The fluorescent light above me flickered almost dying as I looked away from my computer screen rubbing at my eyes. After several hours of work I had finally cleaned the last of the virus from the network and installed a redundant firewall. Some moron had disabled the firewall on his computer and unleashed a virus into the network that had taken over half the computers in the office. Now with the redundant firewall in place it wouldn’t matter if they took down their firewall, the second wall would activate and only myself or one of the other IT members could disable it.

I jumped as the door to my small office opened and Alfonso, the night janitor stepped inside. We both stared awkwardly at each other for a few seconds. “Apologizes Señor, I did not know you were in here,” he said in his thick Mexican accent. I smiled at the man, “That’s alright Al just finishing up some work,” I said with a small smile. I turned off my computer, noting the time, it was after midnight already. I had worked the entire day away and not even realized it. My basement office had no windows to let in the light and very few people bothered me throughout the day, which I was ok with, I have always been a bit of a loner.

I gave Alfonso one last smile and said goodnight as I left. I made my way out onto the city streets; the night air was cool hinting that fall was on its way. This late at night the streets were emptier than they had been on my walk to work. The blare of horns and sirens rang out from several streets away as I made my slow way in the direction of my apartment. I stopped at one of my usual dining spots a 24-hour diner called Rosie’s and took a seat at one of the tables. A minute later a waitress with a lip piercing, bright green hair, and a grinning skull tattooed on her foreman greeted me in a bored monotone voice. I ordered my usual and she took my menu and left. I was a creature of habit, usually eating the same meal a few times a week, and sticking to almost the same routine from day to day.

After I ate, I paid for my food and thanked the waitress who simply rolled her eyes at me as she scrolled through her phone. I left and made my way back to my apartment. It was several streets away and the night air was cool. I heard a commotion coming from an alley ahead of me and stopped. Part of me wanted to check it out, but I wasn’t any kind of a hero, I was just a short ever so slightly overweight guy who worked in IT. I gave the alley a wide berth, eventually reaching the doors to my apartment building. I froze at the door looking over at a white and orange cat sitting on the curb, I narrowed my eyes at him. He was supposed to be my cat, but he had somehow escaped the apartment several months ago, I had spent several weeks searching for him and here he was acting like he didn’t have a care in the world. He looked at me for a moment, sniffed and walked away his tail held high in the air. “Yeah, well screw you,” I shouted at the cat, he continued to walk away indifferent to me. Maybe I should get a lizard or something like that, they spend their lives in cages, right?

I shook my head and made my way inside using the elevator to reach the fifth floor. I stepped inside my dark apartment hitting the lights. I glanced around the familiar place. I had one tiny bedroom with a pitiful excuse for a closet, a living room that doubled as my dining room, and a small kitchen that if I stood in the middle of it and reached out my arms, I could easily reach the cabinets on either side. It wasn’t a bad place for a single man with no real family. I undressed and collapsed onto the bed; I was so tired I fell asleep within seconds. My alarm rang waking me from a pleasant dream and I shut it off. I showered and ate a quick breakfast of slightly stale toast and the last bit of my coffee. Looked like I needed to go shopping. I didn’t keep a lot of food in the apartment since I spent so much of my time working during the week. Even on weekends I usually just order in since it’s the only time I can get in some good quality time with my video games.

As I reached the door to my apartment I stopped and looked back, was my life boring? I thought to myself, then shrugged it off. This is life, work, game repeat, right. Pretty sure I have that on a t-shirt. I left my place putting my earbuds in and turning on some music for my walk to work. The streets were bustling with everyone else on their way to work but I paid them little mind. This was my routine, had been for nearly 10 years. At 34, very little about my life changed from day to day, it was simple predicable, I liked it or at least I convinced myself I did.

I stopped at a familiar crosswalk noting the red hand on the other side. A small crowd gathered around me as traffic whooshed past. My phone buzzed and I checked the notification to see someone posting more screenshots from Age of Warquests newest expansion. Before I could open the notification, something brushed against my leg, I looked down to see a small, white-furred puppy rush past me and out into oncoming traffic. I stared uncomprehendingly at the small dog for a couple of seconds before something else pushed past me. A little girl, no more than 8 was rushing into the street after the dog. My eyes went wide, and my sluggish brain finally kicked into gear. The loud horn of a semi cut through the noise around me, it was headed straight for the little girl who was in the process of picking up the puppy, standing in the middle of the road.

