What is the purpose of living in this world? This unfair world where you must meet certain, exact standards and follow the path set for you in life.
What is the purpose of living in this world? The things you go through in everyday life, do you do it to survive? To keep up appearances?
What is the purpose of living in the world? Humanity is a selfish and greedy race. They are gray, unimportant, cruel.
The answer: There is no purpose.
A small, wistful smile appeared on Aerin Landen's lips as her green eyes flicked over the small words. Scanning them over and over again against her will, seeming to imprint them on her brain.
_Did you ever think you were born in the wrong world?_
She had received an email a couple minutes ago, the sender had no address or number-not even a name. It was curious.
Her hand hovered briefly over the mouse as she analyzing and reanalyzing every word, every scenario before moving her arrow over the bright blue link below the sentence.
click
A new screen popped up and she blinked in slight disappointment at seeing a digital chessboard. And here she thought there was an adventure waiting to happen. Hah.
Deciding to go along with whatever scheme her mysterious mailer came up with, she clicked on a knight and made the first move.
It took exactly fourth one minutes and fifty seven seconds for the game to end.
You win!
Sweating from the effects of concentrating so long, Aerin groaned in relief at the words on the screen and leaned back, hoping to soothe her aching shoulders. She had won by a hair. It was practically a tie.
A soft chime alerted her to new mail, and she returned to her usual slouch before clicking open the icon. At the words written on the page, she hummed thoughtfully.
_You're pretty good. The world must be a boring place for you to live in.
What if there was a world decided by simple games? A world where the rules and goals were clear.
Hitting the 'reply' button, she typed her response.
_It sounds like a strange place. But if it did exist, then yes. I was born in the wrong world._
Not a second after she hit the send button, her monitor went static. Staring at the fizzing black and white lines in confusion, she picked up her phone, only to see that the screen was blank.
A young boyish voice rang out from around her, making her start in surprise. "I think so too!"
Pale hands slowly emerged from her screen, a sort of crystal levitating in it's palms.
Wide-eyed, she slammed open and started digging into her drawer, uncovering the weapon hidden beneath mounds of paperwork. She had always had one near, as her business in the underground had some negatives.
Holding the gun up with unsteady hands, she flicked off the safety and aimed it.
"That's why I'll let you be reborn. Into the world you should of been born in!"
There was a sudden rush of air and a bright, blinding light that cause her to instinctively close her eyes. The next thing she knew, she was falling through air.
"Welcome to my world!"
Aerin forced opened her eyes, and her breath escaped her.
The planet beneath her was so colorful, so lovely. The placement of everything from planet to landmark was an artist's dream.
There was no large buildings she could see, no dark cloud of pollution or floating lands of garbage. Even the atmosphere burst with different hues.
But her awe was taken away in a split second as she realized she was plummeting with no parachute of any kind. Fear compressed rightly in her chest before escaping from her throat in a strangled scream. It was at that moment she decided that the feeling of free falling was probably the worst thing she'd ever experienced.
"This is the world you belong in. The world on a game board: Disboard!" Her eyes started to water from the biting air as they slid over to glare at the boy falling on her right. Although unlike her, he seemed to be enjoying himself. "Everything in this world is decided by simple games."
They dropped through a couple clouds, white vapor curling around her form and chilling her to the bone. "People's lives...even national borders!"
"W-Who are you?" She managed to squeak out through the pressure of the air, "What's happening?"
He-was this person a boy or a girl? She could't tell-closed his eyes and smiled. "I'm Tet, the One True God!"
"A G-God?"
"Yes!"
"I won't die from falling right?!"
"Yup!"
She exhaled in relief as her terror ebbed away a little.
"In this world, everything is decided by ten pledges." The god held up all his fingers and started to list them.
"One: All murder, war, and robbery is forbidden."
Slightly recovering from her strange predicament, her mind started to whir again, and she tilted her head. "That's something people have been trying to accomplish for centuries. How do you achieve it? Enforce it?"
"With magic!"
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Magic...?"
Tet seemed to ignore her questioning tone and continued. "Two! All conflict in this world will be resolved through games."
"Three: In games each player will bet something that they agree is of equal value."
"What if they don't agree? Do they play a game to decide if they agree or not?"
"That depends on the players!"
He held up another finger. "Four: As long as it doesn't go against rule three, what they bet and the rules of the game will not be questioned."
Realizing the likely chance of her forgetting the rules due to her fairly bad memory, Aerin palmed her pockets before asking "Do you have any paper or anything for me to write this down?"
The god snapped his fingers and a notepad and a pencil appeared in her hands. As quickly as she could, she tried to write down the rules he already went through. "Five: The challenged party has the right to decide the rules of the game!"
"Six: Any bets made in accordance with the pledges must be upheld!"
"Seven: Conflicts between groups will be conducted by designated representatives with absolute authority."
She nodded as she wrote it all down.
"Eight: Being caught cheating during a game is grounds for an instant loss."
"Nine: In the name of God, the previous rules may never be changed."
She looked up from her notepad, "You know, those are pretty good rules."
He grinned. "Thank you!"
Her eyes wandered below her, noticing how close the ground was. The fear returned with full force despite Tet's words, and she squeezed her eyes shut. A few seconds later, she felt a sudden heavy pressure at her back and clouds of dust blew up around her. Landing safely, she slowly blinked and saw that she was on land.
Tet grinned, hands clasped behind his back as he finished his list. "And ten: Let's all have fun and play together!"
When she finished writing down the rules, she looked up to see that the god was gone. Turning her head from side to side, she frowned when she noticed he was no where to be found.
Closing and pocketing her notes, she stood up.
Her mouth fell open as she set eyes on the landscape and she absentmindedly climbed out of the crater she was in. Her hand instantly found her phone and she pulled up the camera before remembering that she would be able to look at the scenery any time she wanted.
Realizing that there were other things to worry about, she started searching. After a while, she found her other phone, iPad, laptop, a solar charger, two pairs of headphones, cables, and the gun-which was more than she expected.
Doing a final scan to see if there was anything she missed, she started on her way. While walking, she transferred her notes to both her phones.
For most of the day, she walked across the colorful rocky terrain, not knowing where to go. Her electronics had wifi via her self supporting internet system, but it was weak and the map didn't include...wherever she was. Disboard, was it?
The first set of thieves she encountered was twenty minutes into her journey.
It was an easy win, the game simply being rock paper scissors. A few minutes later, with set of extra clothes, a couple small bags of money, information, and a cloak, she started on her way again.
Instead of going in the direction of 'Imanity', as the robbers called it, she decided to go in the opposite direction. For the past few years of her life, she'd had enough of humanity to last a lifetime.
The thieves had spoken of a Eastern Union to the northwest and a Elven Gard to the northeast. The Eastern Union was supposedly made of half-animal half-human creatures with mysterious skills and a sixth sense. The Elven Gard on the other hand was the home of the elves, who liked to keep other races as slaves.
A smirk graced her lips.
Oh yes, this was gonna be fun.
Disclaimer: I don't own No Game No Life
This story is un-betaed, so please tell me if anything's wrong.
And I'm sorry about the beginning, I know it was a lot like the start of Sora and Shiro's adventures, but I didn't know any other way for Aerin to drop into Disboard. Actually, I do-but I already wrote all this so erk.
For those that are wondering, this takes place a few months before Sora and Shiro appear, so look forward to that!