Before I could fully process what was going on, I heard two voices scream out behind me.
I quickly snapped my head to face the direction of the screams and turned to see two people: one on a vehicle, another carrying something on their back.
I also noticed a massive hourglass of some sort on our far left, but I was already bewildered at that moment to focus on so many things at once.
The first person I saw seemed younger than me, around 15 or 16. He was wearing rags and clutching his chest while screaming.
He was on top of what I could only call a miniature tank of sorts, more like a tankette. But given the circumstances I was in, I couldn't care less about the specifics.
The next person appeared to be a girl, with a tomboyish look. She wore a cloak that concealed most of her body, making it hard to determine her exact age—probably around my age, maybe a year older.
On her back, she carried what looked like a small plane, similar to what the Wright brothers would have had. Judging by the tears on her cloak, it was clear she wasn't in the best of circumstances. Then again, neither was I, considering I didn't know where I was.
Frantically looking around, she noticed me staring at her and angrily walked in my direction, visibly anxious. As she approached, the hood on her cloak fell off, revealing her long silver hair.
"YOU, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, AND WHERE ARE WE?!" she screamed, pointing at me.
"I don't know either. I was just sitting at home, and I appeared here. I'm just as confused as yo–" I answered haphazardly.
She cut me off by kicking me in the stomach. The pain was excruciating. How did she close the distance so fast?
I crashed to the ground, reeling from the impact. I had expected her to require more effort to reach striking range, but clearly, I was mistaken. Now I lay on the ground, clutching my stomach in agony.
It reminded me of the time I got tackled by an opponent during a soccer game, but at least that was accidental. The impact felt more substantial than just colliding at high speeds.
I looked up at her, meeting her gaze. I couldn't quite discern if she was panicking or experiencing something else, but she needed to calm down before we both got hurt. Transported to an unknown location, and the first encounter involved getting kicked in the stomach by a random girl—how delightful.
"Listen here, you little shit; you have five seconds to tell me where we are before I– Wait, where is it?" she said, searching through her pockets. Her face shifted from anger to confusion.
"I swear I had my knife with me. It must have fallen off when I arrived here," she said, patting herself down in search of the missing knife.
Wait. I have a gun on me! Why am I allowing her to threaten me as if she holds all the power? Although I've never fired a gun in real life, I believe my experience playing "Duty that Calls" is sufficient to know how to handle one.
"How about you get on the ground with your hands up before I'm forced to do something you'll regret?!" I commanded, rising to my feet and pointing my gun at her.
She didn't get on the ground and instead faced me nonchalantly. It seemed she wouldn't back down easily.
I slowly moved backward, trying to create some distance between us. However, she started mimicking my steps, following me closely.
"I'm warning you. You don't want me to shoot, do you?" I said anxiously, realizing my confidence was fading.
She continued to trail me as I kept backing up. It seemed she was trying to catch me off guard, waiting for the right moment to strike. I had to hope that she believed I would actually shoot her, even though deep down, I didn't want to harm another person, out of fear or for any other reason.
Suddenly, while lost in my inner thoughts, she lunged at me. Thankfully, I managed to dodge her tackle at the last moment. She tried to get up, but I swiftly struck the back of her head with my gun, knocking her out.
"That should buy me some time," I said, letting out an exasperated sigh.
Internally, I was still panicking. The adrenaline was coursing through my body after being kicked. Fortunately, soccer practice had taught me a thing or two about taking hits and recovering quickly.
"She must be pretty tough. The pain from the kick is only now starting to subside," I groaned while holding my stomach.
I just hoped she would remain unconscious long enough for me to figure out what was happening before waking up and likely attacking me again. I didn't want to endure another blow to the stomach, or anywhere else for that matter.
Now that I had a brief moment of respite, I looked around and finally fully noticed the massive hourglass near us. It was blue, with sand slowly trickling down. Was it counting down to something?
And why did I have this gun, which didn't resemble a normal one? It lacked any distinctive features to determine its brand. Moreover, the peculiar gem on its magazine was intermittently glowing. I had no clue what that meant, but I hoped it wasn't some sort of bomb or dangerous device.
"Why am I here? What is this place? How am I alive?!" I heard the other person scream, jolting me back to reality.
I had completely forgotten about him, my focus consumed by the pain from being kicked. He hadn't moved from his position atop the small tankette.
I walked over and waved my hand in front of his face. He appeared to be experiencing a panic attack, clutching his stomach and muttering incoherent words.
"Hey dude, are you okay?" I asked.
No response. It seemed I needed to be more direct to get any reaction.
"Hey dude, are you alright? You've been clutching your stomach a lot. Are you hurt?" I asked, using a more assertive and stern voice while grabbing his shoulder.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" he yelled, shoving me aside.
"Damn, dude, chill. I'm just trying to help," I said, feeling annoyed.
Well, I would talk to him when he calmed down. After all, I wasn't a therapist. For now, I decided to investigate the giant blue hourglass, as the gem on my gun seemed to glow more rapidly the closer I got to it.
Initially, the hourglass appeared close when I first glanced at it, but now, as I walked toward it, it seemed to be farther away than expected.
Once I approached it, my gem emitted a bright light toward the hourglass, and another light emanated from the hourglass toward the gem in my gun. Suddenly, my field of vision became flooded with a deluge of information.
Alex Rodgers
Class: Ranged Weapons Hero
Level: 1
Equipment: Small Basic Pistol (Legendary Weapon), Other-World School Uniform
Skills: None
Magic: None
"What the hell? This looks like a status menu from an RPG," I said, bewildered.
A glowing icon resembling a gun also appeared. I guess it wants me to click on it or something.
I moved my hand toward it, and it expanded to cover my view, replacing the previous display of what appeared to be my stats. A tech tree-like diagram emerged, with the middle part glowing, as if it wanted me to touch it.
I could see branching paths leading in different directions, but the names were not visible. So, I decided to select the only option that had a name, right in the center of everything.
Basic Pistol
Abilities Locked Equip Bonus: +3 attack
"+3 attack?" I muttered to myself, puzzled.
What does this mean? What am I doing here? And why do I have this strange pistol in my hands? To possibly answer my questions, a small icon with a question mark labeled "Help" started glowing.
I touched it, and my view was replaced by what appeared to be a massive wall of text. It contained a plethora of information, including sections on Guardian Beasts, Power-up Methods, Abilities, and the Purpose of Heroes.
I decided to click on the section titled "Purpose of the Heroes." Earlier, in the status menu, I had seen that I was classified as a hero of some sort. Maybe this would shed some light on things. My view was replaced once again, this time with a smaller wall of text that seemed less intimidating. Alright, let's see what it says.
[Purpose of the Heroes] The purpose of the heroes, who are summoned from another world, is to protect the world from an event known as "The Waves of Calamity."
"What are the Waves of Calamity?" I asked, still puzzled.
The menu lit up once again, this time highlighting the section titled "The Waves of Calamity." I touched it, and just like before, the previous menu closed, giving way to the new one.
[The Waves of Calamity] During the waves of calamity, monsters will emerge from cracks in the sky, and the heroes must defeat the wave boss to bring an end to the wave.
"Heroes, waves of calamity... what does all of this mean? I don't understand," I said, my tone tinged with panic.
The section in the help menu labeled "Dragon Hourglass" began to glow. I touched it, hoping it would explain how I ended up here in the first place.
[Dragon Hourglass] The Dragon Hourglasses are used to determine the time between each wave...
As I read, a series of numbers appeared in the top right corner of my field of vision.
[Willowing Fields - 24:23:38:47]
If I interpreted the time correctly, it meant that the next so-called wave of calamity would occur in approximately three weeks. I continued reading to confirm my understanding.
... the hero and their party members will be teleported near the location of the wave, along with formation members. The hourglasses are scattered across the world in various locations.
Okay, now this definitely sounded like an RPG. Parties? Formations? I was still extremely confused about what was happening. I tried to piece together all the information I had gathered so far.
If my understanding is correct, it stated earlier that I am a hero, specifically a ranged weapons hero or something similar. I am supposed to battle these waves of calamity or something along those lines. And I need to use these large blue hourglasses to teleport near the wave location with my party?
Another section, titled "Power-Up Methods," was now glowing. However, before I could touch it, I heard a loud rumbling sound.
I looked up and spotted the source of the noise. It was a meteorite with a pink trail, falling to the earth. It shimmered brightly, almost as radiant as the sun.
