The world had plunged into chaos. Cities lay in ruins, skies swirled with unnatural colors, and the very fabric of reality bent and twisted under the whims of so-called "superior beings." Without warning, every human on Earth had been ripped from their homes and cast into a strange, fantastical realm—where dragons patrolled the skies, orcs thundered through the forests, elves leapt like shadows among the treetops, and every creature of myth and story now roamed freely. Civilization, as anyone once knew it, had evaporated overnight.
"Another day… another workday. Great. JUST GREAT!!"
Yuki's voice rang through his cramped apartment, brimming more with exasperation than anger. He snapped his laptop shut with a sharp clack, the sound falling flat against the silence around him. Dragging in a deep breath, he tried to steady himself.
"Okay, okay… it's not like I can do anything about it… unless…" His eyes widened, a flicker of rebellion sparking to life.
"I RESIGN!!"
With a sudden burst of energy, Yuki sprang from his bed, flinging the blanket aside with theatrical flair. He twirled around his cramped room as if already savoring the taste of freedom. Why had he been working so hard anyway? His parents sent him a generous allowance—more than enough to scrape by—and yet he chained himself daily to a keyboard, drowning in pointless emails and monotonous tasks. A break wasn't just tempting—it was long overdue.
Minutes later, he stood dressed in his neatly pressed uniform. The fabric felt stiff against his arms, but today he wore it like armor, a symbol of resolve. Strutting down the stairs of his apartment building, he carried himself with the exaggerated confidence of a man about to change his destiny. A cheerful tune hummed from his lips, his thoughts already leaