Allen was eager to get back to his apartment and try out a mecha configuration set he recently got, so he promptly gathered the snacks and drinks he wanted from the store. He then paid the cashier with a ten-dollar bill. This store was a decent distance from where he stayed and it was late at night but he had no ready-to-eat food at home and he did not know how to cook. There was no way he was staying up all night working on a new mecha figure on an empty stomach, so he had braved the trip outside.

As he walked out of the convenience store, Allen blinked his tired eyes twice as he noticed something out of his peripheral vision and looked up.

'Huh.', Allen uttered to himself in his mind.

In the skies above, it seemed like numerous shooting stars were streaking across, but that was not what stood out most to Allen as he observed them through obscuring trees.

'Those stars...it's like they're coming from the Earth."

He started in a brisk jog that turned into an all-out sprint as he raced to get a better view. Allen was only mildly curious at first, but it gradually began to feel more and more like something amazing was happening in his mundane life. He was not going to miss out on having front-row seats to it. He paid no mind to the cell phone in his pocket that began to buzz violently while doing so. When he eventually reached an open field at the edge between the town and the countryside. He could finally get a full view of the strange astronomical event that was occurring right in front of his eyes.

By this point, the entire night sky was illuminated with lights and shone as bright as day. In every single direction around Allen on the horizon, new lights were springing forth from the ground and intersecting with each other. The most spectacular sight came in the form of a colossal eight-pointed diamond that dwarfed his entire town in size by a massive margin. The instant it appeared all the streaking lights began to converge into its form before it dispersed into nothing but dazzling stardust just as soon as it had appeared.

Allen was not sure how long he had been standing there, whether it had been a few minutes or a few hours. It had only felt like a few moments but he knew it had to have been much longer since his body was cold and was shivering in the chill spring night air.

"Buzz."

Allen gasped as he finally noticed the phone buzzing in his pocket before he took it out and answered it with, "Hello, what in the world is going on?"

***

Around a month later, in the light of the early summer morning sun, Allen was running at a rapid pace through the streets of Atelier City. Following close behind him was a group of seven burly guys wearing similar sportswear, but Allen was not going to let them catch up to him.

He continued maneuvering around alleyways and dodging around corners. Traditional architecture reminiscent of famous cities such as Paris and Venice as well as more modern buildings could be found here making it a somewhat difficult place to navigate. It was only thanks to him having explored this part of this city on numerous runs that he was able to find his way through this network of intricate twists and turns despite being a newcomer to Atelier City.

"Hey! Don't think you can outrun us!" "We're going to catch up to you for sure!"

Allen ignored their calls from behind and continued running forward, hoping they would eventually tire out and give up their pursuit. Hopefully, sooner rather than later. He was starting to lose wind and would not be able to keep this pace up.

'Geez, why do these guys have to be so persistent? This is outrageous!'

After several more minutes and running across a bridge over one of the many canals that were spread out across the city, Allen finally gave up. His legs began to feel like they were being bound by iron strings with each step he took forward. His sweatshirt was drenched so much it looked like he had just gotten out of a downpour of rain.

"Huff...huff."

He had come to a stop and caught his breath while he looked behind him to see that his pursuers were doing the same quite a distance behind him with some of them faring even worse. They were lying flat on the ground exhausted. After gathering some of his composure again, Allen opened his mouth up to speak.

"Well, I guess this is as far as I..."

"Hey!"

He was interrupted mid-sentence by a voice from up above and looked up along with the others to see what was its source.

The shout had come from a young woman who looked to be Allen's age which was eighteen years old. The young woman vibrantly stood out to Allen. She had a lithe figure and a mixture of black and white hair. This person was wearing a tracksuit with vivid purple lines on it. Similarly, her eyes were a deep shade of violet that seemed to glow with a shine of its own in the early morning light. As she glowered down at them with those eyes, hanging from her ears were a pair of earbuds attached by wire to an MP3 player at her hip. She also had a black satchel hanging from her shoulders.

She promptly descended from the rooftops between Allen and his pursuers.

"What do you guys think you're doing chasing after someone trying to beat them up? You should stop right now or you’re going to get thrashed by me instead." She raised a fist at them to emphasize her point as they all looked on bewildered.

One of the sportswear uniform-wearing guys who appeared to be the leader of the group stood up straight and responded, "Uhh...we aren't running after him. We made a bet to see if he could outrun us."

"What? You can't be serious..."

An expression of suppressed disbelief showed on her face as she turned to Allen in question who sheepishly nodded his head in reply.

