Chapter 1

Samuel Draga

"Pencils down. Please pass up your finals everyone, and uh, enjoy your break." Professor Bonesteel gave notice from the lectern in front of the class. He wore khaki shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt depicting a video game controller with the phrase "good old days" written across it. We followed his instructions.

"Excuse me, when will grades be released?" A forgettable female acquaintance raised her hand.

"Mm. Probably within the next four days," the professor said as he gathered the last of the tests. "Enjoy your afternoon," he gave one final wave from the classroom's doorway before walking off.

"Hoo-man!" Rob stretched his arms in the air before turning around at me, "That was fucking hard, right Sam? I nearly got an aneurysm trying to do all that thermal!" This is Robert Rumlo, my best-friend. He has straight light brown hair and a darker brown short beard. He likes to wear button down plaid shirts with the top buttons undone, no undershirt, and blue jeans. We met in our second semester in our current choice of school, Kalos University. We bonded over a crappy professor, Dr. Angel. She was somebody who always believed she was right simply because they were the one with the PhD, even though their logic didn’t hold. The whole class would get in a shouting match with her sometimes.

"Yeah, number three especially. My brain felt like it was full of those monkeys on typewriters." My name is Samuel Draga, I am a mechanical engineering student in my senior year. I am clean shaven with wavy black hair and circular glasses that are slightly too loose for my face. I like to wear shonen anime t-shirts, my favorite being Joey's Absurd Travels, with a long sleeve unzipped black jacket on top. I wear jeans or shorts on the bottom, depending on the weather. The test we just took was our final for our seventh semester, we have one more to go until we graduate with our bachelor's.

"The one with parts a-j? That was insane!" Rob and I grabbed our bags and walked out of the small classroom with the others. Some of our classmates had smiles on their faces chatting about how they did, others were in complete despair. One guy stayed in the classroom with his head down against the desk, shouting into it with a muffled scream. His friend was there with a hand on his shoulder. Poor Jim.

"How'd you feel about the test overall, Rob?" I asked.

"Pretty good. I probably forgot a negative sign somewhere, but I showed my work so I should get most of the partial credit. What about you?" He stretched then put his hands behind his head while walking.

"Same here," I responded. "I'm glad you decided to stay over last night. Taking a short nap and then banging those questions out together while hyped up on caffeine at three in the morning saved our butts." I inhaled the fresh air.

"I'll say," Rob said before suddenly standing in place, as if he realized something.

"What is it?" I inquired.

Rob's face turned into a smile, "You sly dog. Today's your birthday, isn't it?" He was right, my birthday always landed on the last day of finals. What a fantastic birthday present! God help me.

"Yes, it is, it always is." I responded with a shrug.

"Well, guess who's taking you out to-night?" He did a little dance.

I sighed into a chuckle, "You are."

"That's right. I am." Rob pointed his thumb at his chest.

#

We arrived at Max's, a bar known for its wide variety of alcoholic drinks, including boozy milkshakes. It was right around the corner from my apartment, which made it good for when we had to waddle back drunkenly after dark.

"Hey fellas, you are looking in high spirits today!" Max greeted us at the bar. He had slicked back ginger hair and a full-beard.

"Yeah, well we just finished our last final." Rob responded.

"What was it on?" Max asked as he cleaned a glass.

"Thermodynamics." I replied, wanting to put an end to the conversation.

"Oof. Yeah I'm glad I dropped out and got my bar tending license instead, he-heh."

"Yeah-yeah. We know the story." Rob flicked his wrist.

"Oh, do you now? Well, what do you guys want to order then?" Max pointed at Rob with his pen and notepad.

"I'll have a boozy strawberry shake." Rob looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

"Boozy vanilla please. Oh and we'll be sitting outside." I up-nodded at Max.

"You've got it." Max finished writing the order and tore the sheet from the pad. He turned around and shouted to the two other workers, "Two boozy shakes! One vanilla, one strawberry!" One of the workers stopped wiping the stove top and went to grab the metal ice-cream scoop. The other had a bead of sweat run down the side of his head as he prepped some fries.