I realized what I was doing a second after my legs kicked into gear. Almost as if in slow motion I saw myself running at the little girl. What the crap are you doing?! I shouted at myself as my body seemed to react without me. I grabbed the little girl tossing her easily to the other curb. I started to smile seeing her land safely out of harm’s way. Then my entire world shattered into white hot pain. I felt myself flying, the world spinning around me, I felt my body hit the ground bouncing across the pavement like I was made of rubber. The world stopped spinning and I stared up into the clear blue sky. My vision was blurry, but I could make out the blue, such a pretty color. Shapes danced at the edges of my vision, people perhaps I couldn’t tell. The pain was gone, replaced by a deep cold that slowly crept over my body.

Was I going to die? Why on earth had a rushed out to save that girl? Sure, I didn’t want her to get hurt but I wasn’t some kind of a hero. This was insanity it had to be. My vision was going dark, and I could feel a deep drowsiness come over me. I just needed to sleep, then I would wake up and everything would go back to normal.

“BEGINNING ANALYSIS...” A loud voice called, I flinched at the sound trying to wake me from my sleep. I tried to open my eyes to see who was talking but everything was dark. “ANALYSIS COMPLETE” the same loud voice called once more. I stirred in my sleep desperate to slap whoever was trying to wake me. I was just so tired.

“BEGINNING TRANSFER” I heard the voice call out again. I groaned, waking once again. To my surprise I could see everything around me, or rather the lack of anything around me. Somehow, I knew I was in a black void despite not being able to see anything. I looked down and noticed in horror that I didn’t seem to have a body. I was simply a consciousness floating in a dark void. So, I must be dead then. I thought sullenly my last seconds of life flashed before me. Tossing the little girl out of the way just before the truck hit me. That scene replayed itself again and again in my mind. I had died saving that little girl. One might think that reliving your death again and again might break you but for me it brought on a strange sort of clarity.

I watched the scene as from a third person point of view, but it wasn’t me I was watching. It was everyone else, a couple was arguing a few feet away from me. Two men were laughing over a joke one of them had told. A woman was showing off her new engagement ring to her friends as they waited for traffic to clear. Another woman, perhaps the girl’s mother, was rushing forward into the street. All around me life was happening, but I was oblivious to it all. I wanted to smack myself, my life was so boring in comparison to them. I had very few friends and most of them were online friends whom I had never met. I spent the last decade of my life buried so deeply in my work, I had forgotten to live.

My only escape had been video games, there I could at least pretend to be someone else for a few hours. I could go on quests, fight monsters, I could be someone for a few brief hours. Not that any of it mattered in the end. I wanted to pull myself into a ball and cry, but I had no body to do that, nor could I cry in this strange void. Here I was dead, and I doubted anyone would even miss me. Sure, work might put up a sign, “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.” It would say but people would just look at it in confusion wondering who it was talking about.

“TRANSFER AT 50%” The loud voice called out again. “That’s a good thing, right?” I shouted into the void; I waited but no answer came. Was I stuck here reliving the last moments of my life forever? I thought darkly. I watched the scene again and shuddered, the one good thing I had done with my life, and it had cost me everything. I started to get angry, this wasn’t fair. I deserved more, I wanted a second chance, I would find a way back and this time, this time I would live, really live my life. I would go on adventures I would see places I had never seen before; I would do things I had only ever dreamed of. Maybe even get up the nerve to ask out that cute girl on the fifth floor whose computer kept breaking down. I would get a pet, something cool that I could take on adventures with me. It was ironic that now that I was dead, I wanted nothing more than to live. I shouted into the void, hoping something would hear me. As if in answer the loud voice called again, “TRANSFER COMPLETE.”

I suddenly felt as though I was waking up, that feeling of being pulled from a dream into consciousness. The darkness around me lessened and I could hear sounds. Strangely it wasn’t the sounds of hospital monitors beeping, but instead, the sound of insects buzzing, birds singing in the trees. I tried to move and realized I was lying face down on what appeared to be damp grassy earth. I lifted my head and looked around; my eyes took a few seconds to adjust but when they focused, I could see I was not in a hospital but some sort of thick, overgrown forest. The trees were old and overgrown, some covered in a thick blanket of moss. Foliage and detritus covered the ground, all around me for as far as I could see was unbroken forest.

