Well I suppose this is my introduction post, hi everyone!
I've written a tale similar to Quik's isekai story here, because there really isn't enough isekai stories with SW in it.
I've reposted to my DA too, and it'll come with AI illustrations once I get my comfyui working
Of course, it was a truck.
On the upside, I was hit hard enough that my brain was crushed without having time to process the pain, but still, right after I graduate from university? I hope that prick’s insurance refuses to provide him proper compensation.
So now what?
I attempted to stare at my surroundings, but found that I didn’t have eyes to observe with. Well, that would make sense. My eyes were probably pulverised alongside the rest of my body. Yet still, I heard a voice from the incomprehensibly large darkness.
“You, of strong soul, bright mind and strange fetishes.”
Well now, there’s no need to kink shame me. First the truck, now a kink shaming deity. I think it was a deity at least, it seemed unreasonable to assume there was any other being that could commune with me postmortem.
“I am Caladine, the goddess of this world, and I call upon your spirit to restore balance. I bestow upon thee a gift.”
What could only be described as a searing headache tore my mind in two as a rushing warmth tickled my skin. My… skin. I had skin again. I had a body again. I cracked my eyes open to see a glowing woman in front of me.
Glowing both literally and metaphorically.
She had quite the figure. Curves in all the right places, slim yet not skinny, yet her head was obstructed by a blinding light I couldn’t see past. A pity, really.
Blushing and deciding to focus elsewhere, I inspected… myself. Floating in an endless void of dim lights, I saw engraved on my arm a strange tattoo of sorts, depicting a stereotypical magical circle. As I rubbed it, it glowed with a warm yellow.
“That is a rune of knowledge. It grants you the knowledge enchanted within. In your case, the ability to craft runes of your own.” Caladine spoke, “I haven’t the power to grant you the usual blessings. However, I believe the strength of your will shall guide you through my world.”
Unsure of whether to feel reassured or frightened, I simply nodded.
Suddenly, a strong pull pulled my arm backwards, and I tumbled away from the goddess.
“It seems our time is up. Good luck… hero.”
No time for questions, no time for thoughts, it seems I would be flung into the deep end.
And flung I was.
Into the very hard ground.
Unceremoniously deposited upon the dirt, I spat out the mouthful of mud that had found its way into my maw. The glowing lights were gone; the goddess had all but vanished. I stumbled to my feet, dusting myself off, and I took the time to inspect my area.
The transition from heaven to here had flung me onto a long brown footpath which split an endless field of green in two. A quiet breeze swept through the tranquil patch, letting the grass whisper a quiet rhythm. It was quite the change in mood, considering I was obliterated via vehicular manslaughter only minutes prior.
I sat on the grass, taking some time to just… breathe. This emotional rollercoaster felt a little too much for me to handle. First of all, I died, so I needed some time to think about that one. Second of all, I got isekaied into a brand new dimension, so that was at the forefront of my mind.
Yet a rustle immediately put me on edge once more. So much for calming myself. Leaping back onto the path and raising my hands in readiness, I locked onto the patch of grass that had dared disturb my meditation.
Then my fear turned into a sick mix of arousal and disgust when the creature emerged from the greenery.
It was a woman, yet she was barely 6 inches tall. Crawling on the ground, completely naked, covered in dirt and blood, she dragged herself with what remained of her only arm and leg, the other limbs missing and the stumps trailing red behind her. I bent down to her and inspected her more closely. Her back was covered in a curved row of evenly spaced punctures. Bite marks… perhaps?
Then, with one last strained breath, she succumbed to her injuries, slumping in front of me. Mildly panicked, I grabbed her and lifted her to my face. The bite had gone deep, blood pooling in the holes. One breast, which would’ve been perfectly perky like the other, had been mutilated by the beast that had done this to her.
I shook off the lust and considered any option to save her. There was… probably nothing I could do.
I dug a small hole and placed her within, filling it with the mud and patting it down. How my overwhelmed mind didn’t shatter at that point was a miracle. Perhaps it was the rune that provided mental stability, or perhaps it was the fact that amid all the death, my secret fantasies had been fulfilled.
