I jolted awake in an alleyway, staring up at the beautiful constellation of stars in the blue night. I can't remember what happened to me. The last thing I remember is taking a stroll through the forest before I appeared here. Getting up from the heaps of trash I was lying on, I felt some bugs in my hair. Gross! I quickly combed my hair to remove the bugs. Standing up from the trash, I looked around to observe my surroundings.
Maybe they'll hit me to where I am. Both sides of the wall were bricks. Aside from that, the walls had been vandalized—graffiti depicting what looks like a throne-colored yellow tainted the bricks. Despite this, the art looked cool. Suddenly, I heard sounds coming from the streets. People walking by and murmuring. Maybe that'll give me a clue as to where I am. Walking over to where the sidewalk was I pass by a puddle.
There I saw my reflection and my face . . .
My name was Jackson Maverick, and I was just a regular seventeen-year-old with brown hair and green eyes. I touched the side of my face where my bandages covered it up, wincing in pain for a bit; even now all these years later the pain hasn't subsided. I shook my head now wasn't the time to reminisce about it. First I have to know what happened to me.
Walking out of the alleyway the scene that greeted me was jaw-dropping, it looked like I was in a city. Tall concrete buildings with several advertisement boards; not those boards that were just pictures but billboards that were animated, I wasn't in awe by this but the fact they looked to be holograms from those Sci-Fi animes, yeah these billboards were holograms floating in the sky. There was even a cute anime girl advertising soap.
Another thing that surprised me where the trees, on the sidewalks where several trees were placed apart from one another. The leaves were colored blue, producing several dozen floating blue particles. It looks unnatural yet oddly beautiful at the same time.
What was most surprising were the people.. There were loads of people walking about, but some of them were different there were some with animal features! Like animal parts of their bodies, a guy had what looked like a pug ear on his head, a lady with a long cat tail, and another person had a full-blown elephant trunk where his nose was.
It wasn't just that some people had animal features; almost everybody here had different-colored hair and unique clothing. It reminds me of those Anime cosplays, but somehow, it fits and doesn't look weird.
I stood there for a few seconds trying to comprehend what was happening. Did I . . . Did I . . . Did I . . .
"DID I JUST GET ISEKAID!" Oops, I shouted that part out loud. I quickly covered my mouth, though some of the people passing by gave me weird looks.
Great some me . . . Never mind that. "Sorry . . . " I said and then quickly ran off to another block.
I walk through the crowd of people passing through. Thanks to the hologram billboards things and these weird trees it wasn't that dark despite being night, those things did a good job of lighting the way.
While walking I began to think, about what just happened to me. My head is all too blurry to even get an inkling as to how on earth I got here. What I do know is this isn't Earth, an Idea pops in my head. Since I'm in a different world maybe I died like how some protagonist did in said Anime, getting hit by the infamous truck-kun
But if that were the case why wasn't a sexy goddess here to greet me and tasking to defeat the Demon Lord? Wait does a Demon Lord even exist here?
Then I fell to the ground along with the person I had bumped into. Rubbing my head to subside the pain I said.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Wait I didn't say that. I looked to see who I accidentally bumped, and seeing her left me blushing.
She was one of those people who had animal features to them, her was a pair of long black bunny ears on her head with long silky black hair. She looked cute with deep red eyes and tiny pink lips, she looked around to be my age. She was wearing a black dress.
I probably stood there watching how cute she look then I realized I must've looked like a complete creep. Quickly stood up dusting off the dirt I lent her a hand. "Here I'm sorry for bumping into you."
"W-well t-thank you." She said; her voice quiet and shy sounding. She reached to grab my hand, I pulled her up. Looking around I realize something. Some of the people passing by were giving me a stink eye. Did I do something wrong? Like maybe in this world helping someone is considered taboo. Or did I do something to offend them?
"Uh, hey, Miss?" I ask, trying to get her attention, though I doubt she'll give it to me. I'm an average loser compared to a sweet beauty like her.
"U-uh it's Ayjin Fe." I was honestly surprised she answered it. But Ayjin Fe is a weird name but this is a new world so I guess it's the norm. She bowed to me even, that's a strange sight to see.
