“The entire world is shocked by the events that took place today in Jacksonville, Florida. A third of the city was destroyed from a freak attack of giant ants. Citizens within the area were evacuated and military forces were sent in to control the situation.

Disaster struck when all of the ants inexplicably blew up, causing hundreds of deaths and billions in property damage. It is still unknown how the ants came to be but police investigators found what could be the collapsed entrance of a large ant hill in the middle of the effected area.”

I sat on my sofa, eyes fixed on the TV screen. What happened yesterday was just a complete and utter catastrophe. That ant queen knew she would lose, didn’t she? She sent all those ants out to cause as much destruction as possible when she died, that’s why she had no help. I should have noticed sooner.

I haven’t felt this terrible since the first time I failed to save a town. I’m so pathetic. I know it wasn’t my fault, I didn’t know something like that would happen. But, I should have known something was up when it was only the queen against me.

As I wallowed in self-pity, my dad walked into the room. It was only seven in the morning and I don’t usually wake up this early. Just, I had to know how bad the damage was. I didn’t get a chance yesterday since I had to get back to Treford. Missing for over two hours would probably turn the entire school into a manhunt zone. Mitching classes was my reason that I disappeared. There would have been a few consequences for me, but the low student count yesterday made the staff kind of lax. I got off with an afterschool detention set for same day. Didn’t even phone my parents. It was Friday, so the detention was annoying.

“Morning. You’re up early,” he said, stretching his arms above his head.

“Wanted to catch the news, I heard about the giant ants that hit Jacksonville.”

“Pretty bad what happened there. To think aliens just popped out of nowhere and attacked us like that,” he said, sounding a bit drowsy.

“Didn’t they come from the underground?” I asked, just to amuse him.

“I don’t know. Still, they’re still aliens. Anything can be an alien, as long as it’s not native to their current location.”

His words stuck to me. Alien. Most of what I’m made of right now isn’t from Earth. I’ve changed, grown stronger and tougher, can use powers other people can only dream of. Yet, those ‘other people’ are also changing. But why? And how? They just use magic out of nowhere, activate spells without even knowing them. The world’s going to shit and despite that, its people are gradually adapting to the changes. Preparing to ride the storm. The thing is, how long do we have until the storm catches up?

----------------------------------------

Because, I really can’t do this alone.

It was three hours later when my sister popped in through the front door.

“Hi, Nat. Welcome home.,” I greeted, giving her a small smile.

“Hey, Damien. By the way, there’s someone outside that wants to see you.”

When she said that, I felt someone’s magic pulse from outside the door.

A familiar magic.

Following my sister’s words, I walked out of the door to find a blonde man with a beard sporting white robes. It was...

“Solur?”

The Pioran God of Light looked at me with relief.

“You still remember me,” he said with a gentle look on his face.

“It has only been a year and a few months. Did you get in here through the Vault?”

“Yes. Me and a few of the gods realized something was amiss when a our connection with the Vault got cut off for a few minutes. I volunteered to check on it and this is what I found – your world.”

“Welcome, I guess.”

I felt a bit intimidated by the man. He was a god after all, standing there with an air that screamed ‘bow down’. However, Solur was one of the nicer gods. Like a wise grandpa.

“My influence on light here is bit weak. I’m assuming it’s because my counterpart has more control than I do,” he surmised, scratching his beard while thinking. “Where is he, anyways. I’d like to speak to him.”

“About that... I don’t know. I had a link with him for the past few months so that I could talk to him at anytime but these few days haven’t been great for him and I. Monsters from Piora have been invading for three months or so I’ve had to track each one down with the help of God,” I explained.

“God?”

“Your counterpart doesn’t really have a name. Just goes by God. Or Father. Or Lord. Or Allah. Or- you know what? He does have a lot of names but they aren’t really conventional. Anyways, instead of controlling one aspect of the world like you do, he controls everything.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Interesting.” He started to stroke his beard now.

“I’ve got a lot of questions myself. Like, do you know what’s going on?” I inquired.

“With the disappearances? And the appearances? I have an idea.”

I’m finally getting somewhere with all that’s happening.

“Antha, the god of magic as you know, said something about Piora recognising Earth as its grounds. Apparently, its treating the world like a dungeon, spawning monsters in. However, due to the connection being somewhat distorted, the monsters that are spawning are random. That’s all I’ve got, though. I don’t know why we’re swapping people.” He shrugged.

“That’s what I want to know. I came back here through a spell and I don’t think-“

“A spell?” He looked very concerned.

“Yeah. It sacrificed the Demon King to send me back here.”

His face scrunched up in thought. "Was there something wrong with what I said?"

“Just... a small contradiction.” He fell silent.

Seeing as he had nothing more to say, I continued what I was saying.

“Anyways, I came back through some sort of spell and it sacrificed the Demon King to do it. The excess mana from the sacrifice travelled here with me which caused it to infest the forest where I arrived and then multiply.”