I could use a drink right now…
Once again picking myself up, I decided to investigate where she had come from. Maybe it led to a nest of tiny people attacked by a predator? That gave me pause. What if the predator was still there? Still skulking about in the tall grass?
Then again, I wasn’t 6 inches tall, so I could probably take it in a fight without dying. Probably.
Marching through the thigh high greenery, I pushed aside the plants and attempted to follow the trail of blood. The trail turned to erratically spaced splotches, then nothing. Pursing my lips in a mix of confusion and disappointment, I turned to return to the path when I noticed a few patches of grass that seemed to be missing in the otherwise uniform field.
Approaching, I noticed that the grass wasn’t missing, but instead pressed down by a variety of items. Within one of the patches, a strange stick. In another, a pair of women’s underwear. In another, a long flowy medieval dress and in the last, sandals and a bag.
Upon first glance, a scene comes straight from an erotic movie. But with a bit more niche knowledge, I deduced my own assumption.
That woman I had buried had been shrunk, shedding her equipment as she tried to flee from… something. Considering her state at the end of her run, it probably wasn’t a horrible guess. It… also made me much more nervous about facing this potential predator. I wasn’t 6 inches tall… yet.
I appraised each item for any more clues, but no luck. Finally coming back to the wand, I picked it up for closer inspection. It was made of some type of wood, though the darkness wasn’t one I recognised. Engrained within were small red gemstones that led up the tool, wider at the base, thinner near the tip.
And it was surprisingly ergonomic for a mythical medieval weapon. There were indents where I assumed my fingers were to slide into to hold the wand properly. So humouring the design, I held the wand out.
Then suddenly, instinct took over. I felt my mind begin to push my focus into the wand, a wave of exhaustion hitting. After a few moments, a large ball of flames burst forth from the tip, sailing a solid hundred meters away before exploding in a burst of light and heat.
Did… Did I just cast fireball?
Though my celebration was short lived as I collapsed to my knees. It felt as if I had been punched in the gut, my lungs removed, and I had still been forced to run a marathon. Casting fireball was probably not on the list of things my body could handle too well, understandably.
The feeling was slowly fading, thankfully, but I needed to lie down as I caught my breath. I assume that was… mana exhaustion or something similar. All medieval isekais tend to have some form of magic and some form of mana. Overuse said mana, and you get fried.
During my attempts to catch my breath, I had time to ponder. What now? Searching the bag, I found some days' worth of rations and clean water, along with some strange glowing blue rocks. I’m uh… sure that the late adventurer wouldn’t mind me “borrowing” the supplies.
But that was only a temporary solution. I had taken very basic survival classes in school, so I at least know some basics of how not to die, but a human settlement would be ideal. And footpaths or roads are typically constructed between two settlements.
All I had to do was continue down the path in one of the two directions, and I’ll be fine, right?
After finally regaining my energy and picking an arbitrary path to continue down, I glanced backward one last time and grabbed the meagre pack of supplies, praying it would be enough to last me until the next settlement.
One foot after the other, one step at a time. My mind drifted once more, still trying in vain to catch up to the chaotic events. The blood of the woman had dried on my palm, and I didn’t wash it due to potentially wasting water. Yet the feel of another’s blood quite literally being on your hands greatly disturbed me.
I distracted myself by feeling the weight of my new wand in my pocket, hopefully a symbol of my future potential in this world. The rune engraved in my arm still glowed a muted yellow as I trekked onwards.
But as the sun began to dip, I heard the clattering of wooden wheels behind me. Spinning around, now on edge once more, I whipped around to note a man leading a comically long carriage, with the back extending at least 4 meters backwards.
“Greetings, young adventurer!” The man greeted as he rode past. “Are you travelling alone?”
I briefly looked around, my social anxiety requiring confirmation that he was, in fact, talking to me before responding. “Uh, yeah.”
“You need a ride?”
I blinked, processing his statement. “Um, for free?” I stuttered out.
“Well, no.” He chuckled, “I need someone to relieve Alia of her guard duties at night, since she’s been doing it since Yiron and I don’t want to push her too hard. But other than that, no shards. Us middles should stick together, especially in Alstur, after all.”
Shards? Middles? Questions for later. As long as I didn’t have to use my legs, I was grateful. As I thanked the man and entered the caravan, I learned why the van was 4 meters long.
