"Where am I?" Ren thought, slightly out of focused.

The last memory he had was the overly crowded event's place of Comiket, and then there was Mikumin, she was trying to call him up on stage. Just by the thought of it makes him a little queasy.

"Mikumin!" Ren exclaimed as the thought dawned on him. He's supposed to be at TBS right now, in the middle of Mikumin's performance. But where is this place? Is this part of Mikumin's act? No, this is far too realistic.

"VR?" Ren tried to touch his face for any signs of a VR set, but found none.

"Alright, I have to calm down and think this through." Ren thought to himself. He tried touching parts of his body, making sure that it's still there. Then he tried touching the grass around him and then the ground beneath him. "This looks pretty solid to be VR. But where exactly is this place?"

He started to look around, this time, making sure to take note of everything he sees. The sky looks pretty normal to him, blue and a few clumps of clouds rolling overhead. The plain on the other hand looks, well, plain — no trees, no road, not even a hill, just a long stretch of grass. However, if Ren squint enough, he could make out an outline of mountains far north, or was it east?

And then he saw them — four figures moving not too far from him. Ren instinctively lowered down his gaze, a reflex he had whenever he's outside the comfort of his room. He can feel the panic creeping up at his chest — he's not alone. Suddenly he felt extremely conscious of himself.

"Get a grip of yourself!" Ren slapped himself on the face at both sides.

When he has mustered enough courage to look up, Ren had a better look at the strangers. They all appear to be around the same age as Ren, however, they don't look Japanese at all, plus, they wear weird clothes that looked rather outdated.

After a while, one of the kids attempted to initiate interaction on one of the bigger kids, but was immidiately answered by growls and shouts of anger, or at least thats how Ren heard it. And then...

"Translator level 1 acquired!"

Ren jumped at the sudden sound. No, it wasn't sound, it almost feels like a thought inside his head, except that its not his own. And then, for some reason, he understood what the other kid was saying now.

Basing on that alone, Ren's already have a fair guess at what's happening, what with all the games he's played, manga he's read, and anime he's watched. But he's still clinging to what little sanity is left in him, and is trying real hard to steer away from that road.

"Welcome to Kairelith. Your new life begins here. Please accept the goddess Kaireth's blessing as a commemoration of your arrival."

"Well, that finally does it." He can virtually hear all his hope crumbling away. What he heard only confirmed his suspicions. A little cliche, but Ren has been transported to another world. He has no idea what the specifics are, but he's pretty sure thats the case.

At the last word of the mysterious speaker, Ren suddenly felt a strange sensation going through his entire body. It faded just as quickly as it came.

"Decide your path. A second chance was given to you by the merciful goddess, use it wisely."

He's totally screwd. Living outside the four walls of his room is not Ren's strongest suit, much less surviving in an alien world.

As if on queue, several orbs of light appeared not too far from where the biggest kid is standing. The orbs just hovered there for a moment and then, all of a sudden, each one popped and came a person. Soon enough they are surrounded by an army — literally, men and women clad in armour.

"This is where we detected the sudden convergence of magic, sir." A woman from the group said.

A burly man clad in full armour started to make his way towards Ren and the others, "Explain yourselves! What is your purpose coming here!" Barked the man, one hand against his sword.

"This is starting to sound like a regular RPG." Ren thought ridiculously.

"This place is under the jurisdiction of the Froviel Empire. Are you spies from another country?" The man pressed on. By the looks of him, he seems to be the one in charge of this batalion.

"Froviel empire? Basing on how that big guy addressed us, they don't seem to be in a jolly relationship with neighboring countries at the moment." Ren thought.

"Well? Are you?" The huge man repeated.

Ren decided to leave the interaction to the other four, and see how things will play out. Anyways, its not like he'll be able to speak with this many people around him.

The first thing Milo felt upon waking was surprise that he was waking at all. From what the doctor had said, he should be dead by now, but he could not deny that he felt very much alive. His last memory was his parents by his side as he lay in bed, coughing and barely able to breathe. His parents had spent every last shilling they had on the doctor, but it was already too late. There was nothing the doctor could do for Milo with how sick he had become. The doctor had said he expected Milo to be dead before morning, expressed his condolences, and left. His parents were beyond grief at the loss of their only child and hugged him tightly as they sang him to sleep for the last time. Milo could remember drifting into a dreamless sleep, and that was the last thing he could remember before waking up here, wherever here was. He could tell just by the sensations surrounding him that he was not in his bed, possibly not even in London any more - London never smelled this clean. Of course, Milo wasn't even sure if what he was smelling was clean since he had never smelled clean before in all his ten years.

