Tyler was having a very bad and awkward week. Where to even begin? Well, The Beginning would probably be his best bet. Not when he’d first met Derek the demon or come to the village, not when he’d first met Riary or had to deal with fighting monsters and saving people’s lives, not when he’d first decided to become an adventurer or when he received training from the king.
No, it all started when he first came to this world.
He had been a young student at the time, just having graduated high school, on his way home. All of a sudden an expanding circle of light had lit up beneath his feet. He had… panicked and ran out into the street.
Only to be hit by a white box truck.
Then everything had gone dark for a little while. He didn’t think he had died but he had been hit pretty hard…. The next thing he saw was a goddess. He had gaped, awe filling him, as he realized he was actually being isekaied! It had even happened exactly as it did in manga and anime! He was going to be a hero and save the world!
Just as he was gaping like a fish, the goddess looked at him… and looked just as surprised, mouth hanging open. He didn’t even know which goddess it was before he suddenly found himself being literally sucked away. When he had next opened his eyes, he was in front of a king…. Who was also gaping at him like a fish.
At this point, Tyler was fully aware something had gone very, very wrong.
The King had him detained nearly immediately and he then had to suffer through some questions. It seemed like it was going to be a full interrogation, until he had said he was from another world, and the king had immediately sworn everyone to silence and then dragged him away privately.
Despite feeling like he’d messed something up, he was still incredibly excited. The King practically radiated majesty and he was clearly in a fantasy world. The King sat him down, and then explained.
And that explanation had been… heavy.
Long ago, there were plenty of heroic summons. It originated with the gods doing it directly, and then later, mortals offering a very large price to be able to do it themselves. The original Heroes. They came from many foreign worlds, not all human or even humanoid. They had faced and defeated an incredibly powerful evil and saved the world.
…and then they came back.
The Heroes were strong, powerful, and legendary figures. But not all of them were good people. Some took over kingdoms, some lived lives of luxury, some caused a genocide or three, it was so serious it soon came to be known as “The Age of Calamity”. Records about that time were either lost or purposefully suppressed.
And thus came a problem. No one was allowed to summon a hero. It was the equivalent of an act of war against every other kingdom and every other species nearby. The Human territory had the Gaun Empire and over two dozen different kingdoms beside them. All together, they made up human territory. And if it was found out that there had been a Hero summoned, the Mauv Kingdom where he’d shown up, would be attacked and destroyed by every single one of them.
His heart had beat like a drum and his eyes had shaken at that. The King even fully admitted that if they had summoned him, he’d already be dead. The only reason he was still alive, was because they hadn’t summoned him. Which only left one group left….
The King had pressed him, asking why he was summoned, which God had summoned him, what his purpose was, etc. And Tyler tried his best to answer. But his answers only made the Mauv King horrified. He didn’t know why, he didn’t know the goddess, he didn’t know what his purpose was. Description of them? Sure. Didn’t match any of the human, elven, or dwarven goddesses they knew about. Which didn’t mean much, given that they were dealing with the divine.
Still, The Mauv King wasn’t insane, he recognized Tyler probably had been called here for a very important reason, and so he’d immediately had him become a “Hero.” The Heroes were groups specifically sponsored by the King of their respective nations. They called back and got their namesake from the original heroes, who before the Age of Calamity had been incredibly powerful forces for good. The Kings could only sponsor one team, because it was half prestige and politics, as much as anything else.
There were other rules, limitations, and that sort of thing for teams, but none of that had mattered to Tyler.
Soon, he had been put through training. And that had been…. Intense. He had gotten stronger. Had gotten very, very strong, very, very fast. The King, and everyone he trained with, had been shocked. They called him a prodigy but Tyler knew it must have been because he was summoned. He may have screwed something up along the way, but it’d seemed he’d still been blessed somehow.
Still, until he had met Riary, his second team member, things had been… awful. It was a fantasy world! And he had been summoned as a hero! But, he was just training, every single day. He was getting stronger, but he didn’t have any friends, he didn’t know why he was here, and he thought back to his family nearly every day. And then Riary had literally exploded in a burst of flame into his life and things had been… exciting.
