*Lucas Jaeger*

He was moving,was he in a car? Every time there was a bump Lucas’s head would be knocked against the seat he was on, there must have been a larger jolt earlier if the pain on the side of his head was anything to go by. Groaning,he tried to sit up.

Lucas soon found that he was still bound, and as he became more aware of his surroundings, he realized that he had not simply been dreaming.

A woman, across from him helped him sit up. “Lord Hero, you are awake. How are you feeling?” Beside her was the red haired cosplayer he had seen earlier, but what caught Lucas’s attention was that the words she said did not match the movement of her lips.

“How…” he began, but swallowed his curiosity and asked the more pertinent question, “Where am I and who are you?”

“I am Archi deVon Versi, daughter of Duke Versi from the kingdom of Francea.” She spoke in an extremely refined and proper fashion, but the disconnect between her words and lips was starting to scare Lucas to some degree, she continued her introduction, either ignoring or not noticing his unease.

Gesturing to the red-haired girl beside her, “This is Her Highness, Princess Terrasin deVon Almistraus, fourth princess of Almistis. We are currently leaving the ruins of Von Polisa, might I inquire into your name, Lord Hero?”

Lucas was taken aback by this platinum haired woman in front of him, despite being quite pretty in a slim sort of way, the way her mouth moved was so odd he could think of little else. It almost did not seem real…

“...Lucas.” He answered hesitantly, as he realized that this probably isnt real at all. Looking around he appeared to be in a carriage, something he only recognized from movies and history books talking to two women who identified themselves as royalty of countries he was fairly sure never existed. This could not be happening, ergo, it wasn’t.

With that logic, Lucas decided he must be hallucinating. Except that this level of vivid detail, encompassing every one of his senses and obviously replacing the entire world around him would be quite rare. Perhaps he had been kidnapped and drugged? But to what purpose… In this state he wouldn’t be capable of handing over the loan money even if the loan allowed him to.

It had been silent for a while, the two women seemed to be expecting more, but Lucas had no reason to care if this wasn’t real. That said, he couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t… As Descartes said, “cogito ergo sum.” Which leads to the natural conclusion that the world exists only as we observe it. What Lucas sees as red may look completely different to someone else if he could step into their mind, but that was a moot point.

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“...Well Lord Lucas,” Princess Terrasin broke the silence, “Please let me welcome you and thank you for coming to our world.” She inclined her head in a slight bow.

“You said ‘our world,’ no nevermind that.” Lucas shook his head to clear it, one thing at a time. “Why is it that your words do not match how your lips move?”

“The Earing of Word is translating our words for you of course,” She replied without hesitation, “And the Band of Speaking on your neck is translating your words for us. In the past it took years for the Heroes to communicate with the people of this world, these relics were created to save us that time.”

Lucas stared at her for a moment. “So let me get this straight,” he began taking a deep breath. “You appear to be claiming that this is a different world than my own, that it has magic, and given the language you are using, that you believe I am some type of hero?”

The two women glanced between each other, a bit taken aback by his lack of manners and sudden calm attitude. “Well, yes. We have performed The Millennial Summoning to bring you, Lord Lucas, our hero to this wor-”

Not bothering to let her finish Lucas laughed, “Well at least it's good to know that I am definitely hallucinating! I knew I had a decent imagination, but honestly this surprises even me.”

“Hallucinating?” Terrasin was surprised, “This is very real Lord Lucas, we are in desperate need of your help.”

Lucas just laughed again, judging by his surroundings and the fact he couldnt move his arms, he was betting he was restrained in some kind of vehicle. Probably he had been knocked out as he exited the bank packed into a van somewhere and drugged up.

...Come to think of it, the fact he was laughing thinking about that proved that his mental state was abnormal. Aside from certain perverts, would anyone react so calmly to realizing they were tied up in the back of a van somewhere drugged out of their minds?

The girl opened her mouth to continue speaking, but Lucas interrupted her.

“Don’t bother, I have no reason to continue talking to a figment of my imagination.” Lucas sighed, honestly considering his situation, he debated just going along with it for a while. After all, he probably was going to end up in a shallow ditch somewhere right? Might as well enjoy the drugs while they lasted, but in the end he could not abandon his mind and reason. Lucas had pride, perhaps even hubris, if he was honest with himself. He was not going to spend his final moments talking to imaginar-

Suddenly, the carriage jerked wildly, and the driver screamed at the top of his lungs. Seemingly out of nowhere, a massive spike tore through the top of the carriage and struck Lucas in the arm.

Lucas screamed in pain, having lived a life in a modern world in a developed country, pain was a rarity for him. And all of a sudden he saw his blood spray out from his shoulder and felt the burning pain as the spike… No, its some type of claw, he realized blurly, his mind somewhat disconnected from his screaming body. Pinned him to the wall of the carriage. But this wealth of sensations… Lucas doubted any drug could induce something so vivid…

“This is real…” He breathed, and then he screamed again as the claw was brutally pulled back, dropping his body to the floor.