《Lord of Flukes》 Prologue: Karma is important, whether Negative or Positive Opening my eyes, I stood still, my mouth open from the shock of what I was seeing. I stood within what seemed like an endless queue of people, stretching for what seemed infinity in front of me. Even when I moved my head to the left, all I saw was another queue of people and behind that another and no matter how far I looked past these queues, I saw no end, only more and more of these infinite queues. Shuddering in my confusion I turned to my right, and again, the same as with when I looked towards the left, I saw endless rows of queues stretching out into the distance and no matter how far I looked, there was no end. What the hell was going on? I looked up and all I saw was an endless white abyss, once again appearing infinite. This endless white void appeared to be stretching out forever and the more I looked the more my mind began to ache, confusing me even further. Shutting my eyes so that I no longer saw that endless white abyss, the ache in my head began to alleviate. Opening my eyes, I had turned my head down to look in front of me, allowing me to see the guy standing in front of me. He had pure white clothes, and he¡­ Now that I focused on him, he wasn¡¯t even human. He had four arms and two horns protruding out of his head. What the hell. I looked back and the person behind me, a cute little women, also happened to be non-human as she had animal ears and a tail¡­. Wait. What¡¯s she holding in her hands and looking at in a confused manner? Is that a piece of paper? I flexed my hands and realized I was holding something so I turned back around and looked at the piece of paper I held in front of me. What is this? And what¡¯s with this number? 32,982,738,245,643,854,352,214,124,654,173,985,235,878,612,236,986. What type of number is this? What is this? Using my fingers I attempted to count slowly. Hundred, thousand, million, billion, trillion¡­ What comes after trillion? No point in counting this bullshit number. But what the hell is going on? I turned around and looked at the people all around me and realized that I wasn¡¯t the only confused person, people left and right were looking around in a confused and dazed manner. Then all of a sudden, as I was contemplating why I was in an endless white void with what appeared to be an infinite number of confused people, I suddenly appeared in front of an office¡­..? I didn¡¯t even realize I had suddenly changed locations, I mean, it¡¯s like I didn¡¯t even register moving. No matter where I looked, whether it was left or right, I could no longer see endless queues, instead I could only see an infinite white void, which stretched out forever. I looked up and saw the white abyss which once again caused my head to ache, so I disregarded looking upwards. Instead I turned to look down and the piece of paper in my hand was gone, no longer there, which now allowed me to register that I was standing on beautiful white tiles which led towards the office I had appeared in front of. With nothing else to do, I gazed towards the office that I had suddenly appeared in front of and studied it with suspicion. It was a small white office, which you would see in your average business¡­ It had no windows and a single shiny white door. Minus the colour choice it was a very normal looking office, so I sighed internally and walked closer to the door, before slowly opening it and peeking inside. Inside of this office, was¡­ an office¡­? What? There was one white chair, which was facing a white desk, which had a white¡­. Something sitting on a white chair¡­. Seriously¡­ what? The white thing slowly took shape and resembled a human woman. A very pretty human woman, no, not very, indescribably beautiful, she was the epitome of perfectio-¡­.. And now it¡¯s a burly muscular man. His muscles were like that of the hulks, huge and imposing, he had a thick black beard and long wavy black hair, his eyes were deep blue and he had a perfect tan, the epitome of manliness. What the absolute hell is going on? What is that thing? Do I have to go into an office with something that has no gender? The burly muscular thing noticed me and gestured for me to come inside, his fingers slowly moving as he asked me to come inside. I sighed for the third time today, I think. Whatever, doesn¡¯t even matter anymore. I can¡¯t be surprised anymore. Entering the office, I closed the door behind me before moving towards the white chair facing the burly muscular man. He looked at me and then nodded before opening a drawer in his desk and pulling out a white folder. Inside of that white folder he took out some sheets of paper, before glancing at me for a moment and reading out loud. Muscular Thing: ¡°Dymitri Khan, Number thirty two quattuordecillion, nine hundred and eighty two tredecillion, seven hundred and thirty eight duodecillion, two hundred and fourty five duodecillion, six hundred and fourty three undecillion, eight hundred and fifty four decillion, three hundred and fifty two nonillion, two hundred and fourteen octillion, one hundred and twenty four septillion, six hundred and fifty four sextillion, one hundred and seventy three quintillion, nine hundred and eighty five quadrillion, two hundred and thirty five trillion, eight hundred and seventy eight billion, six hundred and twelve million, two hundred and thirty six thousand, nine hundred and eighty six of the 71st Universe, 3rd cycle of the 14th big bang¡± he said this in a single breath as if that monstrous length didn¡¯t bother him in the slightest. What is wrong with you? How can you say that number? Is that even a number? What ¡®71st Universe¡¯ are you talking about? What ¡®3rd cycle¡¯ is it talking about? What ¡®14th big bang¡¯ are you even going on about? What is with that number? How is that possible? Quattuordecillion?! And I was in the line. There was an infinite amount of people in front of me, behind me as well as to my left and right. How many beings are there?! What the hell. I can¡¯t take this. Where is Earth?! Where the hell is this?! Muscular Thing: ¡°I know you are shocked, but please calm down. I¡¯m tired of having to deal with you mortals, over and over again. The last time I took a holiday was fourteen duodecillion, three hundred and fifty two undecillion, five hundred and fourty four decillion, three hundre¡ª¡± and with a scream I put him to a stop. Dymitri: ¡°WAIT¡± I put my hand up to which he looked at me and sighed gesturing for me to continue ¡°Where am I? Where is this? Where is Earth? Who are you? Why are you speaking English? What was with that line? What is with that number? Wh-¡° and now I was the one who was silenced by the thing. Muscular Thing: ¡°Alright calm down, calm down. I¡¯ll answer your questions, but one at a time, alright?¡± he looked at me and I nodded while gulping down my saliva to which he nodded and smiled ¡°Alright let¡¯s see here, question 1, in terms you can understand, you are in ¡®Limbo¡¯, the place between Paradise and Eternal Damnation. Understand?¡± I nodded to which he continued ¡°Question 2, same as before, ¡®Limbo¡¯, the middle ground for whether you get everything you ever wanted or you get tortured forever. Moving onto question 3, Earth is a planet that is approximately one hundred and four-¡° I stopped him to which he was puzzled. Dymitri: ¡°Don¡¯t tell me how far away I am. Please¡­. Enough numbers¡± I pleaded to him, towards which he just chuckled and nodded. Muscular Thing: ¡°Alright, skipping question 3, question 4 is ¡®Who am I?