A metallic melancholic rhythm filled the narrow musty room Jonathan loathed to call home. An old oak door, four walls, a dirty old window stuck on its hinges, a shotty desk, a handful of creaking planks for a floor that could sometimes drown out the often obnoxiously loud merry-making beneath; It all came together to be the one shoddy Inn room that Jonathan could afford to stay in for the long-term.
The depressing atmosphere that currently permeated the space like a miasma, despite the best effort of the rising suns cutting some rays through the small window, came from the small bed in the corner. Laying on top of the stiff surface of the neatly made mattress was the owner of the abode himself. Already dressed in some simple beige pants and a form fitting green shirt, the black haired man stared upward in a trance. As smoothly and precisely as clockwork, his blue eyes tracked the path of a small silver coin as it rose up, stopped at its pinnacle, then fell back to earth. A lightly tanned hand snatching it from the air as it did, Jonathan would then quickly flick the coin back into the air to continue this mind numbing process.
He found himself doing this quite often now whenever he started to think. Thinking about where he was and how he was living.
This wasn’t what his life here was supposed to be like. Working odd jobs around the Inn for Linda and taking whatever listings were sensible at the Guild, it just wasn’t enough anymore.
His life was stalling out.
Thinking back, it’s almost funny how idealistic his thoughts were when he first came to this world. Like anyone else that dabbled in the fantasy of 2D storytelling, Jonathan had a head full of possibility and adventure when his mind finally settled from the shock and on the fact that the fantasy was in fact reality; full enough to dwarf even his common sense.
But then again, he had died and been reincarnated. The fuck even was common sense?
* * * * *
Waking with a start, Jonathan lurched forward on the grass clutching his chest. A sharp breath filled his lungs with warm air, then another, and another. Slowly he began to calm himself and start to think. Loosening the white t-shirt from his grip, Jon lowered his hand to the grass and soft soil beneath him. The bright light of the suns above him bringing the vibrant jade hillside to life.
Wait. Suns?
Blinking and then rubbing his eyes for good measure, Jon squinted his eyes and took stock of the sky again. One, two.. Two. There were two fucking suns in the sky. Where was he? Did he actually die and go to heaven or something?
Wincing for a moment at the thought as his chest throbbed a phantom pain, Jon raised his hand to his breast once again. This time trying to remember why that pain was so relevant. What it was.
The answer never came.
What the fuck is going on?
Welcome Jonathan Hight
“The f-!” Shouting out in shock before controlling himself and cutting off his curse, Jon studied the thin blue box that appeared hovering before him. Blinking, moving his head and looking around, reaching out to try and touch it. All of it was pointless. It wasn’t physically in front of him, and it stayed in the center of his vision no matter how he tried to look away from it.
Was this like some kind of Hud display message? Like a game? Welcome Jonathan Hight. Well, he’d certainly take it over ‘Objective: Survive’. That would really be the icing on the cake. Honestly, It would be better if this were all just some hallucination, but given how literally nothing else makes sense right now, that wouldn’t be the guess he’d bet his money on.
Leaning forward and getting to his feet, Jon tried to ignore the message for the moment and take in his surroundings. He had apparently woken up in the middle of nowhere. He stood overlooking a moderate clearing of low grass from a hill a dozen feet or so high. This field ran into a treeline all around him, eating up the rest of the horizon with its dense foliage.
There wasn’t any sign of predators as far as he could tell. He hoped that whatever twist of fate that brought him here after his.. Death.
Feeling a cold shiver, Jon once again raised his hand to his chest.
He had died, but.. He couldn’t remember it. Everything was hazy.
Focusing his eyes in thought, his gaze centered around the ever present text message. The act bringing a sudden small ding to his ears as the message suddenly changed.
Congratulations on your Awakening!
By realizing that your past life has come to an end, you have taken the first step into your new life as an Awakened.
The land of Camaria is full of opportunity and fortune for those willing to take it. There will be many players to contend with, both Native and Awakened. All will strive for their own goals as they shape Camaria’s future.
With the help of your Patron, you will be one of them.
Good Luck!
Moments after Jon finished reading the text, reading it again, then once more for good measure, the message disappeared.
By realizing your past life has come to an end.
