You know, most people struggle trying to tell their stories because they don't know how to start. In my case that was really easy, after all, it was right behind the seedy bar I frequented during the evening, with a sky purple enough to know if want exactly night yet.
The bar was closed for the day, so I decided to park my bike in the back entrance to smoke a cig in peace. The second month into my unemployment was hitting me hard and finding a job where I didn't have to scrap by became increasingly hard as a college dropout, and my savings were almost nonexistent at this point so I was running out of options.
It was at this moment that I heard a muffled scream further down the alley and decided to dial 9-1-1 before going to check if whoever it was needed immediate help or just an unlucky fellow that tripped while high on something, but what greeted was an actual daylight robbery. Some addict, by the way he twitched and looked around in paranoia, held an office lady at knifepoint.
"Listen, lady, I already told you! Just give me your bag and you don't get hurt!" Even his voice was a higher pitched than what one would usually from a man, but his trembling hand was just in line with what you would expect from an addict looking for his next fix.
Too bad the lady was frozen looking at the knife he had just under her chin. And with no sirens wailing in the back I couldn't expect help to arrive any time soon, not when this guy's trembling hand was a coin toss away from either stabbing her throat or dropping the thing altogether. I hit the "Call" option on my phone, hoping the operator would be one of those competent ones you saw on TV and help would be on the way soon, and put it on my jacket's pocket.
"Hey, man," I spoke softly and approached them with my hands in the air, approaching slowly so I didn't spook him. "The lady is too afraid to even move," I attempted to deescalate, "look, I guess you have it rough but so do all of us. I mean, I'm about to be evicted if I don't find a job soon." I reached slowly into my jacket and pulled my pack of cigs and offered it to him.
"How about you take one of these and tell me about it? I could use a smoke myself after the awful day I've had, you know," I took one out and lit it, releasing a mouthful of smoke almost at once with a deep sigh. "Name's Lawrence, by the way. Shame we didn't get to meet under better circumstances, what's yours, bud?"
The guy took a cigarette for himself and I helped him light it up, making him turn his back to the lady in the process. I wanted to keep his attention on me, on smoking. On anything but being a menace in general, and it seemed to be working. The guy took a drag after leaning back and reluctantly introduced himself.
'At least tobacco managed to calm his nerves enough to hold a somewhat civil conversation.' I mused to myself.
"'M Collins, that's all your getting from me, pal," the guy, Collins as it turns out, grunted as he exhaled a cloud of smoke of his own.
"Hey, hey, that's fine," I waved my hand dismissingly, looking at the lady hoping she'd take the hint and make herself scarce, "just thought we'd have a normal conversation for a change. From one guy on the slumps to another, you know."
Now, despite my surprising ability to deescalate the situation without pissing my pants or stuttering my way through, there was one tiny fly on that wall, so to speak.
"POLICE! HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!" said the aforementioned fly from the alley's entrance, with who I suspected was his partner getting out of the cruiser's driver's side, Officer Fly from now on and for the next few minutes. My own brand of revenge against that moron.
Now, while Officer Fly tried to sound all menacing and noire while aiming his gun at Collins, his partner, Officer Smart henceforth, cursed under his breath at the sight of a powder keg of a situation being introduced to a firecracker of an officer.
And officer Smart had the right of it, the moment Collins heard the shout he turned quickly, brandishing his knife in the process and aiming it at Officer Fly. Sadly, I was close enough that when he did, he also cut me in the process. Badly.
What the movies don't tell you is that when you are cut or stabbed you don't cry out in pain in dramatic fashion. You just feel cold and then hot running all over you, the breath driven out of your lungs, almost like a gasp. Then cold all over again when you realize that blood meant to be inside is rushing out.
I stumbled my way to the wall where the lady looked on in shock at how things turned out, 'The fuck you doing here still, dumb lady?' grouched an delirious part of my mind while pressing my hands against my stomach, almost willing it to close as I bit on my cigarette.
As I hit the wall with my shoulder I could feel the shock run through my front, my pants felt wet and clammy far too fast. He had cut me deep, that didn't spell anything good for me when all I could see was the cruiser the officers came in. At this point the pain was just pissing me off; you try to do something good and some crappy addict clocks you with a knife because an idiot cop felt like a cowboy.
