We were finally led outside of the ruined building, out into the broken sunlight under a sky filled with clouds. Rays of sunlight, as if descended from the very heavens, lit up the lush green valley filled with life. There was everything here. An old forest filled with wildlife and big old trees and a mountain cliff with a number of fantastic waterfalls that formed a double rainbow as the rays of the sun was reflected in the drops of water that filled the air. The water from the mountains filled a lake with blue water. In the middle of this paradise of life, raised on a hill to look over the wonderful surroundings, was a city.

Rather than a blemish of this paradise-like environment, the city complimented it. It was filled with towering structures made from marble, polished to a reflecting surface. The city drew our eyes more than the waterfall or the forest or the flower covered grassland. A city for gods...

”Wow...”

”...Beautiful”

We were all awestruck at the view.

”Welcome to the land of Filién and the city of Nadina! Home to the royal family and the tower of mages, blessed by the elements and the very gods themselves.” The Court mage beams with pride as he welcomes us to his country and hometown.

It is really beautiful, even though i have doubts about this whole thing and i don’t trust anyone here, I can’t help but admire the view with an unbiased mind.

”Now we will head to the palace so you can meet with his majesty. Oh and please don’t mind the guards. They are here simply to protect you should a crowd hinder us when we enter the city. You are all Heroes and we are all curious about you.”

As he mentions this we finally notice the 20 heavily armed men that stand in a tight formation by the cobble stone road that lead down towards the city. They are clad in full plate armor and their helmets hide their faces. They are armed with giant two handed swords that have to be at an angle so as to not scrape the ground.

”Cool!” Some of the guys exclaim. I hold myself back, since i was sort of expecting this.

As I take a closer look at the soldiers they all seem to have been on high alert and only when hearing the words of the Court mage did they relax a little. It would seem that my guess was correct, had we all refused we would have one way or another been forced into service, maybe we would have been killed right then and there. The Court mage said that they would protect us but they have no shields. Their weapons are obviously made for offense and not defense. So unless they believe that they’ll have to cut a bloody path through the supposed crowds, then they were here to ”take care of us”, should it be necessary. But the others didn’t think that. They were busy admiring the soldier’s cool looking armor and bad ass swords. Some were looking at the scenery.

The Court mage let them fool around for a bit and then gathered us up and after the soldiers surrounded us we headed towards the city. It wasn’t far, barely 30 minutes to reach the gate, however most of us were really out of shape and got worn out. I was of course one of them.

Haa, haa, damn it i really need to work out more! This is ridiculous.

I get disapproving glances from the soldiers that have to lag behind the rest with me.

I can’t help it! I haven’t really been outside much in years!

I sigh deeply. Let’s look on the bright side, maybe they will leave me in peace if they think I am too weak to bother with. As I sneak another peak at one of the soldier’s swords I quickly change my mind. They will probably just cut their losses instead. I quicken my pace a little and try to catch up to the others.

As we arrive at the city gates we find them wide open and the streets are lined with people and children who all want to take a look at the heroes that will save them all. It’s really embarrassing and I do my best to hide away in the back. I am a bit shy in front of a crowd.

There is a wide straight road all the way to the palace and we’re on parade for all to see. The soldiers keep the crowd from getting too close and the court mage leads the way while happily telling us about the city.

Some of us are embracing the moment, their dreams of being celebrities coming true. The crowd cheers as they smile and wave and take it in a stride.

Others slow down and blush, wanting nothing more than to hide away from all the watching eyes.

There are even some who hide their insecurities with anger and acting cocky... Or maybe they really just are like that.

Flowers are thrown into the street.

”The heroes are here!”

”Kill the demons!”

”We are safe! The mages succeeded!”

My mind is blank and i just keep on walking while avoiding eye contact. I never knew how scary it is to be the center of attention in a crowd like this.

We eventually make it to the castle, where we are greeted by some nobles, servants and more soldiers, before we are lead to the audience chamber to finally meet the Royal family.

