**Lucas Jaeger**

The first answer he got was to a question he had not asked out loud. No, the carriage did not work well over and through the grassland that made up this island. Being bounced around would have been bad enough at the best of times, but Lucas had to be careful not to hit his shoulder as well and the effort to do so combined with the shaking was doing nothing to improve his mood.

It did not help that the carriage was small and cramped. Even if the knight was not inside this time, in addition to Terrasin, he was joined by another young and nobly dressed boy and girl. Perhaps he should say young man and woman? The woman was a rather petite platinum blonde whose doll-like face and extravagant dress almost made Lucas think of one of those life-size dolls wealthy parents might buy for their daughters when the blonde was sat next to the more womanly Terrasin. The man, dressed in just as fine clothes and with a silver circlet glinting atop his wavy brown hair, sat next to Lucas with the two women across from them.

“Lord Hero,” Terrasin began the introductions. “These are the Lady Archi deVon Versi, the daughter of Duke Versi from the Kingdom of Francea and Lord Alfred Moru, son of Count Moru of the same.”

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lord Hero.” The one called Archi bowed her head and picked at the edges of her dress in a faux curtsy.

“Indeed, a pleasure and an honor, Lord Hero.” Alfred likewise did as much of a bow as the cramped carriage would allow. “If there is anything we can do to assist you, please let us know. Our houses will support you fully.”

Lucas, still not perhaps in the best and most focused state of mind, barely heard the introductions as he had finally noticed, and been distracted by, the fact that words he heard did not match the movements of the speakers mouths. In fact, although the Latinesque language they were speaking had become easier to ignore, now it just felt like he was living in a badly dubbed foreign film. He seriously considered that he might be hallucinating this whole thing, but as Descartes said, “Cogito, Ergo Sum.” The only thing someone could assuredly believe was real was themselves, as everything else could be a trick or illusion. You had to assume that for the most part, your senses provided you with some sort of accurate picture of the world around you that you could act on or you would end up doing nothing at all.

Lucas had not noticed how uncomfortable the silence had gotten as he pondered his own sanity until Alfred discreetly coughed beside him, bringing him back to, he what he presumed was, reality.

“Sorry about that,” Lucas said. He was not actually, but they did not have to know that, even if his rather blunt personality would probably have them suspecting it soon. “I was just debating on whether or not this was a very vivid hallucination and that I may have gone insane.”

That got him a few looks of surprise, but Lucas simply pushed through them, having already come to the conclusion himself that he could do nothing but act as if the world he perceived was real and hope for the best.

“Regardless of whether I have or have not,” he continued. “I have no idea where I am and what is going on, and would appreciate an explanation.”

It actually look Lucas a lot of effort not to tell them to, “fucking explain where I am and how the hell I got here.” But with the pain slightly more manageable, he did not think that would be the best and decided to try something with more tact. He also wanted to shout and yell in horror and demand just what the hell had stabbed him, but he was also not entirely sure he wanted to know.

“Of course Lord Hero,” Terrasin replied in a tone that suggested formality, as if she was reading off an official script or maybe something out of a holy book. “It is the duty and the privilege of the Royal House Almistraus to provide such to you. Traditionally, we would welcome you with great fanfare but the current state of the Allied Kingdom’s forces did not leave us with any choice.”

“As you have seen yourself,” she went on with a more grim tone and harder eyes than Lucas thought any young woman should have at her age. “We, humanity itself, are at war with creatures we call Demons. Monsters that appeared over four thousand years ago from elsewhere, quite probably another world, and invaded this one. Our people have… Have not been able to fight the Demons on our own, and every thousand years since the Five Heroes recovered the magic to do so, we have called on a Hero to aid us.”

Lucas had not even noticed that his jaw had dropped in surprise. He sat there, being bounced around in a carriage next to three young adults dressed like medieval European nobility and stared at Terrasin like a slack-jawed idiot. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of the carriage and the hooves of the cavalry that was escorting them- though how horses were able to be moved around in a world like this was beyond Lucas’s understanding- as Lucas tried to process what he had heard.

When he said nothing, Terrasin continued on. “The first two Heroes saved humanity from destruction. Indeed, it was widely believed that the third summoning would see humanity’s total victory- but we were betrayed, and the ritual was co-opted and turned to the demon’s purposes. The Demon King summoned a thousand years ago spelled not only the destruction of the great city of Uri, but also the reversal of all of humanity’s gains over the two thousand years prior- and then some.”

Bowing her head towards Lucas, Terrasin’s voice had become raw- filled to the brim with emotions and weighed down with stress beyond her years. “And so we humbly ask you, Lord Hero, to help us. To save us, please, from the horror that threatens to consume us. You are a greatest hope, our only hope, and we throw ourselves on your mercy.”

