I blinked my eyes, adjusting to the sunlight as I sat up and looked around. I was pretty sure that I hadn't dreamt that I saved people from a crash and had just died. Though, the fact that I was lying outside instead of in a hospital, or my room put a hold on the theory of dreaming.

I gave a swift slap to my cheek, and yep, not dreaming. They make it look so painless in those cartoons that the kids watched... I rubbed my cheek and made my way toward the sound of a river. Wasn't there a saying or something to follow a river and it would always lead you back to civilization, eventually?

I hummed as I looked at my reflection in the water, my eyes widening slightly in surprise.

My black hair, which had always been long but never past my shoulders, now reached my lower back, and my green eyes seemed to glow against my pale skin. Not only had my physical appearance changed, but I also looked healthier than the haggard appearance that I usually held from lack of nutrition growing up.

"Hey, I look pretty like this, sure, but what happened to my manly appearance?" I was lying to myself, I never looked manly a damned day in my life, but it felt better to complain and pretend I did, "Honestly, I don't think I'm in the right universe at this point."

I stiffened as I heard a snap of a twig behind me and slowly turned around. A man, that looked like he was cosplaying for some medieval fantasy game, approached me with a sword held out. His hair was as dark as mine, but his eyes were like sapphires and glittered like jewels, and he was most definitely taller than me by a good bit.

"Oh, would now be a good time to tell you that I don't have any money, and robbing me would just be a waste of both of our times?" I gave my best smile and held up my hands when his eyes glared at me instead of putting away his sword, "I suppose not, good sir. However, might I interest you..." I trailed off as the knightly dressed man just continued to stare at me and I heard huge splashing come from across the river. Definitely not a human with those sounds.

Ah, I don't think he has that sword out for me. Well, time to change the game, I guess.

"You tell me when to dodge so you can face whatever it is behind me, deal?" I sighed with relief as the knight nodded, glad that we came up with a plan before I died... again.

"Dodge." I barely had time to appreciate how nice his voice sounded before I was diving away from the danger closing in.

I scrambled against the earth and ran behind the man with a sword, hoping that he was strong enough to handle whoever their assailant was. I blinked rapidly, not quite believing what I was seeing. An icy, blue, giant bear-like creature charged at the knight with... was that a horn?

"[Lighting]." The man spoke in a language that I had never heard of before but somehow understood perfectly. Alright, kind of liked the fantasy aspect of this hallucination, but not happy with the horror aspect. I would like to rate it three out of five stars, please.

"Are you alright?" The knight, which reminded me of Gerard in his stone face stare and to-the-point attitude, asked me once the giant ice-bear was surrounded by bolts of lightning and he sheathed his sword, "I did not mean to startle you, but any sudden movements would have caused it to attack before I could come to your aid."

"Huh, and.... what exactly is it?" I looked at the decently charred ice-bear, "I don't think... I belong here."

The light of the [Lightning] dashed my hopes of it being a hallucination.

"You... are you perhaps an out-worlder?"

A what now? I simply blinked my eyes up at the knight. I know not what that is, and I wish not to learn for I feel the trouble brewing just from the sigh that my hero let out. Would he notice if I just left and pretended this never happened? His eyes trained on mine let me know that, yes, he would very much notice.

"You come from a world that does not have monsters, correct?" Seeing my nod, the knight continued, "Then you are most definitely an out-worlder. I shall escort you to the city and we shall get you settled. Welcome to Ebora. [Inventory]." The knight held a card towards the ice-bear and it simply disappeared from view

"Thanks..." I muttered as I followed the man who claimed that this world was full of monsters. I couldn't really deny his words, the proof was just seconds away from tackling me and gnawing on my bones after all.

We came upon a horse and the knight held his hand to help me mount the adorable creature. Was everything going to come in jumbo size, though? It seemed like everything I had come across was bigger than the normal standards on Earth. Or maybe it was just because this knight was a giant.

"Forgive my manners, young one, I have yet to ask for your name."

Young one? Me? He was talking to me the same way I would talk to the kids...

"I'm Oscar, and I'm twenty-one, sir knight."

I felt his arms stiffen by my sides as he tightened his grip on the reigns of the horse, his shock showing physically. "Twenty... one. You're just a couple of years younger than me..."

I heard him mutter behind me, although, it wasn't hard considering that I was literally in his arms as we rode the horse, "Yes, twenty-one." I huffed a laugh as I could practically feel his embarrassment from behind me, "It's alright, back home people always mistook my age as well, malnutrition does that to ya, I guess. And what's your name, sir knight?"

