Darkness. Nothing but darkness.

After I was struck by lightning all I could see and feel around me was the empty void. I couldn't see, hear or feel anything. I wasn't sure if I was standing or floating, and whether or not I was breathing as well.

What was more important though, was the fact that I fucking died! And it was total bullshit! What are the chances of being struck by lightning? Close to none! In fact, what was the whole lights show for? There was so much randomness in the last few moments that I didn't know where to start trying to figure out what was going on.

If this was the after-life, it sucked. It felt like an eternity had passed here. Nothing changed, nothing happened, why was I here? Could it be purgatory? Or was this where you go after death regardless of what you've done in your life? To forever be trapped in emptiness. But I didn't feel impatient, neither did I feel the need to do something about it. What could I do anyway? "Swim" a meter to the right? Then what?

Now that I think about it, there was so much I still haven't done. I didn't get to try so many things, I didn't have a driving license, I didn't even finish high school! I didn't even get.. a… girlfriend…

Now I felt bad. I didn't get to do so much, I was ripped away by the cold hands of death from reality, from existence. I wanted to cry, and so I did. I felt tears form in my eyes, blinking them away made them trickle down my cheeks. The cold breeze hitting my side. Something itchy pricking at my back.

Wait…itchy?

I scratched the spot behind my back, surprised to find overgrown grass underneath. What happened to the abyss? Was this heaven? Another prick from something bulkier made me hiss in pain. Nope, definitely not heaven.

I opened my eyes to see the clear blue sky above me. Although, this time many clouds were there, forming many different shapes in many different sizes. I took a deep breath, not realizing I was holding it the entire time. Propping myself up on my elbows, I glanced around like a fish out of water.

I was in a forest. But some of the trees had blue leaves. A pink bird landed on a branch, its head turning around like that of an owl's. The sun was setting, or rising, I couldn't tell, the only clue I had was that the sky had a soft hue of purple and orange. However, what stunned me was the spectacle in the sky slightly hidden by large a group of clouds; there were two moons in the sky, one significantly darker and smaller than the other.

Earth only had one moon, but there were two in this sky.

This wasn't Earth.

I wasn't on Earth.

I was alive.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

A few hours earlier

On the highest mountain that was part of a long chain of mountains and valleys stood a castle.

Calling it a castle would be an understatement; it was a fortress.

At the foot of the mountain on which the castle was built upon was a small town that functioned as a choke point in case of any attacks, which was basically impossible since the fortress was one of the most defended ones, and a possible decoy, because it held many dark secrets of the Order.

The castle-fortress had walls so high you'd think they reach the clouds, but the mage towers sure did. The theme color was a single, depressing shade of gray, designed that way to destroy any hope for those who enter. It was so well-fortified that it'd probably take the combined effort of multiple nations to defeat just that one. But it wasn't without reason that it was so significant to the Order; it was the place the king himself resided.

One of the rooms was the Throne Room, as the name says, where the king sat on a big throne and told everyone what to, how to, when to, where to, and all the other bullshit you'd expect from a monarch. It was also the safest place in the whole castle.

The inside of the castle was built in such a way that if you didn't have a map, be it a physical or a mental one, you could easily get lost; It was a maze. Again, another way to make it harder for the enemy in case they manage to breach the thick walls.

It seemed unnecessary, but the king was paranoid. He was suspicious of everyone, even his own family, once he even executed his personal chef because the food had a funny taste to it despite being proven as safe to it by a taster, another of many precautions enforced by the king. The king's fear knew no end, but it wasn't unjustifiable. Ever since the fall of Lescatie things have changed for better or worse.

The king was sitting on his throne, a few stairs leading to the platform on which it stood. He was waiting for a group of mages to arrive before him. Today was a very special day, and he was a nervous wreck, not that he showed any sign of anxiety. A king still had to keep an image, something his father taught him before he passed away from an unknown illness. He promised himself that if they were late even by a single moment, he'd have their heads cut off. From what his advisors said, the ritual could only be performed once the stars were perfectly aligned, and that only happens every couple of centuries.