The meteorite rapidly approached and disappeared behind a massive mountain, causing the ground to shake upon impact. It seemed I wasn't the only one confused, as the guy on the tank was now gazing up at the sky in fear.
I secured the strange gun on my waist, noticing that it clung to my body. Perhaps its legendary status allowed it to defy gravity, or maybe it just stuck to me. I couldn't be sure.
I headed back toward the others to see if the guy on the tank was now willing to talk. However, as I approached, I noticed the girl I had knocked out beginning to stir and shake. It seemed that the ground shaking had finally roused her from unconsciousness.
I scanned the surroundings for something I could use as a weapon in case she tried to attack me. I spotted a small knife where the plane had been. I assumed this was the knife she mentioned earlier.
I hurriedly jogged over to grab it. I could hear a groan behind me, indicating that she was awake now. I needed to retrieve the knife quickly before she attempted to charge at me.
"Huh, where am I? Wait a minute, you're the asshole who knocked me out!" I heard her scream from behind.
I swiftly picked up the knife from the ground, spinning around and pointing it at her. However, I felt a sensation building up in my arm, which quickly turned into pain as an electric shock surged through my hand.
I dropped the knife, the pain subsiding, and then the following text appeared in my field of vision.
[WIELDERS OF THE LEGENDARY WEAPONS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WIELD ANY OTHER WEAPON THAN THE ONE ASSIGNED TO THEM]
I winced in pain, still feeling the lingering shock. It had been quite painful.
"What the hell, are you some kind of voodoo doctor or something?" the girl yelled from a distance, her anger now replaced by confusion.
"No, I'm just a normal person. Apparently, I can't use the knife because I'm a hero or something. I don't know!," I yelled while holding my shocked arm with my other hand.
"HERO MY ASS! COME OVER HERE SO I CAN GIVE YOU A PIECE OF MY MIND!" she screamed in rage, sprinting straight toward me.
I quickly ran toward the so-called dragon hourglass, hoping it would provide some protection or solution. I was running out of ideas, and it was clear that she was acting irrationally. Shooting her was out of the question, as I feared accidentally killing her or missing my shots and getting killed myself.
I saw her heading toward the spot where I had dropped the knife, presumably to stab me. However, the same thing that happened to me occurred to her. She groaned in pain, dropping the knife, but didn't let it deter her as she continued sprinting toward me.
After a few seconds, I reached the hourglass and took cover behind it. She was still a few seconds behind me, running in my direction. However, I noticed the plane on her back starting to glow faintly as she got closer.
She came within a few meters of the hourglass, and a beam of light shot from the plane on her back to the hourglass, then back to her. Suddenly, she came to a complete halt, as if in a trance.
Taking advantage of the momentary pause, I used it to collect myself. I was already out of breath, realizing that conditioning can only take you so far when running from place to place, especially after being kicked in the stomach.
I remembered reading about something earlier regarding the "+3 attack." It seemed that this world had RPG-like properties, and perhaps I had my own set of stats or abilities. I touched an icon near the bottom of my field of vision, and my status menu opened up once again. This time, I could see my name and a few bars displayed on the top left.
If I read it correctly, I took a little damage from the girl when she kicked me, but it was slowly healing still. I have another full bar; I think it might be mana or something along those lines.
There was a third bar below that; maybe it was stamina, but then it should be low, considering I'm tired. I was getting overwhelmed and confused, so I decided to refer to the help menu from before for more info. While I may not fully trust it, at least it explains some stuff.
I began skimming through and reading some sections of the help menu, some of which contained very confusing information. Most of the listed details seemed to pertain to being a hero, while others were about random topics.
Continuing, I stumbled upon something that piqued my interest. It was a category in the help menu titled "Weapon Forms." I tapped on it, and as it had done many times before, it expanded to cover my view.
[Weapon Forms] Weapon forms are different variations of legendary weapons that can be unlocked through material absorption or forceful unlock.
I swear, every single piece of information seems to point to another, making it difficult to fully understand this. At this rate, I'll be here all day trying to comb through it all. Though material absorption seems to be pretty straightforward, do I have to grab random things, and does the gem on my gun absorb them?
I saw a few flowers and some tall grass nearby, so I crawled over to avoid getting the attention of the silver-haired girl. Hopefully, she was still busy reading and wouldn't notice me. I yanked them from the ground, but nothing happened.
