Part 1

In the depths of the forest of Pinar where monster lurks and hunt, a young man is running. His face is covered with sweats and he looked back occasionally as if he is being pursued. He is wearing leather armor and on his right hand, a short sword can be seen. The footing inside the forest is bad due to exposed roots and it is also in the middle of the night and you almost can’t see anything in front of you. But the man continued to run. The way he runs through a forest in the middle of the night is impressive; he didn’t know if there are monsters or wild beast lurking through the darkness of the night and he can’t see if there are roots in his path but he keeps on running. Luckily, he hasn’t stumbled on a root nor encounter monsters or wild beasts. He keeps on running heading towards the direction of the village. He keeps on regretting his decision on hunting at night, or rather his regretting the fact that he takes the quest of subjugating [Feral Owl]. [Feral Owl] is a nocturnal monster that looks like an owl, its eyes are crimson red, instead of beak they have a mouth of a wolf with razor sharp fangs, and it has a wingspan of 5 meters. They predate on everything that they deemed weaker than they are, it maybe [Goblins], [Wolves], [Humans] or anything that are weaker than them. They usually hunt alone but sometimes, you can see them hunting as a flock. He accepted the subjugation request of these monsters since the reward was good but now he’s regretting it. ‘If only I didn’t accept this request then I won’t encounter that monster!’ is what he is thinking right now.

“Run! Run faster! Or else I will catch you and kill you!” He heard a voice of a man that is currently chasing him. He looks back and seen the one who is chasing him, walking leisurely as if he’s going on a picnic but the speed isn’t something you can call walking. Even though he is running with all his might, the man catches up on him while walking. The man, or should I say the monster that is chasing him has a pair of devil wings at his back, it has an upper part of a man in his mid-20’s but on the lower part, it is covered with fur, it has two legs and instead of feet, a hooves could be seen. It has a tail that looks like a snake and it shakes as the monster walk. The monster eyes glows blue and sometimes, a small blue flame can be seen coming out of its mouth. The monster is one of the believed to be extinct race called [Demon]. History books said that the [Demon] race was gone when the [Demon Lord], the race ruler, died when the [Hero], Ayskrimm, fought it 1000 years ago. It is believed to be extinct since after the [Hero] killed the [Demon Lord], all [Demon] across the world emitted a blue flame and after the flame subsided, only their ashes remains. But right now, a [Demon] is chasing the young man. He didn’t consider it is a [Demon] since all living races believed that they are already extinct.

“But, isn’t this quite boring? For how long should I torment this man before the [Demon Lord] awakens? As far as I know, the seal that the [Demon Lord] used before his dying breath will be lifted if the host experience enough fear? Does this mean that I am not doing enough?”

The [Demon] muttered to himself. He scratches his head and think, ‘I am not suited on thinking complicated stuff’.

“Well anyways, everyone fears death so should I give him a near death experience? Well should we try it? [Entangling Roots]”

The [Demon] points his right hand towards the man and the roots beneath the man’s right foot started to move. It entangles itself to the man’s right foot causing the man to fall down. The man looks at his feet and saw roots entangling his right foot. “What the hell is this!?” He tried to cut the roots using his short sword but it didn’t budge, it didn’t even leave a scratch on the roots but the man keeps on slashing, sometimes stabbing the roots but the roots didn’t even budge.

“Give it a rest. It won’t break that easily you know?”

The [Demon] is now in front of the man without his knowing. The man’s feels frightened by the [Demon]’s appearance and slashes the roots much harder but nothing happens.

“Are you listening to me? I said no matter what you do to it, even if you burn it, it won’t budge. The only thing that can free you from those is casting a [Dispel Magic] or I cancel the magic.”

The [Demon] shrugs its shoulder “Well, I won’t cancel it though” the [Demon] added. The man heard what the [Demon] said but he pretended not to. He keeps on slashing the roots hoping that it will be cut after a few minutes.

