Why I took no offense to being called an idiot, I wasn’t sure. I knew that it was something that I should be mad about, yet it seemed if he said it, then it must somehow be true. “I guess if I’m picking something else, then I’ll be a Drakon; that is like a dragon, right?”

“Yes, well a dragon that is a man so yes like a dragon but on two feet.”

“That is what I’ll be then,” I said with more confidence than I knew I’d have.

“Class?” He asked

“Sure sign me up for one I like to learn,” I replied back to him.

“No when I am asking what class I mean, class of person do you want to be?”

“I was lower middle class.”

“No, do you want to be a warrior, a monk, a priest, a mage, or a traveling circus performer?”

“Oh you mean job?”

“No, but you can think of it that way. If thinking is something that you can do.”

“I don’t know what is the best job I can get?”

“Class, best class is subjective, many think the warrior is because of powerful strikes, others think monk is because you live longer.”

“I don’t want to be a monk, I like my hair.”

“What? NEVER-MIND!”

“Can you pick just like you did for my name put in a place holder?”

“Yes, but we can’t keep doing that; you have to make up your mind on something.”

“I did. I am a dragon.”

“No, you are an idiot who will be a Drakon.”

“Drakons are dragon people is what you said.”

“Dumber and dumber,” he muttered. “Okay, so I have lots of questions here about your appearance. I also have information about where you’ll be starting. We need to go over these and then give you your starting gear. Then you’ll be on your way. It should only be another few hours to get all of this taken care of and then you’ll be out of my hair.”

The funny rude man asked me all kinds of questions about eye color and height, and general appearance. Because he was so insistent that I gave him answers, I started to answer him. Many of the things that I asked for, he told me I couldn’t have. I couldn’t have purple eyes or light-emitting scales. He told me that I couldn’t breathe fire because that was a different lizard race. I asked about being one of those, and he told me no something about them being unable to sing.

As he spoke, I stood up and walked around his study. It was huge, and my butt hurt from sitting so much. His shelves were amazing; they were at least fourteen feet tall. The shelves themselves were packed beyond what they were designed for.

On top of each row of books were more books turned sideways, and there were scrolls stuffed wherever they could fit. In front of the books on the shelves were all kinds of baubles; I could see a human skull, a deer skull, and a few others which seemed to come from no earth animal, and other bones but also rocks and snow globes.

The books themselves were also among the curiosities, some were leather-bound with printing that could be in any study, and others were bound with Coptic wiring. The colors of the books were every color I thought I’d ever seen. The titles were of an odd sort, or those which I could read since many of them were written in languages which I couldn’t read and in many cases had never seen, but those that I could read were so odd that it didn’t matter that I could read, like “Ultar and Altar and the Fordmin Expansion Via the Properties of Miz”.

He brought me back to his attention when he cleared his throat. “So we’ve everything done here. You are a Drakon warrior from the eldership of Mishop. When you arrive you’ll need to look for the temple district so that you’ll be introduced to the priests there and get bound to the god that paid for you to come here.”

“Hey what’s his name?”

“Who’s name?”

“The guy who bought me.”

“No one bought you.”

“You said a god paid for me to come here, so I am a slave?”

“No, he paid for you to cross the worlds, think of it just paying your way.”

“Did I ask for this?”

“No but you agreed when you came in here.”

“So I got kidnapped?”

“No you are not a child.”

“You know what I mean when I say kidnapped. Taken by force and brought here unwillingly.”

“In that case, no. You walked through the door there was no force or unwillingness there.”

“Can I leave out the way I came?” I asked as I raised my right eyebrow.

“No”

“So I had no choice.”

“You did and you chose. Now be quiet.” The old man snapped, “Also, here is a book which when you read will give you general knowledge of the area which you’re from and how you got to where you are. Now with that in mind do you have your name picked out yet?”

“No, I still don’t know what name to pick we can just use the placeholder that you have,” I replied with a bit of sadness.

The man smiled thinly and asked, “Are you sure that is what you want? This is the one time that you get to pick a name.”

“If I could remember my name then I’d pick a name but since I can’t, I can’t tell you if there is a name that fits me so I’ll take whatever you give,” I answered back.

“Please state that you agree with everything that we’ve put together for you and that you’re ready to move forward.” He droned on.

