The Portent of a Prince

Kyle continued thrusting his finger into the white void, much to the confusion of Metis.

“Why do you think there’s a status screen?” she asked. "What is a status screen?"

“That’s a thing that normally happens!” Kyle exclaimed. “You end up getting stats or some insane powers when you get iseka’d, because it's usually based on a video game!”

It was Metis’s turn to look bewildered. She looked at her fudge, then back to Kyle. “What are you talking about, 'isekai'd'?”

“It’s a whole genre in my world. I used to read it all the time.” At long last, he stopped trying to poke at a nonexistent button. “Okay. It's not based on a video game. Good to know.”

“Are you sure you didn’t have any of this?” Metis held up her fudge.

Kyle waved her off. “I’ve been reborn as a…” His face fell as he said the next word. “Peasant.”

A lifetime of farming the land and kissing the boots of whatever jumped up noble owned it wasn’t appealing. Yes, being dead was worse. But this was a step down from his cushy office job and postage stamp apartment.

“You won’t be going empty handed.” With a wave of Metis’s fudge-covered hand, a small jewelry box floated in front of Kyle. The box began to open...

----

“…know you have a pulse, so stop being lazy and get up!”

Kyle’s eyes shot open as he saw Abagail dab him repeatedly with Blooby, its water repeatedly soaking and drying his face.

“M’up, M’up!” Kyle scrambled onto his rear.

Abagail looked concerned for a moment, only for her anger to quickly break through. “Do you know how long you’ve been out?! I’m expecting someone important any minute now!”

“Cool your jets.” Kyle got onto his feet.

Abagail raised her eyebrow. “What is a ‘jet’ and how do you cool it?! I – ” She stopped, looking at Kyle. “When did you put those on?”

Kyle looked down. On his right hand was a golden ring with a large diamond, and around his neck was an amulet with a dark blue stone.

Suddenly, someone began knocking on the door. Abagail quickly panicked. “That’s who I’ve been waiting for,” she hissed, throwing Kyle into the next room. “Stay here and don’t say a thing.”

The door shut on Kyle, leaving him in what must have been Abagail’s bedroom. Probably. It was hard to tell with the half-empty bottles of alcohol littering parts of the floor.

Luckily for Kyle, it seemed that the door Abagail had closed had a peephole in it.

Looking through, Kyle could see Abagail was speaking with a blonde man in floofy purple and red clothes. His gloved hands were adorned with all kinds of rings. He was saying something but through his thick mustache Kyle couldn’t even try to read his lips.

It took a bit of focus but eventually he could hear what they were saying.

“…wanted to ensure we wouldn’t run into any problems in the days ahead,” said the mustached man.

“Of course, Prince Demerius.” Abagail had her back to the door – and Kyle – but he could tell that she was laying it on thick. “What'll the scry be for?”

The Prince kicked up his feet, dirtying her table. “Our planting of the new royal forest.” He took off one of his rings – one with a crimson garnet – on the table.

“Of. Course.” Abagail put her hands on the crystal ball. The room lighting up once more, pulsing in waves before settling onto a hushed green.

“I see your mages stretched out before the field, ready to drive an angered mob from the lands you claim.”

Demerius chuckled in the kind of way only a rich man could. “That’s it? Just a rabble of peasants? They’re nothing.”

Kyle’s eye twitched. He was one of those peasants, damn it!

“If all I have to worry about to create the new royal forest are the peasants who work the lands they’ll be on,” he continued, “then there’s nothing to fear.”

He'd been reincarnated, only to be at the mercy of this jerk?!

As Kyle contemplated his fate, he saw a red light start to shine from the ring the prince had put down. A prickling sensation came over his chest, as a blue light matched the red from his amulet.

It grew intense and with a great flash pulsing out, exploded Abagail’s crystal ball. Shards went flying everywhere, tearing into everything in the room but a confused Demerius and a very angered Abagail - whose hat had not survived.

The entire building had been reduced to rubble, the only thing left standing the door that Kyle had been hiding behind. A piece of the ball had stuck itself through the door an inch from his groin.

Demerius quietly excused himself as the door Kyle had hidden behind flopped onto the ground.

Abagail slowly turned to face Kyle, lightning began to crackle between her fingers.

“You,” she hissed, “are going to pay for this!”

----

Angering a witch was not something one did if they wanted to live a long and fulfilled life.

There were stories upon stories parents told their children of magicians striking down those who had wronged them with terrible curses. Curses that ruined their lives until they learned the errors of their ways. Which somehow would end up being related to a lesson that the children would need to learn. Like 'eat your vegetables or a wizard will turn you into a frog' or 'don't be rude or a wizard will turn you into a frog'.

A lot of these stories involved turning people into frogs.

As an orphan, Kyle never learned those lessons. As a man who'd been isekai'd, Kyle never heard those stories.

Which is why Kyle did the stupidest possible thing he could do in this situation. He ran for his life.