In the front half was another woman of obscene size, my estimates placing her around two to three meters in height as she sprawled out and slept peacefully. In the back half of the caravan were cages upon cages of tiny women, all varying in appearance and size, yet all dressed in rags and chained to the floor of their cages.
They gazed at me as I sat, yet didn’t say a word.
I felt a minor excitement bubble up within me again. That deceased tiny lady wasn’t the only one in this world, and it seemed the way they were caged suggested they were quite the commodity. Perhaps I had a way of purchasing them in the near future…
I see what the goddess meant by “strange fetishes”, I should’ve thanked her, I suppose.
The cart ride was silent until the giantess stirred and yawned. “Oh? Who has Marek recruited now?” She shifted her positioning and reached out a hand to shake. “Alia,” I returned the gesture in kind,
“Jared”. Her hand engulfed mine as we shook. Though she was massive, she had… quite the cute charm to her. Something about the way she postured herself and her facial structures made her feel quite adorable.
“Marek, I think you said his name was, is taking me to the nearest settlement, in exchange for some night guard duties.”
She squealed in delight. “Oh, finally, I get a good night's sleep! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
We talked a little while longer before she asked me.
“You’re an adventurer, right?”
“I… I go on adventures, so I suppose I am, yeah.”
“No, like, adventurer. You know, adventurer’s guild, do quests, that adventurer.”
“Oh uh… no…?”
She pursed her lips before shaking her head, chuckling. “I keep telling Marek not to conscript the random people off the street for adventuring duties, but he never listens. Well, still, you must have some pretty good gear to adventure alone, right?”
I presented her with my wand that I had nabbed off the other lady. “I have… this, I guess.”
She inspected it for a moment, reaching for a glassy instrument and holding it up like a magnifying glass. She gasped. “You’re a middle… carrying this thing?! This would cripple you in like two shots! It’s a good thing you’re a man.”
Wait what? Sexism in my new fantasy setting?
“Good thing I’m a… man?”
She gave me an incredibly confused look. “Yeah… if a middle woman were to fire it, she would probably lose half her height in a single shot and the rest in a second. Whereas you, as a man, only lose muscle mass, so you can still function somewhat…”
I slapped my forehead in fake realisation. “Oh yeah… duh… silly me.” Having people realise my otherworldly status was probably not the smartest decision at the current moment in time.
Luckily, she seemed to buy into it somewhat, giggling cutely. “You are in no mental state to be a night guard. Take a nap, I’ll wake you when we need you.”
I took her up on that, not to rest but to think more without interruption. Retrieving the wand from her, I lay back on my wooden seat to take a nap.
First things first, adventuring. Apparently, there was an adventurer’s guild, which is a must do for protagonists like myself.
At least, I think I fit the protagonist description.
Secondly, magic. I had a lot to deduce from that short statement, but by the sounds of things, people lose body size in some way by using the wand. Males lose muscle and females lose… I think their whole body size? Is that what happened to the caged ones?
I squeezed my biceps in semi panic, but relaxed when I felt my semi toned gains were in fact still a thing. Then again, I would probably need to fire a second time before figuring out if my muscles shrink to a point of crippling me.
My racing thoughts eventually did come to an end once the rattling of the cart rocked me to sleep, only to be shaken awake once more by a pair of very large hands.
“Hey, sleeper, you finally up?”
I blinked a few times, the Amazonian’s face obscured by the darkness.
“You slept right through dinner. I’ve convinced Marek to leave you some food for your shift. I’ll take over after 4 hours or so.”
I sat up groggily. “Yeah, that’s… okay.”
I must’ve been super overwhelmed to have taken that long a nap.
Fair enough, given the fact that I literally died.
I swear, isekai protagonists usually get over that fact faster.
I climbed outside to see yet another open field, green still stretching out to the horizon and beyond. The night sky glittered with countless bright lights arranged in constellations I didn’t recognise. Marek seemed to have parked the cart in a fairly large clearing and lit a campfire, complete with a cooking pot suspended above.
Cracking open the lid, I found a generous serving of a sort of soup within, and proceeded to enjoy the first proper hot non microwaved meal in months.
