'And in my dreams, I could see it. A mystifying paradise. It was a realm beyond all imagination, where thousands upon thousands of worlds were nothing more than mere leaves of an ash tree of gold.
In it, I saw all kinds of life, from the ordinary mankind, to the nonhuman elves and dwarves, from the monstrous demons and dragons, the vile and abhorrent undead, to divine gods with wings aplenty.
Yet, this all paled in comparison to what I saw at that one moment before me.
A young lass, a descendant of the Heretic, one of the Elder Blood, was in audience with a being with a monstrous countenance, one who may bring even the Wild Hunt to tears from fear.
An abomination of pure bone, clad in robes kings and emperors could only dream of. In its hand, was a golden staff with which seven serpents of gold that carried jewels of incomparable value sat atop the staff's golden cup, from which the hideous visages of tormented souls would show, agonizing wails echo from them before they are snuffed out, as more and more misfortune spirits would involuntary contribute to the unholy choir.
It truly was according to the legends of old. A Destroyer would arrive from the Elder Blood. Yet, they seem to be false in how the End shall transpire, for the Destroyer will not be of the blood, but brought to our world by it as its herald.
And I pray… to any of the gods that might listen to my plea, that whomever this harbinger may be, that she will never suffer a happy life.'
– A Divinator's Guide to the End of the World
"Ugh, doing fetch quests is always a pain in my ass." A skeletal undead muttered to himself, his voice a tad bit contrasting to his fearsome visage, as he knelt down to the forest floor, gathering a bunch of herbs before they disappeared in his hands into motes of lights.
"If quests like these weren't quickly farmable, I would've just started fighting the Raid Bosses on my own just for the coin."
He uttered a small sigh as he finally stood up, a window opening up in front of him showcasing his current inventory, a wide array of items categorized in a chaotic mess only the undead could decipher.
"Let's see here… Five batches of hipokute herbs, three small bottles of dryads' sap, and… an overground rough crystal. Yep, that's it. Hopefully the requirements for the next quest are as easy as this one." The man chuckled as he closed his inventory, two digital clocks in his uppermost field of vision indicating the current time.
One of this wondrous realm, known only as YGGDRASIL, and the other belonging to the real world of Earth.
The man behind the undead mask, Suzuki Satoru, sighed as the clock reminded that he needed to sleep, otherwise he would be late to work tomorrow.
'I really wish time would pass slowly outside of YGGDRASIL, at least so I could spend more time here than there.' He grimaced as his mind wandered to the apocalyptic state of his world, to its smog-covered skies, to the ugly skyscrapers, to the corpses half dissolved by the acid rain and eaten by whatever mutated rodents that survived and evolved after the nuclear war.
It was Hell on Earth, quite literally at times during the summer, where the sun, though it was never seen nowadays due to the smog, its heat was enough to make stepping outside during the day dangerous, lethal even.
"I should just turn that quest in and leave, I think I now have enough gold to cover Nazarick's upkeep for the month. Here's to hoping there's no sudden invasion or something, farming for gold and materials is getting seriously boring to do again."
The man groaned as he scratched his skeletal head, a habit he picked up in the real world, before opening a [Gate] to the quest-giver's location.
Yet before he could, a flash of white opened up from above him in the crystal clear skies of Alfheim, and with it, a figure popped out from it as it began to fall to the ground, seemingly lacking any capability for flight or to ease their fall.
"What in the world?" Momonga whispered to himself before canceling the [Gate], instead casting [Fly] as he flew to the skies towards the falling figure.
Thankfully for both him and the mysterious person, he was able to catch them before they picked up a higher velocity, ensuring no damage or injuries befalling either of them.
'Haaah… I'd say whoever had the idea to implement physics in this game should be fired, but that would be something the shitty devs would instead be proud of.' The undead clicked his tongue in distaste as he began gently descending towards the ground, his eyes on the small figure in his arm.
