Chapter 1 - Welcome to your first story

  An idyllic beach stretched infinitely toward the horizon, the water shimmering with crystalline clarity, reflecting the warm hues of a perfect sunset. The fine, powder-like sand glimmered under the golden light, and the rhythmic lapping of gentle waves completed the serene scene. It was a paradise so breathtaking it felt untouched by the world’s chaos—a place seemingly built for endless relaxation.

  Yet peace was a fragile illusion.

  “Incoming!”

  The sharp warning pierced the calm just before an eruption of sound and fury shattered the idyllic setting. Explosions thundered, their concussive force sending geysers of sand skyward and rippling the once-placid waters. Smoke poured into the sky in thick, black plumes, choking the air and veiling the beach in shadow.

  From the haze, five figures emerged, their forms wreathed in desperation and exhaustion. Each stumbled and sprinted as if outrunning death itself, their faces pale with terror and bodies drenched in sweat. Behind them came an unholy cacophony of screeches and groans—sounds that clawed at the mind like metal grinding against metal.

  *SCREEEEEEEEEECH*

  The smoke parted as something massive and grotesque moved through it, displacing the murky veil with a sinister grace. They appeared—hulking monstrosities of green and brown, their humanoid shapes stitched together with writhing vines, jagged leaves, and grotesque blossoms. Pollen clouds billowed from their gaping, flower-like maws, their razor-sharp petals gleaming in the dying sunlight. They advanced with an eerie, unnatural precision, their every movement accompanied by the grating sound of vegetation grinding against itself.

  “It’s no use—I’m almost out of ammo here!”

  The booming voice belonged to one of the fleeing figures, a man whose imposing physique was dwarfed by the twin cannons mounted on his back. The smoking barrels hissed as they cooled, the heat from recent blasts rising like vapor into the chaotic air. His movements were sluggish now, each step more labored than the last.

  “We have to fall back!” yelled another, a woman with sharp eyes and a commanding tone, though her voice wavered with fatigue. “We’ve been running all day! There’s no end to these things—we need to regroup and—Aaaagghh!”

  Her cry of pain cut through the chaos like a dagger. Without warning, a thorny vine exploded upward from beneath her, its jagged edges ripping through the sand and piercing her legs. It coiled tightly, anchoring her in place as she struggled against it. The vines were relentless, snaring two more of the group, including the cannon-wielding man, whose bellow of agony echoed across the battlefield.

  “These bastards—!”

  The woman, gritting her teeth against the searing pain, lifted her arm with all the strength she could muster. In her grasp was a staff made of polished wood, its tip crowned with a radiant green crystal that pulsed with an otherworldly light. As the glow intensified, the vines reacted violently, tightening their grip and tearing at her flesh. The agony was unbearable; her fingers faltered, and the staff slipped from her grasp. Its glow faded as it hit the ground, dimming into uselessness.

  “Use it now!”

  Her voice, hoarse but commanding, reached one of the two remaining free members of the group. Her gaze burned with urgency as the abominations closed in, their toothed vines writhing like hungry serpents.

  One of the free survivors, a man with a jagged scar running down his cheek, thrust out his arm with a desperate cry. His face twisted with concentration as he focused all his energy, his outstretched fingers trembling. But instead of salvation, a cold, mechanical voice filled the air, accompanied by a glowing, translucent window that appeared before him:

  A window with digital-looking text appeared out of nowhere and positioned itself in front of the man's outstretched arm while a cold voice loudly spoke out its contents, much to the surprise and distress of all those present. The words froze him in place, their meaning sinking in like a blade.

  “Goddammit!”

  He roared, his voice thick with frustration and fear. The monsters surged forward, their sharp-edged vines tearing through the sand as they descended on the captives. Screams rang out, raw and brief, before being silenced in horrifying finality. Blood mixed with the once-pristine sand, staining the paradise red.

  Only two remained.

  One of them turned and bolted, his movements frantic and uncoordinated. He didn’t dare look back, his steps pounding against the shifting sand in a desperate bid for survival. The scarred man, meanwhile, stumbled and fell, his body weakened by the relentless chase. The shadow of death loomed over him as the creatures closed in, their movements slow and deliberate, savoring their inevitable kill.

