I am king Hersch Einsbrey XII, and my Kingdom is facing turmoil.

Every single day there's been some new problem. It all started about a week ago when the Dragon Hourglass in my castle started glowing, and the sand in it started moving. Since then random disasters have been occurring very frequently. These disasters are completely unprecedented. Nothing like this has ever happened in our recorded history. I hope today there's some good news.

"Sir, we've received reports of a pack of direwolves decimating the village to the east"

"Your Majesty, the adventurers guild is reporting a spike in disappearances"

"King Hersch, Heralds Bay has gotten hit by a tsunami"

"The adventurers guild has concluded the spike in adventurer disappearances is directly correlated to the average level in monsters rising."

"Your Majesty, the Legendary Axe has chosen a wielder. Shall I send for him?"

"Ah, yes please." I responded.

Some good news, along with lots more bad news. I had been debating enlisting the help of the legendary heroes, but our records with conversations of heroes past suggest a darker tone to the summoning process. If the hero is summoned from another world, it is a common occurrence for them to have died in order to come here. For that reason I was hoping the Legendary Gauntlets and Axe would pick wielders from this world, and that those two would be enough. I… I understand all too well how it feels to lose an offspring, and I don't want to put the heroes' families through something similar.

I was pacing around my throne room awaiting the arrival of the Axe hero. My shadows said they were in a neighboring town, so I expected to wait a few hours, but I couldn't just sit still.

BOOM

The door to my throne room had burst open, and now hovering in the middle of the room was a humanoid figure wearing some strange head. It's clear the head was artificial, it clearly looked like some kind of cloth covering a sphere, but the design looked like that of a lion

"Haah!" "Hiyah"

Two of my guards both leapt at this creature and swung their swords down on it, but their weapons stopped about 10 centimeters short of hitting it. The creature then pointed its arms at the knights and two cannonball sized holes appeared in their midsection. They both collapsed to the ground dead.

The figure began speaking in a high pitched male voice, filled with an unhinged cadence.

"Ha ha! Well that wasn't the rudest greeting I've gotten so far, but it was up there. Hello there, you've got a crown on, so I assume you're king of this land?"

"Y-yes, I am King Hersch Einsbrey XII. I rule this kingdom, and oversee the lands on the main continent."

"Well you may call me Lionhead, that is my screen name after all. I've just come to deliver a general warning. You may have noticed some bad stuff happening all around the world. Just some minor calamities I assure you, it's just that worlds tend to not react very well when we're preparing them. These natural disasters should dissipate in under a year."

This is a very destructive way to deliver a message, but I suppose it's some good news. He said a few things I don't understand like 'screen name' and 'preparing worlds'? But at least I know these calamities will come to an end in time. I just need to focus resources on keeping people alive until they're over.

"But most importantly-"

He wasn't done?

"If you don't summon this world's Holy hero in a month's time, this world will die."

My blood ran cold at that sentence. "What?"

"I believe you heard me. If you don't summon the Holy hero, every living thing on this world will die in one month."

Was he going to destroy the world in a month? I don't doubt his capabilities seeing how effortlessly he killed two of my knights. Those two were among some of the highest level knights in the castle. But I don't see how the Sword hero could stop him. Heroes might be seen as wielding god-like power, but very skilled and high level people could still compete with a hero.

Watching me think, Lionhead continued. "Well that's all the important stuff. I believe I've given you a lot to think about." Lionhead started floating upwards "Remember to summon your Holy hero or else the world will die!" He shouts with almost glee in his voice, right before he shoots through the roof of my palace, leaving a sizable hole behind.

I have a lot to think about. That individual didn't sound alright in the head, and claimed to in some way be causing the natural disasters plaguing the world. My attendant comes out from behind a pillar, and with a shaky voice asks "w-what shall we do your majesty?"

"We need to do a summoning ritual. Regardless of how I feel about it, it may just be necessary for the sake of our world. The Holy Sword is in our storage, correct?"

