“How the hell am I supposed to do that? I may still have superhuman strength and speed but without mana, I can’t use the spells I need to face up against something like that.”

I pointed towards the hydra, one of the many creatures of legends which had ghastly abilities like a poisonous spit and regeneration.

“I can help with that.”

Spreading his arms out wide, the world stilled for but a moment until a torrent of energy crashed into my body. The sudden impact caused me to be thrown back to the ground, streams of violent light fighting their way into every pore of my skin. Hellish as the experience was, I was overcome by a familiar feeling through the pain the I was being put through. This was...

“Mana. I didn’t even need to read your mind to know what you were thinking.”

As quickly as it started, the whole ordeal ended when God snapped his fingers. I was refreshed; the feeling of mana flowing through my body again left me in a slight state of euphoria. I felt whole again, as if a body part that I lost had come back to me. Nevertheless, I did have few questions.

“I have a huge mana pool. How could their possibly be this much mana in a world where, just 1 year ago, there wasn’t a single whiff of it?”

“Think of mana like bacteria. It thrives on life. Being introduced in such a dense forest allowed it to multiply and divide so quickly that this forest has become rich in it. If you don’t believe, try to sense the mana in the air. Now that you have a supply, you’ll be able once again use it to sense the different signatures of life, like you have before.”

Following his instructions, I willed the mana out of my finger tips, controlling each thread like an extra limb. To my surprise, once they touched the trees, I felt the pleasant sensation of life brimming from the bark – a sign that there was an abundance of pure mana in the area.

“You’ve got your power’s back, and you’ve got the thing you need to use them. Will you accept my proposition?”

God stuck his hand out of his sleeve and hung it between us.

I was nervous. What would happen if I took his hand? Will it be the same as fighting the Demon King?

“Spark.”

A small flame appeared over the palm of my right hand, its warmth like an old friend. I stared into the light, entranced by its dance. The same spell that I had failed to use this morning was now burning in front of me, as if what happened before was dream.

I missed this feeling. The glow of magic as it entered the world.

“Alright.”

Taking his hand, God’s imploded into a ball of light. The orb bobbed up and down in the air before throwing itself into my chest.

Air escaped my lungs. Whatever that light was, I’m betting on it being God’s compensation for being his sword.

“Can you hear me?”

Out of nowhere, God’s voice rang out.

“Are you in my head?”

“Yeah, looks like the connection worked.”

“Is this like bluetooth?”

“I guess you could say.”

Having God in my head doesn’t really seem very appealing.

“Hey, I can still read your thoughts. Actually, more like hear them. Also, this connection isn’t so bad; it’ll allow me to tell you when a monster is nearby. By the way, I might also send you to other countries if the situation some where gets really bad.”

“I’ll keep that in my mind.”

This might be more than I bargained for.

“More? I think it shouldn’t matter since I can just teleport you there.”

“...Right, I didn’t think about that.”

“Just saying, this is the first of the blessings I gave to you for accepting this job. You’ll have to discover the others.”

“That’s... just dumb.”

“Hey! It would be so cool if in the middle of a losing fight you suddenly activate one of the blessings and win because of it, right.”

“No it wouldn’t. If I knew about the blessing then I wouldn’t be losing.”

“Sigh, looks like you just can’t appreciate the artistry of such a power-up. Anyways, I can disconnect this line, so to speak, at anytime. You can alert me at anytime to connect it by just thinking of... I know! God is number one!”

“...”

“Hmph.”

A clicking sound echoed in my head as God stopped talking. I’m glad that was-

“By the way, I stopped time to talk to you. It’ll restart once you jump back over the fence.”

Click.

That surprised the hell out of me. Stopping time, huh... He must be the real deal.

Realising why the forest was so quiet, it was like a weight was lifted of my shoulders. I guess the silence made this whole trip more ominous then it was.

Afraid that someone would find the corpse of the hydra, I aimed an ‘Inferno’ at its deathbed to destroy the body then covered the hole using the spell ‘Earthen Tomb’. Giant clumps of dirt appeared from thin air and covered the ashes as I made my way back to the schoolyard. Walking through the forest as the trees got less and less crowded, a familiar presence emerged within a part of my soul. Burning brighter than a dying star, the image of a flaming greatsword appeared in my head. I smirked. Looks like we’re still connected.

