The sky roiled and raged as the city I once called home burned. In the distance mountains heaved and cracked from the might of these otherworldly things that used our world as their battleground.
Rhytol was a small, relatively unimportant city, just far enough away from the imperial capital that I had hoped the fighting wouldn't reach us. Now, my mother and father were dead, as were my wife and our children, and countless others, collateral in a war we had no stake in.
Around us, the deafening cacophony of screams, apocalyptic battle, and the shrill cloisters of alarms blending together in a disorienting malaise as I directed fleeing citizens to the nearest escape ships, knowing it would do little good.
The world was ending, we all knew it.
We'd heard the reports that the entire western archipelago had been drowned, half a thousand islands swallowed beneath the boiling seas, while the capital had gone completely silent since this all began.
I had never been a pious woman. I knew our rulers were powerful, they controlled a whole planet, but I never believe them to actually be gods, but in that moment I prayed to them, to the emperor in particular.
I prayed for him to save us, his people, from this cataclysm, as it was beyond any mortal power to overcome this.
Above me something crashed into one of the buildings, a great writhing black mass of tentacles and eyes. It was a thing of madness and hatred, and the commonfolk who laid eyes on it were instantly driven mad, screaming insanities as they clawed at their own eyes.
I, on the other hand, was elevated as a member of the sentinel guard, I felt the madness try to take me, but my will was stronger. With my energy lance, I struck the thing down, not that it would've taken much, it was already oozing black blood from wounds suffered out there, from its real foe.
Even dead, it's influence could still be felt, I saw a child spewing such vile blasphemous things, then laugh maniacally as his own mother bashed his head against a wall repeatedly to save her mind from his defilement, knowing full well that it was a futile endeavor. The smile on her face, covered in her child's blood, was proof that the madness tainted her all the same.
I steeled myself and went to work, putting these poor mad souls out of their misery, lest they infect others.
Hours later, I had somehow made it out of the city and into the mountains, my uniform in tatters, my weapons beyond use, my power depleted. I had been wounded in the escape, blood seeped from the large hole in my side as I rested against a rock wall. This had not been how I pictured the day going as I left home that morning, bidding my wife and children goodbye as I went to work, now I was the only one left, and even I wouldn't last much longer.
In the far distance, I could make out the ruins of what has once been the capital, and I was just in time to watch a giant blade made of rage and light, and the size of a skyscraper plunge into the heart of my homeland, and shatter the center of our world. The ground itself heaved and shattered as the city was obliterated in a brilliant flash of fury and power.
I knew better than to hope there might be survivors. I knew better than to hope.
Then, in the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of something. A flicker in the moon that hung in the sky, like something awakening. Something truly powerful.
I dropped to my knees, manic laughter escaping my lips as tears fell freely from my eyes, I lifted my hands to the moon.
"You have answered my prayers, my king!" I cried, "you will save us from this nightmare, I offer you my life, Emperor Lo–!"
I did not get to finish as from the moon came a blinding light that engulfed everything. In my last moment, all I felt was peace.
SO MANY YEARS LATER...
It was as normal a day as any other in the Hyrell forest, Tetra was out exploring along with her twin sister, Petra, and their friends. The werebeast village of Rondel, where they came from, was right at the edge of the forest, not far from where the kids currently found themselves.
The forest was a natural wonder, supposedly old even during the age of the ancients, with dense vegetation and abundant flora. It was an almost magical place, always alive with the buzz of nature.
"C'mon, Tetra," one of the kids said, "tell us, what skills would you have if you could pick anything?"
"I can't tell you, Kylo," Tetra blushed, "you'd think it's stupid,"
"No stupider than Caleb wanting a skill that lets him spy on your mom changing," Kylo smirked, ribbing another of the boys
"I never said I wanted invisibility to do that," the young teen blushed
"Caleb, we all know that you're in love with our mom," Petra teased, "it's a little weird, but also kinda sweet in a way."
"I'm telling you, I don't want to have sex with your mom!" Caleb declared, rather over-enthusiastically.
"No one mentioned sex, but alright, if you say so," another of their group added, "but I total get it; their mom is hot."