"Y-yes it is sire. We shall commence the ritual at once"

Unlike the Legendary weapons, the Holy weapon requires a summoning. For whatever reason, the Holy Sword will never choose a resident of this world as its wielder. The ritual is somewhat expensive to do, requiring a lot of rare gems and a lot of magical power to be put towards it, but nothing a king can't afford. Especially when the world seems to be in peril such as this.

It was about two hours of preparation altogether. While the castle mages were performing the ritual, I was sitting on my throne praying I didn't tear apart another happy family.

My name is Sorezo Katagi, and I am currently falling to my death.

I was born with a psychic ability to see the future. At first I thought I was special, but my ability is very unreliable, only showing me random glimpses of the future, not being very helpful most of the time. Certainly nothing special like psychokinesis strong enough to lift cars, or perfect teleportation. I went through most of my life, already knowing some of the mundane stuff that will happen, and still being surprised by a lot of major stuff, although there was one time my power warned me of a mugger being on my usual path, so it did help me once. At least my visions never spoiled any anime for me. The few hours I got to watch anime a week was one of the only escapes in my incredibly busy life. I went to school from 8-4, had an after school club that also took up most of my evening, and was spending my time on weekends either studying or helping my family work. Both were renovators, so I was expected to come in and help tidy up houses with them. At least I got some money out of that, at the cost of my free time.

One morning on my walk to school, my ability finally showed me something important. A person was about to jump off a building! I was sure I recognized the building, and looking around, I saw it. The building was only about a minute away. I didn't see anybody at the top there, but maybe if I could get there before them I could finally do something meaningful with my life. I ran to the building, and up all of its stairs. When I was around the middle of the stairs I heard the door at the top close. Was that them? Pushing myself even harder, I raced up the stairs and flung open the door. The person in my vision was almost at the edge of the building, but turned around in shock when they saw me.

"Wait, don't do it!" I shouted, sprinting at them. They had stopped in shock when I shouted, and I managed to run to their side and grabbed them before they started moving again. Once I grabbed him he regained his composure.

"Get off me you stupid kid! You can't understand what I've been through!"

"Whatever it was, it can't be worth ending your life over!"

We both struggled with each other a bit, me trying to push him away from the edge of the building, and him trying to push me off of him. I think I could do it! I heard a siren in the distance, if I could hold him here a few more minutes maybe the police would arrive and stop him. I'd finally be able to do something heroic with this terrible ability of mine!

"Easy for you to say! You're just some kid that doesn't know how hard life can be! Now GET. OFF!"

He jerked his arm really hard to the side, with me holding on to it, that put me right in front of his hand, and when he jerked his arm again, it was like a hard punch right to the gut. Gasping for air, I ended up letting go, and the force from the punch knocked me back. The impact sent me over the edge of the building. Horror filled both his face and mine as we realized what happened, it was like the world was moving in slow motion over that second. That is how I, Sorezo Katagi, at the age of 18 just a few months before I would be done with high school, fell to my death.

…

I should have hit the ground by now.

I opened my eyes and it looked like I was falling through a tunnel of light, with the bottom of it fast approaching. I looked up the tunnel just as the view of the building I was falling off was fading from view. Before it completely faded, the perspective changed, and I saw the top of the building. Someone else had climbed up. So the man I was trying to save wouldn't die… I'd managed to save him. I'd managed to accomplish something with my life. Even if this was just the afterlife, or if there was nothing at the end, I'm glad my life meant something.

My name is Ash. Ash Kane. Huh, so this is what your life flashing before your eyes feels like. I'll admit I was curious, though I never hoped to be in a situation where I'd experience it.

Overall I'd say I lived a pretty good life. I made friends, I did well enough in school, and I had a lot of fun overall. My dad made sure I did some form of physical extracurricular, and I've tended to gravitate towards martial arts, so I guess that's why I didn't run away from the guy with the knife.