The plea was so heartfelt, so emotionally charged, that Lucas could not say he was not moved by it. At the same time, however, exactly what the woman was saying was still sinking in to Lucas’s stunned and overloaded mind. He had hardly an idea how to react, but after Terrasin had said those words and had still had her head bowed, Lucas had to say something. And, unfortunately, Lucas was fairly certain he could not give them what they wanted. He was not a soldier who could fight, nor was he an engineer who could build weapons, or a leader who could inspire forces to victory. No, he was-

“Your name is Terrasin, right? I hate to say this, but I do not think I can help you. I am a scientist, specifically a geneticist, which you could look at as an advanced form of biology.” Lucas tried to run his hand through his hair out of nervous habit, but flinched as he aggravated his shoulder wound. That would take some getting used to. Still, he did want to do something, though maybe it was only because he was weak to situations like this where people desperately needed help. Lucas had seen more than a few places in his own world where- well best not to think of that now.

“Look, I don’t know how this all works.” Lucas breathed out as he spoke in a half-sigh, thinking out loud. “But if you sent me back, I could get some people and weapons together- maybe look up some blueprints, even- and bring them back. Or, if I could convince them somehow, I could even get the army to help. I mean, if you can fight those Demon things with swords then wiping them out with firearms should be a piece of cake.”

“Many of the words you used did not translate Lord Hero,” Terrasin replied, and then her voice turned quiet and she spoke cautiously. “And, Lord Hero, I am sorry to say this… But we cannot send you back to your world, nor can the ritual be used again for another thousand years to bring another Hero to this one. You are all we have.”

Another stunning sucker-punch to the gut that once again left Lucas gaping at Terrasin. He was stuck here? In this, clearly archaic, place filled with so much absurdity it would not look out of place in Wonderland? That was, perhaps most importantly, also filled with murderous Demonic freaks intent on murdering and eating every human here?

Lucas had a life, had plans, and all of that was gone now. Sure, his workaholic nature and determination to reach his goals had not left him with a healthy social life- but he did have friends. And hell, he had a future too. A dream that he had worked himself to the bone and ground himself down for, spending nearly three decades of his life in preparation- all of which was now smoke and dust in the wind.

In the silence left behind from that statement, the blonde haired Archi spoke. “I hope, I am not being rude, Lord Hero, but would it be alright if you would tell us your name? And as my companion said, several words did not translate- would you mind explaining to us what a ‘sigh-un-tist’ is?”

“My name?” Lucas replied absently, almost replying on autopilot. “Lucas Jaeger. But are you sure I cannot return? I am stuck here, forever?”

“Yes, Lord Jaeger.” It was Alfred who answered him, though he clearly was not nearly as apologetic about the fact. “It is impossible to return. Although the Almistraus’s are the ones who best understand the ritual, it is well-known that its nature makes travel to another world impossible. It can only bring one to ours.”

Unfortunately for Lord Alfred Moru, the social stigmas and cultural norms that made Lucas unconsciously reluctant to shout at young women like Archi deVon Versi or Terrasin deVon Almistraus did not apply to him and Lucas exploded at him in anger.

“So you are telling me that you assholes abducted me from my own world, my own goddamn life, and brought me to this disgusting backwards hellhole so that you could force me to fight demonic monsters and die for you because you cannot handle your own fucking battles? And that you little shits don’t even have a way to send me back?” Lucas more or less roared, barely resisting the sudden desire to strangle someone here and now. At least the good part of his anger was that he could hardly even feel pain at this point. He could probably even punch someone with his bad hand and not regret it until after his anger faded.

“I have not even been here for more than a few hours and I’ve been stabbed twice! Once by that bastard tin-can you call a fucking knight, and the next by what looked like a very disturbed child’s fever dream after reading a book about praying mantises and watching Shark Week! Not to mention that same bastard would have pulled it out immediately and let me bleed out then and there, or that your pathetic excuse for a healer does not understand even basic hygienic practices- after all of that, you have the audacity, the sheer gall to ask for my help!? I do not know how the hell I would even help you, and I am not sure why I would even want to try!”

All three had shrunk away from Lucas as he raged, and now he was left panting and struggling to get his breathing and anger under control. The fear and confusion and genuine anger inside him had fused into a white hot fire that he could barely wrestle down. Lucas had never, ever in his entire life, been so incredibly furious.

“My Lord…” Terrasin spoke hesitantly, wilting as his glare shifted to her but then seemed to gather her courage and pushed forward. “I cannot deny what you have said. We have… Abducted… You from your world, from your life, from your friends and family and I am sorry for that, I truly am.”

She was, Lucas could tell. But regret was meaningless if you would do it again anyway, and any apology rings hollow if it does not precede a change in behavior, which was why he was unmoved by what he suspected was merely a token acknowledgement of his fury before she explained her reasoning and why she would have done it regardless.

“Please understand that the weight of my country is on my shoulders- no, more than that, the weight of humanity itself.” Terrasin’s words confirmed Lucas’s suspicions, and he sneered at the response even though in a small part of the back of his mind he understood the choice. A sacrifice of one person’s life for the greater good of all, well, considering the stakes it was not a very hard choice, was it? But that did not mean that single sacrifice would not protest it or feel anger.

