I’m getting ahead of myself.

  My name is Rusty Sparrow. Believe me, I’ve heard it all before. Obviously, my full name is Russell, but everyone always called me Rusty, and with my mop of red hair, well, it just stuck. New start notwithstanding, I’m used to it now and kinda struggle being called anything else. Hell, when I played video games where you could create your own character I always tended to use my own name. Name’s are hard, you know.

  I’ve been here in Durrilan for, I dunno, somewhere around a year now, maybe more. It’s hard to tell, time doesn’t exactly the work the same here or for me now as it used to. I was thirty-two years old when I first got here, and a year has passed, more or less, in Durrilan, but I’m not sure if that’s how long has passed since I left where I was before. Which was London, England in the UK, on a mundane Earth. As in no magic or monsters, or heroes.

  Plenty of villains though. And bills. Oh so many bills.

  You see, I got here when I died.

  I know, it sounds like a crazy trip, and believe me, I felt just the same way about it all too. One minute, everything goes dark. I find myself feeling weightless, formless, floating in some weird in-between place. I can see a light in the distance. It almost looks like a tunnel, but I realise that’s wrong. The light is just far away and I’m floating on, or in, some kind of pool or something, wondering if I could get to it.

  Then suddenly there’s this frightening sensation of all movement stopping. You know like when turbulence starts on an airplane and your whole body is thrown but doesn’t really go anywhere? That sensation of weightlessness just before falling, like when you dream of dropping out of the air and wake up, that feeling that is over as quick as it started? Just like that, I was briefly just floating. Just…existing.

  Then suddenly I had that lurching feeling again as the world around me blurred.

  It was replaced by a formless sky, seemingly endless in every direction but down. In that direction, I could see what looked like a tiny map in the distance, getting rapidly bigger. It was almost like looking at something flat with drawings of landmasses and oceans, getting bigger in my line of sight at an alarming pace.

  But it didn’t feel like I was falling so much, as the ground was rushing up to meet me. But whichever way it was wouldn’t matter when I hit it would it? At this speed, from this distance, whether I was falling or it was moving up to me, I would be smashed all the same, and that was an experience I didn’t really care to repeat.

  Mountains started to resolve themselves in my line of sight, as the ground filled my vision in all directions. I couldn’t roll in the sky, I was stuck as though held facedown heading towards a meeting with the floor. I could turn my head though, and the coastal side of the landmass I was above was now long out of sight.

  The mountains started to surround me, and as I was this much closer to the ground, I could now see buildings and roads and stonework and roofs and more off to my left of my line of sight, the clarity improving by the second as it got closer and closer and closer.

  I flinched as I moved, or the world moved, to the point that the tallest roof was now beside me, then obscured by a blur of dark greens and shadows, before my eyelids slammed shut as I turned my head away. But in that fraction of a second, I caught a fleeting glimpse of my reflection on the surface of a body of water, and wondered what the hell I was wearing, and then I thought I saw the silhouette at the top of the tree line, and it all went to black.

  When I opened my eyes, I was sitting in a field, a gentle breeze rustling the tall grass and flowers.

  “What the fuck is this?” I said, but there was no one around me.

  I got to my feet and scanned around me. Almost in every direction there was gorgeous nature, from the massive field I was in to a dense forest below me, if I followed the slope of the hill. Far off to my right, I could see the sea over the peaks of a mountain range, just barely, so the coast couldn’t be far away. The breeze came from that direction, and the air had a subtle hint of salt, so I guess I was pretty far away from the coastline, even if I could see it. Behind where I’d initially been facing was a larger mountain range, the largest of the mountains crested with snowy peaks. I continued to turn and just off to it, below the mountains and past the opposite tree line of the forest, I could see rooftops.

  That was when the first pop up appeared.

  Durrilan.

  Medium-sized city, mixed occupants. Status: free, safe zone.

  Current occupants: one active

  “Gah!” I yelled, stumbling on my feet and landed hard on my arse back on the ground. My head spun around wildly, as various words and phrases phased in and out of my view, barely noticeable but there. I breathed and calmed myself, and then focused on a flower in front of me.

