An unexpected journey.

Sitting in a classroom bustling with laughter, tears and shouts, a young man was packing up his bag, preparing to leave. This was his last day at college, and yet, he didn't have a single person to say goodbye to.

Sigh.

'I should grab my things and get out of here.', he thought making his way out of the class.

This lonely man's name was Varis, a 5' 11 individual with dark eyes and even darker hair. He had a lean build like what you would see from an athlete, with a sharp jawline and a pale face.

Making his way to the dormitory, for the last time, he marveled at the campus' vastness.

"This place is enormous," he muttered to himself, a mix of admiration and melancholy in his tone.

A few minutes later he had reached his destination.

Standing in front of his room, Varis took one last sigh before extending his hand towards the doorknob.

Swish!!

Out of nowhere, Varis' surroundings began to warp, vibrant patterns appearing all around him. He could never forget this sensation as it looked like that one time he was high on shrooms. 

'What the f*ck!? Was my breakfast drugged?' , he thought having not eaten anything else.

'Who the f*ck's genius idea is this? What do they even get from this? ' , Varis thought as the door he was holding on to began to dematerialize, and just when it looked like it was getting worse.

huh- his surroundings snapped back to normal.

'whew what was that about?', he questioned.

blink!

blink! blink!

blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink! blink!

'WHERE AM I???????' , Varis had a mental dilemma as he pondered, calmly, where he was.

...

Taking a second to calm down, Varis began to survey his surroundings. He found himself surrounded by shattered buildings, the air thick with the pungent aroma of decay, and the ground littered with the stark, skeletal remains, an eerie silence permeating through the air.

Varis took a step backwards reeling in the incredulous view, but then he felt something. Turning around, Varis locked his eyes with a dead body.

'What the actual f*ck?!', he screamed internally.

Horrified at the sight of a decaying corpse right next to him, Varis turned back around wishing to go home.

'Yup, I'm going back... Where's the door?' , Varis thought as he searched frantically.

'It's not here...F*CK', he cursed internally.

'This is bad. Could this be the effect of a new drug?' , Varis thought trying to escape reality.

'No, the decay, the silence... and the corpse, It's all too real and not to mention I'm still in the right state of mind', Varis continued, knowing all too well that there could not have been a single drug that could've escaped his grasp.

Varis, here, may have been stupid but he definitely wasn't an idiot. He realized just how bad his situation could be.

"I have either been teleported to a war-torn city or... I am not on Earth", he thought considering the former to be most likely.

Whatever may be the case, Varis knew he needed to act quick and plan his next course of action.

He looked around, this time with heightened focus. It was then he observed, along the road where he stood, flanked by broken buildings and scattered debris, a structure resembling a convenience store.

'Regardless of my current situation, I need to secure food and water; otherwise, it'll be a problem down the line', Varis thought, setting his eyes on his first objective.

With an eerie silence ringing in his ears, Varis cautiously crept toward the structure, alert to any hidden traps that might harm him.

After what felt like an eternity to cover a mere distance of not more than 50 meters, Varis finally arrived right in front of the building.

It was indeed a convenience store. The interior was cluttered with items strewn everywhere, yet no visible damage could be seen.

Varis, now, relieved at being a hair's breadht away from the entrance, let his gaurd down. As he was heading inside a loud screech broke the silence.

Skiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!

A small creature, aggressive and feral, lunged at him.

'What now?!', Varis thought as he quickly turned his head towards the direction of the sound.

Upon turning his head, Varis saw a blury shadow coming right for him. Reacting quickly, Varis tried to move out the way but he was a step too late.

Ack!

The small creature sunk its fang deep into Varis' shoulder.

Varis' face twisted, under the weight of excruciating pain, yet not a sound escaped him, mindful of the possibility that more of the creatures could be lurking nearby.

He yanked the creature clinging to his shoulder and then kicked it away, aiming to gain some time.

Looking around, he realized if he attempted to run towards the street it would allow the creature to easily catch up to him. Turning around he thought,

'My only option is to head inside.'

Skrrr..

Growling, the little thing followed right behind him not leaving him any room to rest.

Varis' mind raced, desperately searching for an escape from his predicament. It was at that moment he spotted something shining at the rear of the store.

He wasted no time and sprinted towards it immediately, hoping it was a certain something.

And, indeed it was what he had hoped for. Reaching the back of the store he found cutlery - a knife to be precise.

'You little f*ck I'm going to stew your a**.', Varis thought a sadistic smile adorning his face.

Grabbing the knife he turned around only to find the creature lunging at yet again.

He side-stepped to his right, barely missing the creature's jaw by a few centimeters, despite being ready.

In a moment of unforseen luck, the creature, carried by it's momentum, found its leg piercing right throught the wall.