Jon’s legs felt weak as he had stared at that line. With one hand at the base of his throat and the other on the phantom pain that once again flashed out from his chest, he tried not to wretch his stomach onto the ground.
He had died.
He was dead.
Why was he brought back? Was this real? Is this absurd fantasy of reincarnation he had dreamed about in passing during his freetime really a reality now? Was everything he knew and loved before gone forever?
The questions and realizations just kept piling up and flooding through Jon’s mind. Then the images began to flash through them, bringing the painful reminders of the life he lived:
His mother sitting in front of their fireplace, the flames in the darkness bringing her auburn hair to vivid life as she sat reading her book. His father patting him on the back as he went out onto the field, bat in hand. The best friend he made in college taking him out for a bar crawl on a saturday night. The faces, the smiles, the laughs, the tears, the love of all the people closest to him in his life.. All gone. He was dead and gone to them all.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Fuck. Fuck.
“Fuck. FUCKKKK.”
Dropping to his knees in a state of agony and disbelief, Jon tried to make sense of it all.
“This can’t be real, this doesn’t make any sense. I can’t be dead. I can’t b..hnnmmgh” Breaking up his words, Jon couldn’t stop his body from reacting with his mind. Lurching forward, he emptied out the contents of his stomach, just a brief moment of reprieve following with it.
Completely cutting into Jon’s breakdown in that moment, another message appeared before his eyes above the mess he was looking down at.
Ciri’s Blessing
Your attachment to your old life allowed you to take back memories that should have been lost to you. Where many others have left them to the haze to embrace their new lives, you have strayed from the mold.
How Amusing.
+10 Constitution
Gained Resistance to Shock effects targeting the Mind
Blanking out for a moment after reading, Jon eventually came to with a blink and slunk back onto his ass. He could actually feel his breakdown washing away as he turned his eyes up to the sky. The thoughts and emotions that had been strangling his mind were pushed aside. The pain they were causing simply slipped away into whatever void he had apparently pulled them back from.
In the blink of an eye Jon had recovered from his budding panic attack. He actually felt more resolute and focused now than ever before in his life. He still had the memories of his past, but the sorrow and loss attached to them was gone. Even by focusing on one he could barely feel a sense of longing.
How was this possible?
Scanning over the message once more, Jon stopped at the bonuses he received. Did he seriously just get a reward for having a goddamn mental breakdown? What the fuck was so amusing about that? Was this all just some game for a higher power’s amusement that he was just thrown into?
Clicking his tongue, Jon took a moment and dropped to his back with the thought. Once again laying on the warm earth of this pleasant hill he found himself, he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.
“Uhhghhhhhhahhahaahaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhaahaahaaaahhhhhhhhhaaaahhhha!”
Shouting out until his lungs emptied, Jon let go of his rising frustration and anger. There was no sense in dwelling on the why and the how right now. No amount of dwelling or railing against whatever this Patron of his happened to be was going to change anything. All he could do now was figure out where he was and what exactly was going on.
Taking another breath, Jon held it for a few counts before slowly exhaling and opening his eyes once again.
This time his eyes flashed some determination as he put a hand to the grass and pushed himself up to his feet. Turning and taking some steps up the hill, Jon left the mess he had made behind. Leaving the unfocused thoughts and worries with it.
Cresting the hill, Jon was surprised to see a clearly recognizable path. It most certainly wasn’t paved, so if he was even in a world like his own, he was either in a park or out in the boonies. Looking up to the sky again he shook his head. No, two suns, a game-like Hud system, him actually somehow apparently being reincarnated; there was no way this wasn’t some fantasy world. He shouldn’t expect to see anything familiar to his past life.
Sliding his hands into the pockets of his black sweatpants, Jon surveyed the length of the road before it twisted through the woods and out of his sight. “Camaria huh?” Passively musing with the words, he turned his attention off the road and onto, well, the nothing that was directly in front of him.
If this was the fantasy system he figured it was, then he had to be able to call some screens like those messages into his view. Was it constitution? He got a stat with that blessing just now, he must be able to see that. “Oh-”
Jonathan Hight
Race: Awakened Human (Lv. 1)
Age: 22
Patron: Ciri, Goddess of Change and Chance
HP
175
SP
50
Strength
10
Constitution
20
Agility
8
Intelligence
10
Charisma
10
Luck
5*
Resistances and Buffs:
* Resistance to Mental Shock
Storage 1/10:
* Ciri’s Gift
Well, that answered that question.
