Kia woke to the sound of bickering.
Above him, high ceilings stretched toward the sky—or what remained of them. Jagged stone beams carved a broken silhouette against the open air, shafts of sunlight pouring through wide cracks and ceiling holes.
Dust shimmered in the light, swirling with every shift of wind, while vines crawled down from above like nature reclaiming forgotten glory.
The air was cold and damp. The kind of chill that clung to bones. He was lying on bare stone, the rough surface pressing uncomfortably against his back.
Voices drifted from ahead. Two women, arguing in hushed yet intense tones.
"I told you not to touch it."
"It was glowing!"
Kia groaned softly and pushed himself upright, grimacing as the stone bit into his palms. His head spun, nausea curling in his stomach like he'd stood too fast after skipping one too many meals.
Which… honestly might've been true.
He looked around, taking in the ruined structure. Cracked stone pillars stood half-toppled and wrapped in creeping vines. The tiled floor was uneven and broken in patches, giving way to dirt and roots.
At the far end of the space stood two figures—young women, maybe early twenties at most.
One wore a deep brown cloak, the hood down, her hand gesturing animatedly. The other had short-cropped hair and light armor strapped over a fitted tunic, a short blade slung casually over her back.
Kia stared at them. Then blinked. Then stared again.
Their outfits weren't modern.
They didn't look like they were cosplay costumes bought off the internet too. The stitching was practical. The leather looked worn. Their boots were caked in mud and travel.
It was like they'd stepped straight out of a video game.
Was this a prank? Some elaborate ARG? A guerrilla film shoot?
Kia sat still, waiting. Waiting for someone to yell "Cut," for a camera crew to appear from the bushes. For anything to make this make sense.
But the women just kept arguing.
He cleared his throat.
The sound came out more like a dry cough.
Both women snapped toward him immediately.
One reached for her sword.
The other lifted her hand—light flaring in her palm like a spark catching fire.
Kia flinched and scrambled to his feet, hands raised. "Whoa, whoa—!"
A tense pause followed.
Then the cloaked one narrowed her eyes. "...Are you human?"
"Yeah," Kia said slowly. "And, uh... confused. Very."
The women exchanged glances, then looked back at him. Kia glanced down at himself—still in sweatpants and his old, faded hoodie. Barefooted.
Still him.
An awkward silence stretched.
Eventually, he scratched the back of his head and managed to speak. "So... how did I get here?"
Silence.
He winced and tried again. "Did you... I don't know, kidnap me or something?"
The armored one blinked. "What?"
"I mean, I don't remember anything. One minute I'm lying down, the next I wake up in this ruin. You're both dressed like mages and mercenaries and there's magic light and... and..." He trailed off as he realized just how crazy it all sounded. "So. Yeah. Kidnapping felt like a fair guess."
Again, the two women looked at each other.
Not the guilty kind of look.
More like the what the hell did we just do? kind.
The cloaked woman slowly lowered her hand, the glow fading from her fingertips. "Kaela… did we just summon him?"
The armored one—Kaela—grimaced and shot her a look. "You're the one who touched the damn circle, Rei."
"I thought it was just an old mana reservoir!"
"Mana reservoir my ass."
At that, Kia raised his hand cautiously, voice dry. "So… not kidnapped?"
Rei turned to him again, arms still crossed but slightly less defensive now. "No. It seems like we accidentally summoned… you."
Kia blinked. "So I'm… summoned? Like, magic circle, new world, no return ticket—that kind of summoned?"
"…Yes," Rei said, though she hesitated. "Probably."
"Probably?"
Kaela folded her arms and gave a short exhale through her nose. "We didn't plan this. It was a ruined formation—dead for centuries. Who would've guessed a random magic circle would still work? And a hero summoning one, at that."
Kia's brows rose. "Wait—heroes?"
"You're not one?" Rei asked, peering at him with open curiosity.
He stared down at himself. Hoodie. Sweatpants. Socks with holes in them. "Does this scream hero to you?"
That earned a snort from Kaela.
Rei sighed.
Kia sat back down with a thump, hugging his knees as the chill of the stone floor settled through his clothes. Above, sunlight filtered in through the ruined ceiling in quiet golden beams. Everything around him—every single cracked tile and hanging vine—reminded him just how far from home he probably was.
