Meeting a God.

You slide the device Nadine gave you into your pocket and hum a tune as you think to yourself about how this new reality has been pretty fun so far. Excluding the time you almost bled to death of course, and how you are likely being hunted by some unknown person seeking more power for themselves. Thinking about that kind of puts a funk on your previous mood so you decide to visit one of the many vendors along the road and get yourself a treat. You find a stand selling a curious looking fruit they cut up and serve. So feeling a little adventurous you spend a few copper on some of the fruit the vendor calls Backa. The exterior of the fruit is heavily spiked and rock hard, and the vendor informs you there is a coating on the fruit that is highly toxic so be wary of the spikes, but the interior is delicious and safe to eat. You lean up against the wall of a building and watch people as you taste the fruit. It has the consistency of a peach, but flavor wise it is more like a kiwi and strawberry combined. You've always like kiwi strawberry drinks so this fruit is really enjoyable.

You continue popping cut up pieces into your mouth as you watch people go about their day. You watched as people lugged various goods to restock vendors, people carrying supplies and food home, people waving at each other, smiles, frowns, hand shakes, and arguments. All in all it seems just like what you'd expect to see in any city. Besides the primitive nature of this world the major difference you saw were the various Dinos being used. In your old world you'd expect horse drawn carts, but here there were all sorts of Dinos. You watched a giant Brachiosaurus pulling a massive wagon down the street. Everyone casually stepping out of its way as if it was no big deal made you chuckle to yourself a little at how weird that was to you. There were also a lot of Pachy riders and you couldn't help but tense up any time you saw them. You had no real way of knowing if any were the same people who almost killed you previously, so you did your best to remain casual around them hoping that would help prevent any attention being drawn to you. Fortunately none of them seemed to be scanning the crowd looking for anyone, and instead just appeared to be on their way where ever, like an evening commute.

During this time of people watching you start to feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You get the feeling that someone is watching you. It's a unique feeling you've never encountered in this way before. It really feels like being watched. You start scanning the area to see if anyone is staring at you. You're about done with this feeling and wanting to leave when you notice a pair of eyes staring directly at you. It takes a second to see who it is as people pass in front of you, but you find the eyes are an old man's who carries a staff. In fact it is the same old man you met when you first arrived. The old man smiles and waves to you as you stare back at him, and almost instinctively you wave back. The old man begins crossing the road towards you and you briefly think on just running away, but if this is the god Remi you doubt very much that you'd be able to successfully evade him, so you wait for him to approach.

The old man navigates his way through the street and finally stands before you with a smile on his face.

"John my boy" he says holding out his hand. You cautiously extend your hand to shake his half expecting to feel an electrical shock or something magical to happen, but fortunately it is nothing more than just shaking hands.

"I've never shaken a god's hand before" you half joke to confirm if he is a god or not.

"You'll find most of us who deal with mortals are pretty casual" he smirks. "Let's walk and talk" he says motioning with his head for you to follow. The two of you start walking down the street, and you try to gauge what his motive might be for this visit.

"So" he begins "by now you've determined who I am" he half asks half knows.

"Remi" you answer.

"On the nose my boy. I didn't see you meeting Nadine so quickly, but then again you've done very well so far" he says patting your back. "I do have many names, but Remi is the most...recognizable" he smirks to himself as he walks through a door into a building. You observe it is a bar of sorts. You step inside and see Remi taking a seat at one of the empty tables and you sit yourself opposite of him.

A cute waitress comes by and you both order yourselves a drink. A beer for yourself and a glass of spirits for Remi. Your drinks arrive right away and you both take a sip. Remi swirls it around in his mouth and swallows loudly making you internally cringe a little. He sets his glass down and looks at you expectantly. You assume he's waiting for you to throw a bunch of questions at him so you don't waste the opportunity.

"Is this reality actually instanced like you originally told me" you ask him. Remi's eyebrows raise slightly at your question, but that is soon replaced with a serious look of contemplation. After a few moments he finally answers.

"No...no you are in an entirely separate universe from your own original universe. I find telling people they are in an instanced reality of their game to be easier for people to cope with" he responds.

"Is there even a way home for me" you ask as a follow up. Remi sighs.

"Technically yes, but there are infinite realities out there...and..." he lingers on his response.

"And you have no way of identifying my original reality do you" you finish for him.

"I'm afraid not my boy" he answers with a frown.

"But you had to have found my reality to bring me here, can't you do it again to send me back if I wanted" you ask.

"I tried for a few hundred years to get it right, but identifying the reality a person came from was not something I was capable of doing. So to me, you could be from any reality" he responds.

You take a second to contemplate that. Is he lying to you right now or telling the truth? If he's lying then why...likely to get you to focus on changing this reality. If he's telling the truth then how is this fair for people who might not agree to being kidnapped into another reality.