Rapidly tapping his foot against the white marble floor of his chamber, clean of any dust at all times, he was becoming angrier by the second at their delay. Sure, even if there was a good hour or two for the ritual to begin, he hated it when anyone, no matter their status or power, made him wait for any reason.

Two massive wooden doors slammed open, a gust of wind rushing inside, not hitting the king; not even a breeze.

"My lord! We are here!" A man's voice commanded, a group of the finest mages in the Order had arrived as planned for this secret mission.

The group consisted of four men and a woman, their faces hidden behind a hood above their heads. The robes they were wearing were black as ink and had a golden cross professionally hand-stitched onto the hood itself. Only the man who had announced their arrival had his face shown to the King.

"What took you so long?!"

"Nothing sir! We are right on time! We must begin the summoning immediately, there is no time to waste!"

The king huffed, an arm propped up on the armrest with a hand holding his head up. He'll let it slide, just this time. He could not afford to lose any of them, they were too useful to the Order and had done many deeds, some great and other horrible, in the name of said Order. Perhaps he was getting old? His hair did start to show some gray. He shook his head to rid those thoughts away, a king could not show weakness, or else everybody would jump on the first opportunity they got to gain power, even his own son.

The mages had begun drawing ancient writings on the floor at a safe distance from the king. The words that were being drawn on the white marble didn't look like any letters in any language, they resembled some sort of gibberish, most likely a forgotten language or a mixture of them.

In addition to the forming circle, they drew other familiar shapes such as squares, pentagons and triangles, and strange ones that were once part of a much more powerful spell.

To tell the truth, the mages didn't fully know what they were doing. Not that they didn't know how to do it, but what it could do. After centuries of research by a lesser known branch of the Order, they found a way to bring someone from another world, a game-breaking change to everything so far.

The history behind how they managed to get to that is long, boring and complicated, so I'll save you the headache of explaining everything, definitely not because the author is lazy. The part that matters is that once the ritual is complete, a person with unimaginable power will appear in the center of the circle. They didn't know the extent of that power, but what they did know was that they could possibly challenge the gods themselves, possibly.

It was a risk worth taking. Since the fall of Lescatie to the hands of the monsters, the Order had gone through a radical reform; people were executed, corruption was ratted out, new rules were in place. They became more ruthless, efficient, unforgiving. And whether it's good or bad, their faith began to dwindle. Many secretly stopped believing that their God could help them and wanted to take matter into their own hands and go the full way of genocide; no mercy to the enemy. But they couldn't due to religion being intertwined with their system.

If only there was a way to prove that they couldn't rely on some phony god to help them, that if they wanted something done right, they had to do it themselves, in their own way.

It took the mages approximately one and a half hours to complete the "easy" part. That's right, I said "easy" part. The hard part was the ritual itself. So far it's been nothing but preparations, but now was when shit was about to get real. Keep in mind that if they fail, their heads are off their shoulders. And they knew that fact very well.

"My lord, it's time!" The king finally stood up from his resting place, his legs were numb and he was tired, but he didn't care. It was time, he had to welcome "The Chosen One" with open arms, it's better if their weapon is willing to cooperate with them rather than forcing them to do so. He held his hands behind his back, and with a nod of affirmation, they began the summoning.

They closed their eyes and began chanting in the same language that had been written on the floor, the same sentences they rehearsed hundreds of times before. They could not fail, not only their lives rested on their success, but perhaps the entire world. In fact, if this whole thing didn't work, they were fucked. However, they've come this far, so there was on going back. It was now or never.

A bright light formed in the middle of the circle, growing in size and intensity the closer they were to the end of the summoning, the ground was violently shaking, but none of them moved in the slightest way. They were so close, almost there, almost…

THUM!

A lightning struck the middle of the circle, sending the spell casters back in a miniature sonic boom, leaving them deafened and blinded from the light. The king was far enough to only be blinded momentarily, but the rest took a little longer to recover.

Once all the smoke was cleared, what the king saw did not please him; there was nothing, only a scorching mark where the lightning had just struck. For a moment he seemed calm, composed, in full control of himself.