Solur just looked confused. “Makes sense. It takes an unfathomable amount of mana to summon a being through worlds, something only sacrificing a soul of great power can yield.”

Now I was confused. “Then how was I summoned to Piora in then in the first place? I know for sure Vivian wouldn't allow sacrificing others just to summon a person.”

“Us gods heard the races' plea. We don’t usually interfere with the problems of mortals to keep the balance of power between races, but the Demon King and his army were too numerous and too violent. We needed to quell them so we gave them the mana needed for the summoning.”

“Okay. Yet the fact still remains that people are being exchanged for monsters. Hundreds of people went missing and hundreds have died from attacks.”

“We honestly don’t know what’s happening.” Solur’s face was grim. “A few weeks ago, some sort of flying machine had appeared near the dragon’s territory and attacked the settlement. It was subsequently destroyed. I presume that came from here?”

“A-a jet.”

That can’t be good.

“A jet, huh. Well, as you can see, the denizens of your world aren’t the only ones troubled by these events,” he stated as a fact. “Prayers from our worshippers tell us of non-magical beasts getting within the parameter of villages at night and attacking people. Their alarms weren’t set off as they are triggered by mana signatures, something animals from your world don’t have. Easy to kill, but not before they take a life or two with them.”

“I didn’t think it would be-“

“Of course you didn’t.” Anger was clear in his words. The sunlight intensified as Solur’s magic fluctuated. “Elves, humans, dwarves, goblins, giants, and dragons to some extent are still just like your people. They can be vulnerable,” with his hands, he moulded light into each race on his palm. “No matter how strong they are, magically-attuned, or physically-empowered, they can still be vulnerable. Vulnerable to the unknown. Those animals, and that jet, were unknown to them. They were completely bypassing all laws of their world, like the monsters from ours bypass yours. You can’t fight something that plays dirty.” Closing his eyes, Solur snuffed out the replicas.

I clenched my fist. I spent three years in Piora and now that I’m gone, I’ve barely even thought about the people I saved, the people who depended on me. I’ve been hung up on Vivian yet I’ve hardly said thanks to her in my head, or to Terrence, Fredrick, Layla, and Bolvar. All the times Terrence had my back with his tower shield ready to catch enemy spells. All the times Fredrick picked off that annoying mage who wouldn’t let up. Each time I got wounded, Layla was there to patch me up and send me back out. Good ol’ Bolvar smashing the enemies’ faces in with his magic-imbued gauntlets. And Vivian. She could clear hundreds of monsters with just a few spells. They were my friends through thick and thin and I haven’t even thought about how they were doing, or if they’re alright. I’m not a very good friend or hero.

“I-I don’t know what to say,” I said, hanging my head low.

“Then don’t say anything.” I could hear him starting to walk away. “I’m going to go back to Piora now. I just wanted to find you or a god to speak to about the situation and see if you guys knew anything. Oh, and I’m sorry for blowing up on you. All the stress from these past few months have been taking a toll on me.” The light in the area calmed down. “Come to the Vault if you want to contact me, or any of the gods. Antha set up a portal system to ignore the mana cost to go from Piora to Earth and vice-versa. It only works in the Vault so that’s why you need to come there. Ambient mana from all the divine weapons allows for such passage.”

He started to blend in with the light. Before Solur leaves, I needed to ask one more question.

“H-how are my friends,” I called out to him. “I’m feeling guilty about how I just left them back at our campsite outside of the castle to go and fight Jaraxxus by myself. Are they fine?”

Solur’s figure immediately became full again.

“Your friends? Well, when you left, they all sort of split to go back to their respective kingdoms. They needed to inform their rulers of the Demon King’s defeat. Bolvar, Terrence, and Fredrick were very sad about your disappearence but understood your actions, to some extent. Layla was spitting profanities the entire time they searched for you but calmed down after a while. Mad they were of your actions, especially Vivian. She did not like finding you gone from the campsite and finding Jaraxxus castle in ruins. It got even worse when she couldn’t find you after they looked through the rubble. She got angry, then cried, then angry again, then just cried for a while. She destroyed a lot of things during the whole fiasco.”

“I’m a piece of shit,” I said under my breath. How could I do that to her? To them?

“Maybe you are, but you did your job – what you set out to do. You worried for the lives of your friends so you sacrificed yours to finish the job without anyone dying. A noble cause, indeed. As a hero, you were the best there was. The past year for them was great as well. Hailed as heroes and that, with your name echoing in each country. As a friend however... not so much.” He scratched his beard a little while chuckling to himself. “Nevertheless, I do believe they’ll have their word with you soon enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, with the way things are going, I can’t help but feel there is more to this little inter-world event then we can ever imagine. Maybe you’ll be sent to Piora as well! With that, good bye.” Smiling, his figure warped into streams of light.