  Hezzial Bloom

  Plant

  Alchemy Item

  Used for healing effects

  The information popped up and solidified in my line of sight when I focused on the yellow flower, a hezzial bloom, apparently. I stood and looked over to the city again, and the pop up came back, changing almost imperceptibly from not there to barely noticeable to solid and clear as day as I focused on it.

  “It’s like a…” I stopped myself. I played enough video games and read and watched enough isekai to know what it was bloody well like, but there was no way in hell this could be actually happening to me. I must be dying, bleeding out somewhere, my brain still working it out and making a weird fantasy out of everything inside it. It had to be. If I just sat here for a while, everything would fade to black and be quiet again.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Two hours passed. I knew not only because the sun was lower in the sky now, but a handy little clock appeared in the corner of my vision and told me. I noticed after the first couple minutes of sitting and waiting for the end that it was there.

  “Okay, so maybe this is actually happening. But how did I get here? Why am I here? What…” I paused, suddenly remembering that in these kinds of stories, the protagonist is often reborn in a whole new body or form.

  As if something understood the reference and what I was thinking, an information menu popped up in my ‘display’, what I was quickly coming to start thinking of everything I could see in front of me being, and it listed what I needed to know.

  Russell Sparrow

  Level 1

  Half-Elf Sorcerer

  And there it was. I was not a human anymore. Something had been generated for me and I now had a whole new body.

  I wish I could say I didn’t do what I did next, but in the spirit of honesty, I guess I have to say it. But a quick panic washed over my brain because I did not pick anything about this class, race or anything, and I knew a bit about how game components are built, in that you don’t bother making the things no one can see to save time and space. I rummaged through the clothes I was wearing, which I only now realised were like some twist on classic fantasy robes and modern fashion fits, moving a tunic out of the way and quickly pulling down my trousers.

  It was still there. In fact, it pretty much looked exactly like it did when I last looked at it. Which I took a moment to wonder if I was happy about. I mean, I was happy that I had been, what, generated? Reincarnated? Remade? Well, I was happy that they thought of everything (and I mean, everything) but I couldn’t help but think maybe I’d have liked to try something…bigger.

  It was as a fresh gust of wind blew against my bare ass cheeks that I realised I was now standing in the middle of a field with my pants around my ankles staring at my junk, and I hastily yanked my trousers back up and retied my belt.

  I brushed myself off and and blew out a breath, wondering what I should do then. I was on my own, and as much as the display pop-ups were giving me some info, it wasn’t telling me what to do. But perhaps over in the city, someone could tell me what I was supposed to do? Or explain the world to me, or…something.

  My lips pulled tight in a determined grimace, and I started to descend the hill towards the forest, finding a path leading through, towards the city. I walked with that determination to take charge of whatever this new life was, even if I couldn’t shake the strange feeling that something was watching me, somewhere, in the shadows between the trees.

  “Hey, rise and shine, Rusty! Today’s the day!”

  The voice calls through the door as a knocking came, startling me out of my trip down memory lane. Griff arches his back at the sudden interruption to his nap, answering it with a quick hiss before leaping down to the floor and scurrying under my bed.

  “Don’t be silly, Griff,” I say, reaching down to the feathered cat. After a moment, I feel the slightly damp spot of his nose as he rubs his fuzzy, feathery face against my palm. “It’s only Meph.”

  I answer the door, and am greeted by the sight of a six foot tall, orange skinned form of my housemate. I look up to meet the eyes of the horned tiefling, the purple irises sitting in a sea of black staring right back at me through a half-lidded expression of mild amusement. A grin plays at the corner of his mouth as his forked tail swishes behind him.

  “Today’s the day, huh?” I say in lieu of a greeting.

  “Yup. Looks like you’ll be getting yours today. About bloody time, you’ve been ready for ages,” he says. “Come on, best get showered and dressed, I’m sure they’ll be turning up any minute now.”

  Griff edged out from under the bed and butted my leg with his head. Then he let out a short hiss at Meph before sauntering down the hall away from us.