Rob and I passed by a multitude of people eating their cheesesteaks and beer, others had cocktails and shakes. Make no mistake, this wasn't Philly, it was worse, it's Florida. There was a couple kissing each other which served as a reminder that I was single. Maybe I should ditch the shirt? Well, at least I'm not like our classmate that was once again sitting in the corner face down against the table, groaning with a white russian in hand. We walked outside and sat at one of those two-person tables by the large front window. The seats were made out of this wiry metal that made the most grating sound when scraped against the concrete. I really should've lifted the seat out, but I'm too lazy.

Rob leaned forward over the table, "So did you read the new warlock battle chapter? I tell ya, man. It's peak."

I leaned back and clapped my hands together, spreading them out to the sides of my head with my palms facing toward Rob. "Bro, fucking Wuji."

"Yeah man. I know, right?" Rob placed his hands in front of him and shook them. "Still want to strangle the author though, too many ass-pulls."

"I swear to God, if fish cake pulls another 'irrevocable oath', I will-"

"Here are your boozy shakes, gentlemen." Max placed them in front of our faces.

"Thanks, Max." Rob responded and I nodded in accordance. Max just raised an eyebrow up and walked inside. Rob and I both took a sip through the barbershop pole straws. Mm, vanilla-y.

"So, how's your girlfriend?" I asked Rob.

"Oh, May? She's doing fine, I guess," He took another sip. "Her last final was yesterday, I think it was on, forensics?"

"That's cool. She trying to be a cop?"

"Homicide detective."

"Damn." I raised my eyebrows.

"Yeah she's so cool."

"You're lucky to have her, that's for sure. If she does do that though, she will probably need help getting through some of the more... tough cases."

"Well that's what I'm here for. She can tell me all of her troubles and I will listen!" He bonked his head lightly with his fist, "She's got a pretty hard head though. I think she'll be fine for the most part." We then took another sip, nearing the end of our drink. This stuff always goes by FAST, it's dangerous.

"What about you?" Rob asked.

"Me? Uhh." Can't say I wasn't surprised by the turn-around, I just didn't want it to happen. I do this to myself.

"C'monnn. Have you made any moves on you know who?"

"Uh, nope. Not yet." I shook my head. He was talking about Julia, she was the top of our class. She was quiet normally, but smart as hell and answered questions with confidence. She was an honor student, and had already published a peer-reviewed research paper in high school. I tell ya, smart equals attractive. She had short brown hair normally tied into a bun, and matching brown eyes. Sometimes she wore these cute square glasses, and her face, oh her face, was smooth and pretty as hell. She also had these nice thick cheekbones. She normally wore modest clothing, but you could tell she was hiding some decent assets too. Dem thighs though... eh, who am I kidding? I’m a tits guy at heart, but I can appreciate the rest.

"Dude, really?" Rob snapped me out of it as he anchored his elbow to the table, "Y'know life isn't an anime, right?" He pointed at me, "Things aren't just going to happen unless you go out and try and make it happen."

"Yeah I know, I know." I rested my chin on the table and sucked the rest of my drink through the long straw.

"That is why, I -will be your wing-man." He once again pointed at his chest. I stared at him, peeved. "Tomorrow," he concluded.

"Tomorrow what?" I asked for clarification.

"Tomorrow, you'll go up to her after-class and ask her out. I'll be with you for support." He smiled.

"Tomorrow is Saturday, we don't have class. We also just finished the semester, so we won't have class for another month or so."

Rob's eyes widened "Oh shit, you're right."

"Uh-huh." I slid my shake to the side.

Rob grabbed his chin and started thinking. "Hm. Do you know where she is?"

What is he saying? "Of course not dude! I'm not a stalker!"

"You sure?" He spoke under his breath, "Cause you kinda look like one."

"My guy." My mouth was open.

"Just kidding." He looked to his left through the glass window with the words "Max's" on it for a brief second, before looking back at me. His eyes widened then he quickly looked back, cupping his hands against the surface and looking through them. "Ah. There she is!"

