Light; warmth, the smell of dew on the grass, the sounds of the leaves rustling in the breeze. Michael took a deep breath. The air was clean and fresh. He tried to remember when he’d ever smelled air this clean; certainly not in the city. Four years ago, he was on leave. He and Lisanne took Mary camping in Yellowstone, away from everything and everyone.

“Hello Michael,” a woman greeted him.

Michael opened his eyes.

He was in a clearing. The sun wasn’t visible, still behind the trees, but the sky was blue with a few wisps of cloud. The woman wore a white toga of sort, leaving her light brown arms uncovered.

“Hello,” Michael replied.

She had an inviting smile, the kind his mother would give Mary any time they visited, although this woman looked younger than Michael, mid-twenties at most.

“This is probably going to come across as stupid, but where exactly am I?”

“That is a perfectly reasonable question,” she replied, “this clearing is in the Armoston forest, at the edge of the Cosconius Territory, and I am Gilda.”

“I’ve never heard of those places, Gilda, where on Earth are they?”

Her smile faltered. “They aren’t on Earth, Michael. You are no longer on Earth. Didn’t Tansit explain?”

The darkness, with his name and statistics.

Name

Michael Vladmyr Rostov

Statistics

Strength

14

Agility

12

Intelligence

11

Endurance

15

Wisdom

8

The information appeared as he thought about it, and faded away. “So, is this heaven then?” He had to be dead.

“No. This is neither of the places you call Heaven or Hell, although it is within your power to make it either if you so desire.”

“If I tell you that doesn’t make sense, will you hold it against me?”

She smiled, “I will not, Michael. That is a common enough belief, although you are among the few who remained calm confronting this new reality. Many panic about now, once it sinks in they have left many people behind.”

Michael forced a smile, trying not to think about Mary. “I had no one to leave behind. She was already taken from me. And I’m still not entirely sure I’m not dead, so I might as well see where this goes, right?”

“I see.” Her expression didn’t chance

Michael put his past behind him, dead or not, there was no going back. “So, what happens now?”

“Now, you tell me about yourself. Who were you, Michael Vladmyr Rostov? Who do you wish to be?”

Michael shrugged. “You know my name, I was a soldier. I joined right out of school, it’s the thing everyone in my family does. Army all the way to, well, for as long as there’s been an army. Stories claim there was a Rostov in Washington’s army.”

“And is a marshal man what you wish to be here?”

“Marshal man.” Michael worked the words in his head. “I like that. It’s all I know. If I say yes, does that mean it’s all I can be?”

“No, Michael, here, there are no limits to what you can be. I am simply determining how you will start. What you do from there, what you learn, how you shape this world, will be entirely up to you.”

Michael groaned. “Great, school again.” He thought of his intelligence score and it popped up.

Intelligence

11

“School is not the only way to learn here, it is not even the best way to learn.”

“How else am I going to learn?”

“The principal way is by doing. But you will understand this better once you are out in the world, living your life. For now, have you made a decision on what skill set you wish to start with?”

Michael chuckled. “You make it sound like you can just wave your hand and have me know stuff. I guess being a marshal man will do to start.”

“No hand waving is needed.”

You have learned a skill

Thrust, One-Handed Sword

level 1

You have learned a skill

Thrust, Knife

level 1

You have learned a skill

Slashing, One-Handed Sword

level 1

You have learned a skill

Slashing, Knife

level 1

You have learned a skill

Parry, One-Handed Sword

level 1

You have learned a skill

Parry, Knife

level 1

You have learned a skill

Blocking, Shield

level 1

You have learned a skill

Bashing, Shield

level 1

You have learned a skill

Brawling

level 1

You have learned a skill

Dodging

level 1

You are currently level 1 in the Marshal skill category

As he reeled from the information scrolling on the right side of his vision, Michael felt his shirt and pants shift, and instead of them, he now wore some sort of hard leather armor, with a wooden shield buckled to his left arm and a sword in his right hand.

“How?” he couldn’t even articulate the rest of his question. This was impossible.

“My role is to answer your questions and prepare you for the rest of your life here. As a marshal man, you need skills and tools; I have granted you such.”

“So you can just give me stuff?” He looked at the sword. “Any chance you can give me an M16 instead of this?”

“I’m afraid that such an item is beyond my capability.”

Michael nodded. “Then how about making me better with this sword? I’ve never used one of those.”

She pondered the question for a few seconds. “Michael, this is the start of your new life. My role is only to prepare you for it, not to give you an unfair advantage. If you decide to use your sword, you will become better with it, the same with any skill you learn and practice. This world rewards those like you who take part in it, but you are not required to do so. If you decide to build a cabin and spend the rest of your days there, you will not be punished for doing so.”

“I’m not someone who sits and does nothing.”

“Then, whatever you decide to do, you will be able to become as good at it as the work you put into it.”

“Okay, so what’s next?”

“If you have no more questions, you set on your journey.”

“To where?”

She motioned around the clearing. “To where ever you want. Nothing is predetermined here. The path is for you to choose.”

“Can’t you at least tell me what’s the best place to go toward?”

“That is outside my duties.”

Michael looked at the sky, the sun was coming up over the tree line. “Can you tell me where the closest city is?”

“The city of Novus Roma is two scores of days toward the rising sun.”

Michael looked at the little of it over the trees. “A score is a lot of days, isn’t it?”

“A score is twenty days,” she said.

“That’s a little far. How about the closest place? Town, village, I don’t know what other names small places have.”

“The village of Windfall lies at the end of this path, a few hours away.” She indicated a break in the trees and Michael noticed the grass had been trampled there.

“I can do a few hours. Then what?”

“Then, whatever you want,” she answered.

“You’re not coming with me, are you?”

“My place is here, at the start of your journey. Once you set on your path, the start is done.”

“So, as long as I stay here, you’ll impart your wisdom to me?”

“I will answer your questions, yes.”

Michael smiled. “What do I need to know to survive this place?”

“Practice the skills you wish, trust in yourself, those worthy of it around you, and higher powers, if you are one as such.”

He narrowed his eyes. “That’s not exactly useful.”

“That wasn’t exactly a precise question,” she replied in amusement.

“So it’s all up to me.” Michael tried to sound confident. When was the last time he’d been left alone to do anything? He’d always been part of a team, a family. Even in his youth, it had been him, his brothers, and sisters. His dad hadn’t been as hard-assed about drills and such as some of the other military fathers, but he had raised them to depend on one another.

Of course, that had ended the day Michael had dishonored the Rostov name. He’d been abandoned by everyone he’d known and depended on, so it made sense he was alone here too.

“Windfall is at the end of that path,” he said, “but I don’t have to follow it. I could go anywhere.”

“That is correct. You can go anywhere you want.”

There was no path leading east, so if he wanted to go to Novus Roma, he’d have no guide other than the rising sun. The idea of setting off without a plan was exciting and scary. He’d always worked off plans before. Join the army, start a family, go up within the ranks. Deployments always came with a plan, even if it was just set up camp and wait for orders.

He could do anything here.

He set toward the path. He’d start by seeing what this village of Windfall was like and go from there.

He stopped and turned. “Oh, Gilda, if I need—” the clearing was empty.

Right, he’d set on his path. This wasn’t her place anymore. Somehow, he hadn’t expected it to be quite this literal. With a shrug, he turned back to the path and followed it. There was no turning back anymore.