I was on my way home from school, on my usual path. It was a quiet path, with not many people walking down it, and not many cars going down it either. The north side of the path had some abandoned buildings, but it was mostly pretty swampy. The south side was filled with residences. None of them were mine, mine was a bit further. When I got to about halfway home, I saw a man walking the opposite direction to me, also on the path. He had a frazzled grey hair and beard, with a wide windbreaker on. At first this didn't alarm me, but as he got closer I noticed he was focusing quite a bit on me. When we got close, I noticed him turn his feet towards me, and I threw up my hands just in time to grab his arm, which had just swung at me with a concealed knife.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Hehehe" The old man just chuckled maniacally, in a voice that holds nothing but murderous intent.

"I guess we're doing this the hard way then."

I swung my other fist at him, hitting him in the face, while at the same time he hit me in the gut. I let go of his arm holding the knife, and he stumbled back from the hit. Taking the opportunity, I tried to grab the knife hand again, but he swung the knife, cutting my hand.

"Aaaah!" I cried out. The pain wasn't as bad as I thought, but the cold feeling from being cut, the hot feeling from bleeding, and the sight of so much of my blood was driving me into shock.

"AAAHHH HAHAHAAHAHA!" The old man was now screaming and laughing maniacally. He lunged at me again, this time managing to stab me in the gut, and tackling me to the ground. He continued to laugh maniacally while he repeatedly stabbing me, working his way up my body. At one point he stabbed me in the throat so I couldn't even scream from all the pain I was in. When I began to hear sirens in the distance, the old man got up and ran away. Maybe someone saw him and called the police? It doesn't matter, these injuries will definitely kill me. There's nothing that can be done to save my life now.

I think I'm almost out of time considering the blood loss is making me see some kind of bright tunnel, with my previous life at the end. Is my brain making me see some metaphor for dying as some poetic joke? And why do I feel like I'm falling-

The two messengers arrived at my throne room at the same time.

"Your Majesty-" They both started, then looked at each other.

I pointed at the one on my left "You go first"

"We've received a report that the Legendary Gauntlets have disappeared. According to eyewitnesses, a light from the Gauntlets shrine has flown towards the castle."

"What?" I shouted. The messenger shied away from me at that, so I calmed down before continuing.

"This is quite unprecedented, but we'll find out what this means later. Next."

The messenger on my right started speaking.

"We've completed the summoning of the Sword hero, but there's someone else down there too, and they've got the Gauntlets!"

Both me and the other messenger stared at them for a second. I didn't expect to find out what that light was so soon, but this just keeps getting stranger and stranger. The Legendary weapons have never summoned with the Holy weapons before. Perhaps what Lionhead said was true. This world is truly in great danger, so the Legendary weapon saw fit to summon someone as well.

I then heard footsteps coming up the stairs to the throne room. A young man who looked to be starting his 20's walked up the stairs. His physique makes him look like a farmer that was used to dealing with stubborn animals, he wore common clothes that were in good condition, and had medium-brown skin and dark brown hair. Finally, he had a giant axe strapped to his back, with a reddish orange gem embedded where the blade and handle would meet. His face turned to a confident smile.

"My King, The Axe Hero has arrived!" The young man confidently said.

"Welcome. If you would wait for the other heroes so everybody could do their introductions at the same time..."

"I understand."

"OOF"

"OW"

Me and someone else both just fell into this room. I thought I was bleeding out but apparently I'm fine now? And where am I?

"Ow ow ow ow" the guy next to me kept saying, clutching his head. I managed to do a break-fall on reflex and just had a bit of pain in my back from the landing, but I think he fell right on his head.

"A-ah, my greatest apologies" one of the other guys in the room said. Wait, we were surrounded! The guy right next to me looked to be about the same age as me, and probably Japanese, while the other guys in the room looked incredibly sketchy, wearing robes that covered most of their body. I get up and notice I'm wearing what looks like Gauntlets. I close my hand into a fist, and as I do, mini-bucklers appear in my hands. The mini-bucklers have a light blue gem in the middle of them. I open my hand again and they disappear. The guy next to me gets up too.

One of the robed guys starts saying something like an incantation.

"I am the source of this power, please mend the person in front of me. Erste Heal."

A faint light shimmers from his hands and almost looks like it gets absorbed into the guy beside me. He then stands up to his full height, and I see he has a sword.

