Somewhere in a park, in Midwest America, Del and Ge sit on a bench, eating ice cream. They had just finished an unexpected delivery and needed a palette cleanser after what they had seen. A priesthood dedicated to enslaving children from another world, people who had an entire life ahead of them. Stolen.

Thinking back to the two who had fallen into the back of the truck, at the time Ge didn’t think much of it when Del had decided to deliver them, but after seeing the state of the world they were being taken to. She just couldn’t wrap her head around why they still delivered them. “I don't get it.”

With a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, Del paused, “What don't you get?”

She gestured towards the back of the truck, “The two we just dropped off.”

Raising an eyebrow, “What about them?”

Ge spoke slowly, trying to think of the right words, “Well, why didn't you just let them return home?”

Letting out a long sigh, Del put his cup of cotton candy sprinkle ice cream on the bench. Ge had asked the question he knew she would ask one day. Every day, she was becoming sharper, and asking more questions as she came into focus, “I can't.”

“But why?” That didn’t make sense to her. His entire job was taking people from one world and bringing them to a new one. Why wouldn’t he be able to bring them back?

“Sometimes, I forget you wouldn't know.” His voice was heavy and tired. “Simply put, they died. Though that might be a massive oversimplification”

“But they were still alive in the back of the truck?”Did we kill them kicking them out the back? Or did they die already in the other world? She was trying to understand, but the man wasn’t making sense.

“Ah, they were not. It’s a little hard to explain...” Picking up his ice cream, he took a bite, “See, when someone enters a portal like that their corporeal bodies are completely destroyed.”

“Then what were the bodies in the back? Are you saying they were ghosts?” She didn’t even know if ghosts existed, but she had seen souls, maybe that is the same thing.

“Oh no, those were physical bodies.”

“But you just said, they were dead, and their bodies were destroyed. You're not making sense.”

“This is where it gets weird.” He was struggling to figure out how exactly to explain, the metaphysical nature of the job. Taking another big bite to buy some time.

Starting to get impatient, “I'm listening.”

“So…” He swallowed, “When one falls out of their world or leaves it, they are subject to the rules of that world. By falling out of a world like Earth, they go beyond the rules. Their bodies are momentarily destroyed, going beyond, then reconstituted exactly as before.”

“But then they would be the same person.” Then, pointedly, she added, “And still alive.”

“Yes, but by passing through the between they aren't allowed back in.” He explained

“Wait…” Thoughts just in the back of her head, that she had always wondered about but never thought to ask, seemed to be answered in that one statement, “Is that how you bring people away?”

“Pretty much.” Scratching the last of his ice cream he tossed the cup in a nearby trashcan.

The gears continued to turn as Ge, made connection after connection, as a picture started to form, and she did not like what it was implying. “Doesn't that mean those people can never come back?”

“Usually.”

“What does that mean?” His nonchalance started to piss her. She had watched so many Gods dangle the possibility of sending Heroes home in front of them, never intending to ever send them back. She had always thought it a cruel taunt, but the thought that they could never go back didn’t occur to her. If what he had said was true, they would be rejected by the world itself. How could they possibly return?

“The multiverse is massive. Even I don't know what's possible, but some have made their way back.” He explained, his voice getting cagey as he added, “Just a few, and very far between.”

She thought back and remembered him mentioning people coming back, sometimes without memories, by the Gods themselves. She wanted to ask about those times, and how they made it through, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask. Afraid, the answer itself might be worse. She felt a drip from her cone, as the silence grew. She no longer wanted to eat the frozen confection.

“It's sad.” She said, breaking the silence.

“It is.” Del agreed as the two fell back into silence.

After finishing, her ice cream Ge felt bitter, and not even the crunchy cone could cheer her up. With nothing left, she spoke quietly, “Why do you do it?”

“It's my job.” He answered sadly.

“Don't give me that.” Annoyance filled her voice. That was just too simple an answer, and she had recently learned, that nothing is ever that simple.

Seeing her reaction, Del turned to her, and she could see a mischievous glint in his eyes as he answered, “I have my reasons, and I believe you will learn them soon.”

——

On a bench far, far away, on a green, green planet, two teens sit, on a bench, in a city square, a boy and a girl, Warin and Alessia. Surrounding them was a city, but not like any city they’d ever seen. Half the city was either underground, dug out by the people to live in with the more affluent had a second floor above the ground, then there were the ones who grew their homes out of trees or bushes, with doors or windows attached. Only a few buildings existed and those were businesses that needed the open air, such as the forges, or ones run by humans.

