Chapter 3

For the third time I woke up disoriented in a place I didn’t recognize, and I was pissed. It never felt good and it took me a while to get out of the groggy fog that accompanied it. The only saving grace was, unlike the previous times this had occurred, I was waking up on something soft. Not to say that the chair in the Council chamber wasn’t comfortable, but the position I had woken up in was uncomfortable. I was laying down this time and this had to be the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in.

As I got my bearings, I looked around the room I had woken up in and was amazed at what I saw. The walls looked to be made of some sort of stone, possibly cobblestone or a rough granite. The ceiling looked to be about seven feet high and the walls were bare of anything, save for some torches spaced a few feet apart. Looking down at what was beneath me I found I was lying on a twin-sized bed with a minimal wood frame. There were no intricate designs or carvings on the back board or floorboard, while the posts were small and round. To the left of the bed was a wooden door leading out of the room. Next to it was a wooden dresser and a full-length mirror. The dresser stood four feet tall with four drawers, two on the top and two on the bottom. The wood was plain and looked to be the same that was used on the bed frame as well as the frame for the mirror. To the right of the bed was a table with two plain chairs at either end, again made of the same wood. A small candelabra sat on the table, made of iron and fresh candles sat on it.

Across from the foot of the bed stood a wooden mannequin and a small chest beside it to the right. The lock on the chest had the same symbol as the one above my bracer, ‘Tyr’ in runes. I could not see any keyhole present in the lock. There were no windows in the room and the door was a plain one with no discernable locking mechanism. The latch looked to be iron, black in color, and simplistic in its design, just like the other iron items in the room. Tyr’s name was etched into the door near the top, the runes at least half a foot long, inset with gold. Below that, near the dead center of the door, was his symbol. This one looked to be two feet long, and the portions that had been etched in were filled with gold. No doubt about it, I was now in the Pact house that they said they were sending me to.

There was a light knocking at the door. The sudden noise caused me to jump a little, shaking the bed. I got up to stand next to the bed, nervous about who it could be and how they knew so soon I was here.

“Y-yes, come in,” I said, trying to hide how nervous I was feeling. The door opened slowly, and a young woman walked in.

She was average height, standing only a few inches shorter than myself. She made her way into the room, with a warm smile, to stand next to the table on the far side. Her hair was dirty blond, wavy, and hung down past her shoulders. She was using two pins shaped like Tyr’s symbol to pin her hair up and help it to frame her face. She looked to be around my age, as there was less baby fat on her face than the Oracle I met before. Her eyes were a bright cerulean blue, and they were framed by full eyebrows and a small, pert nose. Her lips were full and lightly tinted a shade of pink, no doubt their version of lipstick, and suited to her overall look. While I am a man, I can notice and appreciate how makeup can enhance a woman’s look. Her smile widened as she turned to face me, and her natural beauty made my stomach flip. Her slender neck had a golden choker around it, its amulet matching the symbol on my bracer.

“Hello there,” she said softly, “my name is Amenthia, I am here to escort you to meet with our Pact leader. Tyr has anxiously been expecting you; he called me as soon as he sensed you were here, and you don’t want to keep him waiting.”

Her voice was music to my ears, and she gestured for me to follow her as she left the room. I had to take a minute to compose myself before I let go of the bed and begin to follow her out. As I passed the full-length mirror, I noticed that my clothes and shoes from before I had been killed were gone. They had been replaced by a cloth shirt, leather belt, leather pants and calf high, leather boots. The shirt was a plain cream colour, but not as rough or abrasive as I expected cloth like this to be. It felt like a fine silk, rather than cloth, and there was very little weight to it. The pants were a medium brown with a rough feel to the exterior, no doubt to make them durable. The inside, however, was soft and the pants didn’t seem to restrict any range of movement. This was probably to ensure that adventurers didn’t risk being hurt because their clothes wouldn’t allow them to move a certain way. The boots were black and felt like they were lined with soft velvet. I was surprised at how well the new clothes fit and how comfortable they felt compared to all the clothes I had in my old life. I had never worn anything this comfortable before; it was almost as if the clothes were lined with silk.