I almost missed the dark look in the knight's eyes as I mentioned the lack of food growing up, "I'm Elliot Anworth, a knight from the kingdom of Dawnrun. I'm currently stationed at the Adventurers Guild, however, and am thus assigned tasks by them."

"Oh, right. I suppose it wouldn't be a fantasy genre without kingdoms..." I pursed my lips, the others... they most definitely cried. It would be unrealistic of me to assume that they would be alright after my death was announced.

"..." The knight sat in silence, but I felt the question he held in his gaze as he glanced down at me.

"Ah, I'm not the best to be explaining my world's history. I was more focused on art classes than the core lessons during school." I laughed lightly at the fond memories of being sent to detention for not doing homework, only to be allowed to draw during those sessions, "My sister, Heather, could rattle your ears off with her historic knowledge."

"Sister?" The dark-haired knight inquired, "Did you have family?"

I nodded, my smile softening at the thought of them, "There were a total of five of us, including myself. Heather was the only girl, though." Growing up with four brothers really put a damper on those who wanted to bully her, even if the bullies were girls as well. The five of us would argue a lot, but even then, we made sure that none of us were harmed by others.

The sun had started to set when we reached the gates of the kingdom, the rest of the ride sat in silence as I looked at the surroundings. It was certainly like I had stepped through a fantasy setting instead of the modern one I was so used to, it was almost surreal, and I would've believed I was dreaming still, if not for the fact that everything felt so... intense.

What a joke, who would've thought the Oscar Sharp that was obsessed with fantasy actually managed to somehow get transported to another world? Whoever was in charge up there, most definitely had a sense of humor.

"Anworth." A knight stationed at the front of the gate gave a lazy glance before turning his attention toward me, "Who is this?" Even just from his tone, I could tell that he was being disrespectful to sir knight, let alone the tension radiating from the person behind me.

"An out-worlder, I stumbled upon them during a request from the Adventurer's Guild." Sir knight responded, his voice void of the softness that he presented with me, instead replaced by a cold so deep that I wondered if he simply was nice because I looked like a child.

"Ah," The stationed guard gave me a once over, his eyes lingering on my face, or more evidentially, my lips, "I see..."

I frowned, feeling my hairs rise as the knight's tongue ran over his own lips as his eyes traveled along my figure. Sir knight tensed behind me, moving his cape around me to block the man's eyes. The creep made no move to allow us entry as he continued to leer at me. I felt my eyes grow cold as I stared him down, not only was he rude to sir knight, he boldly lusts after an unknown person. How... hilarious.

Sir Anworth snorted coldly, his hands clenched around the reigns as he helped me off of the horse, "Excuse us, we must make it to the guild before nightfall." Not giving the impolite knight a chance to stop us, my knight brushed past him, keeping his hand locked onto my arm until we were a safe distance away. "Apologies, I did not wish..." He let out a cold sigh as he glanced over his shoulder, back toward the gate, "...I should've taken you through the backway."

"...You," I started, feeling the bitter taste of the question I wanted to ask. Were you usually treated that way? Did most guards act like that regarding 'out-worlders' or... "...No, never mind." It wouldn't do to pry into other's business when I barely even settled into this world, yet. Even so, it was a little irritating that someone who protected me was treated impolitely. Perhaps I was thinking too much, though, maybe it was just that one guard who had issues with sir knight.

"Welcome!" A woman with green hair and cat ears greeted us once we walked into, what I assumed was the Adventurer's Guild, her features were gentle and her rounded eyes gave an innocent impression, "Oh! Sir Anworth, how was the Frost-Bear?"

The interior reminded me of a bar that I went to on my twenty-first birthday. Several round tables sat in the center and booths lined the rustic walls. There was a board with several papers pinned to it, requests, I assumed, and the patrons looked... straight out of a fantasy game. There were the typical buffed-up swordsmen, the lean rangers, mages in cloaks, and even the typical seductive and cute women that littered around in groups. Truly... a stereotypical fantasy.

"The reports were accurate," Sir knight nodded back in greeting, his deep blue eyes softened at the young girl, "I came upon Lord Oscar Sharp, he is an out-worlder in need of some assistance."

It seems as if he thrust me into the cat-girl's burden as he then walked swiftly away, it was like he couldn't escape fast enough.

"..."

I and the receptionist stared at each other in slight shock as the sir knight made his getaway.

"Does he not..." I cleared my throat and dashed away the traitorous thought, we had only met each other mere hours ago and it wasn't like we didn't have a pleasant conversation. So, it was highly improbable that he suddenly started to dislike me... maybe.

