Chapter 1 – The Unfortunate Circumstances

It had been annoying, but Mila had managed to avoid the duo of teens in front of her for so long.

It felt so anticlimactic to have her efforts ruined by a single mandatory hospital visit. She carefully stepped back and tried not to stumble. She hoped the origins of her headaches would not notice her.

For almost a month, Mila had successfully avoided the source of the massive mana gathering. Both of them. Every time she took a walk, she was sure to stay away from the telltale sign of heaviness the dreadful amount of mana brought to her weak body.

The girl raised her voice and aggressively poked at the guy, who frowned and growled an answer. They were making a scene without any care for their surroundings.

Someone bumped into Mila, making her stumble forward a couple of steps. She sighed in relief. Whatever the spell was, she did not want to be anywhere near it. The heavy weight of the intricate spellwork pressed down on her. She could barely stand.

The weak body constitution had been a curse Mila had bore ever since turning ten. Now and then, she had to visit the hospital for checkups. Doctors liked to keep an eye on her to see if her condition grew any worse. She had spent almost a year here in the past and did not yearn for a repeat.

A couple more people passed her, oblivious to the struggle she experienced. Her shoulders sagged. She gritted her teeth and tried to turn around and leave. Her white, pale hands grabbed at the wall, keeping her steady.

“It was his fault!” The girl loudly exclaimed.

“It wasn’t!” The boy argued back.

Mila did not care. Whatever their problem was, she wanted to be leagues away from it. Her breathing grew heavy. She glanced at the duo, then at the sky. She could not see the spell, but the feeling of it was becoming more pronounced.

There was no mistaking it. Those fools were about to be summoned to whatever shitty world wanting new blood. Mila could feel it in her bones.

Talented young people were always in demand. And despite her distaste, Mila could admit that they had talent. Her senses, dull as they were, allowed her to feel mana gathering inside them naturally.

Honestly, it was a miracle. Earth had little mana to speak of. Just a speck here or there. While Mila had succeeded in sensing it, she had never managed to control even a single of those rare specks.

It had almost driven her crazy. Maybe it had, and she could not recognise it for what it was. “Stay away,” Mila whispered. Not loud enough for them to hear her. Her body grew cold as she started to sweat. “Not like this.”

Nineteen years. That was how long Mila had lived. It had been tough. There rarely were days she had the energy for more than just a simple walk. There were weeks she was bedridden and at the mercy of her family.

Oh, they took care of her. Mila was lucky in that regard. Her parents tried their best, but her circumstances made it hard for her to see them as family. There were days she barely recognised their faces. She tried her best to speak with them and learn about their lives.

And the very next time Mila fell asleep, she would be thrown into a new body. A new life she lived through.

Sometimes for a few days, sometimes for months. All in a dream. Mila lived through the experiences of various people in a different world. It always lasted up until the person died. They always died. Because they all had one thing in common - they were part of an army during a campaign against an unbeatable foe.

Mila shook her head to throw those thoughts out of her mind. Those experiences had changed her. She hoped for the best but knew it not to be the case. It was too hard to grow close to anyone with all those lives crammed in her mind. A normal childhood was not something she could have had.

Even the duo of teens looked like immature children to her despite them likely being the same age. It was a thought process Mila tried to change. She wanted to speak with her peers without sounding patronising.

But how could she when Mila had more memories of training or fighting an enemy than living her real life?

“Hey, are you alright?” A concerned woman's voice spoke up to her.

Mila opened her eyes to see the girl and the boy looking at her in concern. The girl stepped towards her while speaking. The feeling of dread settled into Mila’s bones.

“I- I am fine. Don’t come here.” Mila tried to keep them away. But her body betrayed her. She swayed, and the only thing keeping her upright was the wall.

“We need help here!” The boy called out and followed after the girl.

They both rushed towards her. Mila gagged. Those fools did not understand. They were making a mistake. It was already a miracle the spell had not triggered when they met. The damn thing had been ready for a while now. But the summon resonated with her, and she could not understand why.

“Don’t-” Mila tried to speak as she slid towards the ground. Her tongue was so heavy. She looked at the concerned faces in front of her. They were good people. The guy was shouting something while the girl tried to keep her conscious.

It was too late. Mila felt the spell trigger. Slowly, the three of them were encased into a bubble. They did not notice it. It was subtle, and they were untrained. She could tell it was happening only due to her experience of being a summoner. It had been one of the longer lives she had lived through. Almost a year. She had learned so much by being him. He had been an excellent mage up until his heart was skewered by the very creatures he had summoned.

There was something wrong. Mila was not talented. She was not chosen by heaven as these two were. She was just a girl with an unfortunate ability.

So why was she being pulled along?

Why was this spell triggering now?

Mila’s mind was too sluggish. She could not tell. Her eyes slowly closed, but she forced them open. She blinked, and for the first time, she studied the duo.

