Cyrus was never really one to believe in God like figures or even beings of supposed unimaginable power. That sort of thing was reserved for religions or movies and the like. Unfortunately for Cyrus, he was in the presence of one of those figures, or at least that’s what it felt like to him.

The temperature around him was fluctuating as if it couldn’t handle the being in front of him, the space seemed to be brimming with a feint light. Cyrus could feel his soul for the first time, reacting to the humanoid figure and shaking in what felt like a mix of reverence and fear. All he could do was stare, eyes widened and mouth agape in shock.

The being spoke, its voice like an echo in the endless darkness but calm. “Peace, fallen child. I am the Bastion of Light, you may call me Entity. Allow me to ease your mind of the void.”

With an outstretched hand, Entity emitted a golden hue from his hand. Cyrus felt as his mind cleared slightly, the experienced from before feeling eased as if it was a faint memory from a long-distance past. Clarity overcame him and the initial shock of meeting this god-like figure named Entity soothed out of his body. Questions raced through Cyrus’ mind at lightning speed, the confusion must have been evident on his face as Entity began for him.

“You my child, have fallen through the cracks of the void. Slipping between a space in your world that was never meant to be. My brother in all but blood, the Bastion of Darkness has severed the wall that was meant to separate universes. As such, beings of all kinds have fallen through these cracks, scattering across the void in different locations.”

“The void? Bastion of Darkness? This is all too surreal for me to believe. Am I… able to return home?” Cyrus managed to ask, barely comprehending the reality facing him.

“I’m afraid not child, the void is near limitless. The point where you fell in and fell out could be endlessly apart. I wish I could locate your world for you, but I do not have the time to do so. You are not the only being to fall through, the most I can do is allow you to fall on a planet where you will not be in peril immediately.”

“No, you can’t be serious. You’re telling me, your brother destroyed my life, and you can’t even fix it?” Cyrus cries out, nearly yelling towards the end as his voice raises.

“Yes.”

That’s it, the single word that would seal his fate. One word confirming everything he had lost would stay lost. The entire life Cyrus had built up on earth would crumble because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Slipping through a crack and causing him to be lost forever. His family would never hear from him. He would never hear from Trinity again.

“Then what do I do? My life is gone, it’s over.” Cyrus said, voice devoid of hope and emotion.

“Live. Life is a fleeting moment that comes and goes. All I can do is push you through the void on to the closest planet. I will grant you a garden, so you may live.” Entity said, his voice entirely lacking emotion. As if this conversation was just another day for him.

Cyrus clenched his fists, his face turning red with anger and bile rose in his throat. These beings were allowed to do anything with their power, yet he was the one who had to suffer from it. Why him? What did he do to deserve this punishment? Cyrus didn’t care how, one day he would make the Bastions suffer as he did not. Despair in the same way he was.

Is that not the way of life though? The jungle has always been that the predators eat the prey, cast them aside as if they were nothing. That logic could be said in any position with a food chain. Here he was, on the bottom of the chain in the face of unimaginable power, something he could never hope to reach. Cyrus looked up at Entity, anger evident on his face even without any words.

“It would seem you are more unaccepting that I was to believe child. I need not your approval nor your acceptance, what is to come will happen anyways. Go forth on your life or die if that is your nature.” Entity said calmly. The darkness around us starting to twist and turn as if traveling through the void.

“You can’t! You asshole I won’t let you… get away.” Cyrus manages to get out before a lightheaded feeling starts to turn him more incoherent. Making it harder to maintain any train of thought. He drops down to his knees, crumbling to the floor as if the strength in his body was leaving him all at once. The world begins to spin despite his best efforts to hold himself together, to maintain what little consciousness as it started to slip away. All up until the cloud of darkness takes his sight.

Present

Those dark clouds had been quickly replaced by white fluffy ones, the wind in his hair and a not so gentle breeze slamming into his face. Skydiving had never been his first pick in extreme sports and he certainly wasn’t going to start now. The ground was going to catch up to him eventually, at least then his problems would go away.

The view was quite beautiful if he had to say so himself. Cast across the horizon were massive towns with what looked to stretch with thousands of buildings. The surroundings were mostly vast forests so thick that you couldn’t see the ground, but that only added to the nature and mixture of green colors. It was almost like there were more than one seasons occurring at the same time, in some sections of the forest the tree were barren and devoid of life. While some others had green and orange leaves shining on the limbs.

It was true, what they said about death. There is plenty of time for self-reflection before you died. There would surely have been more of that reflection if he wasn’t interrupted by a strange prompt in front of his eyes.

*System initialization incomplete. User privileges most unavailable. Teleport to authorized safe zone? (Y/N)*

It was like words were being written in front of his face, they were kind of annoying since they took up his field of view. They were slightly transparent but that didn’t mean he was able to actively see through them. Regardless, the choice here was obvious, he was falling and he no longer wanted to fall. Cyrus willed himself to answer yes.

Nothing happened.

“Yes” Cyrus called out to absolutely no one.

Nothing happened.

He flailed, cried the words out, sprawled his hands in the direction of the prompt and was met with still no reaction from the words. Surely the teleport would bring him to safety, so why wouldn’t it WORK?

*User is not integrated with System. Teleport unavailable*

“…Son of a bit-“.

“Found him…broken…forest…Void user.”

“Void…kill…discard”

The world was blurry and darkness surrounded his senses. Cyrus felt groggy, had a massive headache and was tired beyond belief. That didn’t change the fact that he was somehow alive. Well, alive was a relative term of course. The last thing he remembered was the ground coming up fast as hell, then going dark like he should have after going splat. However, feeling his senses coming back he quickly put together that he wasn’t dead. Rather, this situation might actually be far worse.

The first indication was that his hands were bound behind his back with what felt like rope. The second indication was that there definitely was a blindfold over his eyes which would explain the sudden darkness from his vision. There weren’t really any more indications other than those two… for now at least but that could come later. Despite having made contact with the ground, his body felt like it was in relatively good shape, being tied up aside. There were some aches and pains, nothing beyond that though.

Footsteps could be heard outside wherever he was, probably a small room or cell judging by the walled off echo. He heard a click and a door opened. Through the blindfold he was able to see light enter the room and vague shapes of humanoid figures standing over him like some sort of jailer. The prayer was that his questions were going to be answered by these kind fellows.

“Look who’s finally awake, you made one hell of an impact on the ground! What did you fall out of the sky?” The man above him laughed. Oh if only he knew.

The blindfold was removed from his eyes were blinded by the sudden intake of light. His vision was instead not filled by a man but rather an…elf? Pointy ears, check. That sold him, this was nothing like earth and that damned Bastion screwed him over.

“I’m sure you’re aware of why you’re here, so I’ll make this short. I’d hate to have another Void user running around that we have to deal with. So obviously we have to kill you, praise be the light.” The elf said with his hands together as if he was praying.

Backtrack on that, kill him? Void user? What the hell did that even mean? The elf made it sound like he was doing some kind of divine intervention by killing him. This was way too much to process all at once and was not doing anything to help his already distraught mindset. Being taken from his world was one thing, but dying almost right after?

“Hold up, I think you’ve made a mistake. I don’t know anything about Void user or this praise of light, you’re making a mistake.” Cyrus replied hysterically, he had already avoided death by falling just to be met with another. His heart was pounding through his chest and tears threatened his eyes.

The elf however, did not seem too keen on listening or doing much talking. He grabbed Cyrus by the arm and dragged him across the hard wood floor into the room next door. Inside were 5 masked figures, each one blank as if the point of the mask was to not have any decoration or meaning. They all were white colored robes to match their masks and stood in a half circle around a table.

