Gaslight Fantasy : Chapter 1

It was a rainy late night as Sevyn walked home from work.

She just got a month's worth of work dropped on her from project management, as the other members of the programming team are slacking,

meanwhile she has to clean up for them.

Sevyn is a Game Developer, jumping into the industry from solo projects, it hit her with a wall of the reality of the Game Development Industry.

She has gotten herself into a social deadlock, forced to do inhumane workloads or be replaced-

by the mountain of inexperienced developers waiting eagerly for a spot in the company,

to "make it big as a developer".

The veteran roles in the development hierarchy sit around all day, meanwhile she has to work overtime filling in for their incompetence.

She kicks a puddle in frustration as she walks home.

Staring up at the sky, thinking back to all of her potential and capability as a programmer.

Not utilised by her peers, boxed up into a claustrophobic space by the world she lives by.

As the rain runs across her face, she flicks her long brown hair out of her face as she checks the time on her phone. It's almost 2 AM.

Pulling her jacket closed as an icy breeze hits her, shivering slightly while fighting the wind over possession of her umbrella.

Observing how empty the street is at this time, she continues forward,

admiring a heritage listed house along the way.

Seeing a lacklustre attempt at modern architecture one house over from it, a dismal concrete cube,

She thinks about how humanity goes around in circles, progressing forward yet also looping back.

Building off the past, not grounded in reason, shifting around toward a goal that constantly mutates.

There's hate in society, exploitation of others, isolation, and enjoyment.

When something seems reasonable and achievable, the reality of all the factors unobserved hits you in the face like a brick wall.

Architecture, society, supply and demand, all these things shift around through history.

Never getting any better, just changing, satisfying new mutated values,

something that was respectable becomes cringe in the blink of an eye to another generation.

Things people do over time may seem progressive, but it's just different, not better.

There are so many things about humanity that seem like certainties.

Be it a war lost, dream crushed, incompetence of others pulling down your aspirations, or a simple oversight.

These go beyond just human nature, it's a problem of cognition. An empire always falls.

The company she works for may even go bankrupt some day,

and any creation made will eventually vanish in time.

She tries so hard at work to satisfy her superiors, but no matter how hard she tries,

better is always relative to the beholder, it's never enough.

No matter how hard she tries to find solutions for problems in her life, like how she debugs code,

any oversight can bring disaster to an observation.

We can explain everything deep down through logic, but no matter how hard she tries, it's never enough.

She can't just open up the source code of reality and change things, know unknowns, or make things static in time.

And even if she could, human nature, with all of its chaotic tendencies, would make that impossible.

Instead, she continues her sub-optimal life situation, making minor corrections, pushing towards a goal,

and filling her surroundings with distractions from the nature of her life that's so clear to see.

Living in the present.

Sevyn turns a corner and arrives at her door.

As she enters, she is met with a hug from a tall figure in a grey hoodie, with a hefty beard,

standing just beyond the entrance, her boyfriend Flint.

"How was work? You're home rather late" Flint asks her.

She replies, "Terrible, they dumped more work on me, but I'm better now that I'm home with you".

Flint smiles at this, holding her close as a way of comforting her after her day at work.

"there's some pasta in the fridge I made earlier. You can reheat some if you want, I put it in the fridge since you were coming home late seemingly" he remarked.

"Sure, thanks… though I'm not sure some reheated pasta will solve the hell I'm going to need to go through tomorrow, with all this extra workload" Sevyn says with a pensive expression.

Flint pats her head and walks into the living-room of their apartment,

getting back to watching an Anime he's been bingeing recently.

Sevyn heads into the kitchen and opens the fridge door, grabbing the bowl of pasta within.

Placing it on the counter, she peels back the cling-wrap and scoops out a plate worth of the cold pasta.

Putting the plate into the microwave, and the bowl back into the fridge,

after a short amount of time, she grabs her plate of reheated pasta out of the microwave.

Heading into the living-room, although it's less a separate room and more just the same room as the kitchen,

separated into different areas as it's a cheap apartment.

Flint is sitting across the room on the couch, watching a scene in an anime

where a guy with a chainsaw for a head gets cut in half and dragged across the ground.

Sevyn sits next to him, and starts eating her pasta, and watching the show with him.

