1. New Beginnings
I was sitting by the river. The gentle flow of the river was calming, as I felt as if I was moving backwards as I stared too deep in the river.
My mind was calm, as I liked to relax by the river bank, with a Schawarma in the summer evenings. My work was going well, I was getting serious with my girlfriend, we were looking to move in together...
In these turbulent times, I was one of the lucky few. I had a job that I like, and all was going well. But...
I was not all that happy, as everyone thought I would be.
I would put on my mask. I would smile at the world. I would kiss my girlfriend, before we sit down for a quiet dinner. It was all domestic, but...
It was all so...
BORINGGGG!
I never wanted to tie myself down. I wanted to travel. I wanted to be one with the world. I wanted to be...
Not what I am!
My friends knew this too, and they had no better suggestions...
"Break up with Julia! Don't keep her hanging! Do what you want to do!" Their suggestions were not particularly helpful.
I wanted to be out, but I didn't want to break Julie's heart! I was a sociopath! But I didn't want my parents to know I took a step back, instead of forward!
It was them I didn't want to disappoint!
This would be like an easier problem, when the rest of the world is caught in depressing raves of the pandemic. And yet...
I would much prefer...
No! Suicide is a coward a way out!
And my life is monotonous! Not Best! Certainly not what I envisioned! But not suicide-worthy!
I looked at the Pier, where a few Cruise Boats were moored. Tourists would get on, as I sat and watched the Boats cross the Stone Bridge to my left and go along the wide Bank against the currents.
This place was once foreign, but now...it was home.
I couldn't think of a better place to live. And yet...I longed for more!
I watched as one of the boats began to move. It seemed as if the river got stormier, somehow, as I saw the currents catch up.
The shallow end of the bank was rising higher, as water was slowing growing over the banks on the opposite side.
I liked the breeze flowing in, as the summers here were cooler because of the river, but it still made it more pleasant when a gentle breeze began to blow.
The air was growing misty, as near eight, the sky was growing darker. It looked as if it would be an early night today.
I heard the cacophony of the boat drawing closer as a few moments later it would pass right by!
I got a feeling, and I reached for the pockets in my short, as I shuffled around and found my phone.
I dialled in, as I waited for the call to connect to Julia. As the phone was ringing, I wondered why we call it still call it dialling, as my girlfriend picked up.
"Hey sweetie. When are you coming home tonight? I was going to meet some friends for some drinks tonight." Julia called out, as I smiled.
"Finally took my advice, huh? It was about time you were home at a proper hour to enjoy your evening." I smiled as my girlfriend giggled on the phone.
"You know its my thesis, babe. And my Supervisor doesn't give extensions on deadlines. I am behind on the lab work, as it is, and Ritter offered to help me in the lab this weekend." I didn't like that, very much.
"I am not particularly comfortable with him helping you, Julie. You went out with him..." I was interrupted, when Julie coughed and heaved.
"Let's not get into it again, please! I am just done in the gym, and I am waiting for an hour more, before I go out. Will you be late?" I was about to reply, when I felt a push as I lost my balance.
My hands were flailing, as I fell in the river, as I looked up and saw a drunk guy had accidentally pushed me off the bank.
My bag was wet, as I worried my report and documents got wet, as I was in the river, but I could swim!
My mind never noticed the currents bringing me to the middle of the river, as I belatedly noticed the giant Boat up close.
It was nearly past me, as I heard people yelling for help, and panicking without any one doing anything.
I tried to grab on to the boat, as I felt myself rolling around the cold metal of the boat. The currents were faster in the middle, as I could do nothing but helpless flail about, trying to keep myself afloat.
All of a sudden, I saw the end of the boat, as I saw a turbine blade, as I belatedly realised the river boat was actually an antique tourist boat for authentic experience of olden times!
Fuck, they gave turbines, don't they?
I panicked, as I began to rapidly swim away from the boat, as I saw the frothing from the boat's rear.
I was fucking praying for a miracle, as my wet shoes were getting heavier and my arms were cramping from the strokes, but I just needed to stay afloat and away from the boat.
My Reptilian mind made me fight against the instincts to give in, as I began to get further and further away from the boat, and closer to the bank, as I heard sirens and amber light from people who I knew would be able to help.
I didn't relax however, as I swam harder and harder, and smiled to myself while still swimming for my life, as I saw the boat go further upstream and away from me.
I didn't realise the water currents were getting worse, nor did I notice the rise in water level, not until I struck my head on a giant boulder weathered by the river water with a smooth surface.
