Flaming Start (1)

I woke up.

Wait, doesn’t that mean I fell asleep? I definitely don’t remember falling asleep.

I tried in vain to suppress a yawn as I stretched my arms over my head.

Damn, why is it so freaking hot? It’s not even summer yet.

I opened my eyes before I even realized that I had been standing the entire time.

“What the-?”

That was the only response I could muster. I was standing out in the middle of nowhere.

Well, no. It had to be somewhere. But I’ve never heard of a place like this existing before. It looked unreal.

I was in a volcanic landscape, the kind you might see in a fantasy game. The weirder thing was that all the lava was pink. But, expectedly, it was blazing hot. I was beginning to sweat from just standing there.

“This has to be a dream right?” I quickly pinched my arm to check. I felt pain.

So it’s not a dream.

Somehow I ended up here, but the last thing I can remember was falling asleep at my desk inside of my house.

Actually, I don’t remember falling asleep.

Then this has to be an other worldly summoning situation. A place like this doesn’t exist in real life. Or rather in my world.

But then again this could just be some elaborate trick.

Whatever the case, how I got here isn’t important right now. I needed to escape this heat as soon as possible. If I spent too long out here I would definitely be cooked by the air itself.

I looked around, there didn’t seem to be any signs of a civilization that I could see. All I could do was guess what to do next.

I picked a direction and started walking. As I walked along my chosen path, I began to take in my surroundings.

The texture of the ground and lava was pretty elaborate, I can’t imagine someone would put this much effort into a virtual reality just to trap me in it for a prank.

As I kept walking I suddenly heard a deep growl come from behind me.

I quickly turned around to face something that could only be described as a monster. A huge, three headed dog with black fur and flames sprouting from its back.

It had a foot raised over me as though it were about to crush me under it. I had no doubt that if this thing hit me with one of it’s massive paws I’d likely never get up again.

There was no possible way a normal human like me could ever fight such a monstrosity, my only option was to run and hope I got away.

So I got right to it.

I turned around and ran as fast as my legs could carry me.

I always had confidence in my ability to run. I was the best runner on my track team. Sprinting, long distance, hurdles, you name it, I was able to do it faster than anyone else.

But that was just in human terms for high school. This beast was likely able to run faster than me.

I turned my head to see how close it was to catching up to-

“Huh?”

It seemed to be shrinking in the distance as it got farther and farther away. Could it be running in the other direction? But what reason would it have for that?

After looking in front of me everything became clear. Well, clear’s not exactly the right word for it.

The ground underneath me was moving at an exceptionally fast rate. I was moving so fast I couldn’t believe it.

I slowed down to better process what had just happened. I had to have unlocked some ability that let me move at super speed, right? It was the only explanation that made sense, and a very simple one at that.

It’s common for anime protagonists to gain powers after being isekai’d. And I guess since I had been isekai’d too, it just made sense.

So the power I had gotten allowed me to move at super fast speeds, huh? But I wonder, was it just my running that was super fast or could I move super fast while doing other things too?

I extended my arm out in front of me.

I know I can use this power, I had just done it earlier hadn’t I? So now I’ll just focus on using it in my arm.

I took a breath, and then shook my arm up and down. Now to add the power to it.

I thought about using the power and…

My arm started moving super fast!

Thank goodness I don’t have to do some sort of stupid training arc to find out how to use my power!

Hmm…

What should I call this power? It needs a name right?

As I thought about this, I heard something like a voice deep inside of me, telling me what this power’s name was…

“Accelerate,” I said aloud. So that was its name.

With Accelerate I should be able to find a civilization much sooner. However, I noticed that my arm felt pretty hot.

“Might just be the weather round here,” I said before zooming off in search of something that might signify a civilization of sorts.

…

As I kept running I finally found something. A paved road! I’m saved! This has to lead to some sort of town or something!

I continued running down the road with Accelerate before getting hit with a sudden sense of déjà vu.

For some reason, I felt that if I kept running, I would catch on fire- No. It was like this had actually happened before and I had caught on fire.

I immediately slowed to a stop, confused by this sudden feeling. It was then that I noticed my whole body felt exceptionally hot.

I was sweating, which isn’t too strange or anything, I’ve been sweating ever since I woke up in this heat. But the other thing was… I could see my breath fogging up.

In case you didn’t know, the reason your breath fogs up in the winter is because its temperature is so high compared to the air around it, that the moisture condenses into water particles, making it look like a tiny cloud.

And for that to be happening to my breath, in this environment… My internal temperature had to be WAY up.

I’m guessing that if I use my power too much, I overheat. Although this is some crazy overheating if you ask me.

I’m not sure how long I’ve been running. Maybe five, ten-ish minutes?

Damn it. I need to cool down. This is the wrong place to be overheating.

My vision became blurry as my head pounded, it felt like I was on fire.

