I, Jesse Roy, had a life. At twenty-three years old, I had a Bachelor's degree in marketing and a well-paying job. I lived on my own, had many friends, and was about to have a date with a girl who was totally my type. I was a normal, perhaps a bit above average, person. With an even better-paying job and a relationship on the horizon, I had no reason to wish to escape reality. Too bad that the decision wasn't mine to make.

After my break-up two years prior, I had been experiencing a sort of dry spell. It wasn't like I had no girls interested in me, but I was a man with standards, you know? And building my career as a marketing manager was too time-consuming for casual dating, even had I decided to ignore the pandemic of the last couple of years. Not long ago, though, I’d met Jessica who was everything I wanted in a woman—athletic, smart, financially independent. Of course, her large rack was a very pleasant bonus. Yeah, just a bonus. That was totally not the main reason I liked her, not at all!

Jessica and I had hit it off very well since the beginning, and now I was tidying myself for our first date. Just out of the shower, I was standing in the bathroom of my apartment in the center of New York, studying myself in the mirror. Short black hair—still wet—gray relaxed eyes, a rather handsome freshly shaved face. And an above-average physique forged by years of going to the gym added to my charm.

Not bad, I thought, nodding to myself with a grin, not bad at all. You're a lucky woman, Jessica.

No, no, no, I was totally not a narcissist! Just someone who looked at things objectively. Yeah, absolutely unbiased self-love. Wasn't this completely normal? On the contrary, thinking bad of yourself was strange and made no sense. If you didn't love yourself, who would?

I was drying myself with a rainbow-colored towel while dreaming of the night of passion that was to come if I played my cards right. Sex on the first date was a common courtesy nowadays, wasn't it? And I was always a true gentleman.

I finished toweling myself off and reached out my hand to grab some fresh boxers when a bright, blinding light filled the bathroom. I had no idea what was going on and instinctively closed my eyes. I could no longer sense the floor under my feet, instead, I felt like I was in the middle of free-falling—I'd experienced something similar that one time I'd tried skydiving. Monotonous buzzing echoed in my ears, making me sick.

I tried to open my eyes, only to find out that I couldn't move a single muscle. It was as if my entire body was frozen solid and only my mind remained active. Which sounded very similar to what people call sleep paralysis. Not that I’d experienced it before.

Did I slip on my soap, hit my head hard, lose consciousness, and am now inside a dream? I thought. Shit, I'll be late for my date!

I had no idea how long the unpleasant experience lasted—it could have been a minute as easily as an hour. Nevertheless, it was gone without any warning, as abruptly as it started.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the middle of a large, luxurious hall. I was a part of a small crowd of a dozen-something people, each no less confused than I was. But there was one more problem, though—unlike any of them, I was completely naked.

Before anyone could focus their attention on my Apollonian body, I wrapped the towel I had with me around my waist, hiding my manly parts. Pretending that nothing strange was going on, I spread my shoulders, raised my head up high, placed my hands on my hips, and schooled my expression to be relaxed and a bit amused.

What the hell is going on, have I gone crazy?! I thought without showing anything on my face. Shit, shit, shit, whatever is going on, my date with Jessica is totally ruined. Calm down, Jesse. Calm down. Just relax, and this dream will be over before you know it.

I scrutinized my surroundings. Everything felt too real and detailed to be a mere hallucination. In contrast to my confidence—outward, at least—the other people around me were rather agitated.

"Can someone tell us what's going on?!" someone cried in a shrill, screeching voice that almost hurt my ears. I thought that the voice belonged to a woman, but surprisingly its owner was a man. And what a man he was!

Almost as wide as he was tall, that guy looked like an exemplary neckbeard. For one thing, he actually had a beard growing in irregular patches on his neck. His face was covered in acne and his hair was disheveled and greasy. He was a fine specimen directly taken from his mom's basement, the only thing he was lacking was a fedora. Thankfully for me and everyone around us, he wasn't half-naked like me.

"Greetings, oh Chosen Heroes!" a booming voice resounded like thunder from the other side of the hall. Hearing it, people around me quieted down and dispersed enough for me to see the room in its entirety.

