Chapter 1: A Humble Picnic

The breaking skin and dry calluses of the man sitting by the fire he created to keep him warm during the night mingle with the wooden instrument he's playing and cause a numb pain in his hands and thigh. Humming tunes he remembers from his youth and from the era that has long since passed for him. Songs he used to know with such familiarity, now reduced to vague tones and melodies as he just hums along. Shifting along the lute as if it were a guitar, holding it like a Balalaika, the music he played filled the silent calm in the forest. Perhaps were another time, another world, some soul would find their way to the campfire and sit down. How he yearned to hear stories again, freely talk about how oppressive life was with another. To return to the many zones he had been in as a mercenary. For him, certain ships had sailed, unfortunately. Stuck in another world with no way home and no purpose to fulfill. The world being oppressively hostile towards men, even more so than the previous world. He thinks back on his exploits in this world, then sighs in relief, thinking back on his misadventures early into his life. He was still so young, even nearly a century after the fact, hopefully he can retire from life peacefully. He checked his device on his wrist before laying to rest next to the fire. He put on a gas mask so he would be fine from the Alraunes that bloom around this time of year. He's heard the rumors from the villagers that those monsters steal men away with their fragrances. He was prepared against miasma, surely the filters would save him from sleepwalking to them in his sleep. He trusted his filter as he closed his eyes against the dirt road, the fire burning out slowly with the sense of unease leaving him as he entered the realm of dreams. He sat in a familiar field, recognized the flags that flew over the compound. Remembered the horrid memories of that day. He knew it was a dream, but also knew there was nothing to change in them. He already tried so many times, over the many years. He sat in a corner and decided to not participate in the violence. He knew the outcome of the machine gun fire he was hearing was, already knew the men in the machine gun bunker were doomed to die, knew that ultimately, there would be ten survivors and he'd be one of them by the time the skies rained hellfires and brimstone. He closed his eyes in the dream and tried to ignore the shrieks and cries and screams from his allies and the enemies. It didn't stop him from feeling the pain of that day, the loss and grief that still weighed heavily on his heart. The anxiety that built upon his shoulders in this world, too, held him in this state of melancholic status-quo. Soon, the dream ended and now he just stared into the endless void, now listening to the noises of the forest that seemed to quell his pained heart. As it got brighter, as dawn approached, he sat upright and gathered his things, setting out the smoldering pile of ash and cooling it so he could spread the ashes to the forest, so they could be used as nutrients once again. With the lute slung from his chest rig of deer-hide, he meandered down the forest trail, muffled breathing echoing as along he went. Back to the safety of his home.

The cabin was comprised of mostly mud bricks and what he could salvage of dead trees for structural support, to keep an earthly appearance and to hide from anything flying in the sky. A normal house would draw attention and so would a wooden cabin. Not to mention the possibility of encountering a Druid in the woods who isn't too keen on some random human cutting down trees for use as lumber. He has been fortunate, lucky that he had been never caught nor assaulted by any of the monsters let alone the monster girls of this world. Many of the stories he's heard alone were terrifying enough for him to be thankful for some technology from his original world being brought with him. Those stories made him more aware and perceptive of individuals now because of the reality of monster girls trying to blend in with society, sometimes outright changing their appearance to attract men to just within striking distance. He shivered at the thought as he entered the illusionary barrier, or perhaps his shiver was caused by the barrier he created long ago. Back during a darker time when he had his mortality tested through a near-death encounter with an air elemental, flying around in his Dauntless-reminiscent Fighter-Bomber he took to the skies with once upon a decade or five ago. Nearly missing it and getting into a mid-air collision. Even now, he's still fearful of the skies as mid-spring seems to be the harpy's mating season, which means every second he spent outside his humble home was spent unnecessarily rolling the dice in a bid that no wild harpy would eye him down. He took off his gas mask as he entered his home, finally relaxing a little as he counted his earnings and his things he bought from that village a good number of Kilometers away. In his journey southeast, he just happened upon this clearing, realizing that it was quite perfectly in the middle of nowhere. Where no one would disturb him, nor his way of living, nor force him to do whatever they wanted. Free of responsibility, free to rot away in seclusion. . . free. . . 'What was it all worth in the end? A wandering mercenary turned masquerading hero to a flying legend. Now a grounded simpleton seeking to secede from the world.' his mind wandered with many unanswered questions, questions which he didn't have the answer to, questions he himself could never answer on his own. 'What a hero I am, valiantly cowering in a mud bunker.' he judged himself. At least now he could no longer bother anyone, could no longer bear responsibility anymore. Mayhaps, he can peacefully die alone and peacefully. Once again, he shivered at his thoughts. He clasped a clenched fist over his chest and heaved a few deep breaths. The thought hurt him to his core, dying alone. Dying with no purpose given to him other than a failed teleportation experiment. Thrown into another world haphazardly, one far more dangerous than the one he left. He breathed deeply, at first he tried to sigh to calm himself but it ended up being a series of deep breaths in a vain effort to calm himself. Although he didn't want to be isolated like this, he really didn't have much of a choice, not anymore.