'A human? Doesn't look like there's any illusion spell, and those clothes… an adventurer maybe? I can't see anything about her though, is she just an NPC or maybe a Player in disguise?'
The woman in his arms, with pale ashen hair and a scar running across her left cheek, was wounded… heavily.
And even that was putting it mildly.
"Oh Lord… if this was in a family-friendly game, the sight alone would've been enough to drown the Devs in lawsuits and shut down the game immediately… Let's see here, [Detect Enemy], [Life Essence]."
As the Player's spell took effect, a blue aura and a faint shimmering green aura surrounded the woman in his arms afterwards.
'Hmm, she's around level 25, with remaining HP around 10%, I think? Was she fighting someone with a higher level or was fighting a group solo? If she's a Player, then it would be a stupid rookie mistake, especially for a newbie. Though if she is a NPC…'
The undead with his free hand opened his {Inventory}, before pulling out a vial with a red liquid similar to blood inside.
He uncorked the bottle with his finger before spilling its contents on the woman, the effect night instantaneous as a warm bright aura enveloped her, and with it, her wounds began to mend immediately.
Momonga hummed as the effect was over before recasting his spell, seeing the woman's aura become a large bright green.
"That's good. Now then…" The undead began to try gently shaking the woman out of her state of unconsciousness.
"Miss, wake up." The man muttered as he tried waking her, alas it was to no avail.
"Haaah… At least this means that she's not a Player, or she would have woken up already. I would try to use one of my spells to wake her up, but I doubt it will do any good for the moment." The man uttered under his breath, feeling the woman shake slightly in his arms.
'Is this maybe a sudden rare quest of sorts? It does have the build up for something greater in the making…' The man groaned as before he could think anymore, he heard a ping that reminded him of the time, to be more precise, how late it is.
'Shit, I seriously have to go now, or I might not wake up on time tomorrow. I'll just leave her in that small hideout I have here in Midgard. I just hope that she doesn't leave and I get locked out of this new quest.'
With his mind set, Momonga opened a [Gate] to a location known only to him and a few others, and went through it to lay this new 'NPC' somewhere till he returns.
Running.
That was all that Ciri could do.
To run.
And run.
And run.
'Dammit! I can hear the hounds!' Ciri thought frantically as the sounds of the abominable hounds of the Dearg Ruadhri pursuing her became ever closer, their snarls and howls unignorable.
As she ran, she could feel it, the frost building up on the greenery around her as her own breaths became misty white clouds, only showing her that the Wild Hunt is getting closer at her heels.
'Come on, come on, come on, come o-!'
All of a sudden, something inexcusably foolish of her happened, as Ciri tripped on a tree's aerial root, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground.
"No, no, no, dammit!" She tried to immediately get up else the Wild Hunt would capture her. Alas, it was to no avail.
"Well, well, well... Hello, Swallow." The mocking voice of the Wild Hunt General, Imlerith, reached her ears, his disturbing and abnormally pleased tone of voice familiar to her ears.
"I'm disappointed that the chase is over so soon. Alas, our King wants you immediately, your bloodline must be continued, for the good of the Aen Elle."
"I… would rather… die." Ciri spat out, as she tried to get up again, yet her legs seemed to refuse her desperate plea for survival.
Imlerith chuckled, brandishing his mace as he stepped down from his steed, his footsteps near thunderous due to his heavy armour.
"I cannot grant you that, you are still needed alive after all, you dying or fleeing would disrupt His Majesty's plans."
As he got near face to face with her, he raised his weapon high above his head as he looked at her through his terrifying helmet's visor.
"But then again, you don't need your arms and legs to conceive a child of the Elder Blood, do you?"
A wave of fear washed over Ciri, the implications of what he would do striking a deep terror in her soul.
She wanted to run, teleport, scream, stand up and face him, anything, but her limbs betrayed her, and soon, they'd be also severed from her.
Thus, the darkness blinded her as the malevolent Wild Hunt commander's mace connected with her clavicle, a terrible bone shattering noise echoing afterwards.