"What?" I copied him, "You serious? How did I miss her earlier?" Yup, she was right there sitting with one of her friends. Hey she was drinking a boozy vanilla shake too, glad she had good taste. We should probably stop staring now. "We should probably stop staring, she'll think we are weird." Rob and I snapped back into our prior positions. He finished his shake and slid it off to the side.

"Sam, I catch you sneaking peaks throughout class all of the time. She definitely knows already. That's also why you probably miss all the material."

I felt my cheeks go red, "Shut up. I can't help it, okay? It's an automated response."

Sam leaned back, one arm on the top of the chair, "Yeah, I know. I know." A couple of seconds of silence went by before his stomach suddenly growled. His eyes widened in response. We both stared at each other before he looked down and held his hand over it. "New idea: How about I go take a fat shit, and then on the way back, I convince her to talk to you outside?" He shot up from the chair, causing it to fall backwards, then he tried to run onto the sidewalk. Keyword: tried.

"What, that's so stupid-" I didn't get to complete my sentence as Rob suddenly bumped into a man. This caused the man to drop this big expensive looking bottle of wine out of a brown paper bag and onto the concrete.

A look of shock came upon Rob's face as he looked down at the red drink spilling off the sidewalk and into the sewer drain nearby. I got up from my chair, hands still on the table. Rob stuck his hand back behind him, signaling me not to move. He then looked back at the man who was big, bald, buff and wide. He was wearing an expensive looking Lolex watch, DayGone sunglasses, Brony suit, and Lucci Baton shoes with a giant red stain on it, complete with a mean scowl on his face. Rob put up both his hands, "Sorry man, I didn't mean-"

"Didn't mean to? Didn't mean to?" The man had a gruff voice, kinda like that one newspaper chief.

"Hwuh?" Rob’s own face contorted in fear.

The man shot up his finger, "Do you know how expensive that wine was?"

Rob gave his best guess, "Uh, three hundred dollars?"

"Three-hundred?" The man leaned over Rob, engulfing him in shadow, "Try over two-thousand dollars. And the shoes?" Rob didn't even get a chance to respond, "Fifteen-hundred."

"And the suit?" Rob squeaked.

"The suit." The man smiled. "The suit was," his mouth expanded larger than Rob's head, "FOURTEEN-THOUSAND DOLLARS."

"Ah. Okay." Rob accepted his fate, as he wiped the bundles of spit that had visited his face.

The man interlocked his fingers together before pointing them at Rob, "So, let me ask you this: Do you have the money?"

"The money?"

"The money to pay me back." He scoffed, "C'mon you don't think you are going to get away with this scot-free are you?" The man held out his right hand and bent the fingers back and forth.

"Uhh." Rob put his hand behind his head, "I don't carry cash, do you take card?"

The man smiled for a brief second, then let his anger show, upper cutting Rob in the stomach. Rob collapsed onto the sidewalk, throwing up onto the ground. I thought I smelled something rancid too, so I finally started walking toward the man. Besides trying a bunch of different mixed-martial arts classes and quitting, I never really had been in a fight before. But if my best-friend was going to suffer, I was going to be there with him.

"Hey!” I shouted, “If you want to beat him up, you'll have to go through me."

"Yeah right." Baldie responded, so I threw a punch. He caught it and then elbowed me to the side and into one of the metal chairs. I definitely just hit the back of my head directly onto one of the armrests. Shit, that hurts. In my blurring vision, Baldy McBaldurson then walked back to Rob, pulled back his leg, and snapped it forward, kicking him. This launched Rob into the air and onto the black asphalt road next to us. Rob was struggling to get up.

It was then I noticed a semi-trailer making small swerves left and right. The company plastered on the side was Lucky Delivery, LLC, with a four-leaf clover. The window was down and the driver in his forties looked like he was preoccupied with something on his face. As the lights came closer to Rob I knew he saw death stare at him in the face. I knew what I had to do. Weirdly, I felt myself swell with a sudden burst of energy. I sprung up from my collapsed state, used one arm to shove the burly man onto the floor, and dove for Rob. Time slowed down while I was mid-air, but I connected my hands with Rob's back, and pushed. He made it to the other side of the street on his ass and facing toward me. A look of extreme concern jolted across his face. Just before the lights completely engulfed my vision, I screamed, "ROBERTTTTTTTTT!"