Milo finally decided it was time to open his eyes and find out exactly where he was. Unfortunately, opening his eyes didn't do much to tell him where he was as it was nowhere that he was in any way familiar with. He was laying in a field with a bright, sunny sky overhead. The scene was so beautiful and so peaceful, Milo was sure it couldn't be anywhere on Earth.

Am I dead? he thought. Is this heaven? It's like Blake described it. But the priests and bishops always talked about streets of gold and pearly gates, and I certainly don't see any of those around here. Maybe kids have a different heaven than grown ups. But then what would happen when my parents died? They would never see me again. They would never know what happened to me, and I'll never know what happened to them. At this, Milo felt overwhelmingly sad. His parents had never been able to give him much, but they had loved him with everything they had, even to the point of spending all the money that they had managed to scrounge together on a doctor even though they knew they would likely go hungry for at least a week afterwards. For all he knew they might already be dead from grief. As Milo considered these things, he sat up and cried. This can't be heaven, he decided. Heaven is supposed to be happy. If this were heaven, I wouldn't be sad right now. But if this isn't heaven, then where is it? It can't be hell. Hell can't be this beautiful, and I would certainly smell and feel if there were fire and brimstone around. This must be some sort of purgatory, but it doesn't look like that either. Milo was thoroughly and utterly confused. His tears had dried as his thoughts carried him past worry for the fate of his parents back around to the more pressing matters of where he was and what was going on here. He stood up to get a better view of where he was. He was, as he had previously ascertained, in a field. The field extended as far as the eye could see in all directions, or at least as far as his eye could see. Due to his size and the tall grass, he really couldn't see all that far. He certainly couldn't see as far as the other people, which he was starting to take note of. There were four other people in the field with him - two girls and two other boys - and he was the shortest one of all. He was also the youngest one, judging by the looks of the four other people, all of whom were dressed in very strange clothes.

Immediately, Milo began looking around for escape routes, hiding places, and other ways to evade these people if they tried to attack him. Milo was particularly wary of one of the boys, though Milo really supposed he counted more as a man. The man in question was big and muscular and looked dangerous. The other boy looked harmless enough, but Milo had enough experience to know that just because someone looked harmless didn't necessarily mean they were harmless, and this boy was still bigger than him, which meant that Milo would still be at a disadvantage in a confrontation against him.

Milo's attention was drawn to one of the other kids as one of the other people approached and the kid began shouting in a language that Milo didn't understand. Milo instinctively moved away from the kid, crouching low in the grass to avoid being seen as he listened to the strange words. This went on for a short time before Milo heard something in his head.

"Translator Level 1 acquired!"

Milo wasn't sure what to make of this, but he could suddenly understand what the person was saying. Milo did not abandon his distance or his crouched position, though. He was still the smallest kid in the group which made him the most vulnerable, and therefore a target for anyone bigger and stronger than him. Milo didn't have long to ponder these things, however, as the voice in his head spoke again.

"Welcome to Kairelith. Your new life begins here. Please accept the goddess Kaireth's blessing as a commemoration of your arrival."

At the new words from this mysterious voice, Milo felt a strange feeling inside himself. He couldn't describe it if he had been asked to - his vocabulary was too limited for such a task, and he doubted there were even words to describe the sensation even if he knew every single word in the English language, or any language for that matter. But as suddenly as the sensation began, it left, but not completely. Somehow, Milo knew that this strange feeling had changed him somehow, but he had no idea how. He checked over his body and nothing looked any different from what he remembered it looking like before, so whatever it was hadn't changed him physically, but he knew that he was somehow different now. He again had very little time to ponder this before the voice spoke for a third time.

"Decide your path. A second chance was given to you by the merciful goddess, use it wisely."