Was this.. a sacrifice? Now this was a real problem, he had fallen into a world full of psychopaths. The man lifted Cyrus up by his arms like a baby and despite his attempts at thrashing his way out, the man must’ve been made of steel. He didn’t budge an inch as he laid Cyrus on the table and began tying chains to each of his limbs. He also became aware of a dagger laying on the edge, probably the tool for his demise in but a few short minutes.

After being bound, the elf stepped away and raised his arms ceremoniously. “Brothers and sisters, may I present another Void user to be submitted to the great Bastion of light. Praise be the light.”

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“Praise be the light” They all echoed. Now Cyrus knew they were crazy, a bunch of cultists that worshipped that thing that brought him here. Funny, the being that said it would help him, chose to drop him right next to his death. How convenient. Any further words were blocked out as they began mumbling some sort of prayer to their god while Cyrus resigned himself to his fate. Though fate has a funny thing with timing.

*System Update: Privileges restored. Integration complete. Teleport to authorized safe haven? (Y/N)*

Cyrus’ eyes went wide at the second chance. Just as the elf was towering over him with the knife in his hands, Cyrus willed himself to press “Yes” on the prompt in front of his vision. Thankfully this time, it worked and he blinked out of existence, able to just hear the clang of the knife hitting the table while he snapped away.

Somewhere in the world in a small garden far far away… Cyrus blinked into existence. He was awake, alert, and ready to throw up all at the same time. Teleporting was not an instantaneous process as it turned out, it felt like someone was waving an optical illusion in front of his face while he was hovering midair. This did not do any wonder for his stomach.

Stomach aside, his senses were filled with wonderful smells and his surroundings were bright and colorful. Wherever he was, the safe area could only be described as a greenhouse. Tempered with hundreds of flowers, the sound of flowing water in the near distance, even a gentle breeze even though he was clearly indoors. The air was fresh, more so than anything he had ever breathed like he was the first to do so.

The System that kept appearing was flashing in his face but Cyrus needed a moment to collect his thoughts. The past 30 minutes were perhaps the worst of his life and there hadn’t been anytime to calm down and think. The Bastion of Light, crazy cultists that wanted to sacrifice him, falling out of the sky. The conflicted emotions raged inside like a maelstrom of anger that needed to be let out. If only there was something around here to punch… though this was a garden so that was unlikely.

He wanted to break down, maybe cry some and then contemplate his existence right after. Though he couldn’t find the will power to do so, crying felt like giving up. Giving up meant he could never go back home… never see Trinity again. Never get revenge.

Revenge, which sounded nice. A warm and strong feeling filled his gut, like an anger he needed to let loose. Someone just tried to kill him, isn’t it only fair that he would feel the same way about them? That however, was a long way off as the most he had seen from the world was a sky view. He also didn’t know who had tried to sacrifice him or why.

Though a start, might be through this system that kept flashing a notification annoyingly in his face. Wanting it to go away, he decided to open it up and take a look.

*System Initialization complete. User meets minimum requirements*

*Bringing up user menu*

Name: Cyrus Rainer

Race: Outsider

Level: 15

Class:

Titles: Beginner, First steps, Survived the Void

Strength: 27

Dexterity: 25

Constitution: 28

Intelligence: 28

Charisma: 18

Luck: 19

Free Points: 30

A clear menu appeared in front of his face, showing the status of his abilities as if this were a game. Suddenly, Cyrus wished he had actually spent more time playing video games over studying, usually it was the other way around in most cases. He noticed that he had some titles and opened up each one, wanting to understand what they meant.

*Title: Beginner - Lived to the age of 15. Granted access to the system*

This title brought some important information to his attention. The denizens of this world all had access to the system he was using, provided they met the age requirements. This was also concerning, if it was an accomplishment on its own, however small, to live to the age of 15 then the world must be dangerous. Then again, one step outside of his safe haven and he was quickly met with danger upon his first meeting of life. Hopefully the more sentient species would be more welcoming to him.