I was thankful I wasn’t naked and asleep when Amenthia arrived. I was embarrassed enough being around such a beautiful woman, I didn’t need her to see any of that.

As we left the room, I fell into step behind her as she guided me through the vast corridors of the Pact house. We turned right from my room and made our way down the stone hallway and while I tried to maintain focus to make sure I was going where she was leading. I couldn’t help staring at her. Hopefully I wouldn’t offend her if she caught me staring, as I am not exactly movie star handsome, but I wasn’t ugly either. Many times in my old life, I would be caught by the women I was looking at and their response was to either make fun of me or their face showed disgust.

Pushing those memories out of my mind, I continued to appraise her as she guided us through the corridors of the compound. While her build was obviously athletic, with slim arms and toned legs, she had serious curves. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if her curves put the great Kate Upton to shame and I knew a few porn stars that had to get surgery to look half as good as she did. She is wearing leather bracers on her wrists, with one of them having an opening in it for the bracer crystal to be accessed. Both had the same markings along the exterior ridge of the bracer that the golden bracer had on it. The top she had on was billowy like satin or another luxurious material such as silk. The shirt hugged her curves while not being skintight, showing enough to interest without being scandalous, and had a modest V-neck cut.

She had a leather belt on that had numerous small pouches, typical of most adventure games and anime, and a front clasp with the Tyr symbol. While the shirt that she was wearing was billowy, the pants were skintight, reminding me of yoga pants women on my world used to wear. They looked to be made of the same leather as mine, but they flattered her curves much better than mine. I have to admit, I let my eyes linger on her ass for a while, it was full, curvy and fantastic. I am not an ass man by far but, damn, her ass could make me convert. Her boots were a bit like mine, only they went up to her knees instead of mid-calf. While the length of the boot itself would be referred to as ‘come fuck me’ boots, the heel was not designed for running for long periods. While my boots seemed to have a one-inch heel, hers seemed to have at least a four-inch heel on them. I knew from multiple sources that heels like that, while not always practical, would make her ass and calves look even more fantastic. I had to wonder if she knew the effect it would have on others - or did she just like to wear them? I did know that heels like that wouldn’t be useful or comfortable to use on multiple terrain types. Perhaps these ones were only for day to day and she had different ones for when she was dungeon crawling.

She abruptly stopped and spun around, catching me off guard before I could take my eyes of her body. I was unable to keep from bumping into her and felt as her noticeably large breasts pressed into my chest. Despite the brief contact, I could tell they were soft and firm, but I couldn’t tell if she was wearing some kind of undergarment. My mind thought of the possibility of her not wearing anything under, and I lost strength in my legs for a moment. I figured that her clothes were designed with some kind of support, as I stumbled back and muttered an apology and tried to keep my eyes on hers. I am a breast man and had always hoped to meet a woman with a large pair, but holy cow, I had never seen such a large pair in my life. Mind you, I had seen many from the internet trying to be that large over the years, with most of them being implants that never fully recreated how natural breasts sit and move. I could tell that I was probably blushing from head to toe and it was easy to see that she had noticed my embarrassment as well. She had a slight, knowing smile on her face and a mischievous twinkle in her beautiful, blue eyes.

“Happy to see you approve of what I am wearing today, I was hoping you would like it,” she said with a giggle, her smile growing wider. “This door leads to our Pact leader’s personal quarters. Due to your unique status and arrival to our Pact house, you are to meet Tyr privately.”

“Understood, Amenthia,” I replied with a slight smirk on my face, “and thank you. I look forward to seeing you during my time here.”

She flashed me another amazing smile that made my heart skip a beat and then turned to knock on the door behind her. The door was slightly larger than the door to what I assume would be my room and made of an extremely dark wood. The door frame was accented by a rim of stones intricately carved with lines of elder futhark along their smooth surface. Each of the carvings was filled with gold, much like the carvings in the other doors in the building. At its center was a very large version of that same symbol, as well as the elder futhark runes spelling his name, though these were filled with another metal that created a stark contrast to the dark wood of the door.

