Author's Note:
Hello, welcome to my floundering steps into creating content on this website after years of on and off consumption only. I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for awhile now, but never really fully committed it to writing.
The beginning is always the hardest thing for me to write; always a blank page staring back at me as I try to fill it, still getting a feel for what I'm doing and how characters should speak and act in these situations, before hitting a stride where things start clicking, so bare with me on this. The set up is always rough in my experience.
In this part of the Prologue, our protagonist tries to get his bearings and stave off potential homelessness in this new world.
Please post your reviews, thoughts and/or feedback.
The sunlight came down warm and bright, forcing the man to raise his hand above his face to block it. Sounds of chatter and people walking surrounded him in his short stupor and once his eyesight finally adjusted, he became even more confused.
Cobblestone streets, stone buildings - not brick and mortar - stone! It reminded him of old parts of some sort of western European city, granted without the wear and tear and the modern additions brought on by electricity.
His throat felt parched and his heart sank with trepidation. The people walking around him all had different clothes to what he was used to seeing. Renaissance fair, but also anachronistic at the same time…
Is that short man wearing plate?
He didn't want to think dwarf really, considering what actual dwarfism was, but he couldn't help but think of the dwarves of fantasy when he saw that stocky man, his armor clinking away as he strode through the street, large axe perched on one of his broad shoulders.
The confused man looked like an out-of-place tourist, strangely dressed in comparison to locals, lost, and constantly having to stop myself from outright gawking at every little thing that passed him by as he became compelled to start walking.
I'm not dreaming, I know that much. Too lucid and detailed…
They speak English at least. Or am I simply able to understand their language as English?
How did I even get here? This can't be Earth, right? I think I just saw a cat-girl! There's no way that tail's a fake from how it moves, right?
"Nyan!? What's your problem creep!?" Said cat-girl turned the man's way as he had absentmindedly fallen in lockstep with the young woman and curiously had kept peering into the black furred tail swishing to and from, indignation was written all over her face.
Did she just nyan at me?
"Huh?" Came the man's articulate reply as his focus was broken from the tail no longer being in his line of sight, the girl pivoting to face him fully. It quickly dawned on him that he had been caught staring.
"Don't you "huh" me! You were totally ogling my butt like a pig!" The girl chastised him, a finger pointed at the man.
Wanting to clear this misunderstanding, the man defended himself "What? No- no I wasn't. I was looking at your tail."
"So you admit it, uh!?" She poked his chest with that accusatory finger, pupils slit and cat ears pulled back.
"I'm sorry!" the man raised his hands in the universal show of trying to de-escalate a situation. "It's not like that! I've just never seen a girl with a tail before!" He spoke nothing but truth and his eyes kept glancing at the top of her head.
"Pshh, as if." The offended girl dismissed, giving him another indignant poke "You'd need to be some country bumpkin fresh from really out in the sticks for that, and seeing as you're in the middle of Orario, I doubt I'm the first!" She pulled back from the man's personal space and crossed her arms over her chest and glared. "You're lucky I have a Falna so slapping you would pro'bly land me in heaps of trouble."
There. Orario seemed like important information. The man tried to turn this situation into something positive instead of simply being branded a pervert.
"Orario? That's what this place is called?"
The cat-girl was about to say something biting, where did this man get off, perv'ing on me and then asking stupid obvious questions to try and get away with it probably crossed her mind, but she quieted down, realizing engaging any further with this idiot would only aggravate her further, instead she made a show of kicking dust at his feet before leaving.
Diplomacy with the locals went by swimmingly; I even have some piece of info.
Sarcasm aside, the man tried to wrack his brain about anything that the word Orario might bring out but unfortunately couldn't think of anything. It certainly wasn't any location he'd heard of, it being some kind of event was also out of the question according to his reasoning – something of this scale would no doubt be talked about or advertised.
