Michael Dale Lemos, a single man in his early thirties, is a bit overweight and below average in looks. His black hair was a tangled mess from not cutting it for a few months.
Throughout most of his childhood, he was the victim of social and rarely physical bullying as he went through grade school. From their dismal shared lives, he had only a couple of friends who shared his interest in strategy games, fantasy, D&D, and other forms of escapism. Still, they had a semblance of happiness in their hobby pursuits.
Michael may not have liked many things of his past and wished a few things would be different in his present, but overall, he was content with life. His brother recently was able to get him working out, and he was losing weight. He felt that his life was going in a good direction.
He never had any real issues with his family. They cared about him, and he did his best to reciprocate but occasionally made things awkward. His elder sister didn’t want anything to do with him, but his younger brother always did his best to get along with Michael. Their parents would offer advice or keep themselves open to talk with Michael if he was ever having a hard time. He was happy with his family.
Michael was at a family gathering celebrating Michael’s brother getting a big promotion in his job.
“Congratulations David. I am really happy for you.” Michael gave his brother a warm smile.
David had a broad smile as he sat next to his longtime girlfriend. “Thanks, Michael! I am glad you were able to make it. Your boss didn’t give you any trouble, did he?”
Michael chuckled, causing his belly to shake a bit, “Nah. I worked my ass off and got a few days ahead in my reports.”
“Michael! Language!” His mother scolded him with a smile.
“Sorry, Mom.” Michael chuckled again.
His father set down drinks for Michael and David. “So, how is the weight loss coming along, Michael?”
“Good, good. Well… Thanks to David. I’m down twenty pounds.” He proudly responded.
Their sister scoffed, “About time. At least you don’t smell like pork anymore.”
“Karen.” Their parents looked at her angrily.
“No. It’s… okay. She’s right.” Michael said, getting a bit of surprise from Karen.
Usually, when she said something like she did, the two would get into a huge argument and ruin their gatherings.
“I…” Michael continued, “I been getting help. Diane,” He looked toward his brother’s girlfriend, “recommended I try seeing a therapist.”
“Is everything alright?” Their father asked in a worried tone.
“Yeah, I swear everything is okay.” Michael paused and took a deep breath. “Turns out I’ve been carrying a lot of baggage since grade school. I let it consume me… Make me feel worth less than others… But now, not so much.” He looked around the table with a content look on his face.
“I’m getting my sh-… stuff together now. David has been supporting my weight loss program, and my therapist is returning my confidence. I plan on getting buff and will go to a technical school to learn a trade skill.” Michael reported.
“Really? We’re so proud of you, Michael!” His parents said.
“About time…” Karen cut in, but everyone ignored her comment.
“Are you sure you don’t want to get a degree? I know you are smart enough for better-paying fields.” His father asked.
“Nah. Honestly, looking at the market, trade skills are rapidly increasing in demand. Schools constantly hound you that getting a college degree is the only way you can succeed, but that is all bullsh-… crap. Further education helps make more money, but you don’t need some piece of paper saying you know the technical terms of your job.” Michael waved off his father’s concern.
“Have you decided yet?” David asked.
“Not yet. I am thinking of welding or electrical.” Michael replied. “But enough about me! We came together to celebrate David’s promotion to regional manager of his firm!” He raised his drink.
With shared smiles, “Cheers!”
Several hours passed, and it was late into the night. Michael stepped out of his parent’s home and headed to his SUV.
“Hey, fat ass,” Karen called out from the porch.
Michael’s face tensed up, but he turned to face her once he relaxed. “What?”
“Um… Take care, okay?” She turned and headed back into the house.
If his reality had been a cartoon, Michael was sure his jaw would have cracked the driveway with his shock.
After getting over his surprise, he laughed out loud, getting into his vehicle.
“Karen’s a fucking tsundere!” Laughing out loud once more as he started his vehicle and headed out onto the road to his apartment thirty minutes away.
Michael was driving home on the freeway, less than ten minutes away from home. There weren’t too many cars on the road, but enough to show the area was populated.
Even though there was to be a full moon that night, it was blocked out by dark storm clouds.
“Weather did say it was going to rain tonight. Means I’ll sleep well tonight!” Michael liked the rain. Its’ pitter-patter was calming to him.
As if on cue, rain began to hit his windshield. “Damn, I hope it doesn’t pick up too much. I gotta walk to damn door.”
A few minutes later, to his dismay, the rain was coming down heavily. It wasn’t enough for him to slow down below the speed limit, but he had his wipers on high.
His phone rang, and he answered his car’s system. “Yeah?”
“Where you at, Caeldaemos?” A man’s voice asked from the speakers.
