"Hi, John. How was work?" Ellie asked with a pleasant smile.


    "Ah, all good, Ellie," I answered while opening my first beer of the day. My name is John Afterwood, and honestly, I’m just really lazy. That pretty much sums up my entire life. I work just enough not to have a good life. I recently bought a massage chair, and that''s where I spend most of my time. The only real passion I have is cooking, especially barbecue. Oh, my briskets are the best in the world. But I love all kinds of food—from warm soups to fresh sushi.


    I work at a discount store, and most of the money I have comes from my older brother, who won the lottery. You might be asking, "Hey, if your brother won, how did you get the money?" Well, my brother spent much of it before he died. There was still enough left for me to buy this apartment and my beloved chair. Oh, the chair... it always felt so good.


    I was currently on my way home from a food truck, where I worked part-time. That’s where I met Ellie, my next-door neighbor. She was very nice. Also, she was a stripper and insanely attractive. Not that I cared much. I’m too lazy to bother with women. That didn’t stop me from cooking her some nice meals from time to time. Cooking is always a joy for me.


    My body reflects my lifestyle. I’m pretty fat and far from attractive. The one thing I truly love about myself is my long black beard. Beards are just the best—I know everything about them. My specialty is having a good time while doing almost nothing. He dauted that there was someone better than could do that better than him.


    My brother was the opposite of me. He worked hard and was always good in school. Me? I just did what I needed to pass. I never had big goals in life—except for chilling and maybe cooking. My parents were poor and never really cared about us.


    They both died when I was eighteen. Something strange about my family is that every single member has died from a heart attack. My brother, my mom, my dad, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, and so on. You get the picture. Now, I’m the last one left. It’s sad, really. I used to love cooking family dinners and sharing drinks with my brother.


    Nowadays, I drink one in his honor. Death has a way of creeping into my family, but there’s nothing I can do about it except live with it.


    Today, I was planning to make a Philly cheesecake—the perfect dish for watching the Super Bowl. Maybe Ellie would join me. We often watched the Super Bowl together, laughing and having a good time.


    "Hey, Ellie, do you..." I began, but a sharp pain in my chest cut me off. It felt like an ancient, otherworldly song was ringing in my ears—no, all around me—and growing louder and louder. I couldn’t understand a word. As the song grew louder, the pain in my chest intensified.


    Am I dying? I thought, my eyes wide with panic.


    "John, John! Are you okay?" Ellie shouted, her voice full of alarm.


    I barely heard her. My vision blurred, my body collapsed to the ground, and everything went dark. The last thing I heard was Ellie’s cries. Was she sorry? It almost seemed like she was genuinely sorry. Not a bad


    way to go, I suppose, with a hot lady crying over you.


    The only regret I had was never having kids. I always thought that might’ve been part of a "good life." Then again, maybe not—being a dad sounded like way too much work for someone as lazy as me. But who knows what could have been?


    I floated in darkness, and the strange song grew louder. It sounded like it was being sung by a choir of women. Maybe they were the angels waiting for me in heaven. After all, I was a nice guy. Maybe they even liked chubby dudes.


    I tried to look down, but I didn’t have a body. There was only endless blackness, and the song was deafening now. Honestly, it was starting to annoy me. Whoever was singing clearly didn’t care about my opinion. I wished I could tell them to shut up, but I didn’t have a mouth to speak with.


    So, I tried to distract myself with pleasant thoughts. I thought about the first brisket I ever made. My brother and I ate it together that day, and it was amazing. Not just the brisket, but also the beer I brewed to go with it. Those were good times.


    Now I was stuck in this endless black space, with nothing but this obnoxious song. I felt like something was dragging me through the void. The sound grew louder, pressing in from all directions, until suddenly—it stopped.


    Finally, silence.


    So, where was I? Ah yes, the brisket and the cold beer. But then, I heard a female voice speaking. The voice was now coming from directly in front of me.


    “Mira, did it work?”


    That was new. I could also feel warm air brushing over my skin. The pain in my heart was gone too. But... did what work? I tried to move my hand and realized that I was bound. If I didn’t move or open my eyes, would they just leave? I was so exhausted, and I really needed a nap. So, I stayed as still as possible, even trying to breathe as quietly as I could. Whatever was happening, I figured I could deal with it tomorrow. It probably wasn’t that important anyway.


