Skylar Bornling was born in the Buffer Zone, in the Earth side of Luminor, one of the many realms of the Myriad Realms. 

The Myriad Realms were discovered on Earth in 2025, having 3 portals on Earth, namely in the USA, in China and in Zimbabwe leading to an unknown number of realms

The scientists discovered that the initial 3 portals, led to many other portals and the number of portals were seemingly unlimited as they have never reached too far as each realm had it's own challenges!

From the US, the portal led to a fantasy realm, with primitive technology, but a world of sword and sorcery. The US army managed to secure a foothold in the land that was called Luminar and established a country on the other side which they declared a Buffer Zone to earth

China also managed to conquer the realm on the other side of their portal, but they have so far kept the realm they discovered a secret, and only used it for military purposes. Most Chinese don't even know what was found in their portal

As for the portal in Zimbabwe, they lost control of their portal as bug-like monsters the size of cars swarmed out, destroying the country and their neighbors Botswana and Mozambique before the armed forces of the United Nations managed to secure the portal. They freed Botswana and Mozambique with 80% of their population killed, and Zimbabwe was cordoned off and the portal was secured, becoming a militarized zone for the safety of Earth

Skylar was born in the Buffer Zone. His ancestors were scientists, who came to Luminor in the Buffer Zone and started a family there as more and more humans came to colonize the hospitable realm

Earthlings came and they brought with them education and technology from Earth, and used this advantage over the primitive population of Luminor. However, Luminor had something Earth didn't have. Magic!

And so, a 50 year war was raged between the colonizer of Earth and the local forces of Luminor, but the US Armed Forces, who came as the representatives of Earth used their whole military might and eventually conquered the equivalent of a large country the size of Italy in Luminor

The city surrounding the portal was the size of Singapore and was uncreatively called Omega. It was walled and all the military assets were there. Only humans were allowed into Omega and had to be granted a special pass to visit Earth

The Buffer Zone spread outwards from Omega, to the 4 walled cities, again uncreatively called Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, according to the order they were built, and there was a large wall linking them, and separating them from the rest of Luminor

From the 4 cities, the humans started moving outwards to the rest of the Buffer Zone, intermingling with the local humans and even started cross breeding with the other similar races here, including the elves, dwarves and beastmen!

Now, 7 generations later, humans have been coexisting in relative peace with the locals outside the 4 cities, and the boundaries between the Buffer Zone became blurred with the rest of the realm

Skylar lived in a small village called Homely together with his parents in a farmhouse and even his parents and grandparents were born on Luminor

His parents were adventurers, with his father being a swordsman and his mother a healer in their younger days, where they met as they joined the adventurer's guild and became part of a team called the Grey Wolves

After retiring and raising Skylar, they became cow and chicken farmers. Cows were actually not native to Luminor, but their 2nd generation ancestor was the one who brought over cows, which were now widespread and pretty much adapted to growing on Luminor

"I'm off mum, dad!" Skylar said as his friends waited for him at the gate

He was 12 years old this year, and this was the age that they would test their abilities in the cities. 

The technology in the cities, they were heading to Beta which was the closest city to where they were, could identify their abilities and would shape their future

"I hope you test well, son. I'm sure you will. You're our son!" his father said

Today was the day his father had to deliver several wagons of meat to the nearby town, so he was unable to join Skylar. His mother had to take care of his sister, so was also unable to join

But Skylar preferred to go with his friends anyway as they rented a carriage together as it was a long 5 day journey 

Together with Skylar were his childhood friends Miranda, Elizabeth and Marcel had paid for a carriage to bring them to Beta

The cities of Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta had technology, not to mention Omega at the centre, together with modern vehicles and other such advancements

But by and large, outside of the cities, in towns like Homely, the humans avoided such technologies as cars and planes scared the local creatures and people

Of course, comforts like running water and sewage were used here, as they don't interfere with the creatures too much and the locals actually appreciated them

So to were certain amenities like electricity and lights in the houses. But they were not connected through a power grid with power lines all over. Initially, electricity in each house and building were individually generated using hydrogen tanks which was readily stored and available everywhere and easy to store in cannisters

Over the generations the humans discovered how to generate power using beast stones, found from killing beasts and monsters. Even the smallest stone found by killing slimes could easily generate enough electricity for house for a single day. A stone from a large creature like a dire rabbit could power a house for half a week. Bigger and more powerful creatures could do even more

This was why the adventurer's guild regularly give out missions for beast stones and was a vital part of the economy!

