"James…"

A voice pierced through the darkness, only it was barely audible. It sounded high pitched.

"James…"

The voice was clearer now, it sounded like a woman's voice. Was she trying to say his name?

"JAMES! WAKE UP ALREADY!"

The voice was loud; it could have made him deaf. Luckily, it didn't, and it was enough to wake him up. He slowly opened his eyes, his vision was blurry. He began to stand, but his body felt weak, so he had to settle with kneeling. His vision slowly became clear, and he was able to make out plains of some sort, nothing but green grass and the blue sky around him. He began to look around to find of the source of the voice, only to find that someone was kneeling right beside him. The figure was a young woman unfamiliar to him, who looked to be around his age, if not older. Her hair and eyes were blue, like that of the morning sky. Her clothes were bright, the color white was dominant, but other colors, namely green, blue and pink, were also present. She faced the young man with a relieved look.

"Finally! I never thought you'd ever wake up!" She said.

Slowly, he began to stand up, as did she. He faced to the stranger beside him and asked, "Who… are you?"

The woman felt disappointed. "I'm your guide, can't you tell?! Didn't Lord Lucius tell you?" She whined.

Lucius… the God, the young man remembered that name in his dream, was she the guide he mentioned? She began to introduce herself.

"I am the Goddess Tilith; I have been assigned as your guide! It's a pleasure to meet you, James!" She said cheerfully.

She stared at the young man in front of him; He was dressed in full dark attire: A black trench coat, a suit, dress pants and shoes to match. The one thing that stood out from his clothes was that he was the snowy white scarf around his neck. He had messy silver hair that looked like it hasn't been cut in years, nearly covering his eyes. The only visible eye was his right, which was a dark blue color, but the left side of his face was covered with bandages and an eye patch. She could barely notice that his left hand too was wrapped in bandages. His overall appearance was very unsettling. Is this the man really the one Lucius talked about? Tilith wondered. He is in a complete mess! And looks WAY too scary!

The man, who was named James, reluctantly extended his hand to shake hands with the Goddess but quickly halted before he could. "How do you know my name?" He asked.

"Why, Lord Lucius told me about you." She sounded a bit childish.

James began to look at his surroundings. "Where am I?" He wondered.

Tilith was shocked. "You don't know where you are? You are in Grand Gaia!" She said with great excitement.

James began to clutch his head with a look of confusion. How long was he asleep for? He had no idea where he was, or how he got here for that matter. He couldn't remember what he was doing before he came here. He was still feeling a little off from the sudden awakening. "I am not familiar with this place. And what is this quest did this "Lucius" fellow tell me about?"

Tilith sighed. "For someone who possesses the power to cross the Gate, you are clueless."

James sighed. "I'm sorry, but this is too much to take in. If it isn't too much of a problem, can you please explain to me what's going on?"

"Of course! Well you see-" She was interrupted by the sound of growing in the distance. "Wh- What is that?"

Ahead of the pair was a couple of moving round silhouettes in the distance. As they got closer, they revealed themselves to be a couple of green slimes.

"Look out! Monsters! Quick, summon your Units!" She shouted

James paused. He found it odd, and rather disappointing, that a Goddess such as herself was afraid of slimes, but then there was the other thing she said. Summoning, the art of calling and materializing a being through magic. He was aware of this techniques existence, but he was no summoner. He quickly explained his situation.

"You don't know how?!" She shouted again. "Just close your eyes and concentrate! Let your power do the rest."

He sighed. He closed his eyes and began to stretch his arm out. He closed his eyes as to calm himself, putting his mind into a meditative state. He didn't know the rites or the chanting required to perform a summon. I guess I have to improvise this, He thought. He shouted, while maintaining his position "Be you man or monster, I call upon you to come to my aid and to assist me in defeating my enemies. Come forth!" As he finished his chant, a magic circle appeared underneath him, and another in front of him. He felt a surge of energy coursing throughout his body. A pillar of light began to shine and quickly disappeared.

Standing in front of him was another young man. He wore what appeared to be a red sleeveless uniform and a tattered cape; metal plating was on his waist and on his chest. He had spiky red hair and brown eyes, and in his hand was a great sword with a red hilt. He resembled the silhouette from his dream. He began to "Mossys, huh? Doesn't seem like a challenge, but this will be the perfect time to test my skill." He began to charge at the slimes, sword in hand and effortlessly cut them down. The slimes faded way shortly afterward. As this was happening, Tilith spoke with James.

"You didn't need to be so dramatic…" Tilith smirked, and then she looked at the newly summoned unit and was surprised. "How did you manage to summon Fencer Vargas!?" She asked. Vargas, so that was the warrior's name. He didn't think it would work, but it did. As far as James was concerned, he never was able to summon anything until now. Could this be the "new source of power" the Gate God mentioned?

He had no idea how to respond. Did I do well in my first summon? The fact that she was shocked to know that I summoned this warrior showed that he was something special, is he?" He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice that Vargas was still fighting with the slimes, which kept coming as he slain each one. He was slowly growing tired as the fight progressed. The red-haired warrior eventually collapsed with exhaustion. Tilith began to grow concerned. "He won't make it!" She cried. One of the slimes began to leap in the air, getting ready to pounce from behind on the downed unit. Damn. James thought. What am I doing, standing around like this? I have to do something or he'll die. I guess I have no choice.