If that voice in my head speaks again, I'm going to have to give it a name, Milo thought idly as he wondered over what the voice had said. Decide your path? What path? There are no paths here. Everything looks the same in every direction. Of course, that was when things decided to get not quite as much the same as they had been moments before. There were suddenly several bubbles hovering in the air. They popped and became people - dangerous people by Milo's estimation. They were dressed in armor and were clearly strong and likely had weapons on their person as well. Milo didn't wait to find out, though. He didn't even wait for any of the newcomers to speak. As far as he could tell, these men were dangerous and they meant him and the other kids harm. Milo wasn't going to wait around and let that come to fruition. He turned and ran just as fast as he could.

Of the group, one was a pale skinned brunette. Laying there in the grass, clad in a dress identical to the only other girl present, she was still and peaceful for a few long moments. Then, all of a sudden, her hazel eyes shot wide open in surprise and fear and she bolted upright with a shriek. A shriek that cut off early, giving way to stunned confusion as the girl glanced about her surroundings. Wasn't there something dangerous and terrifying just moments ago? How did she end up here? Where was her car?

Someone was yelling in a language she didn't understand, and she soon became aware of the fact that she wasn't alone here. There were others, some around her age and some younger as far as she could tell. Her chest rose and fell with heavy, panicked breathing as she sat there in the grass, heart racing and her expression twisted up as she tried to process what was going on.

"Translator Level 1 Acquired!"

She snapped her head around to look for the source of words she actually understood, brown hair whipping against one shoulder from the sudden movement. Panic drained away to simpler, duller bewilderment as she realized she could understand what was being said now. The voice wasn't the one she had heard mention a translator, but the one that had been shouting earlier. She pushed herself to her feet and brushed the grass from her dress, intending to get her bearings - only to freeze up mid motion as the voice from before spoke once more.

"Welcome to Kairelith. Your new life begins here. Please accept the goddess Kaireth's blessing as a commemoration of your arrival."

Once again she looked around in confusion, but this time she noted something... Odd, about the voice. It didn't actually seem like it had a sound to it, like she hadn't heard it with her ears. More... In her head? That was a strange thought all on it's own, and all this confusion and how strange and stressful everything was was giving her a headache. Putting one hand up to rub at her head, the voice in her head continued.

"Decide your path. A second chance was given to you by the merciful goddess, use it wisely."

She didn't know what that meant, but she was starting to get an idea. A new life, a second chance? A second chance for what? Had she done something wrong? Had something happened? And now she was... Somewhere else, as herself but in a 'new life' with a path to decide? And a goddess had done this? What about her family, her friends?

Any further reflection was interrupted by the sudden appearance of balls of light, and for a moment the brunette expected the small group was about to be greeted by the goddess who had saved them - or perhaps angels or some other kind of servant of theirs? Except instead it was a lot of people in medieval looking armor and not any kind of angels or holy emissaries she had ever heard of. Slightly disappointed, she finished brushing herself off and was about to question the mention of 'magic' when a burly looking man started yelling at her and the other people she seemed to have been brought here with.

Taking an involuntary step back, noting the man's hand on his sword, she almost felt like trying to run away. Except, where would she go? She hadn't done anything wrong, either, and running away would just probably get her in trouble or hurt or something. Had a goddess really brought her here just to get yelled at while she had a headache, grass stains on her clothes, and no idea what was going on?

Standing up straight, hands on her hips, the short girl took a deep breath before striding forward to glare up at the much taller, burlier man and replying. "My name is Jackie, and I have no idea how I got here or who these other people are. All I know is it was probably a goddess named Kaireth that did it, and that she probably doesn't appreciate you being so rude to someone she was trying to help with a blessing!"

Bringing her arms up to cross under her chest, she huffed again before adding. "Also, I don't know OR care who or what a Froviel Empire is, and I'm definitely not a spy from another country."

Some women among the new crowd muttered under their breaths and made a couple of complex gestures as the name Kaireth was mentioned. It seems like the goddess is really reverred highly in this world and not just an occult figure. Ren decided to make a mental note to find more information about the goddess if they get through this mess alive.

The girl named Jackie may have said too much. Besides, they don't know yet if these people can be trusted or not.

"But if they really mean harm, they could have rounded us up right off the bat. We're all just kids after all." Ren thought weighing their chances, "If only there's a way to convince them that we're not here to cause any trouble."

