A collection of dust swirled down as a pair of massive doors swung open revealing the peculiar group of heroes that had been summoned this afternoon. The King’s servant a rather thin man with an equally thin mustache and head of hair meticulously groomed so not even a hair was out of place lead the group of four future adventurers into the throne room. Following behind was a warrior with tan skin and ruffled dark brown hair and a mousy looking rogue with fair skin and long curls of light brown hair clinging on to the warrior next to her. Walking in behind the two was the healer who looked like they had killed their bedsheets and decided to wear them as their trophy. She also wore a decidedly bored expression on her face which couldn’t hide the excitement in her bright green eyes. Trailing behind them was a statuesque woman with raven hair framing her bright red face in a dress that left nothing to the imagination as the King took each of their appearances in.

The King sat up straighter composing himself as he watched the motley group enter the throne room. He watched the warrior’s eyes as they darted around the room taking everything in and looked away when they met his. Upon his evaluation of the four heroes the King couldn’t help but to grin as most of the past heroes that had been sent to his kingdom had been underwhelmingly green and had experienced an early end. He could tell that these heroes were similarly inexperienced, but he could sense a great deal of potential in all of them particularly in the young rogue that had not dislodged herself from the warrior. He could also sense that they had developed a strong bond of trust between them and if it weren’t for the naivety of them all, he could’ve made the mistake that they had adventured before.

The butler announced, “I present to you His Royal Majesty King Rudolf III” and bent into a deep bow, interrupting the King’s thoughts. The others followed suit and bowed except the healer who stood defiantly upright and refused even at the urgings of the warrior beside her. The butler and the three heroes rose from their bent positions as the irked servant began to recite “Behold the Great Heroes: Hope Graham, Hunter Rivera, Grace Thomas, and Mirabelle Lafaille. May they bring peace to our realm” and ended with another bow. The mentioning of their names seemed to annoy the healer immensely and giving the butler a great amount of joy as he returned to his usual post attending to the king.

The King let out a small cough and started in a low even voice just loud enough to be heard clearly “My request may seem strange, but could you introduce yourselves?”

The healer stepped forward immediately “My name is Alex and if you ever call me that name again, I will slit your throats” and bowed very insincerely.

Alex stepped back as the warrior took her place announcing clearly “My name is Hunter; this is Grace and I deeply apologize for my friend your grace” resulting in a snort from Alex which prompted a glare from Hunter.

The mage decided not to move and introduced herself in a small shaky voice “My name is Mary” and gave a small bow.

“Excellent. My name is King Rudolf and now that the pleasantries have been dealt with, we can proceed.” The King replied already dedicated their names and faces holding onto a small hope that he wouldn’t have to see them committed to another stone tablet commemorating their loss in battle.

“Now hold up,” Alex cutting off King Rudolf with her hand “first off why am I dressed like this and secondly why did you need us to introduce ourselves you obviously know our names.”

King Rudolf chuckled at the interruption bringing another layer of annoyance to his butler and the healer “To answer your questions, it was not I who had given you your position of Healer nor was it I to assign the roles of your comrades. Instead they were given to you by the Mages who had summoned you here. Upon summoning they have given us naught apart from your names.”

“Well” Alex continued “why am I wearing this ridiculous get up?”

Rudolf looked confused at this question not being familiar with the term ‘get up’ and had never had to answer this question before. Though his face quickly changed from confusion to amusement as he answered, “It is the traditional clothing of a healer and has been made to assist you in your endeavors.”

Not quite satisfied with the King’s answer or the robes that she had been given Alex asked, “How did you put this on me??”

Rudolf was once again stumped as no one had thought to question this in his time as king luckily, he was saved by his loyal subject “When you arrived, you were already wearing that”

the last part said with a level of contempt.

“Now does this solve everything?” Rudolf inquired only to receive a nod from Alex and the rest of the group. “Good” he continued “Now as I was saying before you were each brought here from another world to save this one from an almost certain destruction.”

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“Oh god we’re in one of those” Alex groaned.

“In desperate times of need a group of heroes is summoned to discover and eliminate that which threatens to destroy our kingdom” Rudolf continued ignoring the incessant groaning from Alex. “We believe that the cause of our impending destruction would be the resurrection of the Great Necromancer Josh.”

“What!?” exclaimed Alex who had stopped her groaning and had instead started to laugh at the mention of Josh that was accompanied by a few suppressed giggles and snorts from the rest of her party.

