The world of Aos was on fire. Monsters shrieked into the deep crimson sky and the blood moon was on the rise. Decades of peace between races broken by a single evil force rising from the north and destroying everything in its path. An endless stream of mangled bodies lay scattered across the man’s surroundings as he made his way towards a writhing mass of tentacles swarmed by darkness. Each patch of its flesh was splitting and stained with purple magic. Two gnarled and yellow eyes viewed his passage with anger. 

He and his companions had scaled mountains and rivers, traversed the underworld and crossed volcanoes to reach this monster. The splintered races had converged in harmony for the first time in a thousand years to fight against its reign of terror. It was the source of all evil in the world.

The Lord of Eternal Night. 

You dare to challenge a god?

Reality itself peeled back from the creature as its disembodied voice cracked sharply through the air.  It had conquered the ancient rainbow forest, slain the nascent forces of humanity and wreaked destruction upon the great world tree. At its birth, the heavens had trembled and the oracles of life had wept for the world. But for all its power it found itself overpowered by an unfamiliar emotion. Something that it had caused a thousand times over in the hearts of mortals, but never felt itself. 

Fear. 

Walking calmly towards it was a single man holding an ornate sword, his eyes ablaze with golden fire. Guardian of the rainbow forest, wielder of the sacred sword and the true champion of humanity. The greatest blade master in the world. 

Maximillian Bladecaller.

“Earth to Dennis Rothman.”

“Challenge?” His eyes lit up with fury as bright as the long-dead Aos sun. “No. There will be no challenge. Today I will kill a god.”

Then his sight went black and he jolted as he felt a pair of hands covering his eyes.

“Peekaboo! Anyone in there?” A sweet and honeyed voice spoke gently into his ear.

“Darling.” Dennis smiled as he lifted the hands off his eyes. “Aren’t we a little too old for peekaboo?”

He felt Sasha wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug as she reached for the remote. He pretended to protest as she turned the television off but he didn’t really care. He’d seen the trilogy so many times that he could recite it line for line.

[The Great Maximillian Bladecaller.]

A series of high fantasy movies that had struck the world by storm. There wasn’t a single soul that hadn’t heard its name, even if they hadn’t watched it. It had caused the establishment of fan clubs and hardcore communities alike. But there was a different Dennis liked to watch the movies.

He was the titular star.

“Aren’t you tired of watching your own films?” She gave him a playful peck on the cheek and stood up. “It’s bad enough that you keep the sword over there.”

Dennis felt a deep connection to the films he had acted in. Officially, he’d retired to spend time with his family and work on side projects. It wasn’t a complete lie. He loved his wife more than anything else, but he also knew she’d have supported him if he wanted to keep on acting. No, it wasn't her that had made him leave.

He just knew he’d never be able to top the character that was Maximillian Bladecaller. He could feel it in his bones when the films were still being shot. He had reached the peak of his skill and would never again reach those heights. He was content to let the world know him at his best, and now watch him fall down from that peak. 

“Ha.” Dennis lifted himself off the couch and walked towards the sword that his wife was talking about. Swathed in blue, white and gold it was a perfect replica of the one used in the films. They called it ‘Oathkeeper’. “You won’t be complaining when I clobber the robber trying to break into our house.”

“Well, when the lawsuits for murder hit you just remember that I’ll be there to bail your sweet ass out.” Sasha grinned as she brought out a kitchen knife. “Are you going to use that thing to cut the carrots again?”

“It worked last time... mostly.” Dennis gave her an innocent smile and she shook her head good naturedly. 

Ever since Dennis got the thing from a fan, he’d been using it everywhere he could. The last time he’d tried to use the sword to cut through vegetables they had to buy a new benchtop. It was sharp and Dennis kept it clean enough that Sasha feared for their new kitchen. 

“Relax. I’ve been taking lessons.” Dennis playfully grabbed the sword and brought it towards the kitchen bench, teasingly lowering it dangerously close to the benchtop.

“Dennis…” Sasha’s voice grew low.

“Fine, fine.” Dennis laughed but didn’t remove the sword.

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He seriously wanted to chop at least one thing with it.

“NO DENNIS. LOOK.” Suddenly Sasha was shouting and Dennis jolted in surprise, realising that she wasn’t looking at him.

She was looking at the floor underneath him.

Dennis followed her gaze and his mouth opened in surprise. The entire floor was lighting up in brilliant blue patterns and they covered the entire floor around his body. Not only that, but he could see red patterns intersecting with them and moving over to Sasha as she tried to run towards him. 

He tried to move away but his whole body was sluggish, as though it was being held down. “What the hell?” 

The patterns grew brighter and he winced as the entire kitchen suddenly seemed to fill with red and blue. When he opened his eyes, tangible threads of blue and red light were roping themselves around his body and around Sasha’s. He could see her struggling as she tried to reach for him and he lifted his hand to pull the threads off of her body. 

Then they started pulling him down towards the ground.

