During the flight back to college, all Richard could think about was his thesis. He'd been working on his doctorate in physics for 6 years now, but if they didn't accept his thesis he wasn't going to be able to finish this year. He stared at the Word file on his laptop, but he was so tired that the words started to blur in front of his eyes. He sighed, and opened up Facebook, looking at a picture of himself with his friends. Tall and thin, with tan skin and light brown hair, he had a goofy smile on his face. Once I get done this thesis I'll have to make sure to spend more time with my friends, I haven't seen them in weeks. On that thought he closed his laptop and put it back into his carrying case. He looked out the window to his left for a few minutes but couldn't see anything but thick gray clouds, so he let his head lean back and his eyes close, falling asleep almost instantly.

He partly woke up as the plane ride got rougher, but didn't open his eyes. “I'm not going to freak out about some bad weather, I know how statistically safe airplanes are,” he thought. But as the jarring uneven motion of the airplane under him got worse, eventually he had to open his eyes.

The plane engines sounded much louder than they had when he fell asleep. The wings seemed to be jerking left and right, almost as if the plane was trying to twist.

“This is the captain speaking. All passengers need to be seated and buckled in. We are going to have to make an emergency landing. The storm we are in has turned into hail, and the engines have taken some damage. Please stay calm and be ready to quickly exit the plane once we are on the ground. We will get through this...”

HE IS WRONG. A booming voice seemed to explode in Richard's head. EVERYONE ON YOUR FLYING MACHINE WILL BE DEAD WITHIN A MINUTE.

Richard froze. He could feel the plane swaying unevenly around him. What should I do?

I CAN SAVE YOU, PULL YOU INTO ANOTHER WORLD. YOU WILL BE MY HERO, MY CHOSEN ONE, AND STAND AGAINST THE DARKNESS. IT WILL NOT BE EASY. WILL YOU COME WITH ME?

It ran through Richard's mind that most people right now would probably doubt their own sanity, but he had read so many stories like this that he wasn't even surprised.

Richard looked around and saw all the other people on the flight starting to panic as grinding noises were starting to come from the engines of the plane and had a sinking feeling when he realized that if this voice was telling the truth, they would all be dead soon. He had a brief thought of trying to run to the front of the plane and do...something...but he didn't know how to fly an airplane. There wasn't anything he could do.

Can we save anyone else? He asked the voice in his head.

THAT IS A NOBLE THOUGHT, FIT FOR A HERO, BUT I FEAR NOT. IT WILL TAKE A VAST AMOUNT OF ENERGY TO PULL JUST YOU INTO THIS WORLD. YOU MUST DECIDE NOW; WILL YOU COME WITH ME, OR NOT?

Much as Richard had always imagined traveling to a fantasy world and becoming a hero, he didn't really want to leave everything he had behind now. Then again, the sound of the engine on the left side of the airplane start to sputter and die made the decision easy.

Yes. I will be your champion.

THEN COME THROUGH THE PORTAL.

In front of him the air seemed to twist and warp. A strange spiral pattern emerged; he could still see through it, but everything behind it was slightly and distorted, like looking through a thin layer of moving water with ripples in it. It also slightly discolored everything, making everything look more yellowish and purplish, in an oval disk in front of him.

Interesting. If I look through this area, the light seems to be refracted slightly...

MORTAL. MOVE NOW OR I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE YOU.

Right, sorry. I was so caught up in the physics of the effect I forgot to actually do anything. There was a high-pitched whistling and crunching somewhere behind him that his brain identified as pressurized air starting to escape from what must be a hole in the side of the plane.

Richard hesitated, not quite sure how to “pass through a portal” that seemed to be in the inches in front of him and behind the next airplane seat. The odd thought good thing I didn't have my tray table in front of me passed through his head. He unbuckled his safety belt, and threw himself forward, in a way that really should have resulted in him slamming his head directly into the seat in front of him, but somehow it didn't. As soon as his head and shoulders passed through the spiral pattern in front of him, he was...somewhere else.

A purplish darkness surrounded him, and he felt his body twisting like a corkscrew as he passed through a void. He seemed to be flying or swimming or floating through something, which didn't quite feel like air or like water. He realized he was holding his breath, and he should keep doing that as long as he could, before he felt a strange rippling sensation across his skin, and suddenly he was in light again.

Richard fell face first out of a hole in the air, into a large room. It somehow felt like a continuation of the same motion he was using when tipping forwards into the portal in the airplane, and he just barely managed to put his hands out to prevent himself from smashing his face into a hard, white marble floor.

WELCOME, MORTAL. The voice seemed to boom from all directions and none, but Richard suspected it was from the massive figure in front of him. YOU ARE IN THE LAND OF THE GODS NOW. VERY FEW MORTALS SEE THIS PLACE.