"Yeah, we bumped into each other in our morning runs and he dropped his phone in the process, then we made a bet that if I could outrun all of them I wouldn't have to pay for the phone damage.", Allen continued.

This was the truth for the most part but Allen left out how the leader of the delinquents had actually run into him since he was not paying attention and how the bet was simply made so they could have fun seeing him struggle to try to outrun them.

'I'd rather not look like a total wimp in front of this girl.'

"Oh, I see. Well, sorry for the misunderstanding then.", she chuckled anxiously after turning back to face the others. She then began ruffling in the satchel she had until she pulled out a sheet of coupons and pushed it into Allen’s chest.

"Here."

Before any one of them had any time to say anything, she ran at a breakneck pace out of the alley and out of sight.

Their mouths were all left gaping wide at the bizarre encounter for a few moments wondering if what had just happened had actually happened. However, after a few moments had passed, the leader of the delinquents regained his composure and walked up to Allen.

"Alright, you won our bet but you better be careful next time or we won't be as civil."

"He was actually serious about that?"

He walked up beside Allen and firmly put a hand on his shoulder. Allen gritted his teeth and clenched his fist struggling to control his anger. He did not want to start another pointless fight here only to get beat up by the whole group of them.

A self-pleased grin emerged on the delinquent boss's face as he saw no sign of retaliation at his open threat toward Allen.

"That's what I thought. Be a lot more careful next time. Not everyone in this town is as nice as me."

He took his hand off of his shoulder and walked past Allen and out of the alley. The rest of his posse followed behind until only Allen was left there. He breathed a sigh of relief.

As Allen was about to walk away himself when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He looked down searching for where it came from and spotted an odd piece of paper lying on the ground. He picked it up and observed it. It had a strange symbol in the shape of a tree he did not recognize. He realized it had been lying at the spot exactly where the weird girl had descended.

"She must have dropped this while she was rustling through her bag. I guess I could return this since she did try to help me out and gave me these coupons." He looked down on the sheet of mediocre deals.

"Pizzeria Palace huh, I guess I'll go there after I get done with my job then.", he slid the piece of paper into his notebook and headed back to the place he currently called home in an attempt to get some extra rest.

***

An alarm blared in Allen Lee's ears as his brown eyes burst open and he shot up from his bed. He quickly tapped a button on the holographic projection of his Zero Screen phone beside him to turn his alarm off and picked up the small metallic rectangular prism to check the time.

9:00 AM

"I barely feel like I got any rest at all."

He did not get out much and ate mediocre quality food, so he tried to compensate for this by regularly going on runs in the morning. However, he had not been expecting to go on an all-out sprint today.

Allen had about 30 minutes to get out the door if he was going to make it to his job on time. Allen got up from the floor and brushed his fingers through his black hair while scratching his head then stretched his arms, torso, and legs feeling all his old sores resonate through his entire body. Some of them stood out even on his brown skin.

He proceeded to fully get out of bed and get prepared for the rest of the day. Once he was done, he checked his Status, something that all Atelier City residents could observe through their devices. Allen liked how similar it was to a video game even though looking at it usually frustrated him. This was a ranking of their physical abilities, a technique in different artistic endeavors, and notable accomplishments they made. The Merit of zero on the status showed Allen once again he had made no progress and accomplishing anything significant.

Name Allen Lee Title Art Novice

PHYSICAL

ABILITY

7

TECHNIQUE

3

MERIT

0

It did not take him long to glance it over and he was soon out the door of his apartment. As Allen walked the 15 minutes it took to get to his job, he took in all the things that were all around him. Even though he had been in Atelier City for almost a month now, he was still amazed by the sights and sounds that were so different from his small hometown.

Overhead, flying drones whizzed about delivering food and other goods around the city and holographic signs hovered in front of stores. Passing by him, horseless carriages zoomed down the street along with people on Auto Bikes who were barely paying attention to the road as they poured over their Zero Screen slates with both hands.

"Man, Atelier City really is filled with super-advanced technology everywhere." Allen mused, "Even though it has its fair share of punks too, it's still a hell of a lot better than my hometown."

As he walked past a construction site, he stopped when he noticed that despite all the materials present such as large blocks of metal, wood, and concrete there was no machinery as well as no crew aside from one lone figure who didn't have the typical appearance of what you would expect a construction worker to have. He was wearing a black and yellow suit on a large metallic platform connected to a larger platform where all of the materials were. In front of him, on the platform, was a miniature holographic model of a building.

