It was the end of the Earth. A planet once full of life now bore a charred ashen surface.
The people of the world once cheerful and leading peaceful lives had faced a great catastrophe of their own creation. Greed and Ego in their leaders had been their downfall, leading to wars that wrought destruction of an unprecedented scale.
The sad reality wasn't that humanity had killed itself off with a large explosion. No. Humanity, blessed or cursed with its resistance, had survived the nuclear missiles that had fallen like rain across the globe. However a population of 9 billion had been culled to a mere couple million scattered across the globe. Disconnected, hungry, and tired, there simply wasn't enough people or resources left to fight.
Humans were left on a nearly baren planet, hungry, scuffling over the few resources that they had, protecting what little they had, and fighting to see the next sunrise. For what, this generation would never know, all they could see were destroyed cities and former monuments of the glory of a bygone era. Perhaps, should they survive, their descendants would be able to rebuild, utilizing the fragments of knowledge they could gather and pass down.
This story follows one of these individuals who had struggled to survive on this wartorn planet, Terrace Greyson. He was going to turn 45 this year, however he highly doubted he was going to live to see his birthday.
He had once been a soldier fighting in the warfront. He had left the battlefield with his platoon to return home after the chain of command broke down. With communications down it took months trying to navigate the seas and make it back to America. Thankfully, so long as you weren't picky, military rations lasted a long time.
Once his platoon returned to home soil, they went looking for friends and family that had survived the explosions. Many didn't but a few had managed to wait it out in shelters. They regrouped and migrated over to a patch of land in Pennsylvania that hadn't been affected.
There they had lived for the past decade. However recently, though they had some doctors among them, without any production of medicine diseases regained their throne among the deadliest threats to survivors.
As his breath rattled, Terrance knew that his pneumonia was going to claim his life soon. He had been prepared for it since the town doctor had diagnosed him with it. It had gradually worsened despite his best efforts over the past few months. Slowly losing stamina and vitality. But he did his best to tend to his field and small orchard none the less. His people were on the brink of a famine as it was, and he could not rest easy while other people were out toiling away to keep the community fed.
As he walked over to his chair, coughing and hacking as his lungs tried to expell the fluid in them, Terrance picked up a book a friend had given him for his 30th birthday. It had been after they had gone to one of the abandoned cities looking for supplies. Though the book was decades old at this point, the characters and text on the cover were still visible.
"Breath of the Wild. Creating a Champion" said Terrence as he brushed his hand along the once glossy cover. Terrance had been an avid fan of the game series since he was a child. Excitedly watching walk-throughs on YouTube, drawing the main characters on paper. Learning about "The Timeline" and discussing with friends whenever the next game was previewed. Those were the times.
Now in this age after the Great War, things like video games were unheard of. If any settlement had power they would be conserving it for vital functions like lights, heating, and food storage. Electricity was too valuable to be wasted on frivolous things like video games.
All that remained of the game that once fascinated Terrance were memories and the book he was holding at the moment.
"The time is coming, should probably write a note or somethin. Hate for this to get lost and destroyed..." Terrance said to himself as he gazed at the worn book.
Flipping it open, Terrance looked through the pages he had read and reread countless times. Sometimes he felt like he was back in his younger years, his siblings beside him eagerly flipping through the pages, curious to see what work was in the background of the game they had waited to play for so long.
Muffled voices, familiar yet distant played in the back of Terrance's mind. A tear worked it's way out of his eye and traced a path down his cheek before falling onto his chest.
By the time he finished reading, the sun had long since set. Getting up, Terrance drank a cup of water and wrote an addendum to a short will he had composed. The land he was using was already part of the settlement so the leadership would figure out who it would go to. As for his various belongings, he still had some say in. He had already written down who was to get most of his stuff one of his fromer teammates had found a good partner and had children together. Most of his furniture would go to them, his tools would be divided among the community similar to his land, but while most of his stuff was decided on, the book he had just been reading wasn't. He had been torn between passing it on to another person of the older generation, or one of the kids of the settlement.
'old folks have enough momentos of the past, maybe giving this to a storyteller of the next generation this story will live on. Maybe even grow' thought Terrance as he scrawled a name onto the paper with the title of the book next to it.
'they are a respectful kid, they'll take good care of it. Their mom also knows the franchise, so I'm sure they won't mix up the characters names like most people used to.' thought Terrance a soft chuckle making it's way out of his lips before a wheezing coughing fit overtook him.