*Title: First Steps - Reached level 10. The first steps on a journey to the peak may be the easiest or hardest. Let this be the first gift among many on your journey. +2 all stats*

The system seemed to be fairly rewarding judging by the increase in stats given. While Cyrus had nothing to really measure by, it felt good knowing that his stats were getting increased. He then went and viewed the last title he earned.

*Title: Survived the Void - Few beings ever witness the Void through the universe, fewer survive it. This is a feat rarely accomplished. +15 all stats. Access to Void magic granted*

Cyrus had to reread the last title several times to fully grasp the concept. Besides being grateful for the number of stats he gained; he was also given access to magic. Void magic, the kind of magic that those cultists said was reason enough to kill him. They somehow knew he had Void magic and decided it was enough reason to sacrifice him like a goat. This answered one question and opened up so many others. For now, he was more interested in these stats.

This once again enforced the reality that the world he fell into was far outside of his own. He didn’t feel at all disappointed by the numbers on his stat tree, except for maybe Charisma. Considering that he gained 17 stat points through his titles, this only meant that he had 1 Charisma to start with. This was a true testament to his lacking social skills. Cyrus also noticed that he had 30 free points to digest into whatever stats he desired. By the math he had gained 2 free stat points per level. He then selected the stat tree to see what each of the stats would do for him.

Strength – The physical ability of the user.

Dexterity – Speed and coordination.

Constitution – The vitality and toughness you possess.

Intelligence – Affects the user’s memory, magic, and logic.

Charisma – The force of one’s personality.

Luck – The fate of the world relies on luck. This may alter your path, or it may not. Test your luck.

The descriptions of the stats seemed fairly straightforward and basic, so there was little cause for concern in the end. The real concern for him was the last two stats, Charisma, and Luck. He doubted he would spend much time interacting with others, he had his own goals and Cyrus would be damned if anyone was going to get in his way while he completed them. The damned god had also said it himself, the laws of the jungle applied. If he was able to become stronger than everyone else, then what was the use of his personality? He could effectively just force someone to agree with him.

There was also luck. This had to be the most obtuse and strange stat on the list. Until right now, he hadn’t been all that sure luck existed but now there was a seed of doubt in his mind. He clearly had been very unlucky to fall through the cracks and end up on this world.

Cyrus quickly determined that him surviving would be based entirely on his ability to defend himself if his short trip outside was anything to go by. He spent 10 of his free points on Strength and another 10 points on Constitution. Cyrus then put 5 points into intelligence and the other 5 into Dexterity. Feeling good about his choices, he closed the menu to his stat screen and that’s when it hit him.

His head was spinning, and Cyrus was on the ground before he even knew what hit him. Perhaps his body was being torn from the inside out? Or maybe he was undergoing a metamorphosis? Regardless of the truth, the pain was crawling over his skin inside and out. Cyrus continued to writhe on the ground until the pain left his body, he was panting heavily and covered in sweat. He got on his hands and knees and crawled over to the pond nearby in the garden.

Cyrus soaked his face in the fresh cool water, scooping some in his hands like a cup and drinking from them. The slightly sweet and fresh water was heaven on his taste buds, refreshing him in an instant as if the water had healing properties of sorts. Considering the gifts of this world, he wouldn’t be all that surprised if the water really could heal. Perhaps that was a little too much in terms of wishful thinking though.

He slowly stood from his position and Cyrus immediately noticed that his entire body felt lighter, faster even. Lifting his shirt was instant confirmation that some of his body had changed. While Cyrus had never been out of shape, there had been still a little flab on his stomach just a few minutes before. Now though, while not an Olympic athlete his body was certainly far more toned than before. His chest looked like he had been doing weightlifting for years and a hint of abs were beginning to protrude where that flab had once been.

