"Stay calm, Reno… there's got to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this." Our hero, King E. Victory, known online by his player name 'Reno', paces back and forth, his mind racing. "Last thing I knew, I was preparing my science experiment…"
An undeterminable amount of time earlier…
"I'm pretty sure the measurement was… the whole thing?" Reno throws upwards of 30 pounds of potassium into a medium sized inflatable pool filled with water. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS. POTASSIUM REACTS VIOLENTLY WITH WATER AND RESULTS IN AN EXPLOSION. DO NOT TRY TO RECREATE THE ACTIONS DEPICTED IN THIS STORY. He observes the large quantity of potassium. "That thang sizzlin'…" A second later, Reno finally grasps the consequences of his actions. "Uh oh…" The potassium violently explodes, sending water in every direction. Reno jumps backwards, tripping. His head falls gracefully into a nearby rock, knocking him out cold.
Present Time
"Now that I think about it, maybe I should have done 30 grams instead of pounds… Oh well." Shrugging his shoulders, Reno walks to a nearby pond. "It looks like that explosion opened a portal to another world and I got sucked in…" -NOT WHAT HAPPENED- "Seems like the universe couldn't handle my powers!" Reno inspects his new appearance. His long brown hair that previously reached the middle of his back had been shortened, now barely reaching his jaw line. His eyes, previously green, were now deep blue. He looks at his clothes, a simple brown shirt and terribly ripped burlap pants. "What kind of level one starting equipment is this?!" Furious, he throws his hands in the air. "They could've at least given me cool colored hair! Like red or something!"
As Reno carries on, he fails to notice the glowing ball of light approaching him from behind. "Be not afraid, young adventurer."
"Nooo! They just HAD to give me the same hair color as before! Like, if you're gonna' give me new eye colors then at least give me a new hair color!"
"…" The glowing ball of light watches Reno yell at his reflection. "Young adventurer…"
"I'm gonna' find the stupid god that thought it'd be so fricken funny to make me the poorest mother fu-"
"Hey!" The ball of light finally shouts.
"Huh?!" Reno quickly spins around, his eyes staring directly at the ball of light. "Ahh!" He closes his eyes, shielding them with his eyes. "Who set a fricken flashbang off?!"
"Finally you notice me!" The ball clears its throat. "Be not afraid, young adventurer, for I am-"
"I don't care who or what you are! Turn down the brightness before my eyes melt!"
"…" The ball slowly dims to a much more observable brightness.
After a couple seconds of hesitation, Reno slowly opens his eyes. "That's much better! Now, what the heck are you? You some kinda' angel?"
"…"
"What's wrong?"
"Are you going to let me finish this time?"
"I don't like making promises." Reno crosses his arms and huffs.
"… Be not afraid, young adventurer, for I am but a humble goddess."
"Are you the mother fu-"
"For the sake of keeping things PG, please refrain from using profanity."
"I will refrain for approximately ten seconds. Are you the mother lover who brought me to this world in this back water outfit?"
"I am not she who has brought you here, but I am she who will lead you down the path of greatness."
"… Whaduya mean?" He cocks his head in confusion.
"Although I am not considered a powerful goddess, the powers I DO contain are much greater than one might initially think."
"What are your powers?"
"I can bend reality… to an extent. At this moment, I possess enough energy to provide you with ONE miracle. I am able to show you a list of things of which I am capable."
"I don't need a list. Make my hair red."
"I implore you to think carefully about your-"
"I've thought about it, and this is the most important thing I could think of."
"… If it is what you will, I shall provide." The ball of light floats higher and begins shining brighter than before. Quick to react, Reno covers his eyes. The ball flashes and begins to slowly descend. "It is done."
"Already? But I don't feel any different…" Reno grabs a clump of his hair, putting it in front of his eye. "No way!" He quickly rushes back to the pond, delighted with his new hair. "That's amazing! Can you also give me better clothes?"
"As I previously stated, I only possessed enough energy to perform a single miracle."
"What?!"
"I tried to warn you, but you interrupted me."
"Well next time be more assertive!"
"…"
"Is there any way to recharge you? Do you have a power cord I have to plug in or something?" Reno begins inspecting the ball of light.
"I am not a household electronic from your world. Besides, your concept of electricity does not exist in this world."
"What do you mean by that?"
"This world does not have things like television, video games, air conditioning… do you get the picture?"
"Yeah, I do… I gotta get the heck outta' here!" Reno begins nervously pacing back and forth, biting one of his knuckles.
"Fear not, for while those commodities do not exist here, this world makes up for them in the form of magic."