"Am I doing something wrong?" I quietly asked myself. However, as I brought the grasses in my hand close to the gun, the gem on it reacted.
It glowed a little, and then the grass began to be sucked into it. I assumed it was absorbing the grass, so I grabbed a few more and let the gem consume them or whatever it was doing. Then, as I let it absorb the third handful, a pop-up appeared on my screen.
Leaf Pistol
abilities locked Equip Bonus: Gathering 1
The pistol in my hand changed shape and now looked like large leaves bundled together to form the shape of a gun. The gem was still attached, so I guess that doesn't change.
The tech tree menu I had seen earlier also opened up and revealed the name of the leaf pistol. This means that if I continue to let the gem on my gun absorb things, it will unlock new items, which will then be shown on the tech tree. Neat.
I checked my status menu again to see if I had unlocked a skill by obtaining the new weapon form.
Alex Rodgers
Class: Ranged Weapons Hero
Level: 1
Equipment: Leaf Pistol (Legendary Weapon), Other-World School Uniform
Skills: None
Magic: None
No new abilities. I guess if the tech tree is pretty massive, it wouldn't make sense to have every single unlock come with an ability. Still, I wonder if I can absorb things like grenades. Maybe I will unlock a grenade launcher. Who knows?
I was lost in thought, with lots of exciting ideas coming to mind about what I could do with this new weapon. It was short-lived, however, as I saw a looming shadow cover my body.
Slowly, I turned around to see the silver-haired girl again, this time looking a lot less angry but still plenty annoyed. I guess she had finished reading or remembered my existence.
"Okay, I'm sorry about bef-" I was cut off by a punch to the face.
"That's what you get for hitting me before," I heard her say in an annoyed tone as I covered where she hit me.
I quickly checked the top left of my view and saw what I assumed was my health bar drop a little. It had just healed to the maximum amount, only for her to lower it again.
"Okay, I might have hit you before, but that was after you tried to attack me. I was trying to tell you that I wasn't sure where we were either, but I was cut off by a kick to the stomach," I snapped back.
Her face went from one of annoyance to a more calm expression. I guess putting it bluntly did the trick to calm her down. For a second, I was worried I would need to knock her out again or something.
"Well, I... Okay, I guess you have a point there," she said in a more calm demeanor while rubbing the back of her head.
Now looking more closely, I could see she had vibrant blue eyes, and she was only a little shorter than me. Considering I'm 5'9, that should make her around 5'6 or 5'7. I guess in the heat of the moment, I was more focused on guessing where she would hit me next than on her distinguishing features.
I got up from the ground and brushed off my now dirt-covered school uniform. My face still ached a little from the hit she had given me earlier, but it was slowly fading away.
"Whatever, there's no point in dwelling on it. We have more important matters to attend to. I assume that you also got the same pop-ups that I did when I approached the big blue hourglass," I said.
"Yeah, I did. I panicked at first, but I read through something called a help menu, and it explained almost everything," she explained.
"Okay, good. So, does this mean you understand how I did not kidnap you or something and how we were suddenly transported here?" I said, annoyed.
"Well, if everything that the information said was true, then we were just transported here to be heroes of some sort, correct?" she remarked.
"Yeah, that's about what I understood too. I'm glad we are finally on the same page and no longer want to beat each other," I said, followed by a small chuckle.
"Do you see anything about where we are? Or what do we do other than fight the waves? Anything on how to get home?" she asked curiously.
I just remembered I was so caught up with the whole running around thing that I forgot about going back home. How do we get back home? Why did we get transported to begin with? My mom must be freaking out. I mean, I would too if my son just disappeared from his room with no trace.
I grabbed the back of my head and started to rack my brain with what could be going on back home.
I guess the silver-haired girl got worried as she grabbed my shoulder and shook me slightly.
"Are you alright? Don't tell me you're having a panic attack like that other guy," she said while pointing at the guy still on the small tankette, rocking back and forth.
At least he looks like he is less panicked than before, no longer clutching his chest and such. I still have no idea why he is like that, but I guess we will figure it out in due time.
"No, I'm alright, thanks—uhhhh—?"
"Faith. My name is Faith. I probably should have introduced myself sooner. I just rarely get to talk to people for longer than a couple of seconds, so I never introduce myself," she said sheepishly.
