She looked over at Kyoji-kun and wondered for what seemed like the hundredth time how he could be so calm. Then she thanked every god she could remember that she’d listened to him after… that.

She ate mechanically, the taste of the food completely forgotten by the time she took her next bite. Not just because she was still terrified, but more because of how bland it was. She knew that, compared to most other foods she’d experienced growing up, Japanese food was comparatively mild in its taste. Mild, but subtle as well.

This food? It was just plain bland.

“Tomoe…”

She looked over at Nami, one of her few classmates that remained, and wondered at how they’d become close. Especially with how they’d started.

“Mmm?”

Nami quickly looked for any guard that might be close enough to notice them talking, then went on when it was clear that they were as alone as they’d get.

“Do you think that Ryu-kin will be all right?” Nami asked anxiously, causing her own stomach to clench.

“I don’t know…” she replied, trying not to think about the fact that not a single person who’d been taken out of their cages had come back.

Nami began chewing on her nails again before she could stop her. Nami’s once well-manicured nails were now a thing of the past. She’d already chewed her nails down to the nailbed, and had even caused them to bleed on more than one occasion.

Tomoe couldn’t blame her. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since they’d been… summoned, as Kyoji-kun had called it. Summoned, then collared like animals.

She was glad, though, that their cages were so close to each other. They’d separated the boys from the girls upon arrival, though thankfully kept them all close together. By nationality.

She’d spotted Chinese and Koreans, though they, too, had suffered dramatic reductions in their numbers. She’d also managed to identify some North Americans, probably South Americans, and a few Europeans. She wasn’t sure about the Middle Eastern-looking ones, but they’d been pruned down to just one.

In fact, there were only a few of each… nationality, left now.

They’d started with much more from each region, but over the many, many days they’d been there, their numbers had steadily dwindled as their kidnappers- or “summoners”, as Kyoji called them- had taken more and more of them away. None of whom had returned.

The latest had been Ryu-kun, the rising start of the kendo club of their high school, Nakamura High School. As far as she could tell, there was no pattern to who was taken… after the initial outbursts, anyway.

She shuddered at the memory. Amongst those who’d been taken, and there had been over a hundred to start with, a good twenty or so had started arguing, then yelling about being kidnapped.

The majority of those who’d started to fight had been the Americans, Chinese, Koreans, some Caucasians, and not a few of her classmates.

She stopped eating as she repressed the memories of blood and gore, then felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over and saw that Mitsuko had scooted closer, a worried look on her face. She smiled as best she could as she put a hand on Mitsuko’s and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Mitsuko’s eyes stayed on her for a few moments more before she nodded then started eating again.

Nami swallowed hard, probably because she’d also remembered what had happened to those who’d tried to fight.

*Rumble…*

She blinked, then looked around their… warehouse. It was the only thing she could think to call it due to its wide and open layout, filled with their cages and nothing else.

“Did you feel that?” she asked as she put her food tray down.

“Do they have earthquakes here?” Nami asked, looking nervous.

Tomoe couldn’t blame her at all. The… period-like construction didn’t look terribly sturdy, let alone earthquake resistant.

“Maybe there’s a thunderstorm?” Mitsuki said, not sounding very convincing, or convinced.

*BOOM!*

The three of them jumped where they sat, now terrified because that hadn’t sounded like thunder. They instinctively scrambled closer to the boys’ cage where Kyoji-kun reached through the bars and gave them pats on the shoulders.

“Don’t worry,” he said, sounding for all the world as though everything was perfectly fine.

For as much as she wanted to scream that things weren’t fine, she held back. Anyone who’d gone into hysterics had been quickly removed by their guards and, once again, never seen again.

They listened in terrified silence as the seconds ticked by, their bodies now shaking in mortal terror. Then when the door to the warehouse banged open, she nearly wet herself in fright.

“Hurry!” the man yelled as two guards followed him in. “We can’t let them find any evidence!”

“What?” Nami asked quietly, obviously in denial as to what the dandy of a man was implying.

Said dandy then drew his sword, a western-looking blade, and hurried to the closest cage to the door. She wasn’t sure if they were African or African-American, but the three men who remained in the cage stared defiantly at the dandy as he waved at the cage’s door.

It swung open before the man started forward, then stopped as all three of the prisoners spat in his face. She could have cheered for those brave boys, but couldn’t get anything past her tightly-clenched throat.

With a snarl of rage, the dandy stepped forward and… blurred. She couldn’t even see more than that, both because of the numerous bars between them as well as the dandy’s speed. But she could see the blood spray as the bodies of the three brave young men fell to the ground in pieces.

The dandy wasn’t he only one acting, though. The two guards who’d accompanied the dandy had also opened another cage, this one containing some Caucasians.

But before they could get to their butchery, a heavy… feeling fell over the warehouse. Heavy was all she could call it, for it felt as though she’d suddenly been pressed down by a giant invisible hand. She didn’t know what was going on, but she did see Nami and Mitsuko fall over as they struggled to breathe.

