CHAPTER 1: ENCHANTED FOREST

Soren’s eyes fluttered to life as he placed his hand above his face to shield himself from the blinding sunrays. The herbal smell of unseen flora made him almost forget the ringing pain emanating from his temples. His mind was akin to a reverberating church bell, sensations fragmenting with every vibration. Countless shards of muffled sounds entered and left his body, leaving him unable to distinguish anything.

Fuck! This damn pain! Ugh!

It took a few minutes of wrestling with his own psyche before he could even get a glimpse of his environment. With his hand blocking the light flooding into his hazel eyes, Soren blinked a few times. His vision was a mix of blurred pastel colors, as if someone had poured water onto a yet not dry canvas. The breeze brushed against his chestnut hair, soothing his mind’s pain in its wake. He could finally think clearly again.

The ritual failed?.. He sighed to himself. Six attempts… What the hell am I doing wrong?

No wait, my previous attempts didn’t end like this… From what he could remember, there was a bright flash of light mere seconds after he finished invoking the chant. His heart raced, did I successfully prove that magic exists!?

Rubbing his temples, his lips curled up into a faint smile. I seriously need to go back and research this! A throbbing ache persisted through his mind and he clicked his tongue in protest. Why can’t this migraine go away already? I have shit to do!

Years had passed since the last time he had felt this excited about anything. He continued to rest on the floor (impatiently) as countless floral scents invaded his nose, calming him slightly. It only took a few minutes for his body and mind to sync back up together. His blurred vision had also finally stabilized, allowing him to peer into his newly-lit environment. He clumsily lifted himself up against the pushback of his protesting limbs. Soon, his eyes refocused, allowing him to see everything more clearly.

Soren’s eyes widened—radiant beams of light penetrated through the leaves of crimson trees, leaving patches of luminescence scattered across the cyan-colored grass. Suddenly, a bird roughly the size of his neighborhood stray dog flew past him, breaking him from his reverie. Its wings, shaded in a smooth gradient of greens, purples, and blues, could put any peacock to shame. With his mouth hung open, he trailed its path as it flew into the distant treeline.

Soren blinked a few times—what he was seeing was real. What the fuck? He could feel the chilliness of the shade and the warmth of the sun across his skin.

He tried to pinch his cheek, but the scene before his eyes stayed the same. No matter how I look at it, this is clearly not my backyard—heck, it doesn’t even look like I’m on Earth anymore… If he looked hard enough past the chaotic treeline, he could spot towering mushrooms with colorful mushroom caps that pierced above the sea of leaves.

Yeah… this is definitely not Earth…

The ‘Secrets of the Records’ ritual was supposed to be a bestowal type… How the hell did I end up being the one bestowed instead?! He slammed his hand against his forehead. I should’ve never trusted that sketchy website…

Soren closed his eyes and sighed. Not in a million years did he ever think other worlds existed. Though, aside from just fear, his stomach was bubbling with excitement. A wide grin took over his face, isn’t this what you’ve always wanted, Soren? A new reality, one filled with countless unseen thrills that he could chase after. Yes, the ritual might have failed, but in return, he had finally achieved true freedom.

Freedom from his mundane life.

Freedom from all the abuse and manipulation.

Freedom to find new ways to have fun.

This was a true blessing in disguise.

He chuckled to himself. It’s not like there is anyone waiting for me back on Earth anyway… That whole planet can go fuck itself.

Right now, there were far more important things to think about. Namely, his survival.

Despite the serenity, the forest almost certainly hid many lurking threats. A dense canopy blocked out most sunlight, dappling the cyan grass in an unsettling mosaic of light and shadow. Soren was inexperienced in out-door activities, but even he knew better than to assume this tranquil facade meant safety. In fact, it was almost… Too quiet for his own liking. The silence was deafening..

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Soren quickly recalled the moment he awoke from his slumber. There were distant echoes of fractured human-like laughter, but now, he was beginning to believe that was simply the ramblings of his hallucinatory mind. Other than the rustling of leaves and the faint howls of distant winds, the forest emanated an aura of isolation. Even the birds he had previously spotted were nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, his stomach rumbled—the worries of the forest had made him forget himself. Blinking, he looked down at his own body. He found himself sprawled on a bed of wildflowers, their delicate beauty a stark contrast to the sharp thorns digging through his rumpled linen shirt and trousers.