"Be that as it may," The armored man started to say, "we cannot allow you to walk around without proper clearance. I'm afraid we have to ask you to come with us to the nearest encampment for further questioning."

"This is bad. This is bad." Ren started to panic. They don't know exactly if these guys are good guys, they might be dressed like regal knights now, but, they could very well be bandits wanting to take advantage of kids like them, or worst, they could be slave traders looking for new slaves to sell. "I have to calm down! I have to think of something, and fast!"

And then suddenly, there was a huge blast coming from the farthest flank of the new comers. Soon enough everything is in chaos — people shouting directions, some screams of pain, more explosions, and what sounded like wolves howling.

"Just what the hell is happening!?" Shouted the armored man.

"Sir! A pack of Kobolds! An ambush!" A young man came up to his commander, panting, and panic striken.

The huge man turned to us, his face enraged, "You!? Do you have anything to do with this!?"

And then, Ren saw them. Their head looks very wolf like — long snouts with menacing set of sharp teeth. From neck down, they very much resembles that of a human body, except they are coverred in fur, and in exchange of hands and feet are paws with sharp claws. They also have furry tails, but some had theirs cut down in half. Some Kobolds wear beaten down armor made of wood, but most of them are in their bare fur.

"THIS COULDN'T GET MORE RPG LIKE!?" Ren thought ridiculously.

"Appraisal Level 1 acquired! Would you like use Appraisal skill now?"

Ren almost jumped off from where he's currently standing, surprised at the sudden interruption of his thoughts.

"Man, is this going to be a frequent thing?" Ren thought towards the voice inside his head, appalled. "It mentioned some Appraisal Skill. Wait, you don't mean..."

"Appraisal skill activated!"

Suddenly an almost transluscent panel appear besides one of the monsters. It reads:


"Of course, they have stats!?" Ren thought in disbelief.

"Would you like to use Appraisal Skill to your self?"

"And I could use it on myself too! This couldn't get more interesting." Ren thought mockingly.

"Appraisal skill activated!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS INSANE STATS!!?" Ren said a little too loudly.

This snapped him back to reality and became more aware of his surroundings. Most of the Kobolds are now fighting the new comers — swords, claws, and teeth actively hacking at each other. He might have seen several streak of lights speeding in and out of his peripheral vision and also some blood, but he's still a little out of focused to pay attention. These new information presenting it self to him is just too overwhelming to process.

He cant even tell what is real anymore. Is he really in a fantasy world much like the games he's playing most of the time? Ren pinched himself one more time to make sure. "Damn that hurts!"

"We'll have to deal with this pack somehow, before reinforcements arrive!" The armored man turned to his men, all the while drawing his own sword. He raised it at arms length — the sword glistened against the sun that its almost blinding. "We need to regroup! Don't let anyone get separated or fight alone, thats what these damn bastards wants you to do!"

"Yes, sir!" The group replied to his command, and then, bit by bit, efficiently regroup themselves to form a circle around Ren and the others.

The commander turned towards us, "You better have a good explaination to all of this once we get to the encampment."

Olivia didn't open her eyes at first. Rather, she didn't realize she could. She vaguely remembered the oppressive heat that snuffed her breathing, the cheers and screams of the onlookers, and most importantly, the overpowering flame of hatred that burned hotter than anything that she could register on her charring skin. As her vision faded to black, she remembered fixing her gaze with searing, insane vengence against the faces that she once thought she knew.

Like a dream-fog clearing after slumber, Olivia's senses slowly awakened. The gentle breeze, the faint filtered light through her eyelids, and the weight of her own body pressing down against her legs. She was confused. Was she not tied to the stake and roasted by hateful fire and humans alike? Where was the heat, the screams, the pain? Was this a delusion, a desperate attempt by her own heat-suffered mind? Olivia hesitated on her next question. Or was she really a witch, somehow awakened a power, an instinctual grasp at life?

Olivia was afraid to answer her questions...but she did not have to. A foreign tongue spoke out, and without thinking Olivia opened her eyes. She was in a field, surrounded by strangers. Olivia didn't recognize their dress nor their make, but they looked similar to her age, apart from a tiny boy who looked British. The field was wide and open, without a hint of townsfolk or livelihood. It was much like what she had seen in the picture books, but something told Olivia this was far more foreign than Boston.

