A Rude Awakening

Day 1 of being reborn in another world.

Drowning. It felt like drowning. Ben's muscles felt numb. His chest burned. The weight of the depth crushed his body. And it was freezing.

Ben opened his eyes and found nothing but the dark abyss.

He clawed around but found nothing to hold onto.

He kicked but found no footing.

He could only scream, and scream he did, praying something in the abyss would listen.

Something listened and answered.

Hands reached out from the darkness, taking hold of him and pulling him out of the water.

Ben weakly lifted his head and saw figures draped in monastic robes dragging him out of a pool of water. Their robes were richly embroidered and dyed colourfully.

They were in a pool of crystal-clear water situated deep within a cave. Emerald gems lined every corner of its black stone. They twinkled in the darkness like faint starlights in the night sky.

The robed figures brought him to the edge of the pool and stepped back, watching him silently. Ben lay there, clinging to the earth for what felt like an eternity as he heaved for air.

Ben stared at the crystal-clear water and found a familiar pair of dark eyes staring back. His black hair was entirely wet, clinging to his temple. They were features he was accustomed to seeing in mirrors. But there was something foreign to his skin. It was free of blemishes or pimples. The scar on his cheek which he had become accustomed to had even disappeared. It was like he was born today, free of imperfections. Gone was his clothes, too, replaced by a pristine white robe that he can't remember ever owning.

"What the hell happened to me?"

There were more of the robed figures. Hoods obscured their faces, but he could see hints of surprise and cautious awe from the way they backed away from him and stared at him.

One of them approached Ben and grabbed his hand, and Ben instantly felt an odd shock. A great pain shot through his head, and Ben saw wild images flashing before his eyes.

The accident.

The pain.

The crushing pain.

And the cold embrace of death.

Ben cried, and when he opened his eyes, the robed figure was already sprawling on the floor, reeling from an injury. Their hood was unfurled, revealing a grimacing face of a woman.

The other robed figures backed away, and Ben didn't like the new looks he was getting.

They were afraid of him.

Ben leapt out of the pool and barreled through the ominous figures. He ran blindly through uneven rocks that cut into his naked feet until he found something man-made: a door.

He threw it open and was shocked to find himself inside a building. A tall corridor stretched before him, lined with windows paned with colourful mosaics. Chandeliers hung above his head, and on the walls glittering scones.

There were more robed figures. They froze on their tracks to look at him. They yelped and dived away as he barrelled through them.

Ben ran through the corridors. His bare feet slapped against the cold marble floor. The wind whipped as he ran. His chest burned as he drew quick breaths, and his muscles ached as he pushed them on.

He could feel everything. This was real. He was not dreaming.

Ben barreled through another door and found himself on a balcony. The afternoon sun baked his skin and the open air tickled his skin.

He scanned his surroundings for a way off, but as he studied the sight before him, his jaw dropped.

He was on a tower overlooking a coastal town. Fresh, white-capped waves smashed against the cliff face. Huddled on the cliffs were a collection of white-bricked buildings. Their brown clay roofs reflected the warm afternoon sun. There were no skyscrapers or electric lines. He might be standing on the tallest structure in the entire town.

A harbour stretched through the coast. Sailors swarmed around the harbour like ants. Their cries and shouts mixed in the air with the cawing of seagulls. The fresh salty smell of the sea was strong in Ben's nose.

Over the sea, great merchant ships slowed down to make port, while some unfurl their white sails as they break through calm waters and into the foaming open seas.

"Forgive us for the rude awakening."

Ben turned and saw the hooded woman from earlier.

"Where am I?"

"Halyfar, a coastal town in eastern Gaedsea."

"Gaedsea? The Gaedsea? That's impossible… the Gaedsea is… its not.."

"You're not in your own world. You have been summoned here. Reborn from the pit of rebirth."

"Summoned?"

The woman unfurled her hood, revealing a fair face save for the scar running down the temple to her cheek. Her wavy, chestnut hair fell short of her shoulders. She held out her hands, showing she was unarmed. But the callouses on her rough hands tell Ben she won't need any weapon to kill a person.

"You're…"

"I am Dawnknight Moraine. I was sent here from the capital to complete your summoning ritual. And I am a friend, sworn to protect and guide you."

Ben watched her. That face, that hair, that voice, those lines, they were exactly as he remembered. She was definitely, without a doubt, Dawnknight Moraine from Gaedsea Saga in the flesh.

"How is this possible?"

"Please, just allow me to show you."

Moraine produced a staff and tapped it thrice on the ground. On the first tap, an energy pulsed through her staff and to the ground like a ripple. On the second tap, The very floor disappeared from underneath his feet. And on the third, their surroundings were completely replaced by a new landscape.

Ben backed away, stepping over mountains and rivers, but felt none of it. It was as if they were floating on an invisible disc over the sky.

"Easy. This is merely an illusion." She tilted her head. "They don't have magic where you come from?"

"No."

Ben was aware of the existence of magic in the world of Gaedsea. But to see it with his own eyes was another thing entirely.

