I realize this might not be super obvious but any of the italicized words like 'this' are the character's actual thoughts.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy. Please inform me of any errors because I hate them. I hate them so much...

No. Seriously. They suck.

Tears streamed down the face of the eighteen year old boy as he held out his hand. His brown hair swayed ever so slightly in the light breeze. He was six feet tall and relatively fit. He had healthy tanned skin and was considered attractive even though he was shy. His grey eyes were looking straight through the wall directly in front of him while his hand reached for the place his eyes were searching for. This was his last chance to find the place he had been waiting for and he was becoming desperate. His name was Dustin James but most people just called him Dusty.

The tears that wet his face were there for two reasons. The first was that he was so miserable with his current life that he wished for death, or some other world to take him. The second was the guilt he felt at the mere thought that he didn’t want such a comfortable and fortunate life. He was so very normal, only slightly above average in intelligence and physical ability. He could get into a good college easily enough with a little hard work.

However, Dusty felt suffocated by the boring reality and always wanted to be part of something great and envied characters in manga and anime who were sucked into alternate worlds. He was expecting someone to come for him and take him away from his dreary existence. He wrote a note explaining his disappearance and it had been gathering dust for two years now.

He was at the end of his patience and depression was beginning to drag him down into despair. This was it. This was his last chance, or so he believed, to leave everything behind. After today, after this moment, if he weren’t able to escape, he would die inside, giving up on any hope of a different life and he would drag his soulless corpse around, living like all of the other people who gave up on his dreams.

So he stood there staring through the outside wall of his house in the middle of the suburbs, attempting to open a portal to another world. One last childish attempt at escape, no matter how pathetic and futile it was. This was his closure, but in his heart, he couldn’t truly believe that anything would happen. After all, ‘magic isn’t real’ he thought as his arm dropped to his side and he fell to his knees, finally giving up. He felt a brief moment of rage at himself, and at everything that felt wrong to him. He screamed as loud as he could, and aimed his fist at the ground. He felt the soft grass and then air as he fell forward.

“What the fuck!?” he shouted as he fell on top of someone from the sky. He had the wind knocked out of him but he managed to gasp out the words “Are you okay?” to the man he landed on. The man didn’t respond so Dusty rolled over and got to his knees. The man was unconscious so Dusty checked for a pulse and breath. The man would probably be fine. He felt a hand on his shoulder so he turned around to see a man wearing plate armor standing behind him. His eyes widened and his jaw would have fallen off if it dropped any lower.

“Are you responsible for this,” the man asked in a surprisingly easygoing tone.

“Uh, it was an accident, I swear.”

He chuckled, “It happens. Teleportation magic often goes wrong on your first try. You were lucky I’d say. He narrowed his eyes, noticing the clothes that Dusty was wearing. It was his typical pair of soccer shorts mixed with a T-shirt and tennis shoes. “Where are you from anyway?” he asked, moving his hand to his sword.

Dusty stood up and looked around, a little overwhelmed by it all. At that moment his mind was full of racing thoughts, most of them being ‘Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, I did it. I’m in another world and it’s just like I imagined.’ “Hell Yeah!” he shouted, raising his arms and jumping up in victory. He grinned and turned to the guard, giddy and energetic. “Did you say something?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The guard glared and partly drew his sword. “Where are you from, I said.”

Oh. Well how bad can being from another world be? At worst they’d probably treat him like some magical enigma. “I’m from another world, I’m quite sure.” He couldn’t control his smile and beamed at the guard until the man finished drawing his sword followed by the drawn swords of his three companions that had been standing a little bit away.

‘Oh god, I fucked up.’ “Whoa, what’s going on? Can we talk about this peacefully?”

“Boy, you’re under arrest on suspicion of being a demon or being associated with demons. Will you comply?”

Dusty tensed up, not sure what he should do. He could probably outrun these guys as he played soccer and had great speed as well as stamina. However, he wouldn’t know where to go and they’d find him easily with his current clothes. No one would want to hide him if he was thought to associate with demons and in the end, running would only make the situation worse. If he was lucky, he could simply explain the situation and he would be let go. He smiled and said “Happy to. I’m not associated with demons or anything so can you take me to someone I can explain my situation to?” They grabbed him and started to lead him towards the small castle that could be seen a quarter mile away.

Dusty was being arrested as soon as he entered the new world, but that only made him happier and inflated his ego a bit. ‘This is all supposed to happen to me. They’ll lead me to someone I can talk to and explain my situation to. Once they understand that I’m a regular human, we can all just laugh this off and then good things will start to happen. They’ll probably check my stats and I’ll have amazing skills on the level of a great hero! This is gonna be so awesome!’ He hummed excitedly on his way to the castle, impatient to be done with the misunderstanding and letting his imagination run wild, as he thought of all the opportunities and challenges he would soon face.

The guards and the people that passed by were all somewhat disturbed by the young man. He was the happiest man anyone had ever seen who was in the process of being arrested. They eventually reached the castle and entered the guardhouse outside the gate, contrary to what he expected. They went down two flights of stairs and entered a room with jail cells after passing through a gate. ‘Oh I see. They can’t risk the safety of someone important so they are going to put me in a cell and then bring the important person to see me.’ He sneered at the dirty prisoners who looked as though they had been there for some time. Filthy criminals, he thought, and then he sighed. ‘No, they look so pitiful and regretful. I can’t be mad at these unfortunate people. They must have had no other choice. The guards put him in a cell near the end of the hall, which was covered in glowing runes that illuminated the cell, and began to walk away.

“Wait. How long do I have to wait before someone comes to see me?”

One of the guards turned to look at him and pointed to the wall. “Do you see those markings?” Dusty nodded. “Those prevent you from using magic in this space. These bars and the walls are also magically reinforced. No one is coming to see you. You won’t ever leave that cell. You’ll spend the rest of your days there, rotting, you little demon filth.” He spat on the ground and walked away, ignoring Dusty’s cries pleading for them to hear his story.

It wasn’t until the door closed that he was hit by the full realization of everything that was happening. The world didn’t revolve around him. This wasn’t some playground for him to live out his fantasies. He had thought that everything would work out in his favor and he could live like he was playing a game. Now the world had crashed in upon him and he would spend the rest of his days locked in a cell, suffering like those poor men he had pitied. The irony was not lost on him. He was too shocked to cry, or scream, or get angry, so he just sat there in silence, bringing wrapping his legs with his arms and bringing them to his chest.

“I guess I deserve this.” He whispered.