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Every person….
No matter how rich or poor, strong or weak, will all experience a sense of loss at least once in their lifetime.
Whether it came through the loss of a job, or even through the untimely passing of a love one, that loss will act as a catalyst that will drive that person forward…or furtherdownward.
Some will move on with their lives. Forging new endeavors from the ashes of fallen….
Others will go on a decrepit path of self ruination…..
While a select few, would inadvertently stay in a sort of limbo due to their own making.
Hoping endless for a brighter tomorrow to come, but at the same time coping in a manner that's slowly crippling them.
Neither are they moving nor frozen….
They simply just…exist under the gaze of the seemingly indifferent cosmo.
Yet, cosmo itself is not as lifeless and indifferent as one might argue.
For there is only so much data that a mortal mind can comprehend regarding on its true nature and fuctions.
As such, like a star that was unexpectedly thrown out of its system, the numerous fundamental laws and near uncountable existences that govern the great unknown had all lined up in one single moment to grant a miracle to one ordinary soul from earth who was trapped in her own limbo.
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In another world….
In another time….
In another realm, distant and far removed from the glimmering lights and screens of modern day life, an utterly bizarre scenario began to unfold.
The dormant and silent atmosphere of a vast forest nestled within the land of Anemo and Freedom was suddenly disrupted by the actions of one woman.
Behind a patch of ordinary bushes, a mesmerizing beauty suddenly emerge, as if announcing her existence throughout the thick groves of vegetation surrounding Starfell lake.
The woman was truly a sight to behold…
Her long blonde hair which was almost the same shade as gold was tied in a beautiful yet intricate bun.
Her bright emerald eyes where like the finest jades minned from the deepest portions of the chasm.
Her slender yet voluptuous body was a figure that would make even the divine weep in envy.
She wore a distinctive suit of silver and blue armor with a simple blue hoodie attached to its shoulders, an odd but effective means of camouflage in this strange world she had unexpectedly found herself.
Overall, she was beauty made manifest!
As the enchanting otherworldly lady moved close to the lake, she scanned the surrounding area with a percision that no ordinary mortal possessed.
A potent mixture of shock and disbelief soon etched itself upon her seemingly immaculate face as she zeroed in upon a group of black bipedal creatures that wore masks over their faces and gurgle in a sort of unknown language.
'Hilichurls'.
She knew these creatures….
They weren't supposed to be real…
She had gotten quite familiar with them over the past five years before she was suddenly trusted into this strange new world.
'They…. they're here….right in front of my eyes!' she excitedly thought to herself.
Not just one, nor two, nor three but an entire tribe of mask-wearing Hilichurls!
Some were beating drums around a sputtering fire, others were sharpening crude clubs and arrows.
They moved with the exact same loping gait and made the same guttural sounds she'd spent countless hours listening to while grinding for materials in-game!
It was impossible, a fantasy too absurd to even contemplate!
Yet here she was, apparently stucked in the body of a living legend from a fictional franchise while being stranded in another world of another one!
The initial shock is giving way to a strange, giddy excitement…
An excitement born from years of immersive gaming and anime binged watching…
The impossible became possible!
"Genshin…I..I…I...I really did isekai'd to Genshin Impact!"
She almost shouted, before clamping her mouth shut with her two hands before her voice could alert the nearby tribe.
And for the real kicker, she was not just isekai'd as a random NPC, no far from it…
She was isekai'd as ARTORIA FREAKING PENDRAGON, in her Lancer body to booth!
Her mind racing trying connecting the numerous dots of information she had just witnessed for the past few hours.
The cliff, the lake, the distant city...it was Mondstadt!
This was Starfell lake!
The realization hit her with the sheer force akin to one of her own Noble Phantasms.
She was 'home', in a way she'd never imagined.
A mischievous grin, one that felt entirely new yet utterly natural, soon spread across her beautiful face.
What cosmic circumstances led her into this beautiful world?!
She was given a treasure unlike any other!
One that gamers and otaku fanatics such as her could only dream of!
A chance to meet the characters she had come to love for the past five years…
To see and explore the seven nations…
And to relive that profound sense of adventure that she felt when she first opened the game five years ago!
But first, a small demonstration!
Closing her eyes and focusing on her now supposedly inert divine energy, she recreated a simple light-based spell.
Not the world-ending beam that stemed from Rhongomyniad, but a simple, concentrated mote of offensive light almost akin to a laser
With a flick of her wrist, she sent it zipping towards a large loose boulder sitting next to the hilichurl camp.
The result was instant and kinda chaotic.