  He closed his eyes, his fists clenched in futile defiance. This was the end.

  But then, the cold, robotic voice returned, cutting through the despair:

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  Unaware of any of that, a young man was attending class as usual… What’s the meaning of fun? It may be reading a book, traveling to exotic places, meeting new people, or perhaps playing video games, even the most common person could find a hobby or an activity they could enjoy, right? Well, in a certain young lad's case, such activity was studying, or at least that was what he liked to think.

  Adam Scholar was what you could call an average normal young man, a well-groomed but short straight black hair on a slim but firm body, not very tall but not short either, and a pair of reading glasses that covered part of his face, always stuck in some book or text on a screen. Even his name was unironically appropriate for someone like him. Maybe that was part of the reason why his mother, an old-fashioned Korean doctor, chose to marry his father, a distinguished American lawyer, since both greatly appreciated intelligence and knowledge. In any case, the result of two such individuals coming together produced an offspring with expectations set high regarding his future, so everything that little Adam learned since he had use of reason was that studying was all there was to do.

  He was now reviewing today’s class while sitting alone in front of the classroom when the teacher finally said it was over for the day.

  "Man, that was boring, wanna go to the movies?"

  "Guys, let’s pack up and go eat something!"

  "Hey bro, have you seen the latest episode? It was awesome."

  It may be one of the most prestigious universities in the country with one of the strictest curricula in the world. Still, people in their twenty-somethings are what they are, and, being Friday night, most of them were preparing to get a very well-earned rest. Adam heard various comments while packing his things to return home, phrases that he didn't understand at all… Bowling? Going out to eat? Watching series? None of them sounded fun, and it baffled him; never had he thought that searching for such trivial activities was to be frowned upon, in fact, he knew and accepted that it was something normal that people enjoyed, and it was okay. It just wasn't for him, something that he kept on repeating to himself over and over every time his mind began to wonder what it could be like. But no, he had no time for it, every day was just packed with classes, individual reviews, special tutoring, and online courses. It was a miracle that he even had time to eat, do some exercises, clean himself, and sleep, but that was the life he had always known. Truth be told, he liked how his usually stoic and cold parents gave him the occasional smile and praise every time he got to share a new perfect academic record or honorific diploma, and today was such a day. The midterms were to be published later, in the evening and he was sure to have aced everything, as usual, with extra compliments from their teachers.

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  The way home was always the same, a very safe and easy-to-follow route, so, instead of wasting time simply walking, Adam liked to read his notes while moving. That night wasn't any different; the only difference was when a very bright light turned on at one end and dazzled his glasses.

  "What?"

  A little confused, he turned his gaze towards the source of the said glow, only to realize that it came from a new store, one that he had never seen before despite having passed by it many times. It was a… Toy store? No, a comic store perhaps? For the first time, Adam stopped in his tracks for a few seconds to look closely. So many colors, so many wacky characters, and those were Japanese letters? People could be seen inside the store, laughing and talking animatedly while pointing to the merchandise they had nearby. He didn’t get it but some melancholy crossed his mind for a second.

  "*Phew* Okay, let's go, I’m late."

  Adam closed his eyes and released a big sigh before proceeding on his way, but as soon as he opened his eyelids again he realized that everything around him had turned completely white. This time, totally dizzy and momentarily stunned by the sudden change, it took him a couple of seconds to recover enough composure to see his surroundings.

  The space seemed to have no end due to the exaggeratedly white color of the walls, ceiling, and floor, something that would have even made anyone nauseous had it not been for the two wooden doors, placed on what would surely be one of the edges of the room.

  "W-What?"

  Adam stuttered to himself, but, shortly after it was clear that the mysterious people there were the same as him and didn't knew what was happening.

  "ここはどこですか？私はどこにいるの?!"

  "Oh meu Deus, oh meu Deus, Aaahhh!"

  "What is this?!"

  Aside from the latter, understanding any of the words the other people were saying was impossible for him. Was it Japanese and Portuguese? What? Just then, the student recovered enough stability to finally get a proper look at the people who seemed to be in the same predicament as him. The first one was a short girl with long and obvious grassy hair and sloppy clothes, who, at first glance seemed maybe only a few years younger than Adam, and who was also shouting nonstop in Japanese with a pale look; the second one was a very tall woman with short hair and mild dark skin, who seemed just a few steps away from having a panic attack, as she was squatting down and covering her head with her hands while trembling after her final shriek.