It turned out that we were in a bona fide throne room. It's just that it was so exasperatingly large and strangely decorated, that I hadn't realized it until now. Instead of candelabras, floating crystals illuminated the hall from above. Yes, floating freaking crystals. The walls were decorated with metals of many different colors—pure red, orange, violet, even pink, but no familiar silver or gold. I spotted some rare minerals like emeralds or brilliants, but I couldn't be too sure.

The one who greeted us was sitting on a throne. Okay, that didn't quite describe the grandeur of the thing. He was sitting on a giant freaking chair made of shimmering, semi-transparent crystal. The man himself was about 6-foot-tall from my estimation, but the throne was towering over him at twenty feet or so. The guy looked like a kid sitting on an adult's chair, but no one present dared laugh.

Right under the throne, three people stood—two young women and someone in an ornate golden robe that completely hid their face. Also, at each corner of the hall was a small gathering of five people in similar but silver-colored robes, each group was surrounding one of four floating slates.

"Our esteemed guests are confused, make them feel at home, Derryx," the man on the throne said.

"As you command, Your Majesty," the person in the golden robe replied, his voice deep and masculine, but after mistaking a certain "totally not a neckbeard" for a woman I couldn't just assume their gender. I still decided to refer to them as "he" for the time being. Also, Derryx didn’t sound like a name someone would give to their daughter.

The guy in a golden robe waved his hand in our direction, and then I and other confused people lost our foothold. Invisible power made us fly from the central part of the hall towards the throne.

"Kyaaa!" a person to my right shouted as she—yeah, this time that was definitely a woman—was flying through the air alongside everyone else.

Oh, hottie spotted! I noted. The girl seemed to be in her early twenties and was totally my type, almost as much as Jessica was. Yeah, obviously it meant that her knockers were big, and they totally jiggled as she was waving her arms in the attempt to catch her balance. Did I mention she was a redhead?

In less than a few seconds, each of us landed near the throne, passing in total around a hundred yards from our previous position. Yes, the hall was big, at least two hundred yards on each side.

The guy in the golden robe continued to stand as if nothing had just happened. But it was undeniable that he used some sort of magic to make the thirteen of us—yes, I'd actually managed to count our total number at some point—fly towards them.

"Please sit down, my dear guests!" the man on the throne said, his tone too cordial for my taste, as he pointed at the twelve chairs that were placed around the throne in a semicircle.

Wait, twelve? I realized that the numbers didn't match. Of course, others didn't seem to be as bright as I was, considering how they were still looking around instead of picking their chairs.

I was the first to sit down, and obviously enough my choice fell on the chair that was in the middle, just opposite of the throne. In a gracious and smooth motion, I placed my butt on the soft red pillow and then crossed my legs to hide my treasure from the three people under the throne. It turned out that the younger of the two women still caught a glimpse of what was underneath the towel while I had been placing my right leg above my left. Well, at least I assumed as much by her bright red face. I winked at her, which made her turn her gaze somewhere else, her cheeks the color of sunset. She was, like, eighteen? A bit younger than I preferred. Of course, my lack of interest was totally not related to the fact that she was flat as a board, not at all.

Perhaps people started to realize that there weren't enough chairs for everyone, as the last few free places were taken in a hurry. As expected, one person was left standing. And to my frustration, it wasn't the guy who'd escaped from his mom's basement—no, in fact, he'd taken the seat just left to me. The poor soul with nowhere to put her perky butt was the same "kya girl" who I totally liked. I could be one hundred percent sure that she had an amazing personality. How could I be so confident? Just a look at her chest made it evident how big and bountiful her heart was. Yeah, she was definitely a good person.

"Hey, fatso, would you please give me your seat?" the girl said to a certain guy to my left. "I'm afraid it could break under your weight."

Did you hear that? She said "please"! She’s totally a nice person!

Instead of lashing out at her insults, the poor overweight lad—only insecure losers call others fat—forced an awkward smile and scratched the back of his head.

"H-he-he, o-okay, m-men should give up their seats for women, r-right?" he mumbled something totally not feminist. Had no one taught him about gender equality?! Like a total simp, the guy was about to give his chair to the gal who was extremely rude towards him, no less than under the scrutinizing eyes of the people around us. Such a transgression wasn't allowed on my watch!