The moment her attack struck true, and the boulder didn't just shatter; it vaporized with enough force that it left a honest to God, smouldering crater!
The force behind her simple attack was so strong that it threw off the nearest hilichurls into the air, causing them to thrown for several yards!
Every single member of the tribe was now panicking!
Their masked faces whipping around in confusion.
They chittered and gurgled, searching for the source of the apparent attack.
Their beady eyes hidden behind their masks were darting between the surrounding trees and foliage, trying to find who was responsible for the sudden explosion!
But try as they might, they found NOTHING, NO ONE!
For the culprit was already gone the moment she launched her attack!
She was already speeding away in an impossible speed no mortal or even vision wielder can hope to achieve!
Gust of wind trailed behind her as she moved across the countryside forest and hills of Mondstadt.
"IT'S REAL! IT'S REAL! IT IS ALL REAL!"
"I'M IN GENSHIN IMPACT! I'M IN BLOODY GENSHIN IMPACT!"
"YES! YES! YEEESSSS!"
Artoria let out a gleeful cheer as she moved away from the poor Hilichurls camp that she just used as an impromptu target practice, at speeds that defy the laws of physics.
The ground blurred beneath her feet, a testament to her divine form.
This was more than a game now.
This was her new life.
A life with infinite new possibilities!
AND SHE IS GOING TO ENJOY EVERY SECOND OF IT!
The path ahead would not only lead her down towards the very gates of Mondstadt, but to the start of her own story, a story she will write herself with the tip of a divine spear and her draconic heart!
As she glided through the foliage and trees, she begins to recall how all of these wonderful series of events started earlier that day.
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(Flashback a Few Hours Prior)
Floating.
She felt like she's floating on an endless void.
She cannot see…
She cannot feel…
She was just…. floating.
'Who…who am I? What am I?'
'Why can't I remember my na..name?' Am…am I….dead?'
Her previous life, her previous name... all of them were already fading like a distant memory.
The woman felt like her entire being was slowly dissolving into nothingness.
Hopeless….so utterly hopeless…
As she awaited for her probable end, her desperate soul tried once more to claw out what few remains of her once earthly life.
And in doing so, she began to recall a myriad of memories.
Memories that were hers, about a life she once had.
A life ruled by the clockwork march of modernity.
An existence filled with stress from the constant demand of corporate life and the hustle and bustle of a densely crowded British city…
Yet amidst it all, she vaguely recalls the smiling at the face of a child….a daughter she singlehandedly raised yet was taken so early from her.
She…. remembered….
She remembered her…precious memories of them together.
She remembered….her little girl's smile..
Her…daughter…she was…happy, even with the so little time allowed herself to be in her presence.
Work….its was always work..work and more work…
She remembered that darkest of moments when she frantically raced towards the local school at Whitland after receiving a call….
An accident they say…
Burning building….parents crying out and holding….small body bags…
So…dark…so utterly dark, yet why is it that she couldn't even remember her child's own name anymore?!
She continued on, floating…. endlessly floating.
'Maybe I deserve this. Maybe this is the price that I have to pay for the sins of being that kind of mother.'
She continued aimlessly floating on.
She couldn't see anything. She couldn't hear anything.
There was just nothing.
'I tried to cope. Try to do the things that she had always loved. Those games…'
'Heh? Instead of remembering her, I instead became addicted to those games…'
'I truly am a horrible mother.'
As her consciousness slowly faded, she felt a sudden pull, like a cosmic fishhook attaching itself into her soul.
It happened so quickly.
It felt like she was being dragged, thrusted even across the void as she vaguely sensed several dozens masses seemingly merging with her!
It was excruciating! It felt like her body was being torn asunder!
She screamed, yet so many pained voices flower out from her mouth!
'MAKE IT STOP PLEASE!'
'Make it stop please!'
'Damnit! What's going on?! Make it stop!'
'CURSE YOU EVIL TYRANT GOLDEN GREAT EMPEROR COSMO GILGAMESH!'
'My Holy City! My Knights!'
'What's happening…urgghhh..my casino!'
'Shit! I shouldn't have experimented with Artorium particles!'
It felt like an eternity when suddenly it stopped.
She was no longer floating, but rather she felt like she was laying…
She felt like she was laying on a bed of soft grass, the scent of wildflowers and clean air filling her lungs.
She hesitantly opened her eyes, momentarily shutting them back as the light stung her eyes.
Yet when she opened them again, the very first thing she saw was the sky, a vast brilliant, impossible blue, dotted with cotton-white clouds.
"Where....where the heck am I?" The woman asked herself with a groggy voice.