  The last person was another man, a youngster just like him with short blonde hair and a school uniform, who didn't seem all that upset like the other two but whose face clearly showed a mixture of confusion and fear. The guy was the only one who seemed to speak English, so Adam quickly thought it was his best shot at guessing what was happening. However, before he could even take a step, a powerful sound boomed throughout the place, echoing and making everyone freeze from shock.

  "Shut up!!"

  It was just then that Adam realized that he had overlooked the existence of two other people, because they had not said a word until that moment. The one who had shouted was a rather tall and well-toned man with an aggressive expression, due to a scar on his left cheek, and grayish hair wearing a sleeveless shirt, who seemed more annoyed with the situation than anything else. Although everyone had turned their gazes on him, the other character was more or less nearby. Another man, although not so tall, had his face half hidden by a big straw hat that shadowed his semblance, giving him a rather threatening appearance, even more so seeing that he stood with his arms crossed and was wearing an open shirt and the same military pants with heavy boots.

  "Okay, good, shut the hell up and listen… Or whatever, I don't care. I'm only speaking here because I kind of know English, so it sucks to be you."

  Said the man while pointing to both women.

  "The store won't open until after we're done, so it's a shame… You, blondie! I guess this is only for you then. Once we're inside, just shut up and follow what I say, okay? Don't be a nuisance and everything will be okay."

  What was that man saying? Store, going inside? It seemed that both Adam and the blonde dude were speechless, so it was a complete surprise that the one who said something before anyone else was the disheveled-looking Japanese girl.

  "(Japanese: What is this place? Where have we been teleported to? What happened?)"

  Again, words that the boy didn't understand, however, to his surprise, the man responded quickly.

  "Oh, you catch on pretty quickly. Yes, you were all teleported here from wherever you were just minutes ago."

  The threatening-looking man seemed surprised by the question, but only because the girl had understood "what had happened to them", which only made the little bit of coherence that Adam had found until then completely disappear. Hadn't he said he only knew how to speak English? How could he have understood whatever they had said to him in Japanese then? Nothing made any sense, so, with the last bit of willpower left in his body, he raised his hand and asked loud and clear.

  "What… What do you want from us?"

  At that question, the man's surprised expression changed drastically to annoyance, but not annoyance directed towards the student, but rather boredom, as if he didn't want to have to say anything about it.

  "I don't want anything from you aside from what I have already said; just wait for a bit and… Oh, there it is."

  Before he could finish his sentence, a strange sound very similar to a digital tone echoed through the place like a cell phone ringtone, only for the room to become completely dark from one moment to the next, being illuminated only by a huge screen that had appeared from nowhere right on top of the entire group as it started filling up with text almost immediately. At first, Adam tried to follow the words with his eyes and read them as fast as he could, however, he stopped trying when a robotic but feminine voice began to read aloud everything that was being written.

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  "(Spanish: Damn, this must be a joke. Is this time an entire world full of ghosts? Last time it was just an island, and they barely gave us points for it despite what we lost. They're not even giving us the difficulty rating.)"

  The man spoke more to himself than anything else, making it clear that his native language seemed to be Spanish. However, all of this was completely overlooked by the rest of the people present, who had been stunned by the words and the apparent story that they had just heard. The even more curious thing was that it seemed that everyone had understood it despite having been narrated in English.

  "Wait, what does it all mean?!"

  Adam tried to react as quickly as he could and asked one last question, which unfortunately was avoided by the man.

  "No time, see you on the other side."

  The boy was enveloped in a blinding white light at that precise moment, which made him involuntarily close his eyes.

  The feeling was the same as when he arrived at that white room, only this time when he opened his eyes the only thing he could see were ruins illuminated only by powerful moonlight, this time taking much less time to get back on his feet until he was able to turn his head and perfectly appreciate where he was. The entire group was present, and the same confusion reigned among the same three, only this time it was much more intense since they were standing in the middle of a destroyed street with semi-demolished houses and cars with withered vegetation growing around.

  "Haha, welcome! To the worst story of your life."