'Now that I really think about it, I never really had much of a choice about anything since that failed experiment. I suppose fate can be that cruel, huh?' he contemplated when all of this began, when he lost his freedom. He felt heavier in this moment, slumping over onto his bed. He was at least grateful that he managed to create a comfortable bed out of wool, feathers, and some kind of casing for it. It was comparable to sleeping on some kind of pillow, but ultimately, he wrapped himself in his cloak he draped himself in. A somewhat comfortable blanket and somewhat comfortable bed made him relax further, the ground was as brutal on his feet as it was for his sides and neck. At least the durable bag he brought with him joined him in one piece into the other side of the teleporter. He looked at it as it hung from the wall, barely remembering how to read his own name printed in Cyrillic on a little name tag tab. "Alexiye" he reminded himself aloud, "Sniper and Medic. . . I always found it funny that I specialized in people in general, taking a life quickly and saving a life quickly." he chuckled slightly, a smirk pursing his lips. It was a pyrrhic smile as he remembered a lot of his old work as a sniper. Many deserving on the other end of his muzzle, multitudes more not deserving on the other end of his muzzle and scope. He heaved yet another sigh before nuzzling into his bed, trying to sleep off this pain. The daylight outside did not help his case. However he forced himself to sleep, in his state of mind, it would not be clear enough to pick up any signs of being spotted. Harpies were incredibly fast and agile, and no less were the Air Elementals. Along with anything else that could fly, in his mentally unstable state, he didn't want to risk anything, and so he risked nothing at all. As his body was forced into slumber, his dreams were once again screams he was all too familiar with by this point. Different setting, different faces, same outcome regardless of his actions, so he once again just sat in a corner, clutching his rifle. Soon too would this dream be over and a new one starts, again with the insufferable screams. By his third dream as he slept through the night, he became incredibly annoyed. At least by now he learned how to control himself in the dream world and became capable of independent movement from the dream. He quickly became annoyed with the screams so he just started shooting everyone who was screaming to give him some calm. In the moment he would've never done this. The reality was he did participate in combat and all of this flew over his mind and put action into his steps, now he was so much as executing people who screamed over the gunfire and explosions. His ears rang with a muffled deafness to them as another explosion rocked the barrier he was leaning up against. The light vanished from the dreamworld skies yet the tracers glowed as embers in the twilight of dusk. Green and red bounced as their bullets ricocheted and glanced with sparks upon hitting metallic surfaces. Their hisses and cracks now even begin to annoy the grizzled veteran rather than terrify him.

Author's Note

Hello people! This is the first time I've ever published anything of mine before. This is also where I tell you I have only the most surface of surface-level understanding of the MGE world. On the one hand, I could easily get familiar with the world of MGE and Civilizations within. . . With that said, this story is not written with that in mind. I have made liberties with how I want this story to go, and also with certain things which will become apparent. This is just a beautiful brain-child of mine that I have been encouraged to share with the internet from a close friend. Feedback and Criticism is welcomed and if you all are interested in me continuing this story, let me know. I'd be more than happy to do so (because I already have done so).