Now i neglect to mention how the castle looks like and the layout of the city and the people’s clothes etc. This is because at the time i really didn’t think about it. I was occupied with trying to be unnoticed. I did not even react when several nobles tried to shake my hand and just walked on by. I’m sure that caused some discomfort. Seriously i was scared shitless.

We stop in the hall before the meeting with the king and the court mage explains to us some simple rules. They were easy things like: Don’t speak unless spoken to. Don’t approach the steps up to the throne. Mind your manners. Basic stuff.

We don’t have to bow and scrape nor do we have to think about how to address people yet. We will be taught such things in along with proper etiquette at a later time.

Since this is an important moment, it’s not every day you get to meet royalty, I take a few deep breaths and do my best to calm down and get my head back together.

The other heroes start to whisper among themselves. Some have already made friends apparently. Young people are good at that after all.

”I-I’m actually going to meet a King!”

”I wonder if there is a prince...”

”Bet you would love to marry a rich, handsome prince”

”Shut up...! I’m way too young to think about such things...”

”I bet people here marry young.”

The girls talk was like that and the guys weren’t much better.

”Hey didn’t he say something about there being a princess?”

”Yea the king didn’t want to sacrifice her so he made the mages do it instead.”

”Bet she’s a looker, right?”

”She is a princess so she is probably spoiled rotten. Bet she is fat as fuck!”

”Wonder if you could get your hands on her... Marrying a princess would make you the next king, right?”

”King!? You? Pff, in your dream man!”

Annoying kids, can’t they just keep their thoughts to themselves?... Would be nice if the princess and queen were good looking though. How sad would it not be if the 50 mages sacrificed themselves for an ugly princess?

The audience chamber where we are finally received by the king is filled with marble and gold and lined with knights in shining armor that stands in attending, holding their swords with both hands in front of them with the tip on the floor. I wonder who came up with the idea of all knights and soldiers using giant swords and nothing else. How would they protect the king without shields? It makes no sense at all. Also they line the walls but there is none in range to actually protect the king should one of us just rush him... Are they all idiots or maybe i am missing something...

The King sits on a classic golden throne and to his left sits his wife the queen and to her left sits the princess. The King is clad in a golden armor and a red cape lined with white fur. On his head is a spiky crown that sort of mimics the castle from outside the walls. He is a rather old man, a lot thinner than i expected the king to be. He has a long thin beard reaching down to his chest. Not really regal at all.

The Queen and the princess are like mirror images of each other. Both rather pretty and clad in way too much fabric for this weather. They are fanning themselves profusely with feathered silver fans. I can’t speak for their looks, since i was in the back, but they sure had a ridiculous hair. Both of them look, well, rather silly. Their hair arrangement puts an emphasis on volume. It reminds me of some overly serious fashion shows i have seen on TV. Just thinking about the amount of hairspray they must have...

No wait, they don’t have hairspray do they? Then what did they use to hold it up like that? Some sort of glue? Yuck...

"Welcome heroes from another world!" The king greets us with a hoarse voice. The court mage bows and walks to take his place at the king’s side.

"Please be at ease, there is no need for formalities. We have caused you a lot of inconvenience, and we apologies." The king quickly speaks and dispels the awkward atmosphere.

What the hell is with the "inconvenience" he's speaking of? Is that all he think of forcing us from our world at a random time and forcing us to go to war? Pisses me off!

I quickly realize that i do not like the king.

He goes on to talk about his country and his people. About things like the different races and where they stand in relation to each other. There are apparently a lot of different races. Like the classic Elves and Dwarves. Gnomes and Fairies. Goblins and Orcs. Beastmen and Mermaids etc.

From there he starts to talk about the monsters that inhabit the world, making it a dangerous place. And of course he mentions the existence of magic. Though we know nothing about it he assures us their best teachers will show us all they can, at a later time. Then he starts to talk about the beautiful god of good who can do no wrong and is always right and always on their side protecting them from anything that can harm them... I frankly hate religious bullshit and ignored most of it.

