Chapter 1: Did I Just Get Isekai’d?
One of the last things Julius remembered was his alarm, 6:07 AM.
His younger brother, Vincent, had been setting it like that for several days now as some kind of prank, claiming the numbers were ’absolute peak’ before doing some weird gestures with his hands.
It was like raising a child. A 19-year-old child.
He remembered silencing it, the light on his phone screen as he scrolled through his socials and the Friday deadline he needed to call his team leader about.
The same deadline which prompted him to type furiously on his keyboard like a man possessed by the effects of his procrastination.
He remembered putting his phone in his pocket as he stood up from his bed.
He also recalled the light under his feet as he put on his slippers. A circle with strange geometric patterns that spread across the floor before enveloping the entire room in blue-white light like a flashbang.
He did not remember agreeing to be somewhere else.
But here he was on his knees, stone floors spread about this massive hall that was similar to a crypt. The air was thick with the smell of incense and something older — dust, ash?
Visibility was provided by the various torches that lit the crypt, a blue flame burning within each of them.
Before him stood four figures. They were not human, or at least that was the impression they wanted to make. He kept this observation to himself.
The one directly in front of Julius walked forward — a middle-aged looking woman taller than him with grey skin, red eyes, and a heart-shaped face with pointed ears.
The figure to her left looked like a green-painted man, the difference being his more prominent muscles, tusks and tattoos on certain parts of his body.
His facial expression was a mix of displeasure or disappointment.
The other two figures weren’t much visible as they stood a bit further back but Julius could make out scales on one of them while the other was cloaked in darkness completely.
There was also another figure leaning on the wall who did not wear a robe — a woman with dark red skin. Two horns came out near her temples that were partly covered by her long black hair.
She wore black armour fitted to her form that featured sharp shoulder pads and an armoured loincloth like skirt. She had various accessories which matched her armour. Her midriff was exposed with a tail which curled around her.
Her ember eyes met his when he turned to look. Her annoyance was clearly visible as if she was forced to come to a meeting she was against.
Julius stood up.
"What’s going on, where am I?" he asked.
The grey-skinned woman spoke first. Her name was Maeva, a dark elf as Julius would come to learn. Her voice was calm and formal like one used to giving speeches.
She explained the world had many races, many territories. Humans had been essential to it all — present in every trade route, every negotiation, every field.
Three hundred years ago they went extinct.
"Extinct?" Julius asked
"Yes." Maeva answered, "What followed has been getting worse ever since."
People prayed. The gods answered. Keltune, the goddess of unity, came to them with a ritual to perform.
Julius looked at where he stood. There was a circle inscribed with strange symbols.
"And it brought me," Julius said.
"Yes."
"Specifically me."
Maeva’s expression did not change. "We don’t know."
Julius looked at her for a long moment. Then he burst out laughing.
"Okay," he said, hands up. "I tried. I genuinely tried to follow all of that. But I have a deadline I have to meet, so to whoever organized this, five stars, truly, the blue flames alone were worth it. But I have to go."
He looked at the four figures and they looked back at him.
No one broke character.
He waited.
They kept looking at him.
He turned to look at the woman by the wall. She was watching him with an expression similar to someone who had been insulted in a language they were learning to understand.
He looked back at Maeva.
"This isn’t a prank, is it."
Maeva’s expression did not change. "No, it’s not."
"You are not actors."
"No," she responded
"Humans going extinct. That was real."
"Yes."
His certainty wavered. Not because the explanation was convincing but because five people in costumes in a crypt had held character for this long and none of them had the particular energy of people waiting for him to get the joke.
But that was just one reason. The other reason sat in his chest, a cold weight he didn’t want to admit.
Julius looked up at the decaying ceiling for several seconds. He would have to play along for a bit.
"And what exactly do you expect me to do?"
She looked to the other robed figures as if looking for assurance. The olive green man spoke up.
"The goddess did not tell us beyond the ritual itself."
Julius looked at them. "So you performed a ritual for a goddess without knowing specifics."
No one answered.
Julius restrained himself from saying certain words.
These people had pulled him out of his apartment without consent, blinding him and dragging him out here, for this?
They couldn’t even think of a proper lie or excuse to make the whole thing more believable.
To Julius. It was a poorly written joke.
Maybe I could sue them. He doubted the case would stand.
He tapped his pants, to check if they had taken his phone.
It was still there.
He had written a script that activated the recording feature when the phone was hit in a certain manner. He never expected he’d use it.
He did the motions as subtle as he could and asked a question.
"What’s my payment?" he said. "I’m not working for free."
"The goddess also promised rewards,"
"Of course she did," he said with no hint of sarcasm. He was getting tired of this farce.
"Is there a way to verify?" he pressed.
As if on command the flames in the crypt burned brighter, lighting the interior of the crypt before turning off and igniting back in the former state.
A small smile formed on the dark elf’s face almost as if she was pleased her goddess had reassured her.
"The goddess told us to ask you one thing."
"What?"
"Do you accept?"
Julius processed the question. Accept what? He had no idea. Something about the lack of explanation had him slightly on edge but If this was a prank, he saw no harm in agreeing to this bogus question.
The dark elf looked at him expectantly.
"Sure, I accept."
The air in front of him shimmered.
[ACCEPTANCE REGISTERED]
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING]
A floating rectangle appeared in front of him, translucent and blue, similar to the interfaces he had designed for clients but it floated mid-air.
He looked at the screen, then at the council. They saw nothing.
It was not a prank.
[Host found.]
[Species: Human.]
[Path: Architect]
[Primary objective: Interspecies Unity]
[Item Received: Wardstone.]
[Item Received: Anchor.]
[Item Received: Keltune’s Wish — Locked.]
[You may check their functions at any time.]
That cold feeling he dismissed earlier came back with memories.
Memories of books with broken spines in his brother’s room. Fictional books about characters in alternate worlds.
He remembered one dinner where Vincent had explained something he called a system in detail and he had half-listened because he was checking his phone for his then-girlfriend’s nudes.
He looked at the group in front of him and to the woman leaning by the wall. She was watching him with the expression of a person conducting an assessment and hadn’t produced a result.
If those weren’t cosplay, then — Another screen interrupted his thoughts.
[Main Quest: Available.]
A moment passed before another screen appeared.
[Main Quest: Breed Peace Among The Races.]
"I beg your pardon?"