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The man in the suit then outstretched his hand and a holographic interface appeared. He pressed a few buttons on it and the platform the materials were on began to glow brightly. The blocks of metal, wood, and concrete became covered in light and then started to mold and reshape into the form of a building. As the structure extended into the air, the more similar the structure became to the design of the holographic model. When the construction was done and the light had faded from the newly made three-story building, it was a mirror image of the projected blueprint in front of the man in the yellow and black suit.

Overall, the entire construction had taken only ten minutes and Allen had watched the whole process play out. Allen brought out a small notebook from his pocket and drew up a quick sketch of the four-story building. When he was finished with it, he looked over the piece in dissatisfaction.

‘As expected, I’m still terrible at sketches. I hate drawing.’

Suddenly, he looked at his phone and realized he was a few minutes away from being late for his job.

'Crap, I better hurry if I'm going to make it on time.'

He broke out in a brisk jog down the sidewalk.

***

He stopped in front of a small store and looked at its antique neon sign, Coffee & Chronicles. In the display window, there were popular books of all different kinds, and a strong and fragrant coffee smell wafted from the edges of the door.

Allen breathed a sigh of relief. "On time, with a whole minute and sixteen seconds to spare."

After this brief moment, he walked into the shop and began his day at work. Coffee & Chronicles was both a cafe and a bookstore and the building was evenly split between two sides with each one having its own counter. On one side, were the coffee and tables while the other had the bookshelves.

"Morning Allen, you're a little later than usual, anything happens on the way here?"

Allen was greeted cheerfully by a young woman with dirty blonde hair and light gray eyes who was wearing the same uniform that he was. She was standing behind the coffee counter in the back of the room.

'Well, not anything that unusual happened just now.'

Allen decided to keep the events of earlier this morning to himself for the moment.

***

'Ding Dong'

Hearing the sound of the store's doorbell, Allen looked up from his counter to see who had entered the store.

"Hey Charlotte, how's your morning going?"

"It's going well, thank you."

Charlotte was a regular of Coffee & Chronicles, buying a new book every other week or so. She and Allen had gotten along pretty well since he started working there. She had dark black long hair and deep blue eyes and was wearing a beige shirt, jacket, and skirt.

"Already finished the Quest of Loriel Silenda? How was it?", Allen questioned.

"It was great! Thanks for the recommendation. The final battle between the House of Hypogriffs and the House of Sphinxes was super riveting to read. It kind of made me wish the series had another book to it, but the end was closed so neatly that I can't imagine what another addition could be about."

As Allen listened to her, he couldn't help but think to himself, "Wow, I still can't believe a girl as nice as her is as much of a book nerd as I am. Can't judge a book by its cover I guess. Man, that was a lame pun."

"So anything you're looking for in particular today?"

"Yes, could you get me Jack and the Bean Stalker?"

"Huh?" Allen was surprised by her request.

"Is something wrong, do you not have it?"

"No, it's not that, it's just that it's not that popular of a book. I didn't think you knew about it."

Allen had read the book himself and knew Jack and the Bean Stalker was a dark retelling of the classical fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk and was much less whimsical of a story than what it was based on.

"I see. I just got nostalgic for it. is all."

Allen shrugged and retrieved the book. Charlotte proceeded to purchase it and then left with a bright smile on her face. Afterward, the rest of the work day was uneventfully boring as the young man thought drearily about his unremarkable past and uncertain future. In this preoccupied state, he stared absentmindedly straight ahead at his counter for most of his shift without even bothering to strike up a conversation with his co-worker Amy like he usually would. When it was finally time to leave, Allen made sure to take stock of every item in the store and set everything back where it should be for the next work day. Once this was done, he silently headed to the front door of Coffee & Chronicles.

"Hey! Is something wrong? You didn't stay up playing games again, did you?" Amy jested but her tone held a tinge of genuine concern.

Allen looked back with a strained grin. "It's nothing..." This is what Allen began to say but an unconvinced stare from the usually jovial woman was enough to make him cough up the truth. "Well, it's just the grant that Atelier City gave newcomers moving to the city is going to run out next month. When that happens...I won't even be able to afford the infamously cheap apartment I'm staying in right now, heh."

He tried to put on a smile but it was obviously a fake one that anyone could see through.

Amy's forehead crinkled. "Wait, it'll end that soon? Have you gotten any jobs with Heironymous or any other companies yet?"

Allen shook his head. "Not a chance, it looks like no one wants a novice artist without any accomplishments or credentials. Here in Atelier City, someone with my artistic abilities is a dime a dozen."

'...or maybe worth even less that.' Allen kept this thought to himself.