"Ah, shit," I bit out as my legs gave out. "Of all the stupid shit you could do," I began while Collins dropped the now stained knife and began hyperventilating, "you just had to spook the guy holding a knife close to another person, didn't you, Officer Fly?" Ah shit, the last bit slid out without meaning to, guess I'm losing a bit too much blood, huh?
Not even a minute in and I already felt weak, the edges of my vision darkening and it seemed like breathing decided to become a manual task my brain couldn't grasp because if I didn't focus I felt like choking. Ah, scratch that, I was choking. On my blood.
'Ah shit, I think I might be bleeding more than I thought,' I grimaced as I saw my hands dyed red instead of the usual caramel color of my skin as I leaned back sitting on the ground. When I looked at the guy he was just unmoving slumped against the wall, it seemed Officer Fly had subdued him a bit too forcefully.
I could hear the lady, now apparently free of her panic induced paralysis, asking me things. 'Dumb Lady, do I look okay to you?' I almost deadpanned at her but didn't care enough to do it.
That's when I heard the stomping of Officer Smart as he muttered to himself.
"Shit, that ain't good," said the officer as he closed in on us to take a look at my wound and overall state. "Dispatch, status update. The suspect is subdued, currently unconscious and being cuffed. I have one civilian with a stab wound and uncontrolled bleeding. Applying pressure now. Get EMS here, Code 3." Said Officer Smart in a clipped tone.
"No shit, Sherlock. When is coughing blood any good?" This time I did deadpan at him. 'Huh, he looks old. Now he could be a noire police detective.'
"No time for making jokes, son," he said gruffly as he applied pressure to a wound that refused to cooperate. "What are your names?"
"Ah, I-I'm Kim. Um, Kimberly Brown, that is." So that was Dumb Lady's name, huh… Uninteresting.
"Lawrence Harris… the pleasure is all yours… officer," I winced a smile, even if talking was a chore that left me gasping. "The one your… awfully smart partner spooked…? He said his name was… Collins…"
That's when the scary part came, my vision darkened more and suddenly I felt sleepy. Someway through my dialogue my speech began slurring and my eyes felt kinda heavy.
"Ah, hey, guys… mind if i get comfy a bit? All that exercise… left me tired…" I said, or tried to at least, it was more of a bunch of slurred words chained together to mimic speech while I laid flat on the ground.
I was now beyond tired and more like dropping dead, quite literally at that. I could make out the sounds of the officer and Kim trying to get me to respond. But honestly? I was busy appreciating the night sky, it was quite clear after all. And there was a really bright star shinning, though it didn't blink like the others it still looked quite beautiful.
It was while looking at that unblinking, bright star that I felt like I fell asleep and knew no more.
The silence was the first thing that hit me first, it was so notorious it was driving me crazy, but it was also peaceful. Then a pitch black darkness that didn't feel menacing, even as I drifted through it.
Was this what blacking out felt like? It's trippy, that's for sure. I couldn't even hear my usual high pitched tinnitus, thank God for that.
'With a bit of luck they managed to get me some help and the state would pay for my hospital stay,' I mused as I felt myself floating through the nothing. 'All this considered though, it sucks getting shanked just two days after Christmas.'
**
'They are leaving tomorrow on that Hollow commission, I hope nothing goes wrong. Dane, old Nick and Ratena are great at what they do, but a Hollow raid can always go wrong, even more so when it comes from that slimy Faraday…' I winced as tried to sit up, with limited success, 'Damn ribs, I should be there with them, not benched like a kid, playing dress up doll for Annie.
**
'I need to finishing maxing Astra's and my boy Lighter's skills. Nothing like punching your problems away while a beauty sings your praises, am I right or am I right? And that story after the whole Defense Force lady being a turncoat picked up with gusto,' I continued thinking to myself. Trying to keep my mind busy in this lucid dream, 'so much to catch up on. So much lore to pretend I read…'
**
'Still though, why come to us for a Hollow commission when there are many known and better prepared Hollow raiding squads out there? We are barely known locally, much less to a bunch of city suits.' I bit my thumb nail as I thought out loud, "It feels like I'm missing something, but what?" That feeling of there being something I'm not seeing barely let me sleep last night and I missed the guys setting off. I made to get up pushing off the bedside table when it suddenly gave way causing the overturned edge to meet intimately with the side of my head, making everything go dark.