I pushed myself to my knees, my head was spinning slightly. This had to be some sort of dream, right? Was I alive? My heart leapt at the thought, but I was so confused, “Where the heck am I? Why aren’t I in a hospital? I did get hit by a truck, right?” I thought as I looked around.

“It is a little strange that they would send you here, instead of a town or something,” A strange voice said from behind me. I jumped to my feet in surprise and whirled around, I was alone in the forest. I starred at the spot I was certain the voice had come from, but no one was there. “Great, I have apparently gone insane. This must all be some sort of hallucination brought on by trauma,” I thought bitterly.

“No, you are quite sane, for a human. Look up here,” the voice said again my eyes darted around before landing on what appeared to be a glowing blue ball sitting in a tree branch several feet above me. “Yup, I have definitely gone crazy. Now I am imagining a talking blue ball,” The ball let out an annoyed sigh and left its perch on the branch floating down to within a few feet of me.

“You are not crazy, but yes you are talking to a glowing blue ball” it said sounding more than a little annoyed.

“Sorry, I’ve just never had a glowing ball talk to me before.” I said hesitantly.

“Well, your world has no magic so of course, you haven’t,” it said as a matter of fact.

I stared at the glowing ball, “What do you mean, my world?”

“You know Earth the world you came from, obviously.” The ball said petulantly

“Wait, are you saying we aren’t on earth anymore?” I said to the ball my eyes going wide.

“See for yourself” the ball pulsed slightly and suddenly a translucent blue window appeared before my eyes.

Welcome Realm Walker to the World of Elseria!

I stared at the message in front of me for several seconds. ‘So, I really am dead’ I thought coldly. I felt strangely numb and fell to my knees. The window faded and I simply sat my mind reeling. A hundred different thoughts raced through my mind; Would I ever be able to go back? Did I want to go back? What was this new world? I felt my head begin to ache and rubbed at my temples.

“Calm down, human. I promise you're fine, you’ve just been in a horrible accident which resulted in your death. Because of your heroic sacrifice, the Gods deemed you worthy of transferring here to Elseria instead of passing onto the afterlife.” The glowing ball said with satisfaction as if it was the most normal thing in the world and he wasn’t informing me of my recent demise.

“I died!” I sternly.

“Well, that’s what happens when you jump in front of a semi-truck. Your Earth doctors tried to save you, but they were too late. Too much internal bleeding, most of your bones were broken on impact, but you did save that little girl and her puppy. Well, done” The ball said cheerfully. I glared at the ball; I was staring to hate the annoying talking ball. “Besides weren’t you just saying you if you ever got a chance at another life, you would take it. Well, here is your chance.” It continued still far to cheerfully.

“How did you know I was thinking that?” I asked staring at it in confusion.

“Well, I can read your mind, at least your surface thoughts. You were sort of shouting it in your mind when you manifested in front of me,” it said simply.

“Manifested in front of you?” I asked in bewilderment.

“Yeah, you were transferred here from your world by magic,” it stated. I continued to stare at the little ball wondering just what the crap this thing was supposed to be and why it could, apparently, read my mind.

“So, what are you supposed to be, some sort of angel?” I asked a sour taste in my mouth.

“Don’t be silly human, I am your familiar” the ball stated.

“What the crap do you mean by familiar?”

“Like in those games you use to play on Earth, what was it called Dungeons and Dorks… no that’s not it” the ball's glow faded slightly as if it was trying to recall something.

“You mean Dungeons and Dragons?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s it, your wizard could summon a spirit to serve as his friend. Offer witty banter, that sort of thing. That’s me but I am much better than that fictional thing.” It stated proudly, its glow brightening slightly.

“If you’re my familiar then why do you look like a glowing ball? I would think my familiar would look much cooler than that.” I asked cocking my head slightly at the annoying ball.

“Well, before you I only existed as a thought, so I’ve never had a corporeal body before. So, I just made myself this body, I think I might be able to take on a different shape, but I haven’t tried.”

“Do you have a name?”

“Nope,” the ball said flatly

“Could I give you one?” I asked.

“I’ve never had a name before; I think I would like one.”

I thought hard for a moment, this thing was apparently going to be with me for a while, so I wanted something that sounded cool. A name floated to my mind; it was the same name I had used for a couple of my pets in various games I had played. The chance to use it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I looked back at the glowing ball. “I name you Shadowfire” To my surprise the glowing ball vanished, I looked around to see where it went but it was nowhere in sight. Another window popped into my vision.

You have given your familiar a name. It will now take on the form that best fits with that name.