"Well, nice to meet you, Faith. My name is Alex. Glad to meet you, even after you hit me multiple times," I mumbled the last part.
"What was that last part?" she asked.
"Nothing. Anyways, if we both got the same introduction or whatever to this world, then what hero are you?" I asked.
"I'm the plane hero or something like that. I'm not sure," she said uncertainly.
"I see. I'm the ranged weapons hero even though I have a gun," I said, showing her my leaf pistol.
"I assume you used the material absorption thing with that to unlock it. I was wondering why it looked like you were holding a salad bowl or something along those lines," she remarked with a small chuckle.
"Anyways, I didn't have time to finish reading the help menu to get the full context. I assume you didn't either, considering how quickly you finished reading," I said.
"Yeah, I only got to the waves of calamity before I noticed you crawling around like a worm," she said.
"Hey! No need to portray it like that. I was just trying to be stealthy, that's all!" I said.
"I mean if you did that out on the streets of New York, there is no way the patrols would not catch you," she said with a smirk.
Patrols? Okay, now I'm confused. Last time I checked, there were no nighttime patrols around New York.
"What are you talking about? Nighttime is when the city is most lively, with people walking around, drinking beer, and having a great time!" I remarked.
"Fun? The last time anyone had any fun was 70 years ago before the Germans took over," she said with a more serious tone.
"Germans? What are you talking about? If you're referring to World War Two, then I'm extremely certain that the Nazis were crushed once and for all at the Battle of Berlin," I said, puzzled.
"Now you're just saying nonsense. The Germans destroyed the Americans in the Battle of D.C., which pretty much signaled the end of the war," she said, looking confused.
Wait a minute, now our information was contradicting itself. We were both transported here, yet different events happened. This can only mean one logical conclusion.
"Who won the Second World War, Faith?" I asked.
"Well, it was the Germans. Isn't that common knowledge?" she said.
"For me, it was the Allies who won the Second World War. The Germans lost. What is the strongest alliance in the world today?" I asked.
"It's the Berlin Pact. Don't tell me it's different for you too?" she said, with a worried expression.
"In my world, it's NATO. Judging from our differing accounts, this can only mean one thing: we are from different timelines in the same world," I concluded.
"WAIT, WHAT?!" Faith screamed, with a startled look on her face.
"Okay, calm down. I guess the only difference is that in your world, the Axis won, while in my world, the Allies won," I remarked.
"Yeah, that's true. The American Commissariat is currently being administered by the Greater Reich," she said, now calmed down after the previous outburst.
"I see. Well, we can discuss this at a later time. Right now, we should really try to understand our circumstances better, especially considering it's midday. We don't have a lot of time before nightfall," I said.
"I guess. Also, how am I supposed to use this thing to save the world?" she said, grabbing at the plane on her back.
"No idea. I guess these things just work in weird ways," I said, looking at my pistol.
"Yeah, these vassal weapons sure are weird," she replied.
"Vassal weapons? I thought we had legendary weapons," I remarked.
"We might have different types of hero weapons. I mean, yours already sounds larger, considering its ranged weapons, which cover a large category. As for me, I'm stuck with only using planes, apparently," she said, rather annoyed.
"We can figure out how to use our weapons properly later. I know the basics, at least, so we should be alright," I said.
"That's not reassuring, but fine. I'll trust you, I guess. We really should try to talk to the other dude on the tank. He seems to be calming down a little," she said, motioning to him at a distance.
Well, she was not wrong. He finally got off the tank, though his back was still against it. However, he seemed to still be sulking, so not much better than before.
"I guess we can talk to him now," I said as I began walking.
I motioned for Faith to follow, and she obliged. Though I can tell she was still rather shifty and hiding something, I rather not pry, especially with the current circumstances. We headed towards the guy still shaking on the ground near the tank.
Finally, a few seconds later, we arrived. I heard much less whimpering, but he was still trembling pretty badly.
"Hey, dude, I'm back. Are you alright?" I asked.
He slowly brought his head up at the question, and his eyes seemed to focus on us.
"Where am I?"
"I don't know," I replied.
"How am I here?"
"I don't know," I replied.
I guess I wasn't really reassuring him, considering that every time I answered his question, he grew more frightened and panicked.
