No one noticed when Tiberius Winston, who was a rising star in esports , suddenly disappeared in broad daylight. One day he had been heralded as the next S1mple, and the next, he was gone like dust in the wind.

For Tiberius, who is usually called "Tib" for short, the day had been the same as every other. He got up, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth, went on a morning run, and so on and so forth. Once he got to the office where he would be practicing with his team, Tib reached out to grab the door handle. However, at the very moment his hands met with the cold metallic door knob, the world almost seemed to blink and stutter.

For a split second, everything around Tiberius disappeared, replaced by a black void. During this split second of complete and utter nothingness, Tiberius could sense his body go weightless, like he had just been dropped into a zero gravity zone. However, this feeling was fleeting. After that seemingly infinite darkness, Light returned just as quickly as it had left. Instead of a cold doorknob made of steel, Tib was now holding onto a cold, metallic handgun. It seemed to be painted with a dark coat of black paint, with tendrils of neon red coursing through it, each flickering and glowing, like tiny lightning bolts.

All around Tiberius, the world sprang to life like water from a geyser. Lines and various shapes appeared, extended out from each other, eventually running into other shapes and lines. At these points, they connected, forming complex shapes, including circles, squares, lines, and triangles. All of what existed sat in front of Tiberius in a 2d plane, like an insane man's drawings. It all looked like nonsense to Tiberius, more akin to a scribble than anything concrete.

However, unbeknownst to Tiberius, there was a method to this madness.

After a moment, all those shapes and lines settled, before exploding outwards, taking on form in the 3d plane. Cubes, Spheres, Pyramids, and all other types of 3d shapes appeared, and then connected with each other to make complex, organic shapes.

At this moment, Tiberius realized the world was grey. As soon as this observation was made, Colour blossomed.

Greys, blacks, greens, yellows, reds, and blues, all springing into existence in front of Tiberius's eyes. It was as if the world was putting on a play of creation for Tiberius. In just a few seconds, the world had gone from a nonsensical 2d drawing in front of Tiberius's eyes, to a brilliant, vivid, and concrete world. Shadows began to fall as a yellow sun appeared in the sky, illuminating the colorful world with depth. Tiberius's eyes picked up on this depth, and he blinked in confusion. With so much happening, Tiberius had almost failed to comprehend and process it. A million thoughts buzzed inside his cranium, however, the spark which formed all these thoughts was one, simple question.

Where am I?

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Tiberius blinked multiple times, blankly staring at the black metalic gun in his right hand. Red lines glowed, sporadically zipping and swerving through the handgun like red lightning. At the barrel of this ominous weapon, the red lightning gathered, forming a glowing bright red light which released a quiet, baleful hissing sound. It sounded like a howling wind far off in the distance.

At the base where a clip would be inserted, a small illustration could be seen. A storm cloud, with one red lightning bolt crashing into the earth. The red lightning bolt looked frayed and random, as multiple tendrils of red lightning coursed off into the distance, just like the glowing lines of light in his handgun. Inscribed beneath that picture were two words.

Coccino Dominae mors?

It sounded like english, or at least something similar, but the more he looked, the more Tiberius would furrow his eyebrows and frown. After a few moments of thought, Tiberius sighed to himself and shook his head.

Should have paid more attention in English class I guess.

Freeing his gaze from the devilish looking handgun in his right hand, Tiberius brought his gaze to the world around him. Beneath his feet, soft green grass stretched outwards into rolling plains, like an endless green ocean. These plains seemed to extend far beyond his sight, as Tiberius couldn't see the end to them. Above him, a glorious blue sky held a radiant sun, without any cloud to blot its radiance.

It seemed Tiberius was seated on top of a hill, overlooking vast swaths of open plains. For miles around, green grass grew and the sun shined. It would have been hot, but a constant cool breeze blew in, taking away from the sun's warm beat down of sunlight. The grass swayed gently from side to side as the breeze flowed to and fro. The gentle brushing of grass on grass due to the wind reverberated inside Tiberius eardrums. It was a comforting sound.

