AUTHORS NOTE: The story has a lot of systems and mechanics in it so in order to not overwhelm you all, I’ll be slowly dishing them out as the story progresses. I’d say the series is a slow starter but that’s from the necessity of laying the foundation of everything. I hope you stick with me and see where the story’s headed! Thank you. 

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Countless islands drifted high above Sage as if the clouds were their sea. The boy’s mouth gaped so wide it could cover the thousands of feet between him and the floating behemoths, yet somehow, his light brown eyes were wider. 

“This….is a dream,” Sage said unknowingly. He peered over the edge he stood on and saw the free fall he’d take had he decided to step off; wider than his eyes was the distance between him and the ground beneath. Sage spun on his heels and the reality that this wasn’t his home clawed its way past the spinning wheels of his mind. What he stood on wasn’t an island, but a small platform. Dwarfed, the apartment-sized plot of land floated carrying nothing but a small pond and light shrubbery. This allowed Sage to peer far across the sky and land, noting another floating isle in the far, far distance, and beyond that a range of mountains that didn’t resemble any found in his geography books.

Sage’s face contorted in all different shapes and, had this been a cartoon, steam would’ve bellowed from his ears to accompany them. He plopped himself onto the grass and chuckled at the vibrance it held. Were all things here so wondrous? He wasn’t so naive to believe so. All beauty came with a price, roses have their thorns after all. Sage shook his head and rolled his eyes. When had he become so pessimistic? 

Playing with the grass beneath him, Sage deduced that one of two things had happened to him: he either time-traveled to a point in history so poorly studied that they had left out floating islands, or, he was in a new world. In his opinion, time travel was the less likely of the two. 

Sage traversed the platform while running through his mind. It was quite simple what needed to be done, but the methods to do so, not so much. He didn’t care about how he got here, as many would. He needed to go home. As fanciful as a magical land may be, the risks, to him, far outweighed the possible rewards; not only would he be risking his life, but he’d also be thrown into a world foreign to him with all its laws and punishments and unfavorable things not known to him. 

Still, the place was beautiful. Sage admired the azure sky with hungry eyes. He quickly drank in the view and moved on to the feast that was the speckled ground beneath the isles. Houses, perhaps castles, and farmland was what he believed lay down there. It was truly beautiful, but so was the safety of his home. 

A safety he had no clue how to return too. Was he even able to return? Sage banished the worrying thoughts, they served him no purpose. 

His small platform drifted high and low as the sun made its way across the sky. Sometimes, he came close to the lip of an island and could almost see on to it. Some had forests that spanned the entire length like the walls of castles, while others had rocky terrains as if pulled from the sea. Each time he came close, he would stand on his toes in hopes of seeing what lay on them— curiosity controlling him. This, he quickly learned, was a mistake. 

With the winds blowing in his favor, or so he had assumed, Sage was on the rise while an island was descending. He could finally survey one properly. Large stretches of sand were dotted with stalks of cacti, and the sun suddenly began beating on him like a drum. Sage’s lip curled to one side, revealing his teeth, and his cheeks raised to his eyes. He shook his head, marveling at the diversity of the islands. This place was truly beautiful. 

“Ay, you there!” a man’s voice called. 

Sage flung his eyes from the expansive desert and scanned below him. Passing over dune after dune, his eyes finally landed on a group of four people. The speaker, the largest of the bunch, bent his gauntlet covered arm to shield his eyes. Only his arms had armor, perhaps he ditched it due to the heat? They appeared to be adventures. That seemed likely. Floating islands and adventurers, they pair well together. Sage waved aggressively, his smile returning at the possibility of going home. The gauntlet man loaded his legs like springs and launched off the ground, sending bursts of sand outward. The man flew through the air and landed on Sage’s platform, sending it rocking like a seesaw. 

Sage contorted his face as the man’s eyes drilled into him. He inspected him as if Sage was some undiscovered animal. 

“What? You like my face or something?” Sage said, rising to stand. He did so to diminish the intimidation he felt, but when he was still towered over, he quickly took a step back. 

“Your face is okay, but not why I’m looking,” the man said. “You don’t look like an adventurer, too weak, too scared. What are you doing here?”