She tried to get up when suddenly, she once again experienced an excruciating pain, this in the form of a headache in her life!
The worst headache she had every experienced!
She clutched her head with both hands as a countless memories that were not clearly hers yet vaguely familiar flooded into her mind!
Her memories and those of others began to merge…becoming one and inseparable.
She saw herself pulling a sword from a stone and becoming a king…
She saw somewhat familiar faces that she had once seen in her life. Faces of Knights in shining armor swearing fealty to her…
She saw herself staring into the vast desert on top of a magnificent castle with a cold detached demeanor while clutching a holy lance of sorts made of light…
She saw herself being summoned into a state of the art facility in the middle of the Antarctic and was tasked to help out preventing the extinction of humanity…
She even saw herself wearing a bunny suit while running a casino and even a memory of her riding a comically large spaceship!
She gritted her teeth as she endured the pain once again.
Her mind swirling with memories and identities that were now hers.
So many lives, so many existences all merging into one!
The entire ordeal only lasted for a few seconds yet she felt like it lasted for hours.
Once it was over, she promptly collapsed to the grass-filed ground, panting from both the pain and the exhaustion.
She could not remember how long she laid there.
The pain was already gone, but a new sense of identity began to emerge.
She then tried to sit up and she noticed a clear puddle of water at her side. She looked at a clear body of water and saw her reflection.
It was not what she expected, yet it felt real and perfect.
The reflection that looked back at her was a face of sheer beauty with blond hair tied in a bun. A body that looked like it was perfectly sculpted covered in blue and silver cloth and armor....and oh god, were those her chest?!
She never had such perfectly large breasts before!
Then it hit her like a force of a speeding sledge hammer.
She was looking at the reflection of Artoria Pendragon, more specifically her mature form, the one seen in her Lancer and Ruler variants!
It's her reflection, she was looking at her own reflection!
"It's me. Artoria...I...am...Artoria..." She whispered, the name solidifying her new reality.
She was no longer just the woman from Earth, she couldn't even prooerly remember her name yet.
But the memories she had of that life were still there, perfectly merged with all the memories of Artoria, not just in her Saber or Lancer forms, but all the forms!
A myriad of lifetimes merged into one singular tapestry….
A tapestry that felt so complete.
Perfectly human, yet at the same time perfectly divine.
Goddess, an amalgamation of all possibilities, merged into one divine being, and somehow emerged with the most mature and prime appearance!
"I'm now her?"
"No, I am Artoria, yet I'M STILL ME!"
".....and even more." She whispered the last part like a solemn vow to herself.
She took a deep breath to calm herself from the bizarre reality that was given to her.
"Yes, I'm still me."
Yet, try as she might, the new reality presented to her would take some time to get used to.
She needed some time to atleast cope with it!
So, the woman who found herself merged with other beings, gently untangled some of her braided her, allowing it to flow freely with the wind blowing upon the cliff.
She then did what anyone in her situation would normally do….
.....
She just sat there, in a patch of verdant grass, on some unknown cliff, staring blankly at the distance!
After a few minutes of sitting, she vaguely sensed something mildly annoying washing over her, like someone just gently tugged her clothes without her permission!
Yet, when she looked around, she saw no one.
'Meh, probably just the wind.'
And so she continued on staring.
Slowly allowing herself in silence to accept the new reality she now finds herself into.
**********
After a few hours of silently adjusting to her new existential reality, Artoria stood up.
The now apparently isekai'd goddess took a deep breath, fully embracing her new identity as Artoria Pendragon…
The Once Future King
Sovereign Ruler of Camelot
Goddess Rhongomyniad
Bunny-suit wearing Casino Dealer
King of Storms and leader of the Wild Hunt
Space Hero Extraordinaire
Prophesized Fairy Hero
Yada yada yada!
So many goddamn names and titles!
She could feel the rawimmense divine power coursing through her veins.
It felt like a burning and blazing star held captive within her very being!
And now….it is time to test it!
Not the full world-breaking power mind you, that would just straight up damage or even destroy this world she's currently staying.
No, she just needed to test a teeny tiny, tinsy winsy bit of her current strength!
A small drop in the lake if you catch the drift.
The question now is, WHERE WILL SHE TEST IT?
"Better take a look on surrounding, to see if I can find something worth hitting." she murmured to herself.
She walked towards the edge of the cliff, and what she saw truly left her speechless.
In front of her, just below the cliff side was vast open wilderness covered by miles forest with tall mountains embracing on each side.
A valley.
She could see a large crystal lake at the distance. But what really caught her attention the most was the city on the other side of the lakethat lookedstrangely familiar.
