Under the ever flickering torch-light, the boy looked around, confusion written all over his face.

After all- how does one end up in a dungeon full of knights just after experiencing a severe headache? Going by their looks of confusion and raised eyebrows, everyone- or atleast those inside the circle with him must've thought the same: ' just where the hell am I? '

Curious, the boy looked around, his gaze shifting from knight to knight. Eventually shifting to a young girl, presumably two or three years older than him at the back; loyally guarded by the small battalion.

She wore a light blue dress that stopped just below her knee, complimenting and enhancing the features of the girl's glowing, blemishless, fair skin. her blonde, bobcut hair remained still as the emerald green eyes on her heart shaped face eyed him, and the four others he was standing with cautiously, a sliver of expectance present within them.

With a "Hello,". Zack took the initiative, "surprising" the girl, and with a flinch, her dull eyes suddenly possessed a texture comparable to pearls and the luster of a gemstone. With each torchy crisp, they shone and sparkled like the brilliant stars found only at deepest parts midnight.

Eyes that are enchanting to some, alluring when it comes to others.

Fidgeting with her thumbs, the girl, in a rather clumsy manner- hastily straightened herself, the resulting end posture becoming cutely angular, shivering like a deer in front of headlights: the girl looked like a child that had done their best to confront and confess to their crush, "A-ah? H-hello!" She stuttered,"r-right! Introductions are in order!" And with a graceful bow that made the transparent veil over her dress droop down below her waist, the girl introduced herself-

-"I am Xeyla Von de Celestia; the second princess from the human Empire of 'Cuvash'," she put her interlocked hands on her chest, like the gods had answered her most greatest and desperate of pleas, and! with a smile that can make any young man's heart jump out of their throats, Celestia sealed her deal, - "I thank the gods for your safe arrival and it is my pleasure to gladly welcome you to our realm, great heroes!"

Heroes.., the word any ambitious boy and girl would welcome with open arms, and one of the five people inside the magic circle - the people that the princess' display was trying to please - gladly took it to heart. As for the others? Well, they seemed to have separate reactions,

A well built, rough looking teen that wore a leather jacket that did little to hide his muscles didn't show a single expression nor emotion, his grey eyes simply looked at her, seemingly waiting for a proper explanation.

Whilst a person that wore a hoodied jacket had a forced smile plastered on their face, the smile that some would have when they ate something sour and try their best to hide the fact that the uncomfortable taste ravaged their mouth.

Another woman crossed her pale, thin arms with furrowed eyebrows, her white night gown getting stained as it absorbed and got soaked by the grime present all over the dungeon floor, seemingly amused by the princess' prior presentation- though the expression present on her pale face told everyone what she truly felt.

Then there's the guy who seems to be rather excited about their unfortunate predicament, like some dirty street dog- the teen was doing his best to hide the drool that threatened to come out due to the excitement he felt,

Zack did his best to hide his disgust once the muffled humms that came out from the teen's tightly zipped mouth entered his ears, shaking his head in dissapointment, Zack did his best to force himself to forget about the whole ordeal,

Once again shaking his head, the boy intentionally muttered- "Oh great, I'm hallucinating." - Making the beautiful second princess flinch,

"Ah! I have been told that some of you would assume so! But, fret not, for what you are seeing is in fact, real. Extremely so," Celestia casually delivered, her lips curved into a proud smile,

"You have been sent to our realm by the gods and goddesses whom we have asked for help, and they, have delivered- in the form of you guys." She gave the group another smile, warm this time.

"That won't work missy." The frail girl commented,

"Very well," Xeyla smiled, "any questions?"

"How?," Zack asked, making Xeyla quirk her head sideways,

"How? Why, through summoning of course! The very magic circle you are standing on is a testament to that!" The princess answered,

"Summoning? How? It's simply impossible isn't it? It is teleportation, a topic that even my parents are barely scratching, so advanced that it is able to instantaneously move entire organisms not only across time and space, but, if what I have heard is correct,- through the fabric of reality itself as well? The energy consumption, the process, hell! Everything is downright impossible! And with reasons like that, how the fuck can I know you aren't simply fucking with me?." Zack protested,

"My, so young yet so vulgar. You eat with that mouth?" The princess retorted, "and besides, why question the ability of the gods? They simply work in mysterious ways, making the impossible, possible!"

"Oh and also, I told you to 'ask questions', not 'tell me what you think about this whole thing' - for the answers of the questions swirling around your head will come running down the aisle soon enough." Xeyla subtely ordered,

"So with that, are there any more questions?"

