Canon Fodder

START OF BOOK 4 CHAPTER 319 PROLOGUE

My name is Mikhail. I assume I had a good childhood. Unfortunately my younger life is a blur. The first true memory I had was crawling from a frozen lake. My friends had tried to save me, or so they said. I had fallen through the ice far out on the lake. I had apparently swam to the edge on my own. Breaking myself free long after I should have succumbed to the cold. 

We had been too scared of discipline from our families to say anything. Over time my memories before that event were forgotten. Simply washing away like melted snow in spring. 

I was told I became different after that incident…Colder almost. I simply became aware. Aware of my surroundings. Aware that my actions had consequences. While the other boys were busy being children, I became disinterested in them and the games they played. 

When I was old enough I joined the military. I did my time and ended up traveling. I spent a lot of time in China and Korea. In those countries there was more access to outside entertainment. I remembered seeing my first video game as a young man. Born far from a city I had never run into such things. It was an arcade game called Double Dragon. For the first time in a long time, I was interested in something. I became engrossed with it and other games. 

After leaving the military I traveled more. Enjoying all the past times that had eluded me. Where my awareness of the mundane nature of my life was brought to bare, my mind turned to other avenues to try to find enjoyment. Games, movies, manga, everything was an interest to me. For the first time, I was the older kid desperate for the release of this or that book or game. I lived in Japan. The Americas. Europe. Acting as a Russian interpreter and translator, I did my best to fit into the countries. Eventually settling in Canada. 

My past life was a blur. No enjoyment in it. Instead I focused on other worlds made by people I would never meet. I was drawn to any and everything to pass the time. I became quite good at video games. Never competition worthy, but they weren’t about getting the highest score. They were about drawing me away from the dull life I lived before. 

I never married. Never had kids. No friends that I interacted with other than through a screen. I simply existed. No matter where I was, I became the weird foreigner that never talked. Hardly leaving my room I had been happy with that simple existence.

I died in a fire. My body wasn’t as fit as it had been once upon a time. Especially after I could do my translation job from home. 

I woke up near the end of the fire. After my nerves had been burned off. I didn’t feel much of anything. Simply waited for it to end. And once it was over, and I felt my last breath leave me, I was fine with it. 

I was quite surprised to open my eyes again. In a large black room with 4 red lights over 4 doors I sat up to find I had my younger body. 15 or 16 years old. As I stood up I noticed the blue female figure appear in the room. 

“Hello Mikhail,” she said in perfect Russian. 

“Cortana?” I asked. She was as I remembered from the Halo video game, but far more life-like. Blue luminescent skin. Short black hair. Skin tight clothes. Halo was the first game I had become an expert at. I had played it for days on end. Thousands of hours. I had looked forward to its release. Posted tips and tricks on the game. It was my passion. 

“I am the Moderator,” she said. “But you can call me the Moderator if you want.” 

“Okay…” I said slowly. “Is this-” 

“Hell, purgatory, heaven? No. Sorry to interrupt, but I have to get through a lot of these. Welcome to the Challenge. You and 9,999 others that died around the time you died, have been brought here. Or more specifically, rooms just like this one. No, I can’t tell you why you were picked. Why we are putting you through this. What happened after you died. None of that. Think of this place as a second chance, and take it for the gift it is.” 

“Which is?” 

“A second chance,” she said with a huff. “Are you not paying attention?” Her hands behind her back she began to walk the perimeter of the room. “Beyond these doors will be every world you ever dreamed of visiting. Halo?” She pointed at herself. “One Piece, Marvel, Tales of Demons and Gods, Solo Leveling, Gravity Falls, Harry Potter, Stranger Things. Any and every popular form of entertainment is at your fingertips, you simply have to pick your favorite.” 

A screen popped up in front of my face. 

“What am I picking these for?” I asked. 

“To live,” she said. “That’s all I can tell you on that question.”

So that meant there were other questions I could ask. “Why is there an Anime and Manga Hall? Most manga are anime. Are they separate?” 

“No, they will have a lot of the same worlds. The main difference is filler episodes mostly,” she admitted. “And there are some interesting worlds that don’t have manga. There are a lot of shared worlds though.” 

I nodded. My decisions weren’t too hard. I pushed Video Games, then Anime, Manga, and Television.