She and Flint have been together for a couple years, and they share many interests such as the kinds of media they enjoy, subcultures and such too.

After a while, she heads upstairs and gets ready for bed, tired from a long day.

She flops into her bed like a rag-doll from a video-game, face enveloped in a pillow.

Turning around to face the ceiling, with a pillow still on her face.

As she lifts up the pillow, she is met with a familiar face, Flint standing over her with a comforting smile.

She throws the pillow at him playfully, and he joins her in the bed- also quite tired.

Hours pass and she drifts off to sleep, but wakes up slightly confused as she feels a tingle over her body.

She opens her eyes and almost jumps from shock. Multiple circles of light have appeared around her.

Flint also wakes up due to the movement from Sevyn and almost falls out of bed upon seeing the patterns of light appearing around his partner.

"what the fuck?! am I hallucinating right now?" Sevyn asks with a shaken voice,

"calm down, I don't know what's going on, but it's got to have an explanation right? does your phone have some kind of hologram projector thing? maybe it's a software update?" Flint nervously remarks.

"hell no, that kind of tech isn't viable for like the next 10 years or something" Sevyn exclaims.

"this has to be a prank, there are runes in it" she adds.

"why's it only appearing around you?" Flint says nervously.

It's at this moment Sevyn gets hit with the feeling of weightlessness and feels like she's falling.

Looking around, she sees only blurry colours flying by at extreme speeds.

"Am I on drugs? Did someone spike something I drank?" she thought frantically.

"no, Flint noticed the patterns of light too, this is real" she looks all around and appears to be falling through this sea of colours.

Realising that she has been pulled into this space through what appeared to be a magic circle from fantasy,

she realises that she's about to enter an isekai scenario, and the reality of the matter hits her.

Be it some isekai goddess, a country summoning her through some kind of magic, or just travelling somewhere with no explanation…

She is going to go about it, how she would in this kind of situation.

Thoughts rush through her head of ways to approach this situation, and the potential this situation gives her.

But she doesn't know how long she will be in this odd colourful space, seemingly moving to somewhere else, so she acts quickly.

Assuming that she's moving downwards, she assumes a pose like seen in the entrance of a certain human killing cybernetic time-traveller from a movie, so she can go about this with style.

Moments later, a flash of light fills her vision, and she finds herself crouching on a stone floor, facing the ground, in her fluffy grey pajamas. She quickly assesses the situation.

Looking around, she appears to be in a large stone-brick room with pillars all around and ornate furnishings.

There's a circle marked onto the floor with symbols around it, and an assortment of people in long, somewhat fancy robes.

She already knows a lot about different story mechanics and tropes, from her time as a Game Developer.

Considering the company she worked for majorly made high fantasy RPG games, she knows a lot about it,

and also had an interest in isekai genre manga.

Looking at this situation, she quickly deduces that she has been summoned here by

some kind of cult, a king like in most isekai scenarios like this, or it's a prank.

Given how fancy the robes are and the realism of the environment, she concludes that it's most likely the ruler of a country that organised this.

"What would any isekai protagonist do in this situation.. follow orders? Freak out? Hide their identity? Escape?"

she thought.

"Screw that. Those kinds of approaches are so garbage, there's so many other good ways to go about this, that nobody does" she crouches there, thinking quickly in the moment.

"I know, I'll gaslight everyone. This is a world with magic! And I have modern knowledge.

They'd know nothing about me most likely, so I can roll with this and use this situation to the best of my capabilities" she thought ecstatically.

Thinking back to the similarities between different magic approaches in different fantasy universes,

she quickly tries a couple things while still crouched on the floor.

She tries to focus on any kind of sensation in the surrounding air.

"If there's some kind of magical energy in the environment, I should be able to feel it and therefor shape it and use it to do magic!" she figured.

Sadly, she feels nothing but just normal air on her skin.

"Damn that didn't work, let's try an alternate scenario then"

She focuses on her body, trying to feel any kind of odd sensation that could be some kind of magical energy.

Success! she feels an odd tingly sensation like the sensation before when she was first met with the glowing circles.

Focusing her mind on the energy within her body, she moves it around with her mind, figuring out how to manipulate it.

She increases the intensity of it slightly, and decreases it, moving it around and experimenting.