"We should start with introductions. My name is Faith, and this is Alex," she said, motioning to herself and then to me, in a livelier and kinder voice than before.
"What is your name?" she continued.
"M-my name? My name is Nickoli," he said between shakes. I guess he wasn't fully in his right mind at the moment.
"Well, Nickoli, I'm not sure where we are or how we got here, but I know why, though," I said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.
"W-why are we h-here?" Nickoli asked nervously.
"Well, it's a bit hard to explain, so I'll just take you to where it's explained for you," I said. Then I signaled Faith with my eyes to take him to the hourglass, which she luckily understood.
"You need to get up and come with us. We won't hurt you, I swear," Faith said reassuringly.
She was giving off a lot of big sister vibes, not that I would know much about it other than what my friends told me about their sisters.
Faith helped Nickoli up, and they both began walking toward the dragon hourglass. Judging by his name and appearance, he seemed to be of Slavic descent. I couldn't tell specifically which one for now, but definitely one of them.
The tankette he was riding seemed to stay attached to him. However, judging by how easily he was walking, I assumed that the weight was nullified. I followed them, keeping some distance behind, taking in the scenery around us that I could now notice a little better.
There seemed to be a lot of smoke coming from a couple of faraway villages now. The castle was smoking as well, but a lot less than the villages. Well, it might just be because they are far away. I'm not really sure.
We finally arrived at the hourglass, and the same sequence of events happened: light shot out, a person stood still in front of it, and I assumed the hourglass was telling them about the world.
I took the time to take Faith aside and talk with her a little more.
"Judging from Nickoli's height, he seems to be around 15 years old or so. He also seems really unstable right now, so we should be cautious when talking around him," I said.
"Agreed. I've seen this before in people. They tend to lash out or further isolate themselves if we rush things without giving them time," she responded.
"I see, were you a therapist or something along those lines?" I asked.
"No, I just see this pretty often whenever I'm near times square." she inquired.
"I see…" I said.
We stood there awkwardly, just looking at each other for a few moments.
"Anyways, on a small side note, would it be rude to assume that you're about a year older than me? I'm currently 17, but I know girls are usually shorter than guys, so I'm not exactly certain," her face scrunched up a little, but then she gave a small sigh and nodded.
"I see. Interesting. Anyways, he should be finishing up his introduction or whatever to the world soon, so let's try to get everything sorted out first," I said.
"Got it," she replied.
We started to walk over to where Nickoli was.
A lot has happened so far. I was transported to a new world with RPG-like settings. Apparently, I was summoned as a hero to protect the world against the waves of calamity, which I'll just call waves to simplify things. While I still don't know where we are, at least I'm not alone.
I met my two fellow heroes, even after getting into a fight with one of them, and we eventually got along. Faith is slightly shorter than me, about a year older. She has clear blue eyes and silver hair. I'll have to ask her how she got such unique features. She is the plane hero, as indicated by what she saw in her status menu and the biplane on her back.
The other guy, Nickoli, had a panic attack when he first got transported and still seems startled. Judging from his appearance, he seems to be around 15 years old and from a Slavic region. He has light brown hair and brown eyes, nothing that stands out as particularly unique. He appears to be a tank hero, or something similar, considering he was riding a tankette.
I feel a bit rude for judging him, so I'll stop. In this new unknown world with levels, heroes, and castles, I'm not certain what the future holds. At least I'll have two others to accompany me, hopefully back home.
END OF CHAPTER 1
[New World Info]
Every chapter or so I'll add info at the end related to the story that some viewers may be confused about in the form of an informative document. Reason is, either due to me not being able to include the information into the story well, or just something extra I want to mention.
[Ground Zero World]
A Ground Zero world is a world with no prior knowledge
of the waves whatsoever.
With the introduction of heroes into the world, many unknown elements were added to the world
alongside the creation of the heroes.
The Holy and Vassal Heroes, while normally summoned by ritual, instead they will be summoned by the world near an hourglass
and given a basic tutorial.
Author's Notes:
Hello readers, it was a bit of a longer chapter, mostly filled with lore drops on the three heroes. Now with the three heroes, Alex, Faith, and Nickoli now established, be prepared for their journey together! Again be sure to give me advice and remarks so I can improve my writing, be sure to come next week for chapter two!