Disclaimers: 1) Final Fantasy VIII, its concept, characters and technologies all belong to Square-Enix as a matter of fact. Heroes of Might and Magic IV, its characters, heroes, worlds and concepts all (used to) belong to 3DO and New World Computing. (Now the HoMM franchise belongs to Ubisoft). I own none of these. What I own is the plot of the story, the main character Worce Castle and maybe the title Heroes Master (ain't gonna tell you guys who would get to bear that title, it would be spoilerish)

2) The interaction between two worlds may create certain "awkward" situations that may result in mild to severe OOC-ness. This is my first time fanfic, so please tolerate any mistake I have made!

3) To Final Fantasy VIII hardcore fans, in the first chapter, FFVIII influence is minimal. Please be tolerant and patient, I promise there will be more FFVIII later on!

Chapter 1

The Hero of Order

Summer holiday had arrived. Yeah, the same summer holiday that came and went every years, bringing along with it the sultry, burning sun and the joyous moments of every child's life, to bask in the sun an maybe seawater, to join all sort of you-know-what activities with other fellows in the alley,, or just to sit back and enjoy what they couldn't ordinarily do when their parents and teachers keep yelling them to do this and that during the much detested school year… That moment has finally come when the school bell rang for one last time, before class is finally dismissed and the devilish blocks of building known as schools will fall into oblivion for yet another three months to come, thus bringing happiness to whoever asked for it during the tedious school year. Every was looking forward to a happily and gaily spent three months to do whatever they want and get rid of all sorts of duties that their parents could ask of them.

But all of this was not true for a teen- in fact, a young man. Maybe that fellow was the only one that the earth could know of to be sitting alone in his room, on his bed, inertly and quietly listening to the sound of the summer wind blowing by, gazing at the empty street at sharp noon and waiting slothfully for time to pass, without doing anything specific at all. A closer look at him revealed a stern mouth and sharp eyes, sharply contrasting his current state of laziness. His fingers, now well positioned just below his chin to provide support, were actually quite thick- the sort of finger swelling you would fid in any professional gamer and/or scholar this proves the young man's capability, at least in one of the said fields. Obviously, summer had brought him neither joy nor glee…

His name was Worce Castle, a not-so-ordinary 14 year-old teen that you cannot meet everywhere. Worce was that kind of boy who loved to keep himself to himself at the joy of playing computer games and researching computer game-based lore. And out of all games, he would prefer Heroes of Might and Magic III: In the Wake of Gods. The way creatures are hired, stocked onto a hero, and then sent to battle, with spells and wizardry included to a hug extent, a whole range of artifacts and rare treasures for looting, lots and lots of hostile creatures ready to be beaten up, from the extremely powerful like the ominous Black Dragons or the evil Archdevil, to maybe just the tiny and puny Sprites, and most of all, the insanely powerful heroes that he has got the chance to recruit, build up their skills and send to do all sorts of things for the Emperor that is himself.

Before he realized it, Worce became horribly addicted to Heroes III, and became the best player in town in no time. His Heroes skill could only be rivaled by his academic excellence, for he is one of the best students of his school as well. The way he garnered his forces and send them charging into combat is unique. He always demonstrated his bravery by sending melee offensive units into combat the same time as he ordered his ranged units to open fire, yet by doing so, he also made sure that none of his men would die needlessly.

But finally, as the time would come, the boy started to grow tired of Heroes III. How overjoyed he was when he heard that 3DO was about to make a new installment, Heroes IV! How excited he was when he got the money to purchase the CD! How eager he was when he inserted the CD into the drive and got ready for installation!

But he was disappointed at the very sight of the first battle he fought.

3DO had disappointed him by making a Heroes IV much WORSE than its predecessor in many aspects. The more he played, the more bored he became and wondered what had gone wrong with the brains of 3DO staffs to make such a horrible Heroes game, for Supreme Archangel's sake. The point was, summer holiday was drawing close and apart from the Heroes games, Worce would have nothing to do. And that was the reason why Worce was sitting alone gazing at the street on such a bright summer day… that's just another case of chronic boredom. Thinking that there were nothing else to do, Worce sat down at his computer once more, hoping to whack some Venom Spawns for the sake of gaming sadism, and soon found out that with 1000 gold a day his Haven could barely pay for the Angels, his favorite last-level unit. More bored, Worce returned to his post and gazed aimlessly at the road again.