Richard looked around, trying to orient himself. He was in a huge room, larger than any he had ever seen before, that reminded him of an ancient Greek temple. The floor was white marble, there were columns of white marble, white marble sculptures of nude men and women in heroic poses. The room was brightly lit, and when Richard looked up, it looked like the pillars of marble rose up into what appeared to be a blue sky with a sun above him. There was still a sense of a ceiling, a vast distance up above; it was as if the sky and the sun itself were somehow inside this temple.

Sitting on a marble throne in front of him was a huge being, a man more than twice the size of anyone Richard had ever seen. He had a long white beard, white hair, white robes, and a crown on his head. A gentle white light seemed to emanate from him. To his left, stood an even larger man wearing full plate armor. Richard was about 6 feet tall, but he felt like a child in front of this giant, who was carrying a massive sword larger than Richard’s height. That armored man appeared to be where the voice was coming from. He had the impression that there were others in the room around him, equally impressive, but once the man in the armor started speaking again Richard couldn't look away from him long enough to take in any other details.

IT IS I WHO INVITED YOU TO THIS PLACE. I AM TORAN THE TRUE. IN OUR WORLD, A TERRIBLE DARKNESS SPREADS ACROSS THE LAND, AND ONLY A GREAT CHAMPION OF LIGHT WILL BE ABLE TO STAND AGAINST IT. DO YOU, OF YOUR OWN FREE WILL AND CHOICE, AGREE TO BECOME THAT CHAMPION? WILL YOU LEAD MY ARMIES TO VICTORY?

Richard wanted to shout yes, but a part of him wondered. “Um, with, um, with all due respect, are you certain I am the one to do this? I want to help, but I...don't know if I am the...leading armies to victory...type...”

A roar of laughter came from Toran. HUMILITY BEFORE THE GODS IS A VIRTUE IN A HERO. BUT FEAR NOT, MORTAL, WE KNOW YOUR DEEDS AND YOUR WORKS. WE KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. YOU ARE PERFECTLY SUITED. WILL YOU ACCEPT YOUR DESTINY?

What have I accomplished? Writing a doctorate thesis? But the voice that shook every part of his being didn't admit any doubt, and Richard decided that the Gods must know what they were doing. “Very well, I accept. I will be your champion.”

THANK YOU, MORTAL. I WILL GRANT YOU POWER IN THIS WORLD, MUCH LIKE THAT YOU HELD IN YOUR LAST WORLD. TO MAINTAIN MY FAVOR, YOU NEED ONLY EARN GLORY IN MY DIVINE NAME, ACT WITH HONOR, AND PROTECT THE WEAK. I WISH I HAD MORE TIME TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING TO YOU, BUT THE MOMENT OF DECISION IS NOW, THE BATTLE THAT MAY BE THE TURNING POINT. IF WE CAN HOLD THIS FIELD, THE DARKNESS MAY FALTER. AND MY FOLLOWERS ARE ASKING FOR MY HELP RIGHT NOW.

Power “much like I held in my last world?” What could he mean by that. Richard started to wonder but was suddenly overwhelmed with what he could only think of as game-like notifications popping up in front of his eyes.

You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Skill [Weapon proficiency: Sword (10)]

You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Skill [Riding(10)]

The notifications flashed in front of his eyes faster and faster. He saw what must have been 30 or 40 skills appear, too fast for him to read most of them, and then he started getting notifications about “classes”.

You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Class [Defensive Fighter(20)]

You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Class [Squire(5)]

You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Prestige Class [Knight(20)]

You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Divine Class [Champion (20)]

You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Ultra-Prestige Class [Paladin(20)]

Richard didn't know exactly when it happened, but somehow, he was sitting upon a giant white horse, and wearing shining armor. In his hands he held a long spear; and strapped to his back was a great sword. Heavy plate armor covered his whole body, and a heavy helmet covered his head and most of his face. Overall, he looked much like the god Toran, which was probably the intent. And the strangest part was, somehow Richard felt like he knew what to do with the spear, the sword, the armor, and even the horse he was riding on.

GO FORTH, MY CHAMPION. CHARGE INTO BATTLE, AS YOU WERE MEANT TO DO!

The yellow-purple spiral distortion in the air that Richard had come to associate with portals appeared in front of him. With a nudge of his heel against the flank of the horse, he charged forward through the portal.

The 12 priests and clerics of Toran, standing near the front of the army, had sweat pouring down their faces. While they were some of the highest-level clerics of Toran in the land, none of them had ever attempted such difficult divine magic, and they wouldn't have tried it on that day if not for the divine oracle predicting that this was the day Toran's Champion would enter the world.