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And then, there was white.

#

I feel nothing. Nada. Nien. Nyet. And yet, my vision has come to be. I have no body. I am pure light. I guess this is what it means to be a soul. I must be dead.

"That is correct, Samuel Heppin Draga."

What, who is speaking?

"I am the Goddess of Luck, Fortuna." My vision fixes on a paradoxical beauty sitting on a holographic throne. Her hair is long, down to her sandals, but is split in half. It's black and a bit frazzled on the left side, and green, shiny, and straight on the right. It's held in place by a glowing holographic emblem depicting a golden four leaf clover. Her left eye is completely dark, her right houses a golden iris with a beauty mark just underneath. She is wearing robes that span down from just above her bust line, to just above her feet housed in golden sandals. The robes are green and black instead of black and green. They hug her figure, and showcase her mysterious assets. Her left breast doesn't seem to exist at all, and is shamefully covered by her frizzy hair. The right breast, the lucky side, spouts a beauty mark, and would make any anime art director proud. I must say, however, breasts are breasts, no matter the size. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. So what is the meta?

"Would you kindly refrain from talking about my physical appearance, you are only looking at a small fraction of my true nature."

What exactly are you?

"I am only the embodiment of the concept of luck, made physical to be able to be perceived by a human soul such as yourself."

I see.

"No you don't. I am embedding the information directly into your soul."

I perceive.

"Hmph, better." She gets up from her chair and hovers toward me, "Well let's cut to the chase. You see-"

Perceive.

"Shut up before I expose you to ascended horrors beyond your comprehension!" She sighs, "You are not supposed to be dead."

If I had eyebrows I would raise one.

"Your friend, Robert Rumlo, is supposed to be dead."

Why?

"One of the worlds I manage, Zaria, has a problem." Fortuna opened her palm which projected a three-dimensional hologram of an Earth-like planet, "The demon lord, king, whatever, has risen and needs a hero to stop it. Your friend, Robert, was supposed to be that hero." She growled, "I had set-up everything so your friend and that truck-driver had all the unluckiness, but of course something had to go wrong!"

What exactly went wrong?

"A reversal of fortune."

Reversal of fortune?

"It means those idiots in the quantum department measured too much at once!" She slammed her foot against the virtual floor causing the plane to shake. "Robert's unluck turned into luck at the last second, prompting you to magically get some energy out of nowhere to save him!"

That's what that was. Sooo, why him and not me?

"He has, in your video-game terms, an S-plus in potential for an overpowered skill." She points her finger at my highest soul surface density point, "You on the other-hand, do not."

What is my potential then?

Fortuna turns around, "C-minus, barely enough to pass."

Oof.

"Yeah, oof." She looks back at me, "Regardless, you will be the hero instead. But as gods, we have collectively decided to give you a cheat skill worthy of my name."

Doesn't that happen all the time in isekai anime?

"Those are shows, Sam, this is real life. Besides, you don't get to choose."

Aw man.

"The skill is called..." Fortuna points her finger up into the sky in an exaggerated fashion.

Here it comes!

The finger comes down locking in front of my face, "Luck."

Luck? That's it?

"The simple ones are always the best. As per the name you will be given a copy of my luck, not all of it, mind-you, but enough to ensure an absolute victory in your adventure and thereafter." A smirk goes across her face.

But that takes away all of the fun of it! C'mon let me choose!

"No."

What?

"I said no."

Why not?

"I don't want to."

But isekai protagonists usually get to choose!

"I don't care."

This doesn't make any sense.

"Too bad. I'm a god."

And then, another flash of white, this time it came from her palm in my face.

#

When my vision cleared I had my body back. I was in typical newbie garb with a shitty starting sword, no gold, and standing on a path near a forest. Nobody was around, but I could see the starting town down the hill and off in the distance. Following the path would be my best bet. There was a waypost on the side of the road, sticking out of the grass. The words on it were indeed in English, but they were in this stupid font. Apparently the nearest town was called Satus.