Caleb groaned loudly, the blush on his face was still evident.
"Anyways," Kylo said, steering attention back to Tetra, "so, what your dream skill?"
"Fine," she said, "I would love to get a flying skill."
"Flying? That's all?" Kylo scoffed
"It doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but imagine being up over the clouds, like a harpy."
"We can't fly that high," their harpy friend, Ella, commented, "the only things that go above the clouds are dragons."
"See? I told you you'd think it was stupid," Tetra accused,
Before Kylo could respond, the din of the forest suddenly cut out into an unnatural silence, triggering the primal instincts within these animal-humanoids and putting them on alert. Suddenly, a blinding pillar of light erupted from the forest and shot into the sky.
"What the...?" Petra demanded, as the kids shielded themselves from the surge of wind that rushed passed them.
"Incredible," Tetra realized, "for such strong anima to be released... do you know what that means?"
"But we've explored these forests dozens of times," Kylo said, "we've never seen a hint at a vault before."
Vaults. The lasts remnants of the ancients left in this world. No one knew how many existed, or when one would randomly open up, but the opening of a vault was considered by many to be an omen of great change.
Even before the light could fade, Tetra and her friends were rushing towards it's source. They came across an unfamiliar clearing, at the center of which was a large square structure. On it was an ornate set of doors made of glossy dark stone, a fading glow coming from the golden designs engraved onto it.
"I can't believe it," Petra exclaimed, "we actually found a vault!"
"I wonder what we'll find inside?" Caleb asked as they approached cautiously.
The doors rumbled as they slid apart, groaning loudly as air rushed in the widening entrance, filling the vacuum within.
"We need to tell someone," Kylo said. Vaults could hold anything; sometime priceless treasure, sometime relics of the ancients, and sometimes, though rarely, powerful and dangerous new types of monsters just waiting to tear whoever was outside apart.
For a tense several moments, nothing happened. Then, they heard the slapping echoes of bare feet on stone as a small figure emerged from the vault.
Tetra wasn't sure what to expect, but she was still caught by surprise when a man walked out of the vault, naked as the day he was born. He looked around dazed and confused, as if he was sleepwalking.
It was at that moment that they heard the loud high-pitched screeching. In the sky above, a wild gryphon descended, drawn to the release of power from the vault.
The teens went pale, wild gryphons were dangerous, only higher level users could defeat it... which they were not.
As the large beast landed before them, drool leaving from its beak as it glared at them, no one even noticed the naked man rush forward. In an instant, he tore through the gryphon, killing it before it was aware of his approach, and now he stood before the slain beast, his hands stained in its blood.
He settling his eyes on the teens before him, studying them curiously, as if trying to tell whether they were real or not, then his focus shifted, staring off into space before speaking in a strange language, then stumbling over and falling to the ground with a thud.
Petra, ever the sweet compassionate girl that she was, rushed to check on him before anyone could hold her back, "he's passed out."
The others came over to inspect him as well, finding him to look fairly human, except he didn't smell human.
"Why's he naked?" Ella asked, her eyes travelling down his body.
"Nevermind that," Tetra said, "why did he come out of a vault?"
"How did he kill that gryphon so easily?" Caleb demanded.
"He doesn't seem to be hurt anywhere," Petra said, "what should we do?"
"We need to tell someone." Kylo decided.
The others nodded in agreement as they began carrying the strange man back towards their village.
* * *
Darkness. That was all he remembered. He had been in that darkness for what felt like an eternity and an instant. Then, all of a sudden, there was a brilliant light before him that got brighter and brighter until it was blinding. That light was a door, a way out of... whatever this was.
When he walked out he found himself in a forest, some distance ahead of him were six youths who... did they have animal ears and tails? And did that one girl have bird wings? It all felt so surreal, he was sure he was in some sort of dream, but it all felt so real, too real in fact. He remembered killing something, though that might've been a dream.