“It is so good to be alive."

----------------------------------------

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Time flowed once more, my feet carrying me back to where I had left Sion. On the spot where I used to be, 3 people stood around in a circle, feet tapping the ground like they were waiting for someone. From the fact that I could see Sion’s blonde hair, it was probably me. Waving my hand, I greeted them to catch their attention.

“Hey.”

“There you are!”

All three turned to face my direction. Apart from Sion who smiled at me, the other two just stared at me. One had a far cleaner look in contrast to Sion’s scruffiness. He wore the school uniform with a bit more pride, his black hair kept short and his posturestraight. The other guy was a bit more loose, like Sion. He kept his shirt untucked, his fringe gelled high, and his tie no where to be found. In retrospect, he looked at me with indifference while the other semmed like he didn’t know what to think.

“Damien, meet Josh Williams and Ethan Jones. Two of my closest friends and soon to be yours too!”

“Hey there.”

I gave them my own smile, watching as Josh and Ethan turned to each other before flashing there’s and responding.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

It was a simple exchange but I kind of liked that. These interactions reminded me of the life I saw people had in... Piora. Saying that in my head was a bit hard. It just feels so foreign now; alien, in a way.

“This guy here just move from... where did you come from?” Sion looked at me with his question.

“Llan-On-Wye. It’s an old town near the river Wye. I’m Welsh, but my parents have a bit more diverse background. I have family all over the world that I visit often so my accent isn’t really thick, if I have one.”

I tried my best to explain my planned out lie. I don’t really want to hide the fact that I was kidnapped, though that isn’t true at all, but telling people that I was isn’t really a good way to get friends. It gets you people who just pity you, that’s all.

“When you said that name, I was wondering where you accent was,” Josh said, laughing a bit afterwards.

“Even though I’m Welsh, I can’t really speak it so... I don’t know where I’m going with this,” Ethan was a little more confused, not with the topic but with what he was saying.

I laughed. These guys were pretty friendly from the looks of it so I’m thankful for Sion for introducing them. Guess I won’t be without friends for another year.

As I was caught in my thoughts, a short boy who had bangs that covered his entire face bumped into Ethan. A pair of glasses fell on the floor as the boy dropped down to scramble for them. In one smooth motion, Ethan picked up the glasses of the ground and tapped the boy on the shoulder. A squeak escaped his mouth as he looked up, happiness spreading over his face as he saw the glasses being handed. Hey, is it just me, or is he actually a she?

He was short, but his lithe figure matched his height. Standing up, he lifted the black bangs covering his eyes and a pure, gentle face stared back at Ethan. Holding her- I mean his glasses to his chest, they were swiftly put on.

“T-thank you.”

A soft voice came from his mouth. His face turned a bit red. I’m turning a bit red. Even Sion and Josh were. Yet there Ethan stood, unaffected by his- I mean her- I mean, god dammit! I don’t want to be here anymore.

As he walked off, Sion’s head snapped to face Ethan.

“Don’t you dare tell me you did it again.”

Ethan looked helpless at the statement.

“He’s a dude! I think.”

“You think?!”

The softness was gone was gone, replaced with an anger that exploded forth as she stomped back. Right on to Sion’s face.

“I’m a girl!”

She stomped off towards group of girls who looked at us like scum. Onlookers were snickering at the large red mark on Sion’s face.

“Ethan... how do you this?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Didn’t Sion say ‘again’ before the girl came back. Oh, and thank god she was a girl because- never mind.

“How many girls do you have in your harem?!”

“S-shut up.”

“Are you stuttering? Are you really stuttering? That’s like the fifth girl! Now you have a reverse trap!”

“What the hell’s a harem?”

I watched the little comedy act, Sion throwing abuse at Ethan as he just awkwardly laughed at each statement. Josh just stood off at the side, sighing as he watched his two friends one-sidedly bicker. At no point in the conversation, did they explain what a harem was. Still, no matter how cute she was, I’ll only love Vivian. I'm getting just a bit depressed.

----------------------------------------

School ended after a few hours and not much really happened. Lessons were less than interesting and I was nearly bored to death by the end of it. I’m regretting my decision to agree with going back to school.