Olivia was in her nightgown, the one she was wearing when she was... but it didn't look burned or torn. She ran her fingers down her arm, a sensation as real as ever. And apart from her wrists and ankles feeling raw from rope burn, she otherwise felt fine. None of her original questions had tidied answers - and it only drew more and more questions. Where was she? Who were these people?

"Translator Level 1 Acquired!"

Olivia tensed, ready to react to the owner of the voice. All the others started to speak the common tongue, as if on cue with the voice. But before Olivia could question the voice, it spoke again.

"Welcome to Kairelith. Your new life begins here. Please accept the goddess Kaireth's blessing as a commemoration of your arrival. Decide your path. A second chance was given to you by the merciful goddess, use it wisely."

God? Goddess? Olivia could understand the language, but not the message. A new life? What did this all mean? Had she somehow been transported to heaven - Olivia caught herself. Heaven. She thought bitterly. What a foul minded joke. If anything, she had landed in the deepest recesses of hell, where God and Demon was one.

With a bright light, strangers in old-fashioned armour surrounded her and the other kids. Olivia hardly heard the question over her shock of dread, her instincts screaming at her to run. Witch hunters! They were here! Wherever she was, Olivia needed to run, run run...! Olivia breathed out shakily, forcing down waves of desperation with loud logic and steady feet. Swords and antique armour. They weren't Puritan, that was for sure. If anything, they looked like the Inquisition she was told of during her...she didn't know. Previous life? Either way, she couldn't just stand there dumb-struck.

As Olivia opened her mouth to respond, foul creatures emerged as if from no-where. Lupine heads and savage snarls; if Olivia wasn't already stunned by the sheer exoticness of her situation, she would have hollered that the Devil was upon them. But all Olivia could do was creep backwards away from the fighting and try desperately to find a weapon. The world was flying past in a patchwork of haywire cacaphony, but if one thing was clear, the only person on her side was herself.

Olivia searched for an opening where she could grab a dropped weapon. She knew she couldn't fend off the rapid dog-humans, the armoured humans, or the other kids - but she had to do something, if anything but to fend off her own sense of helplessness. A boy beside her muttered strangely under his breath, something about "stats". Perhaps he had gone insane from sheer confusion, and she was about to be too. But steady. Her only weapon right now was calm.

Jackie just scowled back at the commander, arms still crossed under her chest, as he replied with something or other about further questioning. Though, she did notice the way the group at large reacted when she mentioned the name of that goddess that had supposedly brought her and the others here. She was going to try to push the connection to the goddess, even if she didn't know anything about her really, when suddenly a very loud booming noise caught her and everyone elses attention.

All of a sudden it was chaos. Yelling, howling, screams and further explosions. The commander seemed as shocked as anyone else, and she heard some guy report that it was... Kobolds? Whatever that was. A rival army, maybe? Though, you didn't usually call a rival army a 'pack' did you? Maybe they did here, for all she knew.

Those bewildered, scattered thoughts were quickly cast aside as the commander rounded on them again, accusing them of being responsible for whatever was happening. "How would we have anything to do wi-" She started to snap back, only for her retort to die in her throat mid-word. Monstrous, wolf like creatures came into view - like something out of a werewolf horror movie, but far less cheesy and far more... genuinely terrifying. She took a step back fearfully, and her demeanor altogether changed to that of a terrified girl as she stared wide eyed as swords and claws and blood and strange lights filled the air around them.

Locked up in fear as the soldiers formed a protective circle around them, she didn't really hear the japanese boy shout about stats or the commander giving orders to his men. She didn't even register the commander once more acting like a jerk towards them. Her heart raced, and she hugged her arms tightly across her chest as she watched the ensuing combat unfold.

Although she certainly wasn't fond of him given the impression he had made so far, Jackie reflexively stayed near the commander - he had to be the safest person to be near during a monster attack, right? Nobody would let anything happen to the commander, and maybe he was even the strongest soldier there since he was in charge? The leader was always the toughest in movies, at least.

