New Party

Walking across the strange halls of the place we find ourselves in, I glance once again towards each of the young fighters surrounding me. Of the nine, including the three deceased, only one appeared to be as young as I. Unfortunately, his body now belongs to the deceased that we left behind.

Is that to be my fate as well?

What had previously appeared to be complete darkness beyond the strange pillars that had given me my first greeting, has now turned into a confusing path of cold stone walls, in which the few of us are walking through. As I look to my left and right, and even my rear, all I see are the empty halls of a labyrinth-like realm.

“You’ve been awfully quiet, new kid. Usually, everyone we meet down here is screaming out so many questions that we can’t even sleep the following night.”

I turn my attention forward and look towards the supposed leader. The same one most covered in the dark blood, and who carries the torch leading the group forward.

The liquid seems to have a lasting effect more than the creature’s bodies…but it’s still evaporating slowly nonetheless…

“Are you too scared to speak? Or is it that you still cannot find it in your heart to trust us?”

Considering I now understand this not to be a strange dream, I’d say the latter.

“Where are we?” I finally decided to ask. As soon as I do, I am forced to clear my throat, as if going through an early stage of puberty.

The young man laughs at my peril.

“No one knows,” the young man responds, “But it’s a question we are all dedicated to solving. Just like you, we have all spawned randomly across these great dark halls at some point, and are forced to fight against these disgusting bird monsters. In my case, all I remember is taking a relaxing nap on my yacht in Santa Cruz. Next thing I know, I wake up stuck in a child’s body, running away from toucans with human legs. Talk about a wild dream.”

So it’s not just me. This situation happens to everyone here. A strange and frightening dream turned into reality, pulling us all away from our regular lives.

Suddenly, I remember my teenage years, and the works of fiction I used to be obsessed with during that time.

Is this…an Isekai?

Wait. That can’t be right. Isekais are supposed to take place in a fantasy world, with dragons, adventurers, elves…all that stuff, no? Besides, I’m too old to be believing in something like that.

My attention returns to the young man leading the group once again.

His own yacht in Santa Cruz…so he’s an American. A rich one at that. Strange. My English was not the worst, but it was never to the point that I could understand it as perfectly as I understood him just now.

Wait…what language are we even speaking?

“Where…where are you taking me?” I ask sternly.

The young man smirks, “A keen one, aren’t you? Whatever happened to ‘what’s your name?’ or ‘where are you from?’ You’re making it sound like you are in a hostage situation. I assure you, you can run back to that death zone whenever you’d like.”

“Lennon!”

The woman beside me, whom I had accidentally mistaken for a man earlier, is quick to defend me yet again. I notice she also has the look of a foreigner.

Do I owe this woman something? I don’t understand her.

She leans in as we walk forward in our tight circle, trying to keep pace with me in order to make things easier for both of us.

“We’re taking you to a hideout. In this place, it’s vital to have somewhere you can regroup.”

“And just where is this place?” I ask softly.

“Like Lennon said, nobody knows. But what I can tell you is, it certainly doesn’t belong to the world we know of.”

So it is an Isekai after all…

No, that still can’t be right. All of these people look like foreigners from the real world, not lizardmen and dwarfs. If they are all like me, and had spawned into this world…wouldn’t that make this an Isekai for the Isekai’d?

The strange setting. The skulls. The monsters. None of this makes any sense. What is the criteria for spawning in this world?

I look down towards my own hands. Smaller than what I am used to, they still seem familiar.

Right…these belong to my six year old son. I must have reverted back to having a six year old body.

“We all start out that way, don’t worry.” The woman assures. “I was like that too before I was rescued, so I know how it is to be scared and confused without any explanation of what’s going on. I’ll explain everything once we can rest our feet, so ease your heart.”

As she finishes speaking, she softly hugs me with the side of her bosom, while managing to keep pace with both myself and the group.

Yeah. I think I’m starting to understand the type of woman she is…

“And how long ago were you in that said situation?” I ask while forcing myself off her bosom.

“Hmm. Hard to say, since there is no concept of day and night in this place. But if I had to make a guess considering the amount of times I feel the need to eat…”

The woman counts quickly across her fingers. I notice how thin and void of color they seem to be, insinuating that food and sleep aren’t luxuries that people here can afford.

I doubt there’s any food available in this place, but I also doubt they are starving since they would definitely look a lot worse…so she must have timed it according to the average three meal ti-

“...three weeks?”

…huh? That can’t be right.

“Probably been about four months for me,” says the oldest looking member of the group.