"James, do someth-" At that moment he ran right past her. He moved so suddenly that she barely had the time to react. Just as the slime was to make contact, it was quickly cut down in mid air. James stood behind Vargas, in his hands was a great sword of his own, it shone brightly as the sun's rays were reflected off of the blade. The blade itself was very long, almost as if it was as long as James height. It was surprising he was quick enough to bring out a sword that size and be able to swing it all in one fell swoop. The way it suddenly appeared out of nowhere showed that it had some magical property. "Are you alright? Can you stand?" James was already in a fighting stance, carrying his massive sword with both hands.

"Yeah, just fine." Vargas quickly stood up. "What are you doing?"

His tone of voice changed to a more serious one. "Summoned unit or not, I can't just sit idly by as someone fights by themselves, especially for me. I can't forgive myself if I did." He stared at the slimes. "You take the ones on the left, and I'll take the ones on the right. Is that okay?"

Vargas nodded "Sounds like a plan!" He responded eagerly.

The two swordsmen began to charge at the slimes, quickly cutting them down with great skill. Vargas swung his sword with speed and power, James fought just as aggressively, mixing fast and heavy swings with kicks and punches when he had the chance. They were all defeated in no time, but a few remained. There were a couple more slimes, in addition to one more. This slime was different with the rest; this one was larger than the other slimes and had a crown on top of its head. What was peculiar about this slime was that the moss on its body seemed to form a mustache on its face. Despite its odd appearance, he could feel more power radiating from it; for sure this one was much stronger than the others.

Tilith shouted from a distance, "This one's tough! I'll help!" She closed her eyes and folded her hands as if she was praying. She quietly spoke. "Bless me calm light…"Light began to envelop her, it felt warm. Then she quickly shouted, "BATTLE CRYSTAL KISS!" at once, the light dispersed and began to surround Vargas, blue crystals began to form and were absorbed by him. Tilith shouted again. "James! Tell Vargas to use his brave burst!"

James quickly faced to her with a look of confusion. "His what?"

"Think of it as a special attack. Use it now!"

James faced Vargas and gave him a quick nod and took a few steps back. Vargas closed his eyes to concentrate and a fiery aura began to surround him. He then shouted, "FLARE RIDE!" and jumped into the air, simultaneously swinging his sword in an uppercut motion. As he did, fire rose from the ground, and shot up like geysers, the remaining slimes were engulfed by the flames. James watched this at a distance, filled with intrigue, the sight was something new to him. As the last of the flames from Vargas' attack vanished, the once-grassy field in front of him was charred, small embers still rose from the burnt ground.

"That's some skill." James said as he walked up to him. His blade, as quickly as it came, disappeared in a quick flash of light.

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself." Vargas replied between pants.

Tilith began to run up to James and tackle hugged him from behind. "That was amazing! You did better than I hoped you would. And you were quite the fighter."

"You should have done a better background check then. Fighting up close and personal is my specialty." James responded.

"Okay then. Well, I'm going to go; I'll meet you up ahead." Tilith said. "Oh, by the way. Take these. I was going to give them to you earlier, but you rushed in before I could." She tossed a small satchel, containing 10 green bottles.

"What are these?" James asked

"Cures! They'll help heal your units!" She yelled as she ran off.

"Hey, wait!" But she was gone. James sighed. What an odd Goddess… he thought. Was she expecting me to walk all the way to wherever she is? Is this another test?

James gave one of the bottles to Vargas, whose injuries went away completely after he drank it. James then looked ahead to the direction where Tilith ran off. He stared into the distance and let out a sigh. What did I just get myself into? He wondered. Just what kind of rabbit hole did he get himself into? That gate from before definitely had something to do with it. He put his hand to his earpiece as he tried to call again. "Hey, anyone there?" He was only met with static. "Damn it." he cursed under his breath.

Vargas looked to his summoner with a confused expression. "what are you doing?"

James sighed. "Nothing, it seems." No reception... How am I supposed to contact anyone? he placed his hands into his coat pockets, unfortunately ,they were empty. He checked his pants pockets next, nothing there either. Crap... I forgot my phone again... He sighed once more and kept his hands in his pockets, so as not to look any more foolish in front of his new companion. What a predicament was in, tossed into a different world entirely with no supplies or means of contacting the professor. He began to regret his reckless decision, but for now, he would have to bear with it. If there was anything of interest he could find here, he would have to record it to make a report.

"What's the plan then?" Vargas asked, breaking his concentration.

"Guess we'll have to walk to the rendezvous point." James replied.

"I don't know what that means, but okay." The two began to walk throughout the plains, there was nothing but green grass as far as the eyes can see. After a while, they spotted something in the distance. As the pair got closer, they stumbled across a gate-like structure. This struck as familiar to James, as the appearance looked exactly like the gate he saw before being transported to Grand Gaia. The gate slowly began to open, although it was not as disruptive as before. All they could see beyond the opening was an empty black void, there were no signs as to where it would lead to.

"Do you have a clue where this goes?" Vargas asked his summoner.

"I honestly have no clue." James replied. "But it looks like we have to enter."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Does it look like its opening up for anyone else right now?"

"Good point."

The two reluctantly entered the gate, with James taking the lead. They both disappeared into the darkness and the gate slowly closed behind them. Whether James knows it or not, the journey has just begun.