The boulder hit my head, as I saw blood flowing down, as I heard the authorities crying out in German to offer help.
Before they could do anything, however, the bloody Boulder I was holding onto moved, as the giant stone rolled and carried me into the river, back again.
The flow was so high, that the boulder began to roll, as I was carried by the momentum, as the stone pushed me under the surface as my nails helplessly scratched on the smooth rock.
I failed to move, and felt the horror as my mind slowly realised, as the stone was going to roll over me!
I cried out in panic and alarm, as the emergency boat was just a few moments from reaching me...
But it would be too late, I realised, as the Stone was already crushing my legs and my waist and slowly a few knots away, as the speed boat drew closer, I realised the Boulder was almost on top of my head.
I could live...
But then, it would be a life without limbs, a paraplegic fed with tubes and forced to depend on others for my continued existence.
I knew my fit, ambitious and gorgeous girlfriend was shallow enough to leave me, I knew my friends were shallow enough to desert me when they would see my crushed body...
I was materialistic enough, and shallow enough myself to do so, were I in their place, after all...And a Man is known by the company he keeps!
I could make an effort to live, as the Boulder was crushing my body diagonally, and it would roll past after it would go over a little over my waist.
I felt the adrenaline and the shock numb my mind, as I knew this bone crushing pain would shut me out, were the adrenaline not in my system!
I decided then and there, as I heard voices telling me to hold on, as I made a split second decision, as I twisted my body in the direction of the rolling boulder...
The last thing I saw as my head peeked out the surface, as I saw the drunk guy by the Pier as he spoke with the authorities, and I cursed loudly!
That was fucking Ritter! Fucking Ritter! Tried to kill me! Not to try, GodDAAMNIT! HE WOULD SUCCEED! Fuck! I can't let him win! He comes from a well-to-do family, just as mine do. Old Money and all that...He would easily scoop up my grieving girlfriend! Fuck! Fuck.
The bastard would murder me!!
I yelled out, hoping the authorities would hear me, even as my body was in motion leaning into the path of the Boulder...
"Ritter hat mich ermordet!" I yelled out loud, hoping someone heard me, as it grew dark over me as the Boulder was right on my face!
I couldn't help the hatred bubbling in me, as the darkness grew, as I braced myself for the panic...
Only to...
"Hello, there." A bald man in a suit greeted me with a smile, as a cup of tea was placed between me, while the man himself took a sip from his cup.
He held the saucer delicately under the cup, as I blinked at the sudden bright light.
"In order. Yes. You died. Yes. Ritter planned to kill you. He has been cheating on you with Julia Wagner for a year before your unfortunate demise. Yes, Ritter was arrested for murder after your dying declaration, and Julia was arrested for Planning a Homicide." The man answered as my mind slowed down, to take in what I was being told.
He took a sip after that sudden befuddling report, before he set his cup down.
"Your parents did everything in their power to secure the highest punishment for both Ritter and Julia. Your Sister was heartbroken, but your death will light the fire in her to become a cutthroat businesswoman, as she takes the family business which you so ungratefully refused. She will drive Ritter's family to the ground, avenging you, as she will ensure Julia loses all credibility and dies a miserable life, just as you prayed."
I blinked as I took that in. Slowly.
Okay.
"Thank you for your kindness. Am I to presume, this is an afterlife?" I asked the Man, as I shrugged to myself and took the offered cup and sipped from the aromatic tea.
Te de Limone. Italian Lemon Tea. Ha. Not as good as Spanish Orange Tea, or the Milk Tea, but just as good and refreshing...
I set the cup down as the man, or whatever he is, if this is an afterlife, smiled at me.
"Yes. But think of this as a transition period. You are going to be transferred to a new...department, and we are having an exit interview." He smirked as I narrowed my eyes.
"Exit interview is when you are let go." I replied as he chuckled softly.
"Well, we are sort of letting go, in the sense that you will be let go from this world, and will be offered a "Transfer" to a new world." He informed me, as I blinked.
"Those Isekai stories I read when I was a teen? What next? A Fantasy world with Cheat Power?" I asked him glibly as the "Man" shrugged.
"If that is what you prefer. You are not particularly suited for the offer we make for Isekai Heroes to summon them in a New World. You are not particularly of the...Benevolent category." The Man smirked as I looked at him.
"You know of..." I asked as he interrupted me.
"Yes. I know. I know your thoughts. The only reason you weren't a deranged psychopath, was because you didn't want to disappoint your parents, and you didn't like the gore and the "mess" that came with deranged killings." He smirked as I looked at him.