Sage retraced that backward step, coming as close to the man as his courage allowed. “Well, someones got a good eye, because I’m not. I’m not an adventurer, and I don’t know how I got here. So you and I both have an issue with this. I’ll be requesting your help then.” 

All adventurers help people in the games Sage had played. This guy would too, right? The man’s silence and blank stare stated otherwise. 

“Sir?” Sage added. 

******

With rope tying his arms together, Sage trudged behind the group like a dog on a leash. The sun was nothing like before, now searing him. Every fiber of clothing was seeped in sweat, making an already uncomfortable walk that much more unbearable. Sage hated the sand; it was difficult to walk on and got in your shoes. More than that, he hated the heat; the burning rays were so unnecessary. Greater than both of those, he hated sweating. He wanted to collapse and just stop pushing on. 

Deserts had oases, right? The thought of water made him feel the dryness in his throat. 

“I need water. I seriously need water,” Sage croaked. 

A woman about the same height as him brushed her auburn hair aside as if she wanted him to see the judgment in her eyes. “We’ve been walking for less than twenty minutes, how do you already need water?” she asked. 

“I’ve been here for at least half a day with nothing to eat or dri—” he coughed aggressively which made him lose balance and stumble. Had it not been for the forceful yank of the gauntlet man who carried the rope, Sage would’ve collapsed onto his face. 

“As I was saying,” Sage continued, “I need water.”

“Esmerelda, just give him water,” the man said.

Esmerelda, now clear as the woman who judged him, sighed. “Why, Rorrin? We have limited supplies, why should we give them to some petty criminal?”

Petty criminal? Sage’s words caught in his throat like a kid with stage fright. He felt a lump in it and, had he had the energy, he would’ve let Esmerelda have a piece of his mind. 

“He has no skills, Esmerelda; he has no card and no supplies. It’s clear he wasn’t meant to be here, so calling him a criminal for trespassing is ridiculous and shows your inexperience as an adventurer,” Rorrin said. 

Esmerelda grunted, “Ok, but why should we have to give our supplies to a stranger? What if we end up running out because of it?”

A third voice spoke up. 

“Esmerelda, are you not a C-class adventurer? Are you not capable of being fine with no water or food for a day or two? If not,” the scrawny speaker looked over his shoulder, his black hair dragging through the air, “then resign from our group when we get back to the guild. We don’t need such a weak link on our team.”

“Merek!” Esmerelda shouted and stopped walking, prompting the group, and Sage, to do the same. 

She looked as if she was at a loss for words, staring at the back of Merek’s head. She sighed. Sage’s eyes gleamed as they followed her hands reach into her sack and pull out a thick, waterskin. She tossed it over to the eager boy. 

Sage guzzled the water and now truly understood how thirsty he was. It was like soil that hadn’t felt rain in decades suddenly crossed paths with a monsoon— he felt rejuvenated, partly. He went to say something to Esmerelda, but she simply walked past him without sparing a glance, and the rest of the group continued onward; Sage grunted as his rope yanked him along with them. He wanted to beg to take a rest but knew that he was less than a pet in their eyes.

What appeared like standing up for him, Sage now knew was simply two teammates giving their companion some much-needed tutelage on personality. Prisoners had the right to food and drink, so too would Sage; it was as simple as that. He watched as the group playfully bantered with each other and reaffirmed his desire to go home. 

He began to wonder, to take his mind off the aches in his feet, if anyone was aware of his absence back in his world. He had been gone for half a day, would the people he lived with be worried? It was a Saturday, after all, they’d be suspicious about him not being home. If they cared, that was. There was one person who would surely feel his absence; he tried not to think of her— the reason he wanted to go home was for his safety, not for hers. He repeated that in his mind. 

Another yank on the rope pulled Sage from his thoughts and nearly threw him to the ground. He glared at Rorrin but refrained from worsening his situation. 

“I didn’t mean to yank so hard, but you weren’t answering to anything,” Rorrin said. Sage relaxed his shoulders and softened his stare. 

“Ok, but why did you—” he didn’t need an answer. 

Daydreaming is a mysterious thing. You become so disconnected from the world that your mind fails to notice any changes or happenings in your surroundings. Sage now stood under the shade of a palm tree. 