"Don't worry about him," The cat-girl smiled, seeing my confusion, "Sir Anworth is, unfortunately, a very busy man. Despite being stationed at our guild, he's still pulled to and fro by the demands of his commander."

"I see..." That honestly... worried me even more, but it wasn't like I had any power to do anything about it, if there was anything to do in the first place. I was an unknown party in the situation, and I had almost no information about him. It could be considered meddling, at the best, if I tried to get involved.

The girl grinned, her amber eyes glittering as if she knew exactly what I was thinking, "Sir Anworth can handle himself, how about we get you sorted out?"

"Thank you, Miss..." I trailed off, realizing that, while I had been introduced to her, she wasn't introduced to me.

"Bek. It's nice to meet you, Lord Sharp." She leaned down as she held out what looked like a crystal orb that one would see during a fortune telling, "Now then, please place your hand on the crystal so we can get you registered for citizenship and assess your talents."

"Hold on, first off, what's with calling me 'lord'? Both your and sir knight called me that." I still had some questions before we moved on, and it was better to get those out before they slipped my mind.

"Are you not a noble? But you bare a last name?" Bek tilted her head in confusion, her ears twitching.

"It's... In my world, not having a last name is unusual." I hurriedly explained, "In fact, I'm practically the opposite of a noble. I'm an orphan."

"Oh! Dear me, we had gotten ahead of ourselves, haven't we?" Bek blushed, waving her hands in embarrassment, "I had almost forgotten that with you coming from another world, you would have different customs."

I sighed, glad that we had that sorted, in the future I would just introduce myself as Oscar, "Also, what did you mean by talents? Like, magic?" If this was a fantasy world, there should be some type of magic. Not to mention, I saw that [light] spell that the mage cast earlier to mess with their companion, "Since I'm not from this world, I shouldn't have any."

"Not at all," Bek shook her head frantically, "It's... Well, I should explain what talents are first, while magic is a part of it, it's not the entirety of it."

I leaned against the counter, slightly eager to hear about the mechanics of this world.

"Talents are the blessings of the Gods, depending on the God's power is how powerful your blessing is. The oldest Gods are the most powerful, but they don't generally give out their blessings, usually, it's more of the lower-tier Gods that bless us. Rarely do people get blessings from Gods, sometimes it even occurs just as someone is reaching their death. There are not many old Gods left, but that's a conversation for another time," I could practically see the young girl dressed up in a suit as she lectured a class, she was enraptured in her own speech, "Those that cross over into our world, are beings that are definitely blessed by a God, seeing as only a being as powerful as a God can summon someone from another world."

"Hold on," I interrupted, feeling slightly ridiculous, "Gods exist here? Wait, no, not only that, but one personally summoned me to their world?"

It was unbelievable that a God from another world wanted to summon me, an uninvolved person, into their world. Didn't they see that a person from the modern age could vastly up-root the very foundations of this world? If someone came here with the knowledge of how to make modern weapons, then wouldn't the kingdom that they supported be at an unfair advantage?

"Yes, although, the chance of meeting a summoned person is very close to zero. I believe the last known time that a summoned person was found was... over five-hundred years ago?" Bek tilted her head before nodding, "I have heard nothing but good things about them though, people from another world are said to be kind and pure!"

Pure? I nearly laughed at the word, I was definitely not 'pure'. Growing up in a run-down, desolate orphanage never raised someone as pure. We were simply lucky enough to never get caught.

"Continuing on, since a summoned person is brought into the world by a God, then they're blessed by them. In fact, they usually have much better blessings than those who are born here, since they're children specifically chosen by a God." The cat-girl clapped her hands together, "Those are the basics taught to us during our lesson under the guidance of the church, though, I'm sure they could answer any other questions you might have on the matter."

I nodded, slightly dazed at the implication of being a 'chosen one'. The children at Starlight orphanage had it beaten into them about the teachings of God, so churches made me feel slightly sick when reminded of the times when we were almost drowned and called condemned children.

"Shall we continue with the assessment?" Bek asked, noticing that I had gotten lost in my memories, "You needn't worry, it's a simple procedure that allows you to be registered as a citizen of this world and tells you what-"

"Hey! Is this a newbie?" A burly man lumbered his way up to the counter, shouldering past me, and leaned towards Bek, "Bek, sweetheart, would you be a dear and give the rewards for-"

"Sir Hektor!" Bek interrupted with a stern look towards the swordsman, "You are being extremely rude to Mister Sharp here!"

"Hah?" The man, Sir Hektor, pulled a disgruntled face as he looked me up and down, clearly assessing me and whether I was worth his attention or not, "Surely, he could wait. Right, sir?"

I simply raised an eyebrow and slipped in front of him, "Is there any way to make it private, Miss Bek?"