"Oh c'mon, you're not that bad." Amy brightly rebutted with her hands on her hips. "You just need more time to polish your skills. Not only that, if it comes to that, I'm sure my grandfather can give-"

"No!" Allen raised his voice abruptly which surprised Amy. "Uhh...I mean, I just don't think that'll be necessary. You and the boss have already helped me out enough as it is, and I was never seriously expecting to stay in Atelier City for that long either."

He laughed in an attempt to clear the awkward tension before heading back to the store's exit to escape it completely.

"You're so stubborn, Allie!" Amy called out with the nickname she knew the teen hated. "Being that way makes you a good worker who always makes sure every book and cup is in place even when you're out of it, but it also makes you a pain like this too. Why did you come to this gaudy town in the first place if you weren't going to follow your dreams to the end?"

Allen paused momentarily in the doorway before saying, "I guess you could say I'm trying to turn a new leaf. I got a lot of handouts in my hometown from people trying to support my dream with no results. Just getting here to Atelier City was already more than enough for someone like that."

Amy's expression softened. "You're being too-"

"Alright, I'm going to go spend all weekend playing this retro mecha game I haven't gotten a chance to try out yet. See ya on Monday, Amy!" Allen blurted out before practically leaping out the other side of the door. Amy sighed with exasperation and slumped shoulders.

***

After making his getaway, Allen decided to head directly to the pizzeria despite how far out it was from where he lived.

While on the way there, he thought more about Amy's inquiry on why he had even come to Ateliery City.

'After hearing that night filled with rising stars was just one big publicity stunt orchestrated by a single city to invite people. I had to come here because I thought it would be an opportunity for me to do something amazing with my life.'

Allen had always wanted to break away from the mundane trivialities of his normal routine. Even from a young age, he had been obsessively invested in occultic topics such as myths, cryptids, and bizarre conspiracy theories involving magic. He had waited for the day that the world walked into his life, and drawing for him started as a way to capture the extraordinary on paper when he could not experience it firsthand. Back in his hometown, he even became part of a paranormal investigation club with other weird kids like him which was fun for a time, but eventually, Allen got more serious with his dream of an art career. Allen began to think the club's antics were as ridiculous as everyone else thought they were. He began flaking on meetings and his lack of enthusiasm seemed to spread to the rest until the group naturally fell apart.

'Magic is not real but it was enough to keep us together and things seemed a lot better then too. I wish I knew that before ruining things for a dream that never came to fruition...but maybe if I did realize it, everything else would be worth it.'

Belief in the supernatural or not, he still sought to become someone extraordinary, but it seemed even going to the most advanced city in the country did not guarantee that.

'Instead, nothing changed. I'm still running away from no-good punks, burdening others with my problems, and doing meaningless stuff like returning a stupid piece of paper to someone I don't even know. Did I make another bad decision in coming here?'

***

When he finally got to the pizzeria after walking for about half an hour, the sun had already set, making the streets nearly pitch black aside from a few streetlights and the glow of a full moon in the sky. Allen observed that the restaurant was kind of small and shabby as well as, much to his dismay, already closed. No lights at all shone from it and a giant "CLOSED" sign was placed in the front window plain to see.

Allen sighed defeatedly.

"I guess this is what I get for not checking what time it closed."

He decided he would just come again another day and turned to walk away. That was when he heard a shriek ring out from nearby that froze him in his tracks. He looked around until he heard another shriek call out into the night. Now, almost regrettably, he was sure of where it was coming from, the alleyway right next to the store.

Allen pulled out his phone to possibly call for help but all that showed on the holographic screen was static.

'Dammit, this thing cost me too much to be glitching out at a time like this!'

Allen looked back at where the sound had come from and was not sure what to do now, whether he should just run until his phone started working again or he found help, or try to intervene himself. He was about to choose the former when he heard another cry. Before he knew it, he had already run into the alleyway, but he was not able to see anything due to it being clouded in fog.

He slowly and nervously stepped through the fog. The fog was surprisingly cold like he had just stepped into a wintry storm even though it was the middle of summer, but in only a few steps, he was already past it into a mostly empty alley with heavy mist inside of it. He was confused and not sure he had heard where the sound had come from correctly until he heard that same shrill cry come in front of him beyond the mist.

He ventured outside of the mist to find himself in the open alleyway and a giant mural in front of him. It depicted a monstrous creature that resembled a tree in the form of a lion. It had a body made of bark and a mane of vines. It was so lifelike that it appeared the brick wall was a window instead.

'That noise came from here. Was it some sort of illusion? For now, I might as well take a sketch of this and see if I can find out what it is later.'

Allen, partially mystified by the mural's realism, began to draw the painting within his notebook. Drawing everything down to the tiniest detail. When he was almost finished, he found something was off between his work and the mural that served as its inspiration. Instead of looking sideways like he had previously seen, its eyes were now staring directly at him.