The window proclaimed; I waved the window away as a flash of light appeared in front of me. From the light emerged not a glowing blue ball but a small dragon-like creature. It had dark black scales with red eyes and was about a foot and a half long with leathery wings.

“Well, that was new” Shadowfire said with the familiar voice of the blue ball. He flapped around awkwardly trying to get used to having wings. “This is far more inconvenient than propelling myself by magic” Shadowfire twisted in the air nearly slamming into a tree. I burst out laughing and kept laughing for several long moments. All the tension that had built within my body faded and I felt myself calm. I got myself under control and looked over at Shadowfire who seemed to be getting the hang of his new wings.

“Are you done laughing at me human?” Shadowfire said in annoyance.

“I have a name you know” I shot back.

“Actually, you don’t, new world remember you have to choose a name,” Shadowfire stated.

“What are you talking about?”

Shadowfire sighed “Take a look at your character sheet” As soon as he said that a window appeared in my vision.

Character overview

Name:???

Race: Human (Realm Walker)

Level 1 Assimilation Rate 98%

Health 100 Stamina 100

Mana 110

Stats

Strength 10 Endurance 10

Agility 9 Intelligence 11

Charm 10

Exp: 0 Skills: Summon Familiar (Shadowfire)

I stared at my character sheet for a long time. Nothing about it was impressive at all, then again, I was only level 1 so that was probably to be expected. It reminded me of something out of a video game.

‘Nope, not a video game,’ Shadowfire answered this time his voice echoing in my head rather than out loud.

“How did you do that?” I asked startled.

“Relax Human, I can read your thoughts remember, we can also communicate via telepathy as long as we are within a couple hundred feet of each other.” Shadowfire said landing on a low-hanging branch.

‘So, you can hear me like this?’ I thought towards Shadowfire. “Load and clear” he responded in my mind. ‘Alright I have to admit this is pretty cool,’ I thought back to him. Then I asked, “So, I have stats and can gain experience, you're sure this isn’t some kind of video game world?”

“No, it’s a real world. I think maybe someone from this world might have gone to your world and introduced the idea of experience points and magic at some point in your worlds past.” He said simply.

“Huh, I guess that could be a thing,” I said with a shrug, “Are you making all these windows appear?”

“Yes and no, the windows are just part of how magic works in this world. Everyone sees them though they are a little different for each person. I have to help you see them though.” Shadowfire said smugly.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, most native Elserians can instinctually read the flow of magic around them. They know from birth how to read their character sheets and view their prompts, for them things probably look a little different, but you are new to this world. Your brain doesn’t know how to sense the changes in magic around you. So, I gather that info and translate it for you in a way you can more easily understand. Since you are familiar with video games from Earth your windows will look more like those from a standard Earth game”

“I see,” I said. It was clear that if I wanted to survive in this world, I was going to have to get stronger, somehow. I looked over at Shadowfire who was still sitting on a tree branch. “Do you have a character sheet?”

“Sort of,” He stared off into the distance for a second before a smaller window appeared.

Name: Shadowfire

Race: Summoned Familiar (Dragonling Form)

Level: Not applicable

Health 45 Stamina 110

Mana 120

Stats

Strength 11 Endurance 8

Agility 12 Intelligence 12

Charm 11

Exp: Not Applicable Skills: Magic translation, Summoned familiar

Sense creatures, Map, Telepathy.

I read through his stats; they were completely different than my own. While his Mana and Stamina were both higher than my own, his health was less than half. It also seemed he couldn’t gain experience like me, I asked him why and he responded “As a summoned familiar we don’t grow in power by gaining XP like you. My stats will increase over time if you level up your summon familiar skill. Though typically that is only used to summon me if something kills me.”

“I don’t even know how to use that skill,” I said with a shrug.

“Well, you can’t use it until I am dead. If you are careless enough to let something kill me then you will have to channel your mana into the skill to summon me.” He said smugly.

“How the crap do I do that?” I asked indignantly.

“Mana is a power within you, you tap into it to cast spells and activate certain skills. As for how to learn to tap into it I have no idea. Maybe try focusing inwardly and see if that does anything.” He said in response. I closed my eyes trying to focus on my mana, something I had never done before. I focused inwardly and to my surprise, I could sense something. I could sense a small well of power radiating within me, but when I attempted to reach for it a mental barrier stopped me. I pushed against the barrier trying to force it to open but it stubbornly refused. The mental barrier inside of me was like a solid brick wall that I couldn’t get through. After several minutes I gave up in frustration. “How am I supposed to use something I have never used before? This feels impossible.”