Had summer really been doomed for this Heroes III addict?

Well, maybe not.

A gust of cool air suddenly blew by- a rare luxury during the sultry summer. He suddenly blinked, and shook his head. Something really was NOT right about the wind. It was making him sleepy, far sleepier than he should be. Sooner than enough, the boy dropped still on his ear bed, fast and sound asleep.

The desert just southwestern of Galbadia, a place once quiet with no life activities but for a destroyed missile base and an out of service prison suddenly spurred up with activities. The sand making up the dunes of the desert twisted, disfiguring themselves, and as a whirlwind of extreme intensity went by later, a portion of the desert had changed drastically, with a huge stylishly built castle rising majestically out of nowhere, and now was standing gracefully in the middle of the desert, and the place just some hours ago was quiet and sleepy was now bustling with man-made activities.

The camera switches back to Worce Castle. How long had he slept? He didn't know. The only thing he knew was that his mind was completely empty the time he woke up. Apparently, he had no dreams whatsoever, in contrary to the usually dreamy nature of his dozes. He twisted and turned, only to find something rigid twitching at his neck and chest. Worce finally came to, and to his horror he was wearing a suit of breast plate over what should have been his T-shirt, a long velvet cloak over his shoulder and a sheathed, well-decorated long sword by his side. Looking more closely, he found out he was NOT in the bedroom that he called proudly his, but instead was lying on a luxuriously decorated single bed, in a room filled with expensive furniture and lined up with what seemed to be the best quality carpet that he had ever seen. Paying more attention, the horrified boy could over hear the highly distinctive chanting outside his "room", followed by shrieking sounds of lightning bolts and the unmistakable clash of energy bolt onto metal plates from the same place. Looking up the wall, the boy could see what seemed to be an insignia of sort, on which there was his name, surprisingly after the title "sir". Another closer look at the coats of arms revealed a gold-plated sentence "Grand Lord of the Academy of Castle Agoura". "Castle Agoura?" the bewildered boy thought to himself "but that is the Academy town in the tutorial of Heroes IV!" He remembered that this was the town that he had spent the most time building up, and by the time he completed the mission, he had built it up to a point it was virtually unbeatable, with all sorts of creatures ready for action, a huge income, and stocked into it a whole lot of gold. But what was he doing there in a castle that, though the boy believed he had spent time building up, he had never actually been to in person?

Hardly had he figured out what he should do, when suddenly the door flung open, and two figures stepped into the room, startling the already bewildered teen. Worce turned back, and found at his eyes a young elf wearing a hood over his head, with a bow ever ready to shoot, and a lady wearing a distinctive clerical gown, revealing her blonde hair underneath. He could still remember these fellows. They were the two heroes he sent on the so-called "solo mission" in an XL map of Heroes IV, during which they both got promoted to level 40, were insanely powerful and virtually invincible, namely Ivor and Ingham.

"Greetings, sir" the elf spoke up "did you sleep well?"

"Not really" Worce answered "I have never slept in full battle armor like this before"

"Yes, sir" the cleric replied "We were also surprised to see that you have chosen to come here to our humble fortress. This is an honor to us all"

"Chosen to come?" the teen thought "I didn't know why I was here in the first place! How the hell did I come here?"

However, he found out that it would be best if he didn't say a word and take their compliment for granted. He wasn't even sure what the situation he was in was, so it was better just to stay silence for the sake of it. He had heard of countless such tales of people going missing in a strange new world before in books and movies. The foremost tip for survival in such cases is just to keep your eyes peeled and stay away from possible trouble.

"Err... Thanks. The room was good… err, yeah, it was! Thanks a lot!"

"You are now the Lord of this Academy town, sir" the elf, whose name was confirmed to be Ivor, announced a bit solemnly "this town is yours to command"

"From now on, all what you have to do is to give an order and we shall follow your lead, sir" the cleric, apparently Ingham in his renowned hood, continued

"And finally" concluded Ivor "today there will be a formal banquet to honor your presence, Lord Castle. We have come to ask you to prepare a formal speech in front of your people"

"M…m…my people?" Worce stuttered, but then quickly regained his self-confidence when he remembered his rule of thumb. Anyway, he USED to control them all along before he went to this land! He had even commanded Ivor more than he could remember in Heroes III, and have never lost a battle. It was his right to be greeted as a hero in town, he thought, for he was a hero himself, at least in the game

"Alright then" Worce went on "what should I say to them?"