Perfect temperature, perfect sky, and the greenest grass Tiberius had ever seen. It was a paradise.

Tiberius would have kept admiring the world around him, but he came to a sudden realization.

Shit, I'm going to be late for the scrim against Cloud 9!

Tiberius swung his head side to side quickly, almost giving himself whiplash as he scanned the surroundings once more. Now, he was looking for any kind of landmarks that could give a fair indication of where he was. Unfortunately, the land remained unchanged. Nothing but green hills as far as the eye could see.

Bordering on panic, Tiberius swung himself around to scan the other side of the hill he hadn’t looked at, when he realized that some sort of monolith was seated right behind him. The structure rose high into the sky, and was colored a brilliant white. Its shape, as seen by Tiberius, was perfectly cylindrical. No patterns, no color other than white. It was like an artwork for simplicity and unity. Its curve was perfectly smooth, as Tiberius’s hands could not find a single scratch on it.

Tiberius sighed and fell to his knees. It just made no sense.

Where the hell am I? I was just walking to practice . . . and then that weird vision . . . wait, am I dreaming?

Tiberius’s eyes snapped open.

That's it! I have to be dreaming! How could I possibly teleport? This must be what a lucid dream is like . . .

Tiberius once again studied the handgun in his hand, as well as the circular monolith and the surrounding grasslands.

Yeah, it's all way too weird. There's no way this could exist in reality . . .

Tiberius once again studied the white marble structure, and felt the grass beneath his feet.

The marble was so smooth and shone brilliantly in the sun . . .

The grass was softer than silk . . .

The breeze was gentle like a mothers embrace . . .

The sky was blue like lapis . . .

The sun was as radiant as a torch in the night . . .

It was all too perfect. All that surrounded him, although just as vivid as real life, was too perfect to be any place on earth. This was something Tiberius could feel in his very soul.

But what if . . . no, it can’t be. There's no way. I'm lucid dreaming. I have to be. This isn’t real . . . This isn’t real.

Tiberius bottled up all his doubts and tossed them into the deepest, darkest corner of his mind before standing up on his own two feet again. He gazed at the red lightning endowed handgun, and gave a wicked smile.

I'm dreaming, no consequences!

Tiberius raised the hand gun, aimed haphazardly at the white marble structure, and pulled the trigger.

The first thing Tiberius reacted to was the sound. The quiet hissing instantly exploded into a roaring whirlwind of chaotic noise. It was like the doors of hell had been opened, and all the demons howled in unison. It was like the sound of a hurricane while being at the eye of the storm. It was so loud, Tiberius thought he might go deaf.

Then came the recoil. His arm jolted backwards violently as a crimson streak of light burst forth from the barrel of the handgun. Tiberius dropped the handgun in surprise, but before it could even touch the ground, another unworldly loud sound screamed into Tiberius’s ears. If the doors of hell had opened, then this was them closing back up again.

The sound of stone being shattered echoed across the plains; a horrible screeching noise like the death cries of a high pitched cat. Tiberius fell to his hands and knees and covered his head as debris flew by, drawing blood on his arms and shoulders.

That warm, red liquid steadily trickled down Tiberius’s arms and legs like lava. Tiberius stared at his hand, and brought a finger to one of the many newly formed cuts that had appeared on his body. It was hot to the touch.

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

Then came the pain, each individual cut not enough to make him groan out loud, but when together, they irked Tiberius greatly. Each cut would almost pulse, the pain growing stronger and weaker like tides from the ocean.

Tiberius’s mind went blank as he took in everything he was feeling and sensing.

. . .

Those doubts he had bottled up not just moments ago came back to bite him.

The world around him, the pain, It was all too real to be a dream. The reality of the situation came crashing down upon Tiberius like a collapsing cave.

Shit . . .

His hands felt clammy, greased with sweat. They shook ever so slightly, a rarity for Tiberius.

The green grass surrounding Tiberius lost its splendor. The sun seemed to dim a tiny bit. The white marble lost its sheen. The world around him, which had seemed like heaven only a few moments ago, might as well have been hell to Tiberius.

How am I— Where? What is going on?!