“Dammit, Danny, I texted you guys. Give me ten more minutes, and I will be online. Besides, the weather is bad right now.” Michael replied.
“Really? Okay. Be careful alrig-.”
A white flash of blinding light exploded around Michael.
Michael slowly opened his eyes, lowering his arm down. “What the…?”
He was no longer sitting in his vehicle or holding the wheel of his car with an outstretched hand.
He was sitting inside what looked to be a large temple that was open at the sides to an endless whiteness of clouds.
Standing, he looked around a bit more. The furniture was exquisite, with golden trim and velvet cushions.
“Where the hell am-?” He was cut off by a feminine voice.
“Welcome, my hero.”
Michael looked up to see a beautiful woman in silky, somewhat see-through robes. She opened her golden-colored eyes as her long silver hair floated behind her.
Seeing him, the woman paused, and her expression tensed. Letting out a long sigh, she uttered, “A failure.”
“Hey! What the hell do you mean a failure?! Who the hell are you!?” Michael was getting annoyed.
“Ah, shut up. I don’t want to listen to a failure.” She responded, sounding frustrated.
“Oh yeah? What makes me a failure? Who do you think you are? And where the hell am I?!” Michael angrily demanded to know.
She clicked her tongue. “Well, failure, I am the great goddess Sylfaerune. I summoned you to my divine realm, but you are clearly a failure.” The goddess emphasized the word.
“You’re dodging why I am such a failure.” He pointed out.
After scoffing at him, “You have neither the looks nor the demeanor of a hero. It would be an insult to myself to have you be my champion. You also look dull.” She answered, her face disgusted by him.
“Fine. Whatever. You don’t want me? Send me back. I was just starting to get my life together over there, and my buddies are waiting on their DPS.” He crossed his arms across his bare chest, realizing he had been naked the whole time. He thought of covering himself but felt she would make fun of him again if he did.
“I cannot.” She responded coldly.
“What the fuck do you mean you can’t?! You brought me here! Send me back!” He yelled.
“I cannot because your mortal body is gone.” She replied as she sat on a seat and began eating some small fruit.
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“That’s bullshit!” He paused. “Wait…” Her words sank in. “My body… is gone…?”
“Correct. Tsk. What a waste of power.” She complained to herself.
Michael realized that if his body was gone, he was dead, and all that stood in the temple was his soul. “You killed me….” He mumbled.
“What? Hmm, maybe an orc?” She contemplated, not really paying attention to him.
“You fucking bitch! You murdered me to make me your hero, and just because you are unhappy with how I look, you’re going to just discard me!? What the fuck kind of goddess are you!?” Michael raged.
Her brow furrowed, not liking his insults. “You should be content just gazing upon such beauty as myself.”
“Beauty, my ass! You’re as ugly as your heart, you bitch!” He retorted.
“How dare you! I could turn you into a slug!” She yelled in anger.
“Do it then! It won’t change you took my life away from me! But you better hope I don’t get a chance to slime my back here because I will fuck you up!” He yelled back, his face turning red.
“No, I will turn you into a monster, so my hero will kill you!” She hissed.
“Hah! He would have to find me first! And I’ll make sure I would be strong enough to kick their ass too!” Michael knew in the back of his mind that challenging this goddess was insane, but he was too angry.
They stared at each other angrily for a moment, but a devious smile came to her face. “I know just the role, then.”
Michael tensed up.
“The role has yet to be fulfilled, and I am in charge of it this time. Have fun being hunted for the rest of your life in our world of Owtrelus.” She raised her hand toward him, and he was gone in a flash of light.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Michael screamed.
Miles above the ground, he fell at an accelerating pace.
“FUCK YOU SYLFARUNE!” He cried over the roaring wind.
Michael couldn’t think of anything he could do to survive his impact. He could see the forest he was crashing toward was becoming more detailed.
Bracing his arms and legs before his body, he tensed every muscle in his body for the impact when he felt something sprout from his back. A pain shot through two spots on his back as he felt himself slow a bit. Opening his eyes and looking, he saw two large onyx-colored wings had come out of his back.
“You gotta be….” Michael crashed through some branches and hit the ground.
“Ugh…” Michael creaked open one of his eyes, unsure how much time had passed. His other eye seemed to be swollen or damaged somehow.
His whole body hurt, but it meant he survived somehow. Slowly raising himself on his only functioning arm, he looked down at the crater he had created. There was a lot of blood, too much for a living being to lose and live.
His damaged eye began to see the light and slowly open. The pain in his body began to dull, and the feeling returned to his right side.
“What the hell?” Michael looked down at his arm to see various cuts and lacerations healing before his very eyes. “Holy shit. I guess I regenerate. That’s good to know.”
