“Programming? Systems?” Benjamin managed to ask, as he walked through the door. “Does that mean—”

The mage sighed heavily. “Sorry, I have more important things to do then explain these things to every newly summoned group. Every night, and every batch, it’s always the same questions. Don’t you people get tired of asking such obvious things?”

He snatched the phone from Benjamin’s hand as he walked by, and started to fiddle with it. Benjamin would have loved to stay and watch as the lock screen started to fill with those strange green characters, but he couldn’t. As badly as he wanted to see what this asshole was going to do to his phone he felt the need to keep walking with everyone else, since that was the last order he’d been given.

They were slowly assembling in three rows of ten or fifteen people, and as far as resistance went, the most that his friends had managed was to stay together in the front row. That was it, though. None of them had any more luck at telling this man no than he did. All they could do was stand there in the richly appointed red canvas tent and admire its opulence while they waited for whatever was going to happen next. 

Benjamin would have never believed that this had been summoned into existence moments before if he hadn’t actually seen it, but he had. That made all the little details that much weirder. From the thickly carpeted floors to the brass oil lamps and the incense censers it looked thoroughly lived in, rather than being some cheap special effect or procedural generated monstrosity. 

“Alright,” the mage said, setting Benjamin’s phone down on a table in front of the assembled group, “You have a lot of questions, and some of you are probably afraid. Don’t be. We’re going to take good care of you since you share our humanity. Even if you come from a backwards world and are in need of enlightenment, people as flawed as you can still help with our great work.”

Benjamin felt his worries melt away, even if logically everything the man was telling him should have intensified them. Benjamin’s eyes flicked from the mage’s ageless face, to the younger man that was obviously his servant or apprentice, and then over to the mage’s guards and back again. 

There were only seven of them. The campers outnumbered them by at least five to one, yet somehow they’d obeyed meekly. Benjamin didn’t understand that, but that was only one of the many mysteries he struggled with while he stood there. 

There was something wrong with all of them, but he had a hard time deciding which detail horrified him the most. The ugly, misshapen guards stood there with dead, black eyes who stood there like they were nothing more than robots, the apprentice’s face twisted with a perverse glee at whatever was about to happen next, and the mage was so calm that he looked bored despite everything that was going on. He was handsome, but despite his words he seemed completely disinterested about whether any of them lived or died.  

“I don’t have the time to explain all of this,” he continued. “But I’ve summoned a familiar into one of the little talismans that the people of your world seem to love so much, and it can explain everything to you while we get started separating the wheat from the chaff.”

Each statement the man made was more ominous than the last, but Benjamin couldn’t make himself get worked up about any of them. Not even the fact the man had summoned a demon into his phone, or the fact that he considered some of them chaff was enough to spur him to action. 

It was only when Kitsune Miko-chan suddenly popped out of his phone that his heart rate finally began to rise. It wasn’t in fear or shock though, but embarrassment. In his stable of waifu’s, the sultry little fox girl was currently his number one best girl, and now there she was standing only a few feet in front of him in a slightly translucent form that was so detailed it was practically real. She was right there in front of him and her tight Chinese dress that showed off her ample curves, as about the only thing that could distract him from the several tails that swayed together in a hypnotic rhythm behind her. 

On any other day, in any other place, Benjamin would have thought that he’d died and gone to heaven. Today though, he could only wish that he could curl up and die of embarrassment at the idea that all of his friends knew who his favorite waifu was these days. 

Fuck, he thought to himself. I hope no one notices how much she looks like Emma…

Even dying of embarrassment couldn’t stop him from listening to her as she smiled broadly and interrupted the downward spiral that was quickly becoming his internal dialog by saying, “Thank you all so much for coming to help us! As my master said, we couldn’t continue this war without the brave men and women like you that come to Aavernia every day to bolster our numbers!”

“War?” Raja asked, “I don’t want to fight in anyone’s war!”

“And I don't want to hear another word out of you, ever again,” the bored man in charge says offhandedly. That was enough to silence Raja even though Benjamin didn’t quite understand how. 

“Now, now…” the fox girl said with real enthusiasm, “Don’t be that way! Let’s have a big round of applause for the bravery you’ve shown by coming to our aid against all the wicked spirits that are trying to snuff out every trace of humanity on this lovely world!”

There was only silence for a few seconds as she seemed to wait for a round of applause that never came, and then she looked over to the man in charge, and he said, “fine, fine - do what she says.”

The tent erupted into cheers and clapping as soon as he spoke, and even though Benjamin wasn’t quite sure why, he joined in immediately, and with more enthusiasm than he generally showed about anything. He tried to analyze these thoughts, but they were almost immediately swept away on a tide of gratitude for the men that had brought them here, so that he could help them. 

