Darius leaned back in the same old office chair, exhaustion from the work week weighing heavy on his shoulders. As he stared at the flickering fluorescent lights above, his mind wandered to the unfinished fantasy novel sitting on his bedside table at home. With that thought, he rose from his chair and began gathering his things to head home. He gave halfhearted nods and farewells to his co-workers as he made his way toward the door to the parking lot. Sure, reading alone at home might not sound like the most exciting Friday night to most, but for Darius it was all he really wanted. For the last few years this had been Darius’ day to day life. Wake up, go to work, go home, then get lost in whatever fantasy series he was currently immersed in.

Just as Darius drew closer and closer to his car, something in his peripherals caught his eye. A shimmering light was emanating from behind his office building. Usually, Darius would ignore something like this, but something about the light seemed to call out to Darius. Darius headed toward the light, its shimmering intensity getting brighter and brighter as he drew close.

“What the,” Darius muttered to himself as he looked at the source of the shimmering light. Directly behind his office building was what appeared to be a spacial portal, or something that looked similar.

“Don’t tell me that through that portal is a magical fantasy world waiting to whisk me away” Darius thought and chuckled to himself. Against his better judgment, Darius slowly approached the portal, but as he got closer and closer, the hairs on his arms began to stand as if responding to static electricity.

“OK, fuck that” Darius said out loud, and turned to leave. However, it seemed as if he was already caught in the gravitational pull of whatever the portal was, and despite fighting his hardest against it, he found himself getting pulled closer and closer to the portal. Before he knew it, Darius was completely enveloped by the shimmering light. After a few moments of the blinding light surrounding him, Darius felt his consciousness begin to slip away.

Darius slowly opened his eyes with a groan. Darius began to sit up and look around, but something immediately caught his eye. Directly in front of him was what appeared to be a green screen with white lettering. Darius read what was on the screen.

Name: Darius Lazarov

Age: 26

Race: Human

Level: 1

Title: Champion of Osufuu

Attributes

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Vitality: 20

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Fortitude: 10

Awareness: 10

Charisma: 10

Luck: 20

Skills

Interpreter

Traits

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Traveler

Osufuu’s Blessing

Heart of a Champion

“Is this a character sheet? I don’t understand, and who is Osufuu?” Darius asked out loud as he got to his feet. He then looked all around him, and for the first time took in his surroundings. He stood in the middle of what looked like a swamp surrounded by an eerie Forrest of various odd colored trees. One particular tree off in the distance caught Darius’ eye. It was a massive tree, but from his current distance Darius couldn’t tell just how big the tree really was. It had shinning golden bark, and both pink and purple leaves stemming from the many branches at the treetop. Darius was momentarily mesmerized by the tree, but soon a sound nearby snapped him out of it. Darius turned around just in time to see an arrow hurtling towards him. He tried to duck out of the way of the arrow, but he was too late, and the arrow sunk into Darius’ left shoulder. He recoiled back in pain, and furiously looked around the surrounding foliage in search of his attacker, but he couldn’t see anyone. However, the first arrow had put Darius on high alert, so when the next arrow came, he was ready and managed to dodge just in time. Darius followed the second arrows flight path and saw a figure duck behind a nearby tree whose roots stretched down into the murky swamp water.

“I see you over there, who are you and why are you attacking me?” Darius called out to the figure, as he scrambled away to take cover behind a different nearby tree. He ignored the swamp water as he sloshed through towards the tree he planned to use as cover.

“You speak our language human?” Called out a low and guttural voice. Darius paused, taking his attackers words in.

“Are you not a human? What are you?” Darius asked, peering around the tree he was using for cover.

“Humans are not allowed in the holy swampland of the Akere-Konko. Even if you speak our language now that you have come here you shall be added to our sacrifices.” The creature said.

“What? Sacrifices?” Darius asked, his heart racing faster and faster as the implications of the creature's words sunk in. Darius looked all around him, hoping to find a path to escape this accursed swampland, but all he could see was more and more swampland stretching out in every direction. This momentary distraction turned out to be a critical mistake. The creature used Darius’ lack of attention to close the distance, and in a moment, he had pounced at Darius. Darius turned to face the creature just in time to grab its wrist and stop it from plunging a knife into his chest. Darius finally saw the creature and was lost for words. The creature was some sort of humanoid frog man, with a body that mostly resembled a human, but it’s face was unmistakably frog like.

“What are you?” Darius spat out as he wrestled the knife out of the creature’s hand. The force of pulling the knife away sent them both tumbling to the ground, both of them splashing into the murky swamp water. Darius tried to regain his footing but slipped on the muddy ground beneath the shallow water. Just as Darius regained his footing, he saw a green web fingered fist fast approaching his face. But he couldn’t react in time. The blow sent Darius crashing down into the swamp water again. This time Darius rolled through the swamp water to gain some distance before clambering to his feet.

“Fuck it, you want to fight, then let's go.” Darius said.

Darius hadn’t been in many fights in his life, sure he had been in a few small scuffles back in his school days, but never before had he been in a true life or death battle. Despite his lack of experience, his anger and frustration at everything that had happened in the past few hours boiled over. He charged at the creature and threw a straight right at its face. The creature ducked, avoiding Darius’ punch, and the two began exchanging punches at close range. Darius ignored the creature’s attacks, and after a few misses he finally landed a straight right directly on the creature’s face. The blow sent the creature sprawling back into the murky swamp water, but it sprang right back up and lunged at Darius. As the two continued exchanging blows, they both took damage, but it became apparent that Darius was overpowering the creature. Soon Darius stood panting to catch his breath, as the creature laid sprawled out on its back in the swamp water.

Darius wasn’t sure what to do next. Sure, this creature had tried to kill him, but should he really kill this creature? Aside from swatting a fly and stuff like that, Darius had never killed anyone or anything in his life, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Especially since this creature was sentient and could talk like a regular person. As these thoughts whirled around in Darius’ head, he was snapped out of his thoughts by a sound from behind him. This time he didn’t bother trying to turn, and immediately dropped to the ground for cover. An arrow went sailing just over his head, and as he stood back up Darius turned to see dozens of the Frog men approaching him. Before he could do anything else, the creature he had been fighting with reached out and grabbed his ankle.

“There is no escape now human, may your sacrifice please the great God Spiro.” Said the creature who was gripping Darius’ ankle with all of its remaining strength. With no time to think Darius reacted on instinct and began punching the creature in the head repeatedly. Even after the creature’s grip loosened, he didn’t stop until the creature stopped moving entirely. As soon as the creature stopped moving a few screens appeared in front of Darius. He didn’t even bother to look at them, instead he ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction from the creatures. Darius didn’t get far before he felt a hard impact on the back of his head. Then everything went dark, and for the second time in what felt like mere minutes, Darius lost consciousness.