Peregrinus In Paradiso

Chapter one: Awakening

In the world of Gamindustri There was once peace, until 'it' arrived. A treacherous serpent, whose honeyed words persuaded the very gods "she who is last to fall shall become the one true ruler". its words rang through their minds, and the four sought the throne, ascending to the heavens to do battle, each desiring to rule as the one above all. Each was powerful, being able to perform miraculous feats of strength, one alone held the power to wreak havoc across the entire world should they wish. Their war waged for 100 years, leaving humanity to fend for themselves. before three of the four descended, neither victorious nor defeated, but all exhausted. The three that returned focussed on regaining their strength, aiding their people in return for their faith, which empowered them. However, out of the four that returned one didn't, the purple did not descend with her sisters, instead going missing, never returning to her people, leading them to believe that she had forsaken them. In the goddesses' absence the serpent spread its influence, weaving the essence of darkness into the very souls of humanity, desiring despair above all else. By creating unholy relics that birthed monsters, it would see its dream through.

"Do not forget, stranger, your mission."- ?

The first thing I saw when I awoke was a star-filled night sky, a sky I don't remember sleeping under. In fact, when I tried to remember how I got here, I drew blanks, I had almost no memories, no thoughts of family, nor friends, but enough knowledge to know where I laid was unfamiliar. I could feel a great sense of panic start to set in before being suppressed, as I instead chose to focus on my surroundings, I could worry about my memories, or lack thereof when I knew I was safe. The area I was in seemed to be a field, lush grass covered the ground beneath me, and I could see trees in the distance, all in all not the worst place to wake up in...

Thanks to the light of the moon, I was able to see, albeit barely. with that limited vision I decided to explore my surroundings, walking towards the trees in sight. luckily for me That decision seemed to be the right one, as when I had reached the trees it had started to rain, with the trees providing adequate shelter I was able to continue my exploration without getting soaked, something I deeply desired to avoid. During my search I had come across some manner of animal, it looked like a mix between a generic fantasy slime and a cartoony dog.

'Strange that I know what those are' The beast lacked threatening features, so I decided to approach it. however, as my hand reached out to touch the animal it 'spoke', "dogooo!" it shouted before launching itself at me. Despite being surprised at the things' sudden action I managed to dodge to the side, leading to the creature launching itself into the tree behind me and to my surprise, shattering it to splinters. It was then the panic I almost lost myself to earlier returned. I had to deal with this thing. This monster that could shatter trees in an instant, was right in front of me, staring directly into my eyes. And I was absolutely helpless. The terror coursing through me would've paralysed me, it should of.

Can't have this now, can I?

But it didn't.

For some reason mere moments after the panic set in, it was gone as if it never existed, and I found myself thinking clearly.

'It would seem its appearance is deceiving, that begs the question, how am I going to deal with it? I could try running away, but it would simply run after me, I could stand and fight, but I have no weapon.'

While I was distracted by my own monologue, my opponent struck, launching itself at me once again, however unlike last time, I was distracted. Allowing it to get closer, giving me no time to dodge. When the beast was within a hairs' breath of me however, my body reacted, seemingly on its own. My hand thrusted outward towards where my opponent was and, in an orange-gold flash there appeared a sword. due to my foe's attempted attack, it ended up skewering itself upon it. Then to add to my confusion the monster disappeared in a flash of binary code, leaving nothing but a few coins behind, it seems I had somehow summoned a weapon and killed my enemy.

'How convenient' Once I picked up the coins dropped in my foe's defeat (stuffing them in the pockets of the trousers I was wearing), I studied the weapon in my hand. It was a sword, bigger than a longsword but not as big as those massive weapons from fiction, and seemingly made from a form of energy, judging from the orange-gold colouring and the glow it produced. Its blade felt unnaturally sharp, as if it were made to cut through everything in its path. Its design was regal as if it were made for royalty. An oddly specific description, but an accurate one.

Wanting to test my newfound weapon, I stabbed it into the grass-covered earth beneath me with little to no resistance and let go of its elegantly designed handle. to my surprise the weapon disappeared shortly after I released it from my hold, leaving me weaponless once again,

but not for long.

'It appeared when I was about to be attacked, when I was in a state of panic...perhaps if I were to focus on that feeling...' As I had suspected, my state of panic had summoned the blade, for once I had focused on that feeling, the sword appeared in my hand once again. Being curious I tested if panic was the only thing that could summon it, to make a long story short no, it wasn't, by simply imagining the weapon in my hand, it would appear, ready to strike down anything that got in my way.

'With a weapon at my disposal, I should be able to handle any more of those monsters, should I come across any during my exploration' And so, I continued with my search, now armed.

