AN: Hello happy people. We're back for the last installment of the day. I'll put one more up tomorrow, before the story goes to weekly Wednesday Updates.

Enjoy! :)

Chapter 3: My Precious Little Apocalypse

Fortuna began to relate a story to Scott. It was a tale of myth and legend, of a time long ago when an evil despot nearly brought the world to ruin. Armies of darkness marched across the world. Dogs and cats lived together in sin. Normal sized pastries became giant evil abominations. It was anarchy. In its wake the madness nearly consumed the world.

"So, this evil dude? How did you stop him in the end?" asked Scott.

"There was only one way. His ideologies were spread across the entire world by that point. Everything was out of balance. No small fixes through the system would salvage the situation," she said sadly.

A soft sigh escaped her lips. "For the good of the world, and to begin regaining the balance that was lost, I culled the male half of the genome from accessing the experience grid."

"Culled?" asked Scott, "Experience grid?"

"For the last thirteen hundred years, or so, no male of any species has been able to reach level one. None may gain levels. Only females in this world have the power to grow stronger than their base biology allows."

Scott honestly did not know much about that sort of thing, but it sounded like a major issue. "So, that's bad..."

"It's highly imbalanced. Necessary at the time as it was the only way to ensure that the forces corrupting the world would eventually die off," said Fortuna. "Once every male of a higher level died, the women of each species slowly took over. The process took a long time, as old habits die hard. Men were largely in charge of the world through ancient customs."

"Why get me involved? What exactly is it that you want from me?" asked Scott after a brief lull in the story.

"You met the requirements set by Admi Nistrata," she said.

She took a breath then continued, "I wanted to see if you would do me the honor of being the first male in over a thousand years who can gain levels?"

Fortuna placed her palms together and offered him a sweet, hopeful, smile. If she'd said the words, 'Pretty please with a cherry on top', he would not have been surprised.

"Hey, it sounds fun... Running around a world gaining levels and stuff.... But, why me? Why not one of those other guys already living on your world?" It was a reasonable question. Why go through the trouble of bringing some poor dead sap from another world into the picture?

"In order to restore the ability to gain levels to one man native to this world, I would need to restore that ability to all males. It would be the wrong sort of apocalyptic event," she said.

"That bad? Really?" he asked, though that last bit nagged at him. Was there a right sort of apocalypse?

Fortuna sighed. "Imagine what would happen to the last world you lived on if all people suddenly had the power to gain levels, gain super human ability without restraint?"

Scott winced a little. "Yeah, I see your point. They'd go crazy with it."

"How is it alright for me, though?" he asked.

"You are from outside this system. As an outsider, you are not bound by the rules of this reality until you properly enter into it. Once you enter, you will be bound, but you won't have the restriction of native males when it comes to leveling."

"I'm like some sort of extra-reality downloadable content, or something?" asked Scott after a moment. If the world held up under some sort of game logic, then it made sense to see himself in that way.

"In a manner of speaking, yes," she said.

"What exactly do you expect me to do, though? I mean, what's the point of adding me to your world?"

Fortuna smiled upon him. "Simple. I can't restore all of the men currently alive without endangering the world. I can, however, give birth to a new hope. If you have children, those children can gain levels. The children of your children would also gain levels regardless of gender."

"Wait, you expect me to be fruitful and multiply?" he asked incredulously. Scott leaned away from the beauteous goddess. Was the madness contagious?

She laughed sweetly. "Well, yes. Consider it a divine mandate. You'll even be fertile with all humanoid races."

"So, the goddess of fate wants me to travel across the world having lots of sex... All while fighting and growing stronger?" Scott looked at her curiously. "Is that really, the reason?"

"Assuredly, it is so," she said with a smile.

Scott frowned a little. "Honestly, I should be jumping for joy right now. I just..."

"Just what?" she asked.

"I have absolutely no problem with having sex with all manner of women. I just don't want to leave fatherless children across the world," he said.

"Ah, we can arrange it so that you will only have children after visiting one of my temples and making an offering. Is that fine?"

