Copy Protection Void (Patreon)

An: Because of my brain trying to melt from the heat and because I had to check things that took longer than I thought, I posted this instead of the regularly scheduled chapter.

Mist opened the mailbox to check to see if there was actually anything interesting in the box. He froze in shock when he saw a void where the inside of the mailbox should have been. He was still trying to process what he was seeing when a hand reached out and grabbed his hand then yanked him into the box.

"Congratulations, you've been selected to participate in our new reality show!" a deep voice announced.

Myst twitched as he found himself floating in a black void. "What the fuck?!"

A sexy looking demon girl with red skin appeared floating in front of him wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a t-shirt that said, 'I reserve the right to beat assholes to death.'

"Hello?" Mist asked, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he'd gotten pulled into his mailbox and that there was a demon floating in front of him or something that looked like a demon.

"Hey," the girl offered with a smile. "Sorry for the abrupt summons but we're in a bit of a time crunch. I have a very small window where I can insert you without letting certain dark gods know about your presence, something that you'd do well to avoid. So, we're going to blitz through things and I'm going to give you some reconditioned powers that should entertain the viewers and a couple of items that were pulled from a completely totally random cosmic slot machine."

"Completely random huh?" Mist asked, not believing her for a second.

"Exactly," she replied with a smirk. "If you manage to kill the dark god or at least help, we'll send you home and you get to keep all of your powers and magical items. If you don't, you're going to be trapped in that world for all of eternity, continually reincarnating and torturing yourself for eternity. Yep, the bosses are assholes but that's why they call us R.O.B.s."

"Are you going to tell me what I'm working with?" Mist asked, trying to figure out how screwed he was.

"Sorry, out of time," the girl lied as she snapped her fingers and teleported Mist to the world that he'd have to save if he wanted to get home.

Mist blinked as he appeared in a weird room with wooden walls and a collection of old fashioned beds, one of which he was lying on. "Where am I?"

"In the infirmary," Nynaeve told him. "How much do you remember?"

Mist shifted so that he could look at the dark haired young woman wearing a gray wool dress that was looking at him like he was in trouble. "Nothing."

"You hit your head pretty hard," Nynaeve said.

"Doing what?" Mist asked, trying to figure out if he had some sort of backstory in the world or if he'd just been dropped somewhere and what happened to his clothes as he was only wearing an unfamiliar long sleeved shirt.

"You were climbing a tree and you fell out of it, you've been out for a couple of days," Nynaeve explained.

"Sorry," Mist offered, fairly sure he hadn't climbed a tree since he was a teenager.

"At least your head didn't crack like an egg," Nynaeve said. "Your father is going to be relieved."

"When can I get out of here?" Myst asked, wishing he knew what powers he'd ended up with or who his 'father' was supposed to be. 'So much for getting dropped in as myself.'

"I'll grab a bowl of stew," Nynaeve told him as she headed over to the stove where she was cooking a rabbit stew. "If you can keep it down for a candle mark, you can go."

"I could eat…" Mist trailed off as a heads up display appeared floating in front of his face like a video game. 'Powers, Costumes and Gifts?' He spent a couple of seconds trying to mentally select one of the options then reached up and poked at the costume option, causing a box of mostly empty slots to appear on his display. He glanced at the grayed out customize option on the side of the box then focused on the text at the top of the box. 'Killing cultists or monsters has a chance to unlock more clothing options, so get killing!'

'At least someone has their priorities right,' Mist mused as he tapped the loincloth option and looked at the description for the item. 'Loincloth of Death: this lovely silk loincloth is enchanted with several magical effects, the least of which keeps the wearer comfortable at any temperature. It also counts as acceptable clothing, which means no one will bitch about people wearing it in public. Wearing the loincloth will also permanently boost your mana pool by one point per cultist or monster you kill. Huh, that's one way to get the ratings up.'

Mist quickly closed the costume panel and opened the powers option. 'Cloning, Soulsight and Unbreakable Mind?' He tapped the cloning power, causing a window to appear with twenty five slots and grayed out arrows at the top indicating that twenty five slots wasn't the limit. 'With a touch, you can store patterns that you can use to create clones. You can control how much of their lives the clones remember, from everything to a blank slate that barely knows how to do simple tasks. The clones will start off extremely loyal and happy to be your minions but enough abuse will degrade their loyalty. Sounds like a good way to get your throat slit in your sleep.'