I couldn't see any heads up display, but the moment I said "Status" it popped up for me. HP, MP, Stamina, yup it was all there. There were tabs sticking out from the side that read "Main", "Inventory", "Magic", and "Skills".

"Hmm, let's go into the skills tab." It looks like I can get there just by thinking about it. Under passive skills I see the word 'Luck' in bold, italics, and with multiple underlines. It’s very green and practically shining too. I close the screen by thinking “close status”, and start my journey.

"Well, time to get started I guess."

#

Ten Years Later...

"Daddy! Daddy! Mommy says breakfast is almost ready!" An energetic high pitch voice pierces my eardrums coming from a little gremlin at the side of my bed. I groan in response.

"C'mon dad, it's time to eat." Another voice, slightly lower in pitch and energy enters my ear. Two small hands grab my leg and shake it.

"Wake up. Wake uppppp!" The high pitch one complains as the shaking increases exponentially. I open my eyes to see two other pairs of eyes stare at me. Fine, I'll wake up.

"Okay, I'm up, I'm up!" I sit up, and my bed sheet falls down to my waist. The little beings in front of me are five-year old twins. The boy's name is Deus, his hair is black, short and straight, and his eyes are brown. The girl is Ama, she has silver locks down to her shoulders, and her big eyes are also brown, she also has a fang. Both of them also have some slightly pointed ears.

If you haven’t guessed by now, these two are my son and daughter, and they are cute as fuck. They jump into my ears and I give them a hug. "Good morning." I give a peck on each of their foreheads, Ama accepts it and Deus is a little peeved but deals with it, and then they jump off to head downstairs.

I stretch my arms and legs and get up and stare in the mirror. Yup, still in shape. A voice comes from downstairs. "Honey, you coming?"

"Yeah give one sec!" I respond while getting on my hands and knees, performing a thousand push-ups in a second. Then I do an equal amount of sit-ups. Then squats. I then cast the hygiene spell "Fresh", cleaning me of any dirt and sweat that accumulated during my morning workout. I put on a new set of clothes, and... done.

My house is all you need for a family of four in the outskirts of the Kingdom of Zan. It's a greatwood cottage, two by two, full kitchen, living room with fireplace, and comes with a secret armory. We have a barn outside holding our pet, and a farm for all of our cooking and potion making needs. Water stones provide our running water, fire stones provide heating, ice stones for refrigeration, and electric stones for our, you guessed it, electrical needs. We even got a working television and game console system. There is an invisible mana dome around our land to protect us from outside monsters, and there is a portal to an endless, refreshing, endgame dungeon with DNA verification technology to prevent monsters from coming to our side. Great for all of our material needs.

I walked down the stairs causing them to squeak a bit, and then rounded the corner to our dining table where my kids were eagerly awaiting their food. Ama was smacking her lips and banging her silverware against the table, while Deus was reading a book on the history of magic.

"Ah good, you are just in time dear. Do you mind casting that one spell that makes everything taste ten times better?" The one wearing the apron is my wife, Rhea, she is a silver haired elf with droopy silver eyes, and her ears aren't freakishly long like some of her kin. We met in the starting town of Satus at the Adventurer's Guild, she was part of my first adventuring party. She may not look like it but she was an assassin originally hired by the Culling Guild, which had ties to the Demon King. She was tasked with killing any would-be heroes, and lucky for us she failed. She fell in love with me after I showcased my strength by "dodging" her best attack, Soul Dimension Slash. It's an attack where she enters a dimension where only the souls of people exist and are vulnerable, resulting in an instant-kill if hit. In reality, I happened to sneeze at the right moment. Oh, and did I mention she is a half-demon too? And since Zarg accidentally offed himself due to a infinitesimally small chance of spontaneous soul disintegration right as he was about to attack me, the new peace-loving demon king (his brother, Graz) allowed us to marry as thanks.

