The world was burning. Multiple mushroom clouds going up in the heavens could be seen scattered wherever you looked.

All AI driven machines developed self-awareness and were now murdering their creators, contamining every electronic with unstopable self-evolving viruses that destroyed every system, database or whatever they could penetrate.

People were looting the streets, killing indiscriminated into fits of madness or acting like zombies, biting everyone they could get their hands on. Probably due to agents contaminating the water, or the wheat, maybe both.

On the TV, channels were transmitting conferences with world leaders, where they kept trying to find ways to blame the opposition for everything that was happening. Some even denied there was any problem altogether, claiming the unrest was caused by people believing too much dangerous conspiracy theories.

In the middle of all the chaos, Elliott sat on a rocking chair in his front yard, a shotgun by his side just in case, a cup of warm tea in one of his hands. He'd rather have coffee but crops around the world have been pretty bad and he could only manage to get the utmost essential for him and his family. A luxury like tea was only possible thanks to homegrown leaves from his personal small plantation.

On his lap, sat a dumb looking plushie that looked like one of those shrine maidens from japan.

He bought it on an impulse long ago through the internet, during a time he still had expendable income, and the internet hadn't been heavily restricted due to rampant AI viruses and government information control. He missed those times.

He put his cup at a chair on his right side and grabed the plushie. A confident smile devoid of any sort of intellect stared back at him as if it could challenge anything in the world, lose and still proudly claim victory. Someone in the internet said the character this plushie is supposed to represent oversaw many worlds and was based on an actual, real world eastern god.

Elliott wasn't an overly religious man, but desperate minds do not care for rational thinking.

"Oh god... or should i say goddess? I don't remember your name but if you're listening, please get me, my wife and my kids out of this hell-hole of a world. I can't take it anymore. I just wanted to live a quiet life, tending to my backyard, playing videogames, watching anime with my family in the living room. Was it really too much to ask? Why must we suffer through all of this despite doing our best to live like decent folk."

Of course, he was mostly venting. He knew everything he was pleading would fall on deaf-

"Very well, puny human. I, the great Izanami-no-Mikoto, am all powerfull and granting your wish in exchange for taking care of this vessel is but a speck of dust of my true godly might. I shall offer salvation to you and yours."

".....what"

Elliott wondered for a moment if he accidentaly mixed something else with his tea, but he couldn't hold on to those questions after noticing the change in his surroundings.

What should've been a dark residential area a bit removed from the city was now a lush tropical forest.

"..............what"

He immediatly sprang up to his feet, knocking down the cup at his side and spilling the tea on the wooden floor of his porch. He grabbed the shotgun and checked his surroundings. A female voice came from the house behind him

"Elliott, did you turn on the lights? What-"

"Stay inside! Grab the kids and hide! Somenthing weird going on here!" - He screamed to his wife.

Thankfully his family and property were still with him. But that didn't mean everything was fine just yet.

He walked around the house. Palm trees and lush green everywhere he looked. A blue open sky with a few clouds and a bright sun peered above him. This didn't look like Michigan.

"What the hell...."

Slowly, the name of a rather overused trope surfaced on his head.

==//==

"Elliotte, are you ok? The kids?"

Elliott asked his wife after getting back inside the house.

"Yes Elliott, everyone is here"

He turned to the others in the room. There was his older son, Elliottony with a somewhat gloom face, his daughter Elliottete slightly trembling in fear, and his youngest son and kid Elliottim, seemingly oblivious to what was happening.

"Are you all fine?"

"...yes" "Y-Yes" "Yes dad"

After confiming they were safe, he turned back to his wife.

"Whats going on here Elliott? Suddenly everything was brighter as if the time of the day changed instantly. I looked outside the window and everything was different. Theres no signal on my phone nor the kids, we tried calling and contacting people but nothing worked. D-did we...?" - she couldn't even find the words to describe what was happening.

"I don't know, seems all of our property, including the backyard and the shed are here. But beyond that... its just as you said. We were transported to some tropical forest of sorts"

"Did we get isekai'd like in the animes father!?" - Elliottim asked with some hints of excitment on his voice.

"I don't know son. Lets hope it really is that simple. Elliottony, come here."

His oldest son slowly stepped forward, looking sideways at the floor, gloom still in his face. Elliott handed the shotgun over to him.

"Listen, i'll go out and look around. You stay here and protect the family if something comes out, ok?"

He was thankful for having taught his oldest son how to use firearms, though he did so expecting that knowledge to be useful against looters or zombified mad people, rather than hypothetical otherworldly creatures. His wife knew how to use it too, but Elliottony was a much better at it than she was.

"...what about you father? Will you go out unarmed...?"

"I'll grab something from the shed. Anyway, stay here."

Taking one final look at his family, he went out of the room saying "I'll be back", ignoring this completely sounded like a death flag.