The next, he completely lost his temper and went berserk.

"IS THIS IT?! WHERE IS THE SO CALLED "SOLUTION TO ALL MY PROBLEMS?!"

"W-wh-what? H-how? B-b-b-but we did everything right! There must be a mistake-"

"Oh ho ho, you're right. There is a mistake. You. You failed me, all of you! YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE FUN OF ME?! WASTE MY PRECIOUS TIME?! GUARDS! GUARDS! SEIZE THEM!" A platoon of soldiers burst through the double doors, encircling the mages while pointing their variety of weapons at them. However, before the king could order to turn them into swiss cheese, the woman among them flailed her hands in the air, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"STOOOP! I CAN EXPLAIN THIS!"

The King was stunned. He was furious that a commoner like her even thought that intervening with a king's final word is acceptable. But if she had a reasonable explanation to all of this, perhaps he could let them live.

"Hmm. Fine, humor me."

Pushing the pair of glasses she was wearing up her nose, she told the king her theory on the crucial matter at hand. "You see my lord. We've done nothing wrong here. The summoning went accordingly," she unknowingly swallowed a lump in her throat, clearing it before continuing, "I believe that we did the ritual flawlessly, it's just that the person that was supposed to appear here is somewhere else. They are somewhere in the world, just not here."

On second thought, perhaps the King wasn't going to have them hung by the neck. Her reasoning made some sense, but only one problem remained.

"Then where are they?"

"That… I do not know." The king nodded at that, a smile on his face. He even chuckled at that. Then his facade broke, and with the most demented tone you can imagine he commanded them a single order.

"I do not care if you must go to the edge of the world, you will find them, and you will bring them to me. OUT!"

Present

I was a sad sight to behold. I was holding myself on the ground, my eyes had long since dried from all the tears I cried and probably trauma on top of everything else. I know you might think I'm a crybaby for how I reacted, but how would you? How would you have reacted if one moment you're just vibing, doing your own thing, then the next you get literally zapped out of existence, thrown into another one without any explanation and- and, well, nothing else really.

I think I might have just speedrunned the five stages of grief; I was in denial of my situation, then I got really angry at everything and slapped myself too in an attempt to bring myself out of whatever wicked dream this was.

I stopped after five times because my face burned red like a chili pepper.

Then, I tried to convince myself of some way our of this, some possible reason for all of this, and that's when it hit me; I was fucked. No technology, no one around, no clue to where I was, when I was, that's even scarier to think about. What if i somehow traveled back in time? The thought was quickly dismissed because of the two moons in the sky, which in itself seemed insane! Cool, but still insane.

Then the depression, which I was currently having a roll in. I tried my hardest to stop myself from crying, but everything just hit me harder than a Russian dad's belt and, well…

I let the rivers flow. I didn't care about anything. The unfairness of it all, the fear of the unknown that surrounded me, the possible alien life forms on this planet.

I just wanted to go home, but my only desire fueled my mental breakdown even further. What if I couldn't return? What if this was a one way ticket "to have fun sucker!"

No, no, no no NO NO! If there was a way in, there had to be a way out. My parents probably think I'm dead, and so does everyone. But I'm not. I am very much alive.

Despite knowing that the possibility of returning home was miniscule, I held on to that hope tighter than a climber holding on to the edge of a cliff. Wiping the tears away from my eyes, I got up with shaking legs, taking deep breaths to calm myself down.

I was in another world. Okay, what now? Honestly, I had no fucking clue. What was I supposed to do? There's nobody around, all I could see around me were trees upon trees upon trees and nothing else. What time is it anyway? Wait, it doesn't matter. The odds of Earth's time being on point with this world's time were as likely as getting the perfect seed in a minecraft world. Since I already mentioned time, what if this world's rotation is the other way around? What if the magnetic poles are flipped or even sideways?

Don't think about it. I cried enough. I couldn't give up hope, there had to be a way back. If not… no, don't think like that. It's like a prison; if there's a way in, there's a way out. There is a way out. There is. There. Is.