I should’ve noticed this earlier… paid more attention…

If I can’t cool down, I’m going to burn up and die here.

I struggled forward along the road. The only thing I could do was hope to reach someone who could help me.

I wanted to just lay down and stop moving, but there was no way I could conceivably cool down in this environment.

There was nothing I could do except keep moving…

Keep moving…

Keep moving…

Keep… Moving…

Keep… Mo… v… ing…

Ke… Mo… ing…

“Hey kid, you alright?”

A voice… Who was it? My vision was still blurry, so I couldn’t clearly see whoever this was, but it sounded like a man.

“Oh stain, you’re overheating… If that’s not taken care of…”

He then grabbed something from- I think it was his waste? I can’t tell…

“Here kid, drink this,” he said as he handed something to me.

It was a glass bottle with some kind of light-bluish liquid inside.

“It’ll help cool you off.”

That was all the motivation I needed.

I put the glass up to my lips, closed my eyes, and chugged the entire thing. The liquid was cool, cold. The flavor was hard to describe, it kinda tasted like ice, but it was liquid.

After finishing the bottle I instantly felt a welcome chill come over me.

I felt refreshed, renewed, rejuvenated! But most importantly, I felt… cold.

Although the cold was short lived because of the blistering heat of my surroundings, but I definitely wasn’t overheating anymore.

I opened my eyes to thank the person who had given me this life saving drink when-

“What the-?!”

Idiot. Why did I just do that?

When I opened my eyes I saw that the man was in fact not a man, but a humanoid lizard.

Instinctively I had sounded my dismay at the sudden surprise, but since this is a fantasy world I probably should have expected to see demi-humans.

His scales were dark brown in color.

“Wow! Kid, are you okay?”

So he either didn’t properly place why I suddenly yelled or knew but acted like he didn’t anyway. I hate to leave a misunderstanding.

“Yeah, I just accidentally yelled because your face scared me,” I said. “Sorry about that…”

“Gee… That’s kinda blunt, kid.”

I know. Just how I like it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be disrespectful… I mean, you just saved my life and everything…”

“Ah, don’t worry about it kid, it happens from time to time. I’ve been told I have a very scary face.”

I put on a nervous smile as I handed back the now empty glass. Now to get information.

“Sorry to trouble you further but I’m kind of in a bit of a bind. Do you know where the nearest town is?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, just twenty or so minutes walking distance back that way’s the capital, Igneia,” he said while pointing in the direction he had come from. “You can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.”

“My pleasure,” he said before asking, “Are you a tourist or something, kid? You don’t seem like you’re from around here.”

“Something like that… But I’m definitely not from around here,” I said.

“Well, you shouldn’t be out in the pink lava fields without a spare ice elixir or two. Of course they cost a little extra out here in Lavaland since the demand is so high, but it’s still a good idea to stack up.”

So the thing I just drank is called an elixir, huh? From the sounds of it there must be more elixirs based around the different elements. But how many different elements exist in this world?

Also, this place I’m in is called Lavaland, and the capital of Lavaland is called Igneia. Plus it’s only about a twenty minute walk away. I don’t know how fast I can close that distance with Accelerate, so it’s probably not a good idea to use it right now.

“Thanks for the tip,” I said. “Oh, what’s your name in case we ever run into each other again.”

“Darren Cloddertongue,” he answered. “And you?”

“I’m Oliver Sean.”

“Welp, maybe I’ll see ya around, Kid,” Darren said as he continued down the road. “I’d love to stay and chat but I got a quest to take care of!”

“See ya around sometime!” I answered back as I started walking along the road.

Quest? I guess this world has those just like in fantasy rpgs. A way to make money by going on adventures. Or at least I hope that’s what it is. If so, maybe I could go on some.

Find the adventurer’s guild, build a party, make a living doing quests. This kinda has me excited- But…

“I need to find out if there’s a way to get back home.”

I told Lucy I’d take care of those detestable brats that bullied her at school.

I might not be able to get back in time to complete that, but I definitely needed to get back as soon as possible. To them, I must’ve just disappeared in the night.

My family might not have initially thought anything happened. After all, sometimes I would get up early in the morning and leave to take care of “business”. But they’d definitely notice me not returning by nighttime.

Lucy would be heartbroken if her older brother never came back. Every moment I spend in this world is a moment of her life I’m not in.

A moment I miss.

A moment I can never get back.

I need to find whoever brought me here and make them send me back… If it’s even possible…

Although I guess I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little excited. This is the start of The Otherworldly Adventures of me, Captain Miracle!

With the determination to get back home to my little sister filling my chest, I finally saw something in the distance. A towering wall that stretched out, surrounding a humongous city I couldn’t see the end of.

Inside that wall I also saw a huge castle poking above.

Before me I saw a massive gate.

And in front of that I saw an extensive line.

Damn it…