Many palm trees surrounded a teal-colored pond that alone was the size of his old platform. Grass more green than any side he’d ever been on rested underneath the shade of the trees, encircling the pond.  The oasis was lush. As if instinctual, his wary body desired to dive in. His instinct took control and he rushed towards the pond, only to be yanked back and fall onto the ground. 

“You need to wait,” Rorrin said. “We all want to do the same, but have some patience. We gotta refill the waterskins first.”

Esmerelda glared at him, but he didn’t care for how he looked just then. He’d look like a fool if he had to, he needed to take a dip in that water. 

For what felt like ages, the group was filling every waterskin they owned. Were they going to save a village? How many waterskins did they need to fill? Sage eyed the water carefully, hoping it wouldn’t be lost to the depths of their neverending refill.

As if she could read his thoughts, the fourth member of the group leaned in close to him and spoke. “These islands are filled with all kinds of essence, you could drain the ponds and lakes you find on them for years and they would never empty.”

The brown-haired girl was soft-spoken, Sage liked her. 

“Essence?” he parroted. “So that’s like the magic here?”

Sage had figured that was the case already, but was still surprised hearing it being said. That’s why the islands were floating, because of magic. 

The girl laughed. “You act as if you don’t know about Essence. I suppose some children call it magic, but that’s such a fairytale-like term. Did you hit your head? Is that why you can’t remember how you got here?”

She hovered her hand above his head, staring at it worriedly. She was kind. 

“I didn’t hit my head, and I don’t know about essence, I’m not from this world,” Sage said. 

The other three stopped and looked in his direction. That made his words stutter a little when he went to speak again, but he spoke nonetheless. 

“I don’t know how I got here, and I don’t care, but I’m not from your world, or realm, or whatever it exactly is. I just appeared here on the islands randomly.”

Esmerelda snickered. 

“Vivian, stop talking with that mental case. There’s obviously something wrong with him. We’ll just hand him over to the Headmaster when we reach the rendezvous point,” she said. 

Vivian kept her eyes on Sage. She was close, very close, but Sage was a gentleman. 

“If you think about it, it would make sense,” Vivian said. “I’ve never seen clothes like his before, and why would someone bring a random civilian into the isles. It’s such a task getting up here. He also seems to know nothing about essence, its very possible that he’s telling the truth. Although,” she tilted her head, “I’ve never heard of there being other worlds.”

Sage tried backing away as Merek came towards him. The man was creepy. 

“Well, whether he’s telling the truth or not, we’ll let the master decide. No point in worrying over it now— although, I believe there is some truth to his words,” Merek said.

“Not you too, Merek! He’s obviously lying,” Esmerelda protested. 

Rorrin sighed as he tucked away what seemed to be the last waterskin, a pleasant fact. 

“Esmerelda, just be quiet, okay? Your confrontational personality is starting to annoy me.”

“Yeah, shut up already,” Sage added.

The group turned to him. All but Esmerelda, whose face slowly matched her auburn hair, convulsed with contained laughter until they couldn’t hold it anymore. They burst together. Different tones of laughter harmonized with one another and formed a melody that even drew a chuckle from Sage. If only the fiery girl shared in some of the merriness— she did not. 

Sage suddenly felt very hot. A wave of warmth suddenly battered his back like a storm, like he was being blown by a hair drier. It progressively grew hotter until he felt like he was being baked. It was painful. There was no damage being done to him, but he felt as if his skin was boiling. Sage looked up and saw Esmerelda hoisting a growing mass of fire in her hand. The heat intensified. 

“Esmerelda, you fool!” Rorrin shouted. 

He ran up to her and grabbed the flames with his gauntlet covered hand. He gritted his teeth, and it truly looked as though he was grasping them. Sage desperately tried keeping his eyes open but could only squint; the arid air ripped the moisture from them, making them dry and irritated. 

Esmerelda’s face calmed and she took her eyes off Sage. She looked at Rorrin, who heaved deep breaths, and her face flushed. The heat was no more. 

“I wasn’t going to hurt him,” Esmerelda said. “I was only scaring him.”

Vivian was at Esmerelda’s side in an instant. With his eyes closed, giving them time to heal, all Sage could hear was the sound of skin smacking skin. Despite their resistance, Sage peeled open his eyes. Esmerelda held her face in disbelief and Vivian’s chest rose sporadically the same as Rorrin’s did. 