Nynaeve walked back over with a wooden bowl of stew and a spoon. "Here."

"Thanks," Mist replied, making sure to touch her hand as she handed him the bowl, causing the first square of the cloning box to fill. 'Unknown? Apparently I have to actually know their names before my power will name them, good to know.'

"I don't want you collapsing," Nynaeve stated.

Mist worked on eating the stew, finding it edible, if a bit bland. He waited until the woman looked away then closed the window and checked the Unbreakable Mind power. 'You're immune to the mind twisting effects of Eldritch Abominations or any magic that would alter your thoughts or emotions. You're also immune to anyone pulling you into a dream or reading your emotions or thoughts against your will. This protection also extends to any clones you create.'

'Nice, or not considering the R.O.B. figured I'd need it,' Mist mused as he checked his Soulsight, trying to figure out what he had to work with before he started worrying about the fact that he was trapped in another world. 'This gives you the ability to see magic and the darkness within the person or creature that you're looking at. You can toggle the power on and off.'

Mist finished eating then toggled his Soulsight on and looked around, not sure if he should be disappointed or relieved that nothing changed.

"Give it a candle mark then you can head to the inn and find your father," Nynaeve told him, fairly sure he'd be fine since he woke up and his skull hadn't been cracked or anything.

"Great," Mist replied, wondering if he should just admit that he didn't have any 'local' memories or just try to roll with things since she'd probably want to keep him for a couple of days if he admitted to having memory loss. He gave her a smile when she looked at him like he was trying to pull something. 'Okay, so I have a local father, or at least the poor bastard I replaced has a father.'

Mist waited until the woman had turned away from him then selected the gift option, opening a page with twenty five slots and an arrow at the top of the box. 'Killing cultists and monsters has a chance to give you loot. Warning, unclaimed loot will vanish after a week.'

He glanced over the gifts that were sitting in the first row of slots. 'Package with a scribbled note that I can't read, two knowledge crystals, a coin purse, three skill crystals and a pair of sunglasses that can identify things. At least they're giving me tools to get started.'

Nynaeve walked back over with a bundle of clothes. "One last thing then you can get changed and leave." She put her finger in front of his face then moved it back and forth, checking to see if his eyes were actually tracking it. "You seem fine. I'll be back in a bit, don't wander off until I get back."

"No worries," Myst assured her, which got him a look that said she wasn't sure if she believed him.

"Stubborn fools," Nynaeve muttered as she dropped Mist's clothes on the bed then left, wanting to let his father know that he'd woken up.

Mist waited until the woman was gone then quickly changed into the set of old fashioned gray clothes, a bit annoyed that the clothes he'd been wearing when he got kidnapped were gone and not really paying attention to his legs, something that the dim light coming through the window made easier. He checked the contents of his belt pouch, finding a chunk of agate that looked sort of neat and a feather from a bird. 'There's enough space to hide the glasses and she's probably already checked it.'

He reached out to touch the icon of the sunglasses and found them in his hand when he touched them. He studied the silver rimmed shades that had blue tinted glass for a couple of seconds then put them on. 'At least I can barely notice the tint in here.' He grabbed the skill crystals and smiled when the glasses highlighted the crystals and gave him a description like a video game. 'Using a crystal requires licking it. Master Blacksmithing, Arcane Blacksmithing and Basic Magic Use?'

'Now we're talking,' Mist mused as he put the crystals in his belt pouch, resisting the urge to use them for the moment. 'I should probably save them for someone I'm going to clone.' He grabbed the knowledge crystals and checked them. 'Knowledge of the Unbreakable Queen and The Dreamweaver. These crystals contain memories and training, while they can be used by anyone to learn basic skills, for best effect use them on the right people. Unbreakable Queen? Dreamweaver?'

He spent a minute trying to figure out if he recognized the titles before having to admit that he didn't have a clue. He put the crystals in his belt pouch then carefully got up, wanting to make sure he could actually stand without falling over because of the head injury. 'Okay, everything seems to be working,' he mused as he stretched his arms over his head, easily touching the ceiling of the wooden structure.