Then finally he starts to talk about why we are here. The coming war. How his people have been weakened and are in desperate need of hope. He really never said anything about how they had become weakened or why they need hope but he is still rather convincing and dances around the subject like a pro. The only real reason i noticed it was because a lot of what he said pissed me off and i started looking for faults in everything he said. In the end he asks us, very movingly and with tears in his eyes, to help his people.

One of the older girls steps forward.

Will she finally tell him about how much bullshit this all is?

”Of course we will help!”

...so she says...

”It is our duty as fellow human beings to help each other.”

…I guess she is just another idiot...

”As Heroes we swear to you to do everything in our power to help your people and defeat the coming monsters!”

What the hell!? Don’t put words in my mouth bitch!

"We are humbled by your heroism." The queen quickly speaks up this time. "You will of course not go to battle unprepared, our finest knights will help train and prepare you. Our smiths and leather workers will create the finest weapons and armor for you. The best magic instructors will teach you everything they know. You will all be able to stay here in the castle where food and rooms will be provided. If you ever have a need of anything please, all you need is to ask and if it is within our power it shall be given."

So in exchange for us risking our lives we get to labor hard and study before being sent to war. Great. Also what is with promising anything? Should i try asking for something unreasonable to see if she is true to her word? Hehe…

"Now you all must be tired and hungry. The servants will show you to your quarters, where your measurements will be taken so we can have new clothes and armor tailored for you. After that I invite you all to dine with us in the great hall."

And so we were all ushered out of the audience hall and shown the way to the east wing of the castle where we would be staying. Our rooms were rather big and lavish, filled with gold and expensive looking things. A single room was bigger than a 4 room apartment, though it didn’t have a kitchen. And let’s just not mention the "toilet". For cleaning our bodies all we got was a big pitcher of water, a cloth, some soap and a basin to pour the warm water in. There was apparently a bath in the castle but for now this would have to do. Can't really have 50 unknown people just suddenly bathe together, and I don’t think bathing suits or trunks is a thing here. We were not asked to share rooms but were allowed to if we wanted to. So I had a big room all for myself. We were asked to stay in our rooms until the tailor came and took out measurements.

I opened the window and was greeted with a rather lovely view of the castle garden and the city beyond. I hadn't thought about it but my room was rather high up, if I was judging it in normal apartment standards I guess it would have been at least 8th floor. But here the ceiling was so high it was probably just the third or at most the fourth floor. I had a little balcony as well, that I stayed away from, my fear of heights still present even in this world. As I looked around my room I found a tiny bookshelf on the mantle of a big fireplace. I took one down at random and flipped it open. The words weren’t any I recognize but strongly I could still read it and understand it just fine. Magic is a wonderful thing isn't it? I think to myself as I check the titles of the books.

The wandering of a colorful land, Five wishes, Story of a hero, Poems of a Goddess.

Rather boring all in all. The first was a guidebook to some other land. The second was five short stories, basically fables meant to teach children. The third was a regular hero story, where he goes and save the princess and get the kingdom etc. The last one was a bunch of poems written by an unknown person. I took the last one because I have no interest in the others, since the third one was too basic for my fantasy tastes. Poems have always been the way to gain favor of women, or something like that, so I might as well see what all the fuss is about. Well it wasn't too much of a pain to read. Not that I remembered much of what I read but still, a decent way to pass the time until Mr. tailor knocks on my door. It took about an hour and a half before the soft knock called for my attention. I was glad that they didn’t take longer as I was about to doze off, the book of poems already thrown to the side.

Turns out it was a Miss Tailor and, I being a man who had a little to no experience with the other sex, things got a little awkward. But thankfully she was used to it and quickly finished taking my measurements and then gave me some temporary clothes to wear for the rest of the day. Apparently my own clothes were not in "fashion". Haha wonder if they don’t have jeans here.

