The monotonous sounds of the teacher's voice echoed through the classroom, interrupted only by the occasional rustle of papers and the tapping of pens against desks. Max sat at the back of the classroom, his gaze fixed on the window, where sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees outside. He was lost in his own thoughts, worlds away from the math problems written across the whiteboard.
Max was not like the other students. He was quiet, almost invisible, preferring his own company more than the unpredictable world of social interaction. With his head buried in his hoodie, he attempted to blend into the background, hoping to avoid drawing any attention to himself.
In the first row, right in front of the teacher's desk, sat Lysa and Karen. The best students in their class and maybe the entire school, or in other words as Josh liked to call them, nerds.
Josh, the popular kid (every class had one of course), tried his best to understand everything the teacher was saying. "Not your classical popular/bully kid" you might've thought, but no. He is as dumb, popular, and a bully just like everywhere else, but this bully was failing math. Last week he was given two choices by his father, a police officer in the county.
Pass Math = We are all happy Fail Math = I beat the living shit out of you
You don't have to be as smart as Lysa and Karen to figure out what option Josh chooses, because of that he sat in the first row trying his best to actually learn something.
At first, he kept repeating to himself: "This is easy, I'm gonna pass."
Then, the problem got a little bit more complicated, and so did his courage fail him: "This might be a little difficult to learn this instant, I have to practice when I get home. No internet club for me today…" He still had some hope left.
But, soon after, the realization struck him that he had to be active and study the whole year to pass this upcoming exam and that he couldn't learn it in a day or two. "Shit, shit, shit, shit…. My dad is gonna beat me!! Lysa always had a crush on me, maybe I can ask her for help. I'll figure something out. Now I have to rest."
And just like that, he closed a brand new book he bought this morning with the money he took from Axel, the first book he bought this year, and dozed off.
Axel looked at him with disgust, sitting behind him, only his glasses could be seen behind the book as he kept peeking a little bit at the whiteboard and then focusing his gaze towards Lysa and Karen. He didn't need to pay any attention, he mastered this a long time ago.
"Filthy pig," he thought to himself. "If I could only kick you once in my life, it would make me the happiest man on earth." At the thought of kicking his biggest enemy, a smile carved in the corner of his mouth.
Rowan noticed his smile and gave him a fat slap over his head.
"What are you thinking of shithead? Focus on the class," he whispered so the teacher couldn't hear anything.
Rowan, unlike his best friend Josh, thought always in advance. That set the plan in motion to get Axel under his authority make him do all his homework and give him extra classes (for free of course) so he would be ready when the final exam came knocking on his door with an axe.
The teacher, Mr. Alex, wrote a long formula across the whiteboard. Turned himself towards the class, and in a deep, but tired voice, said: "Who wants to come to the whiteboard and explain to us the use of this formula?" After a long silence, and no one raised their hands except Lysa and Karen, he decided to pick one randomly.
"If you're not willing to come at your free will, then you leave me no choice but to choose someone."
At that moment, the whole class transformed into a giant church, everyone prayed, avoiding eye contact, in the hopes of being ignored and left alone. Max, like everyone else, did just that.
"Why do I have a feeling something bad is going to happen right now? Please don't choose me…"
But fate had other plans.
A blinding light suddenly filled the classroom, causing Max to shield his eyes with his arm. When the whiteness faded, he blinked in disbelief at the scene before him. The familiar walls of the classroom had vanished, replaced by giant castle walls.
As the bewildered students found themselves standing in a grand hall, their eyes widened in awe at the sight of a figure seated upon a throne at the far end of the room. Dressed in golden robes adorned with more gold signs, the king looked at them and then spoke.
"Well, well, well…" the King spoke up. "What do we have here?" his voice echoed off the stone walls of the castle. "It seems our summoning ritual worked."
The girls started to panic, the teacher wasn't there with them, and they were confused and scared.
Max looked at how his classmates exchanged a nervous glance with each other, none with him, he was non-existent. Josh stepped forward (Of course it was him, who else). "Um, your majesty," he began stuttering. "we…We were just in our math class, a - and then suddenly we were here."
The King stroked his beard. "Ah, I see! Fear not my young friends, for you are now guests in my kingdom and our saviors. And as your gracious host, I shall ensure that your stay is nothing short of…memorable."
A nervous chuckle spread like wildfire through the group as they exchanged uncertain glances. Max couldn't help but feel a knot of anxiety tightening in his stomach.
"What do you mean by saviors, my lord?" Josh asked, a little confused like everyone else.
"The Demon Lord is getting resurrected as we speak my young Heroes. You are summoned here to save our world, like many others before you."
Max almost shat himself. He was barely able to navigate the complexities of high school, let alone face off against a Demon Lord.
"But fear not, dear adventurers! For you are not alone in this quest. You shall have the finest knights, the wisest wizards, and…well, whatever else we can get on short notice."
"Uh, thanks, Your Majesty," Josh muttered, raising an eyebrow and exchanging a skeptical glance with his classmates. "But we are not exactly seasoned warriors."
The king waved a dismissive hand, a reassuring smile spreading across his face. "Nonsense! With a bit of training, some courage, and perhaps a pinch of blind luck, you shall be more than a match for the forces of darkness."
Max couldn't help but roll his eyes at the king's optimism. "Right, because blind luck is exactly what we need to defeat a Demon Lord," he muttered under his breath.
"Now, for your test!" The king waved his hand, and the mages surrounding the heroes cast magic with their staffs, in the blink of an eye, Max and his classmates found themselves standing at the entrance of a dungeon. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and the distant rumble of unknown creatures.
Back in the giant hall, the king's daughter approached the king and whispered in his ear: "Uh, father. Are you sure about this? I mean, dungeons aren't really known for their hospitality, and when they just arrived they knew nothing about our world or magic."
The king chuckled, clapping his daughter on the back with a hearty laugh. "Ah, my dear girl, where is your sense of adventure? Fear not, for this dungeon was created with their safety in mind. It is the perfect training ground for learning the basics of our world."
The king had no idea how wrong he was.