"Until magical rifts, now known as gates, started appearing all over the world…."
Sherry paused for dramatic effect earning affirmative nods from Willy.
'Gates? Sounds ominous.'
"These gates," Sherry continued, "Were documented as the first signs of magic, though of course no one knew at the time. For three days the gates stood undisturbed. People grew restless fearing this unknown entity but also curious at the thought of something so wondrous. Like moths to a flame."
"You speak like you were there." Kurt pointed out feeling a little unsettled.
"Course' she weren't there lad! This happened thousands of years ago hahaha!"
"Well duh she wasn't there old man else she would've been even more fossilised than you."
"What ye say?! I'll let you know that this horse is still kicking, or did you forget about what happened earlier huh!?" Willy showed his hand as it started glowing.
"Ehem! Can you boys let me finish? I was getting to the good part." Sherry pouted.
"Sorry, it's just that you're such a good storyteller. Please continue."
"Sorry lass haha."
Kurt and Willy apologised prompting Sherry to continue.
"As I was saying, on the fourth day is when it all changed. The sky darkened and earthquakes erupted, splitting, shaping and reforming the earth's geography entirely. The seas rose and swallowed whole areas of land and any in its path. Finally, to top it all off…. the gates activated and out of it came the monsters."
'Gulp' 'Monsters huh….'
"The monsters had one goal: Kill every living being. Humanity stood no chance. They fought all they could to defend their home but were too unprepared. In less a week approximately six billion died nearly ending the human race. The end was in site and with nothing left to do they prayed."
'What in the actual….' A single drop of sweat slid down Kurt's forehead as he thought.
"Suddenly the world was silent. The monsters stopped their destructive force and all glanced upwards. There they saw the sky open up as a single golden ray of hope descended. That hope was Goddess Bula."
Willy nudged at Kurt and proudly smirked at him as if to tell "See that, here comes the best part."
"Donned in untainted white robes that emphasised her long golden caramel hair. She closed her hands together and spread her beautiful wings thus she spoke,
"Beautiful children of earth I have heard your desperate plea. Despite being on the verge of death you have not forgotten your faith. Though I am not the one your faith had been directed towards, I am the one who answered and shall gift you a miracle."
Warm, golden light enveloped those who believed manifesting into power we now know as magic."
"I see…. but what about those who didn't believe in anything. Were they just left powerless?" Kurt asked.
"Aye lad. The world needed those who are willing to fight for it, not those who have given up." Willy answered
'Harsh.'
"After the brutal onslaught humanity suffered, they finally were ready to counterattack and counterattack they did. Slowly they killed and pushed back the monsters reclaiming lost land. Just when humanity thought they'd won the gates activated again spewing out not only monsters but demons as well."
"Is there a difference?"
"Mmhm," Sherry nodded. "The simple answer is that monsters are mindless whereas demons are more sentient. Some also have humanoid features."
"Those ones are no joke lad."
"I'll keep that in mind. What happened then Sherry?"
"Once again humanity was being pushed back. Even with the help of magic, ever since demons entered the fray, things were looking grim. So they all collectively decided to do what has worked in the past…. they prayed…. but this time directly to Goddess Bula. When the Goddess answered there was not much she could do. She already blessed humanity with power and even if she were to bless the rest of humanity, they were far too outnumbered. So, she gave them advice and said,
"Gather your strongest warriors and recite this spell. This is a summoning spell for which you can call five heroes. Heroes that will change the course of this arduous war."
"What was the spell?" Kurt asked.
"That is information no one is privy to, handsome. Only the top brass knows it."
'Classic.'
"Then humanity gathered its strongest warriors to perform the spell and true to what Goddess Bula said, five heroes emerged. They were:
The Supreme Mage, Layla Wright
The Holy Paladin, Otis Gray
The Genius Inventor, Alice Wilkerson
The Saintess, Elizabeth Suncrown
finally,
The King of Heroes, Lucas M. Dorothy
And so, with the help of these five heroes' humanity defeated the invasion and closed the gates. The end." Sherry smiled.
