My name is Zachary King. I don’t think you’d have heard of me…no, you definitely wouldn’t have. I wasn’t really anyone special in my past life. I mean, I suppose that makes sense because I died so young. But if I’m honest with myself, I didn’t exactly do anything with my life that was memorable, anyway.

I was an average student in an average high school, living in a boring small town in Ohio. I didn’t have a lot of friends, but that didn’t bother me. I spent most of my free time alone at home, playing PC games and watching TV. It’s not that I was lazy, I just didn’t see the value of strong relationships back then.

It would be an massive understatement to say everything is different, now. Now I treasure my life, and the people I’ve met and gotten to know along the way. There are no PC games or TV shows where I am now, and I don’t miss them one bit! I did in the beginning, but not for long…

I guess I should start at the beginning, huh?

That would be the day I died, I suppose.

I had just graduated from high school a few weeks prior, and was enjoying beginning of my life of adult-hood and freedom from books and classes. My parents were used to me being a homebody, but my Mom still asked me to run errands now and then, just to get me out of the house.

“Sweetie, can you do me a favor and run to the corner store? We’re out of a few things, and your Dad has some company coming over tonight.”

“Ah. Yeah. I can do that, Mom.”

I didn’t bother hiding my grumpy expression. Mom knew that I didn’t like going out, but I'd still go just because she asked.

List and money in hand, I slipped on my shoes and left by the front door. We lived just outside the center of this tiny town, so the corner convenience store was only a few blocks away. I stuffed the list and money in my jeans pocket, sighed, and set off in that direction.

I must have had something on my mind, because I don’t really remember much of what happened next. I do know that I never made it to the convenience store.

All I can remember is coming up to a crosswalk with a red ‘Do Not Walk’ sign. I never bothered to heed those, though, because our town is so small that there was never anyone on the road, anyway. I was looking at my phone - some article about a new expansion pack for one of the games I play - and I heard the sound of really loud, obnoxious music coming closer and closer…

It seems that one of my ex-classmates, who had also just graduated, had been celebrating a little too hard and had been drinking. Heavily. And then decided to run an errand, just like I did.

There was the loud squealing sound of tires on pavement, and a horn blaring. There was yelling, too.

What are they yelling? They’re yelling at me but I can’t tell why… They’re running this way… Wait, wasn’t I just standing up a moment ago? Why am I laying down and looking at the sky?

The voices were getting closer, but I couldn’t understand a word any of them were saying. They sounded upset, though, for some reason.

What’s going on? I don’t understand… Hey, what the hell? I can’t move…?

I kept trying to turn my head, move my arms, sit up…anything. But it was like my body wouldn’t respond. I started to get scared because this had never happened before, and my heart rate increased. I heard the sirens of police and an ambulance in the distance, but they sounded like they were getting farther away instead of closer.

They should be coming here, right? I was hurt, wasn’t I?

I wasn’t in any pain, but I could see blood streaks in my vision, and the frantic voices were still all around me.

Well, all I can do is wait for help…

I tried looking up at the sky again, but for some reason, it was far too bright and hurt my eyes, so I closed them.

That’s better. Ah, it feels like I’m being moved? I can’t hear anything, now…maybe everything is okay?

But I couldn’t open my eyes anymore; it was like my eyelids were just too heavy.

Ah, well, I’ll… just… I… have to… get up…

And then everything went dark.

* * * * *

Zachary King

LVL 1 Human Villager Age: 19

Location: Uknown

EXP: 0 / 100% to LVL 2

HP: 100% | MP: 100% Error: Status cannot be displayed.

Ugh, what the hell…

I woke up slowly, my eyes screwed tightly shut while I groaned in pain. My body ached all over, and my head felt like it had a marching band stomping around inside of it. Maybe I stayed up too late playing games, again… That must be it. But why can’t I remember doing it…?

Then it hit me.

Wasn’t it just mid-afternoon? Why is it so dark all of a sudden? This doesn’t seem right at all…

My eyes snapped open despite my pain and I looked around. At that point, I realized just how weird everything really was.

I was laying face-down in tall grass, cool against my skin and lightly coated in dew. It seemed from the color of the sky, somewhere between a tranquil purple and a warm pink, that it was early morning, and the sun had not fully risen yet. Propping myself up on my elbows, I looked around me. I was surrounded by trees and lush plant life, though I didn’t recognize any of the species.

That tree over there has this weird bright blue fruit on it, it looks like…and are those orange spots on the fruit? Yeah, that’s definitely not normal. Where the hell am I?

Sitting up carefully, as I was still sore everywhere, I looked down at myself. My hands looked familiar, and my body didn’t seem to be injured. But…

These aren’t my clothes…!

I was wearing some sort of plain beige tunic, held around my waist with a brown leather belt. My jeans had been replaced by sturdy leather pants and my favorite Chuck Taylors were now black hard-sole boots.

Okay, this is just fucked up. Wait, what about the…?

I suddenly remembered the list my mother had given me, and the money to run to the corner store for her. And what about my phone? I frantically stood up and patted wherever I thought pockets might be on my new clothes, but with a pang of despair, I realized that I had no pockets. I started to panic and whirled around, searching…

Ah, there! Under that tree, it’s a backpack or something.

Maybe I shouldn’t have gone through it, considering I didn’t know whether or not it belonged to me…but I didn’t really have much of a choice. I lunged towards it and rummaged through.

Okay, what do we have here? Oh thank god! My cell phone!

The first thing my fingers touched was my phone. I saved up all my birthday and holiday money and bought this for myself - it’s top of the line right now! I brought it close to my face and winced, though - the screen had a spiderweb crack stretching the whole length.

Shit, is it broken?!

I tried unlocking it with my fingerprint, like normal, but the phone didn’t respond. I sighed and slipped it into a smaller pockets in the backpack.