 Kitsune Miko-chan’s smile broadened to the point where it became more than a little predatory, and she curtsied slightly before she continued. “On your previous world you might have been planning to be a scholar, or pursue one of the crafting professions. You might even think that you don’t have the skills necessary to fight angry trees or eight foot tall lupus berserkers, but in a few minutes you will! I promise you that!”

As she spoke a ghostly stat sheet opened up beside her and started to list a number of attributes divided between mind, body and soul. Skills followed that, and though he didn’t recognize the precise system they were using, he was fairly sure it would have fit right in with half the RPG games in his library. 

“The runic magics that underlie the system will make you stronger and faster than you’ve ever been,” she said, gesturing to the glowing window. “Each category of your stats has an offensive and defensive ability. Not only are resistances derived from this, but it will also determine what abilities you can purchase when you level up.”

“Well - what abilities can be purchased for you,” she corrected herself. “The Summoner Lords of Rhulvin know best, and they will help you. Based on the Mind and Soul stats I can see from here, some of you should become [war mages] or [healers] as best suits your talents. But almost all of you will become [soldiers], because that’s what the war effort needs the most of right now! Isn’t that great?”

She said that last bit with a smile so twisted and with such eagerness that for a moment it really was great. For a few seconds Benjamin couldn’t wait to become a soldier. Even as he felt the hum of magical energy slowly building inside of him, and saw his interface panel beginning to populate with nearly nonsense phrases like ‘Incorporating soul ID,’ ‘installing common tongue,’ and ‘calculating etheric optimization,’ he realized that the very last thing he wanted in the whole world was to become a soldier with a gun or a sword or whatever.

That was why he hadn’t joined the Army to get money for college. He’d held his nose and taken out loans, deciding it would be a lot easier to pay back that money after he got a job at one of the big tech companies than it would be to heal from a bullet wound or from post-traumatic stress disorder. He’d been right too. 

Two of the guy’s he'd graduated from high school with were beyond messed up now, and they’d only been enlisted for a couple years. Benjamin couldn’t imagine what such a fate would do to him, and yet, for a moment, he’d actually been excited about the prospect. 

For the first time he found himself really struggling against the magic or whatever it was that was making him feel this way, and quickly found out that it hurt to do that. A lot. Judging from the grunts and hisses of pain he heard from those around him, he was sure that he wasn’t the only one either. 

Trying to wrestle with the part of his mind that was certain that becoming a soldier in someone else's war was like wrestling with a live wire, and he was losing. Even though it should have been obvious that this was contrary to every major life decision he’d made in the last several years, more and more he felt like this was an exciting change of pace, and he couldn’t wait to give it a shot. 

His waifu kept droning on and on about the war to come and how with the help of him and the new arrivals they would finally be able to achieve victory, but as soon as Benjamin’s character sheet populated, he began to tune her out because he finally understood why it was he couldn’t seem to resist even the most terrible ideas she was telling him.

His character sheet was a bit of a mess certainly, but one thing was very clear: when it came to trying to resist whatever it was they were telling them, he was at a clear disadvantage right now. Benjamin wasn’t entirely sure what everything meant, but he was pretty sure that the loss of resolve had something to do with all of this. Some effect was taking place for sure, and even though he was struggling against it, he was losing. 

Benjamin managed to turn his head enough to look to his left and his right. Matt was still trying to fight it obviously, but Ethan’s normally cool demeanor seemed to have been replaced with something darker. He was gazing at the beautiful Kitsune with an eagerness in his eyes. 

It was the sound of a distant horn that pulled Benjamin back into the present moment as his mind raced. 

“See,” Kitsune Miko-chan said, gesturing excitedly enough to make her breasts bounce as her clothes were suddenly replaced by a set of busty samurai armor. “The wildlings are coming now. That could be your very first chance to strike a blow for humanity everywhere!”

“I think not,”  the mages said dryly, somewhere behind him. “Half of this lot aren't even fit to be soldiers. We’ll take them back with us as ritual sacrifices just the same though. Waste not, want not, especially when it comes to blood magic.”

“There will be no fighting then?” Kitsune Miko-chan asked with a tone of exaggerated disappointment. 

“No, violence is inevitable I think,” the mage countered, “but we’ve already killed all the Throne’s trolls and most of her treants, so unless she opts to join the hunt herself for once, I’m sure that the centurions I’ve brought can handle whatever dregs they’ve mustered while we get the rest of this group initialized.”