He clenched and unclenched the hands at his sides as he assessed his situation. He needed more information. Thankfully, the sun was still high in the sky, but if he didn't manage to sort this out, the man would be sleeping in the streets soon enough…
The lost man sat down on a stone step in some thoroughfare that met the massive tower that seemed to be the center of this city called Orario. He had just spent at least two hours making a fool of himself by asking complete strangers questions that, from their point of view, amounted to "What color is the sky?"
Damn those looks of pity from thinking I was some special needs dude!
Composing himself to try and wipe away the image of those looks, he continued working his mind. He had confirmed he wasn't on Earth, at least not in any form he'd consider it to be Earth anyway, what with all the mentions of Gods and Goddesses a lot of the people he questioned threw about, that he could recognize – this caused the man to consider that this might be some Planet of The Apes situation, only with dwarves instead of apes – but then, with all that body hair, he thought he was being redundant.
"Heh." he exhaled through his nose sensibly. He joked, the coping was starting already, though making light of his current predicament did little to fill the pit growing in his stomach or stop his heart from beating in his ear.
He tried to keep from completely losing his cool, he figured he had to accept what was in front of him so as to act quickly, before people could start to tell at a glance just how broke and homeless the man currently was, and how such a thing would cause his choices to become even more limited.
From what the man had further gathered, Orario was some sort of world center for commerce and culture and some organization called the "Ganesha Familia" made up the bulk of its police.
Or I should call it the constabulary, considering the time period this looks to be…
Anyway, with a name like that, he decided to steer clear of it. Familia sounded like some Cosa Nostra thing to his ears and he wasn't going to approach possible mobster enforcers as he was. What if they asked for papers, passports or I.D he obviously didn't have? The last thing the man wanted to happen was for him to become some kind of indentured slave on his first day in another world, or whatever other even worse thing they might do to a person that technically didn't exist and shouldn't be there.
If the option of seeking help with the police was ruled out, this meant the man was truly on his own for now.
I have to secure a means of food and shelter.
This meant getting a job, he figured. But if getting a job where he came from was already hell, then here where he had nothing or no one to vouch for him, where things seemed to be so archaic and with no applicable job experience either, his options were quite limited.
Watching Forged in Fire does not really prepare someone for blacksmithing and I think I'm illiterate now judging by the writing on storefronts.
The man sighed.
I'm still young, but too old to be taken on as an apprentice, why go for someone older when there's so many young prospects that might actually surpass you? I'm not physically imposing at all and so many years of modern amenities have left me unfit for any hard labor without beefing up first…
The man sighed again and ran his hands through his short black hair, completely oblivious to the trickle of people passing by, they, also oblivious to his presence, save for a single woman carrying a grocery bag.
I'm so screwed.
The man sighed one last time in defeat. Causing said person to stop in her tracks and finally look his way. Her sharp, blue eyes looked downwards towards the man and the man looked up at her.
She wore a green dress that reached above her knees, and tied to the front was a white apron, giving her the appearance of some sort of maid, that image furthered by the white frilly hair band adorning her greenish blond hair, which was cropped short above her lithe shoulders and framed her ridiculously beautiful face. Her ears were long and tapered off into a tip like bamboo leaves. She was an elf.
The first elf he had seen. Her skin was so smooth and light, that she seemed to be glowing, causing the man to feel like a vampire being shunned by the incandescence of the sun. He couldn't look at her directly for long, her beauty burned him.
Aaand now I'm self-conscious.
With a lilted monotone the Elven woman asked "Are you alright?"
The question lingered as the man managed to crane his neck to face her. This might have been his chance! She was clearly some kind of staff for some establishment, or at least the man hoped that this isn't how she likes to dress herself.
With his usual humor masking how bad he thought of things seeping into his words, the man responded "Well, as you probably can't tell yet, I'm homeless and in need of a roof, or food at least."
The elf peered at the man. No discernible expression written on her face "I see… are you a runaway noble that has come to Orario to become a famous Adventurer?"
"Wait, you think I'm a noble?" That's a first, the man thought. The nobleman who wore cheap off-brand clothes and considers a can of off brand Frankfurts and bread to be a delectable meal with some fried potato straws from a bag and some mustard.