He checked over himself a bit more and noticed that physically he looked like himself if he was Carrie from the movie, all covered in blood but naked. Unsure of how to control the wings on his back, he struggled to pull one forward to look at. Touching its’ leathery bat, or as he preferred dragon, like wing, he shivered. He could feel himself touching its surface, which felt unnatural as humans did not have wings.
Letting go of his wing, he scratched an itch on his head, only to hit something slick with blood and hard. He could only try to feel the two protrusions because he didn’t have a mirror. The two objects started from high up on his forehead and curved up and back in line with his skull, the pointed tips just past the back of his head. Having a rough idea of what they were, he knocked on one feeling the reverberations down to his skull.
“Okay… I got wings and horns. Do I also have… nope, no tail.” He commented as he felt around his tailbone.
“Alright. The only being I know that would have this kind of look would be either a demon or maybe a demi-dragon.” He concluded, using his knowledge of fantasy games and books.
After he felt strong enough to move, he crawled out of his crater to the forest floor.
“Somehow, I feel that bitch didn’t send me to a beginner forest. Let’s see how strong this body is.” Michael said as he walked up to a sturdy-looking tree that looked to be a foot in diameter.
Mimicking a boxer’s stance, he punched the tree with a light jab, cracking the surface and not hurting his fist.
“Okay. Let’s try a little harder.”
Putting more of his weight into his jab, he struck the tree, rattling the branches above and nearly breaking the tree.
“Whoa. Okay, let’s try a kick.”
Spreading his stance a little bit more, he swung his leg as hard as he could at an undamaged part lower than where he punched, shattering the trunk and sending splinters flying.
The bad part was that because of his inexperience in fighting, he lost his balance and fell over, leaving the tree to fall on top of him.
Shaking some leaves from his face, he hefted the tree off himself enough to squirm free.
“Okay. Note to self, practicing kicking and… dodging.”
Looking over himself, many leaves and small branches stuck to his bloody self.
“I need to find a water source.” Michael paused momentarily, and a few thoughts ran through his mind.
“Might as well try. Status! No? Menu! Nope. Esc? Character Sheet! Attributes! ....” Michael tried several other attempts to bring up some kind of screen he had seen appear in fantasy stories or comics he had read before, but nothing seemed to work.
It was then that he heard stomping moving his way. Unsure of what to do, he climbed up a nearby tree and hoped the leaves and branches stuck on him would be enough to camouflage himself. As he got higher, his wings became a problem, and he was running out of time. Trying to relax the new muscles as much as he could, he managed to loosen them enough for him to climb up.
Slowing his breathing and making it as steady as he could, he awaited the arrival of the approaching stomping.
The first thing that hit him was the stench. Whatever it was, it smelled of a four-month-old body odor mixed with the mustiness of mold and Boston Terrier flatulence.
It was then that the bipedal creature came into sight. It was large, hairless, greenish-gray skinned, and uglier than hell. Its maw was giant, looking like it could swallow a man whole if it opened its mouth entirely.
Michael was six-foot-two, so by his estimate, the creature was almost ten feet tall. It wore a nasty-looking loincloth tied up by a rope and carried a large wooden club.
“Uhh…” It began to poke around the blood-covered crater and check the broken tree. It looked to be having a hard time looking about, as one of its two eyes was missing.
As it looked around, Michael noticed something small hanging around the thing’s neck. He focused on the item, trying to make it out but was having difficulty as it kept lumbering about. It eventually stopped long enough for him to focus on it, and information popped up before his eyes.
Pendant of Magic (Minor): A poor quality pendant that can give a minor increase to the mana pool.
“Huh?” Michael said to his instant regret.
The creature looked up and roared as it saw him.
“Shit!” Michael jumped from the tree out of the way of the swinging club that quickly removed the branch he was on.
Falling into another tree, he scrambled to get his footing, knowing the thing would swing for him again.
It roared again and swung at Michael. Barely getting his footing, he jumped again, but the club caught his right wing. Crying in pain, he flew off his intended course and slammed into the ground several feet away from the creature.
Gritting his teeth through the pain, he scurried to his feet and jumped behind a nearby tree that was twice as thick as the one he broke. The creature stomped toward him while growling.
The club hit heavily into the trunk, trying to catch Michael before he made it to cover. The surface bark was shattered, and the trunk surface was cracked.
“Come on! Can’t we get along!?” Michael tried to talk to it, but it just roared in response and tried to move around the tree to squish him, but he kept the thick tree between them.
“Alright, come on, nerd, what weak points? Um, well, it is wearing a loin cloth… urk, yeah, with that smell, I don’t think I want to go near there.” Michael dodged another swing. “Um, um, throat, eyes, nose, uh, shit! I can’t reach those now!” The creature tried to grab him, but Michael retreated to another thick tree as it gave chase.
