Prologue

“Silence!” the word rang out through the crowded room bringing the loud arguing to a halt instantly, only nervous coughing here and there could be heard. The same masculine voice of authority spoke up again “All this bickering will get us nowhere. The demons have succeeded in corrupting two worlds that are now in danger of allowing their invasion plan to succeed. The question before us is to destroy both worlds to prevent this and lose all those worshipers or come up with a different plan.”

“We can't afford to lose Invernia, they openly worship us, the loss of power would set us back millennia. While the earth has not offered any worship to us in the last ages,” the new masculine voice paused then spoke back up. “To that end, I have a proposal. We save what we can of Invernia knowing we will lose many of the worshipers, to remedy that we send the earthlings to Invernia to bolster the population and let the inhabitants turn them into new worshipers, Then we destroy the earth and concentrate on keeping Invernia from becoming a gateway.”

Another feminine voice spoke up “But Earth has had no mana to strengthen them, they would not survive the transition and if they did, would be at a disadvantage to the Invernians.” a second female voice piped in “We can integrate them in the system by slowly transitioning them and bolstering them with mana if we do that we can get 1 in 500 to survive over a period of 1000 to 2000 years. It’s a long time but still gives enough time for them to act to prevent the incursion, we just set a world quest once they reach the planet.”

Murmurs started up around the room debating the plan, a tentative male voice spoke up trying to be heard over the noise “May I be heard?” “Quiet! What do you have Chronos?” the first voice roared out, everyone quieted. “I have used my aspect and the plan will succeed as far as the earthlings go and stabilizing Invernia it will take the full 2000 years, further than that I can not see the universe won’t allow it. But one of us will lose their children on Invernia, I think it fair for him to decide what we do.”

Worried voices spoke up all at the same asking who’s children, “Typhon’s children will be lost if we do this, there will not be enough essence to sustain them during the stabilization process.” All grew quiet as this judgment was said and turned their gazes towards a large draconic figure whose own gaze was locked on Chronos. “You're positive about your vision?” Chronos nodded “Then I will allow it we must save what we can to keep the incursion from happening or all life will be lost.”

“Then we are decided?” came from the first voice which was answered with consent from all “Then I the Allfather do hereby decree Earth shall be destroyed and Invernia to be the battleground. So it is spoken so let it be written!”

Chapter 1

Tyler blinked his eyes open trying to place where he was at, the last thing he can remember was walking down his street, heading home from the store when a bright light flashed blinding him, along with all sounds stopping at once. He bolted upright from his prone position at the realization of what that could be, was there a nuclear attack, did a bomb go off, if so why wasn’t he dead?

Looking around, he found himself inside a dry musty room with rough stone walls, as if it had been carved out of the solid rock. The only light source was a blue crystal glowing on the wall next to a wooden door that seemed to be made from one whole piece of wood forgetting to put hinges or a handle on it, there was also a large ornate chest about the size of a footlocker sitting on the floor next to it.

The coldness of the floor started to creep into his flesh and muscles making him realize he was lying naked on the floor. Inspecting himself, he noticed that his legs were longer and more muscular along with his skin having a golden sheen to it. Moving up to his arms, they also were longer with more muscle definition and tapering fingers, he could also tell by shaking his head his hair was long and golden blonde from what he could see of it in his peripheral.

What was going on, is this a dream, a hallucination? If he didn’t know any better he would say he was in one of his VR fantasy games, but none of them ever felt this real. He caught something in the corner of his eye blinking, turning his head to see what it was, he saw it was turning with him and realized it was actually in his eye. He raised his hand to rub at it and felt nothing, suddenly he knew what it was and concentrated on it, willing it to activate.

“Congratulations on surviving your transition to Invernia you might experience some memory loss. Your old world was destroyed, through their infinite wisdom the Gods saved your people by sending them to Invernia. Since your world was mana deficient this entailed them giving you new bodies to be able to survive here. Per your consent, you were given a random race, which was considered a first among your fellow earthers, which led to you being given a better list of races. Your new race is called Khoth, you can learn about them later from a note left in your supply chest.”

A new race! This was all overwhelming for him, when did he give consent? The voice wouldn’t stop for him to ask questions, just continued on with its lecture forcing him to focus on it so he wouldn’t miss anything. “Second, this world uses True Names, on earth you had these without realizing it as there was no mana for them to be used against you. Here they can be. You now have the opportunity to choose a new name, it is advised as people from your old world could use it against you, know that this will delete your old personality while maintaining your knowledge. If you wish this simply say yes and you will be granted new names?”

Tyler started to think about it, but then all of a sudden he felt a tingling in his head then heard himself say yes, what the hell was going on? “Very well you will be given three names, one will be what the world knows you by the other two must be kept secret. The only second name people use are descriptors or house names, guard your true names, only disclosing them to trusted people or bonded companions.”