The Elf woman explained her deduction with a professional cadence "The clothes you wear are clearly foreign and of too high a quality." She noted his cheap jean pants and red hooded jacket from the very prestigious and very elite Primark store. "You imply you have no one you can call upon for assistance, your skin is quite pale and your hands are unblemished signifying you have never done constant laborious work outdoors." She paused, her analyses complete "Am I wrong? It's not an unheard story. However, often said runaway nobles leave with some money or heirlooms they can sell, as well as some kind of weapon." The elf finished grocery bag still held in her arms.
"Well, Sherlock" The man started in a lighthearted manner as he stood up and dusted his pants "My clothes are cheap Primark bargainwear and I'm not a noble. I have no family and friends here to help me, though that's true, and I've been lucky to not need to do back breaking work out in the sun, so that's 2 points for you. 2 outta 4, a batting average of 50%'s a coinflip at best." He finished as he took a few steps forward and held out a hand for a handshake "My name's James. Pleased to meet you."
The elf simply stared coldly at his outstretched hand as if he was a leper, but the man now known as James assumed this was due to forgetting she was carrying a bag, he uttered a sorry at his perceived gaff and put the offending appendage away.
"Ryuu Lion." The Elf introduced herself in turn.
Don't crack-wise.
James had to hold back, after all, he wanted to make a good impression here, asking her if they were supposed to use their online usernames as a joke, would go terribly. But who would call their daughter that? Was she one of those poor victims seen on those screenshots of birth certificates?
"Nice- yeah, nice name. If it's not much to ask, could you help me out? You work at a tavern or something? I could wash dishes, peel potatoes." The man shuddered at what came next "I'll even clean the bathrooms…"
"Bathrooms?" Ryuu cocked her head slightly "What do you think a tavern is?"
"A place with lots of drinking and booze? What, do you just let your patrons leave if they need to relieve themselves? Seems like a missed opportunity to wring more drinks out of 'em."
"Then you mean a latrine."
"Yeah… that." James gagged a little. It really started dawning on him the kind of hell he was signing up for. There's a high chance they don't have indoor plumbing here, or a very rudimentary one. Emptying and cleaning rank chamber pots full of people's combined urine wasn't what he imagined he would do at any point in his life…
"Unfortunately, the establishment I work for only hires women-" The elf was cut off
"You work for medieval hooters?" James couldn't stop himself from asking. He didn't even know if he wanted to steer clear or see what it was like. Such was the duality of man…
Ryuu narrowed her sharp eyes at being interrupted again "I do not understand what you just said, but I'm assuming something filthy. Is this how you ask others for help?"
"Sorry! Really! It's been a long day and I use humor to cope!"
"We are currently in the early afternoon."
"Exactly!"
The elf was quieted from being roped into a punchline as James scratched the back of his head and tried to look anywhere but at the elf in front of him.
Finally, Ryuu restarted the conversation by pointing him to a means of securing a living "Joining a Familia could help your situation."
"You mean Ganesha Familia?"
Oh God, she wants me to join the mob? Looks sure can be deceiving, damn!
Having enough reservations about this to open a dozen Indian casinos, James bit the inside of his mouth.
"There are worse choices." Ryuu said "However, they have many members so they only recruit sporadically. There are also Familia that focus on crafting, smithing and agriculture. If a regular job is what you seek, you may find it among those."
Oh no, there are more!? Is this city being run by criminals!? No, no wait a minute, that's every single city ever.
James mulled over this new information. Clearly the Elf wasn't talking about organized crime syndicates. Familias seem to be a name for guilds or business associations.
"What's a familia? I feel like there's some miscommunication here." He finally asked, making Ryuu sigh and look up at the midday sky.
"I have duties to finish, so follow along if you want, I can explain as we walk." Not waiting for the man's reply, she turned on her heel and joined the flow of people walking to and fro.