And after Konahora joined, things had stabilized just enough for the King to actually let them leave and go do some good work. They only barely qualified to be strong enough to be Heroes, but it was enough. Together they had gone and helped all sorts of people, registering as a team of C rank Adventurers. They saved a few towns from goblins, fought plenty of monsters (so many monsters…), helped out after a tornado had struck, fought off bandits, and generally did exactly what he expected when he had become a hero.
It was some of the best times of his life. The joy and happiness on people’s faces after being rescued or protected warmed his heart. The training was worth it. He was finally doing good for others and being a real hero! It made him happy in a way that he could never have explained.
And then the King had called them back and demanded they search for Gems. And that was it. He didn’t know anything more, or why the King wanted them. They had all been forced to buckle down and go to numerous libraries, bookstores, and scholars. At least the Gems were obvious. Square, palm sized, with a swirling fog inside. They had run into a few false positives, one time even an outright forgery, but none were right. They still helped others, still did missions, but it wasn’t their goal or their focus anymore. It was honestly irritating, as well as the lack of progress.
Until he had heard two different things that changed his mind completely. Information about the Gems was, vague at best. But Konahora finally helped him dig something up.
The Gems could help you go to other worlds.
When Tyler read that, his heart had started beating like a drum. Riary and Konahora were the only ones that knew the truth besides the king himself. They had both looked at him, knowing what this meant to him.
Home…
He hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye… his mother, his father, his sister… to them he had just gone missing. He hadn’t minded at first, hadn’t thought about it, but now it had already been over a year… that they probably thought he was dead made him want to break into a million pieces. He still didn’t know why he was here and after a year, he was starting to fear that there was no why. That he just, was here. If he could go back home…
And that’s why the second piece of news had lit a fire under them all. Rumors of a tomb that no one escapes once they enter, where an ancient cult leader was buried. Rumor said he was buried gripping a square magical Gem in his hand.
They had found the tomb, explored it, and met with… nothing. Just a corpse. Just an empty tomb in the middle of nowhere. Impressive only because it had to have been made with magic. Their hearts had sunk and they’d all been in a bad mood.
And that’s when they had gone to the village.
The people there had been… off. Charged in a way, suspicious of them. It was only after meeting the elf, Celena, that he had figured out what was going on. And it had horrified him. He knew stuff like this happened but… the details, the abuse, the slaughter. It had made his blood nearly boil to death. He was ready to charge and kill the Baron that second, before the wind was taken out of his sails when she had said they had already been saved. He had listened to them talk about their savior, feeling a growing respect for them. They had charged in, killed the baron, killed and fought off all of his men at once, and then passed out for three days. He seemed like a good man.
And then Celena said he was a demon. And that he was waiting upstairs for them.
Tyler felt he had been socked in the face. He had been in a daze and only Konahora talking to him snapped him out of it. He had glanced at Riary and her expression had been… unreadable.
Demons were dangerous, monsters. Humanoid. Able to mind control, work with curses, had incredibly powerful magic, incredibly powerful bodies, and were essentially born warriors. It was said that one demon could fight one hundred humans. They were evil by default and had started an invasion and war with all of the human territory, destroying multiple kingdoms and carving out a place for themselves. It was known as “The Great Demon War” and it had ended 30 years ago. It had lasted for a decade before that.
One of the worst parts of it, was that demons could be summoned. An innocent village could have one fool that doomed them all, or a capital city could suddenly have an invasion force essentially teleported beyond its walls. And that’s if the summoned demon wasn’t the more subtle kind…. There were even still fears today that some kingdoms were secretly ruled by demons.
That’s why summoning demons was a kin crime. Tyler…. Tyler didn’t agree with that at all but he was powerless against it. He wasn’t strong enough or influential enough to change the very laws. Still, it hardly happened.
Except now a demon was right in front of them, apparently. Tyler didn’t know what to feel and things had gotten out of control immediately, Riary attacking the second after the realization hit. He had followed after, only to see the demon on the ground, seconds away from being killed. Guilt tore at Tyler’s heart. Demons were evil… but this demon wasn’t, right? They had talked to him only a few moments ago! He hadn’t even attacked them. He looked- he looked scared.
And then someone had come to his rescue. The demon summoner. He had stared in horror as rage overtook Riary and he had run to save him, but not fast enough.