“Well, it doesn’t seem that you are listening. So this is how it feels like when someone isn’t listening to your explanation… Well anyways, you’re going to die anyway [Summon: Death Worm]”

The [Demon] casts another spell and a large magic circle with a diameter of 5 meters appears behind him. It is glowing red and you can hear the earth shaking as if something is digging its way through the earth. Suddenly, the earth where the magic circle was located opened up and what comes out from the hole is a giant black worm. Its mouth is full of teeth and a green slimy liquid drips down from its open round mouth. The mouth has a 20 meters diameter and its proportion to its body. The body length can’t be measured since it is buried beneath the ground but the exposed body is 5 meters long. The liquid coming out from its mouth drips down to the ground making a sizzling sound upon contact. Apparently, it is an acid. As the young man saw the [Death Worm], his face color changes to pale white, as if all the blood was drained out of his face. His grip loosens causing the short sword to drop. The [Demon] smiled as he saw the terror on the man’s face. He slowly raised his right arm and the worm straightened its body.

“Kaezar….”

The man muttered a woman’s name he loves.

‘If I only knew that I will be facing this kind of monster, then I should have confessed to her.’

The man thought to himself as the [Demon] swings down his arm signaling the [Death Worm] to attack. The [Death Worm], with its mouth open, plunged towards the man and swallow him alive. Even the area where the man was located were swallowed by this giant worms and after swallowing the man, the worm returns to its original position and nothing could be seen at the area where the man was previously entangled. There is no corpse or proof that there was someone alive before there. The only thing left is the gouged out land due to the giant’s worms attack.

“A failure huh… Should I wait for another century for a human with the same soul wavelength appeared? It’s been 9 times already and all of them are misses. Haaa… Well, there’s nothing I can do but to wait for another chance. [Dismiss]”

The [Demon] dismissed his summoned monster and the worm is covered with light slowly fading with the light. The [Demon] opened his wings and fly back to its base.

After a few minutes… Light descended on the ground where the young man died. It is not a light made by sunlight and it’s still in the middle of the night. The light restored the gouged out earth and a silhouette of a man could be seen in the middle. After the light fades, a young man can be seen lying down while wearing a leather armor and on its left side, you can see a short sword made of iron… The man looks exactly the same as the one who died (killed) previously. This man is Jasper Perez, a normal college boy from Earth transported (summoned) in this game-like world Tala.

Part 2

I am Felina Wingstone, the second daughter of Count Marloro Wingstone who governs the [City of Wingstone] in the [Kingdom of Sevir]. I am already 19 years old but I still don’t have a fiancé this is because of my ancestor’s belief. They don’t let their children be married due to political reasons instead they want us to fall in-love naturally. So the blood that flows within our veins isn’t a pure noble blood but it was mixed with the commoner blood. Of course there was someone in the family that tried to use their children as a political tool but all of them died due to mysterious incidents or due to sickness. They said that our blood was cursed but the historian denied it. Apparently, we are descendant of a [Hero’s Vassal], they said that it was due to the statement of our ancestor saying “This blood of mine shall not be used politically, instead I want my descendant to be married to someone they like.” Because of that, I am still unmarried up to this day. Well, I am not rushing since I am still young so there’s still time. They say that our ancestor who became a [Hero’s Vassal] married at the age of 22 so I still have 3 years to find a suitable husband. Of course there are some who are wooing me to become their bride but I turned all of them down. There are still some that keeps on wooing me after getting turned down but I let them do what they want. Not because I like what they are doing but that is their life. If they want to waste their time wooing me then let them be. I turned them down already but they still continue.

Anyways, I am on my way to the [Fire Mountain Shrine] to give respect to our guardian deity. Legends says that the [Fire Mountain] was the last place where the [Hero], Ayskrimm, stayed and our ancestor made a shrine there because they believed that it was sacred and a deity lived there. The said deity was also a former [Hero’s Vassal] who helped the [Hero] to slay the [Demon Lord]. After slaying the [Demon Lord], the [Hero] helped the populace of this world on their monster-related problems. There are legends that said that the [Hero] single-handedly hunts [Dragons], [Hydras], [Phoenixes], and other [Myth] grade monsters. After he manages to hunt those threats to the residents of this world, he chooses this [Fire Mountain] as a resting place. Some said that the [Hero] was summoned by [Mas], the God of Prosperity, and after saving the world he came back to his original world while others said that he was a simple commoner until the God of Prosperity, [Mas], chooses him to become a hero. The origin of the [Hero] was still not clear up to this day but strangely enough, there isn’t anyone who claims to be a descendant of the [Hero].

