Jacob was walking down the sidewalk heading to get his favorite coffee at Donut Plus. He was too busy looking at his phone to notice the hole suddenly open up in front of him, hovering in the air. Jacob felt a tap on his shoulder and as he stopped and turned he felt his phone yanked from his hands as he was shoved backwards. He crossed the threshold and the world went dark.

Jacob blinked as the light of the world returned. He saw that this was no longer where he had been. Instead of a crowded street in San Francisco, he found himself alone in a forest. He rubbed his eyes but still the scene before him remained. Where but a moment prior he had been walking down the streets of San Francisco, now he was surrounded by a forest. The air was cool but that did not prevent him from sweating.

Jacob's breaths became ever more labored as he began to hyperventilate. He was not a strong man, and while his height, 5'10, was above average he was weaker and thinner than others of equal height.

However, with his first breath here he felt as if an ember had been born inside his chest. Every breath after that feeding it until it ignited.

When the ember inside him caught light, he felt something new. But he knew not what it was. "Hello oh child of man..." Came a voice, that seemed to come from everywhere and no where all at once.

"Who are you! Where am I?!" Jacob screamed in the grips of his panic. "I know your heart and very soul. I see your past and your future..." The voice spoke once more. "Are you god? Did i just get isekai'd?" Jacob spoke trying to restrain his ever growing panic.

"I am not your god. You have yet to meet her..." 'Her?' Jacob questioned in his mind. "Why me?" Jacob said after taking a few deep breaths. "You were chosen for your affinities..." "Those would be?"

"You are one who never had trouble making friends. Though you lived in a city, you yearned for nature... I can see it now..." The voice taking a moment to soak in what it was "seeing". "A forest of Red woods next to the sea. You loved nature and so nature shall be your ability..." The voice faded out into silence. He waited for the voice to return but instead, he felt as its presense receeded. Somthing he had not noticed had even been there until it was gone. "They say you don't miss somethings till they're gone." Jacob said, speaking his thoughts aloud.

Earth Affinity has increased...

'Earth affinity? Nature shall be my abiltity? Does this mean i got a cheat or something relating to nature?' Then a thought crossed his mind, "Don't people get HUD's or systems in cases like this? Where the fuck is mine?" Jacob threw his arms into the air in frustrastion. "I should have asked so many other questions!" Jacob screamed out for all the world to hear. More angry with himself than the situation at hand.

Jacobs thoughts turned to that of survival. "Where is the sun?" Jacob looked around the sky trying to locate the sun throught the tree tops. The first thing he noticed however was that there was a moon. No it would be better to say he was on the moon. As he looked up what greeted him was a massive world looming prominently in the sky.

The planet that this world was orbiting seemed to be a gas giant. Though it was unlike any he had seen before. It was every color, rich and vibrant there in the sky. What stood out most however was the seven large circular storms upon the surface of the gas giant. Each storm was of only one color, and were six revolving around a central storm of equal size. The color's of the storms were, green, blue, purple, black, white, red, and in the center of it all was a raging storm of gold.

"That is definately not normal." Jacob thought of every story he could, and almost all of them shared one thing in common, "Magic, oh please god let this be true!" He raised up his arms from his sides, the air tingled across his skin. When he had raised his hands up to the height of his chest, he clenched his fists and closed his eyes. Jacob focused on the fire that he felt burning in his chest. He held the image of a single flame in his mind, no greater than that of a birthday candle.

He felt the flame in his chest dim ever so slightly, and a faint light shined through his eyelids. He opened his eyes to see there in the air between his clenched fists a single moat of flame, exactly as he had envisioned it. He could not help but smile.

Jacob’s joy was short lived, as he heard a great roar from behind him. With that roar the flame between his still clenched fists went out. He turned to see where the sound had come from. There 20 feet behind him and a dozen feet up on a small cliff stood what appeared to be some kind of lion.

It was larger than any of the lions he had seen on TV. It was unremarkable save for the fact it was as large as a horse. The dire lion hopped down from its perch and began slowly stalking toward Jacob. He tried to summon the flame once more as he slowly began to walk backward, never taking his sight off of the great beast.

