1- Owning it when you name it
"Bah, I'm not playing this shit again" the black haired vicenarian called out in frustration. And yet all the same he clicked on the option "Nord" and continued customizing. Although the selected race was Nord, he still ended up with a character much like him in appearance, with dark raven hair color, a light tan complexion, and a roman/Arab hybrid nose and a typical mid-eastern face cut. The only difference he did make was the eye color, which he made to be a silver-white iris, around a shining golden pupil. Although he didn't have such eyes, he did love the color scheme.
Grumbling in his mind, yet still continuing to advance, he came to the naming screen. Being prompted to name the character, he ended up naming him 'Zinkahjul' literally meaning honor pride human. Sounds strange, right? Well our player didn't give an f. who cares, it's just an unused name. They'll only be calling him dragonborn throughout his journey. Clicking his tongue in annoyance at the lack of culture of the NPCs to be even mature enough to ever understand his height of intellect, he continued the journey to the chopping board.
That's when he saw it again. He never got to understand, how can humans fall so much, that they can even make games of their humiliation, even if fictional at the hands of a racist bigot race like the Altmer. Seriously, seeing the Thalmor standing there all puffed up in pride his blood boiled, almost wishing to rush up there and stuff his aloofness up his ass.
"Bah", spitting up another sip of anger, he started to play the game for like his 16th or so run.
Welcome to a day in the life of our MC, exactly a day before he is confirmed as our MC. An accountant by education, acting as a small manager cum coordinator for his small family company. He never earned a lot, but still did see a lot of the happenings in the business world. Learning human resource management as well as about industrial automation and control systems, basic knowledge about different modes of power and energy generation. Well, that was his job anyway, nothing that he would be proud to learn, plus the shit happening in the world, making him learn a thing or two about politics. Well, even this wasn't due to any extensive studying, but rather the male privilege of always hearing other males talk of politics, business and politics again and how these are inter-connected and how these two gang-up to suck up the people much more efficiently than vampires, cos even a vampire's cattle will run dry but these two here's cattle only fatten, in turn fattening these two more….
The only hobby he had apart from reading books, playing video games and checking out new dirt bikes was his un-healthy obsession with military technology. From small guns to large helicopters, he was a military nerd sort of guy. A firm believer in the superiority of the two Russian things; i.e., Russian small weapons and Russian women.
He just saw a small YouTube video on Skyrim, ended up re-igniting the long dormant flame of Skyrim love in his heart, and ended up re-playing it. Although he swore last time he ended it to not play it again cos it was so humiliating seeing humans being treated like shit by the snobbish elves. Oh how he hated them, his blood boiling throughout the game to the ever constant jeers and racist jabs being thrown by the 'civilized' and 'etiquetted' race.
And yet his love for Skyrim won again, resulting in another all-nighter, as he crazily stayed awake, despite having had a grueling day at work. He went back to work in the morning. Same routine, same life. Going through the same gruesome day, by evening he was all fed-up, not having rested for more than 36 hours, with around 30 of them spent staring at one sort of display screen or other. Returning home he was all dizzy, resulting in him not properly controlling his motor bike and hitting a ----- well let's call it a big bad truck. Why? You thought it was some way else? It's the same shit over again. Our protagonist also happened to meet the truck-kun. Or rather he ran to truck-kun for a change. Whatever, he was in too much of a daze at that time. And truck-kun too didn't bother. He was all too happy acting as a one way travel agent to the afterlife for this drunk-on-sleep driver.
And our protagonist--- well he was driving at 80 km/hr., then he was suddenly culling summerset isles from the aliens, spreading the glory of The Emperor in the heathen lands of Tamriel, and then he was flying, ummm maybe breaking the levitation act enforced by the heathen empire of Cyrodiil? And. Then. It. All. Went. Black.
Hey who broke my sleep? I was having this great dream and now I don't wanna wake up. Please. Let's suppose today is Sunday. But I still have to pray my dawn prayers. Okay, anyway it's just 5 minutes anyway. Let's wake up. And our protagonist opens his eyes.
'But are these eyes. Help, what happened to my eyes?' He tries looking around, feeling not felling almost anything. Only now did realization start hitting him. 'Lord above, I was actually dreaming while driving, I no doubt have had an accident, and maybe am a veggie at the moment. Please, mom dad, let them disconnect, I don't wanna recover with broken limbs or other disabilities. Please, don't judge my misdeeds by returning there effect to me. Please let it end. Please.
And so he spent his next month in repentance and supplication. Four weeks in, and he begins to feel he's suspended in a liquid. He starts feeling his eyes though those are closed shut by eyebrows, he not even strong enough to open them. 'OH Lord what's going on, am I in a coma?' he ponders, and yet 2-3 weeks later he feels he can move in the liquid. He tries to move his hands, which he succeeds, and yet he is unable to move his eyes. He cannot breathe, and yet he lives, like '…oh have I become an amphibian?' He snorts in his heart.
He ponders, and the only even close situation he can imagine of being in is that of a fetus, now around 15 weeks. He scoffs at this ridiculous idea, and yet he cannot imagine any other logical explanation. The only thing left that he can do, is do nothing, and he does that, ridiculous as that may sound, but that's how it is now. Ridiculous. Everything around him. Simply ridiculous. But at least he can move. And he has no missing limbs. And he can't speak. Or breathe. Or see. Or do anything. Or interact with people.
5 weeks more and he starts sensing sounds. 5 more weeks, and its clearer, sometimes like horses clopping and the grating of rough iron against stone and mud. And of a woman and man talking. And a lot of everyday life sounds. 3 more weeks, and he can SEE. Though all he sees is a liquid, and he feels an elastic wall that he learns is his mother's womb. Yes. Simple as that. Truck-kun completed the job.
He was happy and sad. Happy that his prayers were answered. He is whole again. And sad that he misses his family. Though he knows that there's a price to be paid for actions. And his carelessness when driving cost him his family. His caring mother father and siblings. The other cost is the sadness they would be feeling in his original world. Sadness he inflicted on them. Yet costs must be paid. Nothing comes free, and a man must own up his dues.
In his brooding, 32 weeks of his consciousness in this body passed; he was pushed out, and paid the last cost of his last life's actions. A large man, with a big beard took the crying him who was actually striving to take big breaths--- his firsts in 7 months, after a big clap to his butt from the nurse. The large man looked at him in pride, said, "son, I don't know when you will understand this, but I'm saying this. We humans are not the barbaric wild race those knife ears call us. Rather we are proud, the epitome of creation. May you be the hand which makes those thin framed snobs see reason, for this I name you in the ancient forgotten tongue, as was heard in my dream last night, 'Zinkahjul'."
"Rise, little Zin", (oh, the name's too long for my liking but well, what can I do. Whoever gave you this name was surely not your well-wisher, but anyway, you must stick with it) "and shine like the star that shone bright the night you are born."
Ohhhhhhh shit.