Domhnall 1.1

Domhnall found himself in an open plain. Covered in blood and fragmented weapons, with the smell of dried blood hanging in the air, the rotting of human flesh.

The battlefield was silent, except for the squawks of crows as they darted around, competing for the scraps. There were piles of bodies, some pits filled to the brim with corpses, and the lone arm or leg scattered about. The ground was soaked with blood, the sky an orangey red. It was an impressive entrance scene, made even better by the great quality of the system. Every one of his five senses was stimulated as if it was all real. Props to the company.

The murder of crows descended, dozens, if not hundreds of them flocked together, morphing into a woman. A woman with flowing raven hair, most of which was under a hood. She wore a cloak of black feathers. A veil covered her eyes, but her plump red lips were left out for the world to admire. She stood tall, proud, and was as graceful as humanly possible.

Most striking of all was the smell of death that practically hung in the air. Some might say it contrasted with her ethereal beauty; however, while her lips were full of life, her skin was as pale as death itself. That deathly scent was there before, but now it overwhelmed everything else.

A shrill scream blasted his ears. He could no longer hear his own thoughts. His two hands clutched his head.

After a few seconds, the dizziness receded.

“I find this to be extremely effective to get people to pay attention, don’t you think so?” The woman was smiling kindly, but it did little to help his mood. Not with the stench of death in the air, and definitely not after hearing that nightmarish screech.

He grunted. "You could say so."

"Don't be so annoyed. I just wanted us to get straight to business. You wouldn’t want to waste time, do you?"

"What do you want?"

"I simply intend to support you.” Glancing at Don’s doubtful expression. “Perhaps some introductions are due. I am Morrigan, a goddess of the highest degree. All you need to know is that I am your patron. The other parts, you can figure out yourself. I’ll have your back, as long as I deem you worthy. While you are indeed the second born, it matters not. I volunteered this boy’s body for a reason. He has great potential, and with an adequate mind, you can forge a better destiny. You are to unite the Celts. Do you understand?”

“Ah... I do.”

“So, what will you do?”

He thought about it for a split second. He was here to have fun, so might as well have a good goal. He wondered if all the others had similar quests. If that were the case, then this might prove even more interesting than I thought. Players competing over the same goal were always a hotbed for conflict and drama.

Not that it really mattered, since this looked real enough as it was. If every single NPC was at this level, he would have a grand old time even without other players.

“Sure.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Though, do not think that it would be easy. There’s a reason this region has never been united, you know.”

He shrugged. “Someone has to be first, right?”

“I do like confidence, but don’t let arrogance consume you. I’d given up a good seed for you, so don’t fail me.”

“I know my flaws. Nevertheless, I’ll get what you want. You will not regret choosing me.”

She simply smiled. “We’ll see. Either way, you haven’t been a disappointment so far, though it is too early to say. I’ll check on you in a few days. There will be a surprise. Surprises, to be exact. Whether they’d be pleasant or not, is up to you to decide. As for today, I’ll give you a few things to read up on.”

“How fun…” he said drily.

She shrugged. “You’ll need to assimilate. The body you have was once a person, you know. Though, to be fair, his fate had been decided at his birth and so he is a mostly blank slate for you to fill in. Either way, I’ll give you a rundown of his life, his relationships, as well as this world’s general knowledge. After today, you can still research some more if you’re interested. I’m currently just giving you the fundamentals. Good luck, because you need it.”

She promptly disappeared, in her place was a pile of scrolls and books, its height greater than his.

“Huh. And she said I had a day.”

Like the wind, her voice drifted by his ear. “About that, you can access this even after today. Just say my name before you sleep. It includes most of what you need to know. Right away, just check the three I put on the left. Now go to work.”

“Ah. Okay…”

Glancing around to see if she was gone (yes, he wouldn’t be able to tell, but he wanted to do so anyway), he sighed. There was a growing discomfort within him. What was that about? She seemed unreal, or rather, too realistic. The feelings that stem from that brief meeting only made him more concerned.

Was this what ‘the uncanny valley’ was talking about?

He then shrugged. It should be a better experience, at least. As he had said, he came to have some fun. He looked over at the pile of documents and began his research. Hopefully, there were interesting things among these.

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He woke up to the worrying gazes of his servants. Cannot really blame them. He’d been asleep for quite some time.

One tentatively asked: “Your highness, how are you feeling?”

“Quite fine, if I do say so myself.” He said, “I had a vision, you know. Of the great goddess.”

They all gasped. One man, apparently an advisor, just chuckled. “You have Her favour. Of course, she will grace you with her presence.”

Behind his mirth, you could still see the reverence the man held toward the goddess. As for the other, common servants, their fervour was even more noticeable.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

As for the matter of being a ‘favoured’ person, that had been decided the moment he, or rather the original Domhnall, was born. That day, the sky turned black as thousands of crows converged. The rivers shone with a blood-red hue and wails of undead warriors echoed across the chambers of their ancestral castle at Tullamore. A white crow had turned up beside his crib, pecking him on his forehead. From then on, the small, red inverted triangle above his glabella became a defining feature. He was even given a “video” of that event. The further he read about this guy’s life, the more visions he was given. Only for the important parts, however. Which there was not much of, to be honest. He was quite a bland person, all things considered, but it was not surprising judging by her words.

While such signs might have been regarded as symbols of death, the foretelling of monsters on the rise, or future disasters; to his people, worshippers of Morrigan, it was like the coming of Christ. Since Morrigan was the chief god in this land, it was not like blood and slaughter were looked upon unfavourably. Their people thrived on war. His father was called “the Raven’s Butcher” for a reason.