With her now divine eyes she took a closer look to see the details of that distant city, and she was stunned!
The ancient high walls made of mortar and stones…
The several windmills scattered across the seemingly northern european style city…
The large gothic Cathedral and the gigantic angelic statue at the Northside, THEY LOOKED SO FAMILIAR!
"Wait….. ISN'T THAT MONDSTADT?!"
How could she not recognize that city?!
Every since the unfortunate death of her daughter….an incident that she had constantly blamed herself with, she quited her job, and began to spend countless hours playing a myriad of video games for the next five years!
Just to cope with the loss of her precious daughter…
She played a wide variety of games from the NES up to the latest console.
She streamed herself doing speedruns and play throughs, which unexpectedly earned her a very sizable income.
'Though, I still don't know why most of my viewers were men, with some even asking (begging) me to do the most ridiculous things..'
...…
'Meh, whatever. I never gave in to their demands anyway, yet they still continued to send me money and gifts. Men are weird.'
She played on, delving deeper into the gamer and otaku rabbit hole as the months turned into years.
The coping…became an addiction.
Zelda, Mario, Doom, Pokemon, Minecraft, Red Dead Redemption, Elden Ring, Zenless Zone Zero, Honkai Star Rail, Space Marine….and so many more.
She played them all.
Yet, there were two games that she loved the most, both were gacha games were she funneled large sums of cash into them just so that she could get those sweet five stars that she craved!
Fate Grand Order, and Genshin Impact.
The two games that many in their respective community called as literal gacha hell holes, especially FGO.
It was in FGO that she fell in love with the concept of Artoria and her myriad of several other classes.
This opened the door to the rabbit hole known as the Nasuverse, but she loved every second of it!
But, it was in Genshin, that she began to truly appreciate the joy and art of video game world building and story telling.
Playing Genshin for the first time during its launch day in that one autumn day in the late 2020, was one of her most cherished memories…
Not just because of the gameplay experience it offered, but because throughout that entire launch she kept holding a portrait of her beloved daughter, placing that most cherished of objects in her lap, as she explored, for the first time, the world of Teyvat.
She wanted to atleast feel her presence, especially during those hard pandemic times.
Call it silly, but it was at that moment, that truly felt connected with the game.
That simple act alone, anchored her perception towards Genshin, such as that everytime she hears a mention of that game, her thoughts will always go back to that wonderful launch day, wherein she played for over 4 hours over with the 'presence' of he daughter by her side.
For the next five years, she played that game, alongside FGO.
Completing all Story Quest, gathering chest and solving puzzles, or just simply enjoying the view in some picturesque location.
And now, through some sort of unfathomable cosmic force, not only did she awaken in the body of one of her most beloved video game characters but she was also dropped into the world of her most beloved game!
With the sight of her favorite city, just within the distance!
The very air smelled different from anything she had experienced before.
Gone was the polluted and somewhat dreary air of downtown London, now she could smell the mix of cool mountain air and the faint, sweet scent of possibly dandelions carried within the breeze.
She stood there, alone on that cliff.
A solitary figure against the vast skies of Teyvat.
A queen without a kingdom, a goddess without believers, and a gamer who had just become the ultimate player in a world she thought was fictional!
Her new life had begun, and as she looked out over the peaceful city of Mondstadt, a single thought echoed in her mind.
'What now?'
Instead of some profound self revelation, a small mischievous smile appeared on her lips.
Well, since she's already here, why not keep up with the tradition?
"I think it's time to paythe local Hilichurl tribesa visit."
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind little old me, especially if they didn't even know that I was even there in the first place, right?"
With a mischievous and slightly sadistic giggle, the now transformed goddess, began her descent down the clift and into the verdant forest below.
(Flashback Ends)
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Artoria chuckled after she recalled the significant events that happened to her earlier that day.
She was now currently gliding swiftly across the countryside of Mondstadt, after escaping her 'impromptu 'inspection'.
She just couldn't help herself, especially after realizing that she's now living on Teyvat!
This is her life now!
No more streaming and weird requests!
~No more leading armies into battle!~
~No more Kingdoms to rule and govern!~
No more being chained into the whims of corporate slavery!
She will explore this vast new world, one nation at the time!
Like those several isekai protagonists from those ridiculously addicting japanese light novels!
"NEW WORLD HERE I COME!"
...…...
Unfortunately for her though, fate or whatever forces brought her here in the first place, have other plans in-stored for her.
For better or for worse, the Lioness now roams Teyvat!
(End of Part One: To be continued)
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