But the demon was.
Tyler would never forget the burnt corpse the demon had become. Charred black, no eyes, standing in a pose to protect, the area burnt around him. Tyler had never felt like he was on the wrong side, till this exact moment. Till he was seeing a good man dead. The following speech from the demon’s friend had made him grit his teeth and want to punch the ground. What had they done… they hadn’t even given him a chance! They had slaughtered him like an animal, unprovoked.
Just when he felt his world view shaking, it had been silenced by seeing the burnt corpse turn its head, nearly silently telling his friend to run. He had stood there in shock, watching the following events as if he was underwater. The demon was still alive… even after that? He was still telling his friend to run… even when he was like that?
If Riary hadn’t called out to Konahora first, he would’ve. He nearly lost his mind when it looked like they were trying to ‘barely’ heal him, so Riary could demand answers. He tried to get control of himself, to actually move. But before that, his teammates finally decided to fully heal the demon. Derek. His name was Derek. He had said that.
It was, a miracle. He had seen Konahora heal before, had even been on the receiving end, but this was something else entirely. He didn’t miss how exhausted she looked afterwards. After he was healed, Riary had demanded, demanded to know why a demon would sacrifice himself to save someone. His answer had warmed Tyler’s heart.
“Because he’s my friend.”
Tyler approached, hearing the demon’s dearest wish to just leave. He finally got his head in the game and reset himself. Breathing deeply, pointedly not looking at Riary right now. If the demon wanted to survive, wanted to leave here alive, he knew there was only one way to do it.
A whole lot of questions with Konahora confirming the truth.
He had lied, but only about being summoned. Everything else was true. Saving them, having no ill will, he didn’t even want to kill Riary. He just wanted to leave. Tyler felt like he was repaying kindness with force and he hated himself for it.
He moved to talk with his teammates, only to be utterly shocked.
Riary still wanted to kill him. Even knowing the truth, she still wanted to erase him off the face of the earth, for being a demon. Saying he had to have something up his sleeve or tricked them somehow. She still wanted to kill the random villager too, despite him summoning in order to save his village.
It wasn’t the first time they had an argument, but it was the first time Tyler had really seen just how much hate Riary could have in her heart. Tyler felt his own blood start to boil, about to say many things that could not be forgiven, when Konahora had spoken up simply.
“We are a team.” Simple words that Tyler had needed to hear… a lot. He had been too… stubborn in the early days. It had nearly caused a tragedy at one point during a situation with bandits. Those words were said to mean that a team makes a decision, even if Tyler didn’t like it. He swallowed thickly and Riary looked angrier than he’d ever seen her. Ready to ignore the team and go her own way, to burn down the demon again right here and now. But she held herself back, barely.
After a brief discussion, they came to a decision. The border was only two or three weeks away at a decent pace and they didn’t exactly have any good new leads for the Gems. They’d escort the demon out of the human territory and that would be that. They all conveniently decided to forget about the villager who summoned him.
And now, well, things were bad and awkward. Riary hadn’t been herself, or not angry, for a single moment. Tyler wanted to talk to the demon, thank him for him being a hero, get to know him and what demons were like… but he didn’t want to make Riary any angrier either. It was a state of constant tension, where they even took turns watching him at night. Which made Tyler feel like he was the worst person on the planet. He hadn’t brought any extra supplies for Derek, hadn’t even thought about it. Which meant he was left to try to sleep out in the rain, alone, cold, getting drenched. And then march with them in the morning, utterly exhausted and sleep deprived. He didn’t even have a change of clothes.
And he’d catch Riary glancing at Derek, looking not, not angry, but less angry. It made him feel sick.
Soon, they’d arrive at a new village and hopefully it would help alleviate some of the tension. Riary had plenty of reason to hate demons and Tyler had no idea how to help with that. He could punt a goblin across a football field but he couldn’t punch justified hatred in the face. It made him feel… helpless, especially watching his friend be consumed by anger. There were no jokes, no tiny back-and-forth barbs, no playing with her fire or her complaining about how most books weren’t fireproof. It made his heart ache.
At least things would be fine soon. They’d probably have smooth sailing till they reach the border.
A certain demon suddenly felt a shiver go up his spine.
