“This is your first summons, you may ask a single question at this time,” the mysterious voice told me. I tried to look around and find who was speaking to me, but my vision was blocked by a grey fog, and I felt numb all over.

“Woah, what’s going on here?” I muttered, my voice didn’t sound like my own and I still couldn’t see anything or even feel my body. Did I even actually say something, or was that just a thought?

“You have been summoned. That is what is going on here. Your one question has been answered, prepare for your first activation,” the voice said. I could feel a sense of movement as if I had been hurled into the cosmos by a giant hand. The only good thing about this whole experience was that my headache seemed to have finally gone away.

“Wait, that wasn’t my question, well, okay, I guess it was a question, but you didn’t explain what’s happening. Did I have a stroke?” I shouted.

“The summoned being will remain silent during the summoning process. If your input is required, you will be promptly notified,” the voice said.

“My input is required, and so are your answers. You can’t just take someone and not tell them what’s going on!” I shouted.

“Subject has proven unwilling to listen to instruction. Noise cancellation protocols will be enacted at this time. Please wait silently and patiently for your summons to complete.”

I shouted into the void, but there was no sound and the voice didn’t reply. Whoever was doing this had just hit the cosmic mute button on me, and it was just as annoying here as someone muting you on a call in the real world was. Trying to move, I found that everything was still numb, and I couldn’t even tell if I still had a body.

Strange words started appearing before my eyes. It was gibberish, a mishmash of different languages and symbols that didn’t make any sense. Still, it was the only thing to look at, so I kept trying to read what was in front of me. The longer I looked at the words, the more I could understand. Something clicked in my brain and the words changed into regular old English.

The initial calibration for this subject has begun. A single ability slot has been unlocked, and a linguistic adaptation interface has been installed. The minimum intellectual capacity is present in the subject. All physical parameters meet the current requirements. No compatible skills have been detected. All the subject’s starting abilities will remain at the standard human level.

It was weird, I could feel something, or someone, poking all over my body. It was almost like one of those quick doctor’s physicals they gave you in high school before they let you play sports. At least whoever was running this show didn’t ask me to turn my head and cough. The invasive feelings faded, and more words appeared.

All baseline tests have been passed. The subject is cleared for his first summoning.

The summoning parameters are as follows:

1. Queue position: 248.

2. Summoning tier, 0.

3. Rewards level, minuscule.

4. This summons is combat-related, prepare accordingly.

5. Forced compliance is active.

6. No compatible gear has been found in your armory. A facsimile of your current attire will suffice for this tier 0 summons.

Seeking a compatible summoning request, please stand by.

What was all this nonsense? The queue number began to spin down, and I could only hope that whatever this was all about would be revealed when it was done. I sure didn’t like the sound of forced compliance, and it mentioned preparing for some kind of combat. What was that all about? I hadn’t even been in a real fight since the tenth grade and had no idea how to prepare for combat.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I couldn’t do anything but wait in the murky grey fog while this whole thing played out. Maybe I was in the hospital? This was all probably just some hallucination from the drugs that the hospital was pumping into me. Whatever this was, I supposed I’d find out the truth once the queue spun down and something finally happened. I tried to calm myself as I reached the front of the queue.

You are summoned by the mage Sharnlynn, prepare for battle.

A glowing blue oval appeared before me. I was standing in front of the glowing oval, but I couldn’t see what I was standing on. To make matters worse, it looked like I was naked, but before I could become embarrassed, business casual attire appeared on my body.

I was instantly dressed in the same pair of khakis and the almost clean company polo shirt that I had put on that morning. My ID badge was even clipped to my collar, but I could pretty much assume that I wasn’t inside the insurance building anymore. Everything felt normal, and there was no pain. While I stood there looking around, I felt something else take control of my body. I was forced to step forward into the glowing blue oval.

I barely had time to orient myself as I stepped through what must have been a portal or teleporter or something. I wasn’t back in the office, and I wasn’t inside the strange void that I had been in before. Nope, this time, I was in a small clearing in the forest. Night was starting to fall and visibility was fading.

“Stop the orc!” A woman behind me shouted in panic. I briefly caught a glimpse of her before my body responded to her command. She was young, about my age, and had a look on her face that was stuck somewhere between determination and fear. A glow appeared around her hands as my head snapped toward the target that she had given me.

Twenty yards away, a huge, monstrous figure with an axe was charging toward me. Instead of screaming and collapsing to the ground in terror like I wanted to, I found myself forced to stand in front of the charging monster. He had an axe and wore heavy armor. All I had were my fists and a company polo, this wasn’t exactly a fair matchup.

I didn’t think of myself as a weakling, and I actually did enjoy working out. The insurance company had a good gym membership program, and I made the most of it. Even though I was in moderately good shape, I wasn’t some former soldier, cop, or martial arts expert. I was just a normal guy who didn’t know much about fighting other than watching action movies. There was no way I could take on this monster thing.

Why would something like this happen to someone like me? Before I could figure out an answer, I felt an overwhelming compulsion to stop this attacker. I needed to protect the woman that has summoned me, but I couldn’t tell you why. My fists shot forward as the monster closed in. Had that woman called it an orc, like in the movies and games? This lady needed someone from the Lord of the Rings to protect her, not Rico from the claims department.

When my fist landed on the orc’s jaw, I felt something snap in my hand. Pain lanced up my now sprained or broken wrist and to nobody’s surprise, my attack was completely ineffective. The orc thing didn’t even flinch from the blow.

While my efforts at fighting had proven pretty much useless, the orc’s attack was another story. His axe flew right toward my head, and I tried to dodge to the side. It was no use; this orc was way too fast for me. Nothing that big should be that quick.

For a fraction of a second, before I died, I could see the two halves of my body fall to the ground with a meaty slap. In the distance, I caught a glimpse of the young woman that had commanded me. She was throwing a glowing ball of fire at the orc. Things seemed to move in slow motion as the pain of being cut in half finally hit.

Darkness closed in and I silently screamed into the void. At least here in the dark, the pain was gone, and my mind started to clear. I was in shock; it wasn’t every day that you got cut in half by an orc and then floated in the void. What had just happened? If this was all some stress-induced hallucination, I hoped it would end soon.

A new prompt appeared before me as this strange place presented a new notice. It took me a good minute or two before I could focus enough to read it. I kept replaying my final moments over and over. Eventually, I calmed down enough to comprehend what was in front of me.

Your first calibration summons is complete, and the link has maintained its cohesion. A Summoner imprint has been noted.

At least two additional calibration summonings are required for this subject.

Your performance rating has been measured as Abysmal.

Rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 0, and your performance rating of Abysmal.

Prepare to return to your world.