For what felt like an eternity, Alex floated in the dark: no sound, no sense of time, just that crushing sense of nothing.
His head was racing with questions-what is going on? What is this?-but there were no responses, just chilling, unsettling sensations that something was amiss.
Gradually, a far-off light took form; from dim and diffused, it developed to full brilliance until it enveloped him.
It was not any warm, appealing light but a jarring, almost painful glare that made him raise an arm across his eyes. When at last he dared to open them, he found himself lying on some cold, hard surface.
He blinked. The light had mellowed, replaced by the eerie flicker of some low-burning fires that seemed hardly to illuminate space near him.
The first thing he noticed was the air: thick with sulfur and something else, something rotten. Slowly, he sat up; his head spun as he tried to get his bearing.
"Where.where am I?" Alex muttered, his voice at a whisper, yet it seemed to echo slightly in the heavy darkness.
All around him nothing but gloom, yet with indefinite outlines of rocky objects everywhere. Beneath him the ground was hard, grainy as though he sat upon a heap of emery grains.
A sudden, loud, deep voice came from the darkness and sent Alex in such a shock that he sprang onto his feet. The voice rumbled with sufficient force, and it seemed like it flowed through the solid earth he stood upon.
"Welcome, Hero!" it said, its voice oozing with malevolent glee. "Finally, you have come."
Alex's heart was racing, pounding in his chest as he tried to locate the origin of the voice. "Who's there? Come forth!" he called out; his voice should have sounded brave, but it was shaking just a little.
A rumble sounded, and the darkness in front of him started to swirl. Something took form out of the shadows: a tall, towering form draped in black with eyes glowing red as if piercing into him.
The overwhelming presence of the figure made the aura around him one of immense, wild power.
With every step closer the figure came, the more detail Alex could see: a towering figure at least twice his height, with curled horns back from its head and razor-sharp hands tipped with sharp claws. Its skin was colored an unnatural deep red, like molten lava, and its wide grin showed rows of jagged razor-sharp teeth.
"Wh-who are you?" he managed to stutter out, as instinct made him take one backward step.
A low rumble of a laugh escaped his body. "I am the Demon King, the new ruler of this world you admired so from afar," he said, his voice full of mockery. "And you, my dear hero, have been summoned to play a very special role in my grand plan."
Alex thought fiercely, his mind reeling as he tried to wrap his head around it. This had to be some kind of sick joke, right? The Demon King? Summoned? He read literally thousands of stories where a hero gets summoned into another world, but this felt nothing like those tales.
"I don't understand," Alex said, his voice low, barely above a whisper. "Why me?
A wide grin spread across the Demon King's face. "Why you? Because you are the one who idealized so much this world, who dreamed of living within its bounds," the demon said, its voice dripping with sadistic tones as it slowly circled Alex, savoring his fear. "I summoned you because I need a hero, a rival-somebody to fight against, since that pathetic writer killed the previous one. Somebody to test my strength, to help me grow more powerful with each battle."
Alex's heart sank as the Demon King's words burrowed their way into his mind. "But I'm not a hero," he protested, shaking his head. "I am just a normal guy. I have no powers."
The Demon King stopped in front of him, lowering his gaze until their eyes met. "Oh, but you do have powers," the demon said in a softly chilling whisper. "It's just that they are. underwhelming."
There was no time for him to say anything, as a screen of light swam before him, dancing in the middle of the air. It was out of some computer game, with lines of text up on it, listing his statistics. He lurched forward toward the glowing screen and tried to make sense of what was written on it.
Name: Alex Thompson
Class: Hero
Level: 1
Strength: 3
Agility: 2
Intelligence: 4
Mana: 5