I woke up and opened my eyes, but saw only darkness. “What?”, I said as I tried to roll out of bed onto the floor only to find I was actually standing already somehow, my feet slapping against what felt like cold stone as my sense of balance and gravity went haywire for a second. I felt sick. “Light-switch… light-switch…”, I muttered as I wandered cautiously around in the dark, still half-asleep. Was this a dream?
I found zero walls, instead, some distance away, I saw a light. What else was there to do? The space I was in-- obviously at this point it was not my apartment, it was growing more cold by the minute, and I could feel the warmth radiating from the light. I went toward it as it took the shape of an old man in a purple robe, with a massive bushy-white beard. “Uh, hello?”, I said as we made eye contact. The light emanating from him illuminated the smooth tiles of the floor, and myself still dressed in the clothes I’d worn yesterday, jeans, sneakers, a t-shirt, and a zip-up hoodie.
Yesterday. The last moments of my life flashed before my eyes, and I mean that literally. The walk home from the convenience store a block away from my house. The one street crossing. A thing I’d done hundreds of times-- one car runs a red light. My body, soaring through the air to crumple in pain on cold concrete. The blissful quiet of the end of consciousness. I snapped back to reality-- or whatever this is, my pulse pounding, my body sweating as I reflexively clutched at my chest. “I-- I’m dreaming. I’m alive.”, I stammered.
“Quite a few people say that. But technically you did die. We’re between worlds.”, the old man said softly as he stroked his beard.
“Then-- I’m going to the afterlife? Don’t tell me this is already it.”, I said. This dark cold space would not be a fun place to spend eternity.
“Ah straight to questions. Good good, it pays to be forward thinking. No, there isn’t an afterlife. There is just another life. You get to ask for one thing before you go, though. A Blessing. That’s the rules.”, the old man said with a shrug.
“Where am I going though? What about my stuff?”, I said, my head reeling as I tried to adjust.
“Who can say where a soul goes? Your stuff? Forfeit-- render unto the world what is the world’s, you cannot take it with you. Though of course, you could ask for some of it as your Blessing, but I would suggest getting more creative. Think back through life-- anything you wanted you couldn’t have? Or that reality wouldn’t let be possible? Riding dragon, magic sword, spaceship?”, the old man suggested.
“Can I… decide later? I don’t know what will be useful. And if I don’t keep it when I die, that kinda sucks, doesn’t it?”, I said after some thought.
The old man chuckled. “Ah, very few get that clever. Of course you can. I’ll keep one ear to the ground. Just say something like ‘I really wish I had…’ and I’ll throw something down from the sky post-haste!”, he said with a wink. Was he-- serious? A circle around my feet began to glow ominously.
“Wait-- that’s it? You’ll just conjure up something? But where am I going? Are you god? I have so many questions!”, I said. The one thing I knew was that I’d been thrust from my comfortable yet bland life into well, this, and it was all about to change again. I wanted to know as much as possible about what my future would be before I got thrown into it!
“NO QUESTIONS! Good luck, hero!”, the old man’s voice boomed as the bright white light consumed everything. At least it felt warm. Wait, hero? Was that also him just messing around?
And just like that I woke up for real this time. My eyes snapped open, and I saw blue sky, large pine trees, and a mountain range in the distance which didn’t look familiar. I sat up, and found I was sitting in a grassy field. Nearby was the crumbled remains of a stone wall, with a wide dirt path that ran from forest to plains. It had well-worn tracks in it, as though many carts had been drawn along it. In the distance I could hear the pleasant sound of birdsong. I looked down at my hands, only to find that I was apparently myself still? I sighed with relief that I was still in my familiar body. “At least I don’t have to start as a baby, I guess.”, I said to no one in particular. My clothes were not anything familiar. Loose white cloth pants tied with a sash, and an oversize tunic, dyed a faded blue. No shoes, no pockets, no bag or anything of the sort. I stepped over to the road and looked both ways. Can’t stay here with nothing-- no food, no water, no idea of what sort of place or world I was in.
Toward the forest, nothing, except the mountain range beyond it. In the distance further out on the plains I though I could make out houses, and possibly some smoke rising from a chimney. It would be foolish to not go toward civilization, so I started walking down the path toward the houses. On the way I managed to learn very little, except that I was indeed still human. I could feel the almost uncomfortable heat of the sun, along with my own rising hunger and thirst, as though I hadn’t had anything to eat in a few days. The first building I came to was a small stone church. Small in the sense that it was only one story, and looked like it could hold perhaps a hundred people? The windows were stained glass, depicting unfamiliar scenes, and a large cross of wood was attached to the top of the building. Along the left side of the building were a variety of wooden crates and barrels, and it looked like behind the church there were a few small wooden houses.
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Churches in fantasy times were generically helpful, right? As I walked toward it a woman stepped out of the front door. She was dressed somewhat like a nun, maybe? Long flowing white garment, plain, with a bit of dirt around the hem. Around her neck was a flowing purple cloth and her long blonde hair was held in a ponytail by a purple ribbon. She took a few steps toward the crates alongside the building, then noticed me approaching. She stopped what she was about to do with the crates and turned toward me, bowing slightly. “Greetings villager, I’m not sure I’ve seen you before. Perhaps you’re new here?”, she said sweetly.
