Chapter 1

Oh fuck it hurt… for a minute he wasn't sure what woke him up, but his headache was definitely keeping him awake. 

"...gration complete."

What? Was someone talking to him? How did they get into his apartment? He opened his eyes, a herculean effort that he almost didn't have the energy for… A ceiling of stone and moss met his gaze.

"What the f-"

He sat up in a rush, shocked and confused, but immediately regretted it as his head felt like it toppled off of his neck.

Congratulations on joining the Gxivrainian Universe! You have been joined by 6 compatible species! World size adjusted. Landmass adju…

The droning voice was fairly quiet so it didn't register over his more immediate concerns. Namely, the fact that it felt like his stomach was trying to force its way up his throat.

"Oh fuck."

He rushed out of the cave mouth to that nice bush he saw yesterday, and let out a yelp of surprise. His foot, instead of falling down on the solid stone just outside the mouth of the cave, plummeted into empty air.

He tipped over forward but managed to twist around and grab onto the rough face of the cliff. 

Unfortunately the lurching movement and sudden spike of fear did nothing to help his roiling stomach. With a torrent of bile and chunks of trail mix he vomited down the side of the cliff watching the liquidy mess cascade down the sharp jutting stones.

Given the state of terror he was in, it was no wonder that he missed the next words of the strange voice.

Abnormally high levels of toxins detected! Toxins being processed… 

Congratulations!

Due to the number of toxins found in your body you have developed Poison Resistance!

What the fuck? Why is there a cliff here now? Why don't I remember…

            Oh. Right. He never should have gone with the big bottle of bourbon. How drunk did he get last night, that he found a completely different cave that was on a cliff?

And more importantly, how would he get off of the cliff? He thanked his unlucky stars that his job gave him a good amount of upper body strength as he began to pull himself up, slowly and laboriously. Climbing an actual cliff, as it turned out, was nothing like the cliffs at the gym.

After what felt like hours but was more than likely only a handful of minutes he made it back to the top of the cliff and the mouth of the cave. He stumbled forward, collapsing onto the ground and resting his head on his still rolled up sleeping bag.

He laid there for a while, feeling his head drifting back and forth in an invisible current, unable to muster the energy to even open his eyes. His whole body felt completely drained as if he had been working double shifts for a month. 

And that wasn't even mentioning his headache, the heavy pounding between his temples kept him from noticing the voice as it droned on quietly. The sound may even have helped with the ache as it wasn't long before he passed into a heavy dreamless sleep.

…

He wasn't sure how long he was asleep, he wasn't good with judging time. He definitely felt better when he woke up though, still hungover but more like a night of light partying, instead of trying to drown himself in booze. He opened his eyes, ignoring how scratchy they felt, and looked up at the ceiling.

"So it wasn't a dream, I wonder where I am now?"

Your previous location was: Mount Whitney, California, United States of America. Due to your location in an area of high altitude, matched geographically, your surroundings have been relocated to Urvendar Peak.

 !!Warning!! 

You are in an area classed as High Difficulty for your safety please proceed to the nearest-

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Excuse you? He  shot into a sitting position, looking around for the source of this strange voice, but didn't see anything. And weirder still it didn't even sound like it was coming to his ears, the voice sounded as though it was ringing out inside of his head. His aching, throbbing head.

"I don't know who you are but please shut up for a second."

Notifications muted: duration 1 second

Wait… what?

Congratulations!

For performing a special action you have earned the skill [Free Climbing]

A small grey window appeared in front of his eyes with bright white letters explaining his new "skill".

[Free Climbing]

It doesn't matter how many mountains life puts in your way, you'll just climb them.

Reduces stamina consumed when climbing, provides a bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Perception when searching out handholds on natural surfaces, alleviates finger cramps

He blinked away the strange hallucination in front of his eyes. What in the world is happening? What was this voice and why was it talking to him?

Hello! You have been integrated into the greater multiverse! I am your G.I.D.E. system. I provide Guidance, Information, Directions, and Explanations for the sapient life of the multiverse! 

This is a lot to take in. After everything that's happened suddenly there's some omnipotent voice talking to him about integrating into a multiverse. And, wait, he didn't say that out loud. Could it hear his thoughts?