His eventful birth meant that even amongst the Blessed, he was a cut above the rest. Some even said that he was the son of his Father and the Goddess. Which was a bit odd, because their family was descended from Her in the first place. He wondered if genetics still played a part because the last thing, he wanted was the knowledge that he was inbred. His supposed mother had died while giving birth though, so perhaps that was likely a baseless rumour.

A lot of people were intent on making him heir, despite being the second son. You really don’t need to think much to imagine what the firstborn thought of this. And from what he’d learned, it seemed his elder brother was visiting tomorrow. Welp, he’d deal with that then. Currently, there are other matters on hand.

Donal ruled over Armagh, a decently sized city on the west. Each of the brothers (there were three, including himself) was told to govern a city. Probably as a means of determining talent and potential. And since life’s always very fair, his city was in a better spot compared to the other two.

Since he was favoured, people wouldn’t find it shocking that their god would visit him in his dreams. It seemed to have happened before. He wondered what would even happen in those, with the previous host always being regarded as a throwaway. And he was likely overthinking stuff – this was a game after all. If every single person was given such background and writing, then that would be a pain to create. Either way, the most important thing was what to do now.

Improving himself would be a good start. He had mentors, so that was covered. He also should do some practising; the original had been trained in sword-fighting, horse-riding, etc. He felt like he knew how to do all those things… so perhaps some memory was left over. Supposedly, he had also been learning statecraft, military tactics, and things like that, but those were not passed on. That was the main reason he had a library in his mind.

One thing to note, he did not have magic. At least, the original did not. Which was strange, considering his lineage. However, a note Morrigan left had told him she had given him magic. How that worked, he had no clue. He only saw it right after waking up, so no information, either. However, there was a Druid stationed here whom he could come for support. The man should have been his mentor if he hadn’t been magicless.

Apart from that, gaining some advantages from Earth should be on his agenda. That really is his (currently) only solid chance of gaining ground against others. The main issue was quite simple. He really knew too little, and of what he knew, there was not much that he understood in depth. Improving the quality of steel? Using new furnaces? Making steam engines? More importantly, would any of those things actually work or were they even useful in the first place?

Some actual investigation would need to be done as making the wrong assumptions never end well. Once that was over, he could then do some actual research in the outside world. He was not delusional enough to believe that he alone had this idea. Though, it would be nice if that was the case.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he should not even attempt this. There were certainly going to be other people who were more knowledgeable than him and probably more willing to invest their time into such matters. So rather than focusing on something that was not his strength, he should try and take advantage of what he already had here.

Also, Don really needed to get rid of the bad habit of taking everything too seriously. After all, this was just a game.

Let’s just put all that aside for now. He should just form some relationships and work on his knowledge a bit.

He was pulled from the confines of his mind as he took to his meal. Just bacon and bread, along with some greens. It did its job, though. He had to admit that it felt good to be a prince. The people served him with the utmost care, as they prepared everything that he’d require. His clothes, his food, everything. Everything was a bit off, though. He’d have to get used to the customs here if he intended to stay in this world.

It was already evening; the sky was dark and the air cold. Even inside, with a huge fire in place, he still had to wear a heavy cloak of fur. The more you see, the more you appreciate modern life. He might even try to find ways to improve his quality of life if he intended to make this place a second life of sorts. It might even increase the people’s opinion of him. He hoped the food was good. There was to be a wild boar on the menu. While he did have one of those before, he wondered if it would be different here.

He popped his head outside, hissing at the cold air. He cannot but admire the night sky above, the clearest and brightest he’d ever seen. Whilst different from that of earth, the stars were still absolutely stunning. Once he had the time, he’d look up the constellations that dot the skies.

It might actually help because compasses were probably not a thing.

He called over his advisor. A man named Garyth. A giant man with a square face, it was amusing seeing him sit at the table, writing on a tiny piece of paper.

From what he knew, Garyth had served his ‘Father’ for a long time, as a steady general during times of war, and as a loyal manager during times of peace. He had been offered higher positions, but he cared not for them and kept himself humble. Not something Donal would ever recommend doing, but to each his own.

He held his goddess higher than his liege, and when he had seen the events of Donal’s birth, he had offered his care right away. And as such, from the time he learned to walk, he had constantly been on his side, teaching and caring for him. And despite the dullness of Domhnall’s character, the man continued with his devotion.

So… pious, content and loyal. The sort of person you should keep around, as they were the kind that was easiest to manage and at the same time incredibly useful. He was diligent, that much was certain. All these traits might be the reason his father agreed to have him take care of Donal. A right-hand man prepared from the day of his birth. Not to mention, while Garyth certainly had experience, he was only 45, with a lot more steam left in his engine.

However, he needed to keep his distance from this man, at least until he understood a bit more about his character’s personality as well as Garyth’s. The last thing he wanted was his imposter status being found out. While he had no idea how advanced their intelligence was, the fact that he was given a heads up that the original was a “blank slate” was a sign on its own. Though, Morrigan’s recommendation to “fill in” his personality and character might be the developer’s way of saying that he need not worry.

Garyth had been managing the city for quite some time. Donal did not actually have to do much, since his studies were more paramount. There were things he had to do, for sure, but not much. For example, was using the city seal for some papers (most of which had been approved by his aide).

It surprised him that the bureaucracy existed here, as he had expected a bunch of tribal societies with huts and tents as homes. Great that it wasn’t, but at the same time… bureaucracy.

And this time he was part of the whole system. One of the top dogs, even.

Nevertheless, he was indeed excited. Much to learn, much to achieve. So, once he finished with stamping and reading through the files, he went to sleep and began reading the books in his mind.

He came here for games and instead was given books. Perhaps this was indeed the future of education.