“I wish I could help human, but I really don’t know how to teach you. You will need to find someone who can properly train you. For now, I just suggest using that sword you have, to keep me, and I guess yourself, alive.”

“What sword?” I looked down at myself and for the first time realized what I was wearing. I was wearing a set of basic leather armor over simple clothes, leather bracers on my forearms, and leather guards on my legs. Strapped to my side in a sheath was a longsword. I gently pulled the sword free from its sheath and grinned, I always wanted a real sword. Growing up back on Earth I had played with toy swords as a child, and I had watched hundreds of hours of movies and tv shows where the characters used swords to fight. I had studied their moves and tried using some of them as I gave the sword some practice swings. My swings were clumsy and uncoordinated, the sword was a bit heavier than it looked I nearly cut my leg while trying to flourish the sword like I had seen in movies.

“Well done human you nearly stabbed yourself,” Shadowfire said mockingly as I nearly dropped the sword.

“I have a name you know,” I said in frustration.

“Again, no you don’t, this is a new world. You have to pick a name.” Shadowfire said. I sheathed the sword and turned towards the tiny dragon sitting in the tree.

“So, what I just say a name and that’s what I am stuck with?”

Instead of responding a window appeared in my view, it had a keyboard and a blinking cursor the words Choose your name, were printed above the blinking cursor. For a moment I tried to think of something cool, I had once played a Barbarian named Ragnor the mighty, but I thought perhaps that might be a bit much. Shadowfire scoffed in my head. I sighed and typed in a name.

Accept name? Yes/No the window questioned. I hit yes and my character sheet was updated with my new name.

Name: Derek Erlan

I decided to go with my name from Earth, I’ve had it for 34 years no sense in changing it now. I starred at my character sheet, curiously. “Hey Shadowfire, what does my sheet mean by Assimilation Rate?” I asked.

“As a Realm Walker, you have a unique ability. If you die you can come back to life at your most recent spawn point, but every time you do your assimilation rate drops by a percent or two. The lower your rate the greater chance you have of staying dead permanently. So, if your rate ever drops to say 50% or lower it's very likely you won't come back to life.”

“Ok,” I said slowly, “So, what you're saying is I have a limited number of respawns, I just don’t know what that number is. I am going to have to be careful. I certainly don’t have any interest in dying. Once was more than enough for me.” I said with a slight shudder, “What does Realm Walker mean?”

“I would think that would be obvious. You weren’t born on Elseria you were born on Earth and transferred here via magic upon your death. Thus, earning you the title of Realm Walker.” Shadowfire said indignantly.

“So, it doesn’t give me any special powers or anything?”

“None that I know of, other than coming back from death a few times,” he said.

“Great,” I said with a sigh closing my character sheet and looking around at the thick heavy forest around me, “Any idea where we are?”

“We are in a forest,” Shadowfire said with a grin.

“Haha,” I said flatly. Another window appeared in my vision, and I was surprised to see a circular map surrounded by a compass, all around me was forest, when I focused on the map, I found I could zoom out but to my dismay everything within a few hundred feet of me was black. “Why is my map black?” I asked.

“Because the map only shows what we are familiar with and right now we only know this tiny patch of forest, it will update as you move around though.”

“Great,” I said in exasperation, “I don’t suppose you could at least tell me if there is a settlement or town nearby.” Shadowfire fell silent for several seconds his head outstretched as if he was smelling something.

“I can sense a small settlement a few miles to the northwest, it’s the closest place with any life. There is a larger settlement, perhaps a town or city, several miles to the south, but that might take a day or more to reach.” He replied a few seconds later.

I saw a ping on my map somewhere to the Northwest and one to the South. “thanks” I said. ‘I suppose I should head for the closest place; I don’t have any supplies and who knows how long I have till nightfall. I doubt being out in the forest at night is a good thing’ I thought to myself. I turned using the map's compass to orientate myself in the general direction of the Northwest ping on my map. The map window shrunk to fill a tiny portion of the upper right corner of my vision. I grinned slightly, normally I had a terrible sense of direction but with the map, I should be able to get where I need to go without getting lost. Or so I hoped. Taking a deep breath, I headed off in a northward direction. Shadowfire landed on my shoulder his tail coiling lightly around my arm to help steady himself.