Waking up in a new world isn't easy, particularly when it starts feeling like a dream. Our protagonist was sleeping somewhere in England when a voice entered his tranquil mind. It was as empty and mindless as the endless void he was seeing, and the words that echoed forth made its surface ripple like a dark ocean.
"Choose a species."
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต? He moved in his sleep. ๐๐ช๐ต๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ, he thought, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ.
"Error, identifying; species must be humanoid."
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ฏ๐ฐโฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐น ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ด โ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฃ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ. ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ โ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช-๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ณ.
"Species chosen โ humanoid kitsune." ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด? ๐'๐ฎ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด. "Choose a special trait."
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐น๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ.
"List too long; the last article will be removed. Special trait chosen โ to not eat, drink, or forget." ๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ? ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ. "Choose a name."
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ; ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ด๐ถ๐ฌ๐ข. ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ. Finally, he felt himself falling back to sleep and let out a long and happy sigh within his mind. The rest of his night was dreamless.
Eventually, light from beyond his squeezed-shut eyelids woke him. ๐ ๐ข๐ธ๐ฏ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต โ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด? Then he recalled in perfect detail how he had closed the curtains the previous night, watching the event back as though it were a movie within his mind.
๐๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ. He realised he could remember anything he wanted from within his life, from what was written in his school textbooks to what he had eaten for breakfast three weeks ago โ ok, that one wasn't so tricky; he had the same cereal every day.
Smiling in spite of himself at his newfound power, he took a while to realise that he was standing upright. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ โ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. Swaying on his feet, he rubbed at his eyes and careful coerced them into opening.
With the sudden inflow of light, he stepped back into a wall, feeling something soft contact it behind him before the rest of his body did. Spooked, he over-compensated and fell forwards, landing deftly on hands that weren't his and on a flagstone walkway.
Trying to calm himself down with slow breaths, he looked around. Now that his eyes were acclimatised, the surroundings weren't that bright at all. In fact, the sky had an early-morning dullness.
He was standing at the side of a flagstone street lined by rows of tall townhouses with steep rooves. The street continued into a wide marketplace to his left, and to the right, it went towards a gatehouse that led outside the apparent settlement he was in.
Strangely enough, the only other people around weren't in the buildings but also dotted the streets, all looking as confused as he was sure he did. Among the crowds were demi-humans, some people with scales, and some people he thought were humans had pointed ears โ elves!
He looked down at his hands again, they were pale and slender, and his nails looked longer and thicker than he remembered. Turning to peer in the window of the building behind him, he saw his face reflected in the glass.
It was the face of a very worried-looking kitsune. It had short-ish white hair, pale blue eyes, enlarged canines, and fit his mental image of what a kitsune should be really well. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ข๐ช๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต? He cringed. ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ'๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฏ๐บ๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด.... Behind him swung a thick, white tail, and he had a pair of foxy ears on his head.
๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด! Bewildered, he wasn't sure what to do. However, a white square in the top right of his vision took hold of his attention. Trying to see it clearly, it was always in his peripheral until he 'willed' it to become larger. Then it grew to dominate his sight.
It was like a game interface's character sheet with a menu off to one side. It had a small picture of himself as he now was with the name 'Shiro Minnosuka' printed above it along with 'Level 0'. ๐๐ฌ, Shiro hurriedly read through his traits:
๐๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ช๐ฃ๐:
๐๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐: ๐ฟ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฃ.
๐๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐: ๐๐ก๐ก๐ช๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ข๐๐๐๐.
๐๐๐ง๐จ๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ก: ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ฉ, ๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ , ๐ค๐ง ๐๐ค๐ง๐๐๐ฉ.
๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐๐, ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ? ๐๐ฉ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ'๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ด๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ข๐ช ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐? ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ 0 ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ-๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ. ๐๐ฆ๐บ, ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ.
He checked through the whole of the menu, finding he had a balance of ten gold coins but no apparent inventory or friend's list. In addition, it stated the date and time at the top: 08:07, 1๐จ๐ฉ ๐ ๐๐ฃ, ๐ฎ๐๐๐ง 0000.
Around him, the noise level was picking up, so he willed the menu to close and then accidentally locked eyes with a few very angry-looking people before looking at his feet. From what he could hear, everyone was in the same situation as him, but talking to them would be useless; they were panicking, as was he to a certain extent.
As someone who prided himself on analytics, his mind was worryingly out of control with fleeting thoughts. The one that took precedence, though, was simple; escape. In such a bubbling atmosphere, it was easy to see that something might give, and he didn't want to stick around if people started fighting. ๐๐ฌ, ๐ฐ๐ฌ, ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.
Nodding to himself, he started walking towards the city gate, trying to stay out of people's way as they shouted questions he couldn't answer. As he went, to try and keep himself calm, he started trying to rationalise the situation.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ด ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐บ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ. ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ '๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ' ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ? ๐๐ง ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ โ ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ.
He approached a street corner and chose to navigate a winding route towards the city gate as the main way was now swarming with upset people. Whilst he did so, he checked what equipment he was carrying. Aside from his basic tanned clothes, he had a rucksack which contained a knife and a water flask, and that was it.
๐๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ '๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ' ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ต. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ? ๐๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐บ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ? ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ด? ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ.
Arriving at the main gate, he snuck underneath it, noting that it had a sliding portcullis and a pair of large wooden gates that could fit a couple of carts side-by-side. ๐๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ? Looking at the city's defences from the outside, he saw that they mainly consisted of a single wall, eighteen-feet high, dotted with towers.
๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ดโฆ. ๐๐ญ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ช๐ต'๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ. Sighing, Shiro continued further outside โ the only person to have left Hallen thus far. He followed a dirt track that wound down towards a woodland before looking back at the city.
๐๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต? He second-guessed himself, ๐'๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ, ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ. Sticking to the path, he made his mind up to try and understand more about this world.
Hey, this is the first chapter of a new project I plan to update at least weekly, and later on perhaps more frequently when my other project concludes.
Any suggestions for names etc would be appreciated. :)