Skylar and his friends were going to test for their skills and enroll in the academy, after which they could enroll in the guild

--

Skylar walked up the the stage in the hall full of hopefuls, after witnessing his friends identify their abilities

Miranda was a mage with a 76% compatibility, and Elizabeth was a healer with a 74% compatibility

Marcel was a swordsman with a 87% compatibility, the highest in this year's batch of students

There were quite a number that failed too, having an identified class, but low compatibility. Such people would have to work as typical human jobs like becoming a tradesman or librarian or such occupations

Skylar was instructed to touch the orb and he complied as words began to form on the large screen

[B345t T4m3r......149%.... error.. error]

Skylar was shocked and confused as was the instructor overseeing this test

Did it saw beast tamer? There was no such class. There were news of elven rangers being Beast Masters, but never has a human been tested as being so. And 149%. There was no such thing!

Nevertheless, the test also gave a green light, meaning that Skylar passed like his friends, so he was accepted into the academy

Skylar's father and mother were B class adventurers, which was respectable in itself

His father had taught and trained him in swordsmanship and he excelled at it, becoming quite skilled in it. 

His mother tried to teach him magic, but he was not particularly talented in magic and was only able to do some of the basics like casting a fireball and healing. Even so, his mother drilled and made sure he was very competent in healing

This made him the most talented in the village, and was the leader of the group of his friends, including Miranda, Elizabeth and Marcel, who played second fiddle to him.

So, he was enlisted into the academy and Skylar joined the classes that were most relevant to him

As the months passed, and Skylar found that indeed he had a special affinity with animals

He would play with them by himself, surrounded by birds, dogs and cats in the school field

He found that he could give them orders, and they obeyed. But he could never get them to be his permanent companion

He looked at a pop-up screen that appeared since he took the test

It showed his statistics such as strength, speed, durability etc as well as lifeforce and mana. 

He didn't know if anyone else had a similar pop-up, but he didn't want anyone to be able to see his!

He was the most concerned about a line about his abilities

In order to make a creature his familiar... there was a statement on how to make it permanent

It said [Mating with Creature] !

Fuck! He had to fuck a creature to make it his? That's.... beastiality! 

This was the reason why he didn't have a familiar! He had wanted to get a powerful creature, but his condition was not acceptable!

And so, this made him depressed, but he couldn't tell anyone about it

Another thing is that the other kids were getting stronger, the warriors getting their strength that was exceeding human levels

Marcel himself had already defeated Skylar, and since then Skylar had never been able to defeat him, being too strong and too fast for him

And his classes with Miranda and Elizabeth was no better, as his fireball and healing was nowhere close to the rest of his class

Nevertheless, at the age of 16, he graduated as his grades were good, but he was the last in class as both his fighting and magic was  the worst

He stood waiting at his graduation, waiting for his parents and sister. At first he was feeling down, as he thought his parents were too disappointed at him

But after a while, he noticed that the parents of Miranda, Elizabeth and Marcel haven't shown up either

The graduation ceremony went on and the all got their certs, but they were too busy looking for their parents in the crowd

They stood there with each other after everyone else had left to celebrate with their families 

It was then that the principal appeared

"Are you 4 from Homely?" he asked

"Yes" Marcel replied. He had now assumed leadership of their friends as he was the one with the best results and Skylar had become introverted 

"The... town of.. Homely was razed to the ground by an attack. And orc army was raised and is heading for Beta" he said

Just as he said that, loud jets screamed in the sky in formation

"What.. are they...they can't..." Elizabeth said while covering her ears

"Under Emergency Rules 143 they can" Skylar said

"Can what?" Miranda asked

"Can demonstrate humanity's force" Skylar said

The Principal nodded

==

The battle only lasted for 2 days

With the armed forces' bombing, they destroyed the orc uprising 

But the bombing also destroyed the surrounding towns if Sausagehoffen and Ponchet

After the brief battle, the 4 teens returned to look for their parents

Miranda found her mother in the town of Mariokart among the refugees

Elizabeth found her father among the injured in Leafblower and promptly used her healing powers on him

Marcel's father was the mayor of Homely and together with his mother, was the fastest to leave and was safe in Leafblower

However, Skylar found out that his family was gone!

The last news he heard from a surviving neighbor was that his father was rushing home to his mother and sister, and since then, nothing was heard from them

But Skylar found the skeletal remains of his family, in a large pot in his very house, as the orcs cannibalized his family!

He was all alone now, and fell to his knees in agony