The place was populated by beast-men, people with animalistic features that range from almost human with only subtle differences, fur on their arms, fangs, or slitted pupils, to nearly fully animal-looking like a cat or dog, that evolved to walk on two feet.

When Alessia and Warin entered the city, they were given strange looks, due to still wearing their swimwear. After they entered they didn’t know what to do and needed to get their bearings. They found a bench to take it all in, people constantly passed by not giving the two any mind. Both of them had their heads on a swivel trying to take in every little thing since they arrived.

After sitting in silence a while, Warin finally turned to Alessia, “Hey.”

“Yeah?” She stopped gawking at the people, as she realized she might have been coming off as rude. When she looked at Warin she noticed him fidgeting and his eyes afraid.

“Do…Do you have any idea how we could possibly save this place?” Warin stuttered out.

She had no idea how they could possibly save the world. But for some reason, she could not stop smiling. “Nope.”

“Will… Will we become slaves?” This was what Warin had been dwelling on, ever since they learned the fate of all the other summoned Heroes. How could they possibly fight a world? What if we get caught before we can do anything? Will we just end up running from the world itself? It was these thoughts that were spiraling in his mind. He barely heard Alessia attempt to get his attention, as he spiraled.

“Hey.” Alessia seeing him shaking grabbed Warin’s shoulder, “Hey!” That got his attention as he turned back to Alessia, “I will never let that happen.”

“Then what do we do?”

“This is like those Isekai anime and books.” She explained. She had been big into the genre, having amassed quite the collection of manga. She was never a fan of the harem aspect of it, but the stories were always interesting. Being here she felt like she knew what to do, and possibly might have a road map for the future. They just needed to figure things out, “I bet we have awesome powers or something.”

Warin was caught off guard by Alessia’s optimism and excitement, expecting her to be in a worse place than him. He too had been into those stories as well, it was what brought the two together but the reality was quite different. But if she was right, “And how would we find that out?” Hoping she had an idea.

Seeing Warin calm, she began to think aloud, “Well, first a god summoned us. I bet we got something there, and with our modern-day knowledge we will be able to use it to advance swiftly!”

“I don't know.” Warin, said still feeling paralyzed by the enormity of the task ahead of them. Then there was what he was really concerned with. “It's exciting, but how do we get home?”

This gave Alessia pause, “I don't think we can.” She could feel it deep down, something she couldn’t explain, saying she might never get home. She had to force herself not to think about that. Not right now. Later, when they were alone and safe.

Alessia had to shake herself, when Warin asked, “What do you mean?”

“I've read and watched tons of stories, and the protagonist rarely, if ever, goes home.” She explained.

“What about the ones who do?”

Alessia thought back to the many stories she read, to the few she remembered actually going home. Remembering only one or two that actually made it back, “They complete whatever divine task was given to them.”

“So we might get home if we free the others?” Warin asked hopefully.

“Maybe. We won't know if we don't try.” Alessia answered, not telling him how few stories the protagonist make it home. She needed him to keep that hope, it would help them both move forward in this new magical world. The first step was right across from them a simple wooden building with a plain sign in the air, that read “Adventurers Guild”.

——

On a small blue marble, somewhere in the Midwest United States, in the middle of the afternoon, a man named Noah walked through a park with his little sister, Emma. This was an exciting day for them both. After years of separation, due to Noah’s long-time girlfriend, and her toxic behavior, he finally got to see his family again. His partner had spent years driving a wedge between them, it was only recently after his partner had gotten herself arrested, that Noah worked up the courage to reach out to his family. He was shocked and brought to tears when they welcomed him back with open arms, him finally realizing all the lies he was told about them were completely unfounded.

Today was the first time he had actually been able to make it out to see his family, since the breakup. Emma was just excited to see her brother after so long. She had hardly believed it when she had gotten the call, from him, afraid it was just another short-lived connection. To her absolute delight, Noah seemed to finally be getting his life back together, even moving away from his now ex.

Both Noah and Emma wanted to reconnect after so long time, so Noah flew out to see her and his parents. It was a touching moment, tears were shed and good-natured teasing was had all around. They had all gone out to an early dinner when Emma asked if Noah wanted to go say hi to an old friend of theirs who was just across the park. Noah was happy to see his old friend, James. It had been just as long since he had seen him, and Emma had kept in touch, so when James found out he was going to be in town he contacted Emma about meeting up, so the two left the restaurant to make their way there.