Tiberius’s face became tainted with grimace, his eyebrows furrowed down into a downwards arrow. His eyes darted around, almost as if looking for a solution to his otherworldly problems. His eyes may have found none, but his ears did indeed hear a solution.

It was a voice, calm and well paced like the gentle breeze that blew around Tiberius.

“I come expecting an evil god, or maybe a great monster, but instead I find a lost soul. How Interesting.”

Tiberius turned around looking for the source of the voice, but found nothing. Again, the calm voice spoke out from seemingly nowhere.

“Hmm . . . a similar biological structure to a Terran, yet completely alien at the same time . . . perhaps you are a summoned hero then? No, no, I would know if another hero was summoned . . .What are you?”

Tiberius blinked with a blank expression as the voice prattled on about things in a language that Tiberius couldn’t comprehend.

“Have you no voice, mortal? It is rude to ignore an ascended one.”

A light formed from nothing, before taking the shape of a genderless human with pure white hair that reached down to its knees. It seemed to be around five feet in height, with iris’s that faded and transitioned through all the colors of the rainbow. Its facial features were feminine in nature, with elegant and rounded cheekbones and nose.

While the sight was easy on Tiberius’s eyes, he couldn’t enjoy it to the fullest for one simple reason. Just like his surroundings, it was too perfect. This might seem silly, but looking at her set off alarm bells inside his head. She was way too perfect to not be anything but a trap. Again, It might seem silly, but this kind of thinking had been honed into Tiberius through various video games, light novels, and real life experiences. While Tiberius felt that he wasn’t ugly, he had no confidence in himself when gazing at such a specimen of beauty such as the being in front of him.

After a deafening silence, Tiberius spoke for the first time.

“He- hello?”

Tiberius stuttered over his words as his voice cracked like a twelve year olds. The being in front of him cocked its head to the side like a curious dog, and muttered to itself.

“Strange . . . never heard such a language before. Interesting.”

The being floated forwards, and gracefully stepped on the ground while inspecting Tiberius head to toe like he was an action figure. Tiberius stiffened as it got closer, and hastily took a step backwards before speaking again.

“I don’t know what you’re saying- hey, personal space!”

The being kept advancing towards him, ignoring Tiberius even as his voice got increasingly higher, which ended up making him sound like a japanese school girl.

“Stoppppp~! Hey, that's my shirt! Someone! Help! I'M BEING ASSAULTED!”

Tiberius pitifully cried out as he was so easily disrobed. He tried to push the thing away, but as soon as his hands landed on the being shoulders, a voice spoke into his head. It made Tiberius blink in confusion for a moment, as a feeling similar to a small static shock wove its way through his arms, neck, and finally to his head.

Hold still mortal, you’re making this rather difficult.

As that shock found its way to his brain, the voice was heard. Finally, it spoke in a tongue that Tiberius could understand.

Tiberius shoved her backwards, however, instead of moving her backwards, Tiberius only pushed himself backwards onto his back. Tiberius grunted in pain as he unceremoniously made a fool of himself.

Standing back off, Tiberius dusted himself off and yanked his shirt back from that rude being. Unfortunately, the shirt ripped. Tiberius, who knew that was his only shirt, frowned at the genderless thing in front of him.

It just stared at him for a minute, before opening its mouth and finally spoke in a language Tiberius could understand.

“You’re quite a strange mortal.”

Tiberius gawked at her and lost his words for a moment.

“I’m strange?! Well atleast I don’t go up to random strangers and rip their clothes off like some sort of korean kpop rapist!”

The being looked down at the ripped shirt for a moment, and then back at Tiberius.

“Kpop rapist?”

Not a single shred of guilt could be found in her expression. Her face was blanker than a piece of paper. This only made Tiberius more angry, as he threw his hands up in the air in discontent.

“Don’t just stare at dammit! You seriously just assaulted me!”

The genderless being snapped its fingers, causing a flash of light to spawn. This light quickly covered Tiberius’s shirt, quickly regenerating what was lost. The genderless thing kept the peice it had ripped and began muttering to itself in the language which Tiberius couldnt understand.

