Chapter 1 - Welcome to your first story

An idyllic beach stretched as far as the eye could see, water as clear as crystal and sand so fine it could be mistaken for flour, all lit up by a beautiful sunset that highlighted the beauty of the place, a perfect stop for the best vacation anyone could wish for, however...

"Incoming!"

Loud and powerful explosions could suddenly be heard, while the sand was flying all around due to the explosions just a few seconds after the previous warning shout. Five people emerged from the huge smoke curtain, running as fast as their legs allowed them, with expressions of terror and fatigue, followed by a series of sharp roars, similar to pieces of metal scraping against each other.

*SCREEEEEEEEEECH*

Large masses of greenish colors cleared the smoke just by passing through it, finally revealing themselves as huge formations with a humanoid appearance but made up of vines, huge leaves, and many large flowers, which not only were releasing a large amount of what seemed to be yellow pollen but also had their petals covered with sharp fangs.

"It's no use, I’m almost out of ammo here!"

Yelled one of the five individuals, a tall and muscular-looking man who, for some reason, seemed to have two enormous smoking cannons attached to his back, revealing that they had been fired recently.

"Let’s retreat! We have been running all day, there’s no end to those things, let’s follow… Aaaaaggghhh!"

A woman in the group had tried to give the order to retreat; however, before she could finish her sentence, a very thorny vine emerged from the sand just beneath her feet, piercing her legs and anchoring her in place, and she was not the only one; two more of her companions met the same fate, including the man with the cannons on his back.

"These fuc-"

Even with the pain this entailed, the girl swiftly lifted one of her arms, revealing that she was holding some sort of large wooden staff with a green crystal right at the tip, which began to glow rapidly. Unfortunately, the thorny vines coiled tighter around the captives' bodies, causing the pain to be so sharp that she couldn't help but release the staff, whose glow immediately faded.

"Aaaagghhh! Use it now!"

Screamed the woman with all her might, clearly enduring the pain as much as she could, and making a clear reference to one of the two men still free, time was running out as many of the abominations approached their position. Then, one of them, a man with a scar on his left cheek, extended one of his arms and seemed to concentrate with all his might, but…

⌠Unfulfilled requirements, impossible to use.⌡

A window with digital-looking text appeared out of nowhere and positioned itself in front of the man's outstretched arm while a cold voice loudly spoke out its contents, much to the surprise and distress of all those present.

"Godaaammit!"

It was too late, the monsters reached their position and extended a plethora of toothed vines towards the captives. The end was clear, the screams were swiftly silenced, and the only two survivors knew they had no time for anything else. One of them tried and started running as fast as he could without looking back, while the scarred man couldn't help but stumble due to his position, leaving him at the mercy of perishing in the same manner as his other companions.

It was it, he braced himself for the impact but, out of nowhere, the robotic and female-like voice talked once more.

⌠Notice: Requirements have been fulfilled, SR-class Plot device: “Cliffhanger” has been used.⌡

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Unaware of any of that, a young man was attending class as usual… What’s the meaning of fun? It may be reading a book, traveling to exotic places, meeting new people, or perhaps playing video games, even the most common person could find a hobby or an activity they could enjoy, right? Well, in a certain young lad's case, such activity was studying, or at least that was what he liked to think.

Adam Scholar was what you could call an average normal young man, a well-groomed but short straight black hair on a slim but firm body, not very tall but not short either, and a pair of reading glasses that covered part of his face, always stuck in some book or text in a screen. Even his name was unironically appropriate for someone like him, maybe that was part of the reason why his mother, an old-fashioned Korean doctor, chose to marry his father, a distinguished American lawyer since both greatly appreciated intelligence and knowledge. In any case, the result of two such individuals coming together produced an offspring with expectations set high regarding his future, so everything that little Adam learned since he had use of reason was that studying was all there was to do.

He was now reviewing today’s class while sitting alone in front of the classroom when the teacher finally said it was over for the day.

"Man, that was boring, wanna go to the movies?"

"Guys, let’s pack up and go eat something!"

"Hey bro, have you seen the latest episode? It was awesome."

It may be one of the most prestigious universities in the country with one of the strictest curricula in the world. Still, people in their twenty-somethings are what they are, and being Friday night most of them were preparing to get a very well-earned rest. Adam heard various comments while packing his things to return home, phrases that he didn't understand at all… Bowling? Going out to eat? Watching series? None of them sounded fun to him and it baffled him, never had he thought that searching for such trivial activities was to be frowned upon, in fact, he knew and accepted that it was something normal that people enjoyed, and it was okay, it just wasn't for him, something that he kept on repeating to himself over and over every time his mind began to wonder what it could be like. But no, he had no time for it, every day was just packed with classes, individual reviews, special tutoring, and online courses. It was a miracle that he even had time to eat, do some exercises, clean himself, and sleep, but that was the life he had always known. Truth be told, he liked how his usually stoic and cold parents got him the occasional smile and praise every time he got to share a new perfect academic record or honorific diploma, and now it was such a day. The midterms were to be published later that day and he was sure to have aced everything, as usual, with extra compliments from their teachers.

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

The way home was always the same, a very safe and easy-to-follow route, so instead of wasting time just walking, Adam liked to read his notes while moving. And that night wasn't any different, the only difference was when a very bright light turned on at one end and dazzled his glasses.

"What?"

A little confused, he turned his gaze towards the source of the said glow, only to realize that it came from a new store, one that he had never seen before despite having passed by it many times. It was a… Toy store? No, a comic store perhaps? For the first time, Adam stopped in his tracks for a few seconds to look closely. So many colors, so many wacky characters, and those were Japanese letters? People could be seen inside the store, laughing and talking animatedly while pointing to the merchandise they had nearby, he didn’t get it but some melancholy crossed his mind for a second.