The army they stood in front of was a mix of hardened soldiers and fighters and green recruits who had just recently learned their first skill level of sword proficiency. Normally they wouldn't have tried to stand in front of an orcish horde like the one that rushed towards them on open ground, they would have retreated to the city walls, but today was different. Even though the orcs were almost twice their number, they knew that Toran was with them on this day, and that his Champion would make the difference.

A spiraling portal appeared in the field front of them, and a knight on a huge white warhorse came charging through it at full speed. A cheer went up among the army, and they started advancing on the orcs. The Champion led the way, fearlessly letting his speed pull him away from the army as if he had no need for support against mere orcs, and the soldiers began thinking about how they would tell their grandchildren about this miracle.

Then something started to go wrong.

You have earned +20 Glory points for your heroic charge towards the enemy

Richard charged forwards, his body somehow knowing how to guide the horse with subtle shifts of his knees. But then a part of his brain wondered: How does this work? Is this that “skill” Toran granted me? Are “skills” something I can turn on and off? He began consciously thinking about what he was doing, and then everything went wrong.

He felt himself shift off to the right and was suddenly afraid he was going to fall off the horse, so he jerked himself back to the left. This put him even more off balance, so he jerked himself back to the right even harder.

If I could just get back to that state where I was just doing this without thinking about it, I'd be fine! But once you start consciously thinking about what you're doing, it's very hard to stop. Richard's “skill” apparently knew how to ride a horse, but his conscious mind didn't have a clue.

He tried to grab onto the horse with both heels to stop from falling off, but that just made the horse rear up, and Richard fell off the horse to the left. His spear fell to the ground in front of the horse and broke into three pieces. His shoulder slammed into the ground and made a popping sound as pain rushed through him. He tried to grab onto the horse's reins as he fell, and the horse angrily kicked him, the hoof striking him hard on his helmet, denting it. Only partly conscious, Richard slumped to the ground as his horse galloped away.

After a few seconds, Richard's head stopped spinning enough for him to look around. In front of him, the orcish horde charged towards him, while behind him, the human army had stopped their advance.

I guess seeing your god's Champion be thrown off his horse probably isn't great for morale. Richard pushed his hands against the ground and tried to stand up, struggling in his heavy armor, his injured left shoulder shooting pain through him as he did. He slid in the mud and fell back to the ground the first time he tried, but he eventually managed to plant a chain-mail covered boot under him and push himself up to his feet.

WARNING: The armor you are wearing is much heavier than your current (strength) can support. Dexterity penalty: -5. Stamina point cost of all actions multiplied by 10!

Richard waved the notification away and tried to draw out the massive sword on his back. He was just barely able to pull it out of its sheath.

WARNING: The weapon you are equipping is much heavier than your current (strength) can wield!

Richard tried a practice swing with the sword anyway. He could barely lift it, and certainly couldn't do any of the moves with it his (skill) tried to suggest. The only way he could swing it at all was to swing his whole upper body around, and when he did that the sword slipped out of his gauntleted hand and flew several feet away from him, sticking into the mud point down.

Richard didn’t have any more time to think before the orcs reached him. He knew he couldn't run away in this armor, and he didn't have any weapons left. The orcs all carried spears, weird jagged swords, or daggers, and he was now unarmed. When the first orc stabbed at him with his spear, he managed to grab the spear with his left hand, pull the orc off balance, and punch the orc with his right hand. The orc collapsed as the iron gantlet struck him, blood coming from his nose.

Huh, I wonder how I did that, it must have been another Skill or something, I wonder if... he quickly censored that line of thought before he could forget how to fight the same way he forgot how to ride.

Still, while he could fight, he felt like he was moving too slowly in his armor, and he felt weak against the orcs now surrounding him and rushing past him. He swung a fist at one orc and the orc grabbed onto it. He wasn't strong enough to pull free or to push the orc away. A second orc grabbed him from behind, and a third one grabbed his other side; very quickly they had pulled him down to the ground and pinned him down and began beating him with hands and stomping on him with their feet. Then they began to stab at him with their spears.

From where Richard was lying on the ground, he could see that the human battle line had already broken, even before the charging orcs reached them. The soldiers were now fleeing in all directions as if their gods had failed them.

Richard struggled, tried to get free. He weakly kicked at the orcs holding him without effect. He tried wrestling moves his Skills showed him but didn't have the strength or leverage to pull them off, especially against so many opponents.

With all of his divinely granted classes and levels, he did have lots of hit points.

So, it took quite a while for the orcs to beat him to death.

His final message, before everything went black, was

You have lost 938 Glory, and now have a total Glory score of -918. With a negative score in one of the three Divine Virtues of Toran, all divine favors and divine classes have been stripped from you.

Then darkness overtook him.