"Do I have something on my face?" Maybe there was remaining dirt I missed.
"N-no why?" Ayjin asked in confusion.
"Well, it's just these guys are staring at me weirdly." I discretely pointed at some of them, evidently I wasn't discreet enough because some of the people I was pointing at gave me an even more stinky eye.
"M-maybe because you help me an Endian." She said that part quitely like she's ashamed to admit she a what. An Endian must be the name of those hybrid animal people.
It then clicked in me, realizing it was probably a race thing. People here are probably racist or something like that to these Endians, speaking of here. "Hey Ayjin do you know where I am?"
"Huh, y-you don't know where you are?" She said with wide eyes like I said something ridiculous . . . In her view, she was right to think so. Crap better make some excuses.
"I- um well you see, it's that uh I forgot! Yeah, I hit my head and forgot this place!" I said trying to sound convincing as possible . . . Who am I kidding that was such a bullshit lie I doubt anyone would buy it.
"O-oh my god that's h-horrible!" Holy hell she bought into it. "D-do you need medical help? Does your head still hurt?" She said genuinely worried about my health, well shit I feel like an ass for lying to her.
"N-no it's ok I just need you to tell me where I'm at." I gesticulate by waving my hands.
"You're in the capital of the Royal Kingdom." She said.
"The Royal Kingdom?" I said in confusion.
"Yeah, the Royal Kingdom, man you must've hit your head hard if you don't know this, basic information even fifth graders know." If it were anybody else I'd think they're being sarcastic but she sounded so sincere and apologetic.
"Yeah, I hit my head hard hehe. . . " Awkwardly laugh.
"Oh, I know!" She beamed in excitement.
"What?" I said wondering what's her plan.
"M-maybe we c- explore around the place, I recently moved here so I'd like to e-explore. You can tag along. O-of course if you want, it's o-ok if you didn't." She said that last part quite, almost in a whisper.
I too stunned to respond, does a beautiful girl like Ayjin want to hang out with me?
It looks like she interprets my silence as an answer. "So you d-don't want t-to join?"
"N-no of course I would." I clarified her.
"G-great!" She took my hand and took me around the city, showing me so many amazing things.
She showed me so much cool stuff, for instance, a giant hologram statue depicting some important guy called 'the Great Sage'. Another one was a shop that was selling actual weapons; like swords and bows. To be honest I was awestruck by it. Another thing was one of these blue leaves; those trees are called 'Mana Trees'. Honestly, the experience was amazing, it also helped Ayjin to be such a sweet person.
We were walking past some shops when one particular shop immediately caught my interest: an anime shop. There was no way this was a legit anime shop. How is that even possible? "Hey, Ayjin, can we check that out?" I pointed at the shop.
"Yeah, sure." She nodded and we made our way to the shop. I was the first to arrive and sprinted over to the shop's glass display; inside were mangas and merchandise.
Pressing my face against the glass, closely saw some of the mangas.
WarriorxWarrior
Clear Water
Karuto
Final Piece
What the hell? I thought, closely inspecting each manga's cover and characters. It was uncanny how they almost looked identical to their counterparts back in my world. This was pretty strange to see.
"Oh, you like manga?" Ayjin said walking right next to me.
"Yeah, you could say that." I said, "It's true. I love manga and anime." However, I'm confused about how they exist here, even though it's a new world. Unless there's a version of Japan here, is it just a coincidence that anime exists here? I doubt the latter option.
"S-so what manga are you interested in Jackson?" Ayjin said.
"I like Final Piece, I guess." If this world's version of that anime is anything like the actual anime, it must be high quality. "What about you, Ayjin? Do you like any manga?"
"E-eh I don't have a series I like, b-but I prefer to read those magical girl series their cute," Ayjin said.
"Magical girls, That's a pretty underrated genre," I said to her. Those types of series are always super good, shame not many people like them.
"I-I know right, hey Jackson do you want to buy any of these?" Ayjin said.
I shook my head. Wasn't planning on buying them. "No thanks, I wasn't planning on buying them just window shopping you know."
could
She nodded and just before we were about to leave we heard something, it sounded like the sounds of someone getting hurt, That's concerning.