"Of course, Mister Sharp, please step this way and we'll lead you to a private room." Bek gave me a sly smile as she led me away from the, now, angered man, as another receptionist called for him to move forward, "Honestly, that man obviously knows manners but chooses to ignore them! It makes me so... so..."

I heard a sharp crack and peered over Bek's shoulder to see her clipboard snapped in half as she glared at it, "...Angry?" I offered.

The cat-girl sighed and sat me in a simple room with just two sofas, a coffee table, and one of those crystal orbs sat on top of the table, "Yes, usually I'm a calm person, but it irks me so much when someone thinks that just because they're noble that they're above the rules. Thankfully, the Adventurer's guild allows for freedom of strength, since even if you're a noble, if you're not strong... well, you wouldn't survive as an adventurer."

I nodded in thought as I glanced at the crystal, something about it brought anxiety to churn in my gut. It was needed for citizenship, so it wasn't like I could ignore doing the assessment, but... I really didn't like the feeling of something about to change, it wasn't a simple change either, I could practically taste the struggle that this assessment was about to bring.

"Please proceed, the Guildmaster will be along shortly, they ran into some trouble with a few of the nobles and had to deal with them." Bek gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder before she nimbly made her out of the room, "Oh! Before I forget, the information is put in our records just in case someone attempts to use your identification, they're required to match your record."

I sighed, so it wasn't completely private, but at least the general public wouldn't know. I sat there for a while, simply staring at the ordinary-looking ball, the whole situation was finally setting in on me.

I died. I could deal with that, it wasn't like I didn't expect it to happen after I saw the wound from the crash, but it was still a little sad that I wasn't even able to say goodbye. Hopefully, that student had delivered the flash drive, it contained my will, and knowing the parents that abandoned me, they would try their hardest to have a claim on that fortune. Luckily, Percy would know how to handle them.

I have, somehow, been brought into a new world by a God. Wasn't that damn ironic? Condemned by those caretakers as a child forsaken and unwanted by God, now I was apparently a chosen child of a God from another world. I almost wished that I could show up in their prison cells just to gloat that I was someone loved by a holy being.

I hesitated while looking back down at the crystal, my hands resting on my lap as I contemplated just running out of the room and ignoring the call to place my fingers atop of it.

"It is kind of scary, isn't it?" I jumped slightly as a voice whispered in my ear, "Sorry, I did knock but it seems that you were too deep in thought."

A man with gentle eyes stood behind me, his blonde hair cascading down his back, tied loosely, with long, pointy ears poking out from the strands. His light green eyes swam with amusement, noticing my frown.

"You're... the Guildmaster?" I determined, remembering that Bek had mentioned something before she left, and the man nodded with a smile. It seemed like almost everyone in this guild liked to smile.

"And you're the out-worlder. Chosen by one of the many Gods, I truly am curious as to what blessing you were given." The elf, for he could only be an elf with those features, sat across from me and looked at the orb that I was glaring at earlier, "What has you so hesitant to make a leap into the arms of one that holds power above us mortals?"

"...I don't like it," I muttered, feeling my cheeks flush at my answer. I knew I was being slightly immature, but it was just... irritating that I spent most of my life struggling to live in a hellish shack and was then brought into a supposed fantasy just as it was turning around, "I don't like how my life is being pulled away from my control."

The Guildmaster looked surprised at my answer before snorting into his hand, "I'm sorry," he held up his hands in defense as I glowered at him, "It's just, not many in this world truly have control over their own lives. A civilian is controlled by nobles and royalty, nobles and royalty are controlled by the church, the church is controlled by the Gods, and the Gods are controlled by their believers. It has been a long time since I've come across someone who has so many paths laid out for them, and wishes to go against them."

"I don't mind fate or destiny, or whatever you lot call it, but... The life that I was just making my own, has now slipped away and is never going to become mine again," I let out a breath as the elf smiled gently, motioning me to continue as I trailed off, "I worked hard for it, so I guess I'm just a little bit upset that it was all for nothing."

"I wouldn't say it was for nothing," The Guildmaster waved away my doubtful eyes, "You are very much the product of the struggle that you persevered through, so while the life that you were living before is gone, you are still here. And I don't believe you are nothing."

I felt my lips twitch after a second before I started chuckling, "That was really cheesy, especially from a stranger."

"When you get to my age, you realize that sometimes you need a little cliché and cheesiness in life." The man pushed the orb towards me, "How about you make that leap into a new path?"

The crystal seemed to gleam in invitation as I slowly laid my hand against it. Well, it wasn't like it could get any worse than this, right?