She then saw a fourth person enter the room, another Caucasian. Though this one wasn’t dressed like the others, catching her attention. If anything, he looked like he was wearing… jeans and a t-shirt? And sneakers.

He looked like he was a 3rd year, or maybe a university student, though he had a very short beard that went with his short dark brown hair. But what was more noticeable was that he looked as though he was an Olympian with his incredibly muscular and toned body. Not like those crazy body builders she and her friends had laughed at while looking through Snip-Chat. No, almost like the muscular heroes you’d see in anime.

She was brought out of her ridiculous musings when the dandy was pulled out of the cage he’d been in, along with the two guards. Not because the bearded young man had gone in and grabbed them. No. They just flew out of the cages before hanging in the air in front of the bearded man as he looked around the room.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The pressure on them briefly increased when the man noticed the dead braves, but completely vanished afterwards. She took a deep breath, then another as the bearded man grimly regarded the three people floating in the air in front of him.

“You’re lucky,” he said in their language, though his tone really didn’t sound like they were actually lucky. “Lucky that you’ll not die today,” he finished as three collars that looked like the ones they were wearing, appeared out of nowhere.

Within seconds, the three men were collared then dropped on the ground with a curt “Do nothing”, grunted at them by the bearded man. For their part, the three men looked as though they would be sick.

The bearded man then stepped past them and looked around with obvious distaste, his frown making her stomach drop and her bladder clench again. She felt Kyoji’s hand on her shoulder again, but also felt how it trembled.

“Yeah, they’re not getting away with this shit,” the bearded man muttered as his chin dropped a bit and his right hand came up to rub his forehead before being pulled down his face to finally drop back down at his side.

“Hey, ah…. Hi. My name is Joram,” the man said as he looked around, now seemingly very tired. “Come with me if you want to live,” he said, then paused as one of the American girls burst out in nervous laughter.

“Glad someone laughed,” Joram said, grinning a bit. “But seriously. Come with me,” he said, then waved at them to come over as the doors to each of their cages swung open.

She looked at the door, then at her now-friends and back again. Then she felt Kyoji’s hand leave her shoulder, making her look back quickly. Kyoji was already standing, taking a few breaths before stepping over to the opening in his cage before pausing again. But then he stepped out and over to their door before extending a hand.

“Let’s go,” he said with a faint smile that didn’t hide how nervous he looked.

Thus encouraged, she got up, then helped Mitsuki and Nami to stand. With her two friends at her side, she stepped forward and took Kyoji’s still extended hand, then left the cage.

* * *

Sara still couldn’t believe it.

Had that Joram guy been taken before them? She’d watched a few isekai anime with her friends, but hadn’t really given the whole genre much thought outside of it being pure fantasy. But seeing Joram come in wearing a weird cross between kakis and jeans, along with a t-shirt and Converse sneakers, she had to wonder.

Well, that and suddenly finding herself in a weird place after finishing her break at Stirbucks. One second she’d been leaving the break room, then a bright light flashed and she’d found herself standing on a stone floor with some crazy designs on it.

Now? She was looking at a freaking Jedi in sneakers who made Terminator jokes.

“At least they kept everyone clean,” Joram muttered in english as she stepped up to his side, making her eyes widen in shock.

Taking a better look at him, she couldn’t believe how young he looked up close, especially with how ripped he was.

“Are those custom-made?” she couldn’t help but ask as she looked at his Converse sneakers, then at her own bare feet.

“Hmm?” Joram hmm’d as turned to look at her.

She was taken with his green/blue hazel eyes as they landed on her, and wondered at the colours she could see in them.

“Yeah, they are,” he said, shrugging. “I’ll get you some after we get you out of here,” he said, then nodded to the others who’d finally made their way out of their cells.

Nodding, she reigned-in her curiosity and listened to what he had to say.

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” he started, motioning at the cages, then at their collars. “This isn’t something that should have happened…” he trailed off for a moment as he seemed to search for what to say.

“Shouldn’t have happened?!” one of the Asians demanded. “Where are the others? Who’ll take responsibility for those who’ve been killed?!”

The teen demanded as a girl by his side tried to hush him, but was ignored.

“Yeah, we’re working on that,” Joram said, frowning at the kid. “In the meantime, settle down. I’m here to stop these crimes. My friend will deal with all the… legal stuff. For now, I’ll take you somewhere safe,” he said, then motioned for everyone to follow him.

Sara swallowed hard as her eyes landed on the dead Africans, then turned back to glare daggers at the three men who’d come to kill them all.

“Don’t take any hostile actions, get up, and follow me,” Joram ordered the three men who could only frown as they were compelled to obey his instructions.

She’d seen just how effective those slavery collars were in enforcing orders. She took quite a bit of pleasure as she watched their various expressions, all of which revolved around denial and hatred. She really hoped they’d get more than some jailtime for what they’d done.