She knocked on the door three times softly and a deep voice from within the room bellowed a reply, “Send him in, my dear Amenthia.”

She opened the door slowly, gesturing me to enter and I slowly stepped in through the threshold once she had opened it fully. The room was lit only by the light of a massive fireplace at the far end of the room, leaving most of the room cast in shadow. Only the items nearest the fire reflected enough detail for me to make out what they were, but the various objects were used in maintaining the large fireplace. I could not see the fireplace directly as a large chair was blocking the view with a small table to the left of it. The chair looked like a large throne, though I could not tell from the doorway. On the table there looked to be a long, horn-shaped object sitting in an iron holder.

I slowly made my way towards the chair, making sure not to be overly loud so as to not disturb the man sitting there. As I came into view of the front of the chair, I bowed slightly to make sure to show him respect, as I passed by. I stood in front of the fireplace and turned to face the man I knew I would be spending a great deal of time answering to. As I looked upon the man before me, I was surprised at what I saw, as he defied my expectations. He was exceptionally tall, sitting nearly to the full height of the chair, which was about six feet. His hair was a deep brown, wavy, and hung down to his chest. He had a thick beard that hung lower than his hair, stopping at his lap.

He had a long, fur cloak draped along his shoulders with what seemed to be a velvet lining pooling at the floor by his feet. There was a gold chain going from one side to another, clasping the cloak to him. Each side of the chain had his symbol fastening it to the cloak. Tyr was wearing a leather jerkin, from what I could recall from some of the medieval conventions I had gone to, with chain mail underneath it. He looked to be wearing the same leather pants that Amenthia and I are wearing, though his looked to be reinforced by something. His boots were a solid black leather, with no laces or buckles, the top rimmed with fur. His belt had the same symbol, associated with him, as a buckle and I had seen the same on Amenthia’s belt as we were coming here. The thing I noticed most, though, was that, true to the myths and eddas of the past, one of his hands was missing. While his left hand was sticking out from a golden bracer not unlike the one, I was wearing, his right hand was only a stump. My mind flashed to the story of how he had placed his hand into Fenrir’s mouth, while the other gods bound him. His penance for being captured was taken by Fenrir biting off his hand. They were destined to kill one another during Ragnarok.

“Please sit,” he said with his deep, accented voice, as he gestured with his hand. “I am sure you have a few questions, such as who I am and what you will be doing as part of the Pact house.”

I looked behind me and saw a small seat, almost like a stool, simple, with a soft pillow on top. I sat down and did my best to be comfortable, as Tyr patiently waited for me to be ready.

“I do apologize, young man, but I rarely allow anyone visit my private quarters and as such I don’t have places to sit, other than this chair. However, in this instance we are required to allow steps that are different than usual or traditional, given your unique circumstances.”

I nodded, adjusting how I sat on the stool (hopefully I wouldn’t need to sit on it for too long). His steel-grey eyes set on me, piercing into my very soul, much as Freyja’s eyes had when all of this started.

“If you are not already familiar with me, I am Tyr, Son of Odin Allfather. Brother to Thor Odinson and Balder Odinson and Loki, of course, is my step-uncle. I am the Norse god of war, and leader of this Pact house and if you have been sent here, it is because you have the heart of a warrior. I was told of your arrival by my father and sent Amenthia to collect you.”

A warm smile appeared on his face and the tension I was starting to feel from the power of his words faded away.

“Now we must start the preparations for you to start your journey in this world as a member of this house,” he said, as he leaned forward and took my bracered hand. “The first step on the new journey requires that I use my godly energies to empower your bracer crystal. With this, you will become a first level recruit to my Pact house. Your stats will default to one in each category and as you fight, your stats will increase depending on the situation. For example, the more you dodge attacks coming from your enemies, the more your speed stat will increase. Another example being the more enemies you kill with a sword or blunt weapon, the higher your strength becomes. This will apply to many things you will do which will translate to increases in all the other stats. I have been informed that you know what I am talking about, from previous experience with these kind of mechanics.”