Now that was a hell of an offer. Have sex all he wants, fight the good fight, become awesome, and give birth to the future. "There has to be a downside to this somewhere... What's the catch? If I'm not Scotty Appleseed, planting my seeds all across the land, what's the point?"

"Catch?" she asked. Fortuna bit her lower lip a little. "Well, there is one thing..."

Ah. Here it came. There was always something to deal with when someone offered so much awesome stuff. "Which is?"

"Technically, you have to be a hero. Rather, I have to give you the status of Legendary Hero."

"Ok... and that entails?"

"Heroism mostly..." she said, "More to the point, you will need to perform heroic acts on a semi-regular basis."

"What sort of heroic acts?" asked Scott. A sense of foreboding welled up within him due to the way she currently explained things.

Fortuna waved her hand through the air once then drifted closer to him. "You won't be allowed to just do what you want. This is not a free vacation in fantasy land, you know."

"I figured as much," he said. Scott looked her in the eyes, "What exactly is it that I'll have to do?"

"You'll act as a bit of a divine enforcer, and help people. You'll have to get involved in their lives and help them with their troubles. You can't just ignore those in need, and you can't become one of those people who try to conquer the world," she said.

"Further, you are not allowed to overthrow legitimate governments recognized by the gods on your own whim," she looked down at him. "This includes governments with laws that you personally disagree with. You can dislike those laws, and work against them in small ways. You aren't allowed to kill the queen, seize power, spend time rabble rousing and fomenting rebellions, or what have you."

"If you rule your own kingdom, you may defend yourself and even conquer territory if the other side legitimately began hostilities. However, your duty is not to be a king. It is to be a hero. You may only become a king through marriage, and if you do so, you must create an imperial harem to meet the necessities of your other purpose."

"How can I be a traveling hero and a king? Wouldn't a king have a lot of duties?" he asked after a moment of thought. It sounded like he was supposed to lead the life of a wandering hero. Roll into town, bang the hot girls, kick the evil asses, bang more hot girls, and stroll away for another adventure elsewhere.

"The queen would rule. You would be busy with heroic works. So, even if you are the ruler of a kingdom, you'll still not be the governing sovereign," she eyed him critically. "This is not a matter of discussion. One of the main issues that caused the men of this world to lose their leveling privilege was the advent of an incredibly despotic ruler. The other gods won't allow you to become the same."

"Sounds like it would be better not to even bother to become a ruler," he said.

"Yes. That would be best," she smiled at him softly. "Your duties are not to lead people as a ruler, but to aid them in times of need and to be seen as an example of the best that men might have to offer in the future."

Scott laughed as he realized what his real purpose was. "So, I'm supposed to look pretty and do good works, but leave the politics to the womenfolk?"

"Essentially?" she asked. Scott nodded to her and she smiled. "Yes, your duty is to act as a harbinger of the future by being a wonderful example in the present. Through your actions, you will shatter the current world order and give birth to a better tomorrow."

He laughed again then shook his head. "Hey, that's perfect. I don't know a thing about this world anyway."

"We'll take care of the basic knowledge for you, but unfortunately we can't do much else. Granting you the ability to increase your level is already an incredible divine boom. It literally goes against the very nature of the current world."

"What do you mean, basic knowledge?" he asked her.

"Upon accepting your role, you'll be granted a spiritual download that includes basic knowledge of the world, especially in the region that you will appear," she said. The goddess took a breath then elaborated a little, "Language will come first, and be almost instantaneously known. After that, the rest of the knowledge transfer will trickle into your memory over the course of a week."

"So, I'll know the basics of surviving in this world? What about other things like getting sick and dying the moment I arrive?"

"Your body will be recreated with common immunities. You are only wearing the form you have now due to your memories of your past life."

"Like the old stories of the ghost keeping the wounds it took when it died?" he asked.

"Something like that, yes," she said with a smile, "In your new life, you'll get a similar body and fresh clothes. You'll also get to keep your current weapon for up to one week."

"My weapon? This shotgun?" He showed it to her briefly and she nodded.