'How did I get this so far off? My skills are subpar, but I'm not that bad." Allen spoke out loud. "It's almost as if it mov-"

Allen could not finish his sentence before a mass of vine-like tendrils erupted from the mural and tried to entangle him. He leaped out of the way just in time and was horrified to see most of the monster's body bound from the wall as if it was completely natural. The only parts left inside were a large mass of the green vines that made up its mane.

“What is going on!? This has to be some sort of illusion as well, right?!"

Large thorn-like spikes began to emerge from the monster's body. Some were as long as Allen's arm and looked like they could pierce right through him as well. Allen's mind froze from bewilderment but his pencil started to move again, simply through instinct. The moment his hand started to draw, the monster halted in its tracks.

"Huh? Oh, it didn't move while I was drawing did it?!" Allen grinned nervously and started to draw as if his life depended on it. Moments like this had overtaken him before, but this was the one rare time where it did. He kept on til it was a complete replica of the monster, but when he had done that, the beast began closing the distance once more.

"Wait, no additions I'm making are affecting it. Damn it, maybe I can erase it and start-"

Another volley of vines was unleashed toward him even more numerous and swift than before. Allen had no choice but to run away for the second time that day. The monster completely vacated the wall and chased after him. All of the remaining vines that had still been on the surface of the wall, were now outside of it. The young man headed back where he came from through the fog.

After a few seconds, the fog faded around him and he noticed that the modern alleyways were replaced with walls bearing a resemblance to medieval architecture. This bizarre change in scenery only added to the intense confusion he was facing. However, he shook his head and kept on running with everything he had. That morning had been a cakewalk compared to this all-out sprint.

The passage seemed much longer than it had been when he entered, but he still felt he could escape. The exit was in reach before his eyes before too long he thought, but someone else was there as well. A young woman with golden features from her hair to her clothes to even her skin. She looked like a princess straight out of a fantasy novel Allen had read. The golden dress she wore was in tatters and her golden complexion was marred by grievous wounds. It looked like she had been running from that monster too.

'She must be who I heard those screams from earlier."

Allen winced as he considered leaving them to fend for themself and hope for the best, but his conscience overrode his cowardice momentarily. When he passed her, he tried urging her to get up and follow him out.

"C'mon, we have to get moving!"

She didn't follow his directions. Instead, the golden woman looked back at where he had come and then somberly stared down at something she held in her arms. It was a gold sword with a branch-like handle, With both hands, she raised it up to Allen as if telling him to take it.

"What is this? ...Is this what that thing is after? Is that why it chased you?"

She nodded her head quietly and brought the sword closer to Allen.

'Wait, is this meant for me to use?' Allen thought to himself while contemplating the situation. The fantastical idea of taking the golden armament and slaying the monster passed through his mind. The possibility that he had somehow stumbled into a magical realm where the normal rules of the world did not apply plagued his thoughts as well. Regardless if it was supernatural or not, that exquisite treasure was sure to open new doors for him.

Confused but entranced, he reached out to that golden blade. Right before he could lay a finger on it, he noticed a slight change in expression from that mysterious sword-bearer.

'Disappointment?'

Vines shot through the golden woman's body and her form broke apart into mist. Allen screamed in shock as his limbs were ensnared so tightly he could not even move his fingers. He was brought to the ground to watch while that giant lion monster gradually approached him from the fog that had lied before Allen.

Too stunned to even think, all his strength drained from him, and by this point, he could not even turn away from the monster as it was about to attack. With explosive power, the monster leaped straight towards Allen whose eyes were opened wide with terror.

From out of nowhere, a figure slammed downwards on the monster stopping it in its charge.

"Magical Kick Breaker!!!"

The beast was crushed under the heel of that figure, causing it to splinter into chunks of wood and thorns. At that exact moment, the vines wrapped around Allen lost their hold. This left him there on his own as the clouds moved past in the sky and revealed a crescent moon shining up above and illuminating the alley enough for him to make out who had rescued him.

"You..."

Standing on top of the massive remains of the tree-like creature was the same peculiar young woman he had met earlier that day. She had a slight grin on her face as she recognized his face as if this was as normal as bumping past each other on the sidewalk.

"Looks like you did need saving this time around.", she casually remarked.

On the other hand, Allen's head was boiling over with so many questions he could not process them all. He only managed to voice two.

"What's your name...Where are we?"

She chuckled, "It's Nera and this is a place where counterfeit legends lead people to their deaths. Welcome to the Netherworld."