Hello! This is another SI story, that had been on my mind, since I saw the Mortal Combat trailer.Eventually, before the Cannon Otsutsuki shenanigans come into picture, MC will be a Scorpion style fighter with Chains, Kunai, and tricks.Without further ado, here you go!
Ch. 1: New Beginnings
After what felt like an eternity, the man woke up with a resting quiet. The silence was not only from the lack of caucus of his neighbours shimmering about in their busy day, nor the lack of cacophony of the busy metropolitan streets which has always become a white background noise to the man's awakening every morning, something which he had gotten so used to, by now, that the silence was almost unnerving.
He realised he was not in his bed, or his house for that matter, because he hated the dull beige or white walls which reminded him, either of a hospital ward or a mortuary, neither being places of comfort nor welcoming.
But the bed where he slept on was even disturbingly uncomfortable, as it apparently was even worse than his own, and that made him look to the sides and realise the other beds are just as small and similar to his, with an obvious difference.
All of them had a child sleeping on them, and that brought another disturbing deduction to the man's forethought. He was just as tiny as the other children sleeping beside him, and his own hands were disturbingly small and fragile.
The man was used to being tall, amongst his family. His father was taller than his mother, and despite having shorter cousins, he was blessed with good genes, which allowed him to grow to a little over six feet.
He exercised frequently, and his body was never allowed to let go, be it in his physique or health, and maintaining a healthy diet with a few cheat days strung in between, he was in pretty good shape.
So, seeing his fragile body, and feeling how small and vulnerable he had become, made him skip a heart beat, as his lungs expelled all air out, leaving him wheezing and coughing.
He realised his hands shivered and his brows were drenched in sweat, as he stood, somewhat unbalanced as he was unused to his apparently new body. He took a few steps, when he heard a creaking sound, and his heart began to thump in his chest.
He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, his eyes focused like a cornered mouse, and he was available to finally relax, when he realised it was the floorboard which was the culprit for the sound.
He came to the window, which was a wooden pane, and shut down with wooden doors, like he would expect in an undeveloped country or somewhere so far away from modern amenities, that window panes were nailed shut with rusted nails.
He carefully opened the window and felt a gentle breeze blow in, along with a leaf from the nearby tree, which had bent towards the building where he was currently. He looked out, and saw that he must be either on the second or third floor, judging by the height.
Outside the compound, he could see the town where he was, looked like something rural, since there was no high rises like he expected. There was nobody on the street, despite it being almost the crack of dawn, and his sweat was cooled off, from the cold breeze which blew across his face.
He smelt the gentle fragrance of the woods, like one would expected from the town's close to the forests, or in places, where the concrete has not yet invaded nature's land and bounty.
He stood silently enjoying the fresh smell of grass, dew and forest abound, that he forgot his current circumstance and the peculiar situation he had found himself in.
He was by no means an idiot, and was "well-cultured" to realise he was neither high nor hallucinating. He had never imbibed in his life, nor intoxicated on the drugs or other agents of addiction and self-harm. But he enjoyed his slice of anime and cartoons, along with the recreational movies and TV shows, when he got time for them, mostly during weekends.
This meant, he was well aware of the generic isekai tropes and Metempsychosis scenarios, and given he was never diagnosed with hallucinations or delusions, he was willing to reluctantly allow the possibility of this being his "new adventure".
He was never a genius, but he was observant and rational. He had a good head in his shoulders and instincts were quite tempered by his life and experiences. He didn't know if this was any of the generic worlds he knew of, an AU, or something in similar veins.
So the first thing he did was spoke, "Menu", "Status", "System", "Gamer", "ROB", "Jumpchan", and similar words, both mumbling them softly to avoid waking up the others, and to get more time to test a few things more.
He could feel that he was slowly calming down, while his mind was occupied with stray thoughts, instead of thinking of how he found himself here in the first place. When the words had no impact and no screen of information, or Person of Omnipotence appeared before him, he tried a few skills he could have gotten, like "Inventory", hammerspace, mind map, or even something like magic.
When nothing like that worked, he decided to be patient, and went back to his bed, and sat down to meditate. He found it very easy to close his eyes, and vacate his mind of all the imploding thoughts that occupied his brain. He could feel it was easy to simply sit still, and concentrate on his breathing, which was slowly reaching its normal pace.
He felt his mind growing lighter and felt he was less burdened than before, from the tension and panic that had invaded his senses till now, and now that he was thinking somewhat clearly, he stretched and pulled on his pyjama bottom, to verify an important thing: whether he was genderbent.
If he was, which he is sure now that he is not, he would have readily killed himself to protest the cruelty of whoever sent him here as a child. But he was at least grateful to not have to lose his identity, his manhood, and be denied the right of a isekai protagonist to bone the hotties who he would find here.
With that done and verified, he chuckled at the thought of collecting a harem, and focused on trying to coax some magic or something from his body. He tried for something like magical energy to flow across his mind, his "dantian", or his heart. He felt something along that vein, distinct and clearly felt, as he was sure, he should not be able to feel anything like that.
From the pitiful sliver he felt in the beginning, he was able to feel a lot more now, which was circulating across his body like blood. He woke up from his astonishment, as he saw the matron of the place, which he was now sure was an orphanage, came to wake the children from their slumber.
He saw she was not wearing the distinctive western style frock or nun's robes, nor was she dressed in purely Asian Kimono or something. She was wearing a distinctive garb, which was unremarkable in every way, and yet led to a few clues as to where he find himself today.
The belt around the waist was like an obi, and the nun's cap was replaced by a headgear which kept her hair in place.
She was not wearing a cross, nor were the other ladies who came with her, which meant this may not be Christian orphanage or anywhere in Europe, like he should have been. Nor was this orphanage in a devout religious region, if the orphans of the state were not raised by the religious servants of their patron deity.
What was also not lost on him, was the fact that, be was able to understand the matron, and the ladies all the while, recognising that they were speaking a foreign, but definitely Asian tongue.
Despite his love for Anime and Asian cartoons, he could not bear to watch the Subbed episodes, despite them being released far sooner, than the dubbed versions. But whilst he had tried them a few times, he had recognised the distinctive Japanese inflection and dialect in these people, when they spoke.
And so as the man, now in the body of a child, followed the matron, as she told her orphans to queue behind the other ladies and perform their morning routines before breakfast, he was beginning to piece together a few clues as to where he found himself this morning.
It wasn't long, before the bland breakfast was guzzled down his throat, as he saw an old man walking towards a fruit cart, while he followed a few other children, as they were chaperoned by the matron to a building which appeared to be near the centre of the town he was in. The air had gotten distinctly stuffy, so he had deduced this must be the Centre of the Town, and closer to the dense populated region he was used to. But he stopped in place, when he saw the distinctive open toed sandals, bandaged forearms, pockets tied around hips, thighs and forearms around the few men, women and children who walked around, all the while a distinctive symbol was stamped on the metal plate which showed where he was, in terms of general location, and the world he was in.
As realisation dawned on his mind, he turned around to look at the distinctive copy of Mount Rushmore to give him some clues. When he saw three carved heads and not a fourth or fifth there, the only thing to jumped from his tongue was an expletive, "Fuck!"
Tell me how the first chapter was, and if I should continue with the descriptive style, or is it too boring compared to the plot and story.I hope to complete this story and the story will pick up pace, despite the slow-burn feel of the chapter. Stick around and tell me if it gets better or worse.Thanks again. As always read, review and stay safe!