Chapter 1: Arrival
Beyond the massive towers and flying vehicles which populated the massive cityscapes, dwelled a large plot of land which was like an oasis of quiet green in a world of metal, light, and noise. The trees within boasted their near-natural charm, the most realistic in all twelve states, as they swayed back and forth against the breeze. On that land of green rested a lonely disused dirt road which led to a lonely mansion covered in overgrowth; inside of which lived a lonely young man.
The vehicle, spherical in shape, stopped directly on one of the metallic parking pads that lined the front of the mansion. A young woman dressed in a standard maid uniform, worn by most house care workers, exited the sphere, taking her purse and a few other items from the backseat. She wore a long white skirt that reached just beyond her knees that was paired with her clean silk-like white shirt; a silver lining stretched from her armpits to her waist.
The woman had light brown skin and petite stature. Her left eye was ominously missing. She had lost it in an accident long ago and while most wealthy landowners would refuse her services, the young man who hired her over six years ago didn’t pay mind to her appearance. Rather, he noted her heritage which brought back joyous memories of his deceased mother. He had often, in his darkest moments, spoke in her mother tongue because as he once put it, “your presence, this language, it brings me a semblance of comfort.”
The maid, like his mother, was from the state of Elkan. Elkan firmly held on to its tradition, culture, and language, to the distaste of the government, for over 500 years since their supposed obsolescence. She slung her purse over her shoulder while also struggling to carry the other four items. Her grip was loosening on the duffle bag when her young master escaped the mansion barefoot and in boxers, sliding across the wet porch, and lifted the duffle bag, which if sat vertically was over half her size, over his shoulder. The young master then took her purse and hopped back into the mansion. She sighed.
Aside from her purse and the duffle bag, she carried three other items: two Echos, and a lybrid. These massively popular items were produced and designed by her young master
Echos were six-by-six-by-six-inch cubes which were made up of even smaller 1-by-1-by-1-inch cubes. Echos contained advance nanite technology and semi self-learning code which made them useful in a myriad of different ways: notably as mobile libraries, teachers, military training, and personal assistants.
lybirds, named after the lyrebird, boasted the most sophisticated sound recognition software and storage hardware in the last decade. The young master had improved the code and redesigned the hardware countless times; the resulting product was a 10-by-10-inch pad capable of separating and enhancing a single sound among 1000s of others. The product become popular among musicians and even among security door designers who used its software for voice recognition. There were few methods able to trick the lybird’s sound recognition.
The young woman softly moved her smooth, black as night, hair behind her ear as she walked towards the massive wooden door designed to look like a large book. On the door were fairies, goblins, and other fantastical creatures and at the door's peak rested a metallic dragon which partially hid the glass window above.
An imperceptible line revealed the outline of a smaller door that quietly opened, allowing the young woman to enter. She passed through long empty hallways, going from one corridor to the other until she found the living room whose only items were a large couch and a small table beside it. She sighed. “After all these years, you still haven’t bought any furniture.” Aside from a few specific rooms, the entire Mansion was entirely undecorated. The house was once lavish with paintings and decorations but as the years went by, one by one, the young master either put those things into storage or disposed of them.
On the couch was her young master and beside him was a self-proclaimed messenger of god, wings and all. Her young master’s sporadic whiskers only grew thickly on his chin and below his nose; his oily black hair visibly stained his abnormally clean shirt. She sighed, disappointed that her young master’s most obvious feature was his smell. If she didn’t already know who he was, she would have confused him for an ordinary bum. She resolved to have him bathe him at least once before he left, though she would wait for their guest to leave before reprimanding him.
Strangely, the winged man was unperturbed by either his appearance or demeanor. The winged man stoically continued about his mission. “you will become a god…Monsters!!! The Ferren the continent. Divine sight, yes? ”
"I brought you the items." The young master, whose birth name was Scitus Erkian, smiled in such a way that even the most malicious brute would take a moment to pity him. Perhaps if he were well clothed it would have looked like a humble smile but with his attire and appearance, rather then humble, he looked like a beggar asking for coin. This humbling smile was reserved for only Alejandra, his maid. The winged man instead received a more cunning and playful smile: it was blatantly false.
"These are the items I've decided to take with me." His voice was hoarse from disuse.
The winged man looked over the items with a fierce concentration as if it were a matter of great importance: he furrowed his brows, held the items, turned them up and down, and then placed them back down and inspected them from afar. “these are only four items.” The winged man said in a voice reminiscent of a profound authority: the image connoisseur popped into Scitus’s mind. Confused Scitus looked at the items and then back at the winged man. Scitus was about to speak but before he could utter a word, the winged man shook his head. “The ice-cream will not be considered an item” while Alejandra went unperturbed by this statement, Scitus couldn’t recall the winged man ever inspecting inside the bag; however, before he could ponder it longer, the conversation had already moved without him. “please choose a fifth item.” Scitus jolted awake suddenly remembering that he was in the middle of a conversation.
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The young and sweet maid quickly interjected, “will these seeds do.” She said as she revealed several small bags from her personal purse. It pained Alejandra to surrender these seeds but buying more would soon no longer be an issue. She calmly took out several seeds of all sorts of different plants, some edible and other aesthetic.
“These are too expensive a gift” Scitus was resolute in his denial but Alejandra only smiled and held his cheek, "you've given me and my siblings far more than a hundred times the value of these seeds. Now accept my parting gift." Her smile was weak as if it could shatter at any moment and her eyes lightly glistened; he took the seeds in her other hand and turned around to face the winged man.