He reached inward trying to use the flame as he had just a moment prior, but was only meet with frustration, Jacob felt his panic returning, his thoughts racing. “I have magic, but I can’t even use it to save my life!” He shouted at the dire lion that was slowly gaining ground on him. The beast undaunted by his shout.

He didn’t want to die, he had too much to live for, ‘Think Jacob! Think!’ A thought crossed his mind, it was crazy enough, and he was more than desperate enough to try it. 'If nature is my ability then I will ! ...'

Jacob halted his retreat, and with all his heart and the fire burning in his chest he proclaimed, “I beseech the land and sky, send unto me a great beast that I might not die!” The dire lion had had enough of its stalking and leapt into the air to deliver a deadly strike with its claws.

All at once the vibrant colors of the forest were dyed in hues of grey. Time seemed to have come to all but a stop. Jacob looked around to find the dire lion was still slowly moving through the air towards him. He turned around only to be shocked at what he had found.

It was him, there was his…body? Dyed in the same hues as the rest of the world. Knowledge he had never known was now at his fingertips. All at once it was just there, and all at once they were there as well.

He felt them before he saw them. Jacob turned back around to face them. There before him were…animals? No spirits. A great mother bear, a swift rabbit, a cunning fox, an alpha dire wolf, most fierce in his bloodlust. These were only those who had stepped forward, however. Just out of sight, some in hiding, other watching, he felt so many more.

He knew his time was limited, he had a choice to make and he needed to do it fast. The bear was not swift but its might was formidable. The rabbit was swift and small, but he doubted he could outrun this monster. The fox was cunning. The gleam if its eyes told him so, but he could not think his way out of this. The wolf was him, or at least it represented the ferocity of man’s heart and their more bestial natures.

Jacob thought of the wolf, but he tread away from it, for it was not the path he wished to tread. He required strength only such to protect himself, and in that wolf’s eye he saw a path drowning in blood.

Jacob made his choice, and so he spoke, “Oh great bear will you lend me you might?” One by one the others fell away until only the bear was left. It stood and walked to Jacob. It sat down before him, much as a man would, with its legs crossed. The great spirit of the bear began to shrink until its height sitting was equal to his height standing.

The bear placed its paw upon his chest, and he felt a warmth wash over him, and he knew he had made the right choice. For in this bears eye’s he saw strength not for its own sake, but for those it held dear. He had made his choice, and thus the world responded.

Totem Master Class has been earned…

You have received the title, "Child of the Great Mother Bear"...

Your affinity for spirits has increased...

Jacob felt the flame within him being siphoned off. He felt as that energy coalesced, and expanded. It gained form where it had previously been without. He felt it, he had gained his first totem. He blinked and the world was filled with its vibrant color once more.

The dire lion continued as if nothing had happened, intent on making a snack of him. Hope burned in his heart, for the second time in as many minutes, he felt something new. Jacpb reached within himself for the power he had gained as his class told him how to wield it. Jacob’s eyes glowed gold, he raised a hand, then clenched it as he roared.

While his first act of magic had worked as intended, his second had not. It did not bring any great beast to fight in his stead. It had brought forth those who were willing to help him, but this fight was his own.

Jacob had brought forth an avatar of nature from his own being, one that took the shape of a great spectral bear, luminous with golden white light.

The dire lion dangled in midair as it struggled against the great spectral paw that had just caught it and now held it aloft. Slowly Jacob turned his hand, his movement held back by the weight of the creature. As he turned his hand the dire lions head too began to turn.

From upon the cliff he heard something, and he stopped the motion of his hand as he turned to see it source. There he saw several Dire lion cubs, each as large as a fully grown dog. Jacob turned back to the dire lion he held in the air. In a moment of mercy, he released the dire lioness who swiftly fell to the ground, landing gracefully on all fours.

“I have spared your life, for you only sought to feed your children.” Jacob narrowed his eyes upon the beast, “LEAVE!” Jacob spoke with a voice most new to him, a voice of authority. The dire lioness pinned its ears back not in anger, but fear. It slowly bowed its head before turning tail and climbing the cliff to its cubs, disappearing beyond the cliffs edge.

Jacob was relieved he had made it through the encounter. However, for all he had accomplished there was a price to be paid. He felt as the astral form of the great mother bear dissipated and with it, he felt his strength also vanish. Jacob fell to his knees and darkness took his mind.