Lord of the Mysteries - Chapter 47 - Old Neil's Lack of Money

The world of Anexia is rotting. The Mist has taken hold over entire continents and continues to spread, not content until the entire world is under its control.Raorka, along with his mother Zoe and father Zack, are thrust into this world after an accident. However they wake up at different parts of the world.Raorka wakes up near the Domed Town of Temuril, where inhabitants speak of the cursed dragon in the woods and the exiled witch who teaches magik...for a price.Zack wakes up near the town of Odania where the red cloaked Chianti Hunters battle against the tyrant mayor and the last Great Kingdom.Zoe awakens near the abandoned Church of Laments, where the cries of persecuted nuns echo, praying for the return of their Goddess and her blessings.Now they journey separately, desperate to reunite with each other amidst the chaos of a dying world.

Eric Maddox, a 70-year-old American retired football coach once hailed for his tactical brilliance, now forgotten by time—closes his eyes for what he believes is a normal nap in his quiet Florida retirement home.But when he opens them, he's not staring at ceiling tiles, instead, he's on a touchline.Wearing boots in the rain.With players running on the pitch, fans jeering behind barriers, and the smell of cheap turf pellets in the air.“What the hell is this?”He’s twenty-five again, but it’s not Earth. It’s a world where football reigns supreme. A world where the sport is religion, its practitioners, deities in cleats. Coaches are revered, players are worshipped, and even the kit man gets treated like royalty.But there's one catch: none of it is familiar. The clubs, the players, the leagues, the competitions, and even the currency—they're all different. Alien. Like waking up in a dream where the rules are the same, but the language is foreign.As if that wasn’t enough, the body he’s now in? A youth coach with a laughable win record, a looming divorce, and a measly fifty thousand in the bank that his ex-wife is fighting tooth and nail to take. All of it.Just when the spiral seems inevitable, a monotone chime pierces the noise.[Initiating Golden Finger…][…45%… 75%… 100%][System Integration Complete.][Welcome, host. You are now bound to the Pro Manager System. Objective: Dominate the Football World. A new era begins]From washed-up has-been to chosen one of destiny, Eric Maddox is about to trade arthritis pills for tactical boards, and shuffleboard for Prestigious Cup glory.Because in this world, tactics are power.And on this touchline, he’s about to become a god.

Weird stuff keeps happening in my life lately.

Like that solar eclipse on that morning, or this dude who says he is my roommate. Oh and that this place that I suddenly found myself in isn’t Earth. And even more, I can do magic?

I don’t know, maybe I have finally gone crazy…