    “I’m confident it did. You’ve summoned your first slave,” another female voice replied—probably Mira. A chorus of women joined in, praising the first woman for her achievement.


    I was already trying to nap through it. I didn’t want to find out where I was or why these women were here. They were already annoying me. Hopefully, they’d leave soon. I started counting sheep, imagining them jumping over a wooden fence, when the first woman spoke again.


    “But isn’t he supposed to open his eyes?”


    “Mistress Nadia, why don’t you just command him? He has to obey everything you say due to the compulsion we integrated into his soul,” Mira answered.


    Well, that was something I definitely didn’t want to hear. I focused harder on counting sheep, desperately hoping to fall asleep. I had no idea what was going on, but if Mira was right, then I could probably counter this compulsion by simply pretending to be asleep. If I didn’t hear a command, then it couldn’t work, right? Ah yes, sleeping was the best. I could already feel myself getting sleepier...The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    “Slave, I command you to tell me your name,” Mistress Nadia’s voice boomed, echoing off the walls.


    I really, really wanted to keep sleeping, but I couldn’t resist the command. My mouth opened against my will.


    “My name is John.”


    No. What have I done? I just wanted to sleep. Why couldn’t they leave me in peace?


    “Open your eyes, John,” Mistress Nadia demanded.


    I opened my eyes. This compulsion was the real deal—there was nothing I could do to fight it. This was bad. I... I was a slave. This was horrible.


    I glanced down at myself, and at least I had to admit, I looked pretty good. Ellie probably would’ve liked me even more with this body. My skin was almost golden, and I was packed with muscles. I estimated my height to be around 1.85 meters—maybe a little less.


    I looked around and realized I was in what appeared to be a palace or medival castle. The room was lavishly decorated, with intricate designs on the walls.


    My body was bound to some kind of metal construction, holding me upright with my neck, hands, and feet shackled. I noticed several circles on the floor filled with blood. Was it really blood? I took a sniff. Yeah, it was blood. Why was my nose so sharp?


    Actually, this was fascinating. With a nose like this, I might be able to make even better briskets.


    I turned my attention to the women standing in front of me. There were about twenty of them, and every single one looked like a supermodel. Calling them hot was an understatement, but I wasn’t interested. The real question was, did they have beer? Or something to eat? I could worry about the rest after a good nap, so I closed my eyes again.


    “What are you doing? Open your eyes again!” Mistress Nadia yelled.


    Unfortunately, I had to obey. I opened my eyes again. But then I realized that once they were open, I could close them again—which, of course, I did. Not my problem if she couldn’t decide what she wanted, I thought, smiling internally.


    Was I confused about what was happening? Sure. But was I lazy and completely uncaring? Oh, absolutely. There was probably no one lazier than me. I was already back to counting sheep when intense pain suddenly surged through my body. I screamed in agony.


    “So, do I have your attention now, slave?” Mistress Nadia shouted.


    She was even hotter when she was angry, I thought with amusement, despite the pain. I hated pain, always had. So, I decided I wouldn’t close my eyes again, just to avoid more punishment.


    I switched to a new tactic to get through this situation. Back in school, when teachers scolded me for not paying attention, I’d focus on a point behind them to look like I was listening. In this case, I chose the cleavage of the women standing in front of me. The walls were also pretty nice, with all their runes and decorations, but the cleavage was definitely more interesting.


    Some of the women began whispering among themselves, until the one standing beside Mistress Nadia stepped forward.


    “John, you are now a slave to Mistress Nadia. You must obey her every command. You will undergo training, and we will be watching your every move. If we see you slacking off, you will be punished,” she said.


    As she spoke the last word, she lifted her hand. Lightning shot from her palm and struck me, sending excruciating pain through my body. I spasmed with grited teeth.


    "Follow me to the training hall. You will obey the guards and trainers as if their words were my own. You are not allowed to harm anyone unless instructed otherwise," Mistress Nadia announced with steel in her voice. She turned around and, with a brisk pace, left the chamber after she opend his chackles with a flick of her fingers.