The [Fire Mountain] is located at the north of the [Wingstone City]. To go there, it’s either you’ll have to walk for approximately 3 hours depending on your baggage or use a carriage which will take an hour of travel. Right now, I am using the latter. Mysteriously, no monster that lives inside the mountain or near the mountain, my father said that the guardian deity hunts any monster that steps into his territory so that must be the reason.

After sitting for an hour while gazing on the scenery outside the carriage, I arrived at the foot of the shrine. From here you need to take the stairs leading to the main shrine. There are some red wooden arcs placed along the stairs welcoming the guest who came to pray. I am walking at the stairs when I noticed an old man sitting near the last step. She’s wearing old dirty clothes and she’s reading a worn out book as I come nearer to her, I noticed that she’s crying while reading. There are some books that will make you cry since their story was sad and those kinds of books are thick but the one on her hands was thin.

“Hello, can I ask why are you crying?”

I ask politely since I was normal to be polite to old people. The old woman looks at me and wipes her tears. Her hair is black with traces of white due to her age, her face has wrinkles on them and her eyes are color light brown. Even though her face is now full of wrinkles, she’s still beautiful. At first, she seemed surprised since I called her suddenly but her eyes changes to the one of nostalgia after seeing me.

“It’s nothing young lady… I just missed the one who wrote this.”

The old woman shows me the book. The cover was color red and the title isn’t written there.

“Is that a novel?”

“Something like that. Would you like to read it?”

Since I love reading books I nodded at the old woman’s offer. The cover seems to be worn out but it is made of a leather of an animal. I don’t know what kind of animal though. The paper use was already worn-out and they look like if you treat it roughly they will be torn apart. Some texts were missing and there are some erasures on it. Judging from the erasures, it was not the published version of the book. I opened the book at a random page and read what I can read from it and the words written here are the following:

“...I am gripping my new long sword [Rebellion] while facing the leader of the [Demon] race which terrorized the whole world. My new sword is based from the sword of Dante, the main character of the game DmC. It was made by my friend who loves crafting at [Games] and since coming to this world, he wanted to craft almost everything he saw in games, anime, comics, and novels. He crafted it mainly because of such reason and he’s planning to craft [Yamato], [Armageddon Blade], [Chaos Eater] and other at a later date. This sword is the latest and the best sword he created and now, it will be used to slay the [Demon Lord].

I slowly raised [Rebellion] pointing it on the [Demon Lord] in front of me. The blade shines as it reflects the light coming from the moon. The [Demon Lord] also pointed me his sword which emitted a dark aura. Apparently, the [Demon Lord] was saying something but I can’t hear it for some reason…

…After exchanging dialogue with the [Demon Lord], I charged at him and he raises his sword overhead, swing it down as I enter the sword’s range. I deflected it with [Rebellion] and sparks light up the place…”

There are terms I don’t know like [DmC] and [Game] but the book seems to be based on the Legend of the [Hero], Ayskrimm. Some legends says that one of his companion, a [Hero’s Vassal], was also his exclusive smith and the legendary sword [Rebellion] was made by that vassal. In this novel, it also mentions the other sword created by the said smith, [Yamato] a single edge sword that creates magic missiles in the form of sword, [Armageddon Blade] and the [Chaos Eater] which are giant sword that was used by one of the horsemen of apocalypse according to the smith, though we don’t know who are these horsemen but both of the sword can easily cut a mithril armor, and lastly the legendary sword [Rebellion], it’s cross guard was made of bones and a skull was placed in the middle of it, the hilt guard looks like a crown with a blade that’s 1.2 meter long and the sword color is black. It was also the best sword, let alone mithril, it cuts adamantite like it was a paper.

The writing format makes you feel that the guy who wrote this experienced it first hand and the first thing I read is at the ending of the typical novel about the [Hero] but this part isn’t at the last few pages but instead it’s in the middle of it. Normally, this scene would come up on the last part of the book but for this book that isn’t the case. Well, there are some who continued to write a novel about the [Hero] until he stayed at this mountain. I flip the pages to the last page and it’s not yet finished there. The last page talks about the [Fire Dragon Mountain Range]’s dragon hunting but it feels like it’s the first part of the hunt. This thin book is so detailed that you can clearly imagine the story it tells. Just like what I said before, it feels like the author experienced it first-hand.

