A new world

"That is not Paris."

I was on a hill. Around me, forests and fields stretched as far as the eye could see. Below me, a small town. Maybe it was the grey sky, but the place felt ominous, as if something bad was going to happen. But what stood out the most was the giant statue behind me. Four meters of stone, representing a man in a hooded cloak.

I felt dizzy, maybe from the teleportation. My first reaction was to search for the medallion, which I found on the ground near me. I picked it up and looked at it again, but no light was emitting from it anymore. If this necklace is the reason I got teleported here, the power it had seems to have been drained.

Now I had to figure out where I was and why I was sent here.

"And it looks like I'm going to have my answer very soon," I muttered as I saw a group of people approach from down the hill. I hid the necklace.

They were three men. The one in front seemed to be some kind of priest based on his long black dress. Behind him were two younger people wearing white clothes, maybe his disciples. As they arrived at my level, they saluted me by bowing their heads, so I did the same. The old man smiled calmly, while the two young men seemed more disturbed by my presence. The old man gestured for me to follow him into the town, which I did since I didn’t really have any other choice.

The place looked like an old European medieval town. Everyone was wearing a tunic similar to the three who brought me here. The way they looked at me kind of bothered me, like I was disturbing them and shouldn't be here.

Believe me, I don't want to be here either.

The old man pointed a house at me.

"We're here. Please enter, my dear."

I thanked him and headed inside. Inside the house were five people sitting, all wearing earth-like clothes. There was an old man, two middle-aged men with quite a good physique, maybe soldiers, a young woman with brown hair sitting apart from the group, and a young man, probably around 20 to 24 years old, with blonde hair. He seemed pretty relaxed by the situation. I decided to sit next to him, and he greeted me with a smile from ear to ear.

"Hi, my name is Zayn. What is yours?" he asked.

"Nice to meet you. I'm... Wait a minute, what's my name?"

Zayn looked at me with much concern.

"...Are you alright?"

"Sorry, I think my teleportation messed me up a bit."

He laughed.

Before we could exchange another word, the door opened and the priest who brought me here came in. He smiled and sat in front of us.

"Good morning, everyone, my name is Gozon. I am one of the 8 sages who has the duty to prepare the heroes sent by the gods. As they told you, you had the choice to either help this world or refuse and lose your memory and come back to your world. But since you're here, that means you have accepted, so I thank you for your bravery."

He then explained that this world was once peaceful but suddenly got attacked by evil forces after the old king tried to harness a power that was too strong for him. Now the old capital is stuck in some kind of dark fog that creates monsters and eats the sanity of people who get too close to it. Only heroes with the blessing of the gods can support the malice, and so, every 10 years, heroes from other dimensions are chosen by the gods as their champions to defeat it.

So my theory was correct. I have been summoned into another world as a hero, but I didn't meet any god, except...this voice. But let's keep that to ourselves, at least for now.

"Now you should all get some sleep, you must be tired. It's not every day you get teleported to another world."

We were then guided by some disciples to a monastery, where we were assigned a room each. The room was simple with only a bed and a window. They showed us where to wash ourselves in basins, which were just big barrels filled with water, and then let us be.

"Tomorrow you will begin your training, so rest well," said a young religious man.

After washing ourselves, we went to bed. I kept the necklace on me during the night.

Who knows, I might get teleported once again

I fell asleep

The next morning, we were woken up by the sound of the bells of the church. I hid my necklace under my bed and went in the main hall to join the others. Gozon was waiting for us.

Before beginning our training, they had us test our affinity with the god we were connected to by touching a stone. The brighter it was, the more connected we were.

Everyone had a different color, which I supposed represented each god. Zayn was a bright golden light that could almost blind you. As expected, mine didn't go as well and gave only a small purple light, which seemed to have made the religious people with us uncomfortable.

We then had lessons about how the power of the gods worked. Nothing too special: the more connected you were to your god, the more power you could use from him, and every god had its power. For example, the girl with us named Carolyn was linked to Chiyo, the goddess of the wind, which meant she could use wind-like power, mainly suited for mages. Andrei and Artyom, the two middle-aged men, were respectively linked to Grom, the god of earth, and Tajiu, the god of fire. Gyalsto, the old man, had a more special ability because he was linked to Zyshia, the goddess of mind and knowledge.

Oh, so that's why he was chosen. I was wondering what an old man like him was doing here.

For Zayn, he was linked to the primordial god, Aethe, the god of light and creation, which explains why his orb was so bright.

"You should be proud, Zayn," said Gozon. "You are one of the only heroes who has been chosen by Aethe."

After two weeks of basic teaching about this world, they let us decide on what we wanted to do. We could either head for the capital and prove our worthiness, or we could stay for a month to adapt to our new abilities and wait to be more prepared.

Nassum and Rigor decided to leave as soon as possible for the capital. As I suspected, they were military men from Russia. They probably came here because they thought it would be fun to fight other monsters. The rest of us decided to stay for a bit. After all, none of us looked like warriors.

Every day we would eat together, and we talked to each other about what we did in our previous life. We all came from Earth, but they didn’t come from France like me. Carolyn was from England, Gyalsto from Tibet, and Zayn from Iraq. He was a refugee who fled from Iraq with his mother to live with his father in Canada. Sadly, his mom passed away during the bombings, and he had to leave alone. An American soldier who found him near the border took him, against orders, and brought him to his father in Canada.

Zayn was the cliché of the hero who will save the world. Always kind to others and ready to help, his voice would appease the most tormented souls. With his blonde hair and olive skin, the name Zayn, which means "beauty," really suited him.

I got really close to Zayn in the next two weeks and decided to reveal to him how I came here, without mentioning the necklace. Since I still had no name, he decided to name me Malrick, from the roots of mal in Latin and rick in High German, which together meant something like the king of bad luck, because for him, and I quote, "such bad luck needs to be studied."

This was mainly referring to the god I was linked to. His name was Ira, brother of Aethe. From what I heard, he fell from godhood and was now an outcast, which is why some priests were surprised to see me come in his name. While Aethe commended light and creation, Ira was more about darkness and curses. Carolyn reported to me that people thought Ira was the source of evil of this world. Even if the sage Gozon told me to not worry about it, the constant looks of disgust from the other religious people and harsh treatment were weighing on me, even if Zayn and the others supported me.

Even if it was a religious town, there was an instructor who taught us how to wield a sword and other weapons, which we did most of the days. From what the sage told us, our god powers would awaken through our actions in accord with our god, so we mainly received lessons of history and religion. 

I didn't do so bad with the sword. Zayn was also pretty good, but in this domain I was better than him and learned faster.

"You can't be better in everything," I said.

"I'm just letting you win. I don't want you to be depressed because I'm perfect."

The days passed, and we got better and better. We were still beginners, but now we could at least defend ourselves.

Just like every day, we went to bed after eating. I took the necklace from under my bed and put it around my neck. I always felt more comfortable with it close to me

Yet, in the middle of the night, I felt a sharp pain on my chest where the necklace was, like a burning sensation.

I opened my eyes.

A man was right above my head, blade in hand, ready to strike me.