The dude was in the process of trying to stand up—which wasn't an easy task, mind you—when I left my chair of honor, approached him in a confident stride, and put my hand on his shoulder. He gave me a confused look, not quite realizing why or what was going on. I could read fear and anxiety in his beady eyes, so I gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't mind her, buddy," I said in a lighthearted tone. "Keep your seat, and let me handle this."

After receiving a hesitant nod from the guy, I turned my head to the rude girl and was about to tell her that being hot didn't give people the right to treat others like shit. Sure, she was attractive even from my perspective, but my standards weren't limited to looks, you know?

"Thank you, handsome!" The bratty redhead winked at me as she shamelessly placed her little butt on my chair. Based on the dubious looks people gave me, there was a chance that they misunderstood the situation, thinking that I deliberately stole the other guy’s opportunity to get on the girl's good side.

Hey, don't place me in the same category as him! I thought indignantly. I just wanted to set things right!

Before I could give the sassy girl a piece of my mind, the man on the throne resumed his speech, "Welcome to Aethelrend, oh brave Heroes!"

As the only person of my group still left standing, I stood opposite the throne—totally not intentionally ending up right in front of my former seat now occupied by a certain someone.

"I am the sovereign ruler of Al'Delia Empire, Redion Cor Fortium, and I welcome you to my humble palace!" He spread his arms as he jumped down from his throne, landing just a dozen feet opposite of me.

How many times did he welcome us already? I pondered.

Redion had hawk-like eyes that looked in my direction but not at me, as if he was watching our entire group at the same time. His regal robes of red and gold could barely cover his buff muscles. An azure—yep, that was the color of his hair—hipster beard added even more charisma to a face too handsome for someone who seemed to be in his late thirties. Also, the crown. He had a frigging crown made of shimmering violet metal and adorned by gems of every possible color. His presence held an air of power, authority, majesty. And the one standing opposite of him was me—a somewhat cool and totally humble lad with nothing but a rainbow-colored towel around his waist. It was a miracle that I could keep my calm before him, arms crossed, head high. Years of playing poker and dealing with annoying co-workers were paying off.

"H-hello, I guess?" said a lass who was sitting on the rightmost chair. She was, like, fifteen? Sixteen? Totally too young to catch my interest. In the first place, our group of bewildered people had no one who looked older than someone in their mid-twenties and a half seemed to be underage. I wondered if there was a reason for that.

The guys and gals of our group awkwardly greeted the emperor—his status was very easy to believe, all things considered. Even the cheeky girl that had taken my chair acted rather humble—probably because she couldn't even see him properly because of me.

"Greetings, Your Majesty," I said respectfully as I half-kneeled and lowered my head, slowly and elegantly. It was extremely obvious that the fellow before us was a big shot that knew what was going on and held the authority to decide our fate. Trying to suck up to him was a no-brainer for any rational thinker. Only an idiot would antagonize someone like that.

"You may raise your head, Hero." Redion gave me a cordial smile, though I didn't miss the fact that it wasn't reaching his eyes.

I slowly rose, standing up and placing my hands behind my back. I tried to look both humble and confident at the same time—a perfect combination to get on the good side of your superior.

"Let me get straight to the point, my dear guests," Redion said as his gaze skimmed over each of us. "Under my command, my court Archmages completed an ancient ritual to summon you, Chosen Heroes from another world. The magic behind the ritual carefully chose people with the highest potential who wanted to escape their old reality and start their life anew. Rejoice, for you're given the opportunity to achieve greatness beyond your wildest dreams!"

"Bullshit!" I exclaimed without thinking, completely on reflex. All gazes instantly gathered on me, some of them heavier than others. For the first time, Redion looked directly at me, his eyes just the tiniest bit squinted. My heart missed a beat, my knees got weak, and a shiver ran down my spine. Redion's cerulean eyes hid something terrifying, something sinister, despite the fact that his smile was still as amiable as ever.

It turned out that the idiot stupid enough to piss off a big shot had been me all along, what a plot twist!