"Thank you, I feel much better now, but what was that?"

"That was healing magic, Lord Sword hero."

"Did you call me the sword…" He now notices the sword in his hands, and starts shaking his arm

"Woah woah woah" I raise my Gauntlets and take a step back. With his shaking his arms the sword is going everywhere, I don't want to risk getting cut by it.

"Ah, I'm sorry" He stops shaking his arm. "The sword is… it's like it's glued to my hand."

The sword in question looked like an iron sword with some gold inlays, and a dark blue gem right on the Hilt.

The main man in the robe talks again "Yes.. All of the legendary weapons are bound to their wielders, and can't leave their person. If you had a sheathe you would be able to let go of the sword"

Me and the guy with the sword look at each other now. I really can't keep calling him 'the guy with the sword', even if it's just in my head.

"I guess we're in this legendary hero business together, huh?"

He slightly hesitates in responding. "Yes, I guess we are"

"My name is Ash, how about you?"

"You can call me Katagi. I suppose more formal introductions can wait until we're more acquainted with our surroundings?"

"I was thinking that too, just in shorter words" I responded with a smile.

He smiled a little too, looking like he was holding back a chuckle. A good little bit of humour helps break the tension in a situation where neither of us know what's going on. Katagi seemed to be rubbing his right eye. Maybe he got something in it?

"Heroes, if you would come with me to see our king, I believe he can tell you all you need to know."

That seemed to be the best course of action for now, so we followed him up several flights of stairs, and through several corridors until we arrived at the throne room. There were three other people in the throne room. One of them was quite obviously the king. He was sitting on the throne and wearing a crown, and one appeared to be the king's attendant, who was standing near his throne, but off to the side. And standing in front of the throne a respectful distance away, was someone who had a giant axe strapped to their back. The length of the axe appeared to be only a little shorter than its wielder.

The man with the axe spoke "There you two are. I've been waiting!"

The attendant piped up "It has been five minutes"

"Heroes, please line up before me and introduce yourselves." The king seemed to have a worried expression when we came in, but now that he's addressing us he sounds as commanding as a king should be. I don't know what to think of him yet.

"My name is Sorezo Katagi. I am 18, and was about to finish high school before being summoned."

So that's his full name. In Japanese culture you say the last name until you become close, right? I'll keep calling him Katagi for now.

"Alright I'll go next." The guy with the axe said that. Man, I should really break that habit.

"My name is Ben Bernhard. I am 22, and was fighting off some monsters attacking my family's farm when the Axe chose me as its wielder."

"And you?" The king looks at me now.

"My name is Ash Kane. I am 17 and… I'm not sure what else to say about me"

It would be pretty embarrassing to say I died in a fight, right before I'm supposed to serve as a legendary hero. Although I don't know exactly what we're supposed to be doing. Katagi beat me to the punch.

"Your majesty, why are we here?"

"My apologies. I need to introduce myself, and I will explain the plights that befall our lands. My name is Hersch Einsbrey XII, and I rule the kingdom of Einsbrey, where you all are right now. It is the biggest kingdom on the mainland. The reason you have been summoned is because of a series of natural disasters happening all over the world. My task to all of you is to discover your powers as heroes, and use them to help the people of this world"

A very fair task. I could see Katagi nodding as well. Ben was still smiling. Is he always smiling?

The King continued "Furthermore, I have received a report that in one month's time a far greater calamity may befall this world. Your secondary task is to prepare for this."

Ben then cut in. "I checked out the Dragon Hourglass on my way here and it shot a beam of light at my weapon, and now I see a countdown that's about a month. Does that have something to do with it?"

"Yes, it does. All of these calamities started when the sand in the hourglass started moving, so I fear whatever may come to pass is related to the time in the hourglass running out."

But what do we do right now? What can we do?

"What should we do right now?" I ask. I realized after I said it I didn't include any honorifics, but the king didn't seem to mind.

"Right now you should check your statuses, and have Ben show you around and explain what you need to know about this world. I will give you all 200 silver to start you off."

"Understood!" Ben replied, and we all followed Ben out of the throne room.