I returned the book to the old woman while thinking who wrote the book. I wanted to have a copy of the finished book but I have a feeling that the book isn’t published since it’s still not completed. Should I ask the old woman about it? But what if the book really wasn’t published? Or rather, is the story already finished with just that? Maybe I should ask the old woman about it.

As I was about to ask the old woman, she already left. When I look downstairs, she’s not there so I look at the shrine but she’s also not there. Where did she go? She’s already old so I doubt that she’ll go to the forest alone so that only thing left for her to go is the shrine huh. Thinking that the old woman is inside the shrine, I walk forward to the shrine.

Part 3

I wake up inside a moving jeepney with passengers that just like me, a student. It seems that I fall asleep while traveling from Naga City to Libmanan.

I am Jasper Perez, 21 years old, a third year college student of University of X. I am currently taking up the course of Business Management. I have black hair long enough to cover my ears, black eyes and I wear glasses due to excessive use of computer back then, and a normal looking face. Though my friends told me I’m handsome, I don’t believe it in the slightest. My height is 5’5” and weighing of 65 kg. My past time are playing guitar, playing computer games and watching anime.

Right now I am going home riding a jeepney. It’s already 7:30 in the evening and there are many students that are going home. The jeepney is cramped with too many students and there are some at the roof of the vehicle since there are no seats available inside. Inside, there are some who are sleeping, chatting, listening to music with earphones and some are eating. I am sitting at the right corner of the jeepney near to the exit. Sitting in front of me is a fat guy that is watching an anime on his laptop. He’s bald and he wears a black t-shirt and jeans. If he wears a sunglass then he will surely looks like a bouncer. His name is Gino Cruz, a friend of mine since childhood. The same as me, he’s a gamer and otaku. We met each other at a computer shop back then and became friends because of that computer shop. On his left, a man was sleeping with his mouth open. His black hair was properly kept and he’s also wearing glasses. Wearing a white t-shirt with a sperm that looks like N*ke logo and below it are words that can be read as “Just did it”. He is also my friend, Marc Hernandez. If I were to describe their personality, they are almost the same as long as their together. Both of them fooling around together but when separated, Gino becomes an introvert while Marc stays the same.

Sitting on my right is Iggy Bautista, a man who looks like a girl. If he wears a wig then you might think that he’s really a flat (almost-non-existing-that-waste-her-money-to-buy-a-brassier) chested girl. This guy is the reason why we became an otaku. He recommended and let us watch anime that have good plot, and also have a “plot” ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). He’s a shut-in and you can predict his destination if he went out of his house. It’s either he’s going to the computer shop or going to the convenience store.

After waking up from that dream, I check my cellphone if I have some messages before inserting the earphone and playing an album of [P*erce the Ve*l] entitled [Co*lide W*th The S*y]. As the music starts, I look at the exit to confirm where we are right now but as I look outside, I saw a strange looking man walking leisurely following us. But as I observe it I realized that it wasn’t a human being, the upper part looks like a man with its eyes emitting blue light, the lower part of its body is covered with fur and instead of having feet it has hooves. On its back, there is a pair of devil wings and it also has a tail that looks like a snake which sways as the strange creature walks. Even though the jeepney runs at 40kph and the creature is walking at leisurely pace, it’s not getting left out. A chill crawl up from my spine as the creature walks, my hands got wet and my breathing become ragged. I became scared. Seeing my complexion, Iggy asks me what is wrong and I point my finger towards the creature and say “There is something there. It’s following us.”

Iggy looks at the direction where I am pointing but he says that he can’t see anything. Instead he looks at me worriedly.

“What are you saying? There’s nothing there.”

He said. I look at him to see if he’s lying that he can’t see anything and yet his eyes are telling the truth. I look back again at the exit and the creature is gone.

“Maybe you’re just tired or half asleep. Rest a little bit more.”