Scanning through the screen before him, Jon first noted his stats. As far as he could tell, they were completely arbitrary. He was apparently level one, so he didn’t expect crazy stats. The average seemed to be around 10, which he assumed was probably the normal human stat-wise. Although that raised some more questions he would like to have answered at some point. How far would he be able to grow past normal human limits? And far more importantly, were there non-human races?
As a man, Jon was in no way too proud to admit the idea of the classic fantasy cat girl excited him. But, that was for later.
He noted his higher Con stat, which made sense with the blessing he had just received. Although he had no idea what relevance it had.
Constitution:
The general hardiness of both the body and mind is reflected through one’s constitution. The body’s health and resistance to illness and disease, the mind’s fortitude and strength to overcome trauma; both will rise with this stat.
Humming thoughtfully to himself while reading the pop up message, Jon dismissed it by focusing on his status sheet again. His con stat apparently doubled the average with that blessing, which suddenly clarified his rapid recovery from a full-blown mental break. Coupled with the extra resistance to mental shock on top of that, he wasn’t sure if he should be grateful or worried. Either this patron of his was being kind and helping him out, or they were preparing him for some ungodly torture going forward.
The latter was a pessimistic take Jon would normally give some more credence, but there wasn’t exactly a whole lot to go off of here. Either good or bad. His past life experiences are what informed his common sense of these things in his own world. Here though, he had no past experience. He was a whole ass man-baby.
Chuckling for a moment at the absurdity of the thought and its accuracy, Jon refocused on the sheet. The luck stat jumped out at him, but even thinking up a question about what that asterisk meant gave him nothing. Ciri’s name popping up there again was interesting, though he had no clue what a patron was and what it meant to have one. Another question that went unanswered.
At least he noted her apparent domain, which was uh, a little concerning with his low and suspicious luck stat. Shouldn’t that be his highest stat?
Well, whatever. It didn’t right now. More interesting than that was his storage.
With some focus on the one item there, he tried to see if he could get some information about it. Instead Jon let out a low surprised gasp when something suddenly materialized in his right hand. Slowly pulling it out of his pocket, he studied the item.
It looked like some type of playing card. It had a bit of weight to it, and the material was firm, but it definitely looked like a card. The back of it was painted with a brillant golden ring. The edges were brushed out to make it look like it was in the motion of spinning, while the background was void black and speckled with various white specks. Jon assumed they were supposed to represent stars, but the ring itself was a mystery. The border of the card was an ornate gold design that framed in the image.
Flipping it over to what he guessed was the front-side of the card, Jon furrowed his brow.
The name of the card was at the top, and what there was for a description was in a small box at the bottom of the card. As for the main focus, the image at the center was a large smiling jack-in-the-box with a big white question mark popping out of it.
[Bound Skill Card] Ciri’s Gift:
A legendary ‘gift’ skill bestowed to the world by the Gods themselves. When all conditions are met by the holder, the contents of the gift will be revealed.
The dodgy description and the smile on that box got under Jon’s skin far more than it had any right to. It almost felt like Ciri was enjoying keeping him in the dark. And he wasn’t about to forget about that ‘how amusing’ line either.
Tsk
Focusing his mind again on putting the card back into his storage, Jon was glad to see it vanish and return to the slot on the screen. At the very least he was catching on to how this system worked quickly enough.
Freeing his other hand, he brought both to his face and rubbed them both down his cheeks and jaw. Then spreading them out, he pushed into a long satisfying stretch.
Right. Staying here for the rest of the day wasn’t going to get him anywhere. What common sense he still had dictates that he was put near this road for a reason. He was brought to this new world to help shape its future. There are even other poor awakened bastards like himself that are out there, maybe even from his own world.
Or maybe, they weren’t poor bastards after all. If this world was based on a fantasy system, and he was a ‘chosen one’. Maybe Jon was in for the dream so many have had. Maybe this was the start of his adventure as a hero.
Finally settling on this hopeful thought, Jon took the first step onto the road.
The first step towards his destiny.