AN: If someone can figure out a better name than this, please give me ideas. I'm not entirely sound on the name. Other than that, I'm trying my hand on something "original", if by "original" I meant severely ripped off another series but with enough AU elements it's better not to pretend it's a fanfic.
~~~~~~~~OOO~~~~~~~~
I was doing nothing particular right now, and neither I had anything planned for the rest of the day.
I had just finished the divorce hearing yesterday, celebrating the end of that circus with a whole pizza all for myself and a bottle of beer. When I woke up today I booted up my laptop and started browsing the internet, still being too tired to start being productive, and I was planning on eating the leftovers from yesterday as lunch and hopping to order something for dinner. The only compromise to my previous routine was to take an early shower and put on some fresh clothes, but other than that I was doing a passable impression of a lazy ass
Otaku, or one of those fat dudes in their mother's basement.
I checked some of my e-mails and found the usual list of spam, which were deleted, a few forwarded messages from my sibblings, which were also deleted, and the few actually relevant e-mails from my relatives. After the usual pleasantries I got the expected reactions from the suspected parties, and a quick reply later I was back to goofing off online.
Taking this day off as an opportunity to read the backlog of manga series I usually enjoy, I typed the address to my favorite site. Except a different page appeared, one themed after an ancient book with a title in old style cursive writing.
The Tale of The Heroes of Light, it read. There was nothing else on the page save for a single button titled open. Well, I had nothing better to do, might as well see what it is about. Maybe it's some kind of new game?
Once I clicked in the button a soft, melancholic tune started playing and images appeared across the screen. Monsters of all kinds full with teeth, priests praying towards an idol obscured by the view point, soldiers and knights fighting against other soldiers and monsters, several other examples of humanoid races, from classic elves to orcs to what's commonly know as
kemonomimi, people with certain animal traits like ears and tails.
Well meet, Hero of Legend.
A raspy, old sounding female voice echoed and I blinked, as the sound didn't seen to come from the screen, almost as if it came from the inside of my head. I almost looked at the bottle of beer I had with me, when the voice continued.
The world of Azzengard needs you. The, there was a horrible screech, worse than a chalkboard being scratched,
the one who can oppose the Demon Lord. Come, and save our world. Our lives are in your hands.
"A bit over dramatic but stand-"
The screen lit up with light blinding me, and I felt like I had taken a dive into a bonfire, my body burning from the tips of my toes of my feet towards my upper body, consuming me. I tried to scream, but there was only light and the sounds of crackling fire.
~~O~~
"...come, ... ght!"
"Ow", I groaned before opening my eyes. It was the middle of the day, the light of the noon glared directly at my head. That in itself wasn't a problem since my office had a large window where I usually leave the curtains open.
Except the light didn't came from my office window, but instead from an open stone window on the strange hall I found myself within.
That sobered me up really quickly, and I tried to stand up to see where I was. Something was really wrong and I didn't liked it.
Quickly looking around I saw soldiers in shining plate armor armed with lances guarding the entrances of the hall. The hall itself was a large room with plenty of light coming from the open windows, and the whole place seemed to be made of cut, smooth stone. There were also several other people in the hall, wearing what could be charitably called medieval outfits, if they came out of anime or video games.
To my left there were some girls wearing different outfits each, from casual clothing to school uniforms, while in front of me there was some kind of throne with a man who was clearly a king, the golden crown on his head unmistakable on his head.
"... do you accept this quest?" He asked with a grave, somber tone.
"Excuse me?" I said in a voice that was just a little bit louder than normally polite. "I'm sorry, but I was out of it for a while, I seen to have just woken up. Care to repeat what you just said once more?"
For the first time the people of the hall took notice of me, from the girls at my side, to what I assumed where the courtiers and the king himself.
"Who... you might be?" Asked a man to the king's side that screamed evil vizier, with his gaunt face, bald head and an actual Fu Manchu mustache.
"My name is Andrew Yutaka Higashigawa", I introduced myself, "I came from the United States of America."
"I see", said the apparent vizier before turning to his king, "should we see off this intruder, my king?"
And things went off to a wonderful start. "Wait! Can somebody at least tell me what the hell is going on? I was back on my house when I was engulfed by this blinding light, then I went on what I can only call a tunnel of searing fire before waking up here!"
I already had some vague idea on what this situation
could be, the fucking nerd I was, but the vizier looked far too eager to throw me out on the dungeons for some reason.
The king looked curiously back at me, while the vizier stared back with a face almost as if he had tasted something incredibly sour.
"Then what proof do you have?" He almost hissed those words to me.
I tried to answer him, but before I could do that heat started to sear through the side of my face, near my left temple and cheekbone. It was like someone was hammering on my skull, and I could feel it drawing a mark on my head as if a demented tattooist tried to use a jackhammer on my skull. Soon however the heat and pain subdued, and I was left panting.
"What... what was that?"
Somehow along the way, the vizier and the girls had came to my side. I stared back at the man, and somehow his stare softened once he saw something in me, before nodding and going back to his king.
"Are you alright?" Said one of the girls and I nodded, the pain from before already subduing.
"I already feel a little better", I said while rubbing my left side for a bit, still with a tingling sensation.
I heard someone clear his throat, and we all faced the throne once more. "I suppose on the face of new developments we should clarify to Andrew Yutaka Higashigawa his situation."
Oh,
now he wants to explain things to me? "Andrew is fine, your Grace."
The king seemed satisfied with that, before he straightened up.
"This is the kingdom of Mordonia, on the world of Azzengard. Before, our world was peaceful, until a being know as the Demon Lord appeared and started invading the world with an army of demons two thousand years ago. Upon hearing the prayers of the world, God had chosen four Heroes of Light to receive His blessing. With unmatched power, they opposed the Demon Lord and defeated him, sealing the portal to his dimension. However a prophecy was made in which one day he would return, a blood red eclipse that could be seen across all the world heralding his return."