As he was still trying to tell if he was dreaming or not, a chime went off in his head and a holographic window appeared before his eyes;
[CONGRATULATIONS NEX LOKI! YOU HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY AWAKENED INTO THIS NEW WORLD! YOU ARE NOT YET FULLY SYNCHRONIZED WITH THE WORLD, BUT YOUR EXISTENCE IS COMPATIBLE. YOUR ANIMA AND STATS HAVE BEEN ADJUSTED; YOUR DIVINE AUTHORITY AND OTHER PRIVILEGES HAVE BEEN LOCKED. BEST OF LUCK IN THIS NEW LIFE!
-ADMIN 0.]
{What the f@£k...?} was all he could say.
Nex Loki? Was that his name? It seemed familiar to him, but foreign at the same time. Also, 'anima' and 'stats', he recognized those terms somehow. They were part of the system mechanics for... what was it?
He felt like he should know all this, but his head was all fuzzy, and everything was spinning. Was it supposed to do that?
His body felt incredibly heavy all of a sudden and he fell to the ground. The last thing he saw before passing out was one of the animal humanoids rush towards him.
* * *
His dreams made as much sense as the rest of his life. He dreamt of a grand, opulent chamber with nine thrones arranged in a circle facing a large fire in the middle. Then he saw living darkness and a thing with many eyes looking at him with madness and hatred.
When he came too, he found himself in a room he didn't recognize. He was on a bed, and for whatever reason he could sense that there was someone else in the room.
He sat up, groaning looking around. The room was mostly bare, just the bed and a desk. His eyes focused on the other person, who was sitting on a chair not far from the bed.
He regarded her. She was an older woman, looking in her early to mid forties, definitely older than he felt. She had wolf ears sticking out of her thick brown mane of hair. Her eyes were a deep teal color, alert and sharp, watching him closely.
She was a rather attractive woman, with a buxom figure and more than a little muscle mass from how her arms looked. She was dressed in a sleeveless blouse and a long skirt. Across her lap, her tail rested, brown and shaggy, yet meticulously groomed.
She spoke in a language he did not recognize, but within seconds, he found he could comprehend her.
"...ank goodness you're finally awake," she seemed to be saying, "you were out for a whole week."
"Uh," was all he could manage, staring at her animalistic features.
"What?" she huffed, "never seen a werebeast before?"
Werebeasts, was that was her kind was called?
"Um, where am I?" He asked, speaking her language automatically, "what happened?"
"You're in our village," the woman said, "I'm Sara Clawthorne, one of the village elders. Some of our youths found you in the forest, naked and dazed."
"Naked?" He asked, confirming it with one quick check under the sheets.
"Yes," Sara said, "can you tell me your name? Do you remember it?"
He responded without really thinking, "Uh... Nex Loki." That was the name that screen had called him and it sounded right to him.
"Hmm, a rather unusual name," Sara said, "So tell me, Nex-"
"Uh, Loki, please," Loki interrupted,
Sara furrowed her eyebrows, "alright, Loki, so how did you end up in the middle of our forest?" she asked
"I don't really know. I remember a deep darkness, like I was asleep, the next thing I know, there's this flash of light and I find myself here."
"Sounds rough," she comments, "so what are you?"
"Come again?"
"While you were out, we tried an appraisal on you because your anima certainly wasn't like that of a normal human, but you were shielded. Was that the effect of some sort of skill or what?"
"You appraised me?" He wondered.
The fog in his mind lifted a little, just enough for him to remembering some things. He now knew that anima was a form of power present in all things, it was unique to each individual and was what allowed them to utilize special abilities called skills.
"Of course," she said, "you showed up naked outside of a newly opened vault and killed a gryphon with your bare hands, we wanted to know what you were,"
"Wait... a vault?" Loki asked, "what's a vault?"
Sara looked incredulous, "Seriously, you've never heard of a vault? The huge tombs left behind from the time of the ancients? According to our witnesses, you came out of one."
Loki just looked at her, confused, he couldn't really recall anything from hearing her explanation. Maybe it was something he didn't know.
"I was in one of these vaults?" Loki asked, wondering how he got there.
Sara studied him, "you're not joking, are you?" She asked, realization dawning on her, "you really have no idea what a vault is?"
"Not really, no," Loki replied honestly
"But you knew about anima, and skills," Sara noted, "you recognized those terms, you even understood what I meant by appraisal."