Out in his garden, he opened his shed. Even the dust was transported it seems, but he didn't mind that and began rummaging throung the things in search of something useful. He finally managed to pull out a machette, slightly rusty and dull, but good enough to deal damage and maybe mark his way through the greenery.

Stepping outside, Elliott closed his eyes and felt the breeze, stronger than what he was used. He remembered reading on the internet once that wind came from the sea to the land during the day.

Of couse, he didn't know if this was truly close to the sea just because it looked like those tropical forests he saw on TV survival shows, but its not like he had much to go on in the first place. He checked the surroundings of the property and found nothing to go on, so it was either following the wind or walking randomly.

And thus he went on to brave the forest.

==//==

30 minutes had passed. At least thats what his wristwatch said, assuming whatever interdimensional shenanigans they went through didn't damage it.

Elliott was already regreting going out so hastly. The sun, despite being partially blocked by vegetation, was stlll punishing. Small branches kept scrapping his unprotected arms, and even got stuck in his beard a few times. He completely neglected bringing water with him too.

The saving grace however was that no insects attacked his skin or scalp, though he could still hear some insect-like sounds around him, as if they were there but didn't bother with his presence.

Just when he was considering going back to the house, following the marks he left along the way, his eyes spotted something in the horizon. Signs of slightly daker shades of blue below the sky. His hunch turned out to be right.

He made a final stretch towards the sea.

A beach spreaded out in front of him, stretching out to both sides, one curving inland before dunes came out much further ahead in the distance, the other eventually being closed off by the forest, blocking from view whatever was on the other side.

It was a peaceful scenery, he couldn't see any constructions or people around. No sounds of sirens or screams in the distance, only the sound of the wind, rustling leaves and the sea. White clouds slowly moving in the sky, rather than dark radioactive clouds dropping ashes of death upon the land.

Elliott thought back on the words he heard on his porch. Promises of salvation for him and his. Wasn't for the suddenness in which everything happened, he would be going down on his knees right now and rejoicing over escaping that nightmare of a world.

Or rather, maybe it was ok to rejoice? Maybe they were saved?

As soon as he thought this, he heard the rustling of leaves behind him, clearly of someone - or something - moving through the vegetation rather than just the wind.

He immediatly turned around, keeping his machette close, his chest thumping with anticipation.

Horns came into view. Then retangular pupils inside green irises. But it was no goat he saw, it was clearly a person.

"Welcome. I assume you're going to be our new resident?" - Spoke the female voice in perfect english with a slightly haughy tone.

She stood there in, arms akimbo and, a confident smile in her face. Her dark orange hair went down all the way to her waist, complimented with a white sundress going down to her ankles and blue sandals on her feet. An outfit that matched the climate really well.

She was short, could almost pass as a teenager not much older than his oldest son, except for her expression that clearly exuded confidence and experience you wouldn't feel from someone young. Despite the sun, she didn't look tanned.

Weren't for her horns proudly sprouting from her head and her goat-like eyes, she would've been a normal person.

"What are you.... a demon?" - Elliott said, recalling images from his mother-world.

"What!? How rude, i'm a Goddess! Can't you see that from my mighty presence?"

"A goddess...?" - He thought, remembering the Ikami-whatever name that voice claimed to be - "Are you perhaps the one who brought me here?"

"Ah? Oh no no no. I don't have that kind of ability, i just felt the space-time distortions around here and came to check things out. Honestly its not the first time something like this happens. Though it is the first time i see an entire house being transported."

"What? Wait! You went to my house!? Did you do something to my family!?!"

"Sheesh, calm down boy. I've been following you since you came out from there. You looked like the one in charge so i decided to approach you first."

"...why didn't you say anything before?" - said Elliott, finding the girl(goddess?) in front of him highly suspicious

"Just wanted to observe you a bit. I felt some strange energies coming out from your home and wanted to be on the safe side."

"..."

"How long do you plan to be on guard boy? I'm the only one who can take you to the village you know, unless you really enjoy braving forests by yourself. And i doubt that thing your hand can do anything to me anyway."

"Fine..." - he said, lowering the machette - "You want something from me?"

"Oh, just check out you and that house" - she said, pointing with her thumb to the forest - "I'm sort of a make-shift leader around these parts and want to know what i'm dealing with here"

"...you said this wasn't the first time this happened... are there others like me here? Is that why you can speak english?"

"I don't think 'like you' is the correct way to put it. They are travellers of sort, just like you indeed, taking an eternal vacation in this island, often against their will" - she peered on his face - "However they aren't like you.

"Oh, and its not like i'm speaking that whatever language of yours. Just consider breaking through language barriers one of my godly perks."

Elliott fell in thought. He didn't really trust her, but she already knew about his house and probably where it was. It might be for the best to just go with the flow here.

"...ok, lets go. You already know where my place is so you can lead the way."

"Wahhh, how distrutful. But its ok, if that makes you feel more confortable."

And thus, they entered the forest once again.

==//==

The two conversed while walking through the woods.

"Didn't catch your name boy"

"Elliott. You?"

