Erde

"What? What do you mean? Why?"

I recoiled in horror at the suggestion. I felt a sharp tinge of pain travel through my gut, kill it? Furthermore, I'd only ever killed bugs, and seldom ever by hand. This thing, it looked too human-shaped, even if it was not, for me to just kill it. What if it fought back and killed me instead. I almost wanted to cry, I did not want to be in this situation, all I ever wished for was a privileged life, the good and easy life. 

Everything remained still, felt as though time had frozen, or worse, been frozen to the will of the Voice. Ever step forward felt heavier than the last, weighed by a flurry of thoughts I scarcely had a moment to process. I could feel the renewed draft of wind, sending another shiver down my spine. Time was beginning to move again, I needed to act, and act quickly.

My frantic search of my immediate vicinity gave me scarcely sufficient time to grab a candle stand, surging forward towards the goblin at a pace far beyond I had ever experienced in my whole life. All I remembered then was only a single gurgled scream from the little cretin, and the thuds the stand's flat made against its skull. 

I closed my eyes, praying that this was a sick nightmare that'll be over when I open them. Maybe I'll wake up to a bed in Matsuzawa, an IV drip and disappointed distant family that hoped they'd make a killing through inheritance. Fate, would not be such a kind mistress. By the time the adrenaline faded, and I could squeeze my eyes shut no more, I looked down at my handiwork. 

The goblin's face, whatever it looked like, was now unrecognisable, its brains splattered around the floor, the candle stand's bottom and some on my hand. I threw the candle stand, hard enough to crack the pillar it struck. My whole frame lurched sideways unwillingly, the pre-conference sushi regurgitated unwillingly onto the wooden planks. 

I'd killed it. God. What had I done? 

Brackish blood littered my suit, it was thick and gooey, dripping in clustered lumps off me. Before I had time to process any part of what had just happened, I heard a distinct trill, like the ones in those gacha machines in the rare instance of a win. 

My vision furrowed, and in front of me were various symbols, many of which I recognised, like the Eye of Ra, Poseidon's Trident, the Reaper's Scythe and many more from various deities worshipped by civilisations many years ago, from the ancient Gods of Sumer to those of the Kanto and beyond. It spoke again, the Voice, it's flat monotone seemingly bearing quite an interest in me now.

"Aha-hahaha Shisoka-sensei, you do have a diligent side to you! You understand somewhat of what is laid out before you, no? Let me give you the full picture, and listen carefully, I've already interfered too much."

The endless stream of questions in my mind were not satiated by such a one-sided declaration, but I knew better than to do anything other than listen.

"Wherever you came from doesn't matter any more. This is a world of sword and sorcery, its inhabitants call it Erde. You, however, are a foreigner to this world, someone who does not belong here. Which means that you still rely on powers from your old world, powers drawn by story, folklore and mythology. Every time you influence this world in any significant way, you will accrue Anima. For example, the goblin you just killed? He'd one day have been responsible for desecrating the coffin of, and reawakening, Eleanor the Black Dread. You changed the destiny of the world, creating just enough of a ricochet to gather enough Anima. Once you gather enough Anima, you can draw upon an aspect of any deity, folklore or being of worship from your world to empower yourself. The more you channel an aspect, the stronger you'll become in it."

I nodded along the explanation. Not like I had much of a choice other than, and I evaluated my options consecutively. My gaze lingered over the goblin I brutalised, in desperation and fear of my own actions. If that was any indicator, then I was sure to run into some sort of trouble eventually, and next time there was no guarantee that things would pan out favourably. Maybe Sekhmet's aspect would be perfect, the ancient Egyptian warrior goddess, who could breathe fire, likened to causing plaques and give healing to the sick and diseased. There were other things I did want to consider, like the aspect of Quetzalcoatl, which might aid me with understanding the world around me... best not to linger too much on it.

As soon as my mind settled on it, I felt a seething burn through my chest, each one of my muscles started cramping in the most painful ways I'd never imagined to experience. My vision blurred as I collapsed once more, thumping down to the floor for the second time too many in one day. Every single second felt exhausting, infinitely long and overbearing with pain. It felt like an eternity by the time I stopped screaming.

Yet as soon as the pain left me, a renewed vigour seemed to take its place. I noticed musculature on my biceps and calves that had never been there before. Knowledge of many plaques, ailments and cures in this world flooded my mind, as if I'd learnt and mastered them for centuries. 

I extended my palm forthright, and could create a flaming ball within it as if it were natural instinct to me. I felt no pain or burn from it, either. And when I looked at the goblin I'd bludgeoned, previously in horror and shock, now there was just a certain revulsion; over my imperfect kill. 

I hesitantly stepped out of the cathedral, grabbing a few scattered coins from it's benches mindlessly before swinging its wooden doors open, with perhaps just a little too much force, causing the old doors to pivot off their hinges and crash in front of me. Judging by the position of the Sun, it seemed to be around noon, and if it was any similar to how things worked back home, then I had a little less than six hours to find a place other than the cathedral to rest for the night.

I looked around, and noted that I'd hit the proverbial and literal fork in the road. I could travel towards the Sun, what I presumed to be West, from the relative elevation at the foot of the cathedral, which seemed to have been built on a hill, a slight plume of smoke seemed visible in the distance. Could be a chimney, might be a village or at least some sort of settlement. Although it looks like there is a downhill trek and a considerable stretch of forest en route. 

I could just head east, where there's nothing; literally. Never have I ever seen a road stretch so barren and devoid of features. Just a straight path to Gods know where...

Do I take the risk through the forest in hopes of reaching civilisation, or do I take my chances with the less risky but more uncertain route?