He was enveloped by a golden light, then an electric tingle shot through his mind and body leaving a warm radiating heat that was very soothing. The golden glow dissipated leaving Tyriel wondering what exactly it did, the voice didn’t give him too long to dwell on it. “Know that you are a chosen, there is a hidden quest for this. To learn more you must level up from your current state of zero, your quest log can only be activated at level one, you also have a quest to find civilization. To help you accomplish this you have a supply chest with appropriate adventuring gear, plus the following advice. Listen well this is not a game, you will die permanently if you do not think wisely and fight hard. This is real, you must treat it as such, do not leave this room till you feel you are prepared. The room is safe only as long as the door is not opened so take the time to learn as much as you can.”

“The last part of your reward is this, earthers have not been doing well at adapting to this world which has led them to be persecuted. It is advised that you not disclose your true origins to anyone, instead use the following back story. Your family was moving from Sardenburg to Telenburg to resettle and have you go through your coming of age ceremony. This will explain your lack of knowledge of the leveling system as Sardenburg doesn’t allow their commoners to learn it. Your caravan was attacked in the mountains and you were the lone survivor, that's the basics add whatever flavor you wish to sell it. The gods will help people not to question it as long as you don’t over embellish too much. My job is done. May the Gods favor you on your travels or grant you fast passage into oblivion.”

And with that the voice was gone, leaving Tyriel with no chance of asking questions to find answers for his racing brain. Sighing heavily, Tyriel stood up and walked over to the chest, he needed to move on, nothing would be solved by sitting there and wishing for something that wouldn’t happen. He needed to accept this was his new reality, his survival depended on him making the right choices.

Grasping the edge of the lid he flipped it open revealing folded cloth on the top hiding anything else in the chest. Pulling them out they unfolded to reveal a brown wool cloak, and a rough spun grey shirt. Under them was a pair of leather pants with socks and underwear wrapped up in them. He was not looking forward to the shirt as it looked like it would really itch.

Going back to the chest he found a pair of boots made from tough leather that were of similar make to cavalry boots he had seen. Next to them was a leather and canvas pack that had its sides bulging from whatever was stuffed in it. He pulled these out, setting them on the floor, then reached in to find a set of armor, two swords, an unstrung bow with a quiver of arrows.

The armor was composed of a leather cuirass, metal greaves, and bracers that he would have to figure out how to put on. The swords were both about the length of his arm with a slight curve in the middle of the blade then widening towards the end, resembling an oversized knife he had seen called a Kukri from India. The bow was a re-curve made out of a resilient wood that made it quite hard to bend for stringing, while the arrows had three-bladed tips that would do some massive damage when they hit.

After removing it all one item was left, a cloth-wrapped bundle of what he found to be three books and a piece of paper after he unwrapped them. Picking up the piece of paper, he found it was a paragraph explaining his race, the Khothu (this is the plural form of Khoth), a race that is descended from dragons and considered the children of Typhon Father of Dragons and Monsters. They were a powerful magical race, also very advanced in magitech which is where the other races learned it from. They are considered extinct as none have been seen since the cataclysm, but this might not be true as they have a racial ability that allows them to appear to be one of the three Elven races, once activated it can not be used again for a whole day.

This last caught his attention, was this why his body looked like it did? Concentrating he willed his appearance to change back to normal, at first nothing happened, he was about to give up when his skin started tingling. Slowly he felt parts of his body stretching, glancing at his hands, he could see them getting larger with his skin shifting into fine scales of a mid-night blue. When it was done he could tell he was quite taller and bulkier, his fingers were tipped with sharp talons, while his face now sported a pointed snout with sharp teeth, his chest was covered by larger scales almost making it appear he had a breastplate. From what he could see the finer scales were all mid-night blue with his abdomen being a sky blue that blended at the sides into the darker areas.

From the weight and the sound of something scraping the floor he now had a tail, turning his head he saw it was long and scaled ending in about a foot of bony sky blue material shaped like a knife blade, lucky for him he hadn’t dressed yet or his clothes would be toast.

Then it also hit him that he couldn’t dress or change back for a whole day, shaking his head he went back and looked at the three books. One had the title A Journey to Awakening, another had The Way of The Sword, then the last had Thoth’s Compendium of the Written and Spoken Word.

As he held each book, he could feel only what he could describe as energy radiating from them, flowing into his body and resonating with something in his chest. Growling noises from his lower torso interrupted his inspection, letting him know he needed food and he could also use something to drink. Sitting down next to the pack he opened it up hoping to find something to assuage his hunger and thirst. Inside he found what was the equivalent of a basic camping kit, it had two wool blankets, a small tarp, hatchet, flint, canteen, 8 wrapped packages of hardtack, and a coil of rope. So he had food that if rationed right would last a week, it was the water that was the issue, it would only last about three days if he was careful, so that would need to be his top priority to find water to refill his canteen.