¡¯, well I am Limbo Administrator four hundred and you don¡¯t care about the number do you¡± when I nodded in relief he chuckled again ¡°well skipping that, you can call me, let¡¯s see, in your mortal terms, I¡¯ll be ¡®Bob¡¯. Alright? Good, I am one of the many, many administrators of Limbo and our job is to guide all the souls who get up here. We record your entry to heaven, hell or reincarnation. Now onto fiv-¡° I once again stopped him before he continued. Dymitri: ¡°Wait, what do you mean ¡®souls¡¯ and ¡®guide¡¯?! I¡¯m not dead. I was in my house sleeping normally. How am I dead?!¡± I half screamed in panic as ¡®Bob¡¯ was going way too fast. Bob: ¡°Oh you, let¡¯s see¡± with that he looked over my document once again and had an incredulous look on his face before looking at me and saying ¡°You died of being too normal¡­. I guess that¡¯s a way to put it¡± he said before closing the document like it didn¡¯t matter at all. Dymitri: ¡°WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DIED OF BEING ¡®NORMAL¡¯!? HOW DO YOU DIE OF NORMAL!?¡± I screamed at him without holding back. What the hell is he going on about? I died of being normal?! Who dies of being normal?! How do you die of being normal?! Bob: ¡°Well let¡¯s see, when I check your karma points I see tha-¡° I stopped him again. Dymitri: ¡°What are karma points?¡± I sighed from being mentally tired as I massaged my forehead ¡°I¡¯m a mortal here. I don¡¯t get what you are saying, so please explain things so I can understand and we can be on the same level, alright?¡± I asked him, hoping he understood just how mentally fatigued I was. Bob nodded while looking towards me. Bob: ¡°Alright, so Karma points are what all humans have. You start off with 0 and you accumulate either negative points, or positive points. If you have overwhelmingly negative points, you get sent to the 7th level of hell. Pretty bad if I say so, and if you have overwhelmingly positive, you get sent to the 7th level of heaven, which I would die for, just saying. Anyways, you accumulate points based on how you lived your life¡± as he said this he looked at me and asked ¡°Do you understand so far?¡± to which I nodded ¡°Good, and as I was saying before, you started off on 0 points and you died on 0 points. You understand what I mean?¡± to which I shook my head. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Dymitri: ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean? I didn¡¯t get any karma at all, no matter what?¡± to which bob nodded and chuckled. Bob: ¡°Well it happens ¡®occasionally¡¯. You see, you were so average in life that no matter how miniscule an amount of points you gathered, whether that be negative or positive, they kept cancelling each other out. You never did any great deeds, and you never did any evil deeds, heck you almost did no good or bad deeds. You were so average; you died because you had no karma to sustain you. Make sense? You following me? We on the same page?¡± he asked in a bored manner as if he¡¯s had this talk a mill-¡­.. Dymitri: ¡°So I died, because I was purely neutral¡­ What type of crap is this? How can I die of being normal? That¡¯s just so¡­ Like how? Why? I¡¯ve done good deeds. I¡¯ve returned lost money or wallets to police stations!¡± I chimed as I remembered my so called good deeds. Bob just shook his head and sighed. Bob: ¡°Those are average deeds tinged in good, you got a few points of karma, but you also ignored a kid who was being beaten up by thugs, a women who was being raped which you shrugged it off as ¡®I misheard¡¯, and let a rich kid with his goons beat a dog to death without doing anything because you were scared of his thugs. These don¡¯t give you much negative points, but they negated your minor positive karma. Kapishe?¡± he once again stated facts and then looked away in a bored manner. I put my head in my hands. My god¡­ He¡¯s right. I¡¯ve done no bad deeds, but I¡¯ve also done no good deeds. How could I live such a neutral ¡®it¡¯s not my problem life¡¯¡­¡­ how? I looked up at him and he looked down at the papers in front of him in an uninterested manner. Bob: ¡°Can I continue now? You done ¡®understanding¡¯?¡± to which I nodded sadly. ¡°Well continuing on with your questions, I¡¯m not speaking ¡®English¡¯, I¡¯m speaking Admin, it just gets auto translated for ease of communication, as there are a lot of species out there, you know. Well alright, that¡¯s your fifth question. Onto your sixth, ¡®What was with that line?¡¯, well seeing as how it¡¯s the same as your seventh question I¡¯ll just answer them together. That was the number your soul was in the line of ¡®continuation¡¯, understood?¡± he looked at me. Dymitri: ¡°I¡¯m that long number? Then why was it my turn?¡± I asked in a dispirited manner to which Bob chuckled. Bob: ¡°Well that¡¯s because we already went through that many people and got to you know¡± he said this in a casual tone. Dymitri: ¡°In a single instant you went through that many people?¡± I asked him as I stared at him in disbelief. Bob: ¡°Of course not¡± he shook his head ¡°Not me by myself anyways¡± he then looked at me and smiled ¡°Plus it wasn¡¯t a single instant, you¡¯ve been dead for one hundred and-¡± I yelled at him to stop. Dymitri: ¡°Don¡¯t tell me. Please, don¡¯t tell me. I don¡¯t wish to know how long I¡¯ve been dead. Just tell me how I died, and I don¡¯t mean because I had zero karma, I mean how it appeared I died¡± I said this while looking at him in a depressed manner. Bob: ¡°Oh, it looked like you had a heart attack, but since you were nearing your 21st birthday, and you lived a unhealthy life style you were written off as having died an unfortunate death¡± with that he stopped and looked at me ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to continue now, alright?¡± he asked as he scratched his head with those huge muscular arms of his, to which I nodded in a dead pan manner ¡°Now that you have died, and you are in limbo, we have to decide what happens to you. Since you have zero karma, I can¡¯t send you to heaven, I can¡¯t send you to hell, and I can¡¯t even choose whether to reincarnate you in a well off, average or struggling family. You¡¯ve put me in quite a predicament you know¡± he said as he chuckled. I simply glared at him and sighed, while watching him move around papers from what I assume is a folder based on me. Bob: ¡°Well, you are a new soul, and since in your first life you died with zero karma, I can¡¯t exactly decide your fate based on your previous lives as you¡¯ve had no previous lives. Such a hassle¡± he once again stated how much I had bothered him. Again, I glared at him. Dymitri: ¡°So what is gonna happen to me? Am I going to be erased?¡± I asked him sarcastically in my confused anger. Bob: ¡°Well possibly, I mean you are worth zero karma so you don¡¯t have any worth at all, so erasing you is an option¡± he once again said a scary thing with no concern visible in his voice. Dymitri: ¡°NO!¡± I yelled at him ¡°Don¡¯t erase me, there has to be something we can do, right?