"*Phew* Okay, let's go, I’m late."

Adam closed his eyes and released a big sigh before proceeding on his way, but as soon as he opened his eyelids again he realized that everything around him had turned completely white. This time, totally dizzy and momentarily stunned by the sudden change, it took him a couple of seconds to recover enough composure to see his surroundings.

The space seemed to have no end due to the exaggeratedly white color of the walls, ceiling, and floor, something that would have even made anyone nauseous had it not been for the two wooden doors, placed on what would surely be one of the edges of the room.

"W-What?"

Adam stuttered to himself, but shortly after it was clear the mysterious people there were in the same position.

"ここはどこですか？私はどこにいるの?!"

"Oh meu Deus, oh meu Deus, Aaahhh!"

"What is this?!"

Aside from the latter, understanding any of the words the other people were saying was impossible for him. Was it Japanese and Portuguese? What? Just then, the student recovered enough stability to finally get a proper look at the people who seemed to be in the same predicament as him. The first one was a short girl with long and obvious grassy hair and sloppy clothes who at first glance seemed maybe only a few years younger than Adam, and who was shouting nonstop in Japanese with a pale look; the second one was a very tall woman with short hair and mild dark skin, who seemed just a few steps away from having a panic attack, as she was squatting down and covering her head with her hands while trembling after her final shriek.

The last person was another man, a youngster just like him with short blonde hair and a school uniform, who didn't seem that upset like the other two but whose face clearly showed a mixture of confusion and fear. The guy was the only one who seemed to speak English, so Adam quickly thought it was his best shot at guessing what was happening. However, before he could even take a step, a powerful sound boomed throughout the place, echoing and making everyone freeze from shock.

"Shut up!!"

It was just then that Adam realized that he had overlooked the existence of two other people because they had not said a word until that moment. The one who had shouted was a rather tall and well-toned man with an aggressive expression, due to a scar on his left cheek, and grayish hair wearing a sleeveless shirt, who seemed more annoyed with the situation than anything else. Although everyone had turned their gazes on him, the other character was more or less nearby. Another man, although not so tall, had his face half hidden by a big straw hat that shadowed his semblance, giving him a rather threatening appearance, even more so seeing that he stood with his arms crossed and was wearing an open shirt and the same military pants with heavy boots.

"Okay, good, shut the hell up and listen… Or whatever, I don´t care, I'm only speaking here because I kind of know English, so it sucks to be you."

Said the man while pointing to both women.

"The store won't open until after we're done, so it's a shame… You, blondie! I guess this is only for you then, once we’re inside just shut up and follow what I say, okay? Don´t be a nuisance and everything will be okay."

What was that man saying? Store, going inside? It seemed that both Adam and the blonde dude were speechless, so it was a complete surprise that the one who said something before anyone else was the disheveled-looking Japanese girl.

"この場所は何ですか？私たちはどこにテレポートされたの？どうしたの？"

(TL: What is this place? Where have we been teleported to? what happened?)

Again, words that the boy didn't understand, however, to his surprise the man responded quickly.

"Oh, you catch on pretty quickly, yes, you were all teleported here from wherever you were just minutes ago."

The threatening-looking man seemed surprised by the question, but only because the girl had understood "what had happened to them", which only made the little bit of coherence that Adam had found until then completely disappear. Hadn't he said he only knew how to speak English? How could he have understood whatever they had said to him in Japanese then? Nothing made any sense, so, with the last bit of willpower left in his body, he raised his hand and asked loud and clear.

"What… What do you want from us?"

At that question, the man's surprised expression changed drastically to annoyance, but not annoyance directed towards the student, but rather boredom, as if he didn't want to have to say anything about it.

"I don't want anything from you aside from what I have already said, just wait for a bit and… Oh, there it is."

Before he could finish his sentence, a strange sound very similar to a digital tone echoed through the place like a cell phone ringtone, only for the room to become completely dark from one moment to the next, being illuminated only by a huge screen that had appeared from nowhere right on top of the entire group as it started filling up with text almost immediately. At first, Adam tried to follow the words with his eyes and read them as fast as he could, however, he stopped trying when a robotic but feminine voice began to read aloud everything that was being written.

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image [https://i.imgur.com/v0khAeL.png]

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"Joder, esta debe ser una broma, ¿Esta vez es un mundo entero lleno de fantasmas? La última vez fue solo una isla y apenas dieron puntaje por eso a pesar de lo que perdimos, ni siquiera nos están dando el rango de dificultad."

(TL: Damn, this must be a joke. Is this time an entire world full of ghosts? Last time it was just an island, and they barely gave us points for it despite what we lost. They're not even giving us the difficulty rating.)

The man spoke more to himself than anything else, making it clear that his native language seemed to be Spanish, however, all of this was completely overlooked by the rest of the people present, who had been stunned by the words and the apparent story that they had just heard, and the even more curious thing is that it seemed that everyone had understood it despite having been narrated in English.

"Wait, what does it all mean?!"

Adam tried to react as quickly as he could and asked one last question, which unfortunately was avoided by the man.

"No time, see you on the other side."

The boy was enveloped in a blinding white light at that precise moment, which made him involuntarily close his eyes.

The feeling was the same as when he arrived at that white room, only this time when he opened his eyes the only thing he could see were ruins illuminated only by powerful moonlight, this time taking much less time to get back on his feet until he was able to turn his head and perfectly appreciate where he was. The entire group was present, and the same confusion reigned among the same three, only this time it was much more intense since they were standing in the middle of a destroyed street with semi-demolished houses and cars with withered vegetation growing around.

"Haha, Welcome! To the worst story of your life."