Reno stops dead in his tracks, turning back to the ball. "Magic?" He speaks with heightened intrigue.
"Yes, magic."
"How do I learn magic?!" He clenches his fists in excitement.
"Had you wished for it with my remaining miracle, I could have taught you a spell."
"I'm very close to punting you like a ball."
Finally fed up, the ball snaps. "Me?! You're the ill-behaved little bitch who continues interrupting me! Maybe if you opened your ears instead of your mouth you would not be in this predicament!"
"Hey! Stop making completely valid arguments that I can't fight against! And what happened to keeping it PG?!" Reno curls his fist and stomps his foot, crossing his arms.
"Screw PG! And I wouldn't have to argue with you if you weren't so stupid!"
"I'm not stupid! I pass all my classes with a 'D'!"
"Only an idiot would choose to change their hair color over learning magic! You could have wished for a spell that did that and do it yourself!" The ball shouts, irritated.
"Whatever, I don't have time for this!"
The two argue to a point where they don't hear the thundering approach of a giant. The giant, standing 16 feet tall and weighing in at 2,000 pounds, stands menacingly over the two. "GRAAAA" The giant lets out an angered roar with enough power behind it to throw the ball of light.
Reno looks up at the giant and stares, dumbfounded. "Hey, uhm, Mrs. Deity-Ball-of-Light… What should I do?"
The ball slowly floats back over to Reno. "What kind of question is that? RUN!"
"RAAA!" The giant raises a fist and brings it down swiftly, shaking the nearby trees.
"AHH!" Reno dives to the left, barely avoiding a second death. "I thought being brought to a new world was supposed to be more awesome than this! Where's my overpowered sword?! My world ending spells?!"
"Stop talking and run!" The ball begins floating off into the forest, significantly faster than Reno could run.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Reno takes off in a full sprint after the ball, dashing through the ocean of trees. He runs for as long as he can before running out of breath. "W…wait! I haven't ran… for, like, two years!" To his pleasant surprise, the giant had decided to give up chasing them early on. "Hey, ball, where you at?" Reno begins calling out in to the forest.
"My name is not ball!" The ball descends from above Reno. "My name is-"
Despite the fact that he heard the ball talk, he could not possibly begin to comprehend the language in which it was speaking. "There is NO way I'm going to be able to pronounce that. I'm calling you Galoghor the Destructor."
"You are not!" The ball protests.
"Yes I am. Now, Galoghor the Destructor, where's the nearest city?"
"Hmpf! I'm not telling you!"
"Oh, then I guess I'll find it myself. Thanks for nothing, Galoghor the Useless."
"W-wait!" The ball's voice falters as it speaks with a sense of urgency.
Reno stops and slowly turns his head. "What do you want?"
"Are… are you really about to leave me? I'm a goddess you know?!"
"Well, I get that, but you said you're all out of power. So you'd be dead weight at this point."
"And who's fault is it that I used my last miracle?!"
"Hey, you offered." He holds his hands out and shakes his head dismissively.
"That's… beside the point."
"Wait, don't tell me… are you actually completely useless now? Do you actually NEED my help?" Reno's eyes begin to get slightly wider.
"I wouldn't be opposed to you offering me your aid."
"Yeah… I guess I can follow this questline for a little bit." Reno sighs, deciding it'd be wiser to have some sort of companion, useless or not.
"Great!" The ball replies cheerfully as it hovers closer.
"So, what do I need to do first?"
"First we need to regain some of my power!"
"Can't you just charge up by screaming really loudly and turning blond?"
"…What are you even talking about?"
"You know about video games but not that? Never mind." Reno scoffs, doing nothing to hide his disappointment.
"Okay… no. A long time ago I used too much of my energy in a fight with other gods. They joined forces against me and sealed my power away in 10 different shards. I've found where one of them is, but it's guarded by bandits. If you can get me that shard, I will be able to offer you more miracles."
"Hmm… let me sum this up. I help you get a SMALL fraction of your power, then in return, I probably piss off a bunch of other gods you were fighting with. Finally, you'll show me a couple more party tricks like changing someone's hair color? This has got to be the worst trade deal EVER." Reno quickly turns and begins walking away, much quicker this time.
"Wait! I promise you I can do so much more! I can teach you magic! You won't even have to spend months learning a spell like most people do! I can directly teach you the spell as if you've known it for years! That's just scratching the surface of what I can do!"
Reno stops once more. "… Seriously?"
"Yes!" The ball speaks with desperation.
"Fine. But let it be known, if I find out you lied to me I'm going to capture you in a bottle and sell you to the first buyer."
"We have a deal!"