¡± I asked, my voice shaking. Bob: ¡°Well, of course there are other options¡± and with that he opened the drawer in his desk and pulled out another white folder and removed a piece of paper from it, which he begun to gloss over. ¡°We can¡¯t give you anything, nor can we take anything from you since you have zero karma, but we can¡¯t allow you to revive normally since you will be the same in your new life meaning you will once again die with zero karma. You are an irregular existence who aside from being irregular, in his entire life never learned anything vaguely important that can effect another world, so you will be allowed to keep your memory as well as your encounter with me in limbo as well as allowing you to reincarnate so that in your second life you can gain some karma points whether they be positive or negative¡± he once again stated an incredible thing casually before looking at me as if he was waiting for something from me. Dymitri: ¡°What?¡± I asked him in a confused manner. Bob: ¡°Well do you want to be erased or do you want to keep your memory and be reincarnated?¡± and he asked me a ridiculous question. Dymitri: ¡°OFCOURSE I WANT TO BE REINCARNATED?! WHO WANTS TO GET ERASED?!¡± I pushed myself off of the chair I sat on and I once again lost my cool and yelled at him. Bob: ¡°Well there are some very, very old souls who have lived for such long times that they no longer wish to be reincarnated, nor do they wish for hell or heaven and simply choose to be erased so they can finally rest¡± he stated this as if it was quite a common thing ¡°It¡¯s quite common you know¡± he then continued and stated what I was thinking as a fact. I sighed and sank into the white chair I was sitting on, both physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted. Bob: ¡°Alright, since you wish to be reincarnated¡± he once again opened his drawer and took out a small box with a hole the size of my hand and slid it across his desk towards me ¡°Put your hand in there and pull out ¡®1¡¯ piece¡± he asked me emphasizing the one piece. I pushed myself out of the chair and reached for the box, putting my hand inside. Once my hand was inside I felt countless pieces of papers and I found that my hand could keep going inside. I ended up putting my hand up to my shoulder inside of the box and moving my hand inside of it; I finally picked one piece of paper from the inside and pulled my entire hand out. Once my hand came out, I saw that I was holding onto a piece of paper that had been folded countless times. As I attempted to open the piece, Bob coughed and had his hand stretched out with his palm open, clearly asking for the folded paper. I reluctantly gave him the piece of paper and sat back down onto the chair. Bob: ¡°Alright, let us see here, and in what seemed a single second he opened the folded piece of paper and showed the number to me. I went pale once I saw the number. It was so, so, very long. Smiling, Bob tidied all of the papers and put them back in their respective folders before he opened his drawer and put the box, the folder regarding reincarnation and my folder back inside. He then turned towards me and sat in a professional manner. Bob: ¡°The world you will reincarnate in has been chosen and one last thing, since the world you will reincarnate in has a large abundance of cosmic dust on it-¡° he paused as he saw my confused look before snapping his fingers in realization ¡°It¡¯s got a lot of what you would call ¡®mana¡¯ meaning that things like magic and the like are common in this world¡± he smiled as told me this ¡°And for that reason, you will be given an block on a thing called ¡®Reading¡¯ and I don¡¯t mean the book kind. Reading is an ability in which you can read minds, a person¡¯s character, there future and past and multiple other things. People very rarely have one of these let alone all of them but we can¡¯t risk people finding out about limbo while they live and for that reason, you cannot be read, and neither can you talk about limbo, even if you are under ridiculous torture, interrogation or charm. Whenever you try to talk, write or communicate about limbo or your first life your mouth will shut down for a few seconds¡± as he finished talking he snapped his fingers. And with that a piece of paper appeared in front of me on his desk and a pen materialized in my hand. Bob: ¡°Now sign here, here and here for me please¡± he said that as he pointed at three blank spaces on the piece of paper to which my hand moved automatically. Once I finished signing, he smiled ¡°Everything appears to be in order and you will be reincarnated now, and don¡¯t forget to get karma this time, otherwise you will be erased when we meet again!¡± with that he waved his hand at me and I began to dematerialize suddenly. Panicking I began to throw my hands and legs around, yet I was now floating and disappearing slowly. Bob continuously waved at me before bringing his hand to his lips as if going ¡®oops¡¯. Bob: ¡°I forgot to tell you, but you will not remember anything till the age of twelve. Now Bye~¡± and before everything went black, the last thing I saw was Bob waving and smiling at me. Chapter 1: Complex yet Simple I was currently sitting on my wooden chair, my elbows resting upon my wooden desk with my hands cupping each other as if I was an evil villain who was about to commit a great crime. I was no evil villain though, and I am glad that I have nothing to do with any form of villainy at all. My thoughts getting distracted I once again began to focus on what was really important at the moment and that was the fact that I had finally ¡®awoken¡¯ in a sense. I was no longer just ¡®Levi¡¯, the son of a simple farmer who lived in a large farm, with eleven brothers and sisters. I was now ¡®Levi¡¯ the son of a simple farmer, who was the reincarnation of the man ¡®Dymitri Khan¡¯ whose goal was to gather karma points and not be erased from existence once he died in this world as well. I had no surname because farmers didn¡¯t have surnames, nor did they need them. I sighed as I let my hands massage my forehead. This was a really depressing situation now that I think about it. I, who was a child, had suddenly gained knowledge, immense knowledge to be precise. The name ¡®Dymitri Khan¡¯ resounded within me, the memories of this person, who I was certain is me, or was me. It¡¯s as if I suddenly fused with this person, but no matter what happened between I, and I, that wasn¡¯t the matter. The matter was that if I died once more with no Karma, I would be wiped from existence. All of my memories were mine; except the childhood of Dymitri, my past life. His childhood was gone and I knew nothing about it. I knew miscellaneous knowledge about events and the things that happened in that time frame, but I knew nothing about his family, friends or anything else important from that time. I only have memories from his 18th to 21st birthdays and they were not much at all. My own memories though, all stayed in intact, including the fact that I was the youngest child of our house and that upon my 13th birthday I was to be kicked out because there was no need to have more than one of my brothers and one of my uncles sons take over the farm. All of the others, the so called ¡®extras¡¯ were to be kicked out and if we were lucky, we would be