I was in the middle of a math class, hoping, as per usual, that the teacher won’t ask me to go up to the blackboard to solve an exercise, when suddenly everything went black.

I felt a powerful force assaulting my body. It kept penetrating me, stripping me by layers. My skin, muscles, blood, bones. One after another, they kept breaking apart, letting this vicious energy enter inside and meld with me. When it finally reached my heart, I could feel it being torn apart, the heartbeat ceasing completely. The pain was unbearable, but mercifully, at some point, the darkness enveloped me completely and I lost my consciousness.

I awoke on the floor of a medieval looking room. It looked like an interior of a castle, the walls were made of stone, and sturdy wooden beams supported a concave ceiling. Colorful light came from large windows fitted with painted glass displaying scenes of battles.

I was in a group with seven other teenagers. We were all dressed in strange, fancy looking clothes and looking at each confusedly.

“что за хрень происходит!”

“Was zum Teufel ist los!”

“一体何が起こっているの”

We all started shouting, only to quickly discover that we were talking in different languages.

“Heroes! I see you’ve finally awoken!” We heard a booming voice and turned to see a wizened old man. He had an impressive grey beard that reached all the way to his waist. There were dark bags under his eyes, showing he must have not been sleeping well lately, but the smile he graced us with was charming and kind like that of a grandfather. He supported himself on a cane and spoke to us in English, albeit with a very peculiar accent, like a mix between French and some slavic language.

“кто ты, черт возьми!”

“Forgive me, young heroes, but I’ll have to ask you that we carry our conversation in English.” he continued. “I’m sure you must have many questions and it wouldn’t do to wait until you have learnt the tongue of our lands.” he added with a slight chuckle.

One of the girls, who I later learnt to be Anastasia, questioned him in impeccable English. “Then how about you start by telling us what is this place, who are you, and what’s going on here.”

He looked at her for a few seconds before answering. “Very good. All the pertinent question at the same time, Raia truly blessed us with champions she chose to save our world.”

“Save your world? Are you insane?”

“Had the Goddess not informed you when she brought you here?” The man asked in a perturbed voice. “Surely, she must have told you of the great mission you are to undertake!”

We all looked at each other. Judging by the expressions we were wearing, it was clear no one knew what the man was talking about.

“I don’t give a flying fuck about any Raias, worlds to save, or anything else!” One of the boys suddenly shouted at the man. “You do realize that you’ve just kidnapped us, right! If you don’t let me go immediately, you won’t see the outside of a prison cell for the rest of your miserable life!”

Hearing him, the smile on the man’s face vanished, leaving it completely expressionless. He first knelt, and then completely prostrated himself in front of us. And then he started crying. His whole body convulsed as deep sobs shook his frail figure.

We were completely taken aback by the sudden change. The pathetic sight of an old man crying uncontrollably in front of us was extremely disturbing. Even the boy who was just shouting had enough shame to lower his head and start muttering apologies.

One of the girls shot him a disapproving glance and quickly walked up to the old man. She knelt beside him and tug at his shoulders, trying to pull him up from the floor.

“Don’t cry, grampa. We’re sorry. Of course we’ll help you if we can. Don’t listen to that boy. And if they don’t help, then you can at least count on Marie. So stop crying and please get up.”

The man raised his head, but he remained kneeling on the floor. “Thank you child. I can see that you have a pure heart and noble soul. But don’t blame your comrade for his words. Something must have truly gone wrong. I wasn’t crying because of what he said, I cried for the fate of my poor world, which unfortunately you too were summoned to.”

“Don’t worry, grandpa. Even if we’re not the people you were looking for, we might still be able to help you! Just please explain to us what’s going on.”

The man looked at her with gratitude. Marie smiled back at him. Although he didn’t raise himself from the floor, she at least convinced him to tell us about this new world.

Its name was Erathia. It was a land similar to one you would find in western fantasies. People here were gifted with magic and were able to perform incredible feats beyond imagination.