  “Good morning to you too, you little freeloading fleabag,” Meph said, making an exaggerated bow to the retreating creature.

  “Oh, you two play nice,” I tapped Meph on the shoulder and moved towards the bathroom. “I’ll be out in just a minute. What do you think? The robes, or should I play it more casual?”

  Meph shrugged, his own tight, Nehru-collared, tight waisted robe fitting his tall, lithe form perfectly. Even without the height and the sharp horns curling above and about his head, Meph cut a sharp figure whatever he wore. His green hair was slicked severely back between his horns that crowned his head, a stray lock falling across his forehead in the gap between them. “Depends. Do you want to go all in on the backstory they gave you, or would you rather play it as what you are - a fellow mortal in our weird little fantasy land?”

  “Casual it is,” I said. I hated the backstory they gave me, it was even worse than my actual ‘backstory’ (i.e. my life), so I figured I’ll stick with the truth. If I’m honest, I’d probably have appreciated that more myself when I first arrived.

  I checked my stats again as I undressed in the bathroom and entered the shower. Thankfully, despite the pseudo-medieval setting, some more modern conveniences were allowed as it kept us looking good for the audience. No one really wants the reality of the Middle Ages, not even those Renaissance Fair folks, or the streets would likely be lined with shit and we’d all be covered in fleas and mites. While the bathroom conveniences looked like fantasy versions, they functioned as normal…though really good ones to be sure. Honestly, it was the best shower I’ve ever experienced in all my life. Or unlife.

  I was sitting comfortably at Level 10, which is my max, with my health in the green as ever, and by the time the shower finished the Refreshed buff clicked in. Not a huge deal for me, admittedly, but it’s nice to feel bright and energised to face the day. Though I suspect the coffee had more to do with that than the shower. I dried off, re-entered my room and dressed in a light, pale blue linen short tunic, leaving the collar laces untied and open, the short sleeves billowed, especially against my slender arms, like I was wearing a baggy t-shirt. I put on some brown trousers, and sturdy black boots, lacing them tight.

  I slapped my hands on my knees and checked my spell slots, making sure I had some staples in my hotlist. No idea what today might bring, so I kept Heal, Guiding Light and Magic Missile at the very top. All spells come naturally to me, but keeping some in the hot list is best. It just means that these ones will be reflexive to me and wouldn’t require much poking around my spell list trying to formulate a plan if we got caught in a pinch, but I was pretty certain that wasn’t going to be on the cards today.

  But then, who knew? All depends on what I was going to get lumped with, really.

  By the time I entered the kitchen, I found Griff lapping away at a saucer of milk on the countertop as Meph leaned his elbows on the breakfast nook, cradling his mug of coffee. A fresh cup was steaming just in front of him, in front of the other stool waiting for me.

  “So, kiddo, what do you think? Ready?” Meph asked after I took my first sip.

  I reflected on his question. Was I ready? “Well, I suppose we’ll finally find out. Not like I really have a choice in the matter now, is it?”

  Meph frowned, which somehow caused another lock of his immaculately combed hair to fall into his face. He blew at it fruitlessly, before fussing with it as he looked at me. “Ah, don’t be like that, kid. We all get the hand we’re dealt, it’s not done with malice or an agenda.”

  “Rich coming from you,” I quipped, and immediately regretted it. “Sorry,” I tilted my head towards Meph, before casting my eyes down into my cup.

  “Don’t worry about it. You’re right. But I’m a special case, aren’t I.”

  Meph stood not long afterwards, beckoning for me to follow.

  “Come on. They’ll be coming in at the city gate, walking into the game world. They think it makes the change less jarring if they get used to having motor functions again. Which is bullshit, they probably feel fine anyway after the character creation process. But let’s meet them before they cause too much mischief.”

  “Ah, yes, character creation. Must be nice,” I muttered. Meph flicked his eyes towards me and smiled.

  We walked out into the city, heading towards the gate at the bottom of the main square, just past the round fountain, water shooting in to the air and catching the light. It was another beautiful day, the sun still on the rise.

  Okay. Big day. This could be the start of something great, or just another day. It just all rests now on what, or who, I’m getting.