Yes, communication with me is just a thought away! For ease of access I am no longer restricted to spoken commands!

Well at least the voice sounded cheery, even if it was more energy than he wanted right now. Then he remembered what had happened just a moment ago. Mute notifications for twenty minutes, he thought with direction.

Notifications muted: duration 20 minutes

Holy shit, this is like some kind of video game! Some genuine, real life, video game bullshit! It's just like those LitRPGs his girlf-

No. No thinking about that. Mentally shaking his head to free it from unwanted thoughts, he looked at his makeshift campsite. There were a half a dozen granola wrappers and the empty glass bottle that had led to his current situation. He didn't want to stay here any longer, so he should try to get moving, hangover or no hangover. If he stayed still for too long he would start thinking again. And that had not been going well lately.

So like the rational and intelligent man he was, he decided to sit down and think some more. Finding himself suddenly stranded, his first move should be trying to locate civilization, but that came with two glaring flaws. One: he had no idea which direction to go. Two: ugh, people.

He still had his goal of reaching the top of the mountain, but with everything changed, who knew how tall it was now? Granted a taller mountain would be way cooler to stand on top of, he didn’t quite have the confidence of going up there. Or did he? He had some new skill now, that would supposedly help him with climbing…

He reached into the pocket of his jeans, pulling out his phone to check the time. If he was going to climb the mountain, he should at least know how much daylight he had left. He pressed the button on the side of his phone, but the screen remained dark. He leaned his head back as the memory of listening to music as he drank came back to him.

“Must have forgotten to shut it off before I passed out. Serves me right I guess.”

He slipped the device back into his pocket, it was unlikely that he would find a charger while climbing a mountain, but it was also unlikely for the world to turn into a video game. If something impossible could happen once it could happen again, and he would love to have some tunes to drown out his thoughts.

He decided to get moving as he weighed his options, and after tying up his sleeping bag and packing his garbage into his sack, he stepped back to the mouth of the cave and looked down the rocks into the swirling fog below. What was waiting down there for him now? 

There was some kind of video game system now, and what else would come with it? Would there be dungeons? Monsters? Other people? What kind of off the wall fantasy bullshit was he going to have to deal with?

As he watched the fog below him it swirled and twisted in undulating patterns. The wind apparently not being enough to disperse it. But then he noticed the trees. Or at least the tops of them. They were still, unmoving in whatever breeze shifted the fog. 

"Well that’s disconcerting.", he thought to himself

As he stared, an urge tickled at the back of his mind, and he looked up. The mountain continued up, up, and up breaking through the clouds and disappearing somewhere above them. With his new [Free Climbing] skill he felt like he had a pretty good chance to make it up farther. He already saw the paths available up the rough face, his new skill seemingly drawing his eyes to them.

He could make the choice here and now. He could stay on course and climb this tremendous mountain he got teleported to, or he could back off like a coward and go try to muddle through life again. Did he really want to just go back after everything he had been through? Was this the extent of his drive? After a moment that stretched on into eternity, he had his answer

"Well I came to climb a mountain", he thought determinedly. He swung his leg out into the air and hooked his foot onto a small ledge, reaching up with his hand and beginning his climb. He could do this.

_____________________________________

K'vav'ren felt nothing but pure joy, a new integration was a joyous occasion as it meant that their multiverse was growing. As the last integrated people they were the ones chosen as Harbingers. Guides to teach the people how to grow and change, which was a tremendous honor and she could not help but feel giddy. But she had an ulterior motive.

From what they were told of these people before the integration, she was aware that none of them bore wings. To be the first sentient creature to soar through the skies of a newly integrated world! Oh the feeling would be rapturous!!!

She was honestly surprised that she had been chosen, as she had angered her Broodmother quite a lot recently. Something about not risking eggs with dimwitted clans, but Cer'tar-iin was very intelligent! Truthfully how she could be expected to resist the Ttacidaen's colorful crest she did not know. 

As she stepped through the shimmering portal in the air to greet the people that she would guide into their new age, she felt a pang of horror at the immediate sight of her surroundings.  She looked up and around and saw naught but an endless cavern of stone.

Nothing good comes from angering the Broodmother.