“It is my duty, and I must fulfill it, to help bring forth the Hero and to help you with whatever you need or want.” Terrasin continued, “we need you, humanity needs you, but we will still do our best to provide you every comfort we can to help you with your loss. I know my choices have taken everything from you… And that even after that I am still asking for everything you can do, but I swear on my family name that I will do everything to compensate and repay you. Already, I owe you my life, and I will not forget that debt either.”

Lucas tore his gaze away from Terrasin and looked instead out the carriage window. Past the horses galloping beside them, far off and above the short, golden, stalks that made up the majority of the grassland, he saw another island floating in the sky in defiance of all physics he thought he knew. Beyond it, both past and to its right and left, where more islands of all shapes and sizes. In the distance, Lucas could see islands that were so big that they seemed to cover whole sections of the sky. In fact, if it was not for the slight, but seemingly perpetual mist, and the rivers and lakes in the sky, as well as the limitations of perspective, Lucas was certain that he would see that some of these islands were the size of medium sized states from his homeland. If he turned his head to look back towards where the carriage had come from, the North if he read the sun’s movements right, past the island that held the ruins he had arrived in was an island far off in the distance of overwhelming size, underneath which there seemed to be islands permanently cloaked in its shadow.

Contemplating the world he found himself in helped Lucas reign his temper in, though he could still feel it as a low boil under the surface. It would be hard for him to simply dismiss this feeling, the sheer injustice and unfairness that had been dropped on his head, and he was not entirely sure he wanted to. Lucas felt that these people deserved to bear the brunt of his rage, but even if that was true it was not productive, and there was still one point he had to address.

“A scientist is, at its most basic description, a person who seeks knowledge,” Lucas answered the question flatly. “What sets them apart from others is the rigorous nature of their work, both in procedure and documentation. The other words you had trouble with… Probably, ‘biology’ and ‘geneticist’ I guess, I think I said those words anyway. Biology means, literally, the study of life. A branch of science that encompasses everything alive and the efforts to understand living things. A geneticist, meanwhile, is a person that studies genetics- which you could view as a more advanced, or at least more specific form of biology itself. That is the short answer anyway, you would lack even the most rudimentary knowledge to understand a longer one without a lot of explaining that I do not feel like doing.”

Did they think he was be condescending? Lucas did not care if they did, his answer was accurate. Understanding of his work and studies was beyond most people in his own world, barely intelligible even by fellow biologists who were not specialised in some form of microbiology or virology.

“As you might suspect from my explanation,” Lucas continued, thinking it was probably best to rid them of their expectations as soon as possible. “I know next to nothing about killing or fighting, and my knowledge will be of very little use to you. I suppose I can possibly help with agriculture or some of the basics of medicine, but even there you would lack the tools to make the tools to make the tools I would need to even begin to apply my knowledge in a more than basic way.”

Well, he did not know nothing about killing, but biological weapons were only used by idiots. Anyone with even a modicum of understanding about the subject would realise that bioweapons were not even a gamble, they were straight up suicide. Even if you could use them without backlash at first, unless you could guarantee that not a single trace of the infection remained to be passed on the disease would become a part of the natural world, like influenza or meningitis. And because it survived you could never be sure that one day, maybe even a hundred or a thousand years after it was used, that a strain would develop that would strike at not just the people who had used it but everyone alive. If it is subject to natural selection, it will evolve. And if it evolves, there is always potential for threat.

“Lord Lucas,” Terrasin spoke with a small smile. “I think you may be selling yourself short. The ritual is blessed by the Gods, and they would not lead us astray. Your knowledge may be of more use than you know, or something you dismiss as irrelevant may be a revelation that gives us the power to fight the Demonic hordes on equal ground. Already your actions have proven your heroism, and I believe, truly, that you will be able to save us all.”

Terrasin’s eyes shone with her absolute faith, and the look from Archi was not very different. Hell, Lucas even noticed that the Alfred kid had a similar look, if more subdued. He was, admittedly, weak to this sort of thing. Lucas had learned that long ago during his volunteer work as he had chased after the path of his idol, Norman Borlaug, and visited some of the most poor and starving places on Earth. However, those memories also taught him that no matter how well he designed a crop to withstand temperatures hot and cold, or insects and vermin, or drought and poor soil, that none of it would matter if the farmer had been shot and left for dead. Violence and instability could put a torch to years of work developing strains of rice or wheat that would survive and feed the hungry even in the worst conditions, and Lucas figured that the Demons were likely worse than any local warlord or drug baron. Stil…

“I will do what I can,” Lucas sighed, still angry but without a place to really vent the feeling. “But I am not going to simply accept that I am stuck here, if I can be brought here it stands to reason I can be sent back and I do not think I would want to stay here even if the Demons were all gone. I will find a way back, no matter what it takes.”