**
'In all seriousness though, I hope I don't have to pay for the medical attention or I really will be left with cents in my pocket and my things thrown out in the street,' I thought as a bright light shone ahead. It seemed like I was about to wake up at last.
**
Waking up felt like being hit by a runaway truck, I could even feel a couple of ideas rattling around in my head as I pushed myself up from the floor. The floor? Was I not supposed to be at the hospital?
No, that's wrong. We couldn't pay for a hospital so I had to bite the bullet and heal naturally with some meds we bought.
No, that's wrong too. I could pay for medical, even if it dried up my remaining savings.
My thoughts were a mess, my memory was a mess. I rubbed my head with my right hand while the left pushed back up to sit on the bed.
I knew I was Lighter. I knew I was Lawrence.
I knew I was unemployed. I knew I was the leader of a mercenary troupe.
As more and more memories began shuffling and rearranging themselves in my head, the small ache that started building up behind my eyes suddenly lessened.
"Fuck it all," I grumbled as I rubbed my eyes and things began making sense. 'As if!' I thought as I pushed myself up with some effort.
Somehow, instead of waking up at the hospital I woke up in a small warehouse in the Outer Ring. I wasn't Lawrence anymore, I was Lighter, the future Red Scarf Champion of the Sons of Calydon.
I was suddenly a fictional character from a videogame of all things. Or was I always a fictional character and only just realized it? Was I getting zero summed like some Dwemer chump after finding out everything is a lie?
A quick bite to the inside of my cheek sent a jolt of pain through me and shook me off those existential thoughts. In these circumstances I only had two things to do, pull a Descartes and pull a Caesar, the actual Caesar not the cute tomboy.
First, I think, therefore I am. I can doubt everything up to this point, but the one poor schmuck stuck in this kinda deadly world? That poor schmuck is very real, that's me. The one that feels and thinks and questions. That's enough for now, at least until I have actual time to process the bullshit situation I'm in and have my crisis in peace.
Second, I came, I saw, I conquered. I knew more or less where I was time-wise and most of what was coming in a few years. At least the important bits, because although I tried to do everything in the game there some events and agent missions and interaction I didn't do. That means I have to make my situation better than OG Lighter's.
I stood up from the bed with some effort and buttoned my shirt up, "But first," I muttered as I walked to the door leading to the common area, "I have three friends to save from death. And a scheming rat that fancies himself a suit to kill after that.
Thankfully Annie, Dane's little sister, was with some of the settlement's kids and being looked after and taught by the old women so I could get ready and leave now.
Taking my worn jacket and throwing it on I walked to the exit and got on the second squad car and began driving towards the Hollow after double checking the address on my phone.
As I drove, I took the chance to talk out loud, wanting to keep myself as busy as I could until I could crash safely and have my existential crisis, "Ok me, what are the chances this Faraday guy is as backstabbing as the Faraday I wish I didn't know but will always hate? Really high, if I'm being honest." My hands gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles went white, a sense of detachment fighting a sense of urgency.
Knowing this used to be a game, the tragic backstory of a character and now living it and refusing to accept the death of my friends, my family, as part of my path to join the Sons of Calydon.
Annie was waiting for that oaf Dane so we could fuck up getting her hair done, good old Nick's wife was among the women teaching the settlement's kids and Ratena, that boisterous tomboy, was my best friend. They didn't have my permission to die.
I reached into my pocket and took out a pack of cigarettes, Lighter might've kicked the habit thanks to the squad and Nick's candies but Lawrence was flying by the seat of his pants and any comfort was welcome.
After a twenty minutes drive I finally reached the edge of the Hollow, "Should I call it event horizon? Damn thing looks like a black hole, after all," I muttered as I stood in front of it.
"Okay, Lighter, get your head in the game. Inhale, this is it," I inhaled, "exhale, you got this!" I exhaled and threw the butt of the cigarette to the side.
"I don't have the carrot data for this Hollow, but it wasn't high on the Ether Activity scale so there shouldn't be that many fissures and once I'm in I should be able to radio them in," I mused as I put on my gloves, clipped a radio to my belt and grabbed a bat from the trunk.
Sadly I didn't have a surplus of weapons and three people I was after took the heavy hitters so this'll have to do.