“Very good,” Cortana said. “Now please pick the available side worlds.” More screens popped up. First was video games. There was an Eroge option, Puzzles, Shooting games, Strategy, Racing, Sports. A whole list of options that she explained were there for variety. I asked questions as I moved through the lists. She began to discuss the main goal. Trying to become stronger. Fighting challenges. It was a lot of information to take in.

“I will go to these worlds? To live?” I asked. 

“Something like that. I am sure that you are an expert on most all of these forms of entertainment. You will be picking specific worlds based from these Halls. There you will challenge yourself. 11 worlds for each hall to try to become the best you, you can be.”

“This body will travel to these worlds?” I asked, looking down to my younger self. 

“No,” she said. “Of the 44 worlds you pick, we will find the specific realities with someone that looks like you. There are an infinite number of versions of these worlds, and thus there is an infinite number of worlds with a man that has pretty much your same exact DNA.”

“They will not be me?” I asked, confused. 

“Kind of. We are able to finagle things a little. Force a specific name in each Hall. For instance in the Video Game Hall you will be…” She looked at her screen. “Mikhail Peters.”

“But my name was-” 

“Doesn’t matter,” Cortana said. “That old you is dead and gone. Welcome to the new yous. Don’t think too much about it.” 

But I did. Any minute now I expected to be dead again. This was far too amazing of an opportunity to be true. 

“Why…what picks which reality I will go to? You said that there are infinite options, which would imply there are infinites choices for these worlds.” I said, slowly putting my thoughts into words. “You said there are infinite Mikhails. How do you narrow one specific world down?”

“Good question,” she said, a smile on her lips. “Most don’t think to ask that one. You are limited on questions by the way. I’m glad you asked an interesting one.” Another screen appeared and I began to pick worlds for my Video Games Hall. Sliding some options off the screen, I had not heard of many that were available. 

“There are infinite Mikhails. We limit it to the canon as best we can, try to make sure that the quests aren’t too hard at the beginning. But we do not have the final say. Worlds pick which one you go to.” 

“Worlds?” 

“Yes, call it destiny, or the god of that specific reality,” she said. “We are moving your consciousness to someone that is close to the story, or far away from it. And you will more than likely try to join that story in some way. The worlds get to decide if you are worth making a main part of the story. If they fear that the protagonist can fail, and they find your past actions worthy, the world will put you near the main story.” 

“These worlds know my past?” 

“Oh yes. They know everything about you. You get to go to the world no matter what. But if you are found unworthy, the world may decide to test you. The world may pick a less than ideal version and see if you will sink or swim. You chose My Hero Academia. Not everyone has quirks in that world. The World itself may decide on a Mikhail that doesn’t have super powers. It is very rare to automatically have a power system at the get go. But if you prove yourself, continue to do quests despite the handicap a world may give you, the world may very well decide to reward you with quest rewards to make up for the shortfall.” I guessed that meant if I didn’t have a quirk the world might give me a quest to earn one. 

“Is there any way to…prove myself to get a better…version of the world?” I asked. Worried that the choices I had made were wrong because I had spent my life behind a computer screen. 

“There is a way,” she said. “Make the worlds update. In these doors there will be quests assigned by the worlds depending on your actions in them. There are a few very rare items that will cause these worlds to update. Whether that is through a Companion, or special items for that specific task. Unfortunately only unopened worlds can be updated. So if that is your goal, it’s best not to open a whole bunch of doors. But if you have been a good boy. A worthy addition to the canon. These worlds will often change the you they originally picked. Making you far more likely to join in on the fun that the protagonist gets to enjoy. Infinite worlds means infinite possibilities. Protagonists don’t always pass the tests of these worlds. If you’re lucky, the world may even move you to a reality where there is no protagonist. You would be able to take their place, earn their rewards, and become the center of the canon and all the fancy rewards.” 

I nodded. Wrapping up my world choices I was feeling nervous. 

“Now your status screen,” she said. Bringing up an invisible screen she whistled. “Woah, you already have a bonus. That’s very rare in your world.” I looked at her confused, but then she showed me the screen. 

“What does it do?” I asked.

“This is your last question. You sure you want to waste it on that?” She asked. I chewed my lip, but shook my head. She nodded. “Don’t worry, there are ways to figure it out later.”

Cortana looked at her invisible screen again. “Okay, 2 last questions on my part. Are you interested in a passive skill? It is called Memory Meld. There are hundreds of new lives all around you. Each of those lives have past experiences. With Memory Meld you would be able to know all they experienced.” She waited, I didn’t ask a question. Cortana let out a sigh. “The cost of this skill would be that you do not remember coming here, talking to me, or what worlds you chose.” 