“How fascinating . . . these compounds are not native to this world, yet they bear a striking resemblance to compounds of this world. That mortal's memoires tell me that this cloth is formed from a substance known as “Carbon Fibers”. Carbon is an “atom” . . . fascinating . . .”

Tiberius listened to the strange language with confusion. For what seemed like forever, the being simply muttered to itself as it gazed at every inch of his shirt. Its eyes glowed brightly, and it seemed to lose any and all interest in Tiberius.

“Excuse me, but could you please explain to me what is going on?”

“ . . .”

Silence. Not a word emanated from that strange being. It continued investigating his shirt with an interest that couldn’t be explained by Tbierus.

“That's just a shirt . . . and that logo is my team, if you’re wondering . . .?”

“ . . .”

“How- How did you fix my shirt like that?”

“ . . .”

“Why do you call me a mortal?”

“ . . .”

“Hello?”

It never answered him. Tiberius frowned, and walked up to the being and tapped its shoulder, which was a mistake.

“I'm busy, mortal. I’ll deal with you later.”

With the flick of her wrist, the air crackled with white-blueish energy. Tiberius was sent rolling down the hill which the white marble structure had been erected on. For the second time on that day, Tiberius let out a groan as he hit the dirt.

While he had only been annoyed before, now he was legitimately angry. Tiberius stood up on his feet and snarled under his breath.

“How fucking rude.”

Like a bolt of red lightning, Tiberius blinked back to where that being was. The world seemed to boom, and the air burst, sending shockwaves across the land. Tiberius, who had suddenly reappeared, grabbed that small wrist which held his torn shirt, and spoke in a deadly serious voice that was laced with fury.

“Listen, I don’t care who you are, but if you could refrain from abusing me, that would be great.”

That last part came out more menacing than he intended. At the back of his mind, Tiberius wondered to himself.

Wait, why am I so angry? I don’t usually get angry like this . . . this is childish.

However, these normal thoughts that Tiberius would commonly think were greatly outnumbered by an emotional whirlwind of anger. For every part of him that was wondering just exactly why he was so peeved, another 10 were fuming with anger. In such a scenario, it was obvious that he would lose his temper.

That strange being looked back up at Tiberius with slightly widened eyes, as if it was surprised, but only by a little. The being muttered in a small voice and tapped Tiberius’s chest with its free hand.

“Such turbulent emotions are uncharacteristic of you. From your memories, I assumed anger didn’t come naturally to you. How interesting . . .”

She reacted with absolutely no fear, and showed no signs of being upset. After a moment, Tiberius blinked in surprise for what seemed like the hundredth time, and quickly released his hold on it’s wrist. Tiberius took a step back from her and looked at his right hand.

That crimson handgun was seated comfortably in his right hand.

When did I . . .?

Tiberius snapped back to attention and quickly spoke.

“I’m so sorry! I really didn’t mean for that to sound so menacing. . . I, uh, I really don’t get angry often . . . so, I'm really sorry!”

Tiberius dropped his eyes to the floor and fiddled with his hands. His mind raced as he reviewed what he had just done.

How could I be so rude? She just pushed me down the hill, I don’t understand why . . . what the hell is wrong with me! Maybe I'm bipolar . . Wait, how did I move that quickly? I traveled from here to there in less than a second . . . I think. Maybe I blacked out in anger? Who the hell knows anymore! I'm losing my marbles!

I'm going insane! I have to be, I can’t just . . . teleport!

. . . Right?

As Tiberius lost himself in thought, he was unknowingly being observed with great interest. That strange gorgeous being made up its mind at that moment.

This mortal is too interesting to ignore . . . that red lightning is also very peculiar. Such a weapon can only be found in these mortals' memories . . . Further research is a must.

That strange being suddenly grabbed Tiberius’s arm and said in a very slightly excited tone of voice.

“You are mine now. Do not resist.”

Tiberius was brought out of his stupor by such a strange statement.Tiberius had no time to react, and could only sputter out one word.

“What!?”

Then, the world was dyed a brilliant bluish white light.