Chapter 1: From Mundane to Perverted Beast
The toilet water made a swooshing sound as Jaxon turned and walked to the sink. He caught his reflection in the mirror as he washed his hands, taking a moment to push his long black fringe to the left, a habitual gesture that gave him a momentary glimpse of clarity in the chaos of his daily life. Jaxon was your average teenager; he was slightly larger, with muscles more defined than most of his peers, and a round face that gave him a deceptively youthful appearance.
As Jaxon dried his hands, he allowed himself a moment of reflection. The real world, with its peculiarities like adult-sized litter trays and the relentless routine of school, seemed so drab compared to the adventures that awaited him at home in his New Reality headset. Yet, there was a part of him that longed for something more, a real adventure that could break the monotony of his daily existence.
As the final bell echoed through the hallways, signalling the end of another monotonous school day, Jaxon made his way towards the school's front gates, a throng of students around him all eager to escape. He reached the usual pick-up spot, where the family car, a sleek model with autonomous features, was already waiting. It hummed to life, unlocking its doors as it recognised Jaxon's Personal Access Device (PAD) approaching—a small yet sophisticated piece of technology that seemed to understand him better than most people did.
"Welcome, Jaxon," greeted the car in a neutral tone as he settled into the passenger seat. Instantly, the interior filled with the familiar strains of his favourite playlist, a small comfort in the impersonal routine of his day-to-day life. As the car smoothly navigated its way home, Jaxon pulled out his PAD, thumb hovering over the icon of his social app with a fleeting hope of connection.
"Who am I kidding?" he muttered to himself, a weary smile touching his lips as he faced the reality of his social landscape—or the lack thereof. Yet, as he scrolled through the latest dances and numerous fail videos, a sense of apathy washed over him. The hollow and fake social media routine. "What's the point?" he pondered.
Lost in thought, Jaxon barely noticed as the car pulled into the driveway of his home. "Wow, how inconvenient it must have been for my parents to come pick me up when I was little," he thought, the transition from the outside world to his personal sanctuary almost seamless. "Hmm, must have been daydreaming," he thought, a hint of surprise in his realisation of how disconnected he'd become.
Stepping into the house, the familiar voice of his dad broke through his reverie. "Hey, J! How was school?"
"Sunshine and rainbows, Dad. Sunshine and rainbows," Jaxon replied with a hint of irony, his voice carrying a weight that was both jest and a thinly veiled critique of his day.
"Your mum and sister are at the movies watching some chick flick. So, it's just pizza and gaming for us tonight. That cool with you?"
A genuine smile broke through Jaxon's contemplative mood at the prospect. "Hell yes," he responded, enthusiasm creeping back into his voice. It was a simple plan, but in that moment, it was exactly what he needed—a night of uncomplicated joys, a temporary reprieve from the existential questions that had begun to cloud his mind.
As they settled into an evening of Super Smash, pizza, taunting, and laughter, Jaxon found himself grateful for these moments of connection, a reminder that sometimes, the simplest pleasures could make the complexities of life seem a little more bearable.
Jaxon was drifting off to sleep with an audiobook playing in the background when a sudden jolt, like the sensation of tripping in a dream, startled him. He tried to shake it off and go back to sleep, attributing the feeling to just another odd dream.
But then it happened again—this time, the sensation of falling was more intense, accompanied by a jolt that snapped him awake. Confused and a bit disoriented, Jaxon sat up quickly, realising something was very different.
The first thing Jaxon noticed was the remarkably fresh air, rich with the potent scents of wildflowers. The fragrances were so distinct that he felt he could almost identify each type of flower around him. The sound of a stream nearby was strikingly clear, its flowing waters a sharp contrast to the laughter of children in the distance. Suddenly, he felt something wriggle—not under, but in his buttock. Jaxon shot upright, a sudden realisation hitting him: he was completely naked.
"What the truck?" Jaxon gasped, his voice tinged with shock and disbelief. Hastily covering himself, he couldn't help but make a light-hearted remark. "Well, at least I can say I need two hands for this," he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood despite the bizarre situation. He scanned his surroundings, hoping he was alone. "Great, just great," he thought, the possibility of being charged with public indecency adding to his panic. "What the hell is going on? How is this happening? I've never been drunk, never touched drugs, not even a stress stick," he mused, his thoughts racing for a logical explanation. But as he looked down, another shock awaited him. "Whoa, I'm way higher off the ground than usual... HOLY COW! My hands are green!" He examined his shoulders and legs, finding them massively built, like a bodybuilder's. "This is unreal, like 'do you even lift, bro?' huge," he observed, incredulous at the transformation his body had undergone.
