It had been a long week. I not long lived in the area, hardly knew anybody and I was a long way away from where I used to live. A very long way. I came from the UK and had gotten a job on a ship as a sailor. We went to various ports around the world until I had run afoul of some honest to god smugglers.


    I had helped busted up their operation but it had left a target on my back. Deciding to drop out of sight, the problem was I was in a part of the world that was nowhere near home and to be honest, if I had turned up at home, it might have gone badly for me. While the operation was busted up, the people behind it were never caught and I imagine they would have loved to have a chat and do some really nasty things to me.


    So I decided to head inland from where I was and headed into some country that was big, empty and full of forest. I called in a favour from another friend and ironically ended up in a job that my family had done for generations, which was basically a groundskeeper for an estate. It was a strange old place, out in the middle of nowhere with nobody there. But Ferse, who got me the job, told me that the family had disappeared ages ago and nobody seemed to want to live in the area. Since I could speak his language and read it albeit rather badly, but good enough to get by, Ferse had managed to get me the job and a year’s visa to his country with an option to extend. How I don’t know but well, I saved his life once and he was more than willing to help me out.


    I had been here a couple of months and it was a mostly peaceful place. However it had been neglected and I had been charged with righting it as best as I could. Which I had been doing but honestly, it was too much for one guy on his own. I had done the best I could but if they wanted more done I would need help.


    It was a sunday and I was enjoying myself in the garden. In the centre of the garden was a strange stone layout and I intend today to have a look at it. See what I could uncover. There was nothing about it from what I could see of the paperwork, although some paperwork I found had mentioned there was some work ongoing in the garden, that the family had found some strange stone objects and decided to erect it in their garden. There was nothing after that, but I thought I would have a look.


    So I wandered out to the garden. There was what looked to be a stone platform, and in the middle of the platform was a plinth. On the plinth was some writing. I tried looking at it and realised to my surprise that it looked like some sort of Norse style writing.I started to touch it when all of a sudden, a flash hit me.


    I woke up. It was apparent that I was no longer where I had been. For one, I seemed to be in a valley meadow. Another was the fact that a sort of village was to the side of me. The nearest village to the place I was staying, was over 70 miles from me. Another fact that clued me in, was the people who seemed to be surrounding me, did not look like natives of the country I had been in.


    They watched me as I got up. One of them then spoke to me. I did not comprehend a single word he said. Watching me, he understood that. He looked at one of the other men there and spoke to him. That man raised his hand, spoke and then, suddenly I understood what was being said around me.


    “Hopefully that gets this man to understand what we are saying til we can get him to the Speaking Rock. Yeah, he looks like he understands me now, don’ t you?” I nodded and then replied.


    “Indeed I do sir, although I have no idea who you are and where I am. The last thing I know, I was touching this stone plinth and then suddenly, I woke up here.” The old man digested this. He then asked me the most oddest question.


    “I don’t suppose the stone spoke to you?” He looked at me expectantly and I shocked my head back at him. “Oh dear. It looks like you may be a traveller. Well, they are always welcome here, it''s just most of you never want to be here.” As I digested this statement, He gestured to me to follow him.


    “Well, There no easy way to break this to you. You are no longer on your world. This is the world Fersigens. This village is on the continent of Skiel and is part of a federation of the city state of Goeserf. The village itself is called Farlglen. As to how you got here, I’m guessing you touched a stone that had writing on it?” I nodded mutely at this. “Yes, this is how this village got its start, the founders were a bunch of travellers.” I roused a bit at this, and asked a question.


    “I don’t suppose you know how many years ago that was?” The man leading me looked at me and I could see he was debating on how much to tell me.


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    “Look, The full history will be taught to you and the answer is centuries, but the answer you are probably wondering is, yes. Our ancestors came from your world. Apparently the Speaking Stone here used to be paired with another but something happened and now you can’t go there using our stone. But for some reason, every so often, that stone sends people to us. We have no idea why.” Soon we came upon a stone circle and in the centre of that circle sat a stone plinth. It really did look like the one I had touched.