As she finished I was told that dinner would be served in the “Great Hall” within the hour, should it please me. Getting used to the overly polite servants will take a while. Feeling bored I left soon after the tailor and simply followed some other heroes to the “Great Hall”. It was a really big room decorated with gold that had a lot of long tables and a heightened floor, like a stage, where the nobles ate.

As the newly arrived heroes we were of course given an honoree position among the royal family and the highest of nobles. Just getting to my seat, which was as far into the room as possible, was nerve wrecking. All the other diners stared and whispered. I felt like a show dog. I almost wondered if I would be judged based on how I walked and behaved. Maybe those that did well would get a bow as a price.

I finally managed to sit down and chose to focus on the food in an attempt to ignore the stares. The food served was rather luxurious. There was fine sliced meat, a pigs head with an apple in its mouth, freshly baked breads, several different sauces, some vegetables (used mostly for decoration), fruit bowls, pies with different fillings, smoked fish and a lot of dishes I had never seen before. I chose to go with what was safe and just took some meat and bread with a little sauce. All there was to drink was a disgusting wine. I have never really liked wine and this was really nasty in my opinion. Not wanting to be “that guy” who always complained I kept quiet about the wine and had some more sauce instead. I have to say though, the meat was amazingly tasty.

Oh and just so you know they had no forks. Yea it was that kind of medieval thing. We just had knives and used bread to soak up the sauce. It was fun to try something new, even if there was the problem of trying to stay clean. Well some of the Asian people would rather just eat with sticks anyway so they don’t really mind not having a fork.

While we are eating the king starts to introduce the people who will be training us. There was one instructor for every weapon type and for every elemental magic type. There were also trainers that would teach essential skills like how to lead troops and set up camps. Oh and let’s not forget about the ethics teachers and geography teachers and the social teachers etc. etc. At first I was highly interested in what we would be able to learn but I soon gave up. Frankly there are too many to remember so I just ignored them and focused on eating my fill. I am terrible with names, and I figure I will eventually meet those that will teach me what I need to know. The only once I remembered was the court mage; who would be in charge of the magic classes. The knight commander; who would be in charge of the weapon and general warfare classes. And the royal armorer; who would outfit us with armor and weapons.

Among all the people we met all was humans except for the Armorer who was a dwarf. I don’t mean the crippled kind from where I come from. No this was a REAL dwarf. He was about 120 cm tall and equally wide, with arms like logs and massive hands. He was just like the fantasy style dwarfs that I have read about time and time again. He even had the trademark beard that went down to his ankles, braided with metal rings and leather bands to keep it from being in the way. It was a stark contrast to his head which didn’t have any hair on it at all. I have to say I was a little jealous…

He was the only person I had yet to see who was not human. I entertained myself by wondering why for a bit.

Is it that the dwarfs are hiding away under some mountain and he was exiled to live on the “surface” like the dwarfs from that game? Maybe he was taken from his homeland as a slave. Or is he indebted to the king and came to serve to pay him off? He doesn’t look like he is treated with anything but respect. Of course dwarfs are famous for their metalworking, maybe he was just hired because he is good at his job. Working for a king is after all working for a king, a great honor in almost every culture.

While I wonder about the dwarf, the king keeps talking and introducing more and more people. Luckily I don’t have to pay attention to it all and most other heroes were conversing with each other and ignoring what was going on. Strange enough I was left alone, both by the nobles and by the other heroes. Not that I minded it, I just took note of the fact that I had not been approached by really anyone since arriving here.

After eating my fill and the plates were removed by servants I saw some of the nobles take their leave and so I took the opportunity of doing the same. At the time the king was going on about the coming war, what they were planning and who would be aiding them. All the other heroes stayed behind, weather to be polite or to wait for the king to give them leave is another matter. Maybe they just wanted to hear what the king was saying or maybe they just wanted to stay together for a while longer. I had no desire to hear the rest of it.

In war I think it's better not to get too invested in things, especially since I have no intention of fighting. To be honest I would rather not know the people who would die in droves, makes it easier for me to go my own way.