“You idiot, are you aware of what you just did?” Vivian said. 

Merek was already at Rorrin’s side. Whether by chance or coincidence, the group now formed a circle, as if ready to do battle. 

Sage watched them all with curious eyes. 

Realization seemed to set in as Esmerelda’s face sagged sorrowfully. 

“I-I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry,” she said. 

“We don’t have time for apologies,” Rorrin started, now standing straight. “Kid, whoever you are, hurry up and get over here if you don’t want to die.”

Sage was on his feet in seconds. He was lost, unaware of what was occurring, but he knew, somewhere inside of him, that Rorrin wasn’t playing around. Sage stood in the middle of the circle and gritted his teeth when even Esmerelda said nothing of his close presence. Something was coming. 

The ground began to shake. 

“Don’t use any spells,” Rorrin said. 

Far from the oasis, where the group stood, dunes of sand were erupting like volcanoes. Billows of sand shot into the air. 

“Fight it physically. Esmerelda, only act as support. Parry its strikes to aide us,” Rorrin said again. 

Something approached them at blinding speed. The sand on the surface moved as if it was alive, like a snake slithering straight, it approached them. 

Sage felt the air catch in his chest. 

“We fight!” Rorrin yelled. 

The ground then burst and something emerged. It was purply-black aside from its blue underbelly. A scorpion with two heads, dotted with dozens of darkened eyes, and one tail, that spewed venom as soon as the creature emerged, came landing where the group had originally stood. 

Rorrin grabbed Sage and threw him to the side as the rest of the group dispersed. 

“Damn, it’s a female! Watch the venom and its pincers, these are much more aggressive than the men!” Merek said. 

Sage felt his legs shake. The scorpion was the size of a four-wheeler; a single pincer, the claw itself, was larger than he was. Was he going to die? Why couldn’t they use magic? Just blast the damn thing with that fireball!

“Why won’t you use magic? Just kill the thing quickly and be done with it!” Sage yelled. 

“That’s what brought it here!” Esmerelda said as she tackled Sage out of the path of spewing venom. He hadn’t even seen it shoot at him. She yanked him up and ran him a good distance out of the oasis. 

“Don’t get in their way, you’ll get them killed too,” she said. 

Sage watched as the three ducked and dodged the creature’s strikes. It swung its claws at Vivian but missed, as she leaped over it. Rorrin caught it and yanked hit towards him, coming face to face with it. Sage felt sick. How were they fighting that thing? It had already melted half of the oasis. Can humans fight such a thing? 

“We’re adventurers,” Esmerelda said. She looked at him and chuckled. “It was written on your face, idiot. At least you know when to show appreciation.” 

Sage didn’t even retort— he couldn’t. He simply watched in awe. 

That awe soon faded, replaced with wide eyes and stuttered breathing. Rorrin went to catch the swinging claw again but was baited by the creature. It swung its other claw after halting its first. Rorrin tried guarding with his arms but was hit in his midsection. Sage watched as he flew through the air and smacked down directly in front of him. A clear card fell from his pant pocket. 

“Rorrin!” the three simultaneously yelled. Sage’s eyes were on the card, something drew him to it.

The creature ignored the two who tried to keep its attention and burrowed towards Rorrin and the two. Sage was motionless, despite Esmerelda’s flurry of insults, urging him to get off the ground. For some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off the card, even though death was headed right towards him. The sand shifted. Rorrin’s foot moved the card and Sage’s attention finally broke from it, though it remained in his peripheral view. 

Rorrin was a mighty figure, standing despite his bleeding wounds. Sage watched as he charged towards the burrowing scorpion. However, to Sage’s dismay, the creature continued burrowing, ignoring Rorrin and heading for Sage. His surroundings went silent. 

Was he going to die? Sage cursed himself for looking over the edge of the platform. If only he hadn’t, maybe he would’ve been able to make it back to her. To tell her he’ll be by her side no matter what. He didn’t even care that he thought of her now; she’d be all alone without him, how could he not?

Take the card. Something inside urged him to do so. The card, the clear card an arms reach away from him— he needed to take it. 

