Chapter Text
A pure white void.
An endless expanse that the mortal mind could not hope to grasp in its entirety—that is where our story begins.
In this particular moment in time, a young man suddenly found himself there... falling.
Falling...? I'm... falling... I'M FALLING?! His inner voice screamed as he struggled to grasp his situation. He didn't know what was going on, first and foremost. Plus he was falling—most likely to his death...!
He flailed his arms wildly. It was one of the few things he could do in such a situation... It accomplished nothing, however, much to his dismay.
His stomach churned more and more as the force on his body increased as he fell.
“UWHOOOOOOOOOOAAAA!-” he couldn't help but yell loudly, at last having regained the ability to do so.
All at once, the void took form below him. Of course, its form was only that of a blue and white blur... It was hardly much of an improvement, but as mortals love to say, ‘beggars can't be choosers’.
He was up in the clouds, he soon realized, though that was only for the briefest of moments as his descent continued unhindered.
It was not long before the ground finally came into view. If he were someone below average, he would certainly have soiled himself by then. Indeed, perhaps even someone above average would have done the same thing. But curiously, despite being completely average by almost every metric... he did not. Though that is not to say he wasn't still letting out the highest pitch of a scream all the while. In that regard, he was well above average.
He had been falling for at least a solid minute. Maybe more. In all his panic, he admittedly had no time to keep track of this.
A mere fraction of a second before hitting the ground, the most bewildering of sensations hit him instead...
All of the force exerted on him until then was simply gone, as if it were knocked away by some other, mostly-benign force. It... tickled... Truly a welcome alternative to becoming a red stain on the-
Stone? A road? Upon finally opening his eyes, his brain had immediately gone into analysis mode... A defense mechanism of his.
He flailed his arms a little more, and wobbled in the air until finally he somehow managed to land on his feet. The road was far smoother than any he had seen in his life. He was a commoner, after all. And dare I say it...? A villager.
His hair was black, and cut short—but not too short... It was about average length for a man. Since he was a villager, he was wearing the typical villager’s outfit; that being an off-white long-sleeved tunic with accompanying dark brown vest, and light brown trousers.
A dream. Must be a dream. He composed himself and nodded. Yes, this has to be a dream. Who hasn’t had ‘the falling dream’?
He took a deep breath and really took in his surroundings for the first time. It was all so foreign to him. There were sturdily-built brick homes neatly lined up against the road, and each home had ample space for a personal garden, though none of it was put to any use except for the display of the smallest of foreign decorations on neatly-trimmed grass. Each home also had a strange horseless carriage parked in front of it—each one of a different color and shape.
What a strange land. He smiled. He somehow felt at ease there... That is until an unseen force tapped his shoulder three times.
“UWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
He quickly turned around and assumed a defensive pose that the average person would come up with. His shoulders were scrunched up, and his arms were braced in front of him. His knees were bent ever so slightly.
Before him, a mere five meters away, was a somehow terrifying figure, though it appeared human. Well, unless you were to count the lavender-colored hair in a fluffy bob cut that seemed ready to swallow their entire head if it wasn’t carefully kept in check...
Who has lavender hair?
...But it wasn't just the hair. Maybe it was the devilishly-confident smirk on their face, or the strange clothes they were wearing—a white short-sleeved tunic, tucked into a pair of trousers that cut off at the knees—it was unlike any clothing he had ever seen before...
On their wrist was also a device unlike anything he had ever seen before, though he was certain it must have been worth a small fortune as it appeared to be made of the purest gold.
Yes, before him was a truly menacing figure... This was a fear he felt deeply on an instinctual level.
“I think that's enough,” another man casually called out from behind the young man as he made his way to the seeming embodiment of chaos with his hands firmly planted in the pockets of his trousers. He had brown hair which was riddled with soft curls that flowed with grace regardless of the lack of any wind present.
The man had on a ‘red t-shirt’, partially covered by a ‘black leather jacket’, and ‘blue jeans’—these were all things that the young man had yet to become familiar with, though the rest of the world had, at least to some extent, within the last couple of years.
The young man, Tadano Hitohito, had been living in a somewhat isolated village, so he would not have known of such recent fashion advancements.
“Aww. You know I had to do it to 'im,” the lavender-haired gremlin of an entity answered back.
Getting a good look at the older man, Tadano recognized him as Todd, the God of Order. There was a statue of him at the center of his village, Mura Village. The likeness was uncanny.
“...I'm dead,” the young man muttered to himself. He let out a sad laugh of disbelief as he looked down at his empty hands. It all made sense. The falling, the 'heavenly' place he suddenly found himself in, and then the God of Order, not least of all. Tears stung at his eyes. He didn't even know how he-
“You're deadn't!” the gremlin interrupted Tadano's train of thought, making an X with their arms. They laughed cheerfully. They were having such fun with this.
“You are still alive, Hitohito-kun,” Todd translated. He then materialized a rolled up ‘newspaper’ and lightly tapped his child on the head.
“Eh?” Tadano responded. A wave of relief washed over him. More than that, he was flustered that the God of Order knew him by name. He couldn't help but blush a little.