Maybe I’m really tired. In the first place, that creature can’t exist in the first place. Maybe my minds playing tricks on me, but my train of thought is interrupted by a scream of a girl sitting beside the driver. When I look at the front the creature is standing 5 meters ahead the jeepney. It’s just standing there while murmuring something. The other passengers also look in front and some of them screamed.

“What is that!?”

“Monster!!”

“Kuya! Stop the jeepney!”

Someone shouted but instead of hitting the break, the driver steps harder at the gas pedal intending to run over the creature but the creature seems to hover and maintain the 5 meter distance between him and the jeepney. The creature slowly pointed its hand towards the jeepney which causes louder scream from the passenger. After a few seconds, a big or should I say a giant worm appears at the creature’s back and open its mouth. The screams grow louder and some begins to cry. I don’t know what is happening at the roof but I think they are too scared to move or utter a sound. The worm suddenly plunged itself to the jeepney swallowing it whole. I can hear meat grinding sound atop of us and I can only imagine what is happening there. Inside the worm could be seen due to the headlights of the jeepney. It feels like we entered a tunnel but instead of the normal feeling you will have, it feels like we are being eaten alive which isn’t wrong in our current situation.

Inside the worm, all you can see is the meat of the worm and sometimes a liquid drips down from the ceiling of it. The liquid, upon contact, produces a sizzling sound as if it is a strong acid. The roof of the jeepney catches a single drop which slowly melts away the metal roof. It fell on the legs of a girl passenger, she releases a painful shriek. Her skin slowly burns as the liquid continues to penetrate her legs. You can see the yellow fat of her legs, followed by the red meat and white bones. The girl tried to brush off the liquid at first but when her hand come contact with the liquid, the meat started to melt away. The jeepney continues to go forward as if there’s nothing wrong. When I look at the driver, his head is missing. He’s already dead but his foot was stuck on the gas pedal. Noticing this, I tried to get out by jumping out but what I see on our back was the corpses of the passengers sitting in the roof. Before I can decide to jump, a man jumped out and he got skewered by a spear like things that came out from the meat wall. This scene makes me sit once again. If we stay on this jeepney, we will die. If we jump out, we will also die. Is there nothing we can do to survive this?

As I am thinking those things, a light envelops my sight it is followed by the feeling of falling down from a high place. I tried to move my hands to reach to something but it refuses to move, even my feet and head refuses to move and even my voice refuses to come out. I don’t know for how long we are going to fall but I closed my eyes and relax my body. ‘This is it. I am going to die’ I said to myself as I accept the fact that I can’t do anything to save my own life. ‘I should have told her that I love her’ even though I am going to die any moment now, this stupid thought flashes on my mind. ‘But I guess I really should have told her…’

I smiled as I embraced the fact that I am now going to die. As I am falling down, a strong sense of drowsiness attacked me but I refused to sleep. I want to savor the last moments of my life so I don’t want to sleep. Even if the feeling of falling down and the fear of dying is the only present now, it’s still a proof that I am alive so I want to savor it. Truth be told, I don’t want to die yet, I’m still young and there are things I wanted to do but what can I do? What can I possibly do to survive this crazy event that is happening right now? Tears come out from my eyes unconsciously but I think it’s okay to cry at this situation right? The feeling of drowsiness got stronger and no matter how much I tried to stay awake, the drowsiness only got stronger and stronger. I wanted to stay awake until I hit the ground but…. this…. drowsiness…. isn… norma…..

Part 4

“Breaking news!! This news would be graphic so excuse us to the ones who are eating their breakfast right now. An abandoned jeepeny was found last night in the middle of the Barangay Mambulo Nuevo, Libmanan, Camarines Sur. The jeepeny was believed to be the school jeep that used mainly by the student who commute to their colleges or university. The school jeep was found in a miserable state with scratches and hole that looks like it was melted. The roof was covered with blood and the inside was the same. The tires of the jeepney were completely melted and the headlights were busted. The belongings of the passengers and the driver were left inside but there are no corpses found. The police are currently looking for clues as to where do the student went but they believed everyone died during this accident. On site, we have our reporter Ted Falcon reporting, Ted…”

As I am eating my breakfast with the television turned on so that I can watch news at the same time, that breaking news appeared which made me to stop eating. Not only me, but also my cousin, Graziel Santos and the reason for that is because of the term [School Jeep]. One of our high school batch mate, Graziel’s ex-boyfriend and someone I hold dear, Jasper Perez rode those kind of jeepney. Even though I told him to find a boarding house here at Naga, he said that it’s not needed since there are school jeeps that can take him home even if he have night classes.

