A girl was standing in the middle of a room… no, an infinitely large white plane, with a ceiling that seemed to go on forever. She looked around to try and spot anything to understand where she was, but everything around her was spotless. Her clothes were perfectly clean, and even her shoes were spotless.

Where… am I?

She rummaged her pockets for anything, when she found a weird metal object in her right pocket. She wrapped her fingers around, what seemed to be, a short metal handle, and pulled it out.

A… knife?

In her hand was now a knife. It seemed like any ordinary knife other than the small green gem in the spot where the blade and the hilt met, with a thin gold ring around it.

As she turned it around, a bright green flame seemed to wrap around the weapon, which then spread through her whole body, and then the floor around her. Before she could even react, she felt something push her, making her fall onto the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" she gasped, opening her eyes. Clara looked around, only to find herself back in her room, any sign of the knife, or the infinite gray… Wait, what color was it?

What a weird dream.

"Jim?! Are you up?! Dad needs you to get some milk!" her mother yelled from downstairs.

"Coming!" Clara heard her brother Jim yell back. It was followed by the rustling of clothes, and the quick thuds of feet hitting the old stairs.

Oh shoot! We need some oil!

As she thought that, Clara piled out of her room, and down the stairs. Her brother was already at the door when she stopped him.

"Hey, bro!" Clara yelled as she ran up to him.

"Hey sis? What's up?" he asked, rummaging through his pockets.

"Since you're going to the shop anyways, can I ask you to pick up some cranberry juice while you're there? Also olive oil! I'll be helping mom cook tonight and we're almost out," Clara requested.

Jim quickly turned towards her and pointed to the kitchen.

"I will do that as long as you listen to mom's instructions very carefully and don't burn down the kitchen again," he said, patting her head.

HEY! That was an accident!

"I thought we agreed to never talk about the incident!" she exclaimed, pushing his hand away and pouting.

I'm only two years younger! I'll be able to drink in a few months! You don't need to pat me like a child!

"C'mon. Don't make that face. You know I care about you and don't want you to burn yourself like the pizzeria that got burned down. Too bad it couldn't stay down."

"I know. But I have improved a bit since then!" she declared. She had been practicing hard ever since her parents let her in the kitchen again.

"What, you only burn half the kitchen this time?"

"HEY!" she yelled, punching him in the shoulder. Clara waited for Jim to leave before she slammed the door behind him.

"Don't slam the door! Unless you're ready to start fixing it yourself!" the mom yelled from the kitchen.

"Sorry mom! Accident!" Clara yelled in response. She sighed and began walking up the stairs to fix up her ruffled hair. However, she heard a sound that she didn't want to hear.

CRACK

The top stair under her foot broke, sending her tumbling down the staircase. Clara tried to grab onto the railing to stop her fall, but another crack, this time coming from her, rang in her ears.

After that, everything went dark.

Clara didn't open her eyes right away, but she felt the ground under her. The floor was completely smooth instead of the one at her house.

Weird. This isn't mom's rug. Am I in the hospital? No, why would I be on the floor?

She heard some murmuring around her and opened her eyes. Several robed men were standing around her and staring.

Where am I?! What happened?! Who are these people?!

It was then that she noticed a small object in her hand. It was a small knife with a green gem in the spot where the blade and the handle met.

"Oh holy hero, we ask o-," a man began, approaching her. However, Clara raised her knife to his throat and backed away.

"Don't come any closer! Where is this?! Who are you?! What do you want from me?!" she yelled, failing to hide the panic in her voice.

"Please calm down. If you talk to our leader, she will explain every-," another man tried to explain, taking a step closer. But Clara pointed the knife at him and continued to back away.

"I said don't come any closer!"

"Calm down kiddo. Besides, I doubt you can hurt him with that small knife anyways," a voice called out from behind her. The man was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. At his side was a weird hoe with a similar gem to her knife.

Clara panicked as she realized that she was surrounded. She grabbed the closest man from behind and put a knife to his throat.

"Everyone back away!" she yelled. The men from before seemed completely calm however. Even the man in her hands seemed to be pretty relaxed.

"I don't mean to ruin your fun, but I am level 63. I don't think you can hurt me," he muttered.

Level?

Her breathing became ragged as her eyes darted around the room. The man leaning on the wall sighed.

"Alright. We're off to the start of all time. Shadow Strike!"

Without a warning, the world began to spin again and Clara felt herself fall to the floor.

Someone… please help.

==}—

"GHASP!" Clara opened her eyes and looked around. She was laying in bed, still in her pajamas, but the room around her was completely different from her own. A small lantern hanging above her head lit up the room. To her surprise, the room was rocking side to side.

Am I on a ship? But why can't I hear the water?

"Hey," a voice startled her. She noticed the knife was still in her hand, so she raised it to where she thought the voice was. The man with the hoe from before appeared out of thin air and looked at her. "You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the bo-."

"WHO ARE YOU!" she yelled, still panicking.

"Ok, no time for references. Look, clearly you aren't taking this well so I'll summarize. Giant crack in the sky, called a wave, is gonna start spitting monsters soon, so we activated the holy cooking tool, aka that knife. It summoned a person, that's you, and it's gonna give you buffs and skills. You'll need to gather levels for that. I'm sure you're familiar with video games. Comprendo?"

She looked at him in confusion, but she kept the knife aimed at his throat. She got a better look at him under the light. He was taller than her. His hair was a mess, his clothes seemed old and worn out, perhaps unwashed. A small flask hung around his waist, probably filled with alcohol.

He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Look, if we wanted to harvest your organs, we would have done so while you're asleep. If we wanted to kill you, we had plenty of time to do it," he reasoned.

"Then why am I here? How did you get your hands on me?"

"Ok, how do I explain death to an underaged person," he muttered, causing Clara's eyes to widen.

"W-what are you talking about?" she asked, terrified of the answer that might follow.

"Hm. Ok. So! Legendary weapons like your knife or my farming tool look into the multiverse for a candidate to summon. Then make a list from best to worst candidates. And then they wait for a while until one of them loses connection to their body to nab their soul."

Clara looked over in confusion, but then realization hit her.

"You died in your world. It's how you got here."

I'm dead.