“Five weeks, give or take,” another chimes in.

“15 days,” the youngest adds on.

I look around once again to see the features of all those who answered. The oldest seemed to be around my previous age, late twenties. The youngest seemed a bit older than my current age…

Perhaps ten? Or twelve?

None of this makes any sense.

“So you all grew in such a short amount of time?” I ask, unconvinced.

“Yup!” Lennon replies, “Scientists always said lack of good sleep and good food would stunt your growth process, but look at us!” he ends with a laugh.

The oldest is quick to cover Lennon’s mouth, “Quiet down.”

“No need.” Lennon retorts with a muffled sound, “We’re already here. Aren’t we…Chen?”

The only other woman in the group, Chen, grabs Lennon’s wrist to pull the flame closer to her chest. A detailed map drawn across a torn rag is attached to her shirt, allowing us all to see the path she had laid out beforehand.

“This right here,” she points to a specific point of the map, “should be the safe zone for tonight. We can get maybe 5 hours if we’re lucky.”

Direction and timing. It seems that even in a strange world, we as humans are only capable of following what we know in order to establish the rules that govern our lives. Time remains based on a cycle, and matter remains based on the ordinance of mass we see and feel around us.

Does this make them smart for understanding their limits? Or does it make them stupid for not seeking what lies beyond?...

“Safe zones are areas where white feathers are gathered, in which monsters never roam.” The overly kind woman leans in to add, “They spawn randomly for a few hours after every death zone, where we just rescued you from. In other words, after every newbie is spawned.”

“And how do you know of these zones? If they are random, they shouldn’t be as easy to find,”

“Well, they tend to appear at least once a day. But as for finding it…”

The woman glances over towards Chen, causing me to follow suit.

“Chen…has a unique gift. It allows her to lay out the area without needing to see it entirely, almost like a foresight limited to mapping rather than situations.”

Oh, really…

“A gift, you say?”

“Yes. But don’t try to win favor with her just because of it. She’s extremely cautious of people. So much so that she tends to avoid us as much as she can.”

“Then why join a group?”

“Well…she isn’t much of a fighter.”

“...I see.”

I slowly glance over towards the back of Chen’s short dark hair. For a tenth of a second, I notice a strange light flow across the back of her head leading down towards her neck, and just underneath her sharp bob cut. The light leaves a simple message, as if a sign of the gift she has received…

…magnificent.

After a brief moment of turning the corners of the strange dark halls we walk through, Chen lifts her hand and points to the upcoming corner in which we should turn right.

“Past that corner.”

“Finally!” yells the youngest, “We haven’t gotten any rest in days! I guess we have you to thank for this, new kid,”

The youngest jogs lightly towards the corner, while the others smile and ease their shoulders.

“Sleep at last, sleep at last!” shouts the youngest.

Suddenly, a worrying thought flashes across my mind.

…hold on…

“Chen mentioned the group could get some sleep for 5 hours…but how could she know that?”

“Oh right, I didn't explain it.” The overly kind woman replies with a soft laugh, “It’s because she can foresee the terrain, she can also foresee the amount of white feathers that are lying in that terrain. The amount should slowly disappear as time moves along, and from the safe zones we’ve seen before, she can make a prediction.”

I stop in my tracks. The overly kind woman, along with Lennon, turns back to see why.

“That’s just it. You mentioned that these safe zones are areas where monsters cannot roam. But why is that? Will it kill them? Or will it only shorten their durability and make them easier to defeat?”

“...I don’t really know,”

“If they are birdlike monsters like you say, then you have to deal with them as if they are bird-like. Feathers gathered all in one place can only mean one thing…”

“A nest,” Lennon pokes his head into the conversation.

“A nest is a place where birds are supposed to lay their eggs,” I continue, “But considering how this place works, eggs change to spawns. Meaning those feathers are only there to leave evidence…of the birth of a new bird.”

“Precisely.” Lennon grins, “The birth of a new bird is what makes the other birds stay away. From what we’ve seen, the younger monsters tend to be much more dangerous than the ones that have been roaming for a while. I guess it's the opposite effect of what we humans have to go through while here. That’s why it's a safe zone. Because the older monsters wouldn’t want unnecessary trouble. And after the new bird spawns and leaves its nest, it never comes back. Either in fear that another bird could spawn in the same place, or just following the common nature of birds leaving the nest type thing.”

“Yeah…then…”

I point towards the corner, as we are all forced to see the youngest of the group projecting backwards, with a large claw launched inside his stomach.

“What if…the bird never leaves the nest?…”