Ordinal Trail

Prologue Vester climbed onto the student-transit bus, then frowned when he saw that most of the seats were taken. There were a few openings in the back… but that would mean sitting near his twin brother. Denny wasn’t a bad guy, but that didn’t mean the two of them always got along. One of the whole reasons I wanted to go to college out of state was to start living my own life, so how the hell did I end up sharing an apartment with my brother and having to deal with his friends? He knew the answer of course—money. Denny had gotten a scholarship to play soccer for the university and their parents had offered to help him pay for his apartment if he maintained a 3.9-or-better GPA. Vester wasn’t going to change his academic plans just because his brother was attending the same school, which left the two of them in the same city… and since nobody was offering to help pay for his apartment, well, he’d made his choice. It’s not like Denny goes out of his way to annoy me… But it fucking sucks to see him getting special treatment from Mom and Dad just because he’s good at soccer while I… well, I’m not. The worst part, Vester admitted to himself, was that he could have been good at soccer. He just didn’t care. With how easily his brother seemed to have everything, well, it would have been easy to resent him. Speaking of Denny, his brother had raised his hand to signal at a nearby seat. Vester was about to ignore it, but then remembered he’d promised to bring Denny the bundle that had arrived in the mail for him. With a sigh, Vester made his way down the bus aisle as it started to move. “Hey,” Denny said with a grin. “Did you remember to grab my mail?” “Yes, Denny, I grabbed your mail.” Vester swayed with the bus while he swung his bookbag around in front of himself so he could open up the zipper and start rooting around for the manilla envelope. “I don’t get why you don’t just have the school send your mail to the campus PO Box with how often you spe—” “What is that?” yelled a girl to Vester’s left. His head snapped around just in time to see a big white truck slam into the side of the bus. Then everything was rolling, and he was bounced off the ceiling. A sharp pain flashed through his head, then the small of his back, he heard a dull crunch, and finally everything went black. “Welcome to the Reincarnation Network,” a pleasant female voice seemed to come out of nowhere, and Vester was only dimly aware of it. It was hard to focus when he felt… nothing… where his body should be. “We’d like to apologize for your temporary incorporeal holding pattern, but we’ll be shunting you to your destinations in just a moment. Please keep your mind focused on what you’d like to be. Good luck!” Some strange force seemed to compress around Vester, affecting him, even in his state of nonexistence. With a sensation like he was being sucked down the world’s largest vacuum cleaner, Vester felt like everything he was had begun spinning. It was worse than the time he’d greased the bottom of his metal-disk sled and tried to take it down a ski slope. If he’d had a stomach, he was sure it would have spewed its contents. What was worse, it wasn’t simply a spin. No, he distinctly felt like he was looping, twisting, and somehow moving backward—all at the same time. It seemed as if he was also moving in more than three dimensions and his consciousness couldn’t handle the overload. The nausea simply grew more and more violent, and then he slammed back into his body. Now that he had the chance, the first thing he did was double over and vomit. His hands clasped his knees, and he very nearly fell in surprise into the puddle of bile he’d created when a warm flash washed over him. “Why do we have a seventh summon?” an older, cranky male demanded. “That is… unusual,” another man rumbled out. The voice sounded gruff and unpleasant. “The Hero’s Party is full, correct?” “Yes,” a young-sounding girl responded. “One Hero, five supporting members. The group is complete. Though there’s something about this soul that seems to… resonate with the Hero.” “Oh!” shouted an excited woman’s voice. “He’s a twin! Look at the soul. He’s the Hero’s twin. That must be why he was pulled along with the ritual. We’ll have to figure out something to do with him.” “Why bother?” the gruff man spat. “Let’s simply vaporize the soul and call it good. This one stinks of potential Demon Lord.” “That is indeed the easiest answer,” added the crotchety old bastard. “After all, if we never tell anyone we caught this soul by mistake, there’s no way the Hero will find out. Allowing him to finish reincarnating on Ordinal will just spell trouble in the long run.” “No! We can’t do that!” the young girl protested. “He’s a living being, and we brought him here. We have a responsibility to him.” “I agree, besides, think of the fun the Hero’s twin could be… all the delicious changes it could cause,” the excited woman added. “I think we should keep him.” Vester had been steadily regaining his wits as the room stopped spinning, though the babbling voices didn’t help any. It had taken a second for their conversation to really register; when it did, he realized they were arguing on whether or not to kill his soul. “What the fu-fuck is your problem?” he asked, coughing to clear the last of the bile from his throat. “D-d-did you bastards hit my bus with a fucking truck and now you’re debating killing me? What gives you the right?” Anger flashed through him, and without realizing it he’d straightened up with his fists clenched. “How the fuck can you be so casual about killing someone?” “Silence!” the gruff figure roared. A weight slammed down on Vester, and it took all he had just to stay on his feet. His eyes crossed, which made staring at the green-skinned… orc… hard. He clenched his jaw and refused to let the pressure crush him under. Next to the orc sat an old man in dusty robes, who was checking through a large tome. “The rules dictate that we cannot kill the boy,” the old man said with a reluctant sigh. “We can, however, impose limitations on his reincarnation to keep him from causing problems for the Heros. Perhaps