over the long years of struggle. He had spent at least 20,000 hours on that one campaign. Painstakingly grasping every advantage, every resource. Exploiting every flaw the cunning a.i. made. Fortunately for him he was even more of a devious bastard than the super computer that controlled the other races in Immortal difficulty.
Laughing with elation his celebration was short lived. "Huh?" He looked up with a start at the young girl that was currently poking his cheek.
"Lord Gabriel, why are you laying in the garden and laughing?" She asked, tilting her head curiously. She had curly gold hair, going past her shoulders and piercing grey eyes. The young girl seemed to be around eleven or twelve. A shoddy dress with faded patches covering it in several places.
"Did you find a way to beat the Goblins?" She asked with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Gabriel blinked in confusion, looking around quickly.
He was laying on a patch of grass. Surrounding him were a few dilapidated patches of flowers and vegetables. He also noticed that he was dressed in a strange linen shirt, along with a pair of hide pants and leather boots. There was also a strange tattoo on the back of his right hand. With a start he recognized that it was the symbol of Humanity in Age of Ruination. A steel gauntlet clenched into a fist.
"Lucy! What are you doing? Don't disturb the lord!" A woman's voice echoed from an open window nearby. Gabriel turned his head and noticed a shabby stone building at the edge of the garden. Something about it's shape was familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it.
The young girl, Lucy, giggled and ran away going into the building through a side entrance connected to the garden. Leaving Gabriel to his confusion as he sat up in the garden.
He scratched his head still at a loss as to why he was wearing these strange clothes in this garden instead of his comfy room back home.
Suddenly he hissed in pain and looked at the strange tattoo on his hand, his eyes widening in shock. The lines were glowing in a dazzling blue glow and a familiar voice whispered into his ear.
'Welcome to Ruin, Lord Gabriel.' With that familiar phrase echoing in his head, he blinked in surprise and then screamed.