He took a sip from the canteen then opened one of the hardtacks and gnawed off a bite to chew while he grabbed the first book to start reading. He cracked the book open letting his eyes start reading the first paragraph, it seemed to be a book on how to awaken your mana, as he understood this the book started glowing, then a swirl of glowing particles lifted from the book floating towards his head. He tried to move away but found his body held rigid, as the stream touched his head his vision went blurry with images he couldn’t make out flashing in out like a kaleidoscope of color.

He blinked his eyes finding himself laying on the floor, he must have passed out, there was no sign of the book just a pile of sand with granules sticking to his palms. He sat up instantly wincing in pain as a headache blossomed in his forehead, making him fear he would be sick. He sat there for awhile holding his head wanting the pain to stop which it slowly did. When he felt his stomach settling down and the pain lessened he tried to figure out what happened. Surprisingly it came to him immediately, he knew that he activated a skill book and the knowledge that had been contained in it was transferred to his memories, he now knew how to awaken his mana and cultivate his growth in it.

He found this all amazing enough that he totally forgot his headache, instead, he followed his new knowledge sending his senses questing inside his chest to locate that area that was resonating with the books. Closing his eyes he found it, it appeared as a multi-colored sphere pulsing with energy, roughly about the size of a fist. Concentrating on it his first task was to try and see if he could get the sphere rotating, the suggestion was to mentally grab one point and pull it around, like grabbing a merry-go-round and sending it spinning.

He got so focused on trying to do it that he lost track of time, at first he kept failing to even grasp it, then it was not getting it to move, till finally, he saw it following his direction feeling that it would keep turning if he released it. He fell over backward in exhaustion as he excitedly watched it spinning after he released it, he had succeeded in awakening his core. He decided he would take a little nap, allowing his brain to shut off for a while regaining his strength.

He woke up to blinking in the corner of his eye again, it was a prompt telling him his racial ability was ready to use again. Had it really been a whole day since he messed with it, either his nap was long or he was passed out for a while after reading the skill book. Either way, he felt energetic with no headache, he also knew that if he managed the next step in his awakening the other skill books wouldn’t affect him as the first did. If he had been circulating his mana to his head the absorption would have progressed more smoothly, all he needed to do was grab hold of a strand of mana like he did the sphere and drag it to his head and back creating a loop, keeping the circulation going till it did it on its own.

First things first, he concentrated on activating his shape change, he was rewarded with a prompt asking him to pick light, gray, or dark. Choosing gray this time he watched fascinated as he morphed back into an elf with his skin being a grayish tint with silver hair. Now he could get dressed then he would look into trying to move his mana after getting something to eat.

Grabbing hold of a thread of mana was easier than getting hold of the whole sphere, what was hard was getting it to continue to circulate when he let go. It took him about a hundred tries before it finally stayed in motion, then he felt a change in his head, all his senses sharpened while his thoughts felt quicker and more focused.

He decided to try another book, this time there was no headache, nor did he pass out although it was still a little disorienting. With this success, he went ahead and did the last book, and like the first, he now had knowledge he didn’t before. He received two prompts that told him he earned Swordsman level 1 and The Gift of Tongues ability, this last one gave him the ability to understand any written or spoken language and respond in kind. The swordsman gave him the basic knowledge of fighting styles and techniques for the various basic types of swords. It also let him know his two swords were in the short-sword category but not what their actual name was, he also knew various forms he could train in that would help him learn how to fight either wielding one or both. The downside was it also informed him that the only way to raise your level in skill was in combat, training only helped develop muscle memory and perfect your form.

Tyriel had to make a decision now, would he stay here, finishing his mana awakening and practicing his forms, or go in search of water before he ran out. He decided he would at least wait one more day trying to progress as much as he could, then he would open the door for better or worse.

He ate another ration chasing it with water, then sat down to start creating more pathways, the knowledge said there were six paths the head, heart, both legs, and both arms. He needed to get a thread path to all of them with a steady circulation going, after all were done then he would have to practice circulating them at least once a day to get them to grow so more mana could flow through them before he was able to move on to another lesson.

These went a lot quicker than the first one did, with each one he felt energy soaking into his limbs making them stronger, he felt his heart beating more powerfully pushing his blood through his body invigorating his body and giving the feeling of boundless energy. Since he had so much energy he went ahead with practicing his sword forms, performing each one as precisely as possible then speeding up when he felt they were as good as he could get them. He wanted precision before speed, he could be grease lighting with performing them but if he couldn’t hit he was dead.

When he became exhausted, he laid out the blankets, ate then went to sleep with the intention of leaving when he woke up. He was as prepared as he could be, anymore delay and he would be without water, for better or worse his journey was starting.