able to get an apprenticeship with a blacksmith, carpenter or some other profession. But sadly, I had 6 older brothers aside from the one who would take over the farm as well as 4 older male cousins, again aside from the one who would take over the farm, who had taken every single profession available within the vicinity of the farm. The sad part was that even though my brothers and cousins had taken every job available, even two of my sisters had found jobs, one as a seamstress and the other as a milk maid, to allow them to take care of themselves without getting married. My remaining two sisters had been married into different farms as the main wives and now no longer had to worry about their own livelihood. But me, poor little me, was about to be homeless in less than 13 months. There was another thing about the old me, Dymitri Khans memories that had bothered me immensely. That his old world called Earth had 12 months compared to my world, whose name I did not know, had 13, but at least they both had only four seasons and each month still had four weeks. The seven days of my old world were quite bothering, as I now had to discard Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from my memory and stop confusing them with Morndas, Middas, Laddes, Nighdas, Freindas, Nendas, and Resdas, the days of this world. The sadder part about knowing all of this new information from my past was that our family was far, far behind in education. I mean that I, the youngest son had never learnt the name of the 13 months of this world seeing as how I¡¯d just settle in the village or a village close to the farm, there was never a need for me to get much education. I only know I¡¯m 12 years old because ¡®Bob¡¯ the bastard whom I held anger towards had told me, Dymitri, that before I reincarnated. The current day was Freindas, because yesterday was Nighdas, meaning that, I, Levi, was born on this day, Freindas, 12 years ago. All the knowledge that I, had accumulated equated to farm work, survival skills which I thank myself for learning as I¡¯d need it once I was kicked out, sub-par information about time and dates, basic information about this worlds currency, sub-par writing and reading skills as I was self-taught and mediocre stalking skills as I, had a crush on the mayors daughter, Jasmie Helmton, whose status was far above that of mine, a simple farmers. All in all, I knew enough to survive, but not enough to satisfy my new thought cycle¡¯s first world needs. First things first, was I would have to wait till the sun rose in three more hours and ask Father or Elder brother, whose names I did not know, because that was how everyone in the house called them, for permission to enter the attic to read the few books our household had accumulated over the two centuries we had been farmers. Hopefully before my year was up, I could learn more information. I massaged my forehead lightly as I silently pulled out my knife, the few pieces of paper I, had used to practice writing as well as my savings which had been hidden in a very crude place. That very crude place was right under my bed. I emptied the contents of my tiny purse onto my wooden desk slowly, one piece at a time. In total, I had 23 copper coins and one silver coin. Which I, had picked up after some young arrogant noble who owned these lands came to pick up concubines from the village very close to us, barely a 15 minute walk away. He had dropped his purse after picking out the two most beautiful un-married girls in town, who happily flew into his arms at the chance to become a noble¡¯s concubine. Anyways, after the young noble whose name was ¡®Young Master Henry¡¯ left, a brawl happened over his purse causing dozens of silver and gold coins, mainly silver coins, to go flying everywhere. Luckily I, had not been too greedy and had fled after picking up two silver coins. I lost the other silver because some of the larger kids from the village had demanded I give what I picked up to them, and I faked having only picked up one coin, even going as far as fake crying over losing the one coin. They lost interest in me after believing my act and left. I, Levi¡­.. I, Dymitri¡­.. Who was I exactly? Sighing I scratched my head in annoyance. I kept fluctuating internally between whether I was Dymitri and whether I was Levi. Everything Levi did, I did, so I could no longer think in third person like that. I am Levi. I am Levi. I am Levi. I am Levi. I called myself Levi for a thousand times to make sure I ingrained the fact that I was Levi into myself and I think it was effective. I was Levi Dymitri Khan. This is what I decided to call myself. Since I knew I was Levi in this life time, that would be my first name, and since I possessed no surname, I would use the name of past to fill in that gap. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I was physically 12 and mentally I was still... I don¡¯t know how old I am mentally. All of my memories of Dymitri are memories and thoughts. I¡¯ve fused with Dymitri, so even if I¡¯m 12, I guess I¡¯m 21 at the same time. This is confusing. Why couldn¡¯t I just be fully Levi or fully Dymitri? What is with this half assed bullshit? All of this soul stuff is far too confusing, so it¡¯s no wonder that mortal races couldn¡¯t really comprehend it. If I had to refer to my actions before I woke up in this world I would call it before I had ¡®awoken¡¯. Now that I had figured who I was I returned towards the money and the few sheets of paper. I had a total of 123 coppers which would last an average household of three people a year if used effectively. For my current household it would last maybe 2 months if we were lucky. There were far too many people here and none of us were close or willing enough to give up our savings for the good of the household. Aside from my Elder Brother and Elder Cousin, who used everything they had to further the household. Them aside, all of us that had to leave or had already left had never given a single copper to the house but in return we were worked to the bone till we left at the age of 13. Scratching my head, I put my money back into my purse and got up, moving towards my bed so that this time I hid it more effectively by using my knife to slice my mattresses corner slightly and hid my purse inside of it. Making sure that it was unnoticeable; I nodded self contently and sat back down at my desk. Turning toward the few sheets of paper, I felt pain in my heart. This writing was worse than that of kindergartners. It was plain horrible. How could I have such terrible hand writing? Nonetheless, I suppressed my anger at myself and began to practice the alphabet of this world, which was quite simple. It resembled that of the English Alphabet from my old world, but from what I had learned from dad was that it was a language called ¡®common¡¯ and was used in every country in the known world. That aside, every country also had their own unique language which was much, much harder to learn, so I could forget about trying to learn the language of my current homeland, the Avalon Empires tongue. But I was satisfied once I had practised common enough until I was proficient at it, which took me several hours as I could now see the sun slowly begin rising. I¡¯m so glad the most common tongue in this