On a cold Toronto winter day, after a long day at work, Hannah was walking back home. Despite living in Canada all her life, she hated the cold and was moving as fast as she could to get indoors. She moved to Toronto for university and stayed here to find a stable job and settle down. For a twenty-two years old woman, Hannah was doing pretty well, though her job was a boring accounting one for a local company.

After making it to her building, the young woman rushed inside and exhaled a sigh of relief as she felt the warm air surround her. She took off her coat and called the elevator, hoping it wouldn’t take long to come.

Hannah heard the building’s entranceway open and cursed under her breath. She lived on the top floor and didn’t like to ride the elevator with other people. Waiting for everyone to get to their own floor felt like a waste of time. Yet, a woman around the same age as Hannah just walked in. She had seen that woman before, they always got home about the same time, but it wasn’t strange for them to miss each other. She didn’t know her name or anything else about her. Still, they exchanged a greeting of necessity.

“Hello.”

“Oh... yeah, hi.”

It was just a simple greeting of politeness, or more like a necessary annoyance. The elevator came, and Hannah pressed on her floor, the other passenger did the same. With a small sigh, she closed her eyes and imagined the relaxing hot bath, which was just a few minutes away.

Out of nowhere, she heard the other woman scream.

Hannah opened her eyes and found herself in a forest.

----------------

Malcolm was walking towards his class while watching the falling snow behind the windows. He was a high school student in senior year, and he had just transferred to this school a week ago. Unfortunately, he was struggling to make friends. Malcolm sighed and opened the door of the classroom, wishing for this day to go by quickly so he could go back home and play League of Legends. He was close to diamond rank and wanted to get it tonight. His teacher, Ms. Sarah greeted him.

"Good morning Malcolm!"

"Good morning, miss."

She was a cheerful woman in her late thirties who still behaved as if she had never left her teenagehood. The rest of the class mostly ignored Malcolm. He wasn't bullied, but finding his own place among his classmates was something he had yet to achieve.

Malcolm missed his friends in the old school. His family had to move after his dad got a job offer in Illinois, one that paid double compared to what he had earned before. Malcolm had tried to argue and stay, but his dad had said no, and that was that.

Once at his desk, he put his head down, acting like he was asleep. It was like a defense mechanism. If people saw him as a loner, then at least he would make it look like it was his own choice. He preferred it that way.

The bell was going to ring any minute now, and Malcolm was preparing to go to the next class. Nearby, a girl called Sarah giggled with her friends, and he instantly thought they were laughing at him. But after giving it a second thought, he sighed quietly.

Out of nowhere, the entire class erupted in screams and confusion.

He fell on a cold, marbled floor and groaned in pain as his head hit the floor.

"Ow, what the..."

Malcolm opened his eyes, his entire class was with him, the homeroom teacher included. He looked around and saw that they were surrounded by old men in robes, but most of them were either breathing heavily or collapsed on the ground. An old man in robes yelled at a man in armor.

"The summoning was a success! Quickly, go tell his Majesty! Quickly!"

"Yes, Grand [Mage]."

The armored man ran and left. The old man called Grand Magus looked at the summoned group of people, judging each of the twenty-three students and their teacher. He found them a little young but decided they would do.

"Welcome, heroes! You must be terribly confused, but don’t worry. All will be explained as soon as his Majesty arrives. Fear not, you are in no danger here."

The students all looked at him in fear, one of them quickly asked:

"Where are we?! Is this some kind of joke?!"

"Don’t worry, you will all know shortly. I promise you we have no ill intentions."

A few minutes passed, most students were shaking in fear, confused, or talking to Ms. Sarah. Some of them wanted to call the cops, but all their phones were out of range.

The door to the chamber swung open, and a tall man in his late forties walked in. He had short, neatly kept blonde hair and radiated confidence.

"My heroes, I am [Emperor] Vitelius, and I welcome you to the Draele Empire! I know that I have taken you from your homes, but we are in desperate need of your help. The demons on Kistror have taken over the entire continent, and if we do not do something, it will soon be the world that falls to them. I am afraid I have no choice but to call upon you. Come! I will explain everything to you on the way to the throne room. You may ask me anything."

Having all of this dropped on him without any forewarning, Malcolm was the first to speak up, which surprised everyone.

"Where the hell are we?!"