"What? But I have so many questions like-"
"Sorry handsome, time is money and if you want more of my time that date offer still stands~".
'Ngngh why I oughta….' Kurt groaned, feeling the worst of cliffhangers.
sniffle sniffle
"Are you crying old man?"
"Sorry lad, it's just that when I hear this story, I get a little emotional is all."
'Argh' "Here use this." He handed Willy a tissue
Hnff phooooo, he blew his nose.
"By the way Sherry, I still got my hands on this tag and orb. Has it done its thing yet?"
"Oh that? It finished registering your data long ago. Just send a touch of magic through it and it will display."
"How do I do that?"
"Oh, come now laddy, ye have been blessed by Goddess Bula! Feel the magic inside ye and gently guide it to the tag."
'So, is that my lore now? Come to think of it, I have been feeling stronger ever since I arrived here.'
Kurt concentrated, searching in himself for a trace of magic when-
'Ah!'
The tag lit up, projecting his adventurers' information
It read:
Adventurer org -
Guild - N/A
Rank - F
Party - N/A
Skills - Adaptation
"Adaptation ey'? Can't say I've ever heard of that. What about ye Sherry?"
"Never heard of it." She turned to Kurt expecting an answer.
"Don't look at me, I'm just as clueless."
They all looked at each other and collectively sighed.
'The more I understand the less I know.'
"Ah well! No time for moping, come lad we're done here."
"We are? Alright. Thanks, Sherry, for the tags and story. It was very informative."
"Mmhm no problem handsome. You have no idea how boring it is sitting here all day so think of it as payback."
Kurt and Willy left the bureau when the old man paused,
"Oh! Hold on lad I forgot something. I'll be right back."
"Don't be too long."
Willy ran back inside and after five minutes returned with a pouch of coin.
"So where to now old man? Preferably somewhere like a library."
"Now," he took Kurt's hand and put the pouch of coin in it, "Now ye will be heading to the capital. There's 5 gold, 10 silver and 15 copper in there. Ye has no money, right? Take it."
Kurt looked between the pouch and Willy. Realising that the money in his account was absolutely worthless, gratefully accepted.
"Thank you, Willy. I don't really know how to repay you for all you've done."
"Ha! Ye can repay me after making it big in the capital ey' Now come let's take you to a carriage."
After walking and talking about things like the fact that the earth has been split into five kingdoms based off of the five summoned heroes.
And that there was a fighting tournament soon to be happening at the capitals' academy where chosen students from all across the five kingdoms would be participating in.
Kurt stepped into the carriage and gave his farewells to Willy.
"Thanks Willy, for everything. Without you I'd probably be lost like a certain green headed pirate."
"Like whom?"
"Never mind."
"All aboard the carriage to the capital!" the coachman called and rang his bell.
"Catch you around old man."
Willy nodded as the carriage left.
When a good distance away, Kurt closed his eye and processed the information he gathered.
'Alright so my morning started with me going out of my apartment to look for a new place to stay. That was after getting excommunicated from my old "job" the night before.
Then I started having the worst headache and nosebleed.
People were also phasing in and out of reality.
That's when I decided to go to the doctor thinking something serious must be wrong with me.
I arrived at the doctor safely, but the pain really got to me when it felt like my heart was going to burst.
I fainted and got sprayed with water "magic".
I learned the old man who sprayed me was an old man called Willy.
He claimed I was "blessed by Goddess Bula" just for having a surname?
My I.D was useless, so he took me to a place called the bureau. That's where I met Sherry who works there.
She told me the story of how the earth was invaded by monsters and demons.
At least I know I'm still on earth.
She also said humanity nearly would've gone extinct if it wasn't for Goddess Bula blessing people with magic.
The earth has been split into five kingdoms based on the five heroes who saved humanity.
I'm currently in Eldoria, the kingdom of the hero Lucas, heading towards the capital in hopes of finding out more about what the actual hell happened to me.
Great…just great.'