Chapter 1

“Where the hell am I?”

I have no idea how I reached this place.  One moment, I was going to sleep at home, and the next, I’m in a room with hundreds of other people.  Strangely, my clothes were completely different from what I was used to wear.  It felt like a rough, sturdy shirt and pants made of some similar material.  I also noticed the distinct lack of underwear.  That is more unpleasant that you would think. 

The room appears to be a giant hall that is ornately decorated with marble statues and silver lining.  It felt like a fancy temple of some kind. 

Everyone around me appears to be confused as well.  Basically, the contents of everyone’s conversation was:

"Where are we?"

"How did we get here?"

"What's going on?"

*The crowd makes a ruckus*

The panic among people was growing as the lack of answers was becoming more and more apparent.  I tried pinching myself, because apparently that’s how you discover whether something is a dream or not.  I felt pain, but that didn’t mean anything.  I have never pinched myself in a dream, so I have no idea if it works.  Even I was starting to feel a faint sense of fear, and I’m a "go with the flow" kind of guy. 

I have no idea how I got here.  Hmmm…maybe I’m dead?  There’s a lot of people here, so that’s a possibility.  That or something has to be wrong with my head.  It’s unfortunate, but it looks like I’m going to the crazy house.

Suddenly, a group of men wearing luxurious white robes entered the room and took center stage.

"Everyone, can I have your attention please?  I know you have many questions, and I'll answer all that I can" said a man that looked more important than the others.

With the appearance of someone who knew what they wanted to know, a huge crowd attempted to swarm the men, and demand answers.

"Please quiet down everyone." The man looked stricken with the swarming people.  If some guards hadn't entered at the last moment and held the crowd back, the crowd definitely looked like they would have mobbed him.  "Please everyone, calm yourselves.  Please!  PLEASE EVERYONE BE QUIET!  THAT’S IT!!  ALL OF YOU, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN!!!!!!!" 

The last words were angry and full of authority, booming unnaturally loud throughout the entire hall.  People were so surprised that they obeyed.

"Dammit, making a Bishop of the Order swear in public...ahem...I apologize for my outburst", the man recovered his composure.  "My name is Darius Lightsky.  I am the head of church in the city of Ritvale.  You all must be very surprised.  After all, finding yourself snatched from whatever you were doing, and appearing here must be very confusing.  That must have been rough.  I empathize with your situation and I apologize for the pain and discomfort we may have caused you.  We didn't want to summon any of you here, however, we had no choice and we have need of your help."

"What kind of help could you possibly need from us?" Someone questioned from the crowd.

"Our world is under attack and we are slowly losing the ability to resist the invaders by ourselves", Darius said solemnly.  “We would like you to help us and join our fight."

"Why should we risk our lives?" A hysterical woman asked.  “I don’t want to die!  Especially not in a war for people I don’t know!”

“You’re right” Darius said calmly.  “You don’t know any of us.  In fact, if you really want to go back to your world, it’s really easy.”

“How do we do that?” asked another person in the crowd.

“Just wait 24 hours, or you can just die here.” said Darius with an evil grin. 

The commotion that broke out from the announcement, and people were starting to go hysterical again.  It built until people started rioting.

“QUIET!!!!!!!!!!” Darius boomed and the crowd returned back to normal.  “Relax.  When you die here, our Gods will take you back to your world, at the exact moment that we took you.”

“How is that possible???” asked someone with an incredulous look on their face.

“Many things are possible, and this is our Gods who are doing this” Darius replied.  “I can’t pretend to understand the specifics.  Just know that what I tell you is true.”

“So we can just go back?” the same guy asked disbelievingly.  “After dying, to the exact same point in time without injuries?”

“Yes.  Every day, at the same time on your world, all of you will be sent here to our world for 24 hours, and then be returned to your own world at the moment that you left.  For example, after 24 hours here, you will be sent to back to the exact moment that you left.  Then, after 24 hours has passed in your world, you will be sent back here, at the exact same time that you left here in our world.  This will happen every day.  To us, it will be as if you never left, but for you, you will have passed another 24 hours in your world.”

“Time won’t pass for us in either world?”  People were skeptical.  They weren’t wrong to be like that either.

“That’s right.  Time will not pass for you in either world while you are gone!  In addition, you won’t age in our world at all!  You could even say, you’ll be able to live two lifetimes because of this” Darius shrewdly explained. 

I see.  This seems to be the carrot and stick approach.  The best incentive in the world is telling someone that they could live longer by doing something specific.  People could always be counted on trying to live the longest life they could, and many would jump at this chance.

“That’s amazing, if it’s true!” that man said (declaring what everyone thought was the obvious).  “But, how do we know it’s true?”

“You don’t” Darius replied sternly.  His demeanor had changed once he heard the man implying that he was a liar.  “You can choose to believe me or not.  It doesn’t change anything either way.  You don’t have any other options.  I can’t send you back.  No one here can.  I didn’t summon you here.  None of us did.  Our Gods summoned you all and only the Gods can send you back.  And that is what they promised.  God can’t break their promises any more than we can live without breathing.  If the Gods break their promise—which they won’t—their existence would be obliterated.  Anyways, you should know the truth in about 24 hours, so quit complaining.”

“I see” the man nodded.  “I’m glad we will be able to get confirmation.  You understand our position.  We can’t just take your word for it.”

“Anyways, not only do you get more time to live, there are other rewards as well—rewards that make it highly worthwhile to participate” Darius explained.  “Everything that you learn here, and all of the changes to your body, you take back with you when you leave here…But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We are in a state of emergency.  For the last five years, our country is being attacked by creatures, and all evidence suggests that this is a global phenomenon, as we had reports from many countries across the world.  We have no idea where they are coming from, if they have a leader, or anything else about the creatures except that they are all hostile.  All attempts at communication have unsuccessful.  Whenever they see anything living here, they will attack without fail.  It doesn’t matter what kind of creature it is, they will all attack us.  We have no choice but to fight back for our lives.  Outside our towns and cities, these creatures have literally infested our world.  And from what we can tell, they are winning.  Their area of influence is slowly increasing, and ours in correspondingly decreasing.  We have also lost contact with many countries on the other side of the world.  It is unknown if they have fallen, or merely have had their communications interrupted due to damages in our network…”  Darius had a solemn look on his face.

How do you expect us to fight them?  I’m just a normal person…

“That is where you all come in.  We would like your help in saving our world.  In this city alone, it is estimated that approximately one million of you have been summoned into this city, in designated areas.  Don’t ask how we are able to fit you all in this city.  Suffice it to say, we spent the last year making cheap housing to temporarily fit all of you.  What I want to say is that this isn’t the only city in which people in your world were summoned.  People were summoned into cities and town all over world!  As long as they are over the age of 12, they are able to be summoned here!”  Darius was very excited about this prospect. 

WHAT???  WTF????  These people do understand that the population of their world went up by BILLIONS right?  How the heck will they feed and house us all?  Let not kid ourselves.  There’s no way that they have billions of jobs worldwide open to us.  That only leaves one option…which is fighting against the hordes of homicidal creatures.  That’s just peachy.

“I know that the more intelligent among you have already begun to worry.  With so many of you, there can’t be normal jobs for everybody.  This is true.  There are a limited amount of safe jobs for now, for those of you that don’t want to fight.  Children also have the option of going to school here!  However, before you completely reject it, fighting these creatures should be very attractive to you guys.  Fighting these creatures lead to the two things most people want, no matter what world they are on.  That is money and power!”

Okay, I’m intrigued. What, of course I want to be rich.  Don’t look at me like that.  You know anyone would prefer to be rich.  Anyways, how does this lead to money and power?  Sure, if you fight a lot, you get stronger, but where does the money come from.  Wait—no, it can’t be.  I hope it’s not that.

“Killing these creatures makes you stronger!  Every time you kill one of them, their essence is merged into your own, making your body stronger, healthier, and increases your life span!  The more essence you collect, the stronger you will become!  And I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet!  The changes to your body that you obtain here will go back will you to earth every day! This is your reward for helping us survive!  My world’s people have already been experiencing this benefit for the last 5 years.  That’s the only reason why we have survived until now.  If it weren’t for the fact that our enemies outnumber us greatly, we never would have needed to summon you all here!  I suspect that they have a very high reproductive rate that we cannot match…”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Holy crap!  I can get stronger by killing monsters?  This sounds like a game! 