"It is up to you, sir" Ivor bowed solemnly "It is you who are giving out order now, as always"

Then the two heroes bowed respectfully to the teen once more, before leaving him bedazzled in the room.

He was starting to wonder what had happened to him. This time, when his clear conscience has come back, the boy started to mull over his situation. Why was he here? Was that a dream? Probably not, for he had pinched himself hard upon waking up, and nothing happened. One thing he knew was that he was miles from home (if not light years) and there was not quite a visible way to see himself home.

But why care? At home it was not quite of the fun he was always looking for, always being told to do this and that by his parents all day long. Now this is freedom. At least, now he had got the feeling of what being a king is like. You have an army tending to your every need, loyal followers who obey your very words, and political speeches to be made any time now. It sure was going to be tiring. But it shall be fun.

Worce went round to check the table. On it, the young man was amazed to find what seemed to be the city's quartermaster's logbook lying neatly on the surface. Naturally, assuming the position of a leader immediately reminded one of his duties. And so Worce went to check the log, only to find out to his wonder that his town was currently having a gold reserve of 100000, nearly 100 all other resources and a standing army of 2500 Dwarves, 1600 Halflings, 500 Gold Golems, 200 Nagas, 150 Genies, 50 Dragon Golems and 40 Titans… a nearly invincible attack force, provided that the date was day 1, week 1, month 1. And it was. "I AM THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!" Worce thought loudly in his mind

Thinking so, the boy removed his cloak and breastplate as well as the offending blade, and leaped on the bed. He was about to think abut the most astounding political speech the world was bout to hear from someone of his age when he was disrupted by a loud explosion in the very middle of the room. Worce was once more startled, and even shivered in fear as white smoke filled the room. And out of the smoke emerged a man, or maybe just a figure, for he was so well hooded that what should be his visage was totally shade by the protruding cape. He was holding something that looked like the Staff of Wizardry in one hand and a Lion's Shield of Courage in the other. It was not even clear whether he was Life-or-Order or Death-or-Chaos aligned, for the way he walked towards the boy sure bore the notion of righteousness, but the shadow cloak he was wearing definitely declared the opposite.

"Worce Castle, am I right?" the man started speaking with a voice that is both sullen and warm, neither of which is dominant

"Y…y…yes… I am Worce. What do you want?"

"You are the one chosen to complete this task, I insist"

"…W…What task? And who are you?"

"I am the Heroes Master, the supreme supervisor of Enrothian and Axeothian might and magic heroes" continued the hooded man, staking one step towards the boy

"The Heroes Master? You mean you are like the god of the Heroes III world?" Worce nervously backed away from the man nervously, worried that the staff may come down on his head.

"I am not quite a god" said the man, this time much warmer than the last time "but yes, I can be like one at times"

"So what am I here for exactly?" Worce's sense of pride started to awaken, and he stood up straight in front of the hooded Heroes Master "what is it that I have to fight? A monster? Lots of monsters? A throng of monsters? Or…"

"Your task is" continued the Heroes Master, cutting the boy short "to assist a VIP"

"Is that the main reason why I was brought here?"

"Impressive, young man, and yes, that IS the main reason that I have brought you here today"

"So I was granted my first Heroes IV town, two insanely powerful heroes, a luxurious getaway and all you-know-what benefits of a full-fledge king just to assist a person? Is that a bit too exaggerating?"

"Young man, you haven't fully estimated the importance of this job. I was thinking whether I needed to give you two more Havens to begin with, but then insisted that that was not quite necessary."

For one minute Worce thought he was about to faint. "What? Does he think of me THAT lowly?" thought him. To him, the town he was having was nearly unbeatable. If he was allowed to get his hands on two more towns of similar strength, he would have ruled the whole map undisputedly. Any army weaker than 200 angels would be virtually squashed. And he let the young fellow use that just to help a VIP? Surely this is horrible!

"Alright, Mr. Heroes Master, if I can call you that way" said Worce defiantly "who is this VIP?"

"I can't give you a name." answered the Heroes Master "maybe you can ask him yourself"

"What? Do you mean he is here to attend the party with us tonight?"

"No, my friend. He is going to come by next week."

"Next week?" asked Worce, clearly astonished "but as a demigod or something like that you should be able to know that there are hundreds of people coming in and out of a town like this everyday? Ho can I get to him if there are, say, a thousand or so people coming into town next?"