Tyler was having a very bad and awkward week. Where to even begin? Well, The Beginning would probably be his best bet. Not when he’d first met Derek the demon or come to the village, not when he’d first met Riary or had to deal with fighting monsters and saving people’s lives, not when he’d first decided to become an adventurer or when he received training from the king.
No, it all started when he first came to this world.
He had been a young student at the time, just having graduated high school, on his way home. All of a sudden an expanding circle of light had lit up beneath his feet. He had… panicked and ran out into the street.
Only to be hit by a white box truck.
Then everything had gone dark for a little while. He didn’t think he had died but he had been hit pretty hard…. The next thing he saw was a goddess. He had gaped, awe filling him, as he realized he was actually being isekaied! It had even happened exactly as it did in manga and anime! He was going to be a hero and save the world!
Just as he was gaping like a fish, the goddess looked at him… and looked just as surprised, mouth hanging open. He didn’t even know which goddess it was before he suddenly found himself being literally sucked away. When he had next opened his eyes, he was in front of a king…. Who was also gaping at him like a fish.
At this point, Tyler was fully aware something had gone very, very wrong.
The King had him detained nearly immediately and he then had to suffer through some questions. It seemed like it was going to be a full interrogation, until he had said he was from another world, and the king had immediately sworn everyone to silence and then dragged him away privately.
Despite feeling like he’d messed something up, he was still incredibly excited. The King practically radiated majesty and he was clearly in a fantasy world. The King sat him down, and then explained.
And that explanation had been… heavy.
Long ago, there were plenty of heroic summons. It originated with the gods doing it directly, and then later, mortals offering a very large price to be able to do it themselves. The original Heroes. They came from many foreign worlds, not all human or even humanoid. They had faced and defeated an incredibly powerful evil and saved the world.
…and then they came back.
The Heroes were strong, powerful, and legendary figures. But not all of them were good people. Some took over kingdoms, some lived lives of luxury, some caused a genocide or three, it was so serious it soon came to be known as “The Age of Calamity”. Records about that time were either lost or purposefully suppressed.
And thus came a problem. No one was allowed to summon a hero. It was the equivalent of an act of war against every other kingdom and every other species nearby. The Human territory had the Gaun Empire and over two dozen different kingdoms beside them. All together, they made up human territory. And if it was found out that there had been a Hero summoned, the Mauv Kingdom where he’d shown up, would be attacked and destroyed by every single one of them.
His heart had beat like a drum and his eyes had shaken at that. The King even fully admitted that if they had summoned him, he’d already be dead. The only reason he was still alive, was because they hadn’t summoned him. Which only left one group left….
The King had pressed him, asking why he was summoned, which God had summoned him, what his purpose was, etc. And Tyler tried his best to answer. But his answers only made the Mauv King horrified. He didn’t know why, he didn’t know the goddess, he didn’t know what his purpose was. Description of them? Sure. Didn’t match any of the human, elven, or dwarven goddesses they knew about. Which didn’t mean much, given that they were dealing with the divine.
Still, The Mauv King wasn’t insane, he recognized Tyler probably had been called here for a very important reason, and so he’d immediately had him become a “Hero.” The Heroes were groups specifically sponsored by the King of their respective nations. They called back and got their namesake from the original heroes, who before the Age of Calamity had been incredibly powerful forces for good. The Kings could only sponsor one team, because it was half prestige and politics, as much as anything else.
There were other rules, limitations, and that sort of thing for teams, but none of that had mattered to Tyler.
Soon, he had been put through training. And that had been…. Intense. He had gotten stronger. Had gotten very, very strong, very, very fast. The King, and everyone he trained with, had been shocked. They called him a prodigy but Tyler knew it must have been because he was summoned. He may have screwed something up along the way, but it’d seemed he’d still been blessed somehow.
Still, until he had met Riary, his second team member, things had been… awful. It was a fantasy world! And he had been summoned as a hero! But, he was just training, every single day. He was getting stronger, but he didn’t have any friends, he didn’t know why he was here, and he thought back to his family nearly every day. And then Riary had literally exploded in a burst of flame into his life and things had been… exciting.