The day was beautiful, bright, and not too hot, with plenty of people, still in the park having picnics, playing, or just having a nice walk.

Two people walk through a park to meet an old friend, and another person walks along the same trail. They both saw this person and began to do the normal greeting; a smile and nod as they pass by. Except the other person did not return the greeting, instead pulls a knife to rob them.

Noah and Emma tried to keep calm as the mugger only became more agitated. They tried to explain that they had no money, having left it with their parents at the restaurant. She wasn’t having that lunging her knife towards Noah. Emma acted on instinct, she jumped forward in front of the attack saving her little brother. She had just gotten him back, how could she lose him again?

The knife found its way into Emma's chest her eyes, wide in shock, as her brother tackled the woman to the ground, getting the mugger off Emma.

The mugger was knocked unconscious to the ground, and Emma got a look at the woman. It was his ex-girlfriend. Was she trying to stage a murder? Noah was too distraught to realize who the mugger was, as he screamed for help and as a crowd formed around them, a tragedy unfolded. Some of the crowd were on the phone with nine one one, others were frozen as Noah held pressure on the wound, yelling for someone to help.

“You know, it doesn't hurt that much,” Emma said surprising Noah, her voice watery.

Noah stopped yelling, telling her, “You're going into shock.” He knew if she was talking then that was a good sign. He needed to keep her awake.

“I would say more stabbing than shocking.” Emma tried to joke.

“If you can make jokes, you'll be fine,” Noah said as he tried to will it to be true, but the amount of blood was worrying.

“I don't know. I'm starting to feel cold.” Emma's smile faded, as tears formed in her eyes, as she had a nice thought, At least her brother would be free of that bitch. Now way she could get away with attempted murder.

As he saw his sister fade, Noah turned desperate to the crowd and begged, “Does anyone here have medical training? Please!”

A woman stepped out from the gathered crowd, looking unsure but determined. "I do."

She immediately jumped into action, taking over for Noah, ever so carefully, she bound the wound, and was able to stabilize Emma. Noah could feel warmth return to his sister, as the ambulance pulled up, and the EMTs took over. The police, not far behind, cuffed the mugger and took her away. Noah was focused solely on his sister never even realizing it was his ex.

Noah jumped in to ride with his sister to the hospital, pulled out his phone, and called his parents. It wasn't long before their parents appear along with the police, Noah finally learned it was his ex, that had tried to kill him. Noah was wracked with guilt, and fear until his parents let him know it wasn’t his fault, and to not blame himself for what the crazy girl did. Saying there was no way for him to know. It didn’t matter to Noah, he still blamed himself for what she had done.

They waited deep into the night for her to wake. It was three in the morning when Emma opened her eyes. "Ow. You should really ease back on the pressure."

Noah smiled as he looked at his sister letting up on the grip he had on her hand, knowing that they would have time again.

——

In a park, two people stood watching an ambulance drive away. One, a woman name Ge covered in blood, the other, a man named Del covered in ice cream.

“Why'd you do it?” Del asked curiously.

Ge scrunched up her face as an image of two teens came to mind, “It didn't feel right.”

“Oh?” His tone turned playful, “And what does feel right?”

“I…” The question caught her off guard. She tried to think what would feel right. It was such a strange question, she didn’t have the answer. So she spoke honestly, “I don’t know.”

Del smiled, “Good answer.”

“How is that a good answer?”

“You were able to admit you didn't know. Sometimes we don't know why we do things. And just act. Just like when that girl jumped to save her brother.” He pointed out.

“But I should be above that!” She exclaimed

“Why?”

“I'm a... I’m a…” She knew she should have been. She was something, but could quite say what it was. It was right on the tip of her tongue, but still, she couldn’t quite say it. What am I?

Seeing her start to struggle DEL, interrupted her thoughts, with a single word, “So?”

Ge was stunned, and confused, at how he just simply dismissed her worries, with a single word. She knew he was right, she had seen so many Gods who were “above” the Heroes they summoned and treated them like shit. She never like that and what would the point be in being powerful and still treating people like they’re lesser.

Del looked wistfully towards the fading sirens, letting out one last regret, “She would have been an amazing Hero.”

“She already is.”

Del snorted out a laugh, “Let's go, we still need a Hero.”