By the way, I am Kaezar Padilla, 19 years old and a college student of a certain branch of a university at Naga City. If I were to describe myself, I am a girl with a long black hair that reaches to my hips, I wear glasses because of my bad eyesight and often said that I look strict. The girl sitting in front of me is my cousin, Graziel Santos, she’s 20 years old and also a college student at the same university of mine. Her hair has some highlights and its only shoulder length. Her face looks like a doll and she’s been popular since high school. She is the ex-girlfriend of Jasper Perez. They started their relationship during our second year in high school but it also ended at the same year. Back then, I don’t have feelings for Jasper but as we interact with each other, I found myself falling in love with him.

Even though the news clearly said that the police believed that every passenger died, I am hoping that Jasper isn’t one of the passengers of that jeepney. Maybe, he came late and the first school jeepney already departed and he is safe and right now, he’s riding the train. Yup, he’s not one of the passengers. I keep on convincing myself that he’s not there but my heart clearly tell me that he’s one of those poor passengers. Graziel is still watching the news while I quickly eat my breakfast and take the bath. I don’t want to hear the news anymore.

After I put my uniform on, I grab my bag and go to the university. It’s 7:05 in the morning already and if I take my time walking then I will be late for my 7:30 class. Luckily, there’s a tricycle nearby so I got in time. Inside our classroom my classmates talks about the incident about the school jeepney. Some says that they are lucky since they didn’t board that particular jeepney and some formulate their own conclusion of what really happened. Some says that it was done by the terrorist, some said that it was alien while others jokingly said that they were transported to a parallel world. Hearing their conclusion made my mood go bad. How can they talk about it lightly? What if someone they knew was a passenger of that jeepney? Would they still be talking like that! I honestly wanted to shout those words but I choose to remain silent. I don’t want to be involved in their talk right now since I am not thinking straight right now. I silently sit down on my desk and opens my [Fa*ebook] using my phone. In this current age where everyone uses the internet to exchange information, I can probably find something about Jasper.

There’s no additional news about it on my wall or the pages of the broadcasting networks. I close the app and my wallpaper appeared. Upon seeing my wallpaper, I realize that I can just call him or send a message if he’s okay. I hurriedly browse my contact list but the professor came inside. This professor hates it when someone is using a cellphone in his class so I quickly locked the phone and put it on my pocket.

The lecture begins but I can’t understand the topic since my mind is full about the incident. What if Jasper was there? What really happened on that jeepney? If he’s really there, I hope that he’s safe. I hope that he misses that jeepney. These phrases run inside my mind right now. I don’t have the composure to listen to the lecture but I force my hand to write everything my professor says.

The professor keeps on teaching us while my mind is in utter chaos. After an hour, the professor leaves while leaving an assignment and the next class will be held at 9:30 AM so I still have an hour to contact him. I quickly draw my cellphone from my pocket and hurriedly search his number on my contact and when I find it, I press the call button as fast as I can. I place the phone near my ears as I wait for it to connect. After a few second, I hear someone talks across the phone. It’s a voice of a girl saying…

“The number that you dialed is either unattended or out of coverage area, please try your call later. The num—“

It seems that his phone is currently turned off. Maybe he’s inside a class so it turned it off but his phone was always at vibration mode so maybe his battery is dead? Anyways, I should send him a message so that he can read it after charging his phone. As I am typing the message I will send to him, someone calls at my phone. The caller’s name is [Tita Isabelle], it’s Jasper’s mother. Upon reading the caller’s name, my chest tightened and sweat starts to come out from my hand. With my trembling fingers, I press the [Accept] button and put my phone near my ear so that I can hear what Tita Isabelle would say.

“Hello, Kaezar. Have you seen Jasper there at Naga? He hasn’t come home yet.”

Upon hearing those words, my mind accepted the fact that Jasper is one of the passengers of that school jeepney and I lost my consciousness.