“I agree with what you have put together and I’m ready to move on.”

“Great! Bozo, time for you to grab your armor and pack and get out of my office! However, before you do, I need you to think about ‘Full Status Sheet.’ Once you do, your full Status sheet will pull up and we can move you forward.”

Name: Bozo

Level 8

Race: Drakon

Starting class: Champion* Secondary class: Warrior

Strength

15*

Dexterity

12*

Intelligence

14

Will power

9

Stamina

15

Health

25

Drakons strength for all damage is doubled

Drakons dexterity for all combat skills is doubled

Racial skills

Level

Breath Weapon Fire

2

Primary class

Champion

Rites of god*

0

Blessing of god*

0

Divine Magic*

0

Leadership*

0

Quest Giving*

0

Secondary Class

Warrior

Sword

10

Shield

7

Marching

4

Heavy Armor

5

Non-Class skills

Armor Maintenance

4

Survivalist

2

Tracking

3

Reading

6

*Champion skills unlocked once bound to god.

“Hey that reminds me, what is the name of the guy who paid not not have me kidnapped?”

“You mean the god that brought you here?”

“Yes”

“Bartholomew”

“The god’s name is Bartholomew?”

“Yes”

“You have to be kidding me, that name could never strike fear or awe into someone.”

“He is not a god that counts on fear or awe of his name.” The man snapped at me.

“Oh so what does he do? Is he god of love?” I asked with my still very passive tone.

“No the god of love is Amiasa.”

“So what does Bartholomew do?”

“He is the god of Bards and summer beer?”

“So he is the god of music festivals?”

“No but close enough, you will learn more about him once you meet his priests and become bound to him.”

“So if I don’t want to work security for the music festivals can I go to a different god?”

“Yes, however, you would have to find a god that is looking for a champion and then convince them that you would be a good fit. Since you were picked by Batholomew, it would be hard to find someone that wanted you.”

“Oh”

“Moving along, since you’re a Champion even though you’re unbound you still have access to Champion abilities that are not skills. One of the most profound and the only one that I’ll instruct you on here is the Arm/Disarm ability. With this you’re able to magically store your weapons and armor in a space that doesn’t weigh anything nor take up any space. You may only store one set to start with. Just think and will ‘Arm’ and your Arms will be on you,” the odd man stated flatly.

I did as I was bid and found myself wearing a red brigandine, chainmail pants with a kite shield on my left arm and in my right gauntlet was an unsheathed arming sword of fair quality. On my left hip was a sheath for the sword which I used. On my right was a small bag. I turned my helmeted head towards the mad man to thank him.

As I turned, I saw a mirror and stopped to gape at myself. Where once I’d have seen a slightly out-of-shape human now looked back at me a lizard man. My eyes had a red sclera with jagged yellow lines in them. My pupil was no longer round but the cat slit and tilted ever so towards the outside. But my eyes weren’t the most astonishing thing. My skin was green and scaled; my mouth was enlarged and more elongated, but my lips appeared to not be able to move as well as a human’s. My nose was more prominent, and from the ridge of my nose, two horns formed, running to just past the top of my head, laying back across my forehead. I honestly had become a dragon man.

“Right now grab that bag and get out of here though this door. The day has been long and you moved things on my shelves while I was doing the job I had to do. So off with you and may the door hit you hard on the way out.” He said to me in his gruff voice.

I reached down, grabbed the bag that was at my feet, and stepped towards a door that I’d not seen when I first came in. I paused before stepping through. This was it, the start of my life since I couldn’t remember anything from before. This seemed right like I wanted to go, and it would be okay. So I sealed my emotions, took a breath, and opened the door. I could clearly see through the door a busy medieval city; the sights of the crowds and the people almost overcame me.

I turned my head back to the man intending to say farewell to him. However, he beat me to it by shoving me through the door. I felt my foot hit the cobblestone road. The world turned white once again, and then my head started to pound.

GATE OF SEASONS

ERROR CODE 42

PATCH INSTALL INITIATED 5%

(REDACTED PER RULES) PROCESS STARTED ((REDACTED BY ORDER OF (REDACTED BY RULES))

I fell to the ground and clutched my head for the pain I was in. My whole body felt like it was on fire, and my mind was like the worst migraine ever. I curdled up into a fetal position and passed out.