Hundreds of students flooded the gates with me included. Excitement bubbled through the crowd, the first day buzz still fresh in their minds. Not relating whatsoever with the others beside, I walked with Sion, Ethan, and Josh to the road outside.

The group split up as we left the school grounds, each of us going our separate ways. Despite the argument between Ethan and Sion, they were still happy about each other at the end of the day.

According to Josh, their little fight happens every once in a while, when Ethan mysteriously manages to catch a girls eye. Apparently, Sion dubbed these girls as part of Ethan’s harem which Josh explained to me was sort of a group which had a crush on Ethan. Now, I’m not going to say that the short girl fell in love with him, I think that she was just grateful for his polite response to the collision. Sion begged to differ saying ‘that’s how it all starts’. I don’t where they get this from; maybe I’ll ask them tomorrow.

Anyways, I said my own farewells to the 3, about to head home when a click sounded in my head.

“Hello, hello, hello. It’s me, God,” he said joyfully, happiness oozing from his voice.

‘You seem pretty happy for a guy supposed to be worrying about a monster invasion.”

“Well, this and that happened and let’s just say ‘this and that’ makes for a very happy God.”

‘Okay... so, what do you need.’

“North from here, a pack of plague rats have spawned in the sewers below. I need you to kill them before they spread their awful disease.”

‘Sewers? I guess it might not be so bad as the time I went spelunking in the Flesh Caves of Garrok. I’ll be there in a bit.’

“Great, looks like your first hunt should be easy.”

Click.

Abrupt as the call was, I followed his directions and headed to the plague rats.

*************************************

That was, of course, before I realised that he didn’t really specify a location.

For an hour, I walked around town aimlessly with the vague idea of ‘north’ in my head. I had the stamina to do it all but my brain could not handle extra boredom of the task.

My search led me to the middle of a housing street. Left to right, homes stretched a good half of a kilometre before being cut off another street or a main road. It was almost empty save for a few students who stayed out a bit longer with their friends.

I nearly left the street when I saw a manhole cover open slightly to reveal a pair of dark, beady eyes. A foul odour escaped the hole, a clear sign that those eyes most likely belonged to one of the plague rats. I could recognise that smell from a mile away. I had to, what with my enhanced senses forcing me to inhale it with a far more acute sensitivity.

Cringing at the smell, I cast a weak ‘Wind Barrier’ around my head to stop myself from gaging any further but still breath. To not catch the rat’s attention, I pretended to walk to one of the houses near to the cover. I could feel its eyes on me, the hunger of food apparent in its continuous gaze.

Just as I reached the fence gate of a house, I turned on my heels and ran to grab the rat out of its peeking hole. With my speed, the fight was over in a second. An oversized brown rat struggled in my arms, its pig-sized body scrambling to bite off the hand that gripped on the scruff of its head. Green steamed floated around its body, the smell now more pungent than ever. Birds fell from the sky it was so bad.

“What’s that smell?”

I’m such an idiot. Why would I pull it out where anyone could see the thing? Taking the manhole cover that was tossed to side, I jumped down into the sewers with the rat covering the hole as I fell. The rats squeaks grew louder as I landed in the dirtied water. I don’t really want to think about what I’m standing in right now.

“Fairy Lights.”

The tunnel brightened up as motes of light appeared on the walls. What I saw would have scared most people. Hues of brown to black took up most of the tunnel, the same beady eyes on the rat I held repeated hundreds of times on the large mass of fur.

Nope. Just, nope.

“Ice Breath.”

The rats froze with a crisp sound as light blue wind burst from my mouth. In my hand, the last one grew stiff with fear. Looks like it knew all the others are dead. You know, I felt a bit sorry for the guy.

----------------------------------------

“So, how was your first day? Did you make any friends?”

“Yeah, met these guys who show me around. Classes were boring though, my new friends were only in a few of my classes and we didn’t have them today.”

“That’s good. More chicken?”

“No thanks.”

My parents and I sat around the dinner table, eating the roast chicken my mother made. One of the only dishes she can make.

“What about peas? And I know you’d just love some mashed potatoes.”

“It’s alright, mum.”

It was a fairly standard family dinner.

“Anything interesting happened?”

“Not really.”