Moraine began to explain. "Magic is abundant here, in this world of Gaedsea. A great archipelago."

Spread underneath them was a great blue sea chained together by numerous islands filled with deep jungles and verdant forests. The smallest islands were like fractured rocks spread over a pool of shallow water, while the larger islands spawned numerous races with their own nations.

They drift over a city of thick walls and sprawling streets. Men and women jostle and brush shoulders. From fair-skinned, blue-eyed people to tanned, dark-eyed people. They seemed like any other humans Ben had seen in his life, but they wore the strangest and exotic pair of clothes.

But the diversity went beyond men. People with strange tusks and horns. Tall, muscular humanoid shapes that tower over the rest. There were short ones too, barely taller than children, but carrying themselves with the confidence and gusto of adults.

In the untamed wilderness, strange beasts roamed the earth and the sea. Large flightless birds that stood as tall as a horse prowled the jungles. Sea serpents slither underneath foaming waves. And above, strange sea birds cawed and flapped their iridescent wings.

It was the Gaedsea came to life. The game world he had come to know and sunk countless hours into had come to life before his very eyes.

"Beautiful."

"It is a beautiful world." Moraine's eyes drifted towards the eastern horizon. Her face hardened into a grimace. "But we are under a crisis."

Dark clouds rolled in from the east. Ben thought he saw thunder and lightning, but as Moraine brought them closer, he realised they were the flashes of cannons and magic.

"The Empire came like a dark storm over the Gaedsea, bringing doom and destruction to land and sea."

The very earth underneath them seemed to move, but as Ben watched, he realised it was a mass of soldiers. Soldiers with dark suits of armour and crimson heraldry marched. Their pikes jostled in the air like black bristles, its spearheads flashing like a thousand suns. The beat of their march shook the very earth, and their warcries poisoned the air. Crimson banners bearing the mark of the Empire rose high, numbering in the thousands. Towing behind them were their siege engines, from canons to towering siege towers.

The cities Ben previously saw were now set ablaze by torches and canonfire. Imperial soldiers poured through the streets, pillaging and killing indiscriminately. The streets ran with the people's blood. Their canons rained fire and metal onto once-majestic walls and their battering rams toppled over great gates.

"And on the helm of this terrible engine of war was Hagrene Hellflower. The scourge of the seas."

Far off the coast, on the black waters, a red-sailed ship broke through the frothing waves, leaving in its wake a trail of burning ships and drowning sailors.

A fierce-looking woman stood on its deck. She was suited in plates of black and gold metal. Her red hair flowed down her neck, blowing with the wind like a cape. She held a terrible, two-handed estoc. But her most striking feature was her ornately-decorated helmet. It hid her entire face save for the narrow slits that revealed her terrifying amber eyes.

Before her, enemy ships barreled to her direction. But Hagrene watched on, unfazed.

Three of her men came up to the deck, each bearing a wooden chest. They were strong, big men, suited in heavy plates and bearing battle-scars. But they seemed small as they carried the wooden chests carefully, reverently, as if they feared what was inside.

They presented the chests to Hagrene. She reached inside, and revealed three parts of a staff.

She joined the parts into one staff, and dark power coursed through her. Hagrene lifted it to the air, and unnatural winds of magic began to stir around her. The wind picked up, whipping and crackling as her powers grew.

Hagrene pointed the staff to the sea before her, and it moved to her will. They churn and rage like a black beast, swallowing enemy ships into its abyssal maw. Hagrene pointed to the sky, and dark lightning thundered down, splitting enemy ships apart and setting them in an unnatural ablaze. Her amber eyes glowed as her enemies fell to her magic.

Hagrene Hellflower. Ben was familiar with her name and her legend. Time and time again he has faced her as the villainess of Gaedsea Saga. But to see her terrible mask and her arcane might with his own eyes terrified him still.

Moraine spoke. "Dark powers commanded the Empire. They came to our seas seeking these powerful artefacts from long ago to fight their battles. And they will turn the earth upside down to find them.

"But in times of crisis, our ancestors would control the winds of magic to summon a defender from another world."

Ben blinked as he saw Hagrene craning her head up towards the distant horizon. Her eyes narrowed with hatred. Or was it fear?

Her men followed her eyes and watched as a brilliant light appeared on the horizon like the breaking of dawn. There, riding at the helm of a great ship, came an incandescent figure suited in excellent armour and weapons. And behind him, the full force of the Gaedsea rallied, from the greatest ships of the line to the smallest galleys, manned by the most disciplined knights to the most irregular privateers. They fly the most impressive collection of flags, bearing heraldries and insignias from all across the Gaedsea. The full might of the Gaedsea followed the hero like thunder to lightning.

But before the two forces could clash, the images ended, and Ben found himself back on the balcony. Gone was the great battle. There was only him, Moraine, and the setting sun.

Moraine looked at him, brown eyes locked against his dark eyes. "We've spent years scouring through time and space looking for our defender. Looking for you."