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 eventually asked. "What is a status screen?"

“That’s a thing that normally happens!” Kyle exclaimed. “You end up getting stats or some insane bonuses or traits 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. This world isn’t 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 tending to 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 floating in front of Kyle. The box began to open...

----

“…now 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, scooting back with his hands and feet.

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

“Jeez, cool your jets.” Kyle got onto his feet.

Abagail raised her eyebrow. “What is a ‘jet’ and why are you telling me to cool it, you moron? 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.

Before either Kyle or Abagail could follow-up on the sudden jewelry, someone began knocking on the door. Abagail quickly panicked. “That’s who I’ve been waiting for,” she hissed. With a clean pull, she threw Kyle into the next room and stared at him. “Stay here and don’t say a thing.”

The door shut on Kyle, leaving him in what must have been Abagail’s bedroom. At least it probably was – it was hard to move around 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.

Through the hole, 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. “Is there anything in particular you wanted to scry 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. But this time the ball did not rise to clock anyone in the chin. Instead, the lights from the ball cave 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.”

Now Kyle was really one of those peasants. Reincarnated just to be a lowly peasant at the mercy of this jerk? Oh no, he wasn’t about to stand for that!

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.

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 dusted himself off. “That was not reassuring. But I’ll trust that your scrying is true. I must be off – so much to do...”

No sooner than Demerius was out of sight, the door Kyle had hidden behind flopped onto the ground.

Abagail stiffened, remembering that she hadn’t been alone with the prince. Turning to face Kyle, lightning began to crackle between her fingers.

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

-----

And that’s when Kyle started running.

It wasn’t a smart idea. The fireballs flying past his head as he ran out of Trunsit were proof of that. But selling off rings and amulets given to him by a goddess seemed like an even worse one. So being burnt to a crisp by an angry witch it was.

“You – stupid – idiot!” Abagail was shouting after him as they continued running further and further down the road out of town. “Give me those jewels and maybe I won’t pin your burnt husk to my new front door!”

Kyle was surprised he was still running as fast as he was. In his old life he sat in an office eight hours a day. He’d had a gym membership for two years and only gone in to start ill-fated New Years’ resolutions. Working the fields must’ve helped with cardio.

The fireballs slowed down in tempo until finally Abagail was on her knees. Gasping for breath, she punched the ground. “You… clever farm monkey! How’d you know… to tire me out like that?!”

Kyle shrugged. “I didn’t.” He had no idea how magic worked in this world, especially if it wasn’t based on anything from his old life.

“You… are the worst…” She stayed on the ground, exhausted.

Kyle’s relief was short-lived. The main road out of Trunsit ran through the narrowest part of the nearby forest. It was filled with dangerous animals but they tended to stay away from the road. No, what worried Kyle was something else rustling in the nearby bushes.

That something bounded out holding a knife in their hand. Then more somethings rolled out holding their own knives.

Bandits.

He remembered being warned about a band of them camped somewhere in the woods, about not getting caught with that satchel of coin if he came across them. Thankfully, they never seemed to bother with peasants. They preferred townsfolk.

Kyle’s eyes looked back to the wheezing Abagail, who he knew might still have the money he gave.

“What’ve we got here?” asked the first one who’d rolled out. He was about Kyle’s size, except he wore dark leather and a padded jacket. He might’ve been the leader of this group.

The next two were string beans of men, one with his own knife. The other held a crude bow, an arrow nocked and ready fire at Abagail. “Looks like the local witch, all tuckered out. Plus one of the local peasants.”

“They never have anything good. The witch though?” The first bandit regarded her with interest. “That’s the second gal we’ve found who could fetch a good ransom.”

The one with the bow looked like he’d considered pointing it at Kyle. “What about the peasant? Good target practice?”

“No. They’ve never got anything worth it. You.” The leader snapped his fingers and pointed at Kyle. “Leave and we’ll let you keep your life.”

He could walk away from this and no one would ever know.

“Well.” Kyle heard his own voice spoken to him. “We’d know.”

He looked between the two and saw his own spitting image. Or rather, a spitting image in a dark suit with matching slacks, a blue striped tie, and a white collared shirt.

“And we both know we’d never live it down.”

This day was getting madder by the moment. Reincarnation, goddesses, explosions, bandits, but having a conversation with himself was a step too far for Kyle.

“Cat got our tongue?” The suited Kyle stepped past the two bandits, neither of whom seemed to notice him. He looked just like Kyle had in his old life. Same face, same work attire. “We’re not really considering leaving her at their mercy.”

The real Kyle made a mental note that calling him ‘Office Kyle’ might help him distance himself from… himself. “No, but the alternative is dying.”

The bandits all looked at where Kyle was looking, none understanding what was going on.

Office Kyle chuckled. “True. But we’ve read stories like this before. We don’t get reincarnated without some kind of crazy power given to us by whoever brought us into that other world.”

But he’d didn’t want to die again to check if said crazy power involved cheating death.

“The ring, genius.” Office Kyle rolled his eyes. “Use the ring.”

And what was the ring supposed to do? Shoot fireballs at the bandits?

“Look,” the lead bandit groaned. “I don’t know what your deal is, but we’re bein’ real nice by offering to – GAAAH!” He dove out of the way as a fireball flew into where he’d just been standing.

Kyle stared at the diamond ring on his right hand. The gem had a subtle glow to it. Had he just –

“How’d he get his hands on one of those?!” The bandit leader shouted. “I thought only nobles had them!”

The two string-bean bandits looked at each other in disbelief.

“What’re you two waiting for? Kill him!”

Kyle panicked and dove to the ground, an arrow whizzing just past him. When his hands hit the ground, the earth beneath the bowman’s feet suddenly swole up and knocked him off balance into a nearby tree.

The other string bean bandit charged in with his knife.

From Kyle’s right hand, the earth began to turn to ice and spread. Soon the bandit was slipping and sliding, tumbling over himself and going off in the wrong direction.

With those two seemingly taken out Kyle got to his feet and looked at the diamond ring on his right hand. Magic. He’d been casting magic.

Kyle turned to face the third and final bandit, only to find he was already within arm’s reach. He felt an intense pain in his gut and his breath went still.

The last bandit had plunged his knife into Kyle’s stomach.

With what strength Kyle could muster he tried to punch the bandit in the face. But the pain was overwhelming. The bandit easily dodged, pulling his knife free from Kyle and kicked him right where he’d just been stabbed. Kyle fell onto the ice he’d made and slid for several feet.

So, this was how he died a second time. Bleeding out from a stab wound, his killer towering over him on what dry earth he could find. He felt cold and his vision began to fade.

This would the end of a very short isekai.