Asterix slowly blinked his heterochromatic eyes as he pushed himself up from the laying position he found himself in after entering this new world. His momentary disorientation passed as his eyes widened in surprise at the scene that lay before him.

A small cottage was caught in the midst of a roaring inferno. The grey light of dawn was barely discernible over the bright light of the flames. He could feel tears start to fall down his soot stained cheeks as he whispered out loud, “What. The. Resh?”

He tentatively touched the wetness on his face and stared at his damp fingers bewildered, thinking to himself, ‘Why am I crying? Why do I feel this… terrible?’

His thoughts were interrupted by a shout he could barely make out over the fire’s devouring, “Stella! Aster!”

He stood clumsily and turned subconsciously at his name and called back in response, “Rilien!” as his brain slowly became familiar with the owner of the voice he heard. He realized the system was already working to fill in the knowledge gaps, downloading information and memories directly into his brain. He didn’t remember picking a character name and assumed Chii had chosen it for him, he liked it since it was close to his real world one but that trail of thought stuttered to a halt as the system continued filling in the blanks of his situation and he turned back to look at the blaze. His breath caught in his throat as he choked out the single word of realization, “Mother…”

Aster fell to his knees and realized a few inches of snow padded his fall. Panic threatened to overtake his senses as more and more information flooded his mind.

‘What the abyss is this?’

‘My memories… My mother…’

‘This isn’t what I asked for!’

Aster looked up towards the clouds as the grey sky drizzled more snowflakes onto him and the thick forest that surrounded the clearing with the small burning home. He couldn’t tell, however, which flakes falling on him were snow and which were ash. He cried out towards the heavens, “Chii! Stop the Scenario!”

No response came. Nothing except the crackling blaze could be heard around him. Only the snowfall and flames made any movement. A tragic dance between fire and ice in which both were destroying his world. Aster became more agitated as he screamed at the sky, “Chii!!! Stop this! End Game! Logout!”

His mouth hung open in despair as he realized nothing was happening nor did it appear anything would. He was trapped.

“Spawn of a Spriggan!” Aster punched the ground and the cold bit back at his bare fist. He didn’t have the mental capacity at the moment to ponder how the system was swapping out his customary curses though.

Large arms wrapped around him from behind in a sudden embrace as the familiar voice from earlier rang in his ear, “Aster! Thank the divine you’re safe!”

Aster was turned around to face the newcomer whose angular face was filled with worry and matched his disheveled burgundy hair. The face registered in his mind as belonging to Rilien, his mother’s younger step brother, even though it was his actual first time seeing it. Before Aster could say anything though, Rilien pressed on, “Where’s Stella?”

Aster looked down at the snow, saddeness threatening to consume him like the fire still continuing to consume his house. He pointed instead of speaking his answer, indicating the bonfire of a cottage as the location of his mother. Rilien’s face distorted in apparent anguish at having his fears confirmed and pulled Aster into a standing position and then into another embrace before attempting to usher him away from the scene. The shock was catching up to Aster as he pushed Rilien away from him gently and turned his back from the home he had never gotten to know. “Aster?” his step-uncle asked in confusion and concern as Aster felt his feet move away from the cottage without any thought behind the motion. Numbly wandering towards the shadowy embrace of the treeline, Aster’s mind slowly began to shatter as a single phrase kept repeating in his head:

‘This isn’t real…’

‘This isn’t real…’

‘This isn’t real…’

‘THIS CAN’T BE REAL!’

Aster was yanked from his downward spiral by Rilien’s forceful grasp on his shoulder and exclamation of his new name, “Aster!” He turned back to look up at his step-uncle again and something caught his attention. As he tried to focus on the elusive revelation, Rilien continued speaking to him, “It will be okay… I’ll take you home… we’ll get you cleaned up… and then…” He paused and looked away as he finished sadly, “and then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

His errant thought finally solidified as Aster realized the details he had ignored up to this point, ‘This guy is young… just a kid, really… and way too tall…’

Aster suddenly turned back to look towards the house, worry now coloring his own features. He rushed back towards the fire which had started to shrink a bit as it began to run out of fuel. Rilien reached after him but his grasp came up short as he cried out in abject fear of what risk Aster might put himself in by sprinting towards the dying flames, “Aster, no! Stop!”

He ran to the small pond next to the remains of his house and fell in front of it, seeking out his reflection in the water only to find a small boy staring back, no older than six years. The short black hair with a longer strand of blonde tucked behind his right ear and the pair of mis-matched colored eyes made it an obvious child representation of the character he had originally designed back in the Lobby before he was dropped into the situation that was as close to Hell as he had ever experienced in his past life.

Fresh tears streamed down his face again as it scrunched up in anger, “Of reshing course! Of course I’m a reshing kid! Why not reshing add that into this reshed up scenario?” Aster’s fury seemed to quickly shift into a whimper, “Resh it.”

Rilien stood behind him now that it was apparent that he wasn’t running into the inferno and watched him with a very puzzled expression.

Aster leaned back looking at the sky once more, “Everything is all messed up...”

Rilien grabbed his arm to pull him away a bit more forcefully this time, “Let’s go Aster…” arms wrapped around Aster’s shoulders again as they walked away from the tragic remains of fire, wood, and ash, “There’s nothing we can do to change what happened…”

Aster looked up at Rilien, a bit surprised ‘He’s right…’ Aster thought as he looked forward towards the trees again as he emphatically wiped his tears away, ‘This is my life now…’

Aster was barely cognizant of Rilien leading him through the forest to a village nestled within the wintery mountains. He complied with every motion his new step-uncle indicated he should make. He sat down upon a stool within a home that Aster knew to belong to Rilien as the teen washed him, brushed his teeth, dressed him in clean garments, brushed his hair, and then attempted to hand feed him before Aster finally had enough and exclaimed that he wasn’t an elder or child that needed such intense tending to.