Then they were outside for the first time in… she didn’t know how long, but it was the first time since they’d all been shoved into those cages. What greeted her eyes was nothing like what she’d seen as she’d been marched to that warehouse.

The various buildings and houses that had been there were basically gone. Either burnt to lumps of charred lumber, or just smashed to splinters. The weird area where they’d been summoned was now a pile of rubble and slag. She could see that it had been smashed, then somehow melted.

She heard the others begin murmuring to one another as they took in the destruction… and the bodies.

There were bodies everywhere. From what looked like gunshot wounds to burns to just…. She had to swallow hard again as she looked away from the messes that had once been people.

“You got them?”

Sara turned to see a stunningly beautiful woman with black, red-tipped hair approaching them. She swallowed, then wondered if the woman had gotten implants, so huge was her chest.

“Yeah, but I was a bit late,” Joram said, sounding genuinely sad.

“Well, I’ve got a few of the leaders here collared and ready to go,” the woman said as the turned her very red eyes to look them over. “I’ll take those three off your hands. I’m sure you’ll want to get them settled.”

“Yeah,” Joram said quietly, then sighed. “I’ll deal with things over there. Let me know when you’re ready to come back.”

“I’ll keep the new Dungeon capped until you can come back to help me with it,” the woman said, nodded, then took another quick look at them before gathering up the three men and heading off.

Joram looked at everyone again, his eyes stopping on her for a second before he spoke.

“I’ve got a place that’ll be safe for everyone,” he said, then grimaced slightly. “I know you’ve all been through more than your fair share of crap. But. Don’t cause any trouble,” he finished, giving them all another look-over.

She just nodded at him as Cheryl edged closer and held her hand. Sara could feel her trembling, so she gave it a squeeze as she tugged her closer. The other Americans had all either been killed for their “defiance” or had been taken away before most everyone else.

“Hmmmm,” Joram rumbled as he stared up at the sky for a minute, deep in thought.

While he was thinking, a few of them started to whisper amongst themselves. The three French teens looked more than a bit dubious while the four… Japanese?- students almost seemed resigned, though the boy looked a bit excited, if she was reading him right.

Then a flash of light caught her attention, so she turned to see what it was. Then her jaw dropped.

A… hole in the air that had to be roughly three by four metres large greeted her eyes. She could see another forest through it, though she was a bit confused to see what looked like a large mansion. And not one that resembled the architecture that she’d seen here. It looked… old-school. Like, those colonial-era mansions you could still see here and there in the older, and posher, parts of town.

“Follow me,” Joram said, nodding towards the… portal before walking through.

Not wanting to be left behind, she quickly dragged Cheryl through the portal with her. Once on the other side, she paused to take everything in, then was pushed to the side as others came through.

“What…?” she asked as she took in the other buildings to the left of the mansion.

“Yeah…” Cheryl said, seeming to agree with her question.

There was a tall one-story building next door to the mansion, with large plate glass windows that showed- what looked like- a large cafeteria, built in the same style as the mansion. Behind that, she saw what looked like one of those old Japanese buildings. And behind that, she could see very tall apartment buildings. Like, Earth-style apartment buildings.

With balconies.

Looking around a bit more, she was startled to see people with animal ears approaching them. Very beautiful, animal-eared, women.

“Whaaaaat…?” she drawled out, now questioning her sanity as she noticed… a succubus, a raven-winged woman, and a… dark elf accompanying the two animal-eared women.

Then she noticed the tails behind the white-haired beauty and realized that their ears weren’t just some sort of realistic cosplay. Then she gulped.

“What’s this?” the purple haired one asked as she stopped close to Joram. “Did you…” she stopped as she took them all in, then frowned.

“Not normal slaves,” the white-haired woman said, shaking her head. “They’re-” she stopped when Joram raised a hand.

“They’re now guests,” he said, then turned to look at them again. “I’ll take care of those collars in a bit. For now, head inside and grab a bite to eat. I’m sure there’s something you’ll like,” he said, motioning towards the cafeteria-like building.

“If you would be so kind as to follow me.”

Sara turned and saw that a… an honest-to-god Lord of the Rings elf had appeared out of nowhere. Golden blonde hair that made her own blonde hair seem flat in comparison, framed a perfect face with stunning green eyes and perfect fair skin.

She looked over at Cheryl and saw that her eyes were glued to the elf lady. She shrugged as she took a deep breath, then followed the elf lady, once more pulling Cheryl along for the ride.

* * *

“So, they’re all…?” Asami asked, trailing off at the end.

He nodded as he watched the group of teenagers follow Shae’ra to the mess hall.

“Yeah, that’ll be… fun,” he finished with a slight grimace, thinking of all of the ridiculous things that were likely to occur.

“Seriously, what are you talking about?” Myra asked as the Trio shuffled uncomfortably behind her.

He looked at her, then at the Trio, before turning back to the mess hall.

“Heroes,” he said, making Myra’s jaw drop and the Trio shudder.

* End of Book 2 *