The boy was lean, with a strong jaw and green eyes. His nose was flat, and his short-cut hair reminded her of beach sand. He was currently gesticulating at someone, trying to get attention. His darkened skin shined in the sun. He felt warm and understanding. The kind of person you sought out when you were lonely.

The girl’s long, brown hair cascaded down her body. Her brown eyes matched her hair, and her straight nose and pale skin made her look regal. She pressed her lips together and slapped Mila’s cheek, then shook her shoulder, trying to keep her conscious. There was a powerful light in her eyes that refused to see Mila suffer.

Both of them were taller than Mila. It was normal. For a nineteen-year-old, she was short. Skinny and undeveloped. People often were confused upon learning her age. She looked like a child. Fourteen at best.

Mila’s green eyes focused. She glanced at her reflection in the nearby window. Black hair, sickly pale skin and a gaunt face. She lacked many things. Over the years, she had tried to gain meat on her bones but never succeeded. Any training she attempted left her bedridden.

Still, Mila always tried. Day after day, whenever she could. And nothing. Both of the teens had been much luckier. They were fit and looked healthy. There was a pang of jealousy in her chest, which she silenced.

It was not their fault Mila’s life sucked. Besides, they were being summoned and would end up in one power struggle or another. She was pulled along, but the chances of anything being asked of her were low.

There was a more pressing issue at hand. This was not how the summonings worked. There was something wrong with all of this. Or at least, from what Mila had heard about them. None of her dream lives had been directly involved with summoned people, but she knew they existed and how it worked in a general sense.

They were called upon by large factions in dire need of heroes. Sometimes, ruling forces needed leverage to use against their rivals. There were times when a summoning was performed to gain knowledge. She recalled a story about a summoned girl chosen for her talent in singing. Some wanted a herald of change.

There were many reasons Mila could think of. But one thing was common in those stories. It was always a single person, and it was time and resource-intensive to summon someone from a different world. The spell could not bring two people at the same time.

So why were there two persons summoned from the same town? Why at the same time? Why was the spell triggering now? How?

These questions swirled in her head. Mila almost vomited. She heard the girl say something. There was more noise. The world grew blurry. It spun and moved.

The only thing remaining clear was the two teens staying with her. Mila saw their expressions change. She caught the moment they understood the world was distorting.

They exclaimed in surprise. They tried to move. It was pointless. Once it started, there was no other outcome than arriving at the destination.

Mila watched the duo fall unconscious. Their mana slowly flowed towards the spell boundary. It passively absorbed every bit to power itself.

There was nothing for Mila to give. It was, in a way, lucky. At least she would get to keep her consciousness. She wanted to laugh. Her standards were abmisal if she considered this lucky.

The world around them grew darker and vanished. Mila’s mind struggled to make sense of the surroundings and failed. Several times, she found herself missing a second or two. The human mind was not made for this. She closed her eyes to keep her sanity.

It was so silent. Mila heard her blood flow in her veins. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears.

And then the sound returned. Mila heard a couple of bodies collapse on the ground with a thud. She slowly opened her eyes to drink in the new world. Her body wanted to join her comrades, and she struggled to keep herself in the sitting position.

Mila scanned the surroundings. They were in a dark hall. There were stone pillars surrounding them. She could see intricate carvings decorating them. The walls were too far for her to see. There was a circle drawn with white chalk around them.

Outside of this circle was the only light source. A couple candles, and next to those candles was a figure prostrating on the ground. A single man.

And this was not how it was supposed to be. Mila steadied her breathing. This place was deserted. Despite the intricacies, the pillars showed the age. Much of the writing on them - faded and unreadable. The ground was covered in dust, and the air was stagnant.

Where were the mages? Where were the structures supporting the summoning process? If not mages, then sacrifices. There was nothing. Just an empty hall with some dilapidated remains of once-grand designs.

And the man. Mila glanced at the teens. Both of them slept on the ground, their breathing steady. From what she could tell, they were safe.

It was a struggle, but without the interference of the heavy mana, Mila managed to stand. She took unsteady steps towards the man. Her eyes studied the surroundings, trying to understand the situation.

Each step Mila took made the man shudder. There was nothing she could do. They were at this man’s mercy. She tried to speak but managed only a cough.

“Where are we?” She tried to ask. Mila did not doubt the man would understand her. She could smell mana on him. A lot more than the inexperienced duo had housed. Spells that allowed communication between two different languages were not uncommon.

If the man was responsible for their predicament, he must know at least that much.

“The ruins of our past.” A raspy, deep voice answered.

Mila palled. Even without the spell's help, she could understand large parts of the man’s words. There was an accent and something else. But something else captured all of her attention. Her eyes shot towards the pillars. She could make out and recognise some of the symbols engraved on them.

“Shit!” She fell on her butt.

From all the worlds to end up in, Mila had managed to land herself into the one from her dreams.