“Weapon? Come on, uh… yes! The trunk!” Michael looked over to the broken tree from earlier. There was a four-foot section of the trunk he could use, but he would have to finish breaking it at the top part.
The creature charged and rammed into the tree Michael was behind, tearing its roots from the ground. He jumped away as both the tree and creature came down, kicking up a lot of dust.
Seeing it at his chance, Michael ran to the broken tree. Grabbing the nearly broken free part, he stomped on the cracked segment, freeing it.
Moving quickly to another thick tree, he waited for the creature to come charging at him again.
The ground rumbled as it roared toward him. Instead of tackling the tree this time, it kicked the trunk, uprooting it toward Michael.
Narrowly dodging the falling tree and the club swing, Michael raised the log to strike at the creature’s groin, only to have his troublesome wings grabbed.
As he felt the creature pull his wings upward, he quickly aimed and threw with all his strength at its nether region, luckily striking with its jagged end.
The monster let out an odd squeak, falling to its knees and cupping its groin with both hands.
Now free and with the club nearby, Michael hurriedly grabbed the three-inch thick handle and performed an overhead swing with every muscle he could.
With a wet crunch, a thick snap, and a wet gurgle, Michael looked up to see the body falling his way. Jumping to the side, the heavy body fell to the ground.
Turning and looking at the corpse, Michael could do nothing but laugh hysterically like a madman barely surviving the fight.
After a few minutes, he had calmed down enough to lament his situation. Murdered by a garbage goddess and thrown into a world with no knowledge of anything.
Michael focused on the corpse nearby like he did with the pendant.
Beryl Ogre (Corpse). Rank 14
“Beryl?” He tried focusing on the word he could see.
Beryl, as in the Great Beryl Forest. A dangerous forest that is rich in mana, leading to the common birth of strong monsters.
“Oh. That’s something. Mana.” He said, focusing on the word.
Mana; a source of natural power in the world of Owtrelus. All objects of the world contain such power, but only beings of intellect can manipulate it to high levels.
“Okay. Owtrelus.”
Owtrelus is the world created and maintained by the Five Divine. Orbus, the god of land and mountains. Tilra, the goddess of fire and life. Nanduun, the god of darkness, death, and rebirth. Io, the goddess of the oceans, rivers, and the moon. Sylfaerune, the goddess of the skies and the sun.
“Sylfaerune,” Michael growled.
Sylfaerune is the goddess of the skies and sun. Well known for her beauty and benevolence, she is beloved primarily by the human race. Other races of Owtrelus either dislike or are neutral to her as she prefers the beauty of the human race.
“Ooooh. I like the sound of the last line. Races of Owtrelus.”
Owtrelus is made up of four different major races. Humans, demi-humans, fae-folk, and demons.
“That’s it? Okay, demons.”
Demons are powerful beings who typically possess a humanoid-like body with varying appendages ranging from extra or different types of limbs, wings, or horns. They boast powerful magic and strong physical forms. Most demons possess a level of regeneration, making them difficult to kill. Their regeneration depends on their class or rank. The higher they are, they can become near immortal, the strongest of demons being a Demon-Lord.
“Uh… Demon-Lord.”
A Demon-Lord is the strongest demon that can exist, and only one can live in the world of Owtrelus at a time. For a new Demon-Lord to be born, the previous must die. Currently, it is unknown how one is born, but demons can tell if they have a candidacy. The only known thing about the birth of a Demon-Lord is the Rite of Rebirth, where the souls of the previous Demon-Lords find and baptize a candidate. Some have lost their mind in the process, while others seemingly change into a different personality. There is currently no Demon-Lord existing on Owtrelus.
Michael paused and let the information sink in. He noticed that there was no information as to what the purpose of the Demon-Lord was. He was saddened that he could not reference any more information from what he had learned. Checking ‘Rite of Rebirth’ garnered nothing further.
Walking over to the dead ogre, he noticed its wound was not healing. “Guess you ain’t a demon.”
After a bit of struggling, he got the pendant of magic from the ogre. He didn’t want to touch the loin cloth with its soiled appearance. Michael thought about taking the rope, but it was tied at the front, and he didn’t want to touch the corpse as it seemed like it had evacuated its bowels.
The club was broken in half, so he couldn’t use it. Using the log was too unwieldy, so he decided against making another that size. Moving about, he found a tree a few inches thick and broke it down into a makeshift club.
Feeling sticky and gross from his blood and the stench of the ogre that seemed to cling to him, he followed the ogre’s tracks, hoping he might find something helpful at its home.