I leaned back, twirling my wand in my hand. 4 hours, how was I going to keep myself occupied? Investigating my world seemed productive, and I suppose now that Aria and Marik were most likely asleep, I could test out that spell again, figure out if it actually incapacitated me.
I stretched out my wand and used that instinct to flood the wand with my energy again. Wait, what if it did incapacitate me? Was this a bad idea?
The concerns were unfortunately slightly too late as the fireball formed and was launched far, far into the distance, causing a quiet explosion upon hitting the ground. That sense of exhaustion earlier returned in full force, causing me to collapse to catch my breath. Though the feeling gradually faded, I grasped at my arms. It… didn’t feel any different. No shrinking, no nothing.
Then, an ingenious idea came to me. I grabbed the wand and fired again because, of course, I enjoyed entertaining the idea of tempting fate constantly.
After the exhaustion faded and my muscles measured, I confirmed that casting spells didn’t seem to have any lasting effects on me… well, any visible effects. Casting fireball could give me cancer, for all I know.
I put down the wand. Until I figure out what the hell Aria meant by “debilitating me within two uses”, I wouldn’t activate the wand again.
But as I leaned backwards to stare at the stars once more, I remembered another way I could perhaps use magic. “Remembered?” It was strange considering I never learned how to use it in the first place. I kind of just… knew.
Lifting my arm and illuminating it in the starlight, I gazed at the inscription in my arm once more. A rune of knowledge, I was told. A gift that let me craft my own runes.
With muscle memory that I had never trained, I focused. A sensation like pushing out my energy into the wand filled my finger, yet slower, more controlled. As it shone with a brilliant blue, I drew a circle in the air and watched in amazement as a beautiful blue thread trailed behind.
A prompt filled my mind. A whisper like a voice. “Purpose”, it asked.
I didn’t think this one through. I made the base for a spell, but what spell would I make? I thought back to my wizardry basics back on Earth and commanded the first spell that came to mind. “Magic bolt, I guess, I don’t know.”
A familiar exhaustion began to creep as the threads began to spin into a more elaborate tapestry of interconnected patterns, creating magnificent blue shapes within the circle I had drawn.
Then, finally, a sense of completion. Floating in front of me was a… rune. The mana exhaustion wore off, allowing me to concentrate on my creation. Though my divine knowledge told me I was missing a key step. Runes had to be bound to a mana conductive object, through which the user could channel their mana to activate the rune.
I didn’t have a particularly mana conductive object, other than the wand, which I still didn’t know if it was carcinogenic, and unwilling to let the rune fade, I had simply bound it to my finger. Given that mana exports seemed to be sourced from there anyway, I may as well feed the rune straight from the source.
With that last flash of light, the rune faded into nothingness. Yet as I held out my left index finger and pushed my mana through, for a brief moment the rune illuminated the dark area, and a shining purple arcane blast flew from my fingertip and out into the distance.
For the first time since my untimely demise, a smile crept onto my face. A world of magic, now under my command with this gift. Granted, more questions needed to be answered, but the power was quite literally at my fingertips, and all I needed was to draw and to command.
I could also now finger gun quickdraw people I didn’t like, shooting another bolt of purple energy to prove my point.
The rest of the night passed by in a blur. Throughout the dark hours, I experimented with countless runes until boredom decided otherwise. By the end, the campsite was scattered with various magical traces. Patches of dirt burned, wet, and blown apart, sculptures formed in the sand among various other miscellaneous effects I had attempted.
And I had discovered something quite peculiar. Upon crafting the final rune, I noticed my energy wasn’t quite as drained as when I first crafted my magic missile rune. Perhaps my mana reserves would grow after exhausting it and letting it regenerate, like a workout. That would be awfully convenient.
Kicking around the dirt to cover up my mess as best as I could, I shook Aria awake in time for her night shift and settled to sleep once more where she once lay.
And drifting off, I could only imagine what the world would bring once I awoke.
And now something special for you all. I've been lurking here for some time, and you're all pretty chill, so *your* opinions matter
That's right! I will be consulting this board with various polls and questions when I run out of ideas or can't make a decision.
And with that, I ask my first question to you. What would you like to see in this story? Throw any idea you have out there, and I'll see if it works! (Totally not because I didn't think hard enough and am due to run out of ideas soon)