"My spell targets lost souls" Remi suddenly continues. Someone with nothing to live for in their own reality. Someone with no future there. My spell saw your situation and determined you to be a good candidate" he finishes.

"But how can you justify ripping someone here with no way home? Why doesn't this piss me off more" you find yourself almost yelling. You're almost surprised at your last statement. You feel mad, but you're mad that you aren't more mad.

"You aren't more pissed off because I've given you a future here better than the one you were taken from" he responds taking another sip of his spirits.

"You've given danger and death" you counter. "Perhaps" he says setting his glass down, "but I've also given you the chance of true love, adventure, power, and any number of positive aspects of life as well" he finishes. You let out a sigh. He isn't wrong, and you realize you aren't more pissed off because so far you prefer it here just like he said. Reminding yourself you've already chosen to stay. Another memory pops into your head.

"What happened to Jason and Wendel" you ask him.

"Hitting the big ones today aren't you" he says twirling his spirits around in his glass. You wait for his answer.

"Jason and Wendel were almost equal in every aspect of magic, but Wendel was just a tiny fraction more powerful. When they dueled Jason became aware that eventually Wendel would win the duel. So he did something drastic. He'd inferred he was not able to determine what reality he came from originally, but at that point he had determined how to travel to other realities. He used Wendel's magic to open a door to another reality. Wendel was ripped from this reality into another by his own magic" he said staring at the table solemnly.

"Jason...well...everyone thinks Jason was ripped into another reality as well, but the truth is when he used that spell it meant his defense against Wendel's attack ceased, and Jason was destroyed by it. I had wanted to many times tell his friends and lovers what really happened, but I couldn't take away their hope of finding him in the end" he continued. At this point you were wondering if you were going to see a god cry, but then you wondered if that was the truth too.

You allow him a moment as you ponder the gravity of what you just said. So somewhere out there Wendel might still be around trying to get back, and now you know a truth about Jason. A truth that Nadine doesn't even know, and now you have to decide on telling her or not. You know you will, but what will this information do to her you wonder.

"It is a lot, I know my boy" Remi offers, "and I do not begrudge the weight I just made you carry."

"Why am I here...truly I mean, why have you brought me here" you ask quietly.

"My spell is very selective" Remi begins "it isn't just looking at a person's crap future. It also looks at their morals, their capacity for love, their entire being really. All calculated out for me to decide if they are a worthy candidate or not. Very few are. I wanted change and so I pulled Jason here, thinking he would make this world...better. I...I was wrong. Maybe if he had survived it would be different. I don't know" he says.

"Then why bring me here and make the same mistake again" you interrupt him. Remi sighs again.

"You know...Jason was a lot easier to talk to" he chuckles. You give him your best "I'm not amused" face. Remi holds up his hands.

"I know...I know. Bringing you here could make things worse, but as it is this world is stuck in a dark age currently. Change, good or bad, might be the catalyst needed for a better future" he states.

"Why can't you just leave things as they are" you ask more curious than anything.

"Why can't you stop breathing" Remi retorts.

"Right...I just asked a god of change why he wants to change things" you reason.

"I can't deny my purpose for existence" Remi replies "but I do want the people to have a brighter future. The happier people are the better it is for us" he states.

"Us" you ask.

"We who are gods" Remi responds.

"Then why don't you all act as the catalyst you want" you retort.

"We are unable to directly affect this world...we can only watch and offer boons as we see fit to those in it" he says taking another drink.

"Before you ask bringing you here is a...loophole...in our contract so to speak. A loophole that I could customize so to speak" he says holding up a hand. "Being the god of change I can uniquely accomplish this spell it seems, but not through lack of trying by the others" he says staring blankly past you.

You let out a deep breath and weigh what you've learned. You feel a little pissed off, but not for yourself you realize. You are angry that your very presence endangers those around you. A whole town was wiped out because someone was searching for you. The women who are with you are also in danger. You fully sympathize with Jason going a bit over the edge when he lost people close to him.

"It isn't fair...I know" Remi says soothingly. "I've put a terrible burden onto you should you choose to make this world different, but you can also choose not to do anything" he says finishing off his spirits in one gulp.

"You're more or less invisible to those who would seek you out thanks to Nadine. You could live a quiet life with your women should you want that" he reasons.

"I have a lot to think about it seems" you say to yourself as much as Remi.

"Well" Remi says standing up "this wasn't how I thought this would go, but I think you've learned some things. We both have" he says cryptically "So until next time, this will be where we part ways." Remi bows briefly and vanishes before your eyes.

"That will be 400 copper, just leave it on the table when you leave" the barmaid says approaching you from behind. You can't help but chuckle that the trickster god stuck you with the bill, much less what it was he drank that cost so much. You pull out a silver and place it on the table, and leave before you can hear another person complain about a big tip. You can't help but feel you did learn some things, but you weren't even close to being finished asking him questions. You decide you'll have to make a list for next time.