    I stared after her. She truly had the body of a goddess. More interesting, however, was that the compulsion wasn’t forcing me to follow her immediately. Was it because she hadn’t said "now"? Oh, this was something I excelled at: finding loopholes to escape work.


    Unfortunately, just as she was about to leave the chamber, the compulsion kicked in, and I stumbled after her. Interesting. It seemed to activate when she was about to leave my line of sight. Maybe it was to ensure I could fulfill her orders.


    As I ran after her, the others in the chamber gave me odd, surprised looks. I ignored them. This body was incredible. I walked about twenty meters and felt like I had unlimited energy, so I tested it. Jumping up and down, I realized I could leap over five meters high, and the landing didn’t hurt at all. Was this how it felt to be an elite athlete?


    Even my senses were sharper now. Back on Earth, I wore glasses, though they were over eight years old and barely helped anymore. But hey, I was lazy, and lying in the sun always seemed like a better use of my time than getting new ones. Now, I had the eyes of an eagle. I could still hear the women talking in the chamber behind me, even though I was far down the corridor.


    Looking down, I noticed I only wore a short kilt, leaving my abs fully visible. I ran my hands over them, tracing the firm lines. No wonder women liked men with abs so much—it was mesmerizing.


    As we passed by a tall door, I decided to test something. If I couldn’t hear Mistress Nadia, she shouldn’t be able to give me any tasks, right? I opened the door, planning to slip away, but the damned compulsion was still active.


    Thankfully, Mistress Nadia ignored my attempt to run and didn’t smite me with lightning like some wrathful deity.


    As we walked through the corridors, I observed the many paintings of kings and queens adorning the walls, each standing triumphantly above their defeated enemies. Far too dramatic for my taste—it was probably just propaganda. I didn’t care about that as long as they left me alone. Not that I could defend myself right now.


    A horrible thought crossed my mind: what if anyone could give me orders? What if a baby told me to hold my breath? Would I just die? This reality was terrible. I hated that people could impose their will on me.


    But I’d find a way out. I wasn’t smart, but when it came to avoiding work, I was the undisputed world champion.


    They had no idea what they’d brought into their home.


    I stopped abruptly as we exited the palace. We stepped onto a bridge connecting two towers, more than five hundred meters above the ground. Beneath us was a sprawling garden. To my right was an even larger palace, easily over five kilometers high. To my left stretched an almost endless city, vanishing into the horizon. With my new vision, I could see it all in stunning detail.


    It was breathtaking. Normally, I didn’t care about sightseeing, but even I had to admit this city was something worth seeing.


    Unfortunately, I couldn’t linger. Mistress Nadia was already entering the next tower, and I had to run after her—barefoot, no less. They hadn’t even given me shoes.


    I rarely made plans, but now I started forming one.


    First: Escape this slavery.


    Second: Check out all the food and beer in the city.


    Third: Find the best safe spot to eat, drink, or sunbathe.


    Simple, straightforward, and totally doable.


    We descended countless staircases, winding through a labyrinth of corridors. An elevator would’ve been amazing, but I wasn’t even remotely tired, so I stayed quiet. No need to make Mistress Nadia any angrier than she already was.


    Eventually, we entered a colosseum positioned on the side of the palace. Inside, men bowed before Mistress Nadia and guided us into the arena, where others were fighting with weapons and magic.


    I really didn’t want to be here. My reflexes were terrible. Surely this wasn’t my training, right?


    “Greetings, Mistress. Congratulations are in order—I see you’ve made some... improvements to the vessel,” a giant man said with a wide grin, looking directly at me.


    “This is Instructor Romar. He will oversee your training. Do not disappoint me,” Mistress Nadia said coldly, nodding at the mountain of muscle before turning and leaving. Everyone bowed deeply as she exited.


    Well, everyone except me. Not out of defiance. I just found bowing exhausting and bad for my lower back.


    Romar stared at me, his massive frame towering over mine. He looked like a meathead—probably not very smart. Yes, I’d find a way out of this and finally get some well-deserved rest.


    I didn’t get much further in my thoughts before a giant fist appeared in front of my face. Damn, that thing was fast.


    Then the world exploded.