we should reincarnate him as a tree…” Vester opened his mouth to speak, but the old man waved a hand and suddenly it was like a force was crushing his throat. Nothing he did allowed words to emerge, and he found himself clutching at his neck in an attempt to draw a simple breath. The worst part was that he sensed the choking could go on forever and he might never die. “How about a horned rabbit?” the orc suggested with a malicious smile. “The lowbies can always use a good hunt and it would be amusing if the Hero gained experience from him!” The big brute seemed to find himself amusing. That set off an argument where they began recommending different things; each seemingly trying to figure out a better form of rebirth to keep him away from their plans. Not everyone was an asshole in their suggestions, and while they squabbled, Vester came to a realization. He slowly started to grasp he wasn’t technically alive. I might never be, if these assholes get their way… They want to reincarnate me as a plant? Vester’s outrage grew as they threw suggestions back and forth. Each time the old guy checked his big book and shook his head, since the ideas appeared to go against their rules. While they discussed his fate like he wasn’t there, Vester studied the figures. Aside from the orc and the old dude, there was a dark elf in a black dress. She had ruby eyes slit like a lizard’s and a pair of small horns curling up from her forehead to arc over either side of her silver hair. Next to her was a fragile-looking girl who appeared to be between ten or twelve. That pale child had hair of liquid gold and wore pristine white robes. Something about her reminded him of that Wonka character… Salt-something-or-other… Farther over from her was a young man with distinct cat-ears and a fluffy tail swooshing back and forth behind him. The young cat-like-guy, at least, kept insisting they give Vester a form capable of moving and talking. The last figure… was a skeleton in a bikini Maybe I didn’t die, Vester thought numbly in the confines of his own mind. Maybe I simply hit my head and now I’m in a loony bin. That’d make sense. It’d make a lot more sense than a bikini-clad grim reaper with a pink scythe. Yup. I think I’m brain damaged. The cat-guy looked over at Vester and winked. A flick of his fingers and a golden glow flashed before Vester’s eyes, and he felt the shock receding from his mind. What the fuck was that? Was that magic to stop me from freaking out? The fact he couldn’t yell at the people now arguing about what species to turn him into was incredibly frustrating, yet the golden spell seemed to keep him from completely losing it. “Enough!” the orc bellowed at the others. The huge orc slammed his palms down on the table and the entire desk bucked. Considering it was made of black marble in the form of a huge crescent moon, the show of force was impressive. “If the law states we have to return him to life in a state his mind can handle, then I demand the right to place a curse on his reborn form to keep him from messing up my plans!” The old codger checked his books, then nodded. “That is allowed, and I think it a good idea. I too shall place a curse on him.” “Come on, that’s totally not fair!” The dark elf, at least, seemed to be on Vester’s side. “He hasn’t done anything to deserve cursing…. He’s just an unexpected wrinkle.” “I don’t like the unexpected,” the little girl said with a shake of her head. “I especially don’t like him because he’s disruptive.” She turned her eyes on Vester and suddenly the pressure around his throat vanished. “What do you have to say? Are you going to apologize for being disruptive?” “Fuck you!” he snapped before his mind had finished registering that he could talk. “Why should I apologize for shit that’s completely outside my control? You all brought me here by mistake and you’re treating me like I’m the problem. Take some respon—” His ability to speak vanished once again and the choking sensation returned. “I’ve heard enough,” the old man said. “All in favor of cursing the distraction and preventing him from interfering with the Hero’s duty?” The man raised his hand, as did the orc, the young girl… and bikini-death. “You’re overruled, Non.” “I disagree!” the dark elf said in protest. “As do I!” called the cat-guy, speaking for the first time. “He reminds me of my dad. I like him.” The dark elf actually turned toward the cat-guy and the pair fist bumped. The gesture seemed to cause the lawyer to sag in on himself. “His resemblance to the Demon King of Taryl is even more reason to prevent him from acting,” the old man muttered, though he seemed to be avoiding the pair’s eyes. “My curse shall bind him to obey the proper authority; I shall generate a Quest to see him taken in hand.” “I curse him to be harmless,” the orc said with a malicious smile. “If he can’t kill others, he can’t level up. No levels, no power.” The green-skinned behemoth seemed proud of himself and gave a smug nod. “I curse him to be undying,” a feminine voice whispered. “Let nothing end his suffering. He shall age, scar, and grow crippled through the passage of time, yet his torments shall never end.” It took Vester a second to realize the words were coming out of the skeleton, and his eyes bulged with his desire to spew insults at the… woman? “I curse him to be unwelcome,” the little girl said. “I don’t like him, and I don’t want others to like him. The more important the person, the less they’ll want him around.” She sniffed and turned her head away from Vester. Are you fucking kidding me! he practically screamed in his head. What the fuck is wrong with you people? All I did was drop an F-bomb or two! How the hell can you pull this shit on me? If I had the power right now, I’d— His silent tirade was interrupted by the cat-guy raising his hand. “I bless him with life and health. No scar shall form on his body and time shall not touch him. His injuries shall always heal smoothly… eventually. No offense, Delar, but your curse was just too much. There was no need to be so cruel. The young man has been through a trauma and deserves some consideration.”