Chapter Two: The Heroes
“Oh wow . . .”
I heard the sound of people marveling at something and suddenly was awake again. My eyes weren’t ready to focus on anything, but I pointed them straight ahead anyway. There were men in robes, looking at me in awe and apparently speechless.
“What’s all this?”
I turned in the direction of the voice and discovered three other people there. Like myself, they didn’t seem to know what was going on.
I scratched my head.
I’d been in the library only moments before, but then . . . why? And just where was I?
I flipped my head left and right and found that I was in a room. The walls were made of stone. Is that what they call brick? Regardless, I don’t think it was anywhere I’d been before. And it certainly was not the library.
I looked at the floor. It was covered in geometric patterns that had been painted in some sort of fluorescent material. There was also an altar of some kind. It looked like something magical and straight out of a fantasy.
We were standing on the altar.
Wait a second. Why was I holding a shield?
I was holding a shield. It was feather-light and fit my hand perfectly. I couldn’t figure out why I was holding it, though, so I went to put it down, only to find that I was unable to do so. It was like it was stuck to me.
“Where are we?”
Just as I was wondering the same thing, the man next to me, the one carrying a sword, asked some men in robes.
“Oh, heroes! Please save our world!”
“What?!” the four of us shouted in unison.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
But the appeal of the robed men sounded familiar, like something I’d read on the Internet.
“There are many complications in this situation, but to offer a simple answer to your question, we have just completed an ancient ceremony and summoned you four heroes.”
“Summoned?”
Yes, that was it. There was a really good chance that it was all some prank, but there seemed nothing wrong with hearing them out. Besides, it’s more fun to be pranked than to prank someone else anyway. I don’t mind that sort of thing. I think it’s fun.
“Our world teeters on the brink of destruction. Heroes, please lend us your strength,” said the robed men, bowing very deeply to us.
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to . . .” I began to reply, but the other three guys spoke up quickly.
“I don’t think so.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
“We can go back to our world, right? We’ll talk about your problems after that.”
What? Did they think it was okay to speak to someone like that? Someone that was bowing to us out of desperation? Why couldn’t they save their conclusions until after they’d heard the bulk of the situation?
I glared at them in silence, and soon the three of them were looking me over. What were they smiling about? We could all feel the room growing tense.
What jerks! I bet they were actually happy to be there. Think about it. What if it were true? They’d get the chance to have adventures in another world. It’d be a dream come true! Sure, it’s a cliché, but still, couldn’t we at least hear them out?
The guy with the sword looked like he might have been in high school. He pointed his sword at the robed men and nearly shouted, “Don’t you feel any guilt for calling people into your world without their permission?”
“Besides,” said the guy with the bow, “even if we save you and bring peace to your world, you’ll just send us back home, right? That just sounds like a job to me.” He was glaring at the robed men.
“I wonder how much you’ve considered our opinion on this. I wonder how it could be worth our while. Depending on how the conversation goes, keep in mind that we might end up enemies of your world.”
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