The thing is, as soon as stepped into the Hollow I wasn't greeted with otherworldly landscape of the Outer Ring Hollow ruins. Instead, I was greeted with a vast expanse of black littered with white, shiny and pulsing dots.
"Just what the hell is with today? Am I in space, somehow?" I asked as I looked around, desperately trying to make sense of it all.
"Yes, but also no," an amused boxes sounded from behind me, making me turn around only to be flashed by a damned, well, flashbang.
Whatever it was, was tall, voluminous and the voice was too echoing to distinguish between male and female. Basically, a white fog wall was talking to me in space.
"Whoever said those gummies didn't do shit, knew nothing," I muttered as I stepped back a bit. "Look, if I hear you say 'Be not afraid' I will most certainly be afraid and start swinging," I tried to keep my voice steady, to some degree of success. But I was reaching my bullshit limit.
To my shame, the eldritch thing chuckled, causing the white dots around to titillate in time with It, Them? "Amusing as always, huh, Lighter?"
"Excuse my French, but the fuck you mean 'as always'? You're a bit… hard to forget, you know?" I gestured at their whole existence. "A bit hard to forget us ever meeting before now, and I'm sorry if it sounds rude, but I have business to attend to. God can wait," I said firmly, looking up as I crossed my arms. "Please do send me back."
"We are afraid we can't do that yet, there things that must be given that were agreed on, young Lighter. You will need it if you are to save your friends and overwrite their destiny."
'Agreed on? When? I just died as Lawrence and woke up as Lighter,' were my thoughts as I held my tongue.
"We will make this quick for your sake, you gambled most of your memories for a Trait and two Skills. Non-refundable and as a one-time deal. So what you got, you are stuck with from now on," They explained and three orbs materialized. Two blue and one gray, which then lined up before me.
"While in another timeline you could have had much greater luck, this time it wasn't bad. You have received the Pyromaniac Trait and the Expert Shooting and Krav Maga Skills," having said that, three parchments rolls unfurled, showing their description.
**
[Pyromaniac]
|Elite Trait|
Burn baby burn, you are a natural pyromantic, fire abilities cost less energy, and your natural fire and heat resistance are increased. You recover energy faster the hotter you are but slower the colder you are.
**
[Expert Shooting]
|Elite Skill|
You are an expert marksman, you handle all firearms and projectiles with great skill and finesse to the point where people might wonder if you have special power. You can even curve your shots and utilize ricochets. You can also better predict the trajectory of enemy projectiles.
**
[Krav Maga]
|Uncommon Skill|
You are an apprentice of Krav Maga, a brutally efficient martial art made for military use, it emphasizes instinctive movements, rapid strikes, and efficient takedowns to neutralize threats as quickly as possible. Krav Maga incorporates techniques from boxing, wrestling, judo, and street fighting. With sufficient mastery, you can enhance your strikes with your internal energy.
**
"So," I said skeptically looking up, "I somehow gambled some or most of my memories save for probably the plot related ones and some key memories, for the chance to get lucky?"
"And you did, which means your time here has come to an end and now you get to go back. Do grit your teeth~" at those words everything faded away and I found myself back in the Outer Ring Hollow, about to step in.
"What-," whatever I was about to say didn't matter because a boiling hot wave of something washed over me. From head to toe my muscles twitched and my skin prickled.
"Fucking hell," I bit out as the overwhelming sensation ebbed away and I realized I'd fallen to my knees, "okay, that happened, whatever that was."
Despite everything, I could feel my energy, my stamina, ticking back up under the unforgiving sun of the Ring. My arms and fingers were twitchy, just like the rest of my muscles. Those pulls, regardless of how convoluted it all was, were going to be my lifeline today.
If Fate taught me something, it's that the Archer Class is certainly made up of Archers. And "projectiles" is a broad enough term that I know I'll cheese it.
And with how much you run around in the Hollows, I'll be running hot almost the whole time. Double if it is in the Outer Ring.
"I will become an unstoppable force," I grunted as I stood up, "A Fire agent, in a hot environment and one that fights melee and most certainly will throw shit around as necessary just got the best skills possible for a nice origin story.
"Okay, enough delays already," I dusted myself and stepped into the Hollow, my surroundings blurring for second before I found myself in the middle of one to two stories tall buildings, probably warehouses or something, with crystals growing off the walls.