And after Konahora joined, things had stabilized just enough for the King to actually let them leave and go do some good work. They only barely qualified to be strong enough to be Heroes, but it was enough. Together they had gone and helped all sorts of people, registering as a team of C rank Adventurers. They saved a few towns from goblins, fought plenty of monsters (so many monsters…), helped out after a tornado had struck, fought off bandits, and generally did exactly what he expected when he had become a hero.
It was some of the best times of his life. The joy and happiness on people’s faces after being rescued or protected warmed his heart. The training was worth it. He was finally doing good for others and being a real hero! It made him happy in a way that he could never have explained.
And then the King had called them back and demanded they search for Gems. And that was it. He didn’t know anything more, or why the King wanted them. They had all been forced to buckle down and go to numerous libraries, bookstores, and scholars. At least the Gems were obvious. Square, palm sized, with a swirling fog inside. They had run into a few false positives, one time even an outright forgery, but none were right. They still helped others, still did missions, but it wasn’t their goal or their focus anymore. It was honestly irritating, as well as the lack of progress.
Until he had heard two different things that changed his mind completely. Information about the Gems was, vague at best. But Konahora finally helped him dig something up.
The Gems could help you go to other worlds.
When Tyler read that, his heart had started beating like a drum. Riary and Konahora were the only ones that knew the truth besides the king himself. They had both looked at him, knowing what this meant to him.
Home…
He hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye… his mother, his father, his sister… to them he had just gone missing. He hadn’t minded at first, hadn’t thought about it, but now it had already been over a year… that they probably thought he was dead made him want to break into a million pieces. He still didn’t know why he was here and after a year, he was starting to fear that there was no why. That he just, was here. If he could go back home…
And that’s why the second piece of news had lit a fire under them all. Rumors of a tomb that no one escapes once they enter, where an ancient cult leader was buried. Rumor said he was buried gripping a square magical Gem in his hand.
They had found the tomb, explored it, and met with… nothing. Just a corpse. Just an empty tomb in the middle of nowhere. Impressive only because it had to have been made with magic. Their hearts had sunk and they’d all been in a bad mood.
And that’s when they had gone to the village.
The people there had been… off. Charged in a way, suspicious of them. It was only after meeting the elf, Celena, that he had figured out what was going on. And it had horrified him. He knew stuff like this happened but… the details, the abuse, the slaughter. It had made his blood nearly boil to death. He was ready to charge and kill the Baron that second, before the wind was taken out of his sails when she had said they had already been saved. He had listened to them talk about their savior, feeling a growing respect for them. They had charged in, killed the baron, killed and fought off all of his men at once, and then passed out for three days. He seemed like a good man.
And then Celena said he was a demon. And that he was waiting upstairs for them.
Tyler felt he had been socked in the face. He had been in a daze and only Konahora talking to him snapped him out of it. He had glanced at Riary and her expression had been… unreadable.
Demons were dangerous, monsters. Humanoid. Able to mind control, work with curses, had incredibly powerful magic, incredibly powerful bodies, and were essentially born warriors. It was said that one demon could fight one hundred humans. They were evil by default and had started an invasion and war with all of the human territory, destroying multiple kingdoms and carving out a place for themselves. It was known as “The Great Demon War” and it had ended 30 years ago. It had lasted for a decade before that.
One of the worst parts of it, was that demons could be summoned. An innocent village could have one fool that doomed them all, or a capital city could suddenly have an invasion force essentially teleported beyond its walls. And that’s if the summoned demon wasn’t the more subtle kind…. There were even still fears today that some kingdoms were secretly ruled by demons.
That’s why summoning demons was a kin crime. Tyler…. Tyler didn’t agree with that at all but he was powerless against it. He wasn’t strong enough or influential enough to change the very laws. Still, it hardly happened.
Except now a demon was right in front of them, apparently. Tyler didn’t know what to feel and things had gotten out of control immediately, Riary attacking the second after the realization hit. He had followed after, only to see the demon on the ground, seconds away from being killed. Guilt tore at Tyler’s heart. Demons were evil… but this demon wasn’t, right? They had talked to him only a few moments ago! He hadn’t even attacked them. He looked- he looked scared.
And then someone had come to his rescue. The demon summoner. He had stared in horror as rage overtook Riary and he had run to save him, but not fast enough.