world was called ¡®common¡¯, incredibly simple and resembled the English of my old world quite a lot. I¡¯m ashamed I struggled so badly before I had ¡®awoken¡¯. Putting aside the sheets of paper which I had stolen from the attic the last time I had headed up there, I slowly got up from my seat and stretched my body, getting used to feel of moving around now that I had mentally sorted myself out. I picked up the sheets of paper and hid them in the same place as my purse and once I was certain it was not visible I relaxed and decided to head outside. Since today was my birthday I was exempt from working, which was a good thing for me since I wanted to go for a walk and get a feel for the world outside as my foggy little window did very little justice for what the world looked like outside and my memories were just that, memories. Slowly tip toing outside of my room; I walked down the corridors of our large farm house till I reached the back door. Looking around carefully, I made sure no one was around before I nodded to myself, satisfied and opened the door; once again I began to peek but this time I peeked outside to see if anyone had woken up and left the house before me. Once I confirmed that no one was outside, I quickly went out and closed the door. I breathed in a whiff of fresh air and began to walk in the fields in a relaxed manner. I wasn¡¯t really scared of running into someone, I was more scared of waking someone up since if I had to convert what time it was to Earth standards, it would be 5am and no one wanted to get up before 6am. That aside, I began to run through the fields, did a couple of rolls and attempted to do a few back flips before I came to the conclusion that I was¡­. Not special in any means whatsoever. My physical ability was above that of the people in my old world, Earth by about 10-15% simply because of the hard upbringing I had, requiring heavy labour, which would of course make my body stronger than average. But compared to someone who studied martial arts from their childhood, I was nothing special. I had no extra powers, or any forms of enhanced ability. I was normal. But this time, I would not die of being normal. I would live and earn karma points so that I could enjoy existence itself. Nonetheless, running around for 10 or so minutes sure does drain your stamina. Lying on the ground panting in exhaustion, I slowly waited for my stamina to get back up so that I could return home and rest before I gained permission to head up into the attic. Lying down for a few minutes, I heard a sound and turned around to see my brother, Matt, the only other brother whom aside from Eldest Brother still lived in the house. But he would leave in 2 months, as he was only 10 months older than me. His slightly long blonde hair swayed as the wind slowly hit us in a gentle manner. He had no shirt on and his body which was not exactly chiselled, but still something that a lot of people would be jealous of. His face itself was not immensely beautiful, nor ridiculously manly, but it had just the perfect balance. He would be able to woo any of the village girls he wanted. He was something like the village prince, if there was ever such a thing. When I compared myself to him, whom I did subconsciously, I had a body similar to his, but maybe a bit less toned, I was only a tiny bit shorter than him, and compared with his looks, I was far more average. Looking at him I could see he was walking towards me at a leisurely pace, a smile on his face. Matt: ¡°Happeh 12th nameday Levi¡± he said so as he extended his hand towards me ¡°Enjoyin¡¯ bein¡¯ a man are we?¡± he chuckled as I grabbed his hand and he lifted me up. Levi: ¡°I guess¡± I answered him as I thought about the fact that in this world, before 6 you were a baby, after 6 a child, after 12 a man and after 18 an adult. The difference between man and adult was that adult was just a more respected version of man. Aside from that, nothing ¡°What are you doing up so early anyways?¡± I asked him as I glanced towards the house, but I could see activity in the house meaning he was not the only one up. Matt: ¡°Earleh? It¡¯s already a bit past sun-up Levi, if anythin¡¯, we woke up late¡± he said so as he glanced up at the sun ¡°Anyways, come on back inside wit¡¯ me, ma already woke up an¡¯ we gonna have a hearteh brekky¡± and with that he took my hand in his and led me towards the house. Chapter 2: Your a man , Levi I woke up, my eyes a tad bit groggy and my body a little sore, but that didn¡¯t really bother me. I was more nervous since today was my 13th nameday. Today was the day that I had to leave the household. In this past year I had accumulated a total wealth of 1 silver and 221 copper, a small knife and a tiny fire rock. This was not enough at all, but it would have to do. Today I would have ma and aunt¡¯s breakfast for the last time, I¡¯d be given a handshake by my stern father and uncle as well as a good pat on the back by my Elder Brother and Elder Cousin and then I¡¯d be sent off. I got up as the smell of bacon and eggs slowly drifted into my room and I buried my head in my hands. I was really nervous. Pushing myself off of the bed, I took off my cotton night clothes and put on my nice hard leather pants which would provide some decent protection, I then put on my cotton shirt which may not offer much protection at all but at least it would keep me warm at night. I then equipped my final set of clothing, my leather gloves which I had bought for 5 copper each, meaning 10 copper in total. Standing tall, I stretched and yawned, signifying that I had now properly woken up. I opened my little treasury and removed my money, knife and my tiny fire rock and moved towards my desk where a nice, thick cotton sack sat. I had bought the sack for a good 4 coppers, which was enough to buy a meal for 4 days at any inn. That aside, I opened the sack and threw my money pouch inside of it, I then put the fire rock which I had bought for 10 copper inside of it. The fire rock was a more simple to use flint, as I simply had to put it near what I needed to set on fire and then rub my knife on it a few times to cause it to spark. It was something I was going to need once I went out to live in the world by myself. I then placed my knife inside of the sack and tightened its entry before gripping it hard and leaving my room. I made my way down the corridor towards the kitchen, where I knew the rest of my family would be waiting for me. I sighed and made my way into the kitchen where our rectangular dining table sat. Dad and Uncle were sitting at the head of the table, with ma and aunt sitting on the side¡¯s right next to them, while Elder brother and Elder cousin sitting where sitting next to ma and Aunt. Dad looked stern, even more so today, his dark black hair, coupled with his large posture made him an intimidating site, and Uncle looked just like him, but with brown hair instead. They both looked like they were mafia or something similar to that. Elder brother and Elder cousin looked just like each other as well, tall, strapping young men, one with black hair and the other brown. They would most likely look like Dad and Uncle in a few years. Ma and Aunt looked pretty, but I felt affection for them and not love so I can¡¯t properly rate their