"Just call me Thea. Not my true name, but names are a bit of a complicated thing for existences like mine."

"Is it one of those 'giving your name lets me control you' type of thing?"

"What? No. A God's name just can't be translated to human ears."

"I see."

The conversation halted, they were still strangers and Elliott still didn't fully trust her. But they didn't stop walking, until Thea finally opened her mouth again.

"Sooo... what kind of being are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what type of existence are you, we have all sorts here you know."

"I look a bit like you, shouldn't you know what i am?"

"Goddesses don't have a static form my boy, what you perceive is but a mere after-image your mind comes up with while trying to comprehend my form."

"I don't get it..."

"Different beings see me me differently. In your eyes, i probably look like your kind, but with some strange particularities, and suppose others of your kind would also see me with the same visage."

"Something like that. A female human, with traces of a goat."

"Thats probably the closest thing i am to your species then. So, i assume you're a human? Or perhaps a goat? Interesting..."

"A human. And from the way you speak, it sounds like you know about us."

"Only heard of it before, i remember one of the villagers mentioning the word when speaking of his home. His previous one i mean."

"So there are other humans here?"

"Oh no no, but there may be some who shared their world with-"

Suddenly she stopped in place. As if frozen by an invisible force.

"...seriously, just what is this energy. Do you know something about this?"

"I have no clue what you're refering to. Whats wrong?"

"Ahhh, mortals are such a pain. There's some godly energy coming from your house, i can feel it from here."

"Godly huh..." - words he heard before being transported here came to mind.

They kept walking until his house came into view. Once they were in front of his porch, Thea's face was completely stiff. She raised her arm and pointed towards something in the wooden floor.

"T-That. Its coming from that."

Following her finger with his eyes, it pointed towards a certain stuffed toy. The old dumb looking plush he ordered from the internet.

He walked towards it and picked it up by its large head - "Is this it?" - he said while staring at its idiotic smile.

"To pick it up just like that....! Just how stupid are you!?"

"What was i supposed to do? I can't leave it here to the weather."

"Pick it up with more dignity! Its clearly a Vessel! And for an extremely powerful existence at that!"

Elliott barely met this so-called goddess and he was already questioning her sanctity.

"Its just a dumb stuffed toy." - he said throwing it to his other hand - "My daughter slept hugging this thing many times and nothing happened" - he shrugged.

"That's why mortals are so.... ahhhhh...." - Thea said as if giving up.

Elliott decided to keep the voice he heard - the one calling herself ikanami... miku-no-kanami... whatever it was - to himself for now. Thea might know more about what happened to him, but his and his family's safety are the main priority now.

That and finding out what to do from here.

With the plush in his hand he opened the front door to his house - "Come in Thea".

They both entered the house, the woman still throwing some looks at the doll Elliott strategically kept in hand just in case.

"Elliott! You're back.... who is this?"

"Elliotte, this is Thea. She's a local and she said she can guide us to the nearest village."

"What are these horns... oh! Greetings, i'm sorry, we are so confused right now..."

"Oh, don't worry, don't worry Mrs Elliotte. Its like that for every newcomer. I'll make sure to show you and your husband the ropes properly."

"Newcomer...?"

"Seems we weren't the first ones to go through... this"

From the corner of the living room, Elliott noticed three heads peeking out.

"...what is that?"

"G-Goat lady..?"

"Goat lady!"

The youngest son, Elliottim, came running towards Thea.

"Lady, lady!"

"Hello little one!"

"What are these horns? Is this cosplay!?"

"Cosuplay?" - she looked towards Elliott with an inquisitive look. He just shrugged telling her not to worry about it.

"Anyway, you four, go check around the house to see whats here, whats not, whats working and what isn't. I assume we don't have any running water or electricity. I'll talk a bit more with Goat Lady here."

Thea looked friendly enough, but he still wanted to be more sure before letting her spend too much time around his family.

"Elliott, whats happening here...?"

"Thats what i'm trying to figure out Elliotte. Thea here might be able to tell us more of whats going on." - he turned towards Thea - "Are there any dangerous monsters, creatures, anything we should watch out for around these parts?"

Thea shrugged saying - "For your size, i don't think there is anything on land that could threaten you or your family."

"On land huh... Elliottony, you can go stash the shotgun, remember to take the rounds out." - the oldest kid nodded when addressed.

The family dispersed to check things around the house, while Elliott invited Thea to sit in his couch, carefully putting the doll in his hand by his side.

The self-proclaimed goddess kept patting the upholstery with a very intrigued look in her face - "I-Is this to sit on? Such a high-quality fabric..." - she turned toward him with a flustered look.

"Sure, go ahead."

She carefully placed her bottom in the couch, as if afraid her mere touch of her would rip it apart. What a bashful goddess she was. She didn't seem to be minding the plushie as much anymore, but he still caught her occasionally looking at it.

"...so, Mr. Elliott. What do you wish to ask of me?"