"I must've landed deep in the Hollow if the buildings are corrupted," I brought the radio to my mouth and confirmed it was on the right frequency, "Dane, old man, Ratena, do you hear me? Where are you?"
I waited with baited breath for a few seconds, hoping they did, when the radio came on.
"Lighter? What on Earth are you doing here?!" Yeah, that was all Ratena, "You're supposed to be sleeping off those ribs, not solo diving into a Hollow."
"Look guys, I'll be real," I said seriously, "I have a real bad feeling about this gig from Faraday. I don't normally trust commissions too good to be true and I trust that guy even less, so I commission from him? Miss me with that shit," I began walking to the hills behind the warehouses in an effort to get a better view and hopefully find a landmark we could meet at.
"I rather we miss out on this commission than risk something going wrong. So, let's meet up? I don't a carrot but a can tell you I'm at the warehouses by the hills, if that means anything. Or actually, shoot a flare and I'll be there, that's better."
"Are you sure, son? And I mean one hundred percent sure?" came a serene, steady voice. Nick, our voice of reason.
"I am, Nick, something rubs me the wrong way. Say, did he sponsor your Ether meds or are you carrying ours too?" I asked as a thought hit me, maybe a stretch. Maybe paranoid, but when you're chosen by a guy wanting to be a suit from among other more well known mercenary troupes and you know the Exaltists are a thing and pulling a Hydra on various TOPS sectors? Yeah no, all bets are off.
"We have some of our stock, though he did give us some doses. How did you know?" Came in an energetic voice. Dane.
"We don't have time to lose, guys," I said impatiently, "for now, don't use anything we didn't buy ourselves. Shoot the flare and wait for me. We are coming out this Hollow together."
"Well," came in Ratena's voice, reluctant but agreeable, "if that's your decision we'll back it up. I'm shooting one now, get ready."
The radio cut off but to my left a column of red smoke shot up before reaching its zenith and falling almost in slow motion.
"I see it, seems to be about a kilometer away from where I am, maybe two," I kicked off and ran in that direction but not before grabbing some gravel, throwing rocks in front of me every dozen meters to make sure I didn't run into a fissure.
"Don't move from that general area but hide from any Ethereals that may be roaming the place, okay? Let me know if something changes," I could feel my Trait kicking in as I kept running. The energy lost was coming back the more I warmed up, which let me run faster.
Although, having near limitless energy under the right circumstances didn't mean I could go on forever as I soon found out. The flesh is weak and I was no Miyabi or Yixuan, not yet at least. But I would get to that level of BS, I swear.
For now, it took me around twenty minutes if nonstop running to reach the general place the flare was shot from.
"Guys, I think I'm close," I said as I saw a few blocks come into view, "are there any Ethereals near you? Or is the coast clear?"
"We're good for now, Lighter," said Ratena, "we're huddled up inside one of the buildings in the cleaner sector of whatever this district was. We left a convenient pile of rocks in front for reference. If anything that isn't you comes close we'll tell you."
"Okay then, time to overwrite a tragedy. Or three," I said as I began walking to what probably was the wealthy neighborhood a century or a decade ago.
The Undefeated Champion was born of the loss of his three closest friends. This wasn't that story, and though I may still become the Red Scarf it would be on my terms. The Outer Ring's Champion.
It's Void Hunter level fighter, like Yixuan is for Yunkui Summit.
I had the power of God and Anime on my side, after all. Quite literally.
*****
Okay then, that was basically a teaser first chapter.
There won't be a system or cheats beyond the three pulls from the Chaos Gacha created by Bronzdeck, so don't worry about about an MC with more powers than braincells. We only got a Trait and two Skills that although good, aren't game breaking.
And I mean that, I did random pulls and got shit like The Absorber, Technoclast, fucking Child of Man of all things. Even Dead Apostle. Or Grimoire of Pyromancy and Fire Release Jutsu Scroll for items.
In the end, I pooled my results and went with what didn't sound so absurd. Feel free to look up the ones I mentioned and you'll see why I skipped them. I can't win a banner unless it's hard pity, but I get Divine and Transcendental results in the Chaos Gacha?
Anyway, I'll try to keep the chapters over 3K words. 5K if I can pull it off. But I don't have a schedule yet, I just post as I write and proof read.
If there are any errors, turn a blind eye. It's 4 a.m. and I've been writing since 1 a.m.
I'mma go sleep, good morning!