The look my friends gave me implied that they hadn't seen their own perspectives, but instead, had seen what I saw. There was a weird feeling in the air that was soon interrupted by the tall man.

"Let me introduce myself, I am a prince of the Eurlien empire, Alexander."

"Are we dead? Why are we here?!"

Victoria spoke out, cutting the prince's words short. Out of everybody in the group, she looked like the one in the most distress. Joseph, her brother, put a reaffirming hand on her shoulder that didn't seem to do much.

"'I think, therefore I am', I believe a philosopher from your world uttered these words yes? Since you are thinking, does that not stand to reason you are alive?"

It almost sounded like Alexander was trying to console her, even if unsuccessfully. Whatever meaning he had meant to convey was lost on Victoria as she clutched her chest and threw up on the floor.

"It is not unheard of to have such a reaction. Rest assured you will feel better as your body acclimates to this new world."

I turned my head away. Not like it was the prettiest sight in the world. Everyone else seemed to be overwhelmed as well, to a lesser degree.

"We have summoned you- Hero to help aid us in our cause. As a result of the summoning ritual, you will have obtained impressive abilities. You may consider this a taste of what you will be able to accomplish under proper training."

Hero? Not Heroes? Did the Wheel mistranslate perhaps? And were they seriously Isekai'd into another world after getting hit by a truck..?

It seemed like that was the least of issues at the moment. However, one thing was made clear as I looked into the prince's eyes. He wasn't looking at me. His yellow eyes looked past to Mark, who was listening in with a slight look of discomfort, having seemingly also kept up with what the prince was saying.

"You mean me?"

His smile never faltered, the prince nodded his head. Something about him bothered me, and it wasn't something I could easily place my finger on. It felt like he just knew everything. I suppose being unfazed by everything is a natural part of being a prince of some fantasy world. That didn't stop it from being slightly unsettling.

"And the rest of us?"

It was me who spoke up this time. It might be a bit out of character, but it was a bit frustrating. I went from one life full of frustration and compromise to another where nothing changed.

"Rest assured, you will likely have other talents."

Likely huh? So it wasn't a sure thing. How frustrating. And what happens if I get nothing? Do I just end up as a soldier somewhere? A farmer? I don't like either of those options. I already miss my memory foam mattress.

The last member of our group, Allen, looked the most excited. A magical world was an exciting thing, after all, I probably just had the wrong outlook on it.

"You mean like shooting fireballs?"

Another nod from Alexander. It seems that he had a thing for being quiet and not speaking more than necessary. I guess that's another point in the 'somewhat-creepy' column.

"Please, follow our head doctor into his lab to conduct a few tests. You will be in safe hands. In addition to checking your new body's physical condition, he will teach you more about the Wheel."

A man in white robes stood by the one door this place seemed to have. The robed wizards moved aside, creating a space for us to walk through. It wasn't until now that I got a good look at their faces beneath their hoods.

They were all surprisingly old and wrinkly and had this pained look on their face that was seemingly directed at the prince.

"Are you feeling better?"

Mark asked Victoria, grabbing her by the hand.

"I'm fine."

She snapped, shaking his hand off her and taking the lead as she began walking to the head doctor.

Everyone else soon followed, leaving me behind. I quickly caught up, noticing that the prince's smile was still wide. God, he was creepy.

Walking out of the dark dungeon-like room, we took in the sights of the castle. The other citizens of this world would stare at us as we walked by before doing whatever they had been doing before we walked in.

Leaving our 'summoning room', we were greeted with a well-lit hallway. The floor was covered in red carpet and accented in yellow, adding to the whole royal feel of the place. Banners with what was seemingly the empire's flag covered the decorated stone walls. All of them had the same design, a sleeping tiger with a sheathed blade by its side.

The doctor soon took us up a flight of stairs and into a room with many seats.

"I'll help you one at a time. Be patient."

The doctor spoke as he left the room with Victoria, leaving the rest of us guys to wait and sit around alone.

...

...

Alright, it was a bit awkward.

"You guys excited? The prince guy made it seem like we're getting magic."

Allen broke the silence, returning to the more casual atmosphere since we were alone.

"Dude, I think I'm special. You see the way he was looking at me? I bet I'll get something super op, like time travel or black holes or something."

Mark claimed with a chuckle, whatever stress he had vanishing.

"What do you think of the bracelet?" Joseph replied.

"The prince called it a 'Wheel'" I explained.

"Right, I forgot Liam got one first."

That was me, and honestly, I wasn't sure how to respond to that. So I stayed quiet.

"If there's magic then there has to be monsters right? Like goblins and stuff." Joseph chimed in.

"I mean yeah what else are we blasting with fireballs and black holes?" Allen joked as they all gave a small laugh.

"Think there's elves too?" Joseph asked, raising his eyebrows to imply that we all knew what he was asking.

"Yoo you thi-" Mark was interrupted as the door opened back up, and the doctor motioned for the next person to follow.

With no particular order assigned, Mark stood up and followed him out. Leaving me, Joseph, and Allen.

"What about dragons?" I proposed to the group.

"Oooh! I wanna tame one. It'd be sick having my own dragon pet." Allen responded.

"Throwing your own fireballs isn't enough? You want a pet that does that too, man?" Joseph teased with a chuckle as Allen gave him a light jab on the shoulder.

"Fight fire with fire right?"

I wish I could be as optimistic as they were. They both kept joking and chatting while I kept quiet. There were times I wanted to join in the conversation, but I didn't since I was worried I'd end up talking over someone. Keeping quiet was the more neutral option.

The more they talked, the more apparent it seemed that they hadn't paid attention to the prince's words. Both of them were talking like this magic was a done deal guarantee. What if they didn't get anything? Even worse, what if they all got something except for me? My foot kept bouncing throughout the conversation as I racked my head over something I realistically had no control over.

The door opened once again, to which the excited Joseph stood up first and followed the doctor out. This was the worst situation to be in.

Mark, Joseph, and Victoria, while I wasn't that close to them, were all friends I spent time with individually in the past. Allen was the exception. We never once met just the two of us to watch a movie or play a game. Every interaction I had with him involved a third person in the room.

...

...

...

However were things in the past, Allen didn't seem intent on changing them as we both sat in silence. I'd say I watched the clock on the wall, but despite how much I looked for something I could stare at quietly, it wasn't there. The least this empire could do was put a book or two in the waiting room no?

I stole the occasional glance toward Allen to see how he was doing. It was clear he was still excited as he stared intensely at his hands. I know he had a girlfriend back in our world. I don't know if he's thinking of her, but I wouldn't dare make a guess. It's not like I know him that well.

The door swung open once again, and Allen quietly walked out with the doctor. I could finally breathe. It was way too awkward. I should have left and followed the doctor before I ended up in such an awkward situation.

Being left in this room all alone gave me too much time to think. My bored hands eventually wandered to the Wheel around my wrist. The device was mysterious to me. It looks and feels like hard rubbery rock.

What was weirder was the message it had given me earlier when I first put it on. Like a textbox out of a video game. A blue semi-transparent box with English writing on it. Maybe I could make it say something else?

[The Wheel needs Calibration, try again later.]

There! Fiddling around with it did something. I half expected that message to be followed by an error code I could look up to understand, but no luck. To be honest for a minute, it was cool. It was like a hologram that began from the Wheel and moved with my hand. This kind of tech seems a bit out of place in this fantasy world, but anything that even somewhat resembles video games was a nice start. No more internet in this world. Maybe I'll have to use pigeons to talk to people far away? If pigeons exist anyway. I know there aren't any in this waiting room.