Alejandra had initially shunned his wealth, but she could no longer deny his kindness. “please…” Scitus’s tears were heavy that day, “I won’t be here much longer” her heart was wretched when he said those words, but she knew them to be true. She had denied him because she feared his words to be true, she feared he would abandon her if she accepted.
Then the winged man appeared like a holy miracle. Scitus, for the first time in a long time, was happy and talkative; he would laugh and contemplate his plans and ideas. "Monsters," his face was beyond enthusiastic, "that wasn't in option in Kingdom Domination!!!" His radiance was blinding but she couldn't help but urge him to follow this path, the path that led to a semblance of light in his dark life. She had hoped that she would be that light, but the game had been with him longer than she had and although she resided in his heart, the hole was too big to fix by herself.
“When will you return?” Scitus hugged her, “you are the best thing to ever happen to me” she kissed him as her moist eyes stained the red carpet below. “I’ll wait for you, as long as it takes I will wait. So please, don’t give up.”
“ok.” Her back became wet as he repeated, “Ok, ok…”
She cried that night more deeply than she had ever before in her life.
The winged man looked over the seeds and nodded with satisfaction. “These seeds will do but they will only be considered one item.” This time, alongside Scitus, even Alejandra was confused. However, their confusion was quickly superseded by a different emotion. “it’s time to ago.” The young master and maid turned to each other as if neither was ready to let the other go. “let me get changed first.”
The winged man nodded, “I’ll be waiting outside.” The winged man lifted he duffle bag and the other items with him.
"Take a shower every day, ok" her tears stained the carpet floor. "ok" Scitus embraced her tightly as clinging to the most precious person in the world. "thank you for all you've done for me." His chest stung with every word. "no.." Alejandra calmed her breathing, "thank you, if not for you I'd be…" Scitus flicked her forehead. The two stared at the other, a smile peeked its head at the corner of their lips and before they had realized it, they were both laughing as if the world's problems had nothing to do with them.
“I don’t know if this is a trap or if he really is with the game company eclipse. But what I do know is that no matter where or how far I’m taken, I will come back here one day. I’ll become a better man, one who isn’t always depressed or makes you worry if he’s still breathing in that big house of his.
“I know you will.” She kissed him one last time, “Now go before I chain you to the basement.”
“Don’t forget this” Alejandra handed him a book which simply read, “Orana" and on the back was the name of the game company Eclipse. Scitus smiled and gladly took it. the book had been his greatest distraction that week. He had never been so fascinated by a work of literature. It took Alejandra all her guile and coy means to pry Scitus from the book so that he may eat and bathe which by the end of the week she had only managed to feed him.
Scitus descended the clear white stone steps a recalling a familiar name, "Rea, I wonder if is also participating in this event." The winged man waited for him from beneath a large tree that shaded the winged man from the strong sun. "Will I be the only one going?"
"No, but not all of the people are from here." Scitus wondered if he meant that people from the enemy nation were also participating if so it would explain the secrecy behind the invitation and the company.
His idylic thoughts of comradery were instantly shattered by the sudden feeling of lightness that consumed both his body and mind. His limbs had begun to fade out of existence, leaving behind only starry sparkles that would fade after only a second or two. Scitus had only minutely managed to contained his horrible screams with the rationalization that it must have been some sort of advanced teleportation technology. Despite his rationalizations, he still felt an immense fear and would have uncontrollably trembled if he were not just a head. "I don't recall this technology ever being perfected." This thought lingered in his mind as the last bits of his being ceased to exist in that world.
When his body rematerialized, he found himself several thousand feet in the sky. "NOT PERFECTED!!!" he shouted a blood-curdling scream as gravity forced his body towards the earth below him. From high above he saw an expansive desert that formed a large ring around the oasis he found himself. However, the oasis was so large that it couldn’t be categorized as an oasis: it was massive landmass which extended nearly as far as the eye could see. Further to the east was an expansive blue ocean that Scitus could instinctively feel was 30 miles and if asked he could even specify to the exact foot or even the exact inch. Scitus may have been a genius in his own right but he had never been able to calculate such vast distances in an instant; it was as if a supercomputer had been installed in his brain. However, although impressive, he wasn't the slightness bit happy about this gift. "4000 feet, 15.77 seconds." His mind instantly calculated both the distance between him and the ground and the exact time it would take for him to splat. "Thank you." He thought sarcastically as he screamed without end.
At 3000 feet he saw a massive winged creature with dark green scales. “2000 feet, 100 mph, Threat level: extreme, power: more data required.” His mind was flooded with a flurry of information, but it didn’t distract him from everything else. His mind perfectly calibrated, calculated and cohesively thought all at once without a shred of effort; It went beyond simple multitasking, his mind was truly independently working on thousands of small processes without losing a shred of speed or accuracy.
The Massive beast turned its head 180 degrees towards Scitus. “CAW!!!!” its roar chilled Scitus to his core but fortunately for Scitus, the beast had already marked its prey
Scitus Shook the earth with his body only a moment after. The force alone was enough to down several trees and form a crater with Scitus at its epicenter. Scitus took a relieved breath as he looked at his surroundings. From out of the trees, outside the distance of his crater, the silhouettes of several goblins revealed themselves. Thousands of a small process began to turn inside his head. Height, weight, age, state of mind, loyalty, position in the tribe, and much more.
However, Scitus’s mind specifically focused itself on a single word. Beside the goblin whose title was “goblin elder” was a younger goblin with a large scar across his left eye whose state of mind identifier, in a single visibly scarlet word, read,
“hostile.”