He glanced at the package sitting in the gift box. 'I should probably wait until after I've left, there's only so much room in my belt pouch.' He walked over to the window and looked out at the small village where he could see a pole set up in the middle of a grassy area and a bunch of people getting ready for a festival. He froze when he saw three people surrounded by clouds of darkness near a horse drawn wagon.

'Cultists?' he mused as he focused on the mental switch he could feel when he thought about his Soulsight and flipped it, causing the clouds of darkness to vanish. 'Okay, that's going to make identifying cultists a lot easier.' He concentrated and turned his Soulsight back on, finding it surprisingly easy to flip the switch now that he'd done it once.

Mist swapped over to his costume ability and touched the loincloth icon, wondering what type of cloth he needed to create it. He stared in surprise when a purple silk loincloth with a simple leather strip for a belt appeared in his hand. 'So much for my ability requiring material,' he mused as he quickly put the loincloth on, stuffing it in place under his uncomfortable small clothes and adjusting the belt so that it would fit under his belt without being obvious.

"At least the silk is softer," Mist muttered as he tried to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do now that he was stuck in another world until he helped kill a dark god. 'This would be easier if they'd actually explained shit.'

'Let's see what I'm working with.' Myst took the coin purse out of the gift page and sighed in frustration when he realized it was empty. His frustration vanished when he saw the description the glasses gave him, 'This feather light coin purse has been enchanted so that it can hold an infinite amount of coins without gaining weight. It can't be stolen or damaged and can be summoned to your hand or dismissed with a simple act of will. In addition, killing cultists and or monsters occasionally generates coins.'

'It's like they're trying to get me to kill cultists,' Mist mused as he put the coin purse and his sunglasses in the belt pouch. 'Not exactly a deal breaker, depending on what they're making deals with. Don't get ahead of yourself, they could be happy cultists of a love god for all you know. Or they're completely crazy and want to use everyone's internal organs for accordions.'

Mist turned to look at the door when it opened and Nynaeve and a man in his late thirties or early forties walked into the cabin and quickly shut the door behind them to keep the heat in.

"I see you've managed to get dressed without falling over," Nynaeve said, studying Mist. "Did you experience any dizziness when you got up?"

"No, I'm fine," Mist replied, wanting to leave so he could test his powers and clone someone that could explain what was going on.

"You had me worried, son," the man said, looking relieved.

"Sorry," Mist offered, not sure what to make of the man that looked a bit like his brother when he was younger. 'This is going to suck, his son is basically gone and there's a changeling in his place. Or the R.O.B. conjured him to fill in my backstory.'

"Next time, if someone suggests you climb a tree, ignore them," the man told him.

"Sounds like a good idea," Mist agreed, not sure what else to say.

"Let me know if you feel dizzy," Nynaeve told Mist.

"I will," Mist replied, wanting a chance to try to figure out what was going on before he admitted that he didn't recognize anyone.

"Let's go, I want a drink," the guy said as he opened the door.

Mist followed his 'father' outside and toward the stone building across the green, wondering if he should have let the healer know that he couldn't remember anything.

"You could have just told her that you don't remember shit," the guy whispered, sounding rather amused with the entire situation.

Mist froze. "What?"

"Relax, I'm just here to give you the basics and 'die' heroically in the monster attack tonight so that you have a tragic backstory and a past," the man explained, keeping his voice down to a whisper.

"Monster attack?" Mist asked warily.

"I don't have the details, I'm just an actor with a particular set of skills but yeah, the village will basically get attacked by beastmen tonight which is going to result in a number of people dying if you don't get involved," the man explained.

Mist glanced at the man pretending to be his father. "Particular set of skills?"

"I'm a shape changer and my presence bleeds into people's memories, I'm always someone they've met or known for years depending on the situation, maybe not well but well enough to say hello if we cross paths." He pulled an envelope out of his jacket and handed it to Mist. "This should have everything you need, including the key for the shack and a map of how to get there."

"Thanks, who hired you?" Mist asked, trying to get more information on the people that dropped him in the world.

