Bright light, the feeling of falling from a great height. My ears were popping. I hold my nose and blow air out of it to even out the pressure. I wasn't scared. Somehow I was actually kind of happy. The light had all kinds of color in it, swirling around me in a giant circle at least 20 meter wide.

Then there was no light anymore and I landed on cold stone. I got up and checked my surroundings.

Apparently I was not the only one who had the same experience. There were quite a lot of us.

But I remember that I was alone before arriving here, before the light took me away from where ever I had been before, so they must be from other places.

They were all rather young—younger than me at least. From what I can tell the youngest was around 10 years old while the oldest was just close to 20. I am 28 so I was clearly the oldest here.

We are in some round stone building without a roof, by that I mean the roof looks to have been blown away at some point. The moon is shining above us and the sky is filled with millions of dazzling stars.

Stars, which got me realizing that I could see a lot more of them than normal. I touch my face and notice I don't have my glasses on. I also notice I don’t need them. Strange, but I guess you shouldn't question good things coming your way. While enjoying my perfect eyesight for the first time of my life I take a better look at the crowd around me.

There are people from all over the world. European, African, Asian, Russian etc. so I guess the, shall we call it a summoning, happened all over the world at the same time. After a quick estimation I figure there are about 50 of us.

"What happened?"

"Where am I?"

”Who are you!? Did you do this?”

"Mommy!? Where did you go?"

”What is going on?”

"I was making dinner and then...?"

"Why... why did this happen!?"

”I was walking my dog when...”

A lot of confusion was spread around us.

I guess no one that was summoned know where we are or how we got here.

Not that it matters, we will most likely be told what’s going on soon.

...And just as I had guessed.

"Everyone please quiet down and listen to me for a moment, I can explain everything!" An old man’s voice shouts out from a massive door behind me. Or maybe it’s better to just call it an opening in the wall, rather than a door. It would seem that we were all "summoned" inside of a ruined building of sort.

The man was wearing a royal blue robe with a thick golden lining and big golden buttons. The robe looked too big for him and covered his entire body from the neck to toe. It had a hood, that was as wide as his shoulders, hiding his face and a wide collar that hid his mouth so all you could see was his pointy nose and a hint of a silver mustache.

I am guessing this was the mage that summoned us, but that is purely speculation with no real proof. Hell for all I know i could be high as a kite and be dreaming all of this stuff up. Might as well roll with it right?

"First of all I would like to apologize! You were all taken from your world and summoned to this one by us on the orders of our king. We are very sorry about this and hope that, after listening to our explanation and realizing the problems we are facing that you can somehow forgive us."

The man who was speaking was sounding rather tired. As if he had endured a lot in order to summon us here. Of course I wasn't naïve enough to think that any explanation he would give would justify taking us from our homes just like that. They, for I assume from his words that he didn’t do it himself, had basically just kidnapped us for their own purposes. If I remember correctly we would most likely be fighting demons or something like that to "save" their race or country. I have read stories about this kind of thing and there is always an evil vs. good, kind of feeling in the beginning. However in the end it might be the reverse.

”What! You did this!”

”Send us back! I was waiting for someone!”

”Mommy will scold me if i don’t get home on time and i was already late...”

”Who are you!? Why are you doing this?”

”Explain it properly!”

Naturally there were a lot of complaints. The youngest were insecure and scared. The teenagers were cocky and demanding. The young adults wanted information and demanded to be returned.

I found a stone, former belonging to one of the upper walls I imagine, and sat down. In times like these it’s better to just wait and let others bicker and worry. Too much stress can give you cancer you know...

”Settle down! Please just listen to me...” The poor old man was trying to get their attention and get them to shut up, unfortunately teenagers are hard to quiet down and some of these guys are the aggressive kind.

”You, asshole! Tell me what the fuck is going on already!” One tall Asian teenage boy with a black and blue Mohawk grabs the old man and pulls him to his face.

At this action there was a light and suddenly everyone is pushed away from the hooded person. I was, luckily far enough away that all i felt was a strong wind. Most fell on their butts and the boy who had threatened the old man actually flew for a few meters and landed on some of the others.

Silence filled the air finally and the old man had our undivided attention.

”Now then, finally, as i was saying, let me explain everything. I am ****** ******* the court mage and...” His name was hard to remember to I’ll just call him the Court Mage.

He starts to explain and, like I predicted, we were here to “help” them.

Apparently to summon us they used an ancient and forbidden ritual of some sort. It involved taking the female blood of the royal line in sacrifice in order to summon a hero that could lead the people. But the king didn’t want to sacrifice his wife or daughter so they used 50 of their strongest mages to alter the summoning. Sacrificing quality for quantity basically.

Originally the hero that was summoned was the strongest and most charismatic person from another world. Someone was a natural leader and had high battle prowess. But now they gained a bunch of random people who knew nothing.

The reason why this was okay was because of some alteration that occurred during the summoning process or maybe it was just that this world was so different than the one we came from. He was rather unclear on this point.

He then went on to explain their situation. How the prophets, who were of course never wrong, spoke of the coming doom of all humans. An ocean of monsters and demons would pour out of the forsaken lands to the north and to the south and they would swallow everything in-between leaving nothing but dust in their wake.

Seeing no way out the merciful and benevolent and just and kind king of theirs decided to spare the people the loss of their queen and/or princess. Instead sacrifice the lives and souls of 50 of their best mages rather than use them in the battle that would, most likely, possibly happen in the coming future.

It was a bunch of bullshit. Nonsense. His speech was full emotion and conviction but his words reeked of lies and hidden agendas. Well it’s always like that, isn't it?

For all I know they summoned us here to start that “dark sea of demons” ourselves. Besides why would a bunch of demons want to destroy all humans (or was it all living things?) in the land in the first place? What had the humans done to them to make them want to do this back? Maybe the demonic calamity that he mentioned started because the demons felt threatened when the humans summoned a bunch of "heroes.”

The crowd around me apparently didn't have the same thoughts as I had. After he confirmed that we would be sent back after the "Demonic Calamity" they readily started to accept it and talk of how they would be able to help came around.

He explained that the "heroes" who were summoned would have superior talents and abilities then a normal person. Things like high affinity with magic and superior body strength. We also were supposed to learn things faster and grow quicker than normal people. Basically we had an unfair advantage compared to the "normal people.”

I wonder if by us “growing quicker” he means that we will have a shorter lifespan too?

After finishing his speech he once more asked if "we", the honorable and just heroes, would lend "them", the poor and soon to be wiped out people, our power. Most readily accepted while I said nothing.

What would they do if we all said no? Would we become slaves and forced into fighting for them? Probably something like that. Better to keep quiet, for now. Besides if they wanted us to fight then they have to teach us how to use weapons and magic and stuff right? And I really want to learn that stuff.

So I'll keep quiet and learn what I can, until they request something unreasonable. But I refuse to take part in some war that has nothing to do with me. Even if they say they can send us back there is no proof. And besides, I might not want to return. It depends on how much I like this world, where magic exists.

And it does exist. There is no doubt. Not only was we transported from where we were, according to him, He is also a mage and as such he can use magic like what he did just a moment ago. And we all have good “Affinity” with magic. Which I guess that means that we will be naturally good at it. I realize it’s all based on his words but all we can do for now is listen.

Besides i would love to learn magic and swords and stuff like that...

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