Rudolf was not as surprised by their reactions as many other adventurers had found his name humorous and continued once again “Josh was one of the great heroes from long ago that became obsessed with necromancy after his beloved had fallen ill and died tragically. It was then reported that he had gone mad as any of his efforts to bring her back resulted in failure and he had to be taken out by his own party.”

“Whew” whistled Alex who had sat down after her fit of laughing had ended “Now that’s a deep backstory.”

Rudolf nodded “It was said that he had done a great amount of good in his time and his loss was detrimental to the kingdom at the time.” The King appeared to be lost in thought until his servant gave a small “ahem” interrupting his musings. “Sorry” he stated shaking his head slightly “Where was I hmmm? Oh yes there have been sightings of undead to the far north of the kingdom and many merchants who have traveled those roads have been lost. These sightings have been confirmed by reputable sources and your first task would be to eliminate these undead and their source.” The King pondered again stopping his attendant’s hand as it raised to interrupt him again “But it would be unwise for you to go as you are now. So you shall be given no longer than a month and adequate preparations will be made for your journey and training.”

“Excuse me your majesty” Hunter interrupted this time “what if we don’t want to accept this adventure? It doesn’t seem like you have much faith in us. Not to mention it looks like your kingdom appears to be in a financial deficit as there have been many spots where objects have been replaced or removed entirely. Furthermore you brought us here against our will and expect us to do your bidding just because there’s some threat to your kingdom? Humans have overcome adversity before they can rebuild, they can …” Hunter was interrupted by a resounding smack that left a glowing red mark on his face. “Ow” he said quietly as he looked up at Alex who had previously slapped him in the face “why did you do that?”

“Because you’re being a little bitch Hunter that’s why.” Alex responded arms crossed across her chest and sleeves freed from their bindings hanging loosely around her wrists. “Hunter how can you out of all of us here have no compassion for Christ’s sake you absolute buffoon. Just because someone can live through the rough times doesn’t mean they should, if we can help them in any way possible, I suggest we do it … Though I’m not suggesting we risk our lives for it.” Hunter stood in a daze at this outburst forgetting how emotional Alex could be as she usually hid her emotions behind a façade of general apathy. “Well are you going to say anything?!?” Alex cried with her face red and tears teasing the corner of her eyes and threatening to flood her face and wash away any composure she had left.

In an instant Mary’s motherly instincts took over and she was already wiping Alex’s tears before Hunter even had a chance to respond. She even took a handkerchief seemingly out of nowhere and had Alex blow her nose before reiterating Alex’s last statement in a much sterner voice “well are you going to say anything?”

“Umm …” Hunter stammered unable to find the right words for the situation “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to uhm …”

“It’s ok, but you’re still a little bitch” Alex stated sniffing in the last bit of snot that hung from her nose as Mary made the handkerchief disappear into her dress with no pockets. “Just never suggest anything like that again and we’re good” Alex finished with her snot covered hand outstretched to Hunter. “Come on, do you want me to slap you again?” Alex proposed as Hunter stood there processing his emotions, finally deciding that a little bit of snot on his hands was better than it being applied liberally to his face via another slap.

“Ahem” King Rudolf interrupted “May I make a suggestion?”

“Oh fuck I forgot about that guy” Alex stated shaking her head “Alright if you tell anyone about this or about my name, I’ll make sure they never find the bodies. Ok?”

“Noted” replied Rudolf “If I may?” receiving a nod in response from Alex “If you so desired, I could arrange for you to be sent back to your home world right now. However if you do not choose to accept this offer, then we would not send you back until after you have dealt with whichever evil that threatens this kingdom have been eliminated.”

“Well, guys I say we stay” Alex declared turning to face her comrades “what do you guys think?” Alex finished this phrase looking directly at Hunter who had kept his head down for the past few minutes.

“I say we do it as well” Grace announced sending a bit of shock to the King as he hadn’t heard her voice yet and didn’t expect it to be as refined and light as it was.

“You know what? I agree as well” Mary chimed in evidently having lost any of the shame she had felt previously.

"So what do you think little bitch?" Alex asked, "The vote has to be unanimous, but either way we're not leaving here until you have said yes.”

“Fine” Hunter resigned. “Once you guys set your mind on something, you’re never going to let it go anyways.” Hunter finished finally raising himself from his slouched position.

“Excellent news!” Boomed the King “Then we shall begin your training at once.”