A young man not a day past the age of twenty one stumbled out of the front door of a bar and onto the sidewalk of a nighttime upstate New York small city street. His steps were wild and shaky, and his short brown hair was messed up and swayed in all directions. His blue eyes were half lidded as he stumbled towards his truck, a yellow Hummer that was parked across the street. A red hue was on his cheeks as pleasant thoughts filled his mind.
The sounds of the night were heard all around. Rock music blasted from the window of some building far off in the distance, blurred by the occasional car horn and the sound of light traffic all around.
Following shortly behind were three young men of similar age and build. They were the young man's friends, Kevin, Tanner, and James. Each of them were various stages of drunk.
"Hey Blake, wait for us" Tanner, a tall athletic light skinned young man in a red Albany jacket and blue jeans with short parted blonde hair called out to the birthday boy from the middle of the small group.
"Yesh, wait up" Kevin, an average height track runner from the College Blake went to agreed, though his words were quite slurred. His long brown hair messed up and his face a dark shade of red from his complete intoxication.
"Someone's gotta drive the truck" Blake replied, his voice light and happy, lost in his intoxication. Pulling the keys from his pocket, he remotely unlocked the Hummer and fumbled with the door before entering.
Shortly after, his friends managed to get in. James, a short curly white haired pale young man almost falling on the ground. He couldn't handle the drinking the group had just undergone very well.
Starting up the Hummer, Blake put on some music from his IPod that was connected to the speakers and left the parking space and taking off.
Tanner Cheered as he lowered his window and stuck his head out as the roads breezed by. Kevin did so too. Blake ran quite a few red lights before they left the small city and out onto the open roads of upstate New York.
The trees and even a few fields blurred by as Blake drove back to the family Mansion. All in all, it was a great birthday that he had spent with his friends who had left their rides at the mansion.
However, he and his friends would never return home that night.
As the Hummer came up to a large automated drawbridge that was raising, Blake did the single dumbest thing of his life.
"Watch this!" Blake shouted and stepped on the gas, barreling through the guard bar and driving up the raising bridge. At the very last moment he second guessed himself and tried to stop, but it was too late.
Now much slower, the Hummer could not make the jump, and then fell down into the strong river current, sinking quickly into the wide and deep river.
Far too drunk to coherently escape the Hummer, let alone swim against the current, all four passengers drowned that night.
Blake opened his eyes and gasped for air as he desperately failed his arms before quickly realizing that he was no longer drunk or underwater. After his brief panic, his emotions quickly calmed as if some supernatural calm had rested upon his mind.
In fact, he had no idea where he was. As far as he could see was all white, and he seemed to be standing on the same white that encompassed everything.
Then, not longer later, he noticed someone approaching.
It was a man that looked in his late fifties that stood at six foot three and had a worn but healthy face that was slightly obscured by his long white and gold trimmed robe. He had a short well maintained white beard and a few white strands of hair poked down his forehead from his open hood.
A tall white staff with a large sapphire the size of a clenched fist at the tip gripped in an intricately crafted silver hand was held in his right hand.
"Greetings ancestor. I regret to inform you that you are dead" the man spoke with a voice that sounded very much soft but firm as he stepped lightly up to Blake.
"Yeah, It wasn't fun" Blake replied suppressing a shiver then asking a question.
"So who are you?" Blake asked, curious as to what was going on, the reality of his situation still not even beginning to process in his head.
"I am Lukas Silverhorn, your ancient ancestor and Diety of Travel, Food, Reincarnation and Merriment. Among others. I am here to offer you an opportunity you might find appealing" Lukas said with a smile.
"Wait a second. You expect me to believe that I am the descendant of a God? Why wasn't I told?" Blake asked, suspicious of this man.
"That is because I really shouldn't have held a relationship with a mortal who would sire my children over a thousand years ago. So I erased my presence from the Earth and traveled the cosmos. That and for my descendants protection" Lukas answered. He had lived for tillions of eons, long before this universe was even created, so the nuance of the present was largely lost on him.
Blake didn't know what to think, so he asked what first came to his mind.
"I should be freaking out right now and feeling something, but whenever a feeling is about to arise I just feel a calmness. Are you doing something to me?" Blake asked. He wanted to be indignant, but he just couldn't muster the feeling.
Lukas responded with a worried answer.
"Yes. I was worried for your mental state, so I am temporarily suppressing your trauma and negative emotions. I wouldn't want you to meet me scared and in pain. Forgive me if I am overstepping my boundaries. I can stop if you wish me to" Lukas explained, and Blake understood his reasoning, but it was still an overstepping.
Blake took a breath and asked another question.
"What happens from here on out? What about my friends, my family?" He asked, wondering just where he would be going from here on out.
Well, that's just what I was going to offer. You could reincarnate as a baby on Earth with your memories gone, or you could reincarnate in another world as someone else entirely" Lukas said, giving Blake an offer.
"Another world? What world?" Blake asked curious of what this God was offering him.
"I don't want to spoil it too much, but think of the mythologies of Earth and the pantheon you can remember, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, and many others exist there. It is very much a fantasy world. Remember playing Dungeons and Dragons with your little brother when you were younger? Well, think of it like that" Lukas said, giving a brief overview.
That was something that interested Blake and he replied.
"Go on" He offered.
"Well, I can reincarnate you in that world as yourself, or as your Dungeons and Dragons character, that artificer you played but you will have to start from level one" Lukas smiled, raising his staff for emphasis.
This was quite much for Blake to take in, but thanks to the negative emotion suppression he was under, he didn't worry and replied.
" If I have no other choices I will take my Character, just make sure my family and friends know that I am alright and that I love them, especially Kyle, he's gonna need someone to help him with me gone" Blake said after some thought.
"Of course, worry not" Lukas said before twirling his staff, and then Blake was gone.
AN: I subscribe to the R.A. Salvatore school of D&D where story always comes before stats, just to make things super clear on where I stand.