After I leave the big hall or whatever it was that they called it, I head outside. I wanted to take a look around the castle area a little, if I was allowed that is. Maybe I could find the garden that I could see from my room. This is a new world so I was sure there would be all sorts of plants and stuff that I have never seen before. On the other hand it wasn’t as if I had paid a lot of attention to it before coming here...

Anyway I head toward where I think the garden should be located.

When I finally locate the gate to the garden area, not asking for directions out of principal, the sun has started to set. The sky is colored in an orange glow and it makes the garden stand out all the more. It is a rich garden that has all the classic stuff like the bushes trimmed to look like bunnies and swans. There were stones and sand laid in wonderful patterns that could be seen from the many balconies up above in the castle. There were even stone fountains, statues and birdbaths of different naked fairytale styled children and women like fish finned mermaids and butterfly winged fairies. Wait since this really is that kind of world maybe they are just statues of real living people? The idea is a little exciting for a fan of fantasy like myself.

I start to wonder just how the fountains work. I mean they don’t have any electricity from what I can tell. There were no lamp posts on the streets and all torches and candles inside. Thinking about it I come to the natural conclusion. Magic. Magic is always the answer to the unknown, especially here in the world which is influenced by it being everywhere. Somehow it gives of a rather lazy feeling.

After walking around the garden, which is surprisingly big, for a bit more I find a peculiar place. It is a 5 meter wide circle of grass surrounded by flowers that are divided by color, mimicking the rainbow. As I walk on some stone laid out for you to be able to enter the circle, I take a deep breath taking in all the scent of the flowers. It smells like a collection of spices but rather than being overwhelming, it is in perfect harmony and gives a refreshing and calming feeling.

Enjoying the scent I lay down in the grass looking up at the sky. Even though this is a new world the sky is still the same. The clouds are still white, the stars still shine and the sun still warms the earth. It is a good reminder that no matter where life is, it is still alive.

While I watch the clouds drift in a sky that is slowly filled with stars I think about what a hell of a day it’s been. I have experienced magic, not a sleight of hand or an illusion of mirrors, real magic. I have met with royalty and nobles. Eaten great food. And let’s face it I am in a freaking castle and everyone calls me a “Hero”! How awesome is that? The only downside is the whole going to war for all of mankind business. But since I have yet to be forced to the front lines, I can’t complain.

Really it could all have been so much worse. They could have just captured and tortured us until we lost our humanity, then trained us to be dogs of war and let us loose on the battlefield. It is actually surprising that the king didn’t do something like that. Would it not have been a lot safer for the king that way? Since if they did that then they would have full control of us and be able to have us do what they wanted us to. Of course there is the danger of rebellion but since they have magic they hardly need to worry about it. Maybe they see it as inhumane but really didn’t they say humanity is at stake here?

On the other hand the royalty seem to be idiots so maybe they just went for it and hoped for the best.

“So we are to go to war…” I whisper to myself and sigh.

“Ah! I-is someone there?” I hear a startled voice.

Damn it. Ah I might as well head back.

The sun has set and I quickly make my way back inside the castle. I don’t know if I am even allowed in the garden so rather than get in trouble I hurry on out of there.

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The next morning there is talk of ghosts in the garden.

Some said it was the wind making people jumpy in the dead of night. Others said there might have been a person speaking. The princess’s guards confirmed that there was no one there when they came to look after hearing a voice speak of war. They said that there was no wind that night. Was it a warning from the spirits? Or was it really some ancient ghost that had taken residence in the garden?

There was an old tale of dead who had clung to the castle grounds after the war some 2000 years ago that burned down not only the castle but the now beautiful grounds surrounding it. Old tales were told again and eventually the castle sent the Court mage to investigate and after a thorough investigation it was cleared that no spirits of the dead was in the garden or anywhere in the castle grounds. It was most likely just the wind in the trees that had spooked the ladies.

Or so the officials said, and we all know how you can’t trust the official story.

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