On the flip side, there were monsters. For thousands of years, people lived in a status quo maintained by the heroic sacrifice of brave knights who gave their lives defending the borders of human realms from the demonic scourge. But a new demon king had arisen, united the demon princes and began an invasion that obliterated one human bastion after another.

Whenever their armies moved, carnage would follow. Whole cities were burnt to the ground, the population that didn’t escape in time was sacrificed by the thousands on the altars of their evil God. Even the old man’s family had befallen to this cruel fate.

In response, the kingdoms of men united their forces under a single banner, fielding the largest army in recorded history to resist the invasion. A million knights, proud sons of the most illustrious families in the world, were led by prince Cauese to confront the invading armies and kill the evil king. But they were betrayed.

Some of the nobles abandoned their own race and swayed by the sweet lies of the demon king attacked their own compatriots in a crucial battle.

This led to a crushing defeat. Faced with demons in front of them and possible backstabbers around them, one battalion after another attempted to disengage itself from the chaotic battlefield.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

As they couldn’t know if the regiments surrounding them were on their side or not, they simply slashed through anyone blocking their frantic retreat. But this started a chain reaction. There was no way to tell whether the knights charging at you were simply trying to flee or were beholden to their demon masters. A massacre had ensued, and the brave men who came here to fight shoulder to shoulder against the demonic menace, raised their swords against each other.

It was later supposed that only around five percent of knights were turncloacks, but their actions led to the deaths of nearly six hundred thousand soldiers.

Humans found it impossible to reunite after that battle. The demons turned from an outside foe to an internal one, and there was no way to tell who else could be serving them in secret. Many of the knights who miraculously survived that fateful battle had perished not long after returning home. Families who lost their children would wage wars against their lucky neighbours, convinced that only betrayers could escape the horrors of that battlefield unscathed.

The last hope came from an unearthed scroll that described how millenia ago the human race faced a similar challenge. It was then that the Goddess Raia, touched by the plight of her people, reached with her hand behind the veil shrouding the world and summoned brave heroes to face the calamity.

Kings agreed to pin humanity’s last hopes on this story and raised incredible resources to perform the ritual just as it was described in the scroll. Kingdoms facing annihilation emptied out their treasuries, carriages heavy with magical heirlooms dating back generations were sent out in secret. The whole operation was orchestrated by the church, the only symbol that still held the power to unite and bring hope to the people.

“When I saw you appear before my eyes, I thought that Raia had heard our pleas and that our world could be saved after all. But now…” The old man paused as tears rolled down the ridges of his wrinkled face. All this time he kept kneeling before us in supplication, his pose and the tragic story of his world making us deeply uncomfortable and unable to express dissatisfaction over what happened to us.

“But why would she summon us? Maybe I’m the odd one out, but I’m just a teen... I don’t have any superpowers or abilities to fight demons.” Anastasia asked meekly.

The man looked at her and then at the rest of us. “So you don’t know.” He sighed. “There’s a great power coursing through your bodies. You must have felt it entering you when you were transported here.” He seemed to be collecting his thoughts for a moment and then continued.

“Children of our world spend their first nine months developing in their mother’s womb. During that time they are protected from outside influences by a protective layer of their mother’s mana. Only on the day of their birth are they faced with the unbound mana suffusing our world. Most are able to quickly form their mana core, imprinting themselves on the free-flowing mana and protecting themselves from overexposure to the surging energies.”

His eyes dropped to the ground. “But the constitution of an infant is incredibly fragile, for two that survive, one usually dies. In extremely rare cases, individuals with incredibly strong physiques appear, for them the process of forming a core, something that usually takes a few minutes, can go on even for hours. Those that survive this ordeal end up with truly immense potential.”

“When I look at you, I see veritable oceans of mana. Despite being outsiders, you seem to be even more closely connected to the nature of our world than its real residents. Perhaps you received Raia’s blessing or perhaps it’s a simple consequence of an adult's body being able to better endure the ravages of unbound mana. I can only say that if you were to train, there would be very little you couldn’t achieve.”

“Would we be able to return to our world?” one of the girls asked.