The scorpion burst from the ground, spewing venom at Sage. What happened next was instantaneous. Sage grabbed the card. When his fingers made contact with it, a numbing sensation erupted in his arm. 

[Contact registered | Now initializing connection]

The message appeared in front of him and along with it, a shocking sensation emerged from the numbing one. Sage gritted his teeth and held back the voice that clawed at his throat for freedom. 

[Connection Established | Adventurer Status Achieved]

Sage felt the shock surge through his entire body. His eyes were then on the creature and the venom that approached him. He needed to get rid of them. He wasn’t going to die. 

[Concept Detected | Formatting Skill] 

[Formatting Complete | “Wave Burst” Formed]

Sage then knew what to do. By instinct or knowledge, he did not know, but he raised his arm and spoke the words in his head. 

Wave Burst. 

A white ball formed in his outstretched palm. It rippled like a disturbed pond. Waves flowed through it until it grew frantic, vibrating aggressively. The ball then burst, sending out a wave of white energy in a cone shape. The venom evaporated like boiled water and the scorpion’s body shook. It rattled and the creature let out a scream that drew blood from Sage’s ears. It then burst, just like the ball, and splattered green blood and entrails all over the sand. 

Sage heaved large breaths as if he’d just run a marathon. He couldn’t control his breathing, it was painful. His mind was racing more than before and suddenly, he fell; barely able to support his weight with his other arm, he stared at the ground and took deep breaths. 

[Creature Slain | EXP Obtained: 1478 | Essence Earned: 12]

[Level Increased: 3-8 | Stats Increased: Check Menu]

Sage didn’t even spare a glance for the new notifications. He kept his eyes plastered to the ground. What did he just do? Did he do that? He tried looking up, but when the thick blood and torn entrails filled his vision, he quickly shot them back down. His stomach twisted. 

“What the hell was that!” Sage heard Rorrin’s voice call out to him and the patter of feet in the sand headed towards him.

He was yanked from the ground and forced to look Rorrin in the eyes. “You said you weren’t an adventurer, and I checked you, you had no skills, explain what just—” Rorrin dropped Sage and patted at his pockets. 

“No. No! The card!” Rorrin’s eyes held furry. 

Merek called to Rorrin, prompting him to turn around.

“The card, Rorrin, he already connected with it,” he said, holding up the card Sage had touched. It was no longer clear. It had an image and some writing on it that he couldn’t make out. 

“I don’t care if he connected with it, that was a pure essence skill, do you understand that?” Rorrin said. 

Vivian shook her head, “That’s not possible. He just connected with it, he shouldn’t be able to use a skill like that.”

“It doesn’t matter what he shouldn’t be able to do, he did it, and now we’re all good as dead,” Rorrin replied.

Sage looked from one face to the next, trying to grasp the situation. Dead? Even though he killed it? He then remembered what Esmerelda said: “That’s what brought it here.”

“They’re attracted to magic….the scorpions?” Sage mumbled.

The ground shook with more force than an earthquake.

“The scorpions aren’t the only ones drawn to it, everything is. Every damn creature,” Rorrin replied. 

Esmerelda’s sobbing shoved reality down Sage’s throat. What he did was not save them from one creature, but doom them to death by many. 

Panic rose within Sage. 

Why the hell was he here to begin with? Why was he going to die because he tried to survive? He wasn’t going to make it back home. That fact was now instilled in him. 

He’d be unable to make it back to Jessica, back to his sister who would cry in his absence. He felt his chest tighten at the thought of that. He just wanted to go home. 

[Would you like to exit the world? Yes or No]

The words appeared in front of him. He stared at them with wide eyes. The ground shook and he heard yelling all around him. 

“Yes.” 

The words left his mouth before his mind processed them. 

[Now Exiting World]

Everything went black. Sage felt as if his body was twisting and morphing into different shapes which did little to calm the nausea he had felt. When the light returned, as dim as it was, his bedroom filled his vision. It was dark outside, and he could see the moon through the window he so often loved gazing out. He looked around him and felt a lump in his throat. He was home. 

In his hand, which he didn’t remember grabbing, was the card. He read the first words next to his photo. 

[Name: Sage Hunter | Level: 8 | Class: Unknown]