Figuring out any kind of consistent reaction observed in it, that she can use as a foundation of logic to program spells and use this energy.

"time to gaslight these high-class medieval morons, and exploit my full potential in this world!" she thinks excitedly.

One of the robed figures walks up to her slowly, pulling out a scroll, speaking in a grandiose voice-

"Hero from beyond this world, thou hath been summoned to this realm by his majesty Algernon The Third,

to assist in the campaign against the rival country of Topril, thou shall assist in-"

She cuts him off with "Foolish human, who dares summon me", using her mana (magical energy) to create a layer around herself, to act as a kind of menacing aura,

assuming that her mana levels are abnormally high, being a "summoned hero" scenario and all.

The robed figure steps back a little, noticeably shaken.

He tries to continue his speech, but is once again cut off by Sevyn.

She snaps her fingers and at the same time intensifies her aura of magic, giving the illusion that the action is connected to the increase of intensity.

Standing up slowly, she says to the robed figure, "you humans keep getting more and more bold, and now you have the audacity to summon ME?"

She looks at him with a condescending gaze to intimidate him.

He stands there in shock staring at the "summoned hero", contemplating frantically if something went wrong.

After a moment, he gestures hurriedly to a couple other figures behind her, calling out "Guards!"

A group of people in full medieval plate armour surround Sevyn.

Just as she is about to say another statement, she notices the same feeling of mana coming from the robed figure,

as he creates a ball of fire in-front of him!

She freaks out a little internally about this, but nothing good will come from panicking.

Sevyn quickly makes a decision to get out of this situation, trying to copy the impression of mana she observed in the robed figure.

Sending out a fireball at him! They collide in the air, and the robed figure is knocked back a little by the blast.

Amazed that it worked, she's jumping for joy inside her head right now

"I-Impossible! speechless magic!? that's the magic of Demons!" the robed figure exclaims,

now visible as a bearded, bald old man, as his hood as fallen down from the blast.

Feeling happy with herself, Sevyn counters with "Whoever dares threaten me shall be reduced to ash".

The old man, who is clearly not as happy with this situation as her,

quickly motions to the guards to lower their weapons. They do so nervously.

He whispers back and forth with some of the other robed figures in the room.

After some debate among themselves, he approaches Sevyn once more.

"W-We are sorry for summoning you here, oh powerful, no- Mighty one! We d-did not know this would result in such an outcome. Our royal house has kept this ritual secret for generations. We apologise greatly!"

says the old robed man, noticeably shaken.

"heh, I'm actually rather surprised at how well this turned out" Sevyn thought.

She remarked "Now that's more like it, give me one good reason I should not burn this land to cinders right here where I stand"

while increasing the intensity of her aura as she spoke.

The robed old man timidly responds- "W-Wait right here just a moment",

he hurriedly leaves the room, soon after, returning with someone who she assumes is their king,

due to his outfit being almost typical medieval royal attire.

"Your majesty, I-I did the ritual just as written within the sacred texts,

and yet it appears to have summoned some kind of powerful demonic being" the robed man whispers to the king.

"A-Are you certain?" the king exclaims.

"It appears so, they have been giving off terrible magical power, and earlier conjured a spell,

using the magic of demons.. no human has such power" the old man says.

"What do we do!? we can't be facing such a danger at a time like this, our army is needed

on the front against Topril. I hereby order you to solve this dilemma Roderick" the king demanded.

"As you command, but I do believe it would be best for you to speak with them yourself, your highness" the robed man replied.

Turning to face Sevyn, the king approached.

Clearing his throat, the king said

"What would it take for you to be willing to assist us in our war? I can offer you all manner of material wealth or even sacrifice if that is which you desire."

The robed old man is visibly shocked at this statement from the king, yet does not dare say a word.

"What do I want? what can these people give me, perhaps going home?" Sevyn thought,

"no I still have so much to explore in this fantasy world, just the prospects of magic alone are intriguing"

"What would some kind of demonic creature summoned to another world, want?" Sevyn thought,

"Gold? riches? helpful but not the kind of things a demon would want, maybe the soul of someone?

I think that's taking this a bit too far" Sevyn pondered.

"Sire, are you sure that making dealings with such a being is wise? Think of your kingdom. This is dangerous!"