Trying to make sense of the situation, he realised, "Oh, this must be a dream." The environment was peaceful, a stark contrast to the city life he was used to. Despite the shock and confusion, curiosity nudged him forward. With the thought, "Well, since I'm dreaming, I might as well go with it," he took a step forward. As soon as he did, something appeared in front of him. He stepped back in reaction to its sudden appearance. It was a sign, no, wait, it was see-through. "Oh," he said, "it's a user interface because, of course, a gamer teenager's dream has a digital user interface—coolest dream ever." The digital interface that appeared before him was reminiscent of the game menus he was familiar with, yet it was more intuitive, as if it was an extension of his own thoughts rather than a separate entity controlled by a keyboard or controller. "Okay, this has got to be one of those full-on lucid dreams I read about people trying to have," Jaxon concluded. "Okay, I need this thing in my view to go away; this is too much," and instantly, as soon as he thought it, the screen immediately disappeared. "OK," he said out loud, "well, that's a thing."
Jaxon had always been prone to vivid, detailed dreams that felt incredibly real, but this experience was in a league of its own. While crouched near some flowers, he noticed that when he focused on them, their scent intensified, as if his sense of smell was hyper-focused on his subject of attention, pushing away all other aromas. "This dream is all kinds of crazy," he muttered to himself. As he stood, he remembered the sound of the stream he had heard upon 'waking' up. Suddenly, that sound sharpened, accompanied by the fresh, crisp scent of water. "Wait, water has a smell?" He sniffed again, focusing on it. Yes, it did have a smell. "I guess it makes sense, considering sea water smells salty and seaweedy," he reasoned, shaking his head as he started walking towards the stream.
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To his surprise, after a five-minute walk, he reached the stream. "That's odd, I could smell and hear it from that far away... and it's not even a waterfall." The stream was about four metres wide with crystal-clear water, the clearest Jaxon had ever seen. "This is so bizarre," he thought, "definitely a dream." With a shrug, he decided to dive in. As he emerged, blowing out breaths to calm the shock of the cold, "Holy Batman!" he exclaimed in a Bee Gee’s pitched voice. "That is the definition of spanner water."
Floating in the water, which came up to his neck and carried him with its slow current, Jaxon pondered the menu pop-up. As if on command, it appeared again in his vision. He mentally dismissed it, then brought it up and dismissed it repeatedly, like a toddler with a game console controller smashing the start button. Chuckling at himself, he finally focused on the user interface, noting a mana bar and a map. Concentrating on the map, it expanded but remained translucent. He could see a faint line marking his path from his waking point to the stream, and then it continued to follow him down the stream. "At least I won't walk around in circles," Jaxon said. He continued exploring his menu and opened his inventory and saw that it was empty. As he floated along, he came across some fish in the stream. He stayed very still and with some practice, he grabbed a fish and pulled it into his inventory. "Awesome," he thought to himself. After a few fish, he realised he only had to touch the fish and think about placing it in his inventory, and then with a whoosh, the fish would disappear and stack in his inventory.
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6x Djildjit 🐟
Info: Fresh caught djildjit so fresh it does not know it's been caught yet.
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Suddenly, a woman's scream pierced the air. Jaxon hastily closed the inventory and UI,
looking around in alarm. "Oh no!" he realised he had floated downstream to a village. The woman, who appeared to have been washing clothes in the stream, was screaming and moving back from the water's edge. As he tried to find the cause of the screaming, he realised, much to his horror, that she was screaming at him. The stream's depth had gradually been getting more and more shallow as he floated along, so he stood up, arms raised in a calming gesture. "Hey, stop, I'm not going to hurt you!" But his reassurance was cut short as she glanced at him, screamed again, and ran towards the village. "Oh no," he realised, "I'm naked." He quickly covered himself and shouted, "Hey, stop!" But it was too late; she reached the village, her screams summoning three armed men who ran towards Jaxon with weapons drawn. "Well, this was fun while it lasted," Jaxon thought to himself. Time to wake up from this all-too-real adventure. Attempting the normal mental force he used to wake himself up, but it didn't work! "What the hell?" he thought. "Wake up!" The armed men were getting closer. He tried to command himself to wake up again, but it did not work. "Okay, I'll drown myself; that will work."