Finally in a more peaceful state than before, I took in my surrounding area. Trees, tall trees, green trees, blue trees, curly trees. Yes, trees were trees. Some bushes there and there, something that looks like a squirrel running from branch to branch, oh look, my backpack.

My backpack. My backpack!

"MY BACKPACK!" I shouted. Words couldn't describe how glad I was to see my bag, the only sense of comfort I had right now. It was materialistic of me to think that way, but it was true; it was the only thing I had, besides the clothes on my back; a blue t-shirt, black sweatpants, gray socks, hiking boots and a jacket. I rushed over to the pack, checking it to see if it had sustained any damage.

Not a scratch, it was completely unharmed by the lightning, somehow. Yep, this was going to be a recurring theme of "this shit happened, how? No clue", so I shoved away everything to the back of my mind. I could theorize later, now I had to- fuck, I still don't know. I know I've gone over this multiple times, but what am I supposed to do? Save the world or some shit?

I heaved a sigh, I haven't moved that much and yet I was tiring myself out with just my own thoughts. I guess I could walk, but where? The sun could either be setting or rising for all I knew. There was no right way to pick a direction, so I eeny-meeny-miny-moe'd between going towards the sun or away from it, and I finished with a finger pointing towards it.

I made sure my boots were properly tied before strapping the travelpack to my shoulders, adjusting them a bit for extra comfort. I was determined, I was ready, I was going to go on the mission of a lifetime- okay, that was total bullshit, I tried to humor myself, but it wasn't funny. "The mission of a lifetime?" Yeah right, like that would ever happen.

I began walking towards the sun, my hope to find something, anything, preferably someone, being the sole thing to keep myself distracted from the harsh truth.

For hours I walked and walked and walked and- ugh, there was nothing! Just a bunch of stupid trees and stupid bushes with stupid weird animals that looked like a mix-max of Earth's wildlife. However, one good thing happened so far; the sun had gone higher, which means that I was walking eastward, probably, so at least that was going for me, yay.

I was so bored out of my mind. The lingering feeling of hopelessness was still there, but I did my best to ignore it and soldier on. I drank a few sips from my water supply, conserving as much as I could until I found a water source, preferably a lake. I was getting ahead of myself, one step at a time. I had a goal in mind; get out of the forest. I've seen enough green for a lifetime, I needed something different, something else, something-

I heard a rustle in the bushes, it was right in front of me. The moment I heard the sound I froze like a popsicle, palms sweaty, wishing for my mom's spaghetti. I was becoming hungry too, not good, the only food I had in my pack were snacks, but they wouldn't satisfy my appetite.

At the same time that I ceased moving, so did the thing, and it creeped me the fuck out. It was either a pretty smart animal, or someone watching me.

I'll admit that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I always try to be reasonable and use common sense, so you can imagine how dumb I felt after doing the most cliche horror movie thing ever.

"H-hello? Who's there?"

Suddenly, the rustling increased, it was coming towards me! Why do you have to betray me, brain! You fool! You-

I felt something collide with my chest, sending me and the thing to the ground, my pack serving as a cushin for the fall. I immediately looked down to see what caused that, and I couldn't be more confused in the life of me.

A bunny girl was lying on top of me. I called her, yes her, since she had very obvious assets, a bunny-girl because unlike a normal girl, she had the ears of a bunny on top of her head, a bushy little tail above her buttocks, and instead of a normal pair of legs, she had those of a rabbit, very fluffy too. Her hair was a perfect blonde color and weirdly enough she had a pocket watch on her left hip, the only clothes she wore were some sorts of arm bands and- WHY THE FUCK IS SHE NAKED?!

Now listen, I'll take one for the team and say it; I've been on the internet. Yeah, I know, big surprise. I've seen "adult content", by this point, who hasn't? So there wasn't anything I haven't seen before. But still, it felt very bizarre to have a nude girl just laying ontop of me.

And she was staring right at me with the biggest smile imaginable.