'Damn this weak body.' thought Terrance as he moved over to his bed and lay down into it and went to sleep.
He woke up, not in his bed, but standing in a space full of stars. Looking around Terrance was fascinated by the beauty. Stars of a variety of colors reds, white, and blue stars, so many color variations. Some were clustered together where others were out alone in the middle of nowhere.
'thus is a nice dream' thought Terrance as he got lost gazing into he stary expanse.
"Your not dreaming I'm afraid" said a voice behind Terrance.
Turning around, Terrance came face to face with three large figures leaning down to look at him. Each of them were a different color,
One was red, the middle was blue, and the last one was green.
The figures had feminine features, but Terrance couldn't make out any specific details on them. The three figures were composed entirely of different shades of their color, and looked like statues carved from crystal.
As they appeared, something in the area shifted and the stars in the surroundings started to cascade downward, like seeing a cloud of shooting stars all around them.
'Why is this scene so familiar?' thought Terrance. Then a faint memory flashed in his mind, very faded but still present. A memory from a scene in the game revolving around finding a sword that sealed away evil and keeping golden triangles from the hands of an evil overlord, while playing an ocarina from time to time.
The green goddess moved closer, "You have died, young man, however, due to your determination and experience in life, we the goddesses of Power, Wisdom, and Bravery, would like to extend an invitation for you to be reborn in a world we oversee."
"Why? From what I remember of mythology, gods typically don't just give people things for free, if I may be so rude, what is it you get out of this deal?" Asked Terrance.
"A wise assumption indeed." Said the blue goddess. Terrance wasn't sure how he knew she was the one speaking as her and the green goddess' voices were indistinguishable from one another and neither had moved their statuesque mouths when talking, he just somehow knew as her words reverberated in the space around them.
"We created a world long ago, however in doing so we made a mistake which has resulted in a never ending war between good and evil. A cycle of violence that never ends which wreaks havoc on the world and claims the lives of innocent people. We can stand this no longer and hope to bring in an external force to end this cycle." Said the red goddess.
"That is quite the task, I'm not sure how you are expecting me to do it, I'm just a former soldier who fought in a war that resulted in the near extinction of my race." Said Terrance
"That is why we are going to give you the strength and knowledge needed to save the world." Said the green goddess. "My gift is to revert your body back into its prime condition, as well as grant you a permanent boost to your vitality so you will not fall prey to any illness or infection."
"Could I keep my current appearance? I was finally able to grow a beard I was happy with, I don't want to have to restart with that scraggly beard I had back when I was 27." Asked Terrance.
"Of course, it's a simple thing. I just thought you might have wanted to look younger." Said the goddess.
"I will heal your mind of the scars of war, and grant your the knowledge of the wisest Sages" said the blue goddess.
As for my gift, I will give you two requests, so long as they are not omniscient.
Pondering for a bit, Terrance throught back to the powers he could remember from stories he read before and after the war. There want much to do on you own in your free time other than read with the internet down.
"For my first request, I want the skills Rimaru Tempest received when he was reborn from the story "That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime", along with the ability to evolve the skills I receive." Said Terrance.
"Ae you sure you want that? You won't be able to use many of them to the same degree as he does due to having a human body and not a slime's." Said the red goddess.
"Yes and for my second request... I would like a combination of the Gates of Babylon and Unlimited Blade Works from the Fate series." Said Terrance.
"You certainly dont hold back do you?" Said the red goddess.
"Not when I am getting tossed into a world that is known to have powerful monsters capable of destroying armies of regular people. This world doesn't have weapons like guns or missiles from what I've seen, or at least not accessable for the majority of people. If I am going to survive I'm going to need strong abilities" said Terrance.
"I'll grant it, but I am going to seal away some of the treasures in the gate. For one they would cost too much magic for you to manifest in the beginning, and second it would take a heavy toll on your body to wield." Said the goddess.
"And thirdly your worried I would go power crazy and wreak more havoc on the world with them in a fight with a bokoblin?" Terrance said jokingly.
Somehow Terrance flet like the goddess were giving him a deadpan look despite their faces not changing during the entire interaction.
"Sister, is it too late to select another candidate?" Said the green goddess to the blue.
"Bad jokes do not overshadow his potential to save our world, dear sister, I am afraid we must bear this side of our candidate in order to have the high likelihood of success he presents." Said the blue goddess.
And with that final sentence, the space around them started to darken, Terrance looked up to see a light directly above them, the source growing larger and larger until it's shine took over the surroundings.
"Take care and best of luck, Terrance."