How did I get here? Actually… where am I?
"You don't remember?" asked an old man wearing a white robe who looked to be playing on a giant touch screen computer.
Oh, excuse me sir. Wait… this is weird. How am I talking? Where is my body?
"Ah I see. You don't remember you are but a soul now."
A soul?
"Yes my boy. You died."
Died!? Oh… is this, heaven? Or the other place…?
"Neither. I snatched your soul from your universe and brought it to mine. I am the god of this realm and am in need of someone like you. A good hearted and good natured, hero if you will."
A hero? Me? I don't think you've got the right person.
"I think time will tell on that. When it came down to it, in the last moment of your previous life, you gave it to save others. And that's a heroic heart indeed."
I see. Well, if I died to save others, at least I ended up doing something with my life. I never really accomplished anything otherwise, at least, not that I can remember.
"I thought you'd feel precisely that way. Thus, I'm giving you a second chance. A chance to be a hero from the start."
A hero?! In like a fantasy land? Am I seriously being isekai-ed??
"It may seem that way, yes. A world of knights and monsters and of course, magic. I'm customizing the hero you'll grow into now. A human being with exponential magic to save the world!"
Wow! I hope I can live up to your expectations. Hopefully I'll be better looking this time around…
"Don't worry lad. You'll be great."
The old man finished typing and tapping on his touch screen showing a very fit and handsome man that I looked to become in this new life.
I'm getting excited!
"All that's left is for you to get started." said the man reaching to initiate the sequence, when he caught a wrinkle in his nose, and at the most inopportune time, the man let out a sneeze causing his finger to swipe the screen and initialize the birth of the new hero.
Only…
"Oh dear. That wasn't suppose to happen. All the changes I made are there, but his body, it switched to an animal. It's too late to do anything!" exclaimed the old man, slapping his own head.
What? Where am I? Old man? OLD MAN?!
It was dark and I was but an embryo now, inside some sort of hard shell. My soul seems to have attached to the vessel even though it hasn't developed yet. It's an odd feeling to just exist but not be able to do anything. It seems, I wasn't alone at least.
There was a ruckus going on outside. I wasn't strong enough to push out of whatever this cacoon was. I'm not even sure I had a body yet. However, I could feel the mana poured within me, extending around me. It was a shell!
What the-? I'm in an egg? Is this how humans are born in this land?
Whatever was going on on the outside sounds like an attack of some sort. The egg I was in was knocked away from the battle. I rolled and I rolled, until… I fell.
I fell and fell for what seemed like forever. Until I came to a surprisingly gentle and slow stop into something that felt odd and mucous-y. I sensed that it wanted me, but my mana and shell were too much for it. So much so, that I began to absorb from it instead.
It was a living beast of some sort. A giant black slime that dwelled there. Nothing else seemed to be around. Perhaps, out of fear. I slowly oozed out of the slime to a halt in a cave like structure underneath it.
Oh great. Now what?
Time passed. What felt like forever, was probably days, before I formed a body and was finally able to crack my shell! I kicked out the bottom, then rolled out and over, only to find… I wasn't a human at all!
I had tiny yellow wings and a small yellow body. Plus, the black slime I had absorbed for so long was still on me. I tried to shake it off, but all it seemed to do was even it out as a translucent layer across my body. It was like I was glowing, or sparkling, but harder to tell in some sort of cave system. Although, there was some sort of ambient lighting, so I could see well enough.
A small stream of water was near by, and I did feel a little parched. I waddled my way ungracefully to the stream for a drink and saw myself.
What the duck?!
That's right. I'm a duck in a world I don't know. I don't think this is what the old man had in mind, but what could I do?
I turned to getting a lay of the environment. I could see, but it didn't really seem like there was much to see in a deep cavern. Then some noise came. It sounded like scratches on the ground, but they were faint. So, I followed the noise through the caverns as any brave hero- duck… would do.
As I trotted along downward into the cavern, it began to light up more. The walls reflected a fiery red, and eventually I came to where the scratches were coming from.
In front of me sat a beast that looked like a giant lion with bat wings tearing the flesh off a slightly smaller but dead beast. I accidently let out a scared shriek that of course only came out as,
"Quack?!"
I've got to get out of here!
My being startled and letting out a noise got the beast's attention. It's dead yellow eyes sniffed the air as blood and drool leaked from its mouth. Slowly creeping towards me, it bared it's fangs, ready to strike!
The ground cracked beneath it with each step it took. A low guttural grumble exhaled from its disgusting mouth. I backed into a wall, unable to move out of fear. Panic was setting in.
Dead again so soon?! This wasn't the plan. At least, I don't think so anyways.
The creature inched closer and I was shaking. I began looking around for anything that would help me, but there was nothing. Nothing except some of the water reflecting the light that trickled down from where I first glanced a peak at my duck self.
It was about to strike and I was thinking, if only I could fight back or scare it. If only I could blow it away! Then suddenly, my body began to glow. At the same time, the water flew up, blasting the beast backwards with such force, it blew it's head clean off, falling over dead, leaking out purple blood from it's stump.
Woah! I may be a duck, but I still have magic like the old man said. Well, this makes me feel like not all is lost!