"Hey there! I haven't seen many humans around for a loooong time. Are you a traveler? You're very strange, what are those clothes? Are you lost? Are-"

"Slow down! F-first of all, please get off of me. And w-what are you exactly?"

She didn't respond at first, she just stared at me. I mean like stared into my non-existent soul sort of stare, as if I had just announced the worst disaster ever.

"Everyone knows what we are, don't be silly. I'm a Mamono! Wererabbit actually, I come from Wonderland! I can take you there, wanna come with me? You'll love it there, there's drinks and snacks and parties and so much fun! Oh and-"

What the fuck is this. Just, what the actual fuck is this. Let's recap a little; I'm in another world, no clue about anything, just wondering about, out of the blue the most attractive woman jumps at me, but she isn't actually a woman! She is something called a "Mamono" which sounds kinda stupid, and she was blabbering about Wonderland and fun and my head hurt just listening to her! On one hand I was glad that there were people here, even if they weren't exactly human, which in itself was shocking, but on the other she was still on me!

"Can you just please get off me? I'll hear out whatever you want to tell me just please get off, this is really awkward," she finally stopped her neverending spewing of blah-blah-blah, but now she was staring at me again. I had enough of this, I was frustrated enough as is, so I was going to push her away from me.

However, before I could, she grabbed my right hand with her own, interlocking our fingers together. Meanwhile her legs locked around my waist, her pupils dilating into- hearts? What the-

"P-please? P-p-p-please? O-okay, if you say so!" Her other hand shot to my pants, doing her best to bring them down as fast as possible. This bitch is fucking crazy! Where's the rape whsitle when you need it?! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck- no not that kind of fuck you horny bastards!

"HELP! HEEELP!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, but nobody answered. I doubt anyone could. Despite looking like a frail girl, she was strong. I tried wiggling out from under her, but her grip on me didn't falter. I was panicking, my heart rate was through the roof and my little man downstairs wasn't doing me any favors, down boy, down!

I tried to grip at anything with my other hand, anything to try and fight back, anything- aha! I felt a rock under my palm. Gripping it as hard as I could, I stopped struggling and looked behind her, my mouth agape with fake fear and horror to the nothing that was just standing there, menacingly.

She bought my little trick like a kid in a candy store, so when she turned around to see what could've gotten my attention away from her,I swung as hard as i could with my left arm, smashing the rock right into her head, knocking her out cold with only half her body on me.

She was still breathing, and the side of her heard was barely bleeding, but I couldn't give a single fuck about her. I managed to push her off of me entirely, crawling away from her to a safe distance in case she woke up which was unlikely at her current state.

Let me add another addition to the recap; almost being raped! Isn't that fantastic. I was here for only a couple of hours and I already hated this fucking world. What was this encounter? I'll answer my own question; fucking crazy. The first person I met tried to do the deed without my consent, and because I said please? Yup, nonsense, just pure illogical blasphemy.

I held my face in my hands, tears flowing out of my eyes for the second time today. I felt so many conflicting emotions at once. I couldn't begin to explain how fucked up this whole thing was. Hmm, yes? I'd like to order misery with some sadness, oh, and please sprinkle some emotion damage on top as well, thank you. My breathing was raspy, I was shaking like a leaf. I felt no sympathy for this cunt, only anger and hatred. But she wasn't dead, I could finish the job.

I was still holding the bloodied rock in my hand. I threw it away from me, wiping my hand on my jacket. No, I can't kill her. But she deserves it, she tried to, to… no, no, I won't do it. I'll leave her here to her own faith, I don't care what happened to her. I knew this could indirectly cause her death, but what would happen if I tried to wake her up? I did not dwell on the subject any further and left in a hurry, focusing only on the path before me.

There was a path, a path! Path means civilization, civilization means people, people means… what if they were just like the bunny-girl? That would be bad, very bad.

After I made some good distance between my first encounter of what this world had to offer, I decided to check the current time by looking at the sky.; it was evening. Woah, time passes when you have fun.

Hahaha, but in this case it's the opposite. If I had to summarize this whole day in one sentence, it'd be Spain without the S. I felt so tired, my legs hurt from all the walking I've done and was still doing, I was hungry and thirsty. I hated this. I wanted to go home.