Soren sighed—this was another problem he had to deal with. No matter how he wished for it, rituals and fairy dust did little to satiate his hunger… At least not yet, anyway.

What exactly should I do first? Build a shelter? Maybe look for a river to follow and fish for some food… Somehow?..

He frowned. None of these were things he could do. And even if he did want to somehow leave this forest, there was no correct path for him to head toward. Despite his efforts, seeing anything past the meadow he found himself in was basically impossible. The crimson trees were twisted and twirled into loops around each other, forming a mesh of shadows and uncertainty. He could almost imagine himself needing to snake around their mangled branches, let alone being able to see anything past the few sets of trees.

He chuckled, Fuck it, I guess Ill just figure it out as I go…

Soren stood up. The cyan grass grazed against his naked feet, bringing life back to his previously numb toes. Walking barefoot around your home turned out to be the worst idea for when rituals went wrong.

He walked only a few steps before his eyes trailed off to the ground.

Sitting plainly on the grass was a… Book? It was a thick tome that seemed to contain more pages than what its spine could hold. The leather that was stitched to its hard cover was visibly aged; cracks were spread all across its purple surface. Above the leather was a layer of gilded gold that formed patterns which ran across the book’s spine and onto the other side of the cover.

However, something else caught his attention. At the center of the book was a small, circular indentation which all the gilded gold patterns were converging on.

Soren’s eyes squinted as he leaned in closer to pick up the ancient tome. Much to his surprise, it weighed less than a feather, despite the thickness of its pages. He brushed off the dirt, and his eyes once more darted toward the circle engraved at the center of the cover. It was very strange. His gut feeling was telling him that something had to fit into that space—that it was a socket of some kind.

Is this a grimoire or something? His mind couldn’t help but trail off into fantastical ideas, but his heart knew that something was very off. Why would a random book just lay there, in the open… Did someone place it there for him to find? Or has it always been here? He looked around the meadow suspiciously—utter silence. There was probably no one around him for miles—heck, this entire world could be devoid of other humans for all he knew.

Frowning, his eyes refocused on the ancient tome in his hands. The old leather reeked of coffee mixed with tree mulch. There was only one way to find out its purpose; he needed to read its contents.

Swallowing down his hesitation, he pulled back the cover and cast his gaze onto the first page. The parchment, with its sun-baked yellowish hue, spoke volumes of the book’s antiquity. It wouldn’t surprise him if he found out it was a thousand years old. But what truly made him bat an eye was what resided at the center of the page. Written in pure English were the following words:

Status

Name: Soren Andersen

Race: Human

Age: 22

Vocation: Scribe

Soul Weapon: The Records (Unique) (Tier 1 - Tome)

Skills:

[Record] (Rank 1) - Chronicle the information around you.

[Eyes of the Fairy] (Rank 1) - See the unseen.

Titles:

[Traveler] - You have embarked on a journey across space and time. Echoes of the rift will no longer shatter your sanity.

Rune Collection: ???

He stood there motionless for a few seconds, trying to process what he had just read. To anyone who had even an ounce of culture, this was obviously some sort of character sheet commonly seen in video games. Soren himself had spent years of his life grinding away mindlessly at many RPGs, much to the dismay of his grandparents.

A part of him wanted to smile at this fantastical development, but another also wondered… How the hell did this book know this information about him? Who wrote it? And for what purpose? The fact that it held his name and age hinted that the book was meant for him in some way. But what truly left him scratching his hair was what his supposed ‘Soul Weapon’ was named.

The Records… The name reminded him of the ritual he conducted. It got him to think—did his ‘Secrets of the Records’ ritual truly fail? What if this was the intended outcome all along?

Ah, who am I kidding? He grinned from ear to ear. Regardless of how creepy it was, he couldn’t help but be excited. Who wouldn’t want magical powers similar to video games? It was taking his entire will to hold off from testing those ‘Skills’ out.

Before he could continue investigating, however, a faint breeze brushed against his skin and carried with it the sound of muffled laughter and giggles—the same sounds he had heard when he awoke from his slumber, but this time, they were not fragmented. His eyes widened in a frenzy as he twisted his body to where the source had come from.

“Show yourself! Whoever you are!” His shouts were met with a heart sinking silence.

Sweat trickled down his cheek as he frantically darted his vision across the shrouded woods. What is even going on anymore… It was clear to him now that the silence of the forest did not mean no one was watching.