But the demon was.
Tyler would never forget the burnt corpse the demon had become. Charred black, no eyes, standing in a pose to protect, the area burnt around him. Tyler had never felt like he was on the wrong side, till this exact moment. Till he was seeing a good man dead. The following speech from the demon’s friend had made him grit his teeth and want to punch the ground. What had they done… they hadn’t even given him a chance! They had slaughtered him like an animal, unprovoked.
Just when he felt his world view shaking, it had been silenced by seeing the burnt corpse turn its head, nearly silently telling his friend to run. He had stood there in shock, watching the following events as if he was underwater. The demon was still alive… even after that? He was still telling his friend to run… even when he was like that?
If Riary hadn’t called out to Konahora first, he would’ve. He nearly lost his mind when it looked like they were trying to ‘barely’ heal him, so Riary could demand answers. He tried to get control of himself, to actually move. But before that, his teammates finally decided to fully heal the demon. Derek. His name was Derek. He had said that.
It was, a miracle. He had seen Konahora heal before, had even been on the receiving end, but this was something else entirely. He didn’t miss how exhausted she looked afterwards. After he was healed, Riary had demanded, demanded to know why a demon would sacrifice himself to save someone. His answer had warmed Tyler’s heart.
“Because he’s my friend.”
Tyler approached, hearing the demon’s dearest wish to just leave. He finally got his head in the game and reset himself. Breathing deeply, pointedly not looking at Riary right now. If the demon wanted to survive, wanted to leave here alive, he knew there was only one way to do it.
A whole lot of questions with Konahora confirming the truth.
He had lied, but only about being summoned. Everything else was true. Saving them, having no ill will, he didn’t even want to kill Riary. He just wanted to leave. Tyler felt like he was repaying kindness with force and he hated himself for it.
He moved to talk with his teammates, only to be utterly shocked.
Riary still wanted to kill him. Even knowing the truth, she still wanted to erase him off the face of the earth, for being a demon. Saying he had to have something up his sleeve or tricked them somehow. She still wanted to kill the random villager too, despite him summoning in order to save his village.
It wasn’t the first time they had an argument, but it was the first time Tyler had really seen just how much hate Riary could have in her heart. Tyler felt his own blood start to boil, about to say many things that could not be forgiven, when Konahora had spoken up simply.
“We are a team.” Simple words that Tyler had needed to hear… a lot. He had been too… stubborn in the early days. It had nearly caused a tragedy at one point during a situation with bandits. Those words were said to mean that a team makes a decision, even if Tyler didn’t like it. He swallowed thickly and Riary looked angrier than he’d ever seen her. Ready to ignore the team and go her own way, to burn down the demon again right here and now. But she held herself back, barely.
After a brief discussion, they came to a decision. The border was only two or three weeks away at a decent pace and they didn’t exactly have any good new leads for the Gems. They’d escort the demon out of the human territory and that would be that. They all conveniently decided to forget about the villager who summoned him.
And now, well, things were bad and awkward. Riary hadn’t been herself, or not angry, for a single moment. Tyler wanted to talk to the demon, thank him for him being a hero, get to know him and what demons were like… but he didn’t want to make Riary any angrier either. It was a state of constant tension, where they even took turns watching him at night. Which made Tyler feel like he was the worst person on the planet. He hadn’t brought any extra supplies for Derek, hadn’t even thought about it. Which meant he was left to try to sleep out in the rain, alone, cold, getting drenched. And then march with them in the morning, utterly exhausted and sleep deprived. He didn’t even have a change of clothes.
And he’d catch Riary glancing at Derek, looking not, not angry, but less angry. It made him feel sick.
Soon, they’d arrive at a new village and hopefully it would help alleviate some of the tension. Riary had plenty of reason to hate demons and Tyler had no idea how to help with that. He could punt a goblin across a football field but he couldn’t punch justified hatred in the face. It made him feel… helpless, especially watching his friend be consumed by anger. There were no jokes, no tiny back-and-forth barbs, no playing with her fire or her complaining about how most books weren’t fireproof. It made his heart ache.
At least things would be fine soon. They’d probably have smooth sailing till they reach the border.
A certain demon suddenly felt a shiver go up his spine.