He paused for a moment letting me digest those words, since apparently those girls already heard this already. I nodded to him, and he continued.
"Seven months ago, a blood red eclipse darkened the skies and demons started pouring from the darkness ever since. Slowly the kingdoms of the world started to be besieged, small incursions of demons growing in numbers and scope until a great horde of monsters started destroying them."
That sounded really awful, and as expected this kind of setup would lead to a certain, predictable path.
"And thus we used an ancient, sealed ritual passed down from my ancestors to this day, which would allow us to summon four heroes from another world to save us from certain destruction. Heroes who gained the blessing of God, possessing great powers, who together would oppose the power of the Demon Lord. Those heroes are you."
Ladies and gentlemen, the 'adventurers summoned from another world to save the land' classical story. Often it's about a group of mundane people that receives either great natural powers or artifacts of immense power to aid in their quest to save the world, and usually those chosen ones are young teenagers at the oldest, to reflect the ages of the target demographic for this kind of story. In this day and age it's rare to see an actual adult stepping up to this role in this particular genre.
Which in turn raised a few flags hinting at the unusual circumstances of this particular story.
Looking at my side I saw the girls, all of them teenagers.
The one farthest away screamed Asiatic, though I wasn't sure if she had Japanese, Korean or Chinese ancestry. With long smooth black hair tied in a ponytail with a bow and pale skin, she was clearly a beauty with proportions that aren't usually found in someone of her potential race.
The one next to her had a light, almost white platinum blonde hair, and while she wasn't as developed as the black haired beauty to her side, she was still beautiful in her own way with her long hair, ivory skin and red lips.
To her side was a girl that had a bombshell of a body, specially for someone of her apparent youth, with long wavy golden blond hair and piercing blue eyes. She had a confident air to her that also added to her own beauty.
At my immediate side was the last girl, shorter than the rest and likely younger, with shoulder length burgundy hair and gray eyes, she gave more of a cute air than beauty, but I was sure she would grow up to break several hearts in he future.
Finally little old me, emphasis on
old here. Thirty years old, just this side of overweight before being classified as obese, with short black hair in a buzzcut because I can't take care of my hair if my life depended on it. Half-japanese, half-american, with tanned skin born out of long time outdoors in my youth, the only thing I had unusual about myself were my blue eyes, a legacy of an old Dutch ancestor or so my family claims due to this trait cropping up often enough in our family.
It's clear that there's a pattern here, and I broke it.
Four girls, one guy.
Four teenagers, one adult.
Four quite attractive girls, one... well I wouldn't say
ugly but it's obvious to anyone I'm not on the same level as them.
Four Heroes of Light, and one literally odd man out.
It's no wonder the vizier was startled by my appearance.
"The proof that you are all Heroes of Light are the divine marks on your bodies, which also shows to the world the kind of Hero you are."
The girls nodded, and their own marks were plainly visible. A bow in one of them, a dagger in another, a tome on the third and a sword on the last, all in visible parts of their bodies, such as their hands, arms and legs.
"Can someone tell me what the mark looks like on me?"
One of the girls, which I will dub as Little Red for now, turned to me and took a look. "It's some kind of... flag on a spear?"
"It's a Standard, if memory serves right. It's a type of flag used for communication back in the day."
"Not only that", continued the king, "but each divine blessing is slight different to each one of you, taking a form you're comfortable which you can access instinctively, and would most likely make good use out of it. Supposedly, the specifics of this power would come naturally to you."
Just as he said that I became aware of something, an action, a command I could take to manifest my powers.
"Status."
Just as I said that, a small semi-transparent black window similar to one from a certain video game appeared in front of me, listing a few interesting things about me.
Simple things like name, age and gender were listed. The important information however was my class and my bio, with my class being
Commander, while my bio was corrupted, for lack of better terms. Where there would be a simple description of who I was, instead there were corrupted text not unlike the infamous Zalgo text.
Still, how convenient it is that my power manifests itself as a video game interface. I wonder what the other girls blessings looks like.
Oh right, I was almost forgetting a small little detail I really should had addressed before, but you know, powers and all that.
"Is there a way for us to go back to our own world? Because I'm not entirely comfortable with the whole 'being kidnapped to risk my life for people I never meet before against my will' thing."
There was a gasping sound, and Little Red looked back at me as if I had kicked her puppy. "Don't you want to help those people?"
I shook my head. "It's an entirely valid question. Once this is over, how am I supposed to get back?"
"If that's what you're concerned about, fear not", said the king, "once the Demon Lord is defeated you will be able to return back to your own home, at the exact same moment you were summoned."
That sounds awfully convenient. A bit cliche, but it's not unheard off in such stories, kind of like in Magic Knight ********, to be honest.
"Now, I ask you all once more, do you accept this quest?"
So that's what he said before. All girls at my side gave their affirmative answers without hesitation.
Well, I can't be the one that pussy out right? Besides if I want to get out of this place I need to defeat the Demon Lord, which means I need to fight and get stronger first.
"I also accept this quest", I said in a clear tone, even if inwardly I was no where nearly as confident as I somehow made myself sound like.
"Good, good", muttered the king before clapping his hands, "please follow those servants. They shall lead you to a room where you all should be able to supply yourselves with anything you need."
Little Red did a fist bump with a small squeal. "Alright! Let's go everyone, adventure awaits us!"
As she went ahead following the servants, I couldn't help but wonder how things will turn out in the future. Somehow, I doubted this would work nearly as well as Little Red thought it would.
I would know, I'm part of this story.