beauty, but still, they are quite pretty. All of them turned to look at me as I entered the room completely silent before ma, who with her long flowing golden hair got up and walked next to me. She gave me a deep hug and then kissed my cheeks. Although she is what any man would called attractive, because to me she was a mother, I didn¡¯t have any of those emotions for her, even being how old I was. That aside, ma guided me to my seat, which was right next to older brother and then sat next to me, coddling me in her arms. She seemed reluctant to let go, but she eventually did and made her way back to her seat. I sat there, somewhat awkwardly, as everyone ate their meal in complete silence. I guess the fact that I was finally leaving made it awkward for everyone, or maybe it was the fact that I had no certified future like the rest of my household. After I finished eating my bacon and eggs, I waited in silence till everyone else finished. After Dad had finished, he got up, followed by Uncle, Elder brother and Elder cousin, and they all began walking outside towards the front porch. Dad signalled for me to follow so I did so, getting up and following him, leaving ma and aunt to clean the table. As I made it outside onto the front porch, I saw a plethora of items spread onto the couch. This was the couch that I used to sit on at night with ma as we talked about random things. I sighed as I stared at the items on it. A rough leather jerkin, surprisingly a belt which was also made of leather, a nice, firm looking leather coat, a short brittle iron sword, a piece of paper and a week¡¯s supply of beef jerky, 3 loaves of hard bread with a decently sized water flask. I looked at my family members who stared at me, a smile on all of their faces. Dad: ¡°Son¡± he began to speak with his stern voice causing everyone to look at him ¡°Since neither I, nor ya uncle could getcha a job¡± he said with what I think was sorrow in his voice ¡°we prepared some gifts for ya¡± and with that he gestured to the items on the couch. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Elder Brother: ¡°Da clothin¡¯ was made by ma and aunt¡± he said gesturing towards them before he walked over to me and patted me on the back. ¡°Da food from ma and da water skin from aunt, da sword be from dad, da belts from uncle, da maps from cousin¡± as he said that I stared at the piece of folded paper ¡°and this be from me¡± and with that he placed a small pouch which jingled into my hands. Then he nodded at dad and they all went back inside one at a time as they shook hands with me and patted me on the back, telling me ¡®good luck¡¯ and ¡®take care¡¯ as they went back inside. I stood where I was, somewhat stupefied as I had not expected all of this. It was a simple, fast process, and I¡¯m not even sure whether they did it out of love or fairness. It¡¯s not like it mattered much anyways, I was glad nonetheless. The pouch of what I knew was money was quickly counted and then added as a total onto my wealth, increasing it from 1 silver and 221 coppers to 1 silver and 251 coppers. I then stared at the items on the couch before I begun to don them all. I put the rough leather jerkin on first, followed by the belt. They all looked quite nice, a nice white colour. The coat was a deep black though, not like it mattered much, but it was still quite nice. I equipped it and realized that this would help me immensely in my life as it would keep me ridiculously warm seeing as how it covered my entire body completely and even came with a hood. The only downside was that it might make me look eerie, but it was something that I needed and I don¡¯t care what other people think. Smiling, I then holstered the short iron sword to my belt, put the jerk and bread into my sack and the placed the water flask into sack. With that everything was sorted leaving me decked out. Thanks to this, I wouldn¡¯t have to visit any of the villages in the surrounding for a good while. With that I picked up the map that cousin had gotten me and opened it up, only to realize that it was quite a good gift. It was a map of the Branwich region. Smiling I folded it and put it back into my sack before continuing admiring myself for a moment. All of this was what I had received from my family today, on my 13th nameday. It was much more than what any of my other siblings or cousins had received, as they had been thrown out with their clothes on their backs seeing as how they already had a profession awaiting them and they didn¡¯t need any more help. Dad and Uncle had already used up all of their favours and connections to guarantee jobs for the others and I received all of this, so I guess Dad and Uncle really did care for his kids. Well whether they cared or not, as least they took care of us till the end. I sighed and slowly made my way down the front porch¡¯s stairs and begun walking away from the farm house I had spent 13 years growing up in. As I had walked a few metres away from the house, I glanced back at the front door and saw that it was still closed. I had already been given my farewell. Well I should at least be grateful for the fact that I was given so much to take care of myself. I dropped my sack down to the ground and took the rough cotton coat off and wrapped it around my waist, before I positioned the sack back over my shoulders and continued walking. It was at least 28 degrees with how the sun blasted heat waves upon me, but I could nothing but walk on. I had already left the farm grounds and had hit the dirt road which headed in two directions, one towards the Helmton villages and the other toward the forest of Ispen as well as the city of Ispen. It was no short road, as from the map that cousin had given me; it was at least 400 miles away with their only being one village 200 miles between me and Branwich. I massaged my forehead slightly and begun to make my way up the road, north towards first Ispen Village and the Ispen City. This was going to be one tough journey seeing as I was just a simple farm boy. It would take me months to reach it but at least there I could find a job for myself so that I could gain a living. I glanced back one final time and sighed before I waved at my old farmstead and then saluted. This was a good bye as I doubt I¡¯d ever return here. Or maybe I would as I did like Matt quite a lot. Well there was no rush, maybe someday I¡¯d come back and maybe I wouldn¡¯t. Starting onto the road I didn¡¯t look back again. Chapter 3: The First of Flukes I¡¯ve been walking for four days now. Not the entire four days, as I¡¯ve rested for about 8-12 hours each day. I¡¯ve tried to eat cost-effectively leaving me with five days¡¯ worth of rations since I¡¯ve been splitting the rations for 1 pack per 2 days. I¡¯ve also eaten 3/4 of one of the hard loaves. It wasn¡¯t tasty, but it sure as hell was fulfilling. That aside, I looked up at the sun and estimated the time to be maybe, 3-4pm, so it was still quite early. I¡¯d walk for maybe another 6 to 8 hours and then I¡¯d rest under some nice tree. Since we were still in summer, even the nights were quite warm. I¡¯ll reach Ispen Village in another 3-4 days since aside from sleeping I¡¯ve been pretty much either walking or eating. So I¡¯ve covered quite a lot of ground. I¡¯m really thankful for the thick, black