"As a matter of fact, young man, you are not in Axeoth now. Neither are you in Enroth. Instead, you are in a new world, and this academy is the first of its kind to have ever been erected out here. Furthermore, this city has been created in the middle of a burning desert where no one would come unless it is very necessary. Therefore, I believe no one will bother to come to this place apart from the VIP next week." explained the Heroes Master

"OK… then, what does he look like?"

"I don't have the time to describe him to you. I just want you to pay attention to his outfit. If among his accessories, you can see a locket with a lion imprinted on it, a sword with a handle and bullet chamber that resembles a gun- thusly called a gunblade, you would be able to tell that he is the honored guest. Also, if you still doubt, check his face. One scar across the face would tell you for sure he IS the man"

After saying those words, the Heroes Master disappeared, leaving only a cloud of white smoke around the room.

"Bzzt!" rebelled Worce after the Heroes Master has teleported away "Who did he think I am? I often used to best up a swarm of champions using just twenty Supreme Archies! And who could that be that could prove to be a problem for me?"

Worce returned to the bed. But his interest in writing an ultimate inauguration speech had died down. Now all he was doing was just to sit back and think about what was about to happen. What kind of terrible things could follow the VIP he was ordered to greet? He was not weak, mind you; in fact, he was one of the strongest when things break down to a matter of personality. The only thing in fantasy novel that appeared to be the trouble of any chosen reluctant hero was their tendency to feel nostalgic, which was not quite existent in our hero. Worce was ever ready to face any adventure, anytime now and then.

The banquet finally came, and it was even grander than he had thought before. Worce was let up a high tower, on top of which was a comfortable podium, where he was supposed to stand. Upon arrival he found that Ivor and Leslie had already been there waiting, in the position of faithful aides. Panting from climbing up the high tower, Worce took one step in front and almost immediately withdrawn. How high the tower was! It was quite higher than a ten-storey building, and the strong wind and thundering applause from the crowd of supporters below him was quite daunting, especially for the boy-who-never-socialize type like him. But then, it was the pride of an obvious gamewinner who used to gather a huge army under his command every time he played Heroes that finally pushed the teen back in shape, as he stood up straight and waved a friendly wave at the cheering crowd below.

The number of troops logistically was great enough, yet the actual sight of that army was even greater and more luxurious to the eye of a young teen like Worce. Rows and lines of Gold Golems and Halflings lined up in front of the castle courtyard, facing the pedestal reserved for the Grand Lord. Closer to his position was the block of freshly trained dwarves, holding their war hammers with pride to greet their lord. Further on in the background were the high-tech robotic Dragon Golems, whose Red Dwarven pilots had temporarily left to get a closer view of the Grand Lord's inauguration ceremony. Higher atop the observation towers were batches of genies desperate to get a view of their lord, together with massive-bodied titans who were just ready to take advantage of both their height and the parapet's to get the perfect view. In short, it seemed that whosoever populated this Academy was there to listen to Worce's speech, ready to obey his order!

Worce was laughing to himself for quite a while, showing "a leader's attitude" by waving here and there, when Ivor and Ingham urged at him and signaled him to give his speech. "Oh no! What would I do? I haven't prepared anything!" But it was no time for hesitation any more. So he cleared his throat, summoned all his courage, took one step forward and began

"Oh… uh… ah… Hello, every body!" he spoke up, trying to seem as "political" as possible, which seemed to be doing the trick quite well, for there was applause everywhere.

"To begin with, I will eh… introduce myself! I am Worce Castle, and it looked like I have been chosen to be the Grand Lord of this… eh… wonderful Order city. I will… ah… in the name of Life and Order, bring peace and prosperity to this land, and (suddenly solemnizing his voice, thus making it sound funnily serious) if there is any evil of any sort out there I promise I will lead our glorious army to clear them up. This is the promise of an in-office Lord, and is (cough) sincerely made and will come into effect … ahem… right at the time it is made"

And then Worce went on blabbering about his plan to renew town, build new structures, defending the town, protecting the people and ridding the lands of the evil for some twenty minutes, until he was forced to stop by his two self-appointed aides, Ivor and Ingham. Worce blushed, and then followed his assistants down the tower to what seemed to be the Banquet Hall, where he was supposed to dine with the "prominent figures of his town" and do all sorts of protocols that a lord should do to his subject within his territory.