"Maggie, she's your company assigned agent. I doubt you'll actually meet unless you manage to kill the local dark god but she made sure you had the gifts you needed to succeed. "Speaking of gifts, you need to make sure the package is delivered to the Lord of Battle, the sooner the better."

"Lord of Battle? Did she mention where I'm supposed to find them?" Mist asked hopefully.

"No, she just laughed and said that you'd know," he explained. "Your name is Mist al'Lora, recently from Watch Hill."

"Watch Hill?" Mist asked, pieces falling into place. "Where are we?"

"Emond's Field," the man replied and stopped walking when Mist froze. "Let me guess, you're familiar with the name?"

"From a book," Mist admitted, not particularly surprised that he hadn't made the connection before since he hadn't expected to end up in a world based on a book.

"Makes sense, it's a large multiverse and the company likes grabbing people with a leg up. Maggie wanted me to tell you, don't expect everything to be the same or to work out like the books. This is a darker world and we're in a timeline where the heroes lose unless something changes."

"That makes it easier," Mist admitted as they continued walking, glad that he wouldn't have to fight several prophecies to get things done or to change anything. "How much can you tell me?"

"That's about all I know," he replied as he pulled a coin purse out of his pocket and tossed it to Mist. "I'm just here to give you a background and drop off some traveling money."

"I appreciate it," Mist assured him as he put the coin purse in his belt pouch next to the other one. "How much can you tell me about the company?"

"Sorry, that would be a breach of contract and I like existing," the shape changer replied. "If you want a piece of advice, do the job, get paid and walk away."

"Works for me," Mist agreed.

"Seriously?" the shapechanger asked, a touch surprised that he wasn't asking more questions.

"I'm not going to complain about getting the chance to go on a magical adventure," Mist replied, knowing that complaining wouldn't help, especially not when the guy sounded like a contract employee at best.

"Cool, let's get a drink and make sure people remember you when I'm gone," the shape changer suggested.

"Works for me," Mist agreed. "Do you have a local name?"

"Eld al'Lora," the shapechanger replied with a grin.

"Good enough," Mist replied, going quiet as they reached the Winespring inn. 'If I'm in the Wheel of Time then Mat should be the Lord of Battles and Egwene should be the Dreamweaver. If not, she'd still benefit from the information. Unbreakable Queen? Can't really see that applying to Morgase or Elayne and none of the rest of the royalty in the series really counted as unbreakable.'

Mist stopped when he walked into the inn and saw a man with glowing lines wrapped around his head standing next to a woman with glowing wires wrapped around her throat and hands and realized that there was a girl that absolutely counted as unbreakable in the setting. 'Worth a shot and she'll need the skills even if I'm wrong.'

"Nice to see you on your feet," Egwene offered.

Myst gave the attractive pale skinned girl with a long braid of dark hair a smile. "Reports of my death were exaggerated."

"Good," Egwene replied with a smile. "What can I get you?"

"I'll take a beer and get the kid a cider," Eld replied as he headed over to an empty table.

"Coming right up," Egwene replied as she headed for the bar.

"Thank you." Myst glanced over the crowd of villagers, trying and mostly failing to pick people out of a crowd. His gaze jumped to the young man with red hair that was sitting next to a hulking young man that was probably Perrin and a young man with a mischievous grin that was most likely Mat given the grin. 'With any luck this isn't one of the worlds where he goes insane before he can kill most of the Forsaken. Knowing my luck, he'll be dead in a month or tonight.'

'Fuck it, fortune favors the bold,' Myst mused as walked up behind Mat and poked him on the shoulder, picking up a pattern. "What do you know about the lady in blue?"

Mat twisted his neck around so that he could look at Mist then looked over at Moiraine. "I heard she was a noble."

"I heard she was a historian and that she's writing a book about the area," Perrin offered.

Mat shook his head. "Pretty dull book, nothing ever happens here. Well, other than certain people almost cracking their heads open."

"Lay off," Rand told his friend.

"It's fine," Mist assured Rand as he poked his shoulder, picking up a pattern so he could clone him if he had to. "I just figured you might know something."

"Just rumors," Rand told him before Mat could spin a tale.

"Good to know," Mist replied as he watched a wispy threat of magic flow out of the stone on Moiraine's forehead and over to their group. 'This is either going to save the world or blow up in my face.' He opened his belt pouch and pulled his sunglasses out and put them on.