Zack snorted, "fair enough, but simply put, let me get things straight- I will not believe this is reality and I will simply play along on what I assume, are my deteriorating mind's whims." to that, the princess nodded, satisfied.

"So be it," the blonde replied

Though, there were still oppositions- a female knight wearing pearl white armor did her best to make that fact as credible as it could get, becoming the voice of her fellow soldiers. "sir, as a paladin of the church for the goddess Aurora; I ask that you don't sully their name." The paladin said, her eyes alight with a yellow shimmer and her silver hair giving off a soft glow

She took a deep breath, once her mystical nature dissapeared, the swordswoman added- "because whether you believe it or not, you have been summoned here by the gods and goddesses to become our valiant hero that would act as our shield to save us from the inevitable catastrophy that will soon befall unto our glorious empire,"

"Fair enough," The boy replied, "then since it is fine, could you please give me the specific and proper answer as to why we are here miss?.." the stone faced paladin didn't answer, but the princess did her stead-

-"You are here because we are currently losing a war that had once taken our side, now,? The direction of the winds had changed and our populace is slowly getting dwindled day by day, we had already lost a few cities that provided and sent materials that were essential to us, and we can no longer risk losing more."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Oh, that's nice! You kidnapped me so that I can go to a battlefield and die! But that's a whole nother matter, here is a question that's more important- what about my family?" Zack asked,

"I'm afraid you have no choice but to abandon them." Xeyla replied.

He got his answer and the gears started turning- giving the princess an understanding nod, the boy stayed silent to let the events unfold.

Two of them, two- were the most disturbed by the sudden bombshell, the athletic teen's well built body showed signs of distress as his clenched fist quaked and quivered,

While the frail girl now had white skin, seemingly devoid of blood that circulates around her body- was holding back tears, failing miserably in doing so.

The torches Flicked,

They Crackled,

A defeaning silence took over the room, the atmosphere slowly, but surely was getting tense by the minute. Like a rubber band that had been stretched to it's utmost limits- it threatened to snap.

For a while, only the sound of torches and ragged breathing filled the room, but soon, it will stop. For the rubber band that was the two teen's patience had already been pulled too hard -at first, they wake up in a foreign environment without any explanation as to what the hell had happened, then the second time: a bombshell was directly dropped on top of their heads, the sheer fact that their very own kidnappers are not only fine on letting them go to battle and fight, possibly even die- but also are comepletely okay and in fact, encourages them to abandon and forget about the families that they left behind was complete and utter insanity.

-letting go of their stretched out patience now would let it snap, causing the two teens to lash out on to them, and if those that are currently holding their grip weaken it- then they would get dragged along in the process of a reverse and dangerous tug of war, that will last for years on end.

A tear fell on the floor, and once it did...

The band had completely snapped,

"So that's it?" The frail girl asked, her face ridden with tears, her lips that had once possessed a small pink luster became spectral white. Her thin limbs became panicked, continuing to move frantically- uncertain on what to do, indicating the massive overload for the brain that commanded them was experiencing. Because it too, is uncertain on what to do with the current situation.

With her white, slender legs, she walked ever so closer to the princess that bravely stared her down, unwavering. "ANSWER ME!" She yelled out, a knight that had stepped in her way received a slap-

-A slap, that had defied the science Zack had studied over the course of his life, a slap that somehow, despite the laws of physics, created a shockwave strong enough to make his ears ring.

And as expected from something powerful and fast enough to break the sound barrier- the knight flew like a ragdoll across the room. Unexpectedly, somehow- the girl's hand was comepletely fine. Undamaged even.

Something else had also exceeded Zack's expectations- strangely enough, the chubby teen that wore a jumpsuit moved out of order, completely cutting the line.

It should've been the athlete, he thought.

Instead, what happened was the complete opposite.

The teen started to slowly make his way towards her, the unhealthy, clearly inactive boy had the most confident smile on his face, almost as if the bravery he is showing would let him conquer the world, What the hell can he do? Turn his delusions of grandeur into reality?

A wild pawn was moving across his board, so Zack stepped in, hoping to make things go back to their running order,- "answer her please, this is essentially kidnapping no? And besides," he pointed at the dead knight to his side, "what the hell can you do when all five of us say, 'NO'? " a strong emphasis was put on the word of rejection on his sentence, still, it did not receive the reaction he wanted,

It did though, made the frail girl look at him in approval and at the same time got him to receive nods of acknowledgement from the other two.

Seeing that his chance to be a shining knight was gone, the teen changed sides, "I-I'll help you!" The desperate loon exclaimed, straightening his glasses that had fallen from his eyes.

