*Albert POV*
*Location: Las Vegas, Nevada*
*Date: June 20th, 2025*
"And stay out!" was the last thing I heard as the admittedly terrifying, well-built security guard tossed me out of the casino.
Wanna know why, well, after a losing streak of over $3000, I was admittedly a little upset and drank my sorrows away. Now, normally, they wouldn't mind this, I mean, drunk people equal more gambling and more gambling equals more money in the long run because people make dumb decisions when they are inebriated, losing more often than winning.
Not me, though, no, instead I just kept on drinking and drinking, lamenting my past failures till I became a major disruption, causing some of the more high rollers to leave. So, in the casino owner's infinite wisdom, I was tossed out, landing on a puddle out into the busy street as I drunkenly swiped at him, failing in the process.
AS I slowly got up, my legs shaking, my once nice clothes now dirtied both from the alcohol and water, alongside another substance I was hoping wasn't vomit. I stumbled through the streets trying to hail a taxi or something. I mean, there was always tomorrow after all, I'll hit big and make double what I lost, no triple, I'll clean out another casino and make my fortune in this place, after all, as a gambling connoisseur, I was bound to have luck on my side eventually.
Yeah, that was the plan, I would sleep this all off, greet tomorrow would be my day, my time to shine in this city of greed and lights. Yes, the future is where I'll make my mark, and as my body stumbled toward the road, I felt the hope drain out of my mind as I saw a vehical coming straight towards me, it was a well-taken care of red Porsche only it was about to get a bit more red as my mind went completly blank.
Yep, looks like my chance at the good life was destroyed before it could even begin, all because of my gamblign addiction and my heavy preference for alcohol. As the car tried to stop, I could feel something rising out of my throat, something that would make this whole situation worse for both of us. While I didn't feel the impact of the car, I for sure felt the mother of all vomit escape my throat. I swear to every god in existence it was a cartoonish green with all the chunks you could imagine.
The whole thing covered the guy's windshield, and well, soon enough, I had blacked out, meaning that I had probably died or was knocked out. Well, I could only pray that both God and the Devil would be merciful to me. That was my last thought as I felt everything shut down, first my motor functions, then my heart, and finally my brain, and I embraced the cold arms of death, all because of a drunken accident.
*Location: ???*
The next moment, I could feel my eyes twitch as a new flood of sensations flooded my body. Opening my eyes, I was greeted with the dumb smiling face of a guy I think with long blonde hair and...no eyes, the guy literally had no eyes and the creepiest smile I had ever seen in my life, like he came straight out of a novel. So what was I supposed to do, scream like a teenager looking up 18+ content on his computer just as his parents were walking in and he was going through a voice change, or be as calm as possible?
Well, I screamed, of course.
"AHHHHHH, who the hell are you?!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as the guy I saw was in fact wearing a typical Hawaiian tourist outfit, completed with the palm tree shirt/white shirt combo.
"HAHAHA, see what I told you, Mis, this guy's perfect for our champion, he's a riot." He said whilst laughing on his back as he rocked back and forth.
Looking around, I saw the guy named Mis, who was sitting in the corner with a purple blanket over his head and a weird black cloud over him.
"I don't care, Fortune, he just seems like a whiner, that's all." He said dryly, not even looking over at me, although if these two were brothers, I was kinda scared of what he possibly looked like.
I mean the brother's bit was mostly a guess, but seeing as how we were the only three people in this strange, cloudy room, well, it wasn't hard to put two and two together. Unless they were lovers, in which case, they were polar opposites in every way. Fortuen got up on his feet, basically jumping back up, and approached me, reaching his hand out with a smile still on his face.
"Naw, he just died, I mean if you just died and see this beautiful mug wouldn't you freak out, oh twin of mine."
That's when it all became clear: this place was the judgment hall, and these two were to be my judge, jury, and executioner. So I remained calm, grabbed his hand, and slowly got up, ready to face my judgment for a lifetime of sins.
"So I bet your freakign otu right now, like 'oh please be merciful oh mighty lord Fortune, I didn't mean to run over those puppies when I was seventeen.' or something like that right?" He said sarcastically as he put his hands together like a mock prayer or something like it.
"Well, don't worry, bud, because you're in the presence of the two best deity duo in existence, my name is Fortune God of Good Luck and riches." He said as he twirled around doing jazz hands in the direction of Mis, whom I had a guess of who it was.
"My name is Mis, but you already knew that, God of Misfortune and Disaster, the god no one prays to." They said as he continued to sulk in the corner, twiddling their fingers on the ground, making circle motions with them.
"So you must be wondering why the two of us picked you out, right, Albert?"
"The question has been going through my mind, yes." Which was a lie. I was just wondering if this was some elaborate ruse/test to see if I belonged in Heaven or Hell.
"Well, I'm glad you asked because you see you have the lucky or perhaps unlucky experience of being our chosen champion with what you humans call the gacha system, now isn't that amazing!" He said as a giant slot machine came out with the gaudy gold/red coloring all over it, and the lever just calling to be pulled with that classic red sphere on it.
"In order to decide which world you'll be going off to, well, we decided to use a standard slot machine, and depending on the symbol you pull, it'll be the world we send ya off to."
"So what do you say, wanna take a spin, see if your luck improves in my ever-shining presence or if my bro over there will just make it all worse." He said whilst leaning on the side of it.
Looking at the thing, then looking back at my life so far, all the bad luck and lost money, lost friends and family due to my own gambling addiction. I was tempted not to pull on that lever, to not tempt fate again, but.
"I gotta see where this goes!" I shouted to myself as I ran up and slammed down on the lever, pulling it.
As the slot machine began to spin, I saw Fortune's smile and I could see Mis turn their head slowly, looking at me, their face still hidden. The slots spun and spun, revealing a vast variety of symbols, each one in perfect tandem with one another as though no matter what, I'd get a perfect match.
The seconds passed by quickly as it eventually slowed down, stopping on three worms which didn't tell me anything about the world I was possibly going to.
"Oh, well, it was nice knowing him." Mis quietly said, thinking I didn't hear him.
"Aw, come on, Mis, just because he got that one world called 'Worm' doesn't mean he won't survive and thrive, I mean it's not 40k, ya know." Fortuen said as he stepped away from the slot machine, moving towards the side of the room I just came from.
Looking around, I was extremmly confused, I mean Worm sounded familiar, but at the same time I still didn't know what they were talking about.
"Well, Good luck, Albert, and don't worry, the system will give you a tutorial once you land." Fortune said as he gave a thumbs up.
I was about to ask what the hell he meant by that, alongside what the heck they were talking about, only the slot machine turned into a gigantic black/purple that swallowed everything in its vicinity, including me.
"You could've explained what the hell you meannnnnn!" I screamed as I fell down the portal leading to who knows where.
*Location: Brockten Bay, 1990*
I stopped screaming soon enough as I hit the ground, and landed on a pile of trash and other garbage with the portal closing up behind me.
"Where the heck am I?"