There stood the king in the middle of the church in front of his god's statue, the statue of Eriuc the goddess of fire. He was alone there, no servants, no bishop nor priest just him and the statue. He bowed down and began to pray, "Oh goddess of fire that burns everlasting, I beg you have mercy on our kingdom and deliver us from this turmoil" he said. It was silent after he said that with no movement for what seemed like a minute then he awoke, bowed two times, and made his way through the aisle all the way to the door of the church. Outside he was met by his royal guards and members of the clergy. "Make preparations, at noon I want to go hunting for Erlin deer" he said. "Yes, your majesty" replied one of his retainers.
*****
"Hey Eric, wake up" said a woman inside a shop, she appeared to be the owner. Before her was a young man waking from a slumber. He had slept on the floor and was only now realizing how regretful that was. "Man, my back hurts" he replied as he stood up, clearing his face. "She really did a number a number on you didn't she," said the woman with a slight smirk. "I have to go, thanks for waking me up" said Eric grabbing his possessions to leave. "Goodbye "he added, the woman shrugged her shoulders as the man bolted out the door to be met with the sun's warm rays. He ran to still wearing his dirty suit he had worn last night. As he ran, he was reminded about last night when his girlfriend dumped him for another guy.
He was still nursing his wound of having failed to pass the last semester of his university and he knew his scholarship would be withdrawn and he would have nothing to lean back on. Eric was an orphan, with no parents, relatives, and no siblings, he had worked hard to go to university and make something of himself, but he failed to do that. He never really had many friends to begin with and had one girlfriend his entire life who had just recently dumped him, suffice it to say he had the worst day of his life last night. So, using that as an excuse to forget about his troubles just for one night and push back his breaking point he went to his favourite bar and drank away his worries. He did manage to forget for the night but now that he was awake it all came rushing back, what was he going to do?
Eric ran to his rented apartment he pays for using his many part time jobs and side gigs. When he entered the building, he ran straight to his apartment only to find his eviction notice. He stopped and approached it slowly and he read it 'you have 10 days to gather your belongings together' it read. Eric began to chuckle a little almost mocking his terrible luck and then he laughed a painful laugh. He fell on his knees muttering, "Why is this happening to me" he stood up and opened the door, he did not even close it as he slowly made his way to his bed. "Is this it, rock bottom?" asking the universe, he fell on the bed and gazed at his ceiling. His time has been a constant turmoil these past few days and he just wanted to rest.
As he lay on his bed, memories of his life came flushing in, all the great times he spent with his very few friends and the girlfriend who was his first everything. For a time, he was incredibly happy in this life, he was working and earning money, his grades were above average, he was in love and his friends were great to him. He had faced various situations his whole life sometimes he was happy other times he was sad, he had success and failures much like any normal person. But at that moment he was defeated, he found it hard to move a muscle and he wanted to cry, what was he going to do? "My life really sucks, maybe if I could go back in time and take different route in life, change a major, focus on school and work rather than fun and love maybe I would not end up here?" he questioned himself as he slowly raised his hand up to grab what would be his alternative future in the air but could not reach it. "No, my life would have sucked either way whether I sacrificed or not. I wonder though" he repeated as he clenched his hand as he blinked wondering what his alternative life could have been. At that moment it felt to him like he was falling, as if his bed had turned into a cloud and then he fell within it." What the?" he exclaimed as he fell into a black space.
It was as if he was knocked out cold when he fell into the black empty space because when he awoke up, he was certain of one thing, he was not at his room rather he was falling from high up as if he went sky jumping. "What is happening to me!" cried Eric, he could see he was falling so he turned only to see the ground getting closer and closer. "Why am falling from the sky, is this a dream?" such thoughts filled his mind he began to panic. He struggled and struggled, but he did not wake up, the wind was cold on him as his speed increased, he was going to die, and he knew it. "Help me!" he called out, not knowing who could even help in a situation like that but he had to try. As he called out, he could sense a shadow above him passing over and without thinking about the logistics and how it would work, thinking the shadow belonged to a bird, eagle, or anyone bird, he reached out to grab the source of the shadow only to see a terrifying beast like monster approaching him along with what appeared to be a humanoid being atop it. Startled by the sudden appearance he passed out and was caught by the humanoid being who turned out to be a man wearing what appeared to be a soldier's attire. "Take us down girl" said the man to the beast after carefully storing Eric and reigned in the beast.
The beast was not that terrifying on look, but it was very unusual, and Eric must have been surprised. It was a cat like being with wings like an eagle, it was orange, brown in colour and noticeably big in statute similar to a horse making it possible for two average men to ride atop it. It had gear straddled over it making it possible for a rider to be able to ride more comfortably like horse straddles. They descended going lower and lower until they arrived at a group of soldiers. "He fell unconscious, your majesty" said the soldier as he made his way down the beast. Three men approached him wearing similar armour and helped Eric down the beast.
"It makes sense seeing as where he fell from, bring him forth, I want to see him" instructed the king. This time he was not wearing royal attire he had been wearing before, rather now he was wearing casual attire you would expect royalty to wear on a hunt. The soldiers brought Eric before the king who began to inspect him and the clothing he was wearing. As he did so, Eric regained consciousness and slowly opened his eyes as he lay on the ground thankfully there was a cloth on which he was placed. As he opened his eyes, he saw the king inspecting him and as expected he was freaked out, he jumped away only to be met by a group of more than twenty soldiers.
"Where am I? Who are you people?" he asked fear seeping in as he realised these men were soldiers armed with swords and spears, all wearing armour. He signalled them to stay back which was pointless as they had remained motionless beside two who were near the king. The king then spoke up, "Oh summoned hero, fear not we mean you no harm." Eric turned around and saw the middle-aged man who was smiling. Just as Eric laid eyes on the king something caught his eye, the two soldiers that were besides the king, they were not human. In shock he passed out again for what he saw with his eyes was something he could not explain, two beast men who resembled wolves in armour with a stance similar to humans. The two beast men were alike the other soldiers' excerpt that they had fur on their faces, and they had tails too. One was grey in colour and the other was brownish, they were big in statue very intimidating. As Eric drifted into the darkness, he was certain of one thing whether it was a dream or reality, he was definitely no longer on Earth anymore.