"You wouldn't object to my fantasies?" I asked as he laughed at me.
"We wouldn't care if you acted on your fantasies, either. There are infinite instances of infinite variations of infinite realities around infinite Multiverses. We call it the Omniverses. Every single imaginable reality has infinite parallel multiverses with infinite variations of infinite universes." He spoke calmly, as he shook his head at me.
"We could send every Human on every mundane reality we administer, and still not run out of worlds to perturb by sending you there. We don't care if you burn the Universe, destroy it all, or want to move on to a different reality..." He trailed off, as I nodded enthusiastically.
I was bored. But knowing that my killers and conspirators would suffer...
"I just have one question, before we begin...when Ritter or Julia die, will you offer them the same deal?" I asked as the Man shrugged.
"I am not sure. You were hand picked by my boss, because you died with hate, the kind that my boss found...worthy. He told me to pass on a message: Chaotic Evil is the way to go!" The Man smirked at me knowingly, as I understood what the Man meant.
By Dungeons and Dragons standard, every character had a Moral Alignment spread across the axes of Good to Evil and Lawful to Chaotic, ranging from Chaotic Evil to Lawful Good. By choosing your alignments, you could choose the Flavour text of your Character Creation, but also choose how the character makes choices or arrives at a decision.
Often the Chaotic Evil were adversaries and antagonists in the Game, as Heroes were often ranging from Good side of the spectrum.
Some could choose Anti-Hero alignment, but Chaotic Evil was often reserved for the villains.
I knew I wasn't a good man, by any chance. I wasn't Norman Bates, writing journals with Macabre Methods to Murder someone! I was a well adjusted self-aware sociopath.
And given that I was chosen despite my "patrons" knowing of my thoughts...
I looked ahead at the Man who kindly offered me time to think.
When our gazes met, he smiled. "My boss informed me that he would put a temporary stay on their "Transfer" until you have a solid footing and gained sufficient power. After that, we could "send" the two murdering lovers into your territory for you to have fun. Or we could choose a suitable punishment ourselves. Your boss, and our department as a whole, hate the NTR and cuckold fetish. We would gladly allow you to have your righteous fury on your murderers." I smiled genuinely as the man returned my smile as he leaned forward looking positively predator-like!
"In fact, we insist on sending the man as a Trap Shota in a Bisexual Rapist's world, and the Girl as a Elf in a Hentai Orc world!" I smiled to myself, as I shook my head.
"As pleasant as it sounds, I have had enough time to think about it. Julia and Ritter cuckolded me, cheated behind my back, having their thrill with fucking around, while I was being betrayed. I am going to return the favour. I am going to break them over and over. I want to make them relive my pain. I want to make them relive my humiliation. I want them to suffer. But not so soon. I will have my revenge. Dreadfully Slowly. But surely. I want to break their very souls. I want to tear their deceitful mind down, as I make them suffer even in afterlife for all of eternity!" I declared as the Man looked at me proudly and nodded.
"You would fit in right with our crowd. Just use that creativity and survive the boredom of eons of existence, and you would be a valuable addition to our organisation!" He smiled as he shook my hand over the table.
I took his hand, as He sat down again and regained his formal posture.
I too regained my composure, as I leaned back. "So, what am to start with?" I asked as the Man waved his hand.
A translucent screen floated in air, as it twirled in front of me, before I saw what was on it.
"We plan to tailor an "Adventurer Package for you. Your disgust and revulsion at gore will simply not do. We would give you the Tutorial Package from one of the random Action Video Games to tailor your "Character". You will have a Planeswalker ability, as you can go to any world you want. We have a Non-Intrusion Policy, as we prevent other such "Transfers" to interfere each other's experience." He shrugged as I could still see him through the giant screen covering my view.
"You will have Essence of Archmage and Essence of Warrior to round you up. No need to worry about different energies or fixed affinities. You can be a Master of All Trades, if you so choose. With Essence of Warrior, you can use any weapon, have an instinctual understanding of all forms of instruments of warfare. Be they making spears from wood, or designing a Light saber. Every instrument of warfare would be mastered, as you wouldn't need to worry about repairing sailing ships or Enterprise like Warp capable ships." I was excited simply hearing the description as I read about the Essence from the CYOA sheet on the screen in front of me.
"You will be well prepared for the world, as you can travel at whim, when you spend some time in the world. You can take missions from us, or you can cause havoc! It entirely depends on you. We will provide a System assistant to keep track of your worlds as well as sync up on our missions and carry the rewards from us, should you choose to have that aspect of experience." I nodded at him, as he smiled and I saw a checklist with what I was offered.