    “Ok, you probably don’t want to do this, but apparently from other travellers, you touch that Speaking Stone and you receive our language. At the moment, the spell we have on you will only last another 10 minutes or so. But the Speaking Stone will make that permanent. It apparently will also tell you more about how you got here. Oh, it speaks in your mind. Apparently that is not a common thing from your world. It will also do a bunch of other stuff that will take me too long to explain, but the Speaking Stone will provide.” It sounded absolutely nuts to me. Yet here I was. To hell with it. I would touch the stone.


    As I moved towards it, I heard the headman. “Damn. Normally they kick up a fuss first, according to the histories. Looks like we got lucky and got one with a level head.” As he said this, I touched the stone. I immediately seemed to find myself floating in a void. All of a sudden a voice spoke to me.


    “Long ago, the gods were plentiful and everywhere. They had colonised plenty of worlds and created or spread life to many of them. However, it turned out the gods were not true Gods. An illness rose among them and many of them died. Some of them Ascended to become Gods and some converted to spirits tied to their lands, along with their children. On the planets where the gods totally died out including their lines, The worlds stopped producing Mana and eventually the magic was no more on those worlds, save for some artefacts that were still imbued with Mana. You were transported by one of those. There is no way to send you back. This world you are on now, is now your homeworld.” All of a sudden, a world filled my view. “This is your world. You can learn more from the histories that your village keeps, It will tell you of the history of your world the god who ruled over it. Suffice to say, it is a rural world, dedicated to hunting and woodland crafting. If this is not to your liking, you can travel to other worlds through the network. However we at least recommend you stay where you are and learn all you can first, before you travel.”


    I couldn’t help but smile at this. Sure, I would miss my family, but from what I could see I was going to get what I set out on a ship to do. Explore. Not only did I have a new world, apparently I could reach others. This was fantastic. I refocused my attention as the voice continued on speaking.


    “Anyone can learn skills. The more suited you are to them, the quicker they level up. Skills can also grant advantages, but those advantages depend on you and what you learn. Sometimes you can upgrade those skills. Get so far and you could be offered professions, which can unify some skills and then learning more in one, will level them all. There are many professions out there and some of those professions can even upgrade or unify with others to create other professions. For more information, again consult your village library.


    There are also drops that you can get throughout the world or if you meet criteria called ‘god drops’ These are normally awards for completing difficult tasks or achieving particular milestones. Again, learn from your village library.”


    This sounded like some of the computer games I had played in my youth. Well, looks like I had a lot of research to do and no mistake.


    “There are skills/professions/god drops you qualify for. You will be given those, along with a reset, so that once you have read the information given from the village library, if you wish to make a change you can. The first two you can see once we are finished by saying or thinking ‘status’. If you speak to the Headman, he will give you the god drops. We do not recommend you getting or applying them until you have read through the village library.”


    It really wanted me to do my research and learning. Fair enough. New world, new way of living, Things I never even heard of before. Be good not to muck it up for myself.


    “You have for now been marked a citizen of Farglen and the headman has been notified of this. A home will be allocated to you, and three months of living resources will be allocated to you. We encourage you to peruse the village library and learn all you can. After three months, you will be responsible for your own life. Good luck.”


    Suddenly I found myself in my own body again, with the headman standing next to me. “So how are you feeling? Gah! I really wish it would warn me when it does that!” I looked at him confused and he noticed. “It is the Speaking Stone. If it thinks there is something I need to know, it just drops it in my head. No notice or anything, just a sudden knowledge as it were. Creepy shit. You would think I''ve gotten used to it by now, but no, this is not the case.”


    “Apparently I now live here and am being given 3 months to learn stuff.” I felt foolish saying so but the headman just nodded back at me.


    “Pretty much the standard procedure. I never had to do this, but well the village library provides. I shall take you there now and show you where it is and then take you to your new home. Oh, while I take you over there, have a look at your status. See what it tells you.”