“It is also a money making business.  As I’ve told you, these creatures roam freely outside our city and most other places across our country.  As a result, we lost the abilities to easily produce food.  So we went another route.  We turned to eating these creatures.  Just like they eat us, we now feast upon them.  They don’t taste too bad either.  It seems that the more essence a creature contains, the more delicious they become.  Hunters go out to kill and collect their bodies to feed our population.  We also use their other parts for different products.  People who bring back highly sought over materials make lots of money and live in luxury!”

I see!  So this is how to become powerful and wealthy at the same time!  It’s like two birds with one stone!

“Of course, the money doesn’t go back with you to earth, but hunting is a money consuming occupation!  You can use the money to obtain stronger and better weapon to hunt for more creatures and gain more strength.  And the new found strength you gain with all the essence you receive should help in allowing you to live a good life on earth!  Or you could ue the money to live in luxury or buy technology to take back to earth.  On the other hand, you should know that just because you were brought here, doesn’t mean you have to fight.  There are other things you can do as support like farming, acquiring resources, building weapons, scouting, or who knows what else.  I want you all to understand that we aren’t forcing you to fight or do anything against your will.  As long as what you choose helps us in some way, or at the very least, do not hurt us, you can do whatever you want within reason.  We aren’t unreasonable.  Of course, the likelihood that you receive essence from a safe job is unlikely.  Of course, our Gods can always award you with essence for completing their requests.”

I could sense the change in the crowd’s mood.  Everyone was becoming more relaxed once they found out that they weren’t being recruited into some massive army.  Well, that was to be expected.  I was relieved too.

A stir of excitement went through the crowd.  Many people around me appear to be filled with greed at the thought of becoming an all-powerful overlord.  I was also feeling excitement, but I frowned.  I can almost smell everyone’s desire.  People were going to go crazy over trying to kill monsters for a chance to change their lives on earth.  It was like this guy was trying to rile them up by offering them stuff for nothing.  This was quite literally a deal that was too good to be true.

Darius could tell that the Outworlders were hanging on his every word now.  He completely understood the lure.  Had he been pulled from his world, into another, and told that working there could lead him to having power that was 100X better than anyone in his own world, he would jump at the chance too.

“Our Gods are very benevolent to allow you all to take this essence back with you.  Their reasoning was that you all would be far more willing to fight and kill our enemy if there was a real incentive.  However, be warned!  If you die in this world, your connection here will be cut, and you will no longer be able to come back!”

Die, and it is game over in this world?  That sounds both harsh, and reasonable at the same time.  After all, it’s not actually a video game.

“Anyways, to be eligible for the rewards, you must accept the agreement”

A screen popped up in front of me.

Divine Reward Contract with the Gods of Arecia

You have been offered a contract with the Gods to aid the people of this world in exchange for great rewards.  The way you choose to aid this world is up to you. Please read over the following contract and make your decision.

* On Death in this world, you are returned to your own world, alive, without any injuries, with your memories of this world intact, in the same place and time as you were taken that day.

* Should anyone somehow change their Race or Genetics, it will be retained on return to Earth. Think carefully on whether you wish to have DNA spliced into your own, as it is irreversible and you may lose the ability to reproduce with others of your race.

* You will retain your accumulated essence as a reward when you are returned to your own world.

* You will retain all of your knowledge when you are returned to your own world.

* You will retain all of your abilities as a reward when you are returned to your own world.

* You cannot interfere with your contract or anyone else’s through any ability. Attempting to do so will void your contract and lead to the loss of your ability to return to your own world.

* You must not indiscriminately murder any of this world’s inhabitants. The invading creatures do not count as this world’s inhabitants. Lethal self-defense is allowed. Breaking this rule may void your contract and lead to the loss of your ability to return to your own world. In return, the inhabitants of this world will work with you fairly and within the laws.

