The main character

The morning breeze crawls through the barely opened window with just the right amount of vigor to open the eyes of the man sleeping soundly on his futon.

Ah?

The man feels the breeze prompting him to slowly open his eyes. As he looks around the room of his single-room apartment, he realizes just how messy it is.

“O-Oh…”

His face looks good, but his eyes seem quite tired. He has gray eyes and messy, black hair. Since it’s summer, his body’s on full display as well, presenting a decent lean aesthetic.

He quickly grabs his phone to look at the clock on it.

Crap. I’m gonna be late for school…

After finishing that thought, the man just rolls to the other side of the futon and continues relaxing.

*

After an hour of lazy preparation, he finally arrives at school.

Let’s get this day over with…

As he walks up to the classroom, he decides to knock. He opens the door without waiting for a response.

“Sorry, I’m late, teach…”

“Just sit down Zach. I’ve got no time for your behavior.”

The teacher responded sharply, with a hint of hostility, prompting Zach to flinch and make a shocked expression in response.

The class laughs as they watch him walk to the rear corner of the classroom and sit down.

This sucks…

Zach looks around and watches his classmate's faces as they chuckle in his direction and make snarky remarks.

A man is a bit socially awkward, makes two mistakes, and automatically becomes the school’s loser... You’ve got to be kidding me.

As the bell rings, recess begins. As people begin talking in groups, Zach remains left out, as usual.

I can’t believe it’s the same as my previous school. I’m just doomed to fail.

Zach opens his notebook and looks at his drawings.

You try your best and only embarrass yourself in front of the whole school…

He can’t help but feel awful about the ordeals he went through

That’s what I get for wanting to be the main character for once…

As Zach looks forward, he sees one of the most popular people in his school, Harold Carlisle.

How can you be British, charming, beautiful, and have no crooked teeth? That’s gotta be a cheat or something… Is it so selfish to want to have the spotlight? I'd be willing to share it with as many as possible. Is it selfish if you're willing to share it with someone? Anyone? Damn…

Harold has short, blonde, frilly hair and deep blue eyes.

Zach begins sketching in his notebook.

Having no one care about you is a real bother. I wish I was special… I wish someone cared…

As he’s focused on sketching, a classmate suddenly grabs the notebook off his desk.

“H-Hey…!”

“What do we have here…?”

Harold is behind the guy that picked it up.

Derek. One of his lapdogs…

“Yo, guys! Look at this! This man’s trying to be a hero of his own story!”

“What? Man, not even your art is worth looking at…”

“You really got nothing going for you, huh?”

“Give it back…!”

Zach shouted with slight hostility.

“Or what? You gonna fight me?”

As Zach begins staring daggers at the guy holding his notebook, Harold grabs it from the man without him noticing.

They both turn towards Harold, who begins listing through it.

“This is actually quite amusing. Hey, Amy, girls, look at this…”

Zach gasps internally.

The girls turn their heads in the middle of a conversation and proceed to laugh looking at his drawings.

“Is that supposed to be him?”

“That’s hilarious!”

As the rest of the class walks back in, they start gathering near Zach.

“Look at this comic Zach’s been working on… It’s hilarious.”

Harold said with a mocking tone.

“What?”

“Let me see!”

The group responded.

As they all gathered around, Zach spoke up with his last feeble attempt.

“Guys, stop it, please…”

As Zach watches them pass his notebook around, he thinks to himself.

Can somebody end this… Please…?

“Look, he has a sword and…!”

Harold suddenly stops talking as a glow starts surrounding the class.

“Huh?”

Harold spoke up as everyone began either shouting or running in confusion.

The glow only grew in power, swallowing the classroom whole.

Eh?

Zach suddenly falls unconscious.

*

What…?

Hearing weird ramblings echoing loudly around him, Zach remains on the ground, pretending to be unconscious.

Where am I?

Zach thought.

“What in the…”

“What is going on, True Master Eze?”

“This makes no sense…”

Zach decides to focus on the men speaking above him.

“Didn’t you tell me there’d be only one?”

After a few seconds, the other man staggeringly responds.

“Yeah... But…”

“I thought this sort of spell was supposed to spawn the hero, and the hero alone.”

“It was. It is! It’s just that…”

“What?! Spit it out, man!”

“He was supposed to be secluded…”

What…?

“What do…”

“What do you mean by that?”

The man spoke up only to be stopped by Zach. The man froze in response, as did Eze.

Zach opens his eyes and looks at his surroundings.

What sort of place is this?!

The room is built out of white bricks and has a large dome roof. The gray marble floor seems like it has some sort of glowing symbols drawn with a hammer and chisel.

The room is very spacious and has some statues and paintings near the walls.

“W-What?”

The man responded frozen.

Zach, slightly frustrated thinks back on what they said earlier.

“What do you mean by, he was supposed to be secluded?”

“Heh?”

Eze responded with a shocked expression.

Zach slowly begins walking toward them, which prompts the two of them to begin stepping back.

“Did you use some sort of witchcraft on me to have me cursed as a loser? Huh?!”

Zach shouted at them in anger.

“Master Eze…?”

“I don’t…”

“Did you curse me?!”

Zach turns towards Eze and shouts.

“You!”

“Y-Yes?”

“Did you plant a curse on me?!”

“N-No…!”

Zach keeps on going.

“Then what has been going on for the past six years?!”

“How the heck should I know?!”

Eze responded with a high level of confusion. The other man whispers into Eze’s ear.

“So, this is the hero of Otherworld?”

“He is the first to wake up, so…”

“Don’t whisper now. Tell me what the heck is going on!”

Zach suddenly feels unexpected energy surging through his body.

“Eh?”

“Lord Michael!”

“What?”

A three-dimensional shadow-like figure appears from underneath Lord Michael and pushes him to the side just in time before a couple of blades suddenly erupt from underneath him.

“Are you okay, Lord Michael?”

“I’m fine…”

Oh crap.

“A-Ah?! Huh…”

Zach realizes that he’s the one who did that, which made him feel nervous.

“I’m sorry!”

“It’s alright. Hero…”

“Heh?”

Zach finally calms down and looks at the two of them and analyzes their appearances. The man Zach currently knows as Eze looks to be a man in his early twenties, which feels pretty irrelevant looking at his other traits. He has gray hair, gray eyes, and features that make him look like a mixture between a human and a minotaur. He has dark-grey horns, dark-red skin, and a short, thin tail.

What the?!

Zach then turns towards the other guy. The guy he knows currently as Lord Michael also looks relatively young, but once again, this is not the issue. He has blue hair and blue wings. He also has a small black beak for a nose. Despite this, he looks incredibly attractive, which fills Zach with all sorts of questions about the place he’s at, and the mental state he’s in.

“Why are you calling me a hero? And what’s going on?!”

“… Eze… Why are there only simus here?”

Simus?

“No kidding… It seems like he’s from a place where only a single race of humans thrive…”

Single race of humans…? No way…

“Oh, so that explains his current expression of shock and awe?”

Michael jokingly responded.

“It’s probably because of your beauty, Lord Michael.”

Zach suddenly blushes, after which he responds in a slightly embarrassed and angry manner.

“Shut up! What’s going on?! And why am I… Why are we here?”

“No. The earlier question made more sense…”

Eze responded.

"What...?"

After a few seconds, Michael makes a few steps toward Zach and then speaks up.

“We need you to kill the Dragon of Lendall.”