Milo used the tall grass as cover whenever he could and easily weaved around and between obstacles almost as if they weren't there. After a while, he stopped to catch his breath, having put a fair amount of distance between himself and the soldiers. That was when he heard the blast, the shouting, and the general chaos as a pack of wolf creatures bore down on the soldiers and other kids. Milo didn't know what to do. He had never been in this sort of situation before, and he certainly didn't want to be in this situation now. Unfortunately, that wasn't something that was in his power to decide. That power was taken even more out of his hands when one of the wolf creatures saw him and began running after him. With no other thought of what to do, Milo fled from the creature.

"Run Away Level 1 Acquired! Would you like to use Run Away skill now?"

Run Away skill? What is this voice talking about? Milo asked, utterly bewildered, but aloud, he said, "Yes! I want to run away from this thing!"

"Run Away skill activated!"

At first, it didn't seem like anything had happened, then Milo realized he was moving faster and avoiding pitfalls and obstacles in the terrain that he hadn't even realized were there. It didn't take long for Milo to leave the wolf creature behind. What he hadn't realized was that he was running right back in the direction he came, which was also right back towards the soldiers that he had been running from in the first place. There would be no escaping from them this time, however, as they soon closed ranks around him and the other kids. Milo was terrified and had no idea what was happening. He made a mental note to run away again at the earliest opportunity, if he didn't get killed first.

The fight is turning out for the worst, although the Knight's party has a decent number of people, the Kobold pack is much greater — an easy five is to one. Most of the Knight's party members are now severely wounded and some remaining ones who can fight are really struggling.

"This is bad." Ren thought worriedly.

The Kobold pack is closing in on them. The perimeter is failing and they only have the Knight as their last line of defense.

"Damn this mutts!" The Knight swore under his breath, "There are far too many of them. How long before reinforcements arrive?!"

"They say, they wont make it anymore, sir! Five Giant Slimes showed up west of our encampment." Answered one soldier, while swinging at one Kobold underling.

More curses ensued from the Knight's mouth, when finally he said, "We're on our own. This left us no choice then."

The Knight suddenly looked at the five helpless kids behind him, Ren was certain he saw a brief hesitation in his eyes, "Alright, listen up. I don't know where in the world you're from, or who you're fighting for, but if you want to get out of this alive you'll have to lend us a hand."

Suddenly, Ren understood. Getting help from inexperienced kids with unknown affiliation and having the risk of being betrayed is better than getting no help at all.

This made Ren extremely anxious. Except in games, he's never really fought a real fight before in his life. Ren doesnt even know if he has the physical capability to fight.

"Join my party!" Commanded the Knight.

This confuses Ren, although he understood the idea of a party, but how he'll do what the Knight is asking is one thing.

"Just say you accept it, goddamn it!" Said the Knight impatiently as he slash through a Kobold who has entered the perimeter.

"I accept." Ren said hesitantly.

"You have successfully joined a party!"

Suddenly a green bar appeared on top of each kid's head, the Knight has one too, but its little near half of the bar and is color yellow.

"HP bar?" Ren though curiously.

When the Knight noticed the confusion on each kid's face, he sighed, "That's your life bar, if that falls to zero, that's gonna be the end of you. Make sure to watch out for each other's life bar. Now, pick a weapon over there and hit any of these buggers that gets pass the perimeter." He pointed towards the discarded weapons on the ground near them.

Ren's a little nervous and excited at the same time. This is his first real fight that isn't a game after all. For some reason, he picked up a bow and arrow of all the weapons piled on the ground. Ren can't explain it but he felt a certain connection to it.

"Bow Mastery level 1 acquired!"

Although he's never held a bow in his life before, he handled the thing rather deftly. The wooden bow felt light, and the grip was right, like it was made just for him. Was this because of the skill he just acquired?

"Basing on my stats, I have 2200 dexterity. I wonder if I'll miss a target." Ren thought curiously.

He took an arrow from the quiver on his back, loaded it on the bow, and then pulled. He took aim for a few seconds, and when he's certain, he let go of the string. With a loud 'ffwwiish', the arrowed sailed through the air with so much force it created wind pressure that knocked Ren down.

Within a heartbeat, the arrow found its target. It pierced right through the first Kobold's head, and then flying further to get two more Kobolds behind it, all disintegrating the wolf like creatures upon impact.

Ren was left astounded, his mouth agape looking at the destruction he just created. He can't believe he did that.