* All rewards are given on death regardless of the success or failure of the mission to help eradicate the enemy from this world.

* If you do something worthy, you may be offered a chance to modify this agreement for additional rewards.

You understand that once you die here, you will not be able to return to the World of Arecia again.

You understand that if you die on Earth, your connection to the World of Arecia will be automatically terminated.

Do you choose to accept?

If you choose to accept, you will remain in this world to face the perils alongside Arecia’s inhabitants.

If you choose to decline, you will automatically be returned to your own world immediately.

“The notice that has popped up in front of you all is called a Divine Contract.  It known as such because you’re making an agreement with the Gods.  We have our own version called a Soul contract.  Both parties must follow the rules of the contact, or else it can lead to unpleasant consequences.  Be careful who you sign a contract with.  Not every agreement is as fair as this one.  One might even say that this agreement is far more than fair.  Not only do you get to live here as well as your own on earth, you get to take stuff back to earth.  Anyways, take a moment to accept or decline.”

         A wave of murmurs that sounded like agreement went through the crowd.  I guess if Darius was the one writing this agreement, he would have tried to get more out of us.  He just looked like someone who would try to screw you over if he had the chance.  Darius looked weasel-faced like that.

It didn’t appear as if anyone was going to decline the agreement.  Like Darius said, it wasn’t like we had much of a choice.  There was no guarantee that if we declined the agreement that we would be sent back.  For all we knew, pressing no would just kill us on the spot, without sending us back.  Gods could probably take the punishment for breaking the agreement quite easily.  On the other hand, maybe not.  Agreeing a contract that provides benefits, with no real disadvantages for us, assume everything we were told was true, was obviously a much better option than declining to face an unknown fate. 

I took the opportunity to accept the agreement quickly alongside all the others.  Once I accepted, there was a flash and an extremely painful burning sensation on the back of my right hand that lasted an instant.  Surprised yelps of pain were heard throughout the stadium.  On my hand appeared this small white circle tattoo.

“Oh, I completely forgot about that!” Darius said, with a grinning expression on his face that made you seriously doubt it.  “I apologize for not warning you about the pain or the appearance of the tattoo.  That tattoo is recognition of your contract with the Gods.  You should understand that that tattoo is the contract that contains…well let’s call it all of your data, taking an analogy from your time period.  What?  Don’t be so surprised.  We went through our digital age 1000 years ago.  You’ll have time to learn about some of our history later.  Some of you may even learn some of our technology and replicate it in your world, leading to technological revolutions.  Natives here have their own tattoo, and you can easily distinguish between Natives and Earthlings.” 

Hmmm?  That sounded interesting and somewhat promising.  It would also mark us all so we could be recognized on sight.  It seemed to be both good and bad. 

“Other than storing the contract, it’s not really useful except to identify you as an Earthling.  Don’t worry, no will discriminate against you in this land unless they wish to die.  Your tattoo will also change depending on the things you do.  You can think of it as a tapestry that vaguely describes your journey in picture form.  It’s a cute little function more for your own entertainment.  You guys can compare tattoos if you want ha ha.

In case you didn’t see it in the contract, it is forbidden to tamper with them, whether it’s your own or someone else’s.  SO DON’T DO IT!  Some of you will be tempted to do it, to try to cheat the contract and alter your own tattoo to claim that you obtained something that you really didn’t.  I’m sure you’re very clever, and maybe you’ll totally trick our Gods.  We totally encourage this behavior, because it will be very entertaining.  For us.  For you, not so much.  Let’s just say, you’ll be lucky if they just terminate your contract and send you to Earth.  It’s hard to find good entertainment these days….anyways, do so at your own risk.  We are not responsible for this.  Tampering with another person’s tattoo against their will is strongly discouraged.  You will alert the Gods, and they will turn their gaze upon you, and I bet you a million credits that it won’t be a nice one.“

Yes, well I figured we wouldn’t be able to tamper with our contracts.  It’s nice to know though that the Gods will protect me if someone else tries to tamper with my contract.  I wouldn’t want to get stuck here forever.  Or worse, be blown up into little tiny pieces from the backlash.  On a side note, it appears that “credits” are the form of currency here.  I’m going to need me some credits.