All four of us looked at the man in disgust, I was about to speak, when the hoodied person spoke with a feminine voice, "as one of society's lowest scum, you may have not had a life, but a few of us standing here, do."

The bastard glared at her before lowering his head, muttering something whilst continuing to stab the floor with his gaze, his ears had reddened, and overall, he just... looked fucking pitiful.

His stupidity landed his stomach a punch from the obviously upset athlete, blood came out of his mouth and tears poured out from his eyes. He collapsed to the floor knee first, and when he was down- he received a kick from the gut. His body got pummeled by kick after kick as he lay on the floor, "I'll make you fucking relive the personal hell that made you this way you piece of shit!" The teen said, venting his frustration as a gooey spit landed on the face of the down trodden boy.

"W-whay?" He said through a bloodied mouth,

"DON'T YOU FUCKING GET IT?! WE ALL HAVE FAMILIES BACK IN OUR HOME AND YET HERE YOU ARE! TRYING TO SUCK UP TO AND ESSENTIALLY DEFENDING THE CULPRIT RESPONSIBLE FOR FORCEFULLY DRAGGING US AWAY FROM OUR HOME! JUST TO TRY AND LIVE THROUGH THE FUCKING FANTASY THAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DREAMED OF! DUE TO YOUR FUCKING. LONELINESS!!" The athlete yelled as powerful kick landed on the teen's face

"YOU." A kick found it's way on the teen's gullet

"ARE." His jaw received another sole

"NOT." His arm this time

"SOME." His knee

"HERO." Throat

"AND." Arms

"THIS." Chest

"IS." Stomach

"NOT." Stomach

"YOUR." His face got another kick, then the athlete bentdown and-

"WORLD!" -slammed both of his arms into the guy's calves.

"perhaps you may have expected a turn of events similar to those on the novels you have read," Zack said "or maybe you are thinking that this is a part of your chatacter development, afterall, the protagonist always gets beaten down then after that, they get stronger right? It is how the formula for the 'heroes journey' usually starts afterall." The teenager flinched, while someone commented 'well someone's outdated' behind Zack

"But, I'm afraid neither we, nor reality wants to bend over to your pathetic whims." Zack added,

"And speaking of reality, you can't even bench press to save your calves- not only is it a testament to your bad athletic ability, but also proof that you have subpar reflexes, you expect to kill a demon king when you can't even lift your upper body through pure survival instinct? Adrenaline was also pumping in your veins after getting beaten up mind you"

"Then again, maybe I'm missing something, your stomach getting beaten repeatedly by another human perhaps? I don't know." Zack shrugged.

He glared at me with his red, tear pumping eyes as the soles of his new bully continued to hit his gut, I gave him a thin smile. "Try me" I silently mouthed.

Perhaps done with watching the little show that we had put up, the princess once again talked "please refrain from fighting each other in the near future," she said. "We not only wish to acquire your cooperation, but the cooperation within your group as well" she added,

"So please, stay here and think things through, the survival of humanity in this world rests on the top of your palms. Please consider everything that is at stake and I hope that when I come back, we all have come to a satisfactory conclusion." Xeyla said with a graceful bow,

"Sure," I smiled, "and if my assumptions are correct, you all possess magic yes? That little trick you did with your eyes earlier was extremely wasteful of whatever energy you use to manifests spells," I bowed, doing my best to imitate the LARPERS I usually pass by on the way home. "So please! Use your magic to it's full potential and whisk away all the dirt and grime on this wretched place!"

Fearing for my safety, I changed my tone from that of mockery, to a genuine one "because I don't know just how far we are from the ground, but, with me feeling this subconcious level headed-ness, I can atleast tell that we are definitely on an unstable third or fourth floor. Also, please build beams below us to support our weight." I tapped my foot, and the room softly rumbled.

"Because either the floor cracks from the moss and the elements resulting in your heroes' unfortunate fall to their death because of the un-supported weight- or, we get to live another day"

Facing me with her back, the princess gave me a single nod, she gave us all a last message before leaving the dungeon "I am sorry, but we have no control over your situation. If anything, blame- no,.. I am sorry." The girl apologized "If you have any more requests, I will leave behind this note and quill here, it is indeed magical so please do not worry about the ink."

"Once you are done writing your requests, slide it on the bottom of the door, and someone would soon pick it up" after she said that, Xeyla left. The heavy iron door closing behind her.

Thus, all of five of them were left alone with the eerie silence of the room. Torchlight flickering about.