"Yes. It is a weapon not native to this world. You're to be granted at least one week to adapt, so you'll get to keep fifteen rounds of ammunition for use until the end of the week. Afterward your shotgun will disappear. Any attempt to hide it, or recreate it later, will result in failure."

The fact that he would lose his only real way to defend himself annoyed him. After a moment, though, a slight smile crossed his lips. "The more we talk, the more it sounds like I already accepted."

Fortuna slipped around behind him then leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "I hope so. You are the only one who had all of the requirements, so far."

Scott swallowed hard due to the closeness of the goddess. He could smell the sweetness of her perfume, the warmth of her breath. "How? What were the requirements?"

Soft warm air blew against his ear as she sighed out a little. "Does it matter?"

"Yes," said Scott without hesitation.

"Fine..." she said with a laugh, "You were chosen because you have just enough ambition to do the job, but are not ambitious enough to want to conquer the world. You don't hate women, but you have no trouble with the idea of fighting back against one."

She took a breath then rattled off a short laundry list of other requirements. Most of them involved things like his ability to simply take a situation as it stood instead of panicking about it, and his willingness to engage in extra-marital sex so long as it did not involve leaving broken families behind. There was also a bit about how he'd probably be willing to have sex with non-standard humans as well, which made him want to ask questions. Primarily, he wanted to know how she could possibly know such a thing.

"So, will you be the next best hope for man-kind?" she asked him lightly.

"You know, if it's really like you say, me being in that world will cause a lot of trouble for people," said Scott.

"Yes, it will. Entire nations might rise and fall because of you. The very order of the current world may be destroyed and something new might rise from the ashes," she said.

"Now you're making me sound like the apocalypse," he said with a chuckle.

She shrugged her shoulders cutely then smiled. "Only a little one."

"I'm a little apocalypse?" he asked her, his eyebrow raised. "I thought you were trying to avoid something like that."

"Well, you're only just a little bit of an apocalypse. Quite precious, really. It's possible no one will even notice for a while," she said with a bright smile on her lips. "So, will you be my precious little apocalypse, Scott?"

Not used to being someone's precious little anything, he was momentarily concerned. In the end, however, he got over it. "Sure, why not."

His resounding cry of acceptance might well echo into eternity. Surely.

The fateful decision was followed by placing his hand to the seal. Afterward, she explained a few more things to him that would be useful to know. He listened attentively before stepping into a glowing door of light that she created for his transport to the living realm.

The world was about to change, and he was the instrument of that change. For good or ill, there was now a fox in the hen house.

Not long after he left, the goddess sighed loudly then made a grand gesture with her hands. A modest apartment appeared within her realm. She flopped down on her well-worn couch, tossed her feet up onto her coffee table and smiled.

Using the remote, she changed the channel of her television until she found what she was looking for, a commercial for an old game from one of the major gaming studios.

"ARS for my pleasure, huh?" she said with a laugh. "I knew it! Not the same exact one, but it's definitely a parallel reality analog. Maybe that beautiful ass is hiding inside this guy somewhere, too."

Fortuna watched the man on screen, someone who looked ridiculously similar to the precious little apocalypse she'd unleashed on the world. Of course, the blue haired man onscreen was absurdly attractive. He also possessed one of the most glorious asses allowed on daytime television. Sadly, both he and his bountiful booty glory were the property of the daughter of one of the oldest and most prestigious gaming empires.

"Who needs to play your silly old game, Origin! The ass can be mine, too!" She made a face at the screen then chuckled softly.

"Seriously though, what are the odds of Admi picking a dimensional analog of that guy?" Fortuna considered it for a moment then shrugged. Something was weird about it, to be honest. Why did a god have a dimensional analog? Normally only mortals had analogs. "Ah well, it'll be fun to see what happens anyway."

A moment later she blinked at the screen. "Ah! Right. A human would be eating a snack right now."

She waved her hand and a cellphone appeared. While the goddess of Fate ordered a pizza, instead of simply willing one into existence, a brand new adventure in a world filled with lewdness and danger was about to begin for our intrepid inter-reality explorer.