"Where did you get those?" Mat asked, never having seen them before.

"In the Waterwood, they were in a box with a couple of magic crystals, an old waterlogged journal and a stack of coins," Mist lied as he pulled the three skill crystals out of his pocket.

"Magic crystals? How hard did you hit your head?" Mat asked, figuring it was some type of prank.

"The journal said that you just have to lick the crystal and it will give you amazing skills," Mist told them.

Mat laughed. "What did you cover them with?"

"Nothing, I even cleaned them with boiling water," Mist assured them as he pulled a couple of silver coins out of his belt pouch and set them on the table.

"Where did you get silver?" Mat asked in a whisper, surprised that Mist actually had silver coins.

"In the box with the glasses," Mist replied as he handed the crystal that granted magic use to Rand. "Just lick the crystal, if I'm lying, you can keep the silver."

"Fine," Rand replied and licked the crystal, expecting some type of joke but figuring it was worth the coin if he was playing a prank. He shivered and closed his eyes when knowledge poured into his mind, giving him five years of rather intensive magical training.

Mat stared at Rand's empty hand, having seen the crystal vanish when Rand licked it. "Bloody ashes!"

"Keep your voice down," Mist told him as he put the rest of the crystals back in his belt pouch, having accomplished what he'd been trying to accomplish. 'Hopefully this means Rand won't have to fumble around as much.'

"It vanished," Mat hissed.

"I told you they were magic…" Mist trailed off as he turned and realized that Egwene was standing there staring at them. "How much did you see?"

"I saw the crystal vanish, what was it?" Egwene said as she handed Mist the mug of hot cider.

"The journal said it was a skill crystal," Mist replied as he pulled out the Dreamweaver knowledge crystal, knowing he probably had less than a minute before Moiraine came over and confiscated the crystals and his glasses. "This one should give you a random magical skill, do you want to try it?"

"If it gives you a random magical skill, why haven't you tried it?" Egwene asked.

"I don't want anything to do with actual magic, I'm male," Mist told her. "If it's a prank, you can keep the silver coins and buy yourself something nice from the peddler."

Egwene glanced at Mat then grabbed the crystal from Mist. "This better not be a prank."

"What did I do?" Mat asked defensively.

"Do you want a list?" Perrin asked, teasing his friend.

Mist took a sip of the cider, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake by giving her the crystal.

Egwene licked the crystal, half suspecting it was some type of prank then froze as an extra couple of years of memories and knowledge hit her like a bolt of lightning.

Rand glanced between Egwene and Mist. "What did you get?"

Egwene blinked when she realized that she was back home and that Mat didn't have the horrible scar around his neck. "Where did you find the crystals?" she asked Mist, knowing they had to be some type of ter'angreal.

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," Mist replied as he reached over and tapped her hand, picking up a pattern so he could clone her.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist," Moiraine said, having walked over while they were distracted.

Mist turned to look at Moiraine and sighed when he realized that Lan was standing next to Moiraine and had his hand on his sword. "We're going to need a private room."

"We can use mine," Moiraine offered, getting the sense that the child knew more than he was saying about the crystals.

"You should probably come with us," Mist told Egwene, wanting some backup and figuring he owed her an explanation. He took a larger drink, doing his best to relax and enjoy the taste.

Egwene glanced between Moiraine and Lan then glanced over at where her father was standing behind the bar. "Might be for the best," she agreed as she headed toward the stairs.

"Is something the matter?" Bran asked his daughter, having noticed Lan and Moiraine talking to her.

"Something came up, I'll be back in a few," Egwene assured her father, trying to wrap her head around the fact that she could remember leaving home and never coming back and knowing that she'd never left. 'What happened after the last battle, was everything just a dream or a product of the ter'angreal?'

"Call if you need something," Bran told her.

"I will," Egwene replied then continued up the stairs, knowing they'd follow her.

"This wasn't my fault," Mat told them.

"Don't worry about it," Mist told the boys then followed Egwene up the stairs, trying to figure out the best way to avoid getting hauled to the Tower for questioning or murdered and buried in a shallow grave because she decided that he couldn't be trusted and absently sipping his cider.