I nodded in confirmation of his assessment of my knowledge. “Yes, I believe I understand how this will work, my lord,” I replied.

He let out a hearty laugh, and continued, “You do not have to call me ‘my lord’, ‘Sir’, is well enough. After your level is selected, you will be given a tour of this compound, by Amenthia, covering all of the important areas a new adventurer must learn about. Keep in mind that while many aspects of the world are based on the role-playing games of your world, the idea of a class is much more flexible. For example, your personal playstyle would be much like Skyrim, while the team dynamics would be typical of the Borderlands series. The creatures you encounter will react like flesh and blood beings, despite the rules of this world, so a hit to the heart or brain could instantly kill them.

Eden is a young world by your standards, yet older by ours. The name was my father’s idea, a snub at the ‘One God’, though you well not see anything like that here. As well your agnostic background was why you were given the choice to come here. At the end of the tour you will be taken to our quartermaster, where you will be given your equipment. You will be given the opportunity to request specific gear given your unique status but know that this will be a onetime thing. Any future requests, you will need to supply either the raw materials, or the gold to get them.”

I nodded again in confirmation; there was nothing really that I needed to say in response to his explanations and I felt honored that I would be given the option to pick my own gear.

“Now, let us begin,” he stated, his face becoming serious. “Please extend your bracer to me, so that you may become a part of my Pact house.”

I extended my slightly shaking arm towards him, nervous at what was about to happen, yet filled with unparalleled excitement. He placed his hand on the bracer, covering the crystal with his palm and his hand began to glow in an ethereal, azure light. I looked up and saw that the same glow had started to emanate from his eyes, so much so that azure energy leaked out of them like wisps of smoke. The azure energy rose from his eyes, dissipating half a foot above his head and I stared, transfixed, at the raw power being displayed. As I looked back down to the bracer, I noticed that my forearm is beginning to glow as well, though my fingers looked unchanged. I could feel the energy he was pouring into the crystal begin to course through my body, and the rush was incredible. The sensation is difficult to describe, but the closest I could come was it felt electrifying and yet at the same time, warm. After a few minutes, the glow began to slowly increase in intensity, until it became almost blinding. With an audible snap, like lightning hitting the ground during a thunderstorm, the glow disappeared, and the warmth receded.

Tyr then pressed softly on the crystal, which still had a slight glow at its center, and called out, “Statistical Display.”

He pulled back his hand and my stat display appeared in its stead, showing my newly updated information. As he had said, my display now showed that my current level was one, though my name was left blank for some reason. My strength, defense, speed, vitality, magic, intelligence, stealth and awareness all showed one point. Selecting my other screen, I could see my feats were still empty and no skills were listed, as well. I returned to the stat display, placed my hand over the crystal, obscuring the display and gave the command to close it.

Tyr smiled softly and said, “Now that we are finished with this task, it is time to introduce you to your supporter. She will help you in dungeons, collecting drops, and fighting alongside you, giving you back up. She will also give you advice and knowledge to better help you succeed, as she has lived her whole life in this world. She has spent years training to ensure she would be the best supporter she could be, so she is both knowledgeable and experienced.”

I nodded in acceptance and my mind began to run through the different possibilities of who it could be, though a part of me hoped it would be Amenthia. He did say ‘she’, but there was no telling how many women were in this Pact house, so the chances that I would end up working with her would no doubt be slim.

“It has been two centuries since our last outsider joined this world, so I am expecting great things from you, child. I do hope that you will not let me down.”

He slowly rose from his chair, placing all his weight on his left hand. I got up as well, ensuring I showed the proper respect befitting my new leader.

“Now, I have business to attend to in preparation for your first trek into the dungeon. I do hope you enjoy the tour, as well as the items that will be given to you by our quartermaster. I am sure that you will put them to good use and will be impressed with their quality. Remember this is a one-time arrangement and their quality will immediately set you apart from the rest. Your companion has also been given a rare gift, befitting her role as your supporter. Now take this - all of my Pact members wear it. It is a symbol of your faith in this house, and your allegiance to me.”