Aster found himself alone for a bit as Rilien went to go take care of some business he didn’t go into great detail about. Aster went to the full length mirror on the wall, the room was actually rather elaborate as he took a moment to actually observe his surroundings. In the back of his mind the system reminded him that his young step-uncle was actually from a lesser noble family and was actually financially well off from the family’s extensive military leadership background.

Aster looked at himself in the mirror and decided to give himself a little pep talk, “Okay Star, you’re Aster now. Sure some stupid shien happened but you’re starting a new life in a world full of magic. Things can only get better from here.” He smiled slightly at his reflection, “That’s right, Magic. I must have some amazing magical power that makes me the main character. Perhaps some cheat level ability!” Before Aster could pursue this line of thought further, he was distracted by some unintelligible sounds coming from the hallway. He quietly walked over to the door and slowly cracked it open, unsure of what was going on. He saw Rilien standing with his back towards him and facing a stern looking man that must have been at least a head taller than his step-uncle. The older man’s tied back, bold, red hair was the same shade as Rilien’s and the resemblance of angular features was uncanny. The older man’s voice rose and anger displayed across his face, “You get that cursed mutt out of my house! You know they are not welcomed!”

Rilien’s voice was strained with desperation, “Please Father, your step-daughter is dead and her son has nowhere else to go!”

Aster became a bit startled when the man, who he now realized as his step-grandfather, suddenly looked up from the pleading teen to stare straight at him from over Rilien’s head and spoke with a tone of finality, “My step-daughter died long ago. They are nothing to me. Now take that thing to the temple,” and with that, he turned and walked away.

Aster became confused at what was unfolding before him and the look of hatred in the old man’s eyes. ‘Seriously… W.T.F?’

Rilien’s shoulders seemed to slump in depression as he turned back towards Aster with an angry expression before he realized that Aster was there watching and the appearance morphed into one of pity and consolation. As Rilien opened the door fully to face Aster, he spoke softly, “I’m sorry, but it seems that you can’t stay here…” then he took Aster’s hand and led him out of the room and towards the exit of the manor. Aster frowned slightly at the turn of events and stared at the ground as his step-uncle led him through the hallways.

‘I don’t get it… Why isn’t the system explaining why my grandpa hates my mom and I? Perhaps I shouldn’t be aware? But what could have happened? And what the resh did he mean by “cursed mutt”?’ Aster closed his eyes tightly trying to call upon the newly installed memories of his past within Selesola. ‘I can picture my mother in my mind…’ He reopened his eyes after his mental searching, ‘Nothing of my father though. Mutt…’

Aster glanced up at Rilien's long ears poking out from his long and straight locks. He remembered the same long ears on his step-grandfather. He had been too preoccupied before to take in the fact that Rilien, his grandpa, and the image of his mother within his memories made it apparent that they were Elves. He didn’t remember selecting a race when designing his character and guessed it was another one of those things Chii had chosen for him. He reached up to touch his own ears only to find them to be much shorter yet still slightly pointed. Another epiphany hit him that clarified the use of the term ‘Mutt’. ‘Resh… I’m a half-elf. Does this mean I’m only half-awesome?’

Aster glanced at what seemed like tattoos of a red flame emblem and a green leaf emblem etched into Rilien's forehead. The flame in the center of his brow seemed slightly larger and more intricate than the leaf over his left eye. He was still a bit baffled at the system’s ability to feed him world information almost subconsciously. How else could he know and understand that those symbols indicated that his step-uncle had what the world called “Blessings” of magical power over Fire and Wood and that the level of detail indicated his rank in them. He shook his head though as he came to the answer of his own question, ‘No, Rilien's the same type of elf as me and has both Fire and Wood magic, he’s super strong and only a teenager. Plus, my system knowledge is saying all races can have equal magical strength…’

Aster stopped walking suddenly and Rilien looked back at him in surprise. Aster cleared his throat a bit before hesitantly asking, “Umm… Rilien… What… What Blessing do I have?”

Rilien frowned slightly before putting on a slightly fake smile, “Silly, you’re still a little kid. We’ve talked about this before, it’ll happen when it happens.” Rilien’s features shifted as he seemed to have his own thoughts on why Aster was suddenly asking, “Unless… Don’t tell me that you started that fire?!”

Aster looked even more shocked at Rilien and raised his hands in subconscious defense, “No! There’s no way I… I mean…” Aster’s hands dropped and he looked away again as he realized the system wasn’t filling in those few missing pieces, “I don’t think I did… I don’t really remember…”

Rilien took his hand again, “Well, the place I’m taking you will be sure to test you constantly to see what Blessings you may be granted.” He opened the front door and led them out into the early morning and still softly falling snow.

A dog near the estate gates started following them and Aster took note that the animal resembled what he knew as a Golden Retriever back on Earth in the Tutorial but it’s yellow fur seemed to stand up a bit as though it was being affected by static electricity.

They arrived at what looked like a large temple that had the symbol of the 20 elements on it. The same symbol that was on the image that Chii had pressed to select this world. They left the street that was just starting to hum to life as the residents awoke and they slid through the gate into the temple’s courtyard.

Rilien left Aster in the middle of the clearing in front of the intimidating building as he quietly spoke to, what appeared to be, a member of the clergy dressed in ceremonial robes that had opened one of the large doors to what Aster could only compare to a cathedral. Aster bent to pet the dog quietly while waiting for Rilien to finish conferring with the other Elf, ‘So I really am being abandoned to an orphanage…’