“We brought you here...” Todd said as he gestured around, “to make you an offer.”
“An offer you can't refuse,” the gremlin teased, “...unless ya really want to.” They winked.
“Now, now, Najimi,” Todd breathed, and tapped Najimi on the head with the newspaper several more times. He cleared his throat and continued, “You see, my child is finally coming of age, and needs to find purpose; needs to go out into the material world; really get a feel for things... Mingle.”
“And that's where you come in, Tadano-kun!” Najimi grinned, then threw up the peace sign with both hands.
He wants me to... babysit?
“Hitohito-kun...” Todd said as he slowly closed the distance between them, “Out of all of the millions of people on Taazokaan, my child has chosen you as guide.” He placed his hand on Tadano's shoulder.
“E-eh...” He's making it hard to say no.
Todd removed his hand from Tadano's shoulder and slowly backed away with both of his hands in the air. “It's okay. That reaction is to be expected. As I said previously: this is an offer. I will bestow upon you two blessings in exchange for your service.”
“But... But why me?” Tadano asked. He was still reluctant... Very reluctant... Though now his interest was at least piqued. “...I-if I may ask.”
“Najimi?” Todd asked, as he motioned to them with his arms.
“Because you're just some guy,” Najimi said flatly... though with a smile.
Ouch.
“I don't want some uppity noble trying to use me for political clout,” Najimi reasoned, “And on the other end I don't want someone who would be a total drag either.” They put on a pair of reading glasses and materialized a book entitled 'Tadano Hitohito'. “It says here in your file that you used to be an adventurer, but you quit not long after you started because a-”
“UWHOOOA! Stop! Stop!” Tadano screamed and flailed his arms. He didn’t want to hear it! He clutched his chest, feeling as though he were having a heart attack. The Gods would know of such dark histories.
Najimi laughed innocently, and the book vanished. “Hey, come on, Tadano-kun. It will be fun.”
Tadano sighed, and hung his head in defeat. Why even fight it? “You want us to adventure together, I take it? I'm not that strong, you know?”
Going with the flow... Another of Tadano’s defense mechanisms.
“I know,” Najimi confirmed, “You're about average, I'd say. But you know what they say, right? ‘Jack of all trades, master of one.’”
“Master of none,” Tadano corrected.
“Huh?” Najimi asked, “Did you already forget your blessings?”
He did.
“...I did...” Tadano cleared his throat, “S-so what are these blessings?”
“Tell him what he's won, Dad!” Najimi cheered, as game show music began to play.
Todd chuckled and shook his head. The game show music faded as he raised his arm and closed his fist.
Todd made his way over to Tadano once more, his fist now emitting a soft glow. He released the power contained in his hand into a light grey flower daintily hanging in Tadano's hair. “Your first blessing: Divine Perception.”
The flower gained a faint white glow.
Oh, that actually sounds really useful.
It will be. Really useful.
“And now for the second,” Todd continued as he put his now-open palm over Tadano's heart, “I give you infinite, personal storage.”
“We done?” Najimi asked, with a dead smile spread across their face.
Bored already, huh? Tadano stared.
He couldn’t help but feel as though he was accepting all of this a little too easily, but after reading the room, he figured that maybe it was just one of those things that need not be questioned... A new defense mechanism.
Todd chuckled, “Yeah. We're done...”
“Sweet. I'll meet you at the Itan Adventurer's Guild when you wake up, Tadano-kun.”
“When I what?” Tadano asked as he opened his eyes.
He was back in his and his sister's shared bedroom, in his bed on the bottom bunk.
“Talking in your sleep again, Onii-chan?” Hitomi, his sister, asked as she looked down at him from the top bunk. Much like him, her hair was black. It was loose at the moment, though she normally had it up in thick twin tails.
What Tadano experienced was definitely more than a dream. He could feel it. He could see it—in a way he would never be able to put into words. Divine Perception. This is what he was talking about.
What's more, he felt... refreshed. Like he had never felt before.
Tadano always had this 'tiredness' in him, an exhaustion deep within his very soul that he could never explain nor remedy. It was as if something extremely important was missing in his life.
This feeling had only worsened after that one certain event which led to him retiring as an adventurer... but now, that feeling was... gone. Or perhaps not gone, but it was at least greatly reduced.
“Y-yeah,” Tadano answered as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head where he expected a flower to be for some reason. In its place was nothing more than the same cowlick that had always been there.
“Better hurry,” Hitomi teased.
“W-wha?”
“Huh?” Hitomi asked, unaware of having said anything, “Onii-chan, did you hit your head? You're being weird.”
My imagination? Tadano shook his head. “N-no,” he said flatly, “Just thinking I should have another go at adventuring...” He got out of bed and stretched. He felt alive and ready to face the world for once.
“Oh, finally over the Kawai-san thing?” Hitomi smirked from behind the edge of her bunk. She was happy for him. He had been in that slump for far too long.
“O-oi...” Tadano didn’t know why she had to bring that up all of a sudden. “Anyway, I'd better get ready...”
“Good luck, nerd. Don't die out there,” Hitomi teased again, and laid back down to go back to sleep.
“Yeah, yeah... I won't...”