Maybe the battery is just dead. I’ll have to figure out how to charge it, or something, but later. What else is in here…?

Digging through the backpack gained me a dagger and its scabbard, a dark green cloak made from some thick wool-like fibers, some hard cheese and bread wrapped in waxed cloth, and a few small glass bottles with some unknown colored liquids in them.

I also found the very same list Mom gave me, written in her handwriting, just as it had been when I saw it last. But the money she’d given me wasn’t there - in its place was a small bag of various coins that I didn’t recognize.

This has to be a dream or something…or maybe a prank? Oh, yeah! I bet this is just my dad trying to get me out of the house more. He knows how much I like games, so staged this for me so I’d enjoy nature! Haha! Haha… Ha…

...

Yeah, no. There’s no way Dad would do something so staged and weird. Something else is going on here…

I tossed the cloak around my shoulders because the morning air was chilly and hung the dagger and scabbard from my existing belt. Thankfully, my parents had enrolled me in the Boy Scouts when I was younger, so I knew how to use a knife pretty well. And I have a little bit of food, and money, so maybe if I can just find a town or…

What am I thinking? No one is gonna take these fake-ass coins for money. Ugh, what is going on here? I just want to go home…

But I couldn’t just stay here. I figured that if I just looked around for a road or something, I should be able to find people. Someone had left this backpack here, after all, so I can’t be completely alone. Maybe then I could figure out where I was, and then find a way home.

Alright, Zack. Let’s find some people! … Yeah, I know, I talk to myself a lot.

I hoisted the backpack onto my shoulders, picked a direction that seemed promising - not that I knew really what constituted “promising”, and started walking. Little did I know that these first few steps were not towards home, but instead towards an adventure the likes of which I never thought possible.

And also toward the most annoying person I’ve ever met.

* * * * *

Yvinne

LVL ??? Goddess

[ Patron Goddess of Xael ] [ Great Hero ] [ Eternally Bereaved ] Status Sealed

My steps echoed in the darkness, bouncing off the bare walls of the passageway I traversed, making it sound much smaller than it really was. My long cloak swish-swished along my ankles, making artistic patterns in the dust that coated the floor. How many years had it been since I had last come here? It must have been over a hundred by now. The dust in some corners was over an inch thick, so it must have been longer than I originally thought.

I sighed and held my hood close to my face as I walked through spiderweb curtains, ducking under years of neglect.

I ought to have at least told someone about this place, so even if I didn’t want to take care of it myself, maybe someone else could have.

It was too late for regrets now, though, so I made a mental note to at least not repeat my past mistakes.

This tower was nestled in a steep valley, surrounded on all sides by sheer cliffs, tall trees, and the endless sky. This was where I woke up when I first came to this world several hundred years ago, but I didn’t stay here for very long. There were too many things to explore and discover! After all, I’d never been the Goddess of my own world before, and being cooped up in a tower away from all the action was not where I wanted to be at all. And there were some memories that I hoped to run away from, maybe forget the past with this new adventure.

There is important stuff here, though…stuff I need to keep my world safe. I just have to hope some of it still works…

I made my way to the highest room in the tower, which is more of a conservatory than a room, really. With no glass in the windows, which extend from knee height to the ceiling, the room is completely open to the air. It’s tall enough to give you vertigo just thinking about it, and if it were not for the cliffs that made up the valley, you would be able to see the land clearly for miles up there.

Maybe I should spend more time here…

But now was not the time for any of that. There were only a few hours of night left, and if I was going to summon a Hero to help me successfully, I would have to do it now.

Sitting in the center of the conservatory was what looked like a fountain, though the water had long evaporated. I grimaced and ignored the statue at its center; it was supposed to look like me, but it was just some nameless “deity”, really. I walked past the fountain and beyond it to a small marble lectern which held a single large book.

Bound in the hide of a unicorn and written by the power of over one hundred gods combined, or so I had been told, a copy of this book is presented to every god or goddess at the moment they are accepted into the Pantheon’s fold. It’s essentially a handbook for divinity.

I ran my fingers over the cover and the letters embossed there, remembering the day the book had been given to me. It had seemed so pathetic at the time, trading everything I had lost in my previous life for this collection of strips of paper and skin.

Xael. I miss you. I hope you were able to reincarnate somewhere wonderful…

But that was quite literally a lifetime ago, and I have a job to do now. I shook my head to clear it of dusty memories and sadness, and flipped open the book.

At once, the room came to life around me; the old sconces flared into warm, inviting candle light, a strong gust of warm wind came from the north and swept out the dust and cobwebs in one go. Even the old fountain bubbled back to life, filling the air with the relaxing sound of running water.

I should have known. This tower will always know my touch, no matter how many years go by. But I don’t have time to clean this place up properly right now; a Great Calamity is coming, hell, it might already be here! And my powers are…I just can’t stop it on my own.

I quickly consulted the table of contents, and then flipped to a section far in the back of the book. Laying before me were the complex instructions for a Summoning. I grimaced and steeled myself. This was one of the powers of the Patron Deity of a world gets by default, but not one I thought I’d need to use. Not one I ever wanted to use, either.

I had been one, once. A Hero summoned to another world to defeat a Demon Lord born from a Great Calamity. Stripped away from my fathers and sisters, brought to a place against my will, and forced to confront an impossible task with disastrous consequences for failure. Bound forever to a strange man and chained to a fate I didn’t want.

Calling it hellish would have been too nice.

Glancing through the tome at my fingertips, I modified the Summoning spell slightly. I simply refused to pull someone away from their family and life the way I had been, and so, I would look for a lost soul, instead. That would be better, right? To give someone who lost their life unfairly a new one.

I nodded to myself and began preparations for Summoning a reincarnated Hero from another world.