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!"
A woman screamed as she got up immediately from wherever she was laying, her hand immediately touching her shoulder and arm frantically,as if checking for something.
"Haaaa… Haaaa… It… It was a dream?" Ciri whispered to herself, beads of sweat building up on her forehead as she found her arm still where it is supposed to be.
A wave of relief washed over her as she found all four of her limbs still connected to her torso, without any evidence of a mace having cleaved over any of them.
"Thank the gods… I thought that cruel bastard caught up to me…" A faint smile found itself on her face as she recalled her most recent close call with the Wild Hunt. They found her again on another world, and instead of immediately chasing, they laid out an ambush to try and capture her quickly.
Unfortunately, she caught up to their schemes and was able to escape, but barely with her life intact, as Eredin's loyal general chased her after inflicting various wounds on her, thankfully she was able to activate a gate to another world before she fell in the hands of the Aen Elle's Red Riders.
Speaking of which…
"Where exactly… am I?" Ciri looked at her surroundings, her eyes scanning everything to try and gleam any information that could help her discern her new location.
"Huh… My wounds… they got healed?" The first thing she noticed was her torn clothes, a result of her most recent encounter with the Dearg Ruadhri, yet for some reason, that was the only piece of evidence to prove that she faced and escaped Eredin's personally led group, except for her boots, which she wasn't wearing at the moment.
And her wounds, inflicted upon by her during the chase, were practically nonexistent. "Did a healer help me? Maybe an alchemist or a mage?"
Ciri understood that not all worlds have arcane powers present in them, yet the way her wounds were healed - with no stitches, scars or anything else to be found - made her believe that unless she was unconscious for several years, and was in the home of a rich altruistic master physician, it could only be a sign of magic or some other paranormal means being used to help her recover so quickly.
"And this place…" She removed her gloves as her naked hand caressing the near magically soft bed sheets of the large mattress she was just sleeping on.
The house she found herself in was quite massive, yet it didn't have any walls, with every part of the home being visible to her from where she was, except for a small, yet not that small, corner of the house, which she assumed was probably the bathroom. It was both lavish yet cozy, a large white wool rug was on the floor below her, made from an unknown creature she didn't see before.
On the other side of the house, was a kitchenplace filled with all sorts of innovations that she only found in the homes of the more lavish upper crust of the societies she visited in other worlds before.
A set of exquisite couches surrounded a large fireplace, made from a black stone-like material that complemented well with the dark coloured wood of the house.
On the far end of the home, there were double doors made from fine mahogany darkwood. With a large window on each side over two meters tall behind silk-like curtains.
"It's a beautiful home… but where is its owner?" For all the amazing sights in this place, the one thing that was missing in the picture was the unknown master of the place, who was nowhere to be found.
The woman slowly got off the bed, her legs wobbly due to disuse, leading her to lean on the walls for support.
As she slowly walked across the home while on the white wool rug, she took in the details of the home she was in; from the dust-free state of the abode, to the soft magic lights emitted from the small chandeliers above, and the homely scent of the place, that eased her nerves just by being close. It was fair to say that it was enough to relax Cori's tense muscles momentarily.
As she passed by the fireplace, she suddenly noticed a few photos on the shelf above the fireplace, the lights of the chandelier gently reflecting off of them as Ciri moved to get a closer look.
"These are… nonhumans? No… monsters?" Ciri slowly spoke in shock, taking in the sights of the varied figures in the photos, in each there seemed to be a celebration of a victory of sorts or just simple memories.
In some of the photos, there was a bipedal nonhuman with the head of a goat in quite the classy clothes reminiscent of some of the worlds she happened upon, his elongated claws and curved horns accentuated his evil appearance, which wasn't exactly hidden due to the evil grin he would always adorn himself in.
In some other photos, there was a knight in shining silver armour that seemed to emit divine light, a red cape with golden accents hung on his left shoulder, with a sword just as mesmerising as his armour in his right hand and a silver shield in his left.