"What was that?" I asked, I looked around the find where the sound originated from, I saw near the entrance of an alleyway were three guys picking on someone. Seeing one of them punching the man in the face, looks brutal. Oh god was that blood oozing out of his mouth?
"T-that guy needs help!" I ran over to them. I heard Ayjin trying to say something, but I'm sure it wasn't important right now. As I approached them, I shouted, "Stop that!"
"The hell?" One of them said, the man turned to face me. For the most part, he looks ordinary, looking like a few years older than me.
"Look, dude, stop beating the man," I said, putting my foot down. This seemingly and his friends and him topped attacking the Endian and focused on me. Honestly, they look frightening, but I won't back down.
"You know this kid?" The man said to the fallen-over Endian man. He coughed up some spit and shook his head, I stared at them with anger how could they treat someone like this?
"Kid get lost, you shouldn't be here." The man said.
"No." I simply said I don't care if they beat me up. I won't stand for this cruelty.
"Kid here's some life advice, don't defend these fucking animal fuckers. Haven't you seen the recent news; Golden Throne had fucking blown up a kindergarten school!" The man said, In the corner of my eye I saw the man was clenching his fist.
"W-what!" I said in shock. What the hell was Golden Throne my first thought. But even still you can't blame somebody for the actions of others, but before I could make a rebuttal the man continued to speak.
"These animal fuckers deserve every shit they get, I know most of these animals are spies working for Golden Throne!" The man finished.
Next to the man was another man, likely his friend, who spoke up. "Now run along synthesizer freak . . . "
I didn't run away, I stood my ground glaring at them. Eventually, the group got the memo I wasn't going to run. "You know what never mind, let's get out of here guys." The man said, along with the rest left the area, I sighed in relief; thankfully they have enough of a conscience to not beat a teenager.
I soon heard footsteps, looking behind me I saw Ayjin catching up to me. "J-Jackson are you ok? Did they hurt you?" She asked looking all over if I was hurt.
"No, I'm fine really. Hey, are you alright?" I turn my attention back to the fallen-down Endian. Strangely he didn't look relieved rather looking piss at something or someone. I reached out to help him he didn't get it instead he slapped my hand away.
I stood there shocked. "W-what- "
"Look Human, I don't need your pity." The male Endian stood up dusting off the dirt on his clothes.
I can't help but feel hurt by what he said.
Next to me Ayjin angrily spoke up. "H-how can you treat him like that! He was trying to help you!"
I looked at Ayjin, genuinely surprised at how upset she sounded about my honor. "Hey, Ayjin, it's okay. . . "I tried to calm her down, but it didn't work.
"But it isn't Jackson, you should apologize to Jackson right now." She pointed at the male Endian. He seemingly scowled at the notion.
"You girl! Why are you siding with that human, wait a second. You're one of those Pets aren't you!" He glared at the both of us, snaring in disgust before walking away.
"Asshole . . . " I muttered under my breath. But I wondered what he meant by pets; seeing how upset Ayjin looked it probably meant something nasty.
Seeing how hurt Ayjin looked made me want to comfort her. "Hey Ayjin don't listen to that guy. He was just being an asshole about it."
"It's fine Jackson . . . " She solemnly said.
I quickly think of a way to cheer her up. "So Ayjin what's next on the agenda?" I asked hopefully with a different subject she wouldn't think about what the guy said to her.
"Umm let me check something." Grabbing something from her pocket and pulling it out. It was a cellphone; colored black with a velvet red casing. She turned it out and looked at the phone's digital clock. "Oh, crap . . . " She muttered.
"What?" I asked.
"Sorry Jackson I have something to do right now," She gave me an apologetic smile.
"It's fine, and thanks for showing me around," I said.
"Well, we can do it another time. I know we can share contact info," She chirped.
What . . .
"What . . . "
"You know, we can share our contact number to hang out," She slightly tilted her head in confusion.
That would be a big problem since I'm sure my phone wasn't said alongside me. "Sorry, but I lost my phone," I felt sweat dripping down; scratching my head in embarrassment.
"Oh well we can meet up here," Ay pointed at the anime shop. Yeah, that sounded a good idea, I nodded at her suggestion.