“No, thank you,” I said. I wasn’t interested in losing any more memories. I already had a plan for what my last question was, and what worlds I wanted to go to. 

“Too bad. My last offer. Are you interested in a skill called, Blank Slate? With this skill you would lose all your memories, except coming here and our conversation thus far, and your knowledge of the worlds you picked. All that time you spent playing Halo would be in your head, but not your childhood crush.”

“No, thank you,” I said immediately. 

“You sure? If you took Blank Slate I would reveal which doors held which worlds. Also you would get 3 free Challenger Slots,” she said, raising her eyebrows in a suggestive way. 

“No,” I said. 

“Damn. Only seen that one picked like 3 times. Always interesting. One of these days someone will pick both, and we will get a really cool Challenger,” she mumbled. I was tempted after hearing that, but I feared it would change who I was. I liked who I was. 

“Last chance,” she said, hopeful. I shook my head. “Fine, last question. Ask it and I’m gone.” 

I had decided against my original question. Instead of asking a simple one I walked up to the door that now read Video Games. Opening it, Cortana followed. A long hallway ahead there was 1 door on my right, 3 on my left, and 1 straight ahead. I opened the side doors in the hallways. They had a random amount of doors. The door at the end had 11 doors all around. I guessed these were the ones I had picked. 

“You said no one knows which door is which world. Is there a way to guess or assume which door is which world?” I asked. 

“Never been asked that at this point,” she mumbled. “No, there is no way to know for sure. But each world has a Tier of strength that it takes to beat it. Not just the canon, but the world itself. Beating the strongest of the strong. Worlds go up to Tier 5 in difficulty. The higher the tier, usually, the closer to the entrance the door is.” She pointed at the door we just entered. “But also, the harder the story, the better the quest rewards you will have access to.” 

I nodded. “That’s it then. Good luck, Mikhail. I am excited to see where you go.” With that she was gone. 

Letting out a sigh I looked around. It wasn’t a question of what world I wanted. I would see if I lucked upon it. 12 doors around me I picked the one to the right of the door I walked in. As it all became black, the scenery around me began to illuminate. I was in the cargo hold of a spaceship. One I recognized. More than a little excited there were men and women around me, but I didn’t know any of the people. I was regretting not taking this Memory Meld skill. 

Checking my body I was in armor that I recognized. Thick chunks of metal strapped to my chest, I wasn’t the main protagonist, but I must have been some marine in the background. As I tried to get more clues I received notifications. 

Despite the cryptic note I had a smile on my lips. This was somewhere I always wanted to go. It was a dream come true. 

“Mikhail, strap in. Gonna be bumpy!” Someone yelled from the front of the ship. I noticed others begin to secure themselves in seats. I followed their movements and to my surprise received a quest. 

A wide smile on my lips, the world was already giving me easy quests for great rewards. At least that’s what I thought until the back of the ship blew off. Air being sucked out I saw 2 people that hadn’t strapped in properly be pulled out the rear. Both floating away in the blankness of space. 

Alarms blared and I became so scared I couldn’t help but yell, “World Escape!” 

Instantly I was back in the main Video Game Hall. “Shithead world!” I yelled. “Already ended my chances at living the life?!” I yelled louder. Hitting the door with my fist. 

I knew it had been too good to be true. Angry, I cursed and kicked, upset that it had been pulled from my grasp. In Halo the Spartan, Master Chief, was on a ship called Pillar of Autumn. Chased by aliens, the ship found a large ring called Halo. People evacuated the Pillar of Autumn, which must have been where I was when all hell broke loose. 

“If only there was a…” I said slowly. Standing up, the idea struck me instantly. Without hesitation I walked out of the Video Game room. Heading back into the main Junction Room I walked through the door that read Anime. I knew just the world to help me in Halo. 

Surrounded by the 11 anime worlds I asked, “Which of you is Fullmetal Alchemist?” I asked. 

If I could learn Edward Elric’s method of using alchemy without a circle, maybe I could stretch the metal of the back of the spaceship enough to close the hole. Saving myself from being sucked out into space. 

Unsure where to start, I picked a room at random, ready to try again. I was glad I didn’t lose my memories of the rooms. I was able to plan and choose which worlds could help me most. Everything was starting to come together.