"Yes, my honey." I got behind Rhea and placed my right hand on her hip, my left went under her shoulder and hovered above the pan with bacon in it. "Monosodium Glutamatize, M. S. G." A white powder landed on the food, and I was met with a kiss on the lips. Rhea's horns sprouted on her head for a moment.

"Ew." The kids groaned. "Mommy your horns are showing!" Deus commented. Rhea and I stopped kissing.

"Oops." Rhea touched her left horn briefly, and then covered her mouth while giggling. She looked at me, "Thanks, now go have a seat." Her eyes flashed red which meant she cast "Soul Command", she did this by accident sometimes when in the mood.

"Yes, my honey." At this point spells like that don’t affect me, but I did what she asked anyway. I took my place at the head of the table. "Son." I turned to Deus, "Help your mother pass out the food."

"Fine." He pointed at the food and made a flick motion to each of us. The completed plates landed right where they were supposed to. Rhea sat down at the other end of the table. Ama went for a bite but I stopped her.

"Now kids, what do we say before we eat?”

"Thank you mommy." They both said, facing Rhea.

"Brother." Ama whispered to Deus, "Do the thing we made together."

"Oh yeah." Deus nodded at Ama, then cast a spell. A big heart made out of magic appeared above the two of them. "We love you mom and dad!"

"Oh, we love you too, right honey?" Rhea squealed.

"Yes, we love you very much." I agreed. "Now, let's eat."

In front of us were some chimera eggs in a basket, with some giant boar bacon, and fresh once-living tomatorr slices. We each had a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice to drink.

"Oh boy!" Ama stared down at the food and took a bite. Her face looked confused for a moment and then she swallowed. "Hey, this is still rare!" She quickly opened her mouth and fire shot out of it, burning the meal to a crisp. "Much better!" She scarfed down the rest.

"Rare?" Deus looked concerned for his sister, but happily ate his meal as is.

"Any work today, Sam?" Rhea asked me.

"No, we have plenty of stock to last us a month or so. So today is just a chill out day." I responded.

"Oh good." She smiled. "Glad I don't have to do any more work." AKA, killing people. She turned to the kids, "How's the food you two?"

"Good!" They both said, finishing the last of the meal. "Dad!" Deus got my attention, "May Sis and I play outside with Walter?"

"Sure, go ahead." I nodded. The kids stared at each other. "YES," they shouted before rushing out the front door.

"Just don't go leaving the country, you hear?" I shouted at them.

"We won't!" Ama waved her hand back at us from outside. Rhea handed me a cup of vanilla chai as we watched the twins head toward the barn through the kitchen window. I took a sip.

"They're so cute aren't they?" Rhea commented as Deus unlocked the giant barn door locked with a multitude of giant chains.

"Yeah." I agreed as Ama ran inside and came out riding on top of a twenty-foot tall griffin.

Rhea rested her head on my shoulder after taking a sip of tea, "Do you think they'll ever grow up to be world class adventurer's like us?" Deus used levitation magic to pull up a giant worm from the ground and hold it in front of Walter, who started meowing.

"Honey, they already are." I responded as the worm got launched into the horizon. This caused Ama and the griffin to zip after it like a laser in the air, making a round hole in Mt. Loch. Watching the twins play like this reminded me of Robert and I mucking about in video games like Geriatric Ring, Grasp That Auto VI, and Final Phantasm XIV during our breaks from studying.

I must've had a sad look on my face, as Rhea asked "What's wrong?" I sat down on a couch and sipped my drink. "It's nothing."

She went behind the couch and wrapped her arms around me. "C'mon, we made a promise right? You can tell me." She snuggled her head against mine.

I sighed, "You know what it is."

"Your past life, is it? Earth? You know that wasn't your fault right?"

"No it's not that. I've already gone through that arc." God I was so edgy.

"Then what?" She made a pouty face. I chuckled a little bit.

"Heh, it's just my friends and family. I wondered what happened to them after I died. Rob, Julia, my parents? Did they get to live good lives? What happened?"

"Well not much has happened, yet." A familiar voice shot through my ear.