The creature tried to dislodge itself but to no avail it couldn't move.

Not willing to let go of this opportuning, Varis shoved his knife straight through the little bastard's head, a menacing glint running across his eyes.

Wriggle! Wriggle! Wriggle!

Despite being stabbed right in it's head, the creature started squirming around.

"Oh hell nah", Varis muttered underneath his breath.

With no hesitation whatsoever, Varis took few swings at it, seeminlgy relishing this moment.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

It took a few pierces but the creature finally stopped moving, it's body hanging dead from the wall.

"Holy f*ck...", cursed Varis, his heart pounding furiously.

Looking at the blood flowing from the creature, Varis' eyes dilated. His emotions were all over the place, but he was happy he survived. And, just when he was about to celebrate further.

"Argh!!!!"

A sharp pain stung Varis, as the wound he had previously ignored began to throb anew, now that the adrenaline was fading.

Breathing heavily, Varis thought,

'I need to close this wound soon, or I'll die from bleeding out!'

Varis mind raced as he thought,

'If this is anything like a normal store it must have few basic medical supplies'

Varis ran through the store trying to get to the medical section. Luckily, moments later he found what he was looking for.

He quickly searched throught the shelves and found few disinfectants and a bandage.

Although their effectiveness was questionable, they were better than nothing. He hurriedly opened the bottles applying disinfectants first before wrapping the bandage around his shoulder.

But, Varis knew if he didn't wasn't properly treated soon he was going to die.

At last, being relatively safe Varis dropped down, mentally exhausted.

"F*ck. F*ck. F*ck. F*ck. F*ck.", he cursed trying to ignore the pain from his shoulder.

'What the f*ck was that? A dog? An ant? A wasp? That is not something you would see on Earth.' , he pondered, the pain still trying to make its presence known.

Unlike any Earthly animal, it stood two feet tall, with a snout resembling that of a dog but bizarrely supported by six thin, insect-like legs. Its yellow and black coloring was strikingly similar to that of a wasp.

While not the smartest idea, Varis looked for alcohol to numb his pain. After walking for a while he found a bottle of ale and chugged it right down.

He sat down to rest and started evaluating his situation.

'My shoulders messed up. F*ck knows how many more of those things are out there'

'And, more importantly I am not on Earth'

But before he could think any further,

Growl~~

'I should go get some food.", Varis thought listening to his stomachs demands.

Varis got up, making his way slowly and carefully.

While walking around, he began to realize how absurd his situation even was.

'It's hard to accept, that I just randomly got transmigrated. How is this even possible?'

'I want to go back.. although I have no friends.. no family.. no loved ones... AH! there's food'

Varis, hurried, preventing his thoughts from taking a dark turn.

'Canned food.. and.... a corpse?' , Varis noticed looking at the refrigerator contrasting the food.

Casually glancing over the corpse Varis assessed,

'Neck's broken. Maybe from the same animal as before?'

'Looks like it died recently, there's a chance he was along with more people.'

'I should look for clues maybe I can find them'

Although the prospect of there being other people intrigued Varis he moved on to more important matters. Opening the powered off refrigerator, Varis one of the canned foods and gobbled it down. He struggled a bit since his dominant arm, right, was unusable.

While amidst eating his food, and thinking about his plans, he noticed something unusual inside the corpse's jacket.

Removing it's jacket, Varis found something

"Oooh a book? why, thank you, good sir. May you rest in peace."

Varis picked up the blood stained book hoping to gain information on this world despite the highly likely language barrier.

Wiping the blood off, Varis saw.

"Arcanum Celestis - Initiate of mysteries", was boldly written on the cover of the book.

'Huh? Strange.. it's all in English? Although, the English used here is quite ancient', Varis thought surprised but happy at this unlikely discovery.

Opening the first page of the book he read,

'hmm..

Prepare the sacred temple's walls,

Present thine offerings with devout reverence,

And meticulously construct Perception.

In the wake of these acts,

The shrouded enigmas of the universe shall unfurl,

Revealing truths long concealed.'

The text spoke in a very convulated manner, making it hard to grasp.

Following that, Varis read through the subsequent pages and managed to understand the message trying to conveyed.

'Basically, the walls refers to my body and it says that I have to rigorously condition it before performing a Rite and crafting Perception'

'I didn't understand the last part, but after doing so one can sense 'things' and gain power beyond human comprehension'

'What a load of bull cr*p', Varis thought not believing the book one bit. He then proceeded to store some food and water in his bag that had come along with him to this world.

'More importantly..', Varis thought as he made his way back to the creatures body.

Looking at the dead body before him, Varis' face formed a delighted smile..

'I promised to make stew out of you, didn't I? You little mutt.'