Summoned.
In a crumbling ruin.
By two women dressed like characters from a fantasy RPG.
No idea where he was.
No clue why.
Just… here.
"Great," he muttered. "I'm not even the right kind of mistake."
*
Kaela eventually turned away, muttering something about "checking the perimeter" as she stalked off toward a collapsed archway.
Rei stayed behind, arms folded, gaze fixed on Kia like she expected him to burst into flames or start glowing any second. He didn't. He just sat there, shivering slightly, knees drawn to his chest.
"…Still think this is a prank," Kia muttered. Not for the first time.
Rei tilted her head. "We could stab you. Might help convince you."
"…I'll pass, thanks."
She shrugged, like the offer had been entirely serious.
Kia dragged his hands down his face with a long sigh. "Alright. Let's say this isn't a prank. Or a dream. Or the most vivid sleep paralysis trip of my life. Let's say I was summoned. Accidentally. To another world." He looked up at her, eyes narrowed. "What exactly is a 'hero' supposed to be?"
Rei glanced at the now-inert runes etched into the floor near where he'd first appeared. "Heroes are… special beings. Outsiders. They're summoned during times of disaster—war, famine, demonic threats. Supposedly, they possess powers strong enough to change the course of fate itself."
She said it like someone quoting from memory. Like a textbook, recited by rote.
Kia arched an eyebrow. "So I'm, what, some kind of chosen one?"
"No," Rei said flatly. "Not unless the gods picked you without telling anyone. And no offense, but… you don't exactly radiate destiny."
Kia stared at her. "Yeah, well. I left my 'Chosen One' badge in my other hoodie."
"What's a hoodie?"
Her lips didn't quite smile.
But they twitched.
Kia gestured around the crumbling hall. "So… kingdoms just summon people like me? That's actually a thing?"
"It used to be," Rei replied, her voice calm but distant. "Hundreds of years ago, back in the Age of Burning Thrones, summoning heroes was common. Entire wars were fought over who could summon the strongest one. It was chaos."
Kia raised an eyebrow. "And then it stopped?"
"It stopped when the last Great Hero appeared." Rei's gaze drifted toward the broken runes beneath their feet. "She ended the war. Then declared hero summoning forbidden. And she had the power to make sure it stayed that way. Wiped the knowledge of the spell from every kingdom that used it."
Her expression darkened. "Or so we thought."
Kia followed her gaze to the faded circle carved into the stone. "So this was… leftover magic?"
"Looks like it. A collapsed kingdom. An old summoning formation buried under rubble. Somehow, still active after all this time." She gave him a sidelong look. "And you walked right into it."
"I didn't walk into anything. I was literally lying in bed."
Rei tilted her head slightly. "Your body, maybe. But your soul? It was probably pulled the moment the circle reacted."
Kia's stomach twisted.
The word soul shouldn't have carried that much weight, but the way she said it made his skin crawl.
"…Okay," he said slowly. "Next question. How do I get back?"
She didn't respond right away.
Instead, she crouched beside him, her expression softening just slightly.
"You can't."
The words struck harder than he expected.
"Can't as in… no one's figured it out yet? Or—"
"Can't," Rei said firmly. "As in no one ever has. Hero summoning is a one-way spell. Even if someone still knew how to cast it—which they don't—you'd need an anchor in your world. Something strong enough to pull you back."
She paused. "And I doubt that exists anymore."
Kia felt the air thicken in his chest.
No anchor. No return.
"So I'm stuck," he said quietly.
Rei nodded once.
"For good."
Another nod.
Kia let out a breathless laugh. It sounded strange, hollow. "Wow. Not even a goodbye message. Not even a last slice of pizza. Just—poof. Into a magic circle like some background NPC."
Rei stood and brushed the dust off her cloak. "Look… I get it. This wasn't supposed to happen. But you're here now. And unless you want to die cold and alone in these ruins, you'll have to come with us."
"…Us?"
"Me and Kaela," she said simply. "We're adventurers."
She turned to walk, then paused and looked back over her shoulder.
"You coming, or not?"