The old man whispered to the king nervously.

The king gestured to the robed man and dismissed his notion.

Sevyn said to the king, "I'll assist you to accomplish your goal, for adequate compensation,

but I do warn you, this decision will cost you, everything."

Feeling happy with her acting, Sevyn smiles deviously.

The king made an audible gulp sound and replied with

"F-For myself and my kingdom, i-if that is what you demand, then let us make a pact."

"Roderick, make the appropriate preparations." the king said to the robed old man.

"B-But your highness-" the robed man was cut off by his majesty

"Forthwith Roderick." said the king, in a slightly peeved tone.

Sevyn decreased her aura of mana, realising that it's probably making this even more stressful for them.

The king and the robed man got closer to the magic circle marked on the floor that Sevyn was standing on.

The robed old man handed an ornate looking blade to the king. The king then proceeded to prick his right thumb.

As a small drop of blood started forming in the centre of his thumb, the king said

"I, Algernon von Lanford, ruler of the great kingdom of Croule, propose to thou this pact,

for compensation at a later date, thou shall vanquish mine enemies"

The robed old man handed Sevyn the ornate blade. Its handle appeared to be made of ivory with gold detailing.

"Should I do this with my full real name? No, I need something more, demonic.. c'mon sell it!" Sevyn thought,

"I'll improvise onto my first name to make things easier".

Sevyn stabs her thumb, misjudging the sharpness of the blade, hitting the bone.

A veritable fountain of blood erupts from her thumb.

Trying to remain calm, she says "I, Sevyn hellspite, accept thy pact."

The king moves his thumb up to Sevyn's thumb, and they press their thumbs together.

At the same time, magical energy can be felt coming from the king, though not from Sevyn.

"Did it not work? Cause I didn't use my real full name? I better fake it so they don't get suspicious"

With that thought, Sevyn increases her magical aura,

somewhat imitating the increase in magical energy observed in the king.

The robed old man seems satisfied with the pact ritual and places the ornate blade back into its case.

"So, what now, oh king of man?" said Sevyn in a patronizing voice, trying to further sell her demonic identity.

The king pays no heed to this and simply says

"Roderick, lead Sevyn here to her quarters." muttering "We may turn this around yet."

The robed old man escorts Sevyn out of the chamber through a passage on the opposite side of the room,

Finding themselves in a large branching hallway, upholstered with expensive looking materials and carvings.

Heading down the hallway, she observes Victorian era maids traversing the hallways among other castle staff,

carrying things such as trays and archaic cleaning tools.

"This place must be pretty big, to need all these staff" she thought.

Arriving at a doorway, the old man says, "These are your quarters. I shall come to discuss how you can fulfil your side of the pact in the morn. Do not leave your room until then."

With that, he walks away, acting a lot more pompous around Sevyn after the king made the pact.

Completely unaware that the pact didn't actually work.

Opening the door, she encounters a maid lying across the bed on the opposite side of the room,

upon entering, she wakes up startled and hurries to pack up cleaning supplies scattered around the room.

"I-I'm so sorry mam, I'll leave quickly" the maid stuttered.

"What were you doing taking a nap in here?" Sevyn said, slightly surprised.

"I'm new to my job here in the castle and the workload is a bit overwhelming at times, I promise this won't happen again!" she said in a dazed voice.

This hit close to home for Sevyn. "It's ok, we all make mistakes, no need to fuss." said comfortingly to the maid.

The maid smiled nervously and quickly leaved the room with a messy bundle of cleaning supplies in her arms.

The second the door shut behind her, Sevyn flopped onto the bed, drained yet excited from all that has happened.

"Holy shit, this is amazing! I'm in a medieval castle! old-fashioned maids, magic and fantasy! And I tricked them into thinking I'm a demon!" she thought ecstatically.

Hugging the pillow like a little girl, kicking the blankets.

"This is so damn COOL. Though I hope Flint's ok" she thought.

Thinking back to all that she'd leave behind to live in this world, the possibilities of a world of swords and sorcery were too tempting though.

With that, she turned around, staring at the ceiling once again, but this time it being a ceiling of stone and mason, not plaster and paint.

Wondering what tomorrow would bring, she closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.