coat ma and aunt made for me. It keeps me really warm at night so it¡¯s one of my most prized possessions. As I sighed, I continued walking upon the dreary dirt road. - I¡¯ve been walking for 9 days now. Nine days since I left my old home. Nine days of nothing but walking, eating and sleeping. I¡¯ve eaten 4 rations of my beef jerky and 1 ? loaves of hard bread. I hope I reach Ispen Village soon as if I don¡¯t; I¡¯m going to run out of food soon. I have maybe 3-4 worth of food left. Scratching the tiny bit of stubble I had started to grow, I stopped and swung my sack down, and crouched down next to it, opening and retrieving the map my cousin gave me. Once the map was fully open, I moved my finger around till it landed on Ispen City, then I moved down and through Ispen forest till I reached Ispen Village, moving further down, I reached Helm Village, then I reach Ton Village and Helmton Village. Moving my finger further up, I stopped on Helm Village, the closest village to my old home, and then I roughly pinpointed where I got onto the road. Then I moved my hand up and tried to calculate where I was on the map and how far I had left till I reached the village of Ispen. After roughly 30 minutes of debating with myself, I reached the conclusion that I should be roughly 2-3 hours away from my destinations. Looking upwards I realized that it was about 1-2pm, so I needed to hurry so I can book myself a room in the inn otherwise it would be another night out in the open. Sighing I folded the map and put it back in and then removed half a ration of beef jerky, the remaining 1/4 of the loaf of hard bread I had left, and the water flask which was running out as well. But I wasn¡¯t really worried about water seeing as how there was a river right next to Ispen and I could refill it there. Getting up, I dusted my coat off and continued walking, as today was a tad bit chilly and I wanted a warm roof over my head soon. - Biting down on the last of beef jerky for today, I chewed it thoroughly before swallowing it down with the last of my water, so I put my sack in front of me and deposited my water flask inside of it. I had walked about 2 hours and I could already see a wider road compared to my last few days, and it looked better as well, meaning that I had reached the vicinity of the village and another few minutes of walking would get me there. Doubling my pace of walking, I soon began to hear people talking, kids laughing and running around and animals making their respective sounds. After another minute of walking I finally reached the entrance to Ispen Village. As I walked to the entrance, I saw the man who was supposed to be guarding the village asleep on his chair, his head resting against his spear, a drowsy expression upon his face. He had a name tag, which was surprising since I knew most villagers couldn¡¯t read, but it made my life easier so I didn¡¯t mind. The guards name was Jacob, a common male name around these parts. He was tall, maybe slightly taller than me, who was a good 1¡¯70¡±, so I sort of felt pity that this was his maximum height, but he did look fit and trained. He had curly shoulder length brown her and an average looking mug, so aside from his occupation, he was quite average around parts like this. Smiling, I stopped and removed my coat before wrapping it around my waist before I continued to him. Once I had neared him, I stayed in front of him for a second but he didn¡¯t wake up. As I contemplated waking him up or waiting, I heard a women¡¯s laughter ring loudly which both startled me and woke him up. He looked around in a dazed manner, before looking backwards to where the laughter resonated from. I followed his eyes and looked upon a busty brunette lady who was wearing somewhat nicer clothes than most of the other villagers I had seen to date, meaning she was probably one of the wealthier villagers. She had some light makeup on, further improving her already natural beauty. She was a nice feast for my young eyes. She was smiling as she walked towards us before she fake glared at the guard who immediately got up and begun dusting himself off. Jacob: ¡°Ma¡¯am Hana!¡± he half yelled out before saluting and turning around to me ¡°My name is Jacob, guard of the Village of Ispen, please state your name, job, age, home and reason for visiting, thank you!¡± he once again half yelled at me as he held his spear. I guess he could be professional if he wanted to. As I chuckled I saw the women called Hana was also chuckling but I ignored her and continued to answer Jacob¡¯s questions. Levi: ¡°Pleasure to meet you Jacob, my names Levi, I have no job, I¡¯m a few days past my 13th nameday, homeless as of now and passing by to Ispen City¡± as I introduced my very common identity he nodded to himself and sat back down onto his chair before he rested his head against his spear once more. Jacob: ¡°Go right on through, Ma¡¯am runs the Inn ¡®The Ladies House¡¯, so she¡¯ll take care of you since you were lucky enough to come when she came here¡± and with that he dozed off. Jacob was such a carefree guard, but it¡¯s not surprising since we were in the Central North part of the Empire, otherwise known as the safest territory. I nodded to him even though he was no longer with me and then turned towards Hana before bowing slightly. Levi: ¡°Pleasure to meet you Ma¡¯am, in case you didn¡¯t hear me, my name is Levi, no job, barely 13, and a homeless vagabond¡± as I was bowing when I said this, she chuckled, causing me to end my bow and look up at her. She had already walked right in front of me a smile across her pretty face. Hana: ¡°The pleasures mine darlin¡¯, come on, less get you settled right in for however long you stay!¡± as she said this, she moved to grab my arm and once she did she looked me in my eyes ¡°It¡¯s 1 copper a day and 2 coppers for a meal a day with your room, do you have the money?¡± she asked me in a natural manner, but I knew if I answered no, her friendly attitude would shrivel right up, so I nodded to which she beamed ¡°How many days will you be staying?¡± she asked me inquisitively as she dragged me along with her now that she had confirmed I had money. Levi: ¡°Not sure yet Ma¡¯am¡± I told her, since I really didn¡¯t know how long I was going to stay ¡°Probably a few days since I need to stock up and learn more about the City before I head there¡± she nodded to my uncertain words, the smile on her lips never breaking. Hana: ¡°Well don¡¯t worry your lil¡¯ self aight¡± she said so as she linked arms with me ¡°The people of this place are decent folk, so we¡¯ll help you before you head off!¡± and with that we walked up to her Inn, passing by the rest of the village. The houses were your common wood houses since they were surrounded by a forest, the village was properly better than other village since they always had access to a large amount of timber. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The nice wooden houses aside, it looked like the village was doing quite well as I could see multiple occupations, such as Blacksmith, Tailor and Hunters in the village so far. This was quite advantageous as other villages would only have 1, or maybe 2 occupations and they¡¯d have to travel to other villages to get what the other professions offer. And these 3 professions were only what I could see so far, meaning that there was probably other occupations here as well. This village was doing very well. As I pondered upon Ispen villages prosperity, I was brought back to reality by Hana who had pushed open the door to a building, most likely her inn and entered inside, pulling me with her. Once we were inside, a lot of heads turned our way, most of the people inside here being men, meant that a lot of glares were sent my way as well as many grumbles which sounded quite similar to ¡®Who¡¯s this brat with my Hana¡¯. But ironically, I don¡¯t think she could be the ''Hana'' of this many men but I kept my mouth shut as I didn¡¯t want to beaten to death and robbed blind. So I let Hana guide me to the counter. She left me in front of it, before she herself went around it and appeared on the other side. Her blouse which covered her bust beforehand had become one button loose, letting her buns appear much more visible. She most definitely noticed my stare, yet the fact that she kept silent meant that she did it on purpose. Hana: ¡°So how many days¡¯ will ya be spending darlin¡¯¡± she whispered as she leaned over counter, more of her bosom becoming visible. I turned around to see many other men were also leaning around each other to get a better view. ¡°Shall I put you up for a week?¡± she asked with her honey minted voice to which I turned around and smiled, nodding. ¡°Will that be with a ¡®meal¡¯¡± she asked, emphasizing the meal with a wink ¡°or without?¡± I managed to say ¡®with¡¯, while a lot of the other guys in the inn began to joke around saying ¡®I¡¯d like to give her my meal¡¯ and the like. She continued to smile ¡°Well then honey¡± she almost purred the words out ¡°That¡¯ll be 14 copper¡±. While I nodded, I reached into my sack and brought out the purse that my brother gave me and begun to place the coppers on the counter one by one, until I reached 14, then I stopped, thought for a moment and then placed 15 while smiling in what I knew was a very ¡®un-smooth¡¯ way. From behind me I heard some of the men mutter ¡®Just a poor little boy¡¯ in an angry way, meaning that I had just discouraged some would be robbers. How lucky. She chuckled and slid the money from the counter and placed them in a pouch which she then carried away to a room behind the counter. She returned a few moments later and gave me a key. Hana: ¡°Your room is number 14 honey¡± as she said that, she leaned over and placed a kiss on my cheek ¡°Dinners in an hour, don¡¯t be late¡± and she left to the back room as I stood there in a slightly dumb founded manner. I was beyond excited simply because I was a man going through what I knew was puberty and a pretty girl like Hana kissing made my mind quite excited. As I took my key and decided to head to my room, when I turned around I saw a large, heavy set man standing right in front of me, a look of anger in his face. He was bold and wore no shirt, showing his body which resembled that of a Greek God¡¯s off. His arms looked like someone had glued trees to a human torso. This giant stood at over two metres, or at least I thought so at least. Before either I or he could say anything, a man from the back yelled ¡°Leave the lad alone Jono, she ain¡¯t your women, she can kiss who she wants¡± and with that the inn burst into laughter. Jono, the man standing in front of me had his face go red like a tomato before he turned around and begun yelling. Jono: ¡°Shut yer trap Miki, an¡¯ da rest ta yah as well befo I come back dere, and beat all o¡¯ ya¡± he roared in anger which in turn made the rest of the men laugh harder. Turning back around, the man Jono looked at me with even more anger than a few moments ago. I cursed the man named Miki internally as I readied myself to my fate. There was no way I could beat this man named Jono, no way, whatsoever. Jono: ¡°Lad, fo¡¯ da crime o¡¯ touchin¡¯ mah women, I¡¯ma beat some respec¡¯ into yah, aight¡± and with that, he moved one step closer to me, and then another step. The whole inn quieted down as he kept walking, his steps the only sound resounding throughout the inn. With each step he took, the more and more my heart sank into realization that I was about to get a harsh beating by this man in front of me. Solemnly accepting my fate, I awaited him. I stared up at him and watched him near me, a look of glee come upon his face. As he stopped a mere foot away from me he opened his mouth. Jono: ¡°An¡¯ last words lad?¡± he asked out loud in an attempt at what I knew was to humiliate me, but I simply looked at him. Levi: ¡°Make it quick¡± I said out loud, in a somewhat arrogant tone. I berated myself in anger on the inside as I knew that I had just fanned the flame and I was now going to receive a fiercer beating than before. A short round of laughter went around after my words while the man himself, Jono, looked furious. His fist moved surprisingly fast for a man so large that I instinctively attempted to move back, but since my body didn¡¯t respond how I wanted it to, my knees simply buckled under the pressure and I ducked, making his attack miss. He howled in anger at me dodging that he moved back a step so that he could bring his fist down upon me, yet I tried to get back up so that I could dodge, instead of dodging once I had gotten up, I miscalculated how much strength I needed to put into my legs to get up so I ended up planting my forehead into his gut, pushing him back a few steps. He doubled over in pain, his hands caressing his stomach, while I fell back down, my forehead aching from the pain it received from impacting upon him, yet more than that I wanted to apologize so that he could hopefully give me a lighter beating. I pushed myself up quickly so that I could hurry up and apologize to him face to face, yet instead; the back of my head which moved up too fast hit something with a lot of force. I felt immense pain in the back of my head, my ears were ringing, my eyes aching, so I grabbed my head with my hands and stood still for a few seconds. After my body stabilized and the immense pain at the back of my head went away, I looked upwards so that I could see what I had hit with so much force. I stood their shocked at what I saw. I saw the man, Jono, sprawled across the ground unconscious, while the rest of the inn looked flabbergasted. I looked around the bar and everyone had a shocked expression upon their faces, as if everyone had seen a ghost. In my panic I stupidly opened my mouth. Levi: ¡°Everyone okay?¡± I asked, my voice came out sterner than I thought it would and everyone in the inn quickly nodded their heads, everyone saying something similar to ¡®never felt better¡¯, or ¡®I feel incredible¡¯ so I quickly nodded as a wave of relief came through me when I thought that nobody was going to come and take care of me for Jono. When I was finally certain that I wasn¡¯t going to get attacked randomly I looked back at Jono and pointed at him ¡°Someone take care of him¡± and with that the man who I thought was Miki came over and picked Jono up, dragging him outside the inn while apologizing to me. I looked around the inn once more, taking in the bewildered looks thrown my way, before quickly heading for the stairs and making my way up to my room before anyone else could make a problem for me.