"Sounds like it."
"I have one more request…," The ball reluctantly says.
"What now?" Reno rolls his eyes.
"… Please don't name me Galoghor! Give me something cuter!"
"A ball of light is worried about having a cute name?" Reno puts a hand on his hip, shifting his stance as he looks at the ball with annoyance.
"I have a human form! …I just can't manifest it right now."
"Mmhmm… Fine, I'll think of another name for you. How about… Luna?"
"Luna?"
"What, don't you like that one either?!"
"I love it! (Anything but Galoghor…)"
"Fine, Luna it is." He sighs slightly, disappointed that he couldn't call her Galoghor.
"Please do not address me in such a condescending tone."
"Fine, fine. So, how do you suppose I storm a bandit camp in this get up?" Reno displays himself, showing off his "slick" brown shirt and ripped burlap pants. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly well equipped."
"We'll have to find you work in the local village. It's not that large, but it does have a blacksmith. If you save enough money then you could commission him to make you equipment."
"Kinda like an MMO… I gotta pay the player who chose the boring crafting classes to make me the higher tiered stuff."
"Exactly! I think?"
"Alright, lead the way!"
"Yeah!" The two begin making their way west to a nearby village, making small talk on the way. "Young adventurer, I never got your name…"
"Hmm… you're right. I kinda' thought a goddess would know everything. My name is King, but you can call me Reno."
"Reno… understood. Reno, I bore witness to your arrival. You are not originally from this world, are you?"
"Good guess, you go it."
"As I thought… you seem much calmer than I'd expect." Luna speaks with a hint of concern, hoping she won't make things worse for herself.
"How so?"
"Well… you were transported from another world."
"Yes, we've already been over that…" He speaks with confusion as he raises an eyebrow at her statement.
"You don't understand what I'm saying?"
"I understand perfectly. You keep bringing up the fact that I'm from another world like the answer is going to change or something."
Luna sighs, "Were you brought here of your own volition or suddenly without warning?"
"Without warning I guess."
"What about your friends? Your family? What about everything you left behind?"
"I don't have to worry about all of that because this is obviously a dream." He speaks with a 'matter of fact' tone, almost as if the thought of this being real hasn't crossed his mind.
"…A dream?"
"Yeah, a dream."
"I don't… what reasoning did you use to come to that conclusion?" Luna is absolutely dumbfounded.
"Well, it's not like I got killed or anything, I just tripped and got knocked out. By the time I fall asleep in this dream I'll be waking up in the real world."
"…I see. Well… let's say HYPOTHETICALLY if this was a real world… what would you miss the most about your home?"
"The only thing I really care about is my little brother."
"You have a little brother?"
"Yeah. He's only 7 but he's really smart! A fact I'll NEVER be able to forget…" Reno looks slightly into the distance, spacing off.
"Why do you say it like that?"
"My parents and the rest of my family always remind me. 'Your brother is way smarter than you were when you were his age' or 'Your brother gets way better grades than you; he could probably ace your college classes.' With the occasional 'How are you the older brother? He's way smarter than you are.'"
"I see… I'm sorry I asked."
"There's nothing to be sorry about. It is what it is. It's not like he goes out of his way to make me look bad. In fact, he's the only one who treats me with any sort of respect… despite my parents' best efforts. He's a little brat but he's my little brother."
"Ah! That's good I suppose. Do you get along well with your younger brother?"
"Yeah… now that I think about it, he's the ONLY family member I get along with. My parents are always trying to make him study or do other stupid stuff a 7-year-old shouldn't have to worry about. So, whenever our parents go on a business trip or they leave the house on the weekend, we play video games and eat a bunch of junk food together. It's probably the only time he gets to act like a kid."
"I never would have guessed…"
"Guessed what?"
"You actually can care about someone other than yourself!"
"This is my dream and I'm not going to let you ruin it for me."
"Yeah… your dream. (I don't think I have what it takes to tell him anymore… maybe I can keep trying to drop hints?) So, what would you do if you couldn't go back home?"
"That's not an option, my brother needs me," Reno says as he thinks to himself.
"Hypothetically."
"I'd do whatever it took to get back."
"Even fight a god or two?"
"I'd fight them all."
"I see… (he's either brave or delusional.)"
"How much longer before we get to this village?"
"It's still a little bit away… maybe another 30 minutes?"
"30 minutes?! How much longer do you think I'm gonna be asleep? This is about to be the lamest dream ever…"
"(Please… just figure it out.)" Before long, their journey comes to an end as they arrive at the village. "Here we are, the village of Bambadale."
TO BE CONTINUED...