"What?" I turned around to see my wife standing there. I looked left and right, nobody was around but her.

"Time moves much much slower there than here, Samuel Heppin Draga." Rhea's mouth was moving, but the voice was not matching her own.

"Oh my." Rhea said.

"Foreskin?" I asked.

"F-f-foreskin?" Rhea shook her head before placing her right hand on her pronounced chest. "No you moron! It is I, the Goddess of Luck, Fortuna! I've come to answer your question!" Rhea's mouth moved as her right iris turned gold.

"Fortuna? Can you get out of my wife, please?" I asked.

"Yes, I don't like my body being used like this without my permission." Rhea added.

"My apologies, I cannot physically materialize in the world, so I need to use you as a host body. May I have your permission?" Fortuna asked, sheepishly.

"Yes, that's fine. Just don't jump in like that again." Rhea nodded. A gold, holographic four leaf clover appeared, hovering just in front of her forehead.

"Why can't you materialize?" I asked.

"Stupid rules made by the multiversal lords that I never agreed to. But if I broke them, I would no longer exist. Such is a god's existence." Fortuna felt done with life.

"So even gods have to deal with their own societal problems." I replied.

"Have you tried speaking to your manager? Maybe put in a notion to get it changed?" Rhea suggested.

Fortuna sighed, "That's not how it works. These rules have been in place longer than I have even been a concept, it is nigh impossible to change them. Just like how you humans are ruled over by gods, gods are ruled over by the multiversal lords, then they by the omnis, then the absence, and so on and so forth. It keeps going. I don't even know if there is a top. Things just have always been this way. It's frustrating."

I rested my head down on a nearby pillow, "Hang on a sec, I gotta lay down to process this. My whole worldview has been changed." Rhea instead stood silent.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Do you have any other philosophical questions you want answered, or-"

"NO." Rhea and I said at the same time.

"Well then, let's get back to the task at hand shall we? I am offering to answer that question of yours."

"Which one?" I tilted my head.

Fortuna stumbled over herself, "Th-the one about your friend's and family's lives. That one?" Rhea's right eyebrow raised.

"Oh right. That one."

A magic spell swirling with the wonder of the cosmos appeared within Fortuna's hand. "Anyway, as a thank you for defeating the Demon King Zarg, I will show you what happened, or should I say: Is happening. Do you accept?"

I thought about it for a second, then nodded, "I accept. Rhea, are you okay with this?"

"Yes dear, I'll look at it as a new form of entertainment. Similar to those anime you have been showing me. It will be interesting to see how your world really works after you described it that one time." She smiled with a look of excitement on her face, and made her way next to me on the couch.

"I don't like sitting so close to you but I'll excuse it for now. Messenger Link." Fortuna pulled the cosmos between her hands into a string, then stretched it out sideways. "By the way, there are four things you should know before we start."

"Shoot." I said.

Fortuna held up her fingers, "One: I cannot directly view events from an omnipresent perspective, meaning I have to use the eyes of one of my unwilling messengers. To be more precise, I can only view the space directly around them. Two: We will be able to hear all of my messenger's thoughts that are relevant to the events. Three: In the interest of backstory, I will turn the clock back a little bit before we catch up to real time. Once that happens, I'll cast another spell to synchronize Zaria's time with Earth's time. And four: For doing such a great job, I'll even allow you to influence luck at certain points. When that happens, I will de-sync the time to give you time to think. You can even decide to do nothing if you'd like. That is all."

I pointed at the magic view port, "Hey, this is kinda like one of my Japanese visual novels!"

Rhea’s horns appeared as she put her hand in front of her mouth, "He-he, I always love watching you get excited."

Fortuna gave one last check, "Are we ready, then?"

"Ready." Rhea and I answered.

Fortuna nodded, and the starry view-port faded into the scene I had left ten years ago. She twirled her finger counter-clockwise and the video rapidly reversed until it stopped in a dark room that I did not recognize. A forty something year old snoozed in his bed. Upon a closer look at him, I suddenly realized who it was and pointed at the screen.

"WAIT. IS THAT THE TRUCK DRIVER?"