“There are some other important details…as the contract states, Humans aren’t the only race that live in this world.  There are countless others, such as dwarves, elves, avian, dragons, goblins, trolls, and ogres.  Try to not be too surprised if you come across different races.  Do not fight them unless absolutely necessary.  Just like humans, every race comes with people who are both good and bad. 

Just because you find a race ugly, doesn’t mean they find you attractive.  It is more than likely that they find you just as repulsive.  Don’t offend someone just because they are different.  Tolerance and unity is key to winning this war for our existence.  If you If you kill off our potential allies, it would truly be a shame.”

“Wait, if you have all these races to choose from, why didn’t you summon one of them?”  This time, I asked the question.  “Why not summon 100,000 dragons from another world, or a billion elves, or something else?  Why did you call on us?”

Darius looked at me with a strange look in this eyes.  He obviously haven’t been expecting that anyone would be asking him that particular question, or by the look of it, any questions at all once the agreement had been accepted.  It looked like he was assuming we would all be so happy to gain and chance at rewards with no risk that we would just go completely with the flow.

“First of all, I didn’t summon you.  Our Gods did.  If you really want to know, there is just one main reason.  It’s because our Gods have determined that your world is next to be invaded by these creatures!  In one year’s time, Earth will have to face these creatures, just like us!”

WHAT!!!!!  Why the hell didn’t you start with that information?  That crowd around me was shocked and all started talking at once.

“Sorry, I got sidetracked earlier and totally forgot to mention it.”

NOT A GOOD ENOUGH REASON!!!  THAT’S A MAJOR PIECE OF INFORMATION!!!

“So you see, unlike us, you will have a leg up on the invasion.  If you guys kill enough monsters here, not only will you be stronger for Earth’s invasion, you will also have killed off potential future enemies.  On the other side, for us, we get strong allies.  Monsters will be sent towards your world, and that would be less we have to face in the future.  Perhaps, with two worlds fighting, we can figure things out and stop these creatures once and for all.”

Fuck!  FuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuck!!  FUCKKKKKKKKKK!  This is bad.  This is really bad.

 “You guys are panicking like crazy right now, aren’t you?  *sigh*  That’s why I didn’t want to bring it up right now.  To be honest, I was going to let you guys acclimate to this world, and then tell you guys in a week about it.  I changed my mind though.  Everyone needs to know what is at stake here.  That way you take out plea for help seriously, as well as the safety of your own world.  Our God’s didn’t need to give you or us this chance.  I hope everyone from both worlds takes this seriously.”

This doesn’t sound like fun anymore.  I can’t take the safe way out anymore.  That’s not an option.  Looks like I’ll have to fight.

“Anyways, as I’ve answered your question, I’ll be moving along to more important things.  As I’ve mentioned before, this is the City of Ritvale.  All of you are extremely lucky to have been summoned here.  Ritvale is a huge city that has many powerful fighters.  On top of that, there are numerous guilds here with many different skills.  You can learn almost anything in this city.  Assuming you pass their requirements, you can learn everything they have to offer while working.  You can also go to different guilds and ask to learn their skills, for a price. 

         For 3 months, everyone will be allowed a grace period to train, explore, or do whatever they please.  We won’t change any sort of living costs during that time.  Basic necessities such as 2 meals a day and free shelter will be provided.  Anything beyond those, you will have to work for.  Food is always in short supply so it would be best to be grateful.  All guilds will be teaching their basic skills at no cost, if you wish to learn.  Even if you learn all of the basic skills that they are allowed to teach you, you are not obligated to join their group.  I would recommend learning all that you can during that time period, as it will make survival easier.  Hell, if you have talent, you may even be able to learn to use Aura soon.  I’m sure someone will explain all of that to you later at some point.”

Ah, that’s far more helpful.  I would rather have some time to acclimate and learn all I can before I decide what I should do.  Rather, this is a perfect time to learn every skill I possibly can before I die fighting monsters in this world and get sent back home. 

Darius thought for a moment.  “I think I have covered a lot and you all must still be processing all of this information.  I let you guys think everything over and choose what you want to do.”