“Forgive me, for I don’t know. All we did was perform a ritual to our Goddess. But I’m sure that with Her help, nothing is impossible.”

“So why were we chosen? Or was it completely random and your so called goddess just sucked in the first eight people she laid her eyes on?” a boy I later learnt to be Bruce questioned.

The man once again fell silent. It was clear that he found the irreverent remarks hurtful. It was difficult not to sympathise with him, but it really was the crux of the matter and I internally supported Bruce for voicing the question.

“Raia can see nothing but the eternal truth of the universe.” the man said piously. “I can assure you that She didn’t choose you randomly. As for why, that is a question that you have to ask yourself.”

He stroked his long beard as he continued, “In the scroll describing tales of the first heroes it is written that they were youths of outstanding moral character. They all said that in their previous lives they witnessed many great injustices and lived their lives with true conviction that if only they had greater power, they could reshape the world, banishing the evil lurking within.”

It was our turn to fall silent.

A boy with Asian features ventured hesitantly, “D-Doesn’t everyone feel this way sometimes?” His cheeks turned a bit red as we looked at him and he hastened to explain. “I mean, from time to time, imagining yourself to be a… well, a hero. Saving people, kicking out stupid politicians, setting everything straight and stuff like that…”

“Don’t doubt yourself, young man!” the man interrupted. “As it is said, Raia’s eyes see nothing but the eternal truth of the universe. There is a soul of a hero burning in your heart! In all your hearts!” he roared.

“I know that you feel confused. Something must have interfered with the ritual for it to occur that way. But please, believe me, or at least believe in Raia’s wisdom. A Goddess, an immortal entity has chosen you, precisely you!”

His voice peaked and suddenly the intensity in his eyes died out just as abruptly as it appeared. He continued in a quiet monotone, completely devoid of any strength. “I won’t ask you to fight for us. I know that it would be unfair. But please, at least stay as our guests. We have prepared lodgings and teachers for you. The village is small and isolated to safeguard you from the demonic forces. Here you will be able to master the great powers you were gifted with. It’s not impossible that you might even be able to find a path back to your world on your own.” he finished.

***

“Children, has something happened?” we saw mister Hendricks walking towards us, his hands tightly grasping the handle of his cane for balance.

We looked at each other. Even Marie stopped weeping for a moment. What was there to say? That we missed our homes and families? We were brought here by fate. And though we still resented mister Hendricks for being involved in the unfortunate ritual, how could we lash out at an old man who lost his whole family to the demons?

“Mister Hendricks.” Marie said meekly, “I don’t want to eat mister Cluckypoofs. I know that everyone had gone through with it and I know it’s not fair. And I realize that I eat other animals. But he is mine. He was just a rooster but I named him and cared for him.”

Her eyes turned wide as saucers, as she continued pleading. “I will do better in the forest! You saw me catching a rabbit before! Next time I’ll catch a boar! I-I will even skin it and gut it myself, I won’t ask Anastasia to do it like the last time!” Marie kept speaking faster and faster and seemed to be on the verge of bursting into tears again.

Mister Hendricks knelt by her side and patted her gently on the head. “It really warms my heart to see someone so kind and delicate, you remind me of my granddaughter. She could never hurt a fly, just like you.” His eyes turned foggy as he reminisced. “Raia bless her soul.”

He turned to us, “It’s already past noon, shouldn’t you be meeting with mister Gunterson already? What was his penalty for being late, again?”

Sweat broke out on our faces. We remembered the penalty very well. It was difficult to forget running for three hours straight carrying a backpack filled with bricks. And then you still had to complete the rest of the regiment he had planned for the day.

The elation we felt when we first learnt how to use mana to strengthen our bodies was quickly whipped out of us by his monstrous training. That man could turn Superman into a wuss terrified of leaving his room.

“You should hurry up now. As for Marie, given the circumstances, I think your teacher will excuse her if she skips this one class.”, mister Hendricks continued. He stood up with difficulty and Marie quickly got to her feet to help him steady himself. “Let’s go, child. We’ll see what we can do about your friend.”