I bowed awkwardly in return, my body not used to the motion at all. “Uh-- I just arrived in fact. I came from--”, I started. What do I say-- I came from another world and have been here for like two hours? No, that’d be silly. I pointed back down the road.
“Ah the forest and the logging camps. An honorable occupation. My name is Shelia, and I’m the Priestess of this little church here. How can I assist you?”, she said as she placed her right hand over her heart. What to say?
“I uh-- I’m very sorry but I didn’t manage my money well. I could really use some water and food for starters.”, I said as I scratched the back of my head with my hand. She smiled at me, and I smiled back awkwardly in turn.
“Of course, it’s the duty of the Church of the Almighty to assist travelers in need.”, she paused and bit her lower lip, glancing at the boxes. “But could I also ask a favor of you? Could you move a couple of these into the church for me? The two on top are the latest shipment of candles and other supplies, and they’re awfully heavy.”
“Uh, sure, no problem!”, I said. Ah, lifting boxes. My unremarkable experience as a convenience store worker had left me with few abilities, but I sure knew how to lift boxes. I hefted both of the indicated wooden boxes in my arms with mild difficulty. Probably about 15 pounds each, would be my estimate. “Where do you want them?”, I said as I looked at her.
“Ah thank you! Right this way.”, she said as she held the door of the church open. I placed the boxes in the back, where she indicated. “If you could wait on the front step of the building, I’ll bring you a few things.”, Shelia said. She then walked around behind the building. To one of the little cabins behind it, probably?
“Of course.”, I sat down on the steps, delighting in the feeling of warm sunlight on my skin, and the pleasure of not having to walk for a bit. I did my best not to think about my past life. That was gone, and whether this was a detailed dream, a delusion, or reality didn’t matter: it was where I was now, so I had to get through it. Some time later Shelia came back around the steps with a picnic basket. She sat down on the steps, out of arms reach, and placed the basket between us.
“Here we go.”, she said as she opened the basket. Little cucumber and mayo sandwiches, glass bottles of water with cork stoppers, a few bananas and a bowl of peanuts. She handed me a sandwich. “Don’t be shy, have whatever you like.”, she said as she took a sandwich for herself. We ate in silence for a bit, which soon grew into an awkward silence. Just as I started to feel that awkwardness, she spoke again. “I don’t think I ever got your name, traveler?”
“Oh, Clark. Clark Wiley. Sorry, it slipped my mind.”, I said.
“Ah, well, it’s okay. All resolved now! Good to meet you Clark, and welcome to the village of Pinefield.”, Shelia said as she flashed a smile. I took one more bite of my sandwich and then both Shelia and I froze for a moment as we heard someone yelling in the distance, far enough away for the sound to carry, but not for the words to be made out. Shelia looked at me. “I’ll be back in a second!”, she said, then she stuffed the last few bits of her sandwich in her mouth and then sprinted out behind the building again. Were we in danger? I finished my sandwich and drank some water, then made sure to set the bread knife on top of the picnic basket where it’d be within easy reach. Just what kind of village and world was this, exactly? Were there monsters? Tax collectors? Something worse?
When Sheila came back around the corner she wore a loose fitting leather jerkin and a metal pot helmet, which looked suspiciously like a cooking pot with the helmet removed. In her hands she held a small but very dangerous looking spiky metal mace. I was torn between laughing at her helmet and taking the situation seriously-- I felt my face scrunch up in what probably looked like a stupid grin as I choked down my own urge to laugh. “You okay Clark? This is uh-- just a precaution.”, Sheila said. But she was no longer smiling.
Two men approached the church from the same path I’d wandered in on, both looking somewhat haggard, their clothes, which looked similar to mine, a bit torn and dirty. “Priestess! Goblins in the forest to the north!”, one of them half-shouted as they got closer.
“How many and how close? Did you inform the town hall?”, Sheila said as they got close to us, stopping to catch their breath.
“I dunno, maybe 10 or 12? We were taking a cart of stuff to the logging camp when they came upon us. Chased us all the way to the edge of the forest.”, one of the men said.
“Aye-- started running, didn’t stop till-- here.”, the other one said.
“Alright. You two get in the church and I’ll stand guard out here. Uh-- Clark, sorry but can I ask another favor?”, Sheila said as she smiled nervously at me once again. She held the haft of her mace in both hands, but it was pretty obvious that she was shaking a bit. Nervous, afraid?
“Of course. Whatever you need?”, I said. It was hard to say not to such a pretty lady, after all. Plus she’d been nice to me and given me food, almost entirely for free. That just wasn’t how things worked in the big city I’d lived in before. In my… past life was the right term for it, I guess.
“Good. I need you to run to the main strip and go to the Adventurer’s Guild and report what you’ve heard here. Take this with you and tell them I sent you-- they’ll believe you that way, okay?”, Sheila said as she reached into a pocket of her dress and withdrew a necklace, a small silver cross on a leather cord. She held it out to me and I took it. As I felt the cross with my fingers, I could feel faint ridges, as though it had something carved into it. Something to try and puzzle over later. For now I put it on.
“Got it, thanks. I’ll be back soon!”, I said as I took off at a jog, not quite sure where I was going.
“Thanks! Go with the blessings of the Almighty, and be safe!”, Sheila called out from behind.