“HONEY.” He shouted at her as the red and blue lights surrounded them. 

He struggled as he felt his body plunging into the ground but as he called out to Sasha, his vision went black and his consciousness began to fade. The last thing he saw as his eyes began to blur was the sight of his wife being dragged into the ground by the crimson that surrounded her. 

Then it all faded into black.

****

‘Where am I?’

Dennis opened his eyes with a groan. He couldn’t feel any pain in his body, in fact, he couldn’t feel anything. The world around him was devoid of anything except space, and he was flying through it gently as though being carried by a breeze. He tried to move his head to see his surroundings but the same space assaulted his sight no matter where he looked. A dark, endless nothingness. 

‘Is this death?’

Dennis shivered in fright as his body floated through a dark expanse. His body paralysed as it drifted and soon he found himself wondering how long it would be before the scenery changed. 

He didn’t have to wait for long.

‘What?’ Dennis’s vision blurred as four bright lights shot out from the darkness and flew towards him. No, they were flying towards the same place he was going. ‘What are those?’

The lights slowed down as they approached him and floated alongside him. The darkness rippled and writhed around them and Dennis watched with wide eyes as a brilliant blue light appeared in front of him. The moment the light touched his body, it was as though someone had pulled a switch. An unseen force violently dragged his entire body towards the blue light. 

Dennis blinked in pain as it pushed his body through the light. ‘Oh my go-’

‘-d… ?’

The endless darkness was abruptly and violently replaced by a rather grand looking hall and his brain exploded with a sharp pain as he tried to make sense of the sudden dissonance. Dennis grabbed his head as the pain wracking his body slowly subsided. 

‘What?’ Dennis froze in fear as his mind tried to work out what was happening.

One moment he had been in his kitchen and the next he was in this place. He scrunched his eyes closed and then opened them again, hoping that everything would return to normal. But it all stayed the same. The moment his senses came back to him, he took a deep breath to calm himself. 

He was kneeling on a marble floor but he wasn’t alone. 

He gazed at his surroundings and saw four people waiting patiently in front of him. One was dressed from head to toe in regal attire. A gaudy, flowing red cape, and more buttons than Dennis could count. His very presence seemed to dwarf the room and draw the eyes. The other two were more subdued, with long black robes covering their bodies. The only distinctive feature they had was that one was holding a golden staff encrusted with jewels. To Dennis, it looked like something straight out of a movie. 

The man with the long cape turned to face him and Dennis could see his eyes widen a fraction. “Astonishing. Even the turbulence of the summoning ritual could not cause you to drop your sword.” 

Dennis followed the man’s eyes and shivered. Without realising somehow he’d kept his fingers wrapped tightly around Oathkeeper, his knuckles turning white from the pressure he was forcing on it. He hadn’t even noticed he was carrying it.

He lifted his head behind the caped man and shoved any response he would have had aside. Sitting grandly atop a gilded throne and wearing a gold crown was a man with sunken eyes and a hunched back. Dennis had never seen someone seem so regal yet so defeated. His eyes seemed to jump from side to side as he scanned Dennis, then they moved on to the space beside him.

Dennis followed the crowned man’s gaze and saw four other people kneeling like he was. But a couple of them were already starting to stand up, their eyes panicked but also alert. 

“Greetings.” The caped man standing in front of the throne swept his gaze over Dennis and the four others. “I am Kaerul, the royal orator. I understand the process must have confused you.” 

“That is quite the understatement.” An elderly voice responded to Kaerul’s comment with a dry tone.

Dennis tilted his head to get a better look at the person. An old man with a brilliantly stitched grey robe was staring at Kaerul with a knitted brow, but other than his brief statement it didn’t seem that he was going to interrupt any further.

“Yes.” Kaerul seemed to take the comment in stride. “There will be explanations. But know that the king welcomes you. For all of you are heroes of your own worlds. Handpicked because of your deeds and abilities, and your generosity of spirit. The great Gurge Stormcutter, the fierce Yeshra Dragonblood, the graceful Alvina Swiftfoot, the blessed Gregorian Manaborn,” Kaerul turned to face him and Dennis shuddered at the awe and piety in his eyes. “And the most esteemed Maximillian Bladecaller of Aos.”

‘What?’ Dennis couldn’t figure out what this kook was on about. ‘I’m Dennis Rothman. And I would very much like to know what is going on.’

But he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. 

He looked around and saw that the other four people were looking at each other curiously. None of them seemed as shocked as Dennis was, so he tried his best to hide the fear and confusion he knew was showing on his face. He wasn’t a world-class actor for nothing. 

“Most illustrious heroes of the cosmos.” Kaerul’s arms lowered and he knelt down before the group, his posture and expression deadly serious. “Evil is on the rise, and the world is in peril. We have summoned you, the greatest heroes of your worlds, to beg your aid. Please…” 

Kaerul stared at them and Dennis saw tears in his eyes.

“... Help save us from destruction.”