"Hey! You there! Perverted beast, stop!" shouted one of the armed men as they closed the distance rapidly, their expressions a mix of anger and caution.
As Jaxon threw himself under the cold water, willing himself to drown so he would wake up, he thought, "Wow, 'perverted beast,' that's a new one. A bit harsh, but at least it's original." All of a sudden, four arms grabbed him and pulled him from the water. "Hey, let go of me!" he yelled, trying to pull his arm out of the reach of the men. Suddenly, Jaxon heard a crack and felt a sharp pain on his head as he passed out.
As Jaxon's consciousness clawed its way back to the surface, a throbbing headache greeted him, serving as a painful reminder of the unexpected turn his adventure had taken. "Holy crap," he thought, with disbelief and a hint of anger mingling in his mind. "I can't believe they actually hit me and knocked me out like that." Sitting up, he took stock of his new attire—a plain linen shirt and, thankfully, pants. His gaze then swept across what appeared to be his surroundings, bearing a striking resemblance to a cell, albeit a surprisingly comfortable one. There was a bed complete with blankets, and even a small pot for personal needs, but the bars on the window and the door's solid, prison-like construction left no doubt about his lack of freedom.
After a moment to gather his thoughts, Jaxon's attention was drawn to a small exclamation mark hovering in the bottom right corner of his vision. With his curiosity piqued, he flicked back the blanket and swung his legs over the side of the bed to investigate further. Focusing on the exclamation mark, a window labelled "Notifications" sprang open, overlaying his vision. Another pop-up window promptly appeared, inquiring, "Would you like to enable the notification pop-up window?" Without hesitation, Jaxon thought, "Yes," and the message vanished. In its place, a post-it-sized window materialised in the top right of his field of view, boldly titled "Notifications."
Jaxon noticed he had three unread notifications, stacked with the newest at the top—a setup reminiscent of the "old-fashioned electronic mail" his dad once described to him with a sense of nostalgia. With a mental command, Jaxon opened the oldest notification. As he mentally selected the oldest notification, a small firework animation burst into life within his field of vision, accompanied by a shower of digital confetti—a whimsical touch that momentarily lightened the gravity of his situation. The notification read:
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🎆Congratulations!🎉
You have unlocked a new Traveller Ability!
Ability: Universal Travel Translator
Effect: Grants you the ability to communicate with all races, excluding animals and plants. This passive ability is now active.
Note: For more information about these abilities, please refer to your Traveller's Guide interface.
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"Wait, refer to my what?" Jaxon spoke aloud, momentarily confused by the mention of a guide he hadn't known existed. With a mental nudge, he pushed the notifications screen aside and focused on summoning this so-called Traveller's Guide.
To his amazement, a new menu materialised on the left side of his vision, listing several options:
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- My Status
- Core’s & Abilities
- Inventory
- Equipment
- Map
- ???
- ???
- ???
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Curiosity led him to select “My Status,” eager to learn more about his current situation, Jaxon was amazed by the responsiveness of his interface.
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Status:
Name: Jaxon Angel
Race: Orc Level: 0 (???)
Sex: Male
Age: 18
Height: 2.4 Metres
User Attributes:
Conversation level 3
Movement level 2
JuJu Level 1
Lift Level 4
Smat Level 1
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"What the hell! Orc!" Jaxon exclaimed, his voice a cocktail of shock and disbelief. "Is that why I'm green?" He closed all his menus, and the realisation prompted him to reach up, his hands shaking as he touched his face. The texture and shape were unmistakably different—his nose was more prominent, and then, "Jesus Christ on a unicycle," he thought, "OMG I HAVE TUSKS!" He yelled out loud, hardly believing the words even as they came out of his mouth. He felt the tusks, one emerging from each side of his mouth, not very large but undeniably there, protruding about two and a half inches.
"How? What?" The questions tumbled from him in a confused rush. "I need a mirror! Now!" The need to see his reflection, to confront the reality of his transformation face-to-face, suddenly became paramount. With his heart racing and a mix of fear and curiosity propelling him forward, Jaxon began to search his cell-like room for anything that could serve as a mirror. He was desperate for a glimpse of his new orcish appearance. The revelation had thrown him, but it also deepened the mystery of this world and his place within it. Now, more than ever, he needed answers.