"You can have an access to other similar Transfers, as they like to call themselves Agents, Isekai, Transmigrators, etc. We call them and as of now, you," He pointed at me, "Contractors." I nodded at him, as the term didn't matter to me. What's in a name, after all?
"And what will I have to do, to repay this gratuitous opportunity?" I asked as the Man shook his head.
"We get entertainment watching your actions. We get a wisp of energy as our Contractors enter a world and become a part of that reality. Every ripple you make, and every Fate's plot you derail builds up on Chaotic Energy that feeds the Organisation itself. More than that, every step you take brings you closer to beings as powerful as us, and finding similarly oriented beings and...mentoring them, gives us a chance to have you adding to our numbers. We gain a lot from having new favourable Contractors and it is a mutually beneficial relationship between us." He finished as I saw a Random Video Game Character Power Set, Memory and Inventory added to the list.
I just wanted one more thing. "Can you give me like a Inventory?" I requested as he shrugged and added it to the list.
"I added a standard Hammerspace to your Build. It will grow alongside you, as it will start with slotted finite space, and slowly grow as you grow yourself. For now, you begin with thousand Slots of Cubic Kilometre space. Might sound like a lot, but unless you plan to stay in one world, you will have a lot of Inventory and Thousand Square Kilometres will not be a sufficient space." He warned me, as I nodded at him.
I got to design my character, as I also got a Shapeshifting Perk, that allowed me to shape my body at will. I could take any form, even change into an animal. It described my ability as depending on my magic, as I would have to choose a True Form, which would change as I keep on growing in power.
This was all seeming too good to be true, as I looked through the list and then back at the Man.
He nodded at me.
"It seems we are done. You just need to sign this consent form, that states you allow us to transfer you to a location of your choice, that you are happy with the service that was generously offered to you, and that you swear to join the Organisation as the Contractor and later, a member after you reach a Admin-Tier power level." I nodded as I signed, seeing as the Consent Form was a single page with exactly what was written on it being what the Man informed me verbally.
I looked through, as I signed the Form after confirming there were no literal fine print or loopholes here.
I asked briefly about the Organisation, as I was told that there was a clause in the Organisation Charter to allow me my freedom, should I be disinclined to join them.
I read the part of the Charter just to be sure, as the Man looked at me approvingly.
"Caution is good, entirely so, when the deal seems to be leveraged in your favour. But here, I assure you we gain much more than you would. We have enough time to spare, and compared to the eternity it will take you to Join us, it will be like only few months compared to the Human Lifespan to us."
I reluctantly nodded, "What may I call you then? I have been referring to you as the Man all this time," I asked as the Man smiled.
"Well, I have many names. But I started out as Gaunter O'Dimm, a mere merchant." He smiled as my breath hitched as I leaned forward, as he continued to smile genially.
"Oh, you've heard of me, have you?" He asked with a smile, as I felt a chill down my spine as I remembered the Witcher 3 game.
"You wouldn't be offended if I did, would you?" I asked carefully as he smirked.
"Worried I cheat you with deals? Or that the Consent Form was a deceitful deal, in the first place? Or would it be that you are worried, I would put a spoon in your eyes?" His words made my dead blood run cold...err well, colder, as he smirked for a moment, until he chuckled and leaned back.
"Don't worry, those days are long behind me. I grew bored of cheating mortals, many eternities ago. I enjoy this relaxed life, very much. And in fact, I started out as a Contractor myself, so I feel a certain kinship, with a mortal of your...disposal!" He smirked as I sighed to myself.
"I don't wish to offend you, but you terrify me. I wouldn't mind making a deal with Chutlhu and Sheogorath, if they were here, instead of you." I replied as I looked for any signs of "annoyance".
He laughed at that. "Healthy amount of fear is good. It means your senses and instincts are still there. I didn't tell you my name before, because I was afraid that Witcher game would ruin your perception of me. Really, even beyond that game, I was never that firmly opposed to Geralt or Ciri either." He explained as he shook his head.
"No matter. Best be on your way then. You have a great new journey ahead of you. I am looking forward to your adventure. Don't disappoint us." He smirked as my eyes widened as he became growing fainter as I felt my chair getting lighter.
My eyes became blurry, as I felt the ground below me slipping.
The last thought in my mind was... excitement.
Excitement of the unknown. Of the adventure. Of the Power. Of the Possibilities. I felt my lips curl upwards as my conscious thought slowed down...only to wake up in...
Where am I?