Satisfied with his changes, Cyrus took note of the other part of his title. He had been granted access to Void magic. This begged the question of what other kinds of magic were in the world to discover and if he could learn them. Now would really be a good time for the System to teach him about magic, but to no avail the system did not offer any hints. As disappointing as this was, he felt like this was at least progress from where he was just yesterday.

Now begged the question, what was he going to do? Perhaps exploring outside would be the next step. Exploring the forest also came with its own risks though, danger likely routed every corner from the moment he stepped outside his sanctuary. A world entirely unknown to him awaited, it was as exciting as it was terrifying. The System as it turned out, had its own opinions on what he should do and felt inclined to share against his better judgement.

*System Update – Quest: Lazy Bastard – Go outside. According to the systems records, you have never traveled outside your cage. This is deemed [Status: Pathetic]. To remove this status, complete the quest*

Suddenly, Cyrus wished he hadn’t asked. A quick glance at his profile indicated that the System really did see him as pathetic. It wasn’t his fault that he practically just got on this planet but that clearly didn’t matter. He was tempted to step one foot outside just to remove it until he realized he didn’t care that much, the System chose to antagonize him, he chose to ignore it.

Cyrus also realized that he needed a weapon pretty badly. Even with this increased strength that the system claimed he possessed, he didn’t want to try punching creatures that wanted to eat him using only his bare fists. As curious as he was to see if that would work, on the off chance that his fists weren’t strong enough then Cyrus would quickly become a meal. Not exactly appetizing for the victim. Unfortunately for him, this was a garden and not a barracks. Meaning that if he wanted a weapon then venturing outside was the only way.

This only enforced that Cyrus wished he took survival training classes or at least watched more movies to see how main characters would go about a similar situation. Seeing as how he was no main character, with only his dwindling wit and system given abilities, the faith he had on survival was fairly slim. Being sent over like this, he would have at least liked to still have his backpack. He never had a chance to open the gift Trinity gave him. The bag had been with him when he was falling… which meant it was at one of two places. Those crazy worshippers, or his crash site.

Cyrus allowed himself to just remember. Remember the time he got to spend with her, the journey they took, all for it to be taken away. It got taken away from him because of those damn Bastions. Unbeknownst to Cyrus, that anger was corrupting him. The rage and resentment for the beings who ruined his life were destroying all those good memories, leaving hatred and regret in their place.

Regret. That’s what felt the worst to him. Cyrus knew he regretted those last moments with Trinity, and he wouldn’t spend time debating otherwise with himself. He wouldn’t go as far as to say that he loved her, at least not yet. The emotions he felt for her however, were anything but ordinary. Cyrus knew he would never be able to take back the words he didn’t say, the actions he never took.

He was wrong; the regret was not the worst part. The most powerful emotion was hatred, no, it was fury. He had been taken from his world against his will just because some stupid god’s brother decided to do whatever he wanted. The life he had effectively built up was ruined; the experiences he hadn’t yet gotten to would never come. He clenched his fists tightly; this newfound strength was only an inkling of what he wanted to achieve. Even if he knew he would never be able to kill a god, at the very least he would work his ass off to inconvenience him. That was a pretty tall older. The System apparently, was proving to be more of a living and listening and possibly mind reading entity as proven by the next prompt.

*System Update – Quest: Wanna Be God Killer – Your intense emotions have triggered a quest. Kill the God that has wronged you. Few have ever seen or heard of the Bastion, you will never complete this quest. Rewards: Unknown*

Why even bother to think? The System existed to pretty much mock him whenever he thought out of the ordinary. Like hanging a carrot on a stick that he was never going to get.

That would be the first among his many problems, the world around him was like nothing he had ever experienced before and if he was going to survive, he needed to go outside this sanctuary.

Lingering on these thoughts, Cyrus decided that tomorrow he would go outside. First, he needed to rest, only then did he believe he might have the courage to face the world. The new world that awaited him with bated breath. The new world would have to wait though, he still needed a shirt.