But I couldn't. I couldn't go home because I didn't know if there was a way home.

I pulled at my own hairs out of anger, but quickly let go because there was no point to it. I didn't know what to do anymore, I've been walking for hours on end with no goal in sight. What was I even doing? I tried my best to ignore those questions, but the truth was simple; I was screwed. Remember what I said about waltzing through grief? Forget all of that. I was still in denial. My mind couldn't begin wrapping itself around my situation, how reality changed with the strike of a lightning bolt, that the possibilities of the future were infinite because I knew nothing of this world and how it worked.

I had to rest, I couldn't go on like this. I made one last push over a hill, using all the energy I had left to reach the top. When I did, I couldn't have felt happier in my life; a massive tree proudly stood erect above the ground. The tree wasn't anything too special, it was identical to the rest around me besides its size. What caught my eye was the manhole dug under it. It could serve as a temporary shelter for the night, since it did feel somewhat colder than before. Ah shit, here we go again, the seasons could be different as well. Didn't matter. Eating, drinking and sleeping were my top three priorities.

I walked the rest of the way down to the tree, inspecting the space underneath it. It was fairly big, just enough to move around and lay down if I wished to. I entered my "man-cave", which was more like a slide, breathing a sigh of relief that I could finally chill. Since it was underground it was also cool, but at least I was just a little more protected from the elements. I put down my pack on the ground, taking out a bottle of water, a bag of chips and a spare blanket my mom had insisted I took. I can't thank you enough mother, I hope I see you again soon.

I drank two thirds of one of the water bottles and ate all of the chips, savoring the salty crunchiness of each piece. My hygiene would have to take a hit because there was no way I was getting out of there now. I was too exhausted to do that, and lazy. I shoved the finished chip bag back into my pack, same with the bottle. I used it as a pillow and a support for my back at the same time, throwing the blanket over me. It wasn't the most comfortable way to go to sleep, but it would do.

What a fucking day. Just… yeah. Tomorrow is another day, and so is the day after, and the day after and so on. I chuckled to myself, not because it was funny. I didn't quite understand why I was laughing. I suppose it was kind of funny. Yeah, it was hilarious, absolutely humorous, comedy fucking gold.

What's… what's wrong with me? I'm fine, I'm completely fine. I'll get out of this, I'll, I'll…

Before I could continue my inner monologue, my eyes had shut themselves. My breathing slowed down, my chest rising and falling steadily. Sleep finally took hold of me, but I dreamt of nothing.

Today felt so surreal, but tomorrow…

Tomorrow would become a nightmare.

Author's Note:

Another chapter done. This took quite a while, but here it is.

I'll be replying in my notes to each review I get starting from this chapter onward.

Onion of the Soviets: When will the next chapter come? How often do you update this story (weekly, monthly, etc.)?

Hoenstly, I don't have a schedule. As I wrote in my Bio; I do this for fun. Writer's block is a bitch, so I try to write when I have the inspiration or when I "feel like it" pretty much.

Guest: Welp time to see this story I will be watching with interest.

I'm glad you liked it.

Look2022: I found this prologue interesting, Good start.

Thank you. I'm glad you also liked it.

Omnisaurus: Everything looks good so far; no glaring grammar errors and the protagonist seems to actually be interesting compared to a good number of other isekai protagonists. I'm eager to see where you'll go with this story.

I can't emphasize enough how much I appreciate your feedback, I'm glad to hear you like it as well. Yeah, "glaring grammar errors" is a good way to put it. It's a pain to read those stories, so I really try to polish any sharp edges in my writing. It takes more time to edit a chapter, but the end result is much better in my opinion. There's a term called "Mary Sue", it basically means a perfect, flawless protagonist that fixes all the problems in the story. You won't see that here, I promise you.

I don't want to spoil anything I have planned, but from now on things will take a darker turn. If you don't like that sort of thing, this is your final warning to turn back. Or don't, it's your choice.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stay safe and hydrated.

-FacelessUser