"Sure thing."
"I'll meet you on Friday Jackson. Bye," Ayjin waved at me and then walked off.
"See you later . . . Now what do I know I'm going to do," I said to myself, an
____________________________
I sighed, looking around the many people on the thither. I was sitting on a bench near the park's main path, called 'Rose and Winter'.
The park was average most things considered. It was just a giant grass plain with some of those Mana Trees planted near the main cobblestone path to give it some nice aesthetics and it worked. There weren't many buildings only some bathrooms and some restaurants. Behind me was a playground area with some slides and a swing set.
This is fairly popular, as many people walk. , walkers like me to elderly folk.
I sigh to myself looking up in the stars. What was I supposed to do, most isekai the main protagonist would be given some sort of goal to accomplish like killing the Demon Lord. But from the looks of it maybe a Demon Lord doesn't exist here.
Well, it would be great to eat something, but I doubt they'll accept dollars; they probably have their currency. Maybe I should look for a place to sleep. Yeah, that sounds like a good start.
"HE-HO!" What was that?
In front of me was some kind of creature, it was cute. Whatever this thing was had a small chubby body, with stubs for legs and arms. It had a giant Jacko lantern that strangely looked cartoonish for its head; aside from the head, its entire body was colored white. Was wearing a black Victoria-style trench coat that's maybe a bit bigger than it. Carrying with it is a large oversized sharp scythe.
Where the heck did this thing come from??" the thing once again shouted. "HE-HO!" The carving of this thing's head morphed, making a joyous smile.
"Umm hey there little buddy you lost?" I said, this thing cutely tilted its head then it excitedly jumped up and down, something you'd see a kid would do when they got something they want.
"You're lost then?" Man, this thing looked so cute, I reached out to Pat this thing's head.
In a split second, swung it's massive scythe cutting my arm clean off . . . Then the pain had set in.
I screamed in pain, falling to the ground, I curled up clutching where my hand used to be; it hurt like hell, this agonizing pain was like someone had set my hand ablaze. It hurt so much I couldn't think straight, feeling the tears swelling up. "W-what . . . "
I open one eye to see the creature jumping up and down as if mocking me. Still shouting joyously, no it was more happy than before. Seeing my bleeding arm made it more happy.
"HE-HO!"
Around me, the people started to notice. All of them began to panic.
"Oh god, it's a DEMON!"
"Run away!"
"Hurry call the Arcana Mages!"
"Someone help that kid!"
I look at running away people, reaching out my hand for anyone to grab and drag me away from this monster . . . But no one did. I screamed. "Somebody! Anyone HELP!"
Hearing the sound of this creature coming closer and closer. I tried to crawl but I felt the painful feeling of the scythe's blade stabbing my leg.
Oh God, I'm going to die . . . I'm gonna die . . . I'm gonna die . . .
This thing raised its scythe, blade basking in the moonlight.
Closing my eyes accepting my fate; sorry Ayjin looks like I couldn't make it goodbye.
It was total darkness, if I had to describe it other than darkness it would be total absolute void. I didn't know if my eyes were open. Maybe this was the afterlife, stuck in this void for eternity.
I can't feel my legs . . .
I can't feel my arms . . .
I can't breathe. .
I can't hear . . .
I can't speak . . .
I can't smell . . .
I can't feel my heart pumping . . .
I can't feel A N Y T H I N G.
I saw it, ginormous crimson-colored eyes with sharp slits for pupils; radiating pure and absolute chaos and c a l a m i t y. It was like the ultimate personification of anarchy.
It was staring into the eyes of an evil god, a being more cruel and vile than the Devil himself. Just staring at it was making me go insane. I can't think straight, it hurts my head. A painful throbbing sensation threatened my head apart.
"THY IS A SUITABLE VESSEL, I SHALL GRANT THOUTHEE POWER TO SHAKE EARTH AND OCEANS IN EQUIVALENT EXCHANGE THEE SHALL GRANT MY SINGLE DESIRE."
W- What the hell is this thing?
"HEED MY WORDS: THY ART NO LONGER HUMAN."
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[WELCOME PLAYER TO THE CALAMITY SYSTEM]
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