Loki shrugged,
"I need to convene with the village chief, and the other elders about this." she mused to herself. "Wait here,"
She obviously had her suspicions.
"Not like I can go anywhere without clothes." He quipped, earning a soft chuckle from the older woman.
After she left, Loki took a deep breath. Since he woke up, he'd felt off; not entirely himself. He knew that there were massive gaps in his memory –almost all of it was gone—, but those gaps were slowly being filled with knowledge that came to him just as he needed it, but his deeper memories of his identity still eluded him.
He figured he was acclimating to this world, just like the welcome screen had said. His body felt more solid the longer he was awake, more real. He was becoming more a part of this world.
While he came to terms with that revelation, something new came to mind.
"System Access." He commanded in his mind, deciding to trust this new epiphany, and a holographic window appeared before him;
[STATUS]
Name: Nex Loki
Race: prime titan (fallen)
Sex: male (fluid)
Karma: neutral
Condition: wary
Jobs: N/A
Affiliation: N/A
Level: 2
Tier: Irregular
HP: 100.00%
Anima: 100.00%
Points: 50pnts.
[SKILLS]
Appraisal; Devil's Luck; Designer; Faker; Heresy; Hero's Fortune; Iron Flesh; Iron Will; Longevity; Opportunist; Recovery; Shapeshifting; Survivor; Trace; Universal Translator; Word is Bond;
[EQUIPMENT]
N/A
[TITLES]
Irregular; 1st Heretic; REAWAKENED; EXHIBITIONIST;
[CLAN]
(Locked. Conditions not met)
[OPTIONS]
Inventory(Locked. Conditions not met)
Map(Locked. Conditions not met)
Messages(1)
[OBJECTIVES]
Welcome (complete)
Find Shelter (complete?)
Find clothes (...)
Apparently he had quite a number of skills available to him, though they looked to be passive race and class skills. The two new titles gave him pause, but given his current situation he begrudgingly accepted them.
As he stared at his system window, he noticed that he had a new message. Telepathically opening it, he was greeted by a new message window;
[HI, LOKI. HOW ARE YOU ENJOYING THIS WORLD SO FAR?
YOUR PRIVILEGES AND LEVEL HAVE BEEN RESET, SO YOU HAVE TO START FROM THE BOTTOM, LIKE ANY NEW USER. AS YOU HAVE DISCOVERED, YOUR MEMORIES ARE SLOWLY COMING BACK AS YOUR COMPATIBILITY WITH THE WORLD INCREASES, SO TOO WILL YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED, AND EVENTUALLY YOU WILL FIGURE OUT WHO YOU WERE AND WHAT YOU DID TO GET HERE.
I KNOW THIS ALL SEEMS UNFAIR, BUT I AM NOT A CRUEL ADMINISTRATOR, SO I'LL LET YOU IN ON A LITTLE SECRET; YOUR VALKYRIES ARE SOMEWHERE OUT IN THE WORLD. WITH THEM YOU CAN REGAIN YOUR SEALED PRIVILEGES AND EVEN LEVEL UP FASTER. ALSO DO SOME ERRANDS FOR ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU ALL SORTS OF NEAT PERKS AND REWARDS. INTERESTED?
Y OR N]
The Valkyrie? Who or what were they? Loki got the disntinct impression that they were important to him, though he couldn't remember why. But the very fact that they were here somewhere made him want to find them, to have something familiar with him.
He stared at the message and selected the Y option. The message changed;
[I KNEW I COULD COUNT ON YOU. THE VILLAGE OF RONDEL IS A NICE PLACE. I'M SURE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LEVEL UP IN SUCH AN ENVIRONMENT. YOUR FIRST TASK IS TO REACH LVL.100.
YOUR REWARD FOR THIS WILL BE A SURPRISE FROM ME. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT. ; )
-ADMIN 0.]
Loki stared at the message, not sure if he could trust this Admin 0.
"I'm already at level 2, probably because I killed a gryphon, like Sara said." Loki mused, "So I just need to reach level 100? How hard can it be?"