In others, Ciri could see an unlikely pair of nonhumans, one was a large pile of sentient pink slime, who Ciri believed to be a female of whatever her race was due to her mannerisms in the photos and style of posing, She was holding two large mismatched shields in her hands(?) while leaning on one.
The other figure with her was a humanoid who seemed to be a bipedal bird creature, in golden armour that didn't exactly do a great job of protecting his body, evident by his naked torso, and a golden mask on his head that resembled that of an avian creature from its silhouette. He had a large golden bow that seemed to perpetually engulfed in sunlight, which he was aiming lazly to something out of frame while the slime was in front of him.
There were more and more monstrosities in the photos before her; from one who seemed like a burned human corpse with wings, with golden melted into his body, another who seemed like a bipedal octopus of sorts with a large bulbous head, and one who look like a sentient plant creature, adorned in white robes and a staff made from wood and some other unknown materials.
Yet, what Ciri focused on was one being who seemed to be in most of these magically taken photos, who looked eerily similar to the riders who've been chasing her across worlds.
It was a large skeletal figure, adorned in jet-black academic robes adorned with gold and violet edges, his chest, devoid of skin and flesh, was exposed, showing his large ribcage with a red orb sitting below it, that even from the photos made shivers go up the woman's spine.
The skeletal figure's skull was always the same, showing no emotion whatsoever no matter the photo, yet it didn't seem to bother the rest of the monsters in the photos with him, who wouldn't hesitate to hang their arms around his skull while looking at in front of them at whoever seemed to have painted these photos.
"Am… am I in the home of one of these monsters?" The thought was enough to send Ciri into a minor panic, the thought of falling victim to a monster now when she was escaping the Hunt all this time was extremely worrying.
Still…
"Why did they help me to begin with?" That was the question Ciri wanted an answer for, even if they wanted her alive for whatever reason, they could've at least chained her somewhere, instead of leaving her to the comforts of their home, or even did what Imlerith was about to do in her dreams, and break her limbs.
The woman moved towards the large window and pulled the curtains and opened the window, giving her a full view of the realm beyond the home she was now in.
"...Woah."
This was the only word she could muster as she saw the endless beautiful fields before her, a city in her peripheral vision with wondrous yellow lights emitting from it, akin to fireflies in the night. And above her, was an endless sea of stars as far as the eye could see, more than in any world Ciri was ever in, and a large white moon clearly seen up above.
It took her time to get used to the sights, so she could focus on other things, and when she did, a surprise was laid out for her.
When she opened the window and looked outside, she found out that the home wasn't built on solid ground, but rather, below it, inside a cliff overlooking the city nearby, with the door opening to a large stone ledge on the cliff wall that seemed to lead the walker to the solid ground above.
"This does seem like the hideout of one of the monsters in the photo… Though…" Ciri looked at the lavish furnishings of the home she was in once again, her eyes trailing each and every priceless yet complimenting part of the house. "This might be the most lavish hideout I have ever seen."
She sighed as she leaned on the window sill, gazing at the city nearby. "I think I'm safe from Eredin and his soldiers for now, but should I stay? I don't exactly know the agenda behind whoever that treated my wounds…"
Ciri looked at the scenery in front of her, silence permeating the home for a good while aside from the gentle sounds of the flames from the fireplace.
"I don't exactly have anywhere to go for now, and worst comes to worst, I can always try to open a gate to another world if I end up in danger." She nodded to herself as she closed the window, gently pulling the curtains close once more.
She slowly walked back to the bed, before falling headfirst on the soft pillow and the fluffy blanket she was tucked in with before.
"I'll just stay here… *yaaaawwwwn*... For a bit."
And with that, Ciri fell back asleep, exhaustion providing her ample reason to slumber for a good while.
A.N: And with that, the first chapter is done.
Ciri ends up in the World of Overlord, or to be more precise, in YGGDRASIL itself, as for why in there and not Suzuki's Earth, that would explored later.
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