James caught up quickly, and walked in step with the medieval hooters Elf "Thanks for being patient. I'm pretty sure people wouldn't have bothered this much back home." Noting the bag on her slim arms, James decided that offering his aid was a good way to start paying back this kindness "Oh, want me to carry that for you?"
"No need." Ryuu shot him down tersely.
The sun still shone bright in the sky when the elf stopped in front of a two story building, all the while she had diligently informed James of the intricacies of what a Familia was.
To surmise: Gods are real and among the living. James would be more than skeptic if someone told him this yesterday, however today this sounded like just the kind of bullshit that he'd be willing to believe.
These Gods, who have descended to the mortal realm, have established covenants with mortals and formed organizations that they call Familias. Basically, they got people to work and support them as they indulged in whatever fancy brought them to the mortal realm in the first place. Not at all like james had been picturing it, from the little he'd gathered anyway. Ganesha Familia was actually one of the most upstanding and beloved Familias in the city! And here was James thinking it was some Godfather thing.
"This is my stop." Ryuu said in front of the building.
James squinted at the wooden sign hung left of the wide entryway. "Hostess of… Fertility? Whoa, I can actually read here. False alarm Ryuu, it's just a different typeset when you really look at it." The man relayed to the woman before adding "Also, ouch, forget hooters, this sounds like the name of a strip club or a whor-" He stopped as he felt some intangible pressure coming from somewhere "- uh… house of ill-repute?"
"Are you trying to anger me?" Ryuu glared. No doubt about the implications the man just made with his words "I will not protect you if the owner or the others overheard you speaking ill of this establishment."
"Sorry…"
"Hn. Now, to finish, the biggest boon belonging in a Familia brings is the Falna: the blessing of the Gods, they brand those who join a Familia and imbue them with power above the realm of mortals. This is called "Status". And people with them are colloquially known as Adventurers"
Ookay… this is sounding rather familiar…
The elf continued "To increase one's status one must collect Excellia, the best way of doing so being to fight monsters in the Dungeon, located below Babel Tower, over yonder." Ryuu pointed at the massive tower in the middle of the city, one arm still holding her bag "Once collected, you return to your God and allow them to update your status makin-."
Hey, wait, Status Monster fighting collect "Excellia" Return to your God to use it to increase your Status…
"Oh, I get it! This is just like a Souls game if you think about it." James nodded sagely to himself, never minding the fact that the idea there would be a world that operated on those rules would exist was ridiculous. As of this moment, Orario was the Dark Souls of realities, simple as, according to this one single man.
"You… got it?" The Elf asked tersely, patience growing ever thinner.
"Yeah" James raised a finger "fight monsters" then a second "get their souls" then a third "bring them back to the Firekeeper and upgrade my stats, rinse and repeat."
Ryuu blinked at such a watering down of the process, more-so for the strange way he worded it 'Getting monster's souls and bringing them to the firekeeper?', though he seemed to have taken to such nebulous concept as Status rather easily, almost as if he had prior experience exploring this concept, implying he'd been having her explain things for nothing, to top this off, he had rudely interrupted her yet again.
"If you understood then leave, you've taken enough of my time." Ryuu stated and started making her way up the entrance steps before James called out to her.
"Thanks for your help, Ryuu." She looked back at him with a contemptuous look, glowering with indignation, or so the man thought, her poker face game was insane. "Oh, sorry! I mean, Miss Ryuu."
"Miss Ryuu Lion."
"I'm not calling you Miss Dragon Lion." James said sardonically before he realized he spoke aloud. He quickly turned to leave, raising a hand in a wave.
She's a nice lady.
Before he walked more than three steps he heard a high pitched cry from inside the Hostess "Nyan!? Ryuu was escorted home by a man!?"
He quickened his pace as he could almost feel the burning glare at his back, which never left him until he ducked out into a backstreet. He knew what was going to transpire. Cheeky banter and ribbing from her friend. Judging by how serious Ryuu seemed though, she probably wouldn't roll with it.
I think she might come to hate me.