/

After a few hours of exploring, I exited the sea of trees I was once in and came across a village of sorts, the place was moderately sized and seemed to have a few guards out on patrol, considering it was still almost pitch-black and with monsters like that slime-dog thing prowling about and being deceptively deadly, it made sense. Despite the guards being attentive, they seemed to think nothing of me, as they allowed me passage into the town without so much as a passing glance of acknowledgment.

In contrast to the time of night, the village was well lit, streetlamps abundant enough for me to be able to see perfectly. As I wandered through the village streets I passed by regular, normal-looking houses that were almost all dark, no doubt due to the resting residents that lay inside, after passing a few of those however I came across a much bigger building with a sign above its door. 'Inn,' huh...'

Despite its obvious and unoriginal name, said inn looked well kept, and once I stepped inside, I confirmed the same. After noticing its generic inner structure (a few tables and chairs as well as a reception desk) I approached the counter and the lady behind it. "Excuse me miss; I'd like to rent a room." While the lady looked ready to fall asleep, my words seemed to wake her up, her once vacant eyes lighting up in recognition of my statement

"a room for one I presume?" she asked, eyes staring seemingly through me 'I suppose with how late it is; I can't expect her to be all that attentive' "Correct miss, if there are any left of course, I am well aware of how late it is." She seemed to sigh in tedium, perhaps she's had a long day? "We have a few single rooms to spare, that will be 10 credits." 'So, these "credits" are this area's currency then? I presume those coins those monsters dropped are what she's referring to.'

Fortunately for me I came across multiple monsters on my way here, including my initial foe, leaving myself with quite a few credits. Said currency took the form of gold-coloured squarish coins with numbers imprinted on them, probably denoting its value, each monster gave me 5 credits each and I managed to kill quite a lot of them with ease thanks to my sword being so sharp, leaving me with a decent number of the currency. After collecting the required amount from my pockets (one of the many on my trousers filled with the currency), I handed them to the receptionist, who then gave me a key with a label showing the number of the room I would be staying in. Once I had paid my fee and obtained my key, I found my room. I then opened the door, entered, shut the door, then flopped on the provided bed in exhaustion.

Despite the monsters being easy to kill, my lack of a sheath for my weapon meant I had to dispel it each time I was done using it. The act of repeatedly summoning my weapon coupled with the number of monsters I had to fight meant I was mentally and physically drained, leaving me in my current exhausted state.

After my body laid fully atop the bed, I was out like a light.

I was dreaming, that much I was certain. I was in a bed, but a different one than the one I fell asleep in.

Wake up # =%, or you'll miss the bus!

There was a voice, female to be precise.

Crap! I'm gonna be late! See you later mum!

The words came out of my mouth. a mother? my mother?

Bye son! see you when you get home!

I was walking out a door, running to be specific.

/ ~*&^£$%

Then I awoke

I was sweating, whatever that dream was, it had an effect on me. It felt familiar, nostalgic even, yet it also felt foreign for some reason. 'Was that...a memory?' Whatever it was, it could wait. It might be important, but I had a lot to learn about this place, its history, time scale, culture, the place I was in was unfamiliar territory, as such I had to learn as much as I could if I was to live in it. Once I had fully awoken and completely recovered from my stupor, I cleaned myself up (using the provided shower, towel and toiletries) before getting dressed in my previous attire (a pair of black tracksuit bottoms and a navy-blue shirt), afterwards deciding to leave my room to explore the village.

During my outing I had discovered a library, which I swiftly entered, eager to read about the world I woke up in. since the act of reading the library's books was free (provided I stay within the building and return the books to their proper shelves) and the books were in a language I understood, I was able to learn a lot about the world around me.

The world itself was called 'Gamindustri' and was comprised of four separate unique landmasses, called 'Lowee','Lastation','Planeptune' and the one I was on, 'Leanbox'. Each landmass was vastly different to each other, Planeptune was known for its futuristic theme owning up to its title as 'the land of purple progress'. Lowee was known for its fantasy theme and constant snowfall, owning up to its title as 'the land of white serenity'. Leanbox and Lastation also had their own claims to fame, being their vast plots of prosperous land and a steampunk theme. Like the other two, they had their own titles Leanbox was known as 'the land of green prosperity' while Lastation was known as 'the land of black regality'.

'How curious, each land has its own colour scheme'

As I read more, i came to understand that each of the landmasses was ruled by a separate goddess that their respective residents worshiped. According to the book there were cases of people who didn't, but all I could find on the topic however was that those people were shunned for it, the act of heresy wasn't illegal per say, but it was definitely frowned upon.

The four goddesses followed the landmass's naming convention, with Black Heart ruling over Lastation, White Heart ruling Lowee, Green Heart ruling Leanbox and finally the goddess Purple Heart ruled Planeptune. the goddesses usually resided in Celestia, a realm that existed above the mortal plane, but they could (and according to the book, have frequently) visited the mortal realm, usually to converse with their oracles. who were the ones in charge of relaying the word of their goddess. The oracles resided in giant buildings at the centre of each landmass as well as the outer rims in the four cardinal directions. The buildings were called 'Basilicoms', which served multiple functions. including acting as a place of worship as well as an area where one could travel to the other landmasses (when they were close enough to do so).

Once I had finished reading up on history (placing the book on it correct shelf), I had a look at a book labelled 'an adventurers guide to adventuring' which as the name suggested, was a book detailing how to be an adventurer. To summarise, there existed guilds which gave quests to adventurers, said quests were requests either from the public or government officials and covered everything from monster slaying to finding specific items such as rare ore. To be an adventurer, all you had to do was sign up at any of the guilds, by paying a small fee one could obtain a guild membership card, which labelled the holder as a registered adventurer and enabled the holder to do quests. As one would expect when someone does a quest they are rewarded, usually with credits, however, there have been cases of the payment being something else, such as a rare item.

The guilds had a ranking system from S to F for both quests and the adventurers that took them, by completing multiple quests of their own rank, an adventurer could rank up, making themselves eligible for higher ranked quests.

'Considering I need to make myself a living and my currently known abilities being combat-based, I suppose becoming an adventurer would be the correct action to take'

While the inn room I slept In the previous night was good enough for those that were exhausted, it wasn't all too great once you were wide awake and aware of its downsides, the lack of food and the low-quality mattress being two of them, if I wanted to live comfortably, having my own home would be ideal.

Once I had felt I gained enough information, I made my way to the guild. since it was one of the bigger buildings in the village, it wasn't that hard to spot, that and the sign outside the building read 'guild' in big bold letters. apparently 'simple' was how the people of this village lived.

Once I had identified my desired location, I entered the building and approached the counter and by proxy the woman behind it. The lady was in the far back of the room, almost being obscured by all the people sitting on the stools and around tables. "Hello, miss, I'd like to register as an adventurer" I said in the politest tone I could muster, hoping to make a good first impression. "Okay sir, just fill out these forms, then pay the fee" she said simply, as if she wasn't all there. 'Maybe there's something on her mind'

The forms themselves were simplistic, requiring my name, age and any prior experience I had dealing with monsters. However, considering my amnesiac status I had to make up a few things, after a bit of improvising, an educated guess as well as detailing my fight with those monsters the night before, I had my forms completely filled out. Once I had given back the forms as well as my fee, she went to the room behind the counter for a few minutes before coming back with my guild card.

The card was a dull grey, made up of a thin sheet of steel that had my information inbedded into its surface.

Name: Zed Lux Nati

Age: 17

Rank: F

The name I chose felt familiar, though for all I knew I could've been the name of someone I used to know rather than my own. But it was something, and something was better than nothing.

Since I could now complete quests, I decided to check out the request board, which had numerous quests from ranks F- A. considering I had just registered and was only an F rank there were few quests that I could take. Wanting to start small anyway, I decided to take a 'Dogoo' slaying quest, when I asked for a description of the monster, the receptionist gave a description that was a complete match for those monsters I had encountered the night before. 'at least this shouldn't be too tasking'

Since I was already aware of the general location of my target, finding them was easy. I just entered the woods I had searched through yesterday and after a few minutes of searching, I found my prey, a group of 5 Dogoos, unlike last time however, I was more prepared and wanted to practice with my weapon. Recalling my previous fight I began to think.

'I was able to summon one sword, maybe I can summon more?'

With sword in hand, I tried to imagine another and to my surprise another did form, unlike the first however, it didn't form in my vacant hand, instead it formed behind me, floating behind my back. A flick of my empty hand's wrist however showed that I could control them telekinetically, as when I flicked my wrist forwards the blade followed, slashing forwards in the same motion my wrist did.

After a bit of practice, I realised I could have 3 blades summoned at once, each able to be moved by telekinesis. With three times the weapons I had last time my enemies stood no chance. "Come! pitiful creatures! entertain me!"

After my confident battle cry, I quickly dispatched my foes. Each swing of my regal blades rendering them into binary code. Once they were no more, I picked up the credits they left behind and made my way back to the guild.

Through some means unknown to me, the guild tracked my quest progression, as when I attempted to converse with the guild receptionist about my victory, she simply nodded her head and gave me the reward, stating that she knew already the second she saw my guild card (which I gave on her request). 'Once again, how convenient'

After that event, the rest of the day sped by due to me dedicating my time to questing. One of my quests involved saving a child from a group of cat-like beasts after the kid had attempted to run away from home, another involved finding and delivering some herbs to the local apothecary.

By the time I had completed those two quests (obtaining a few credits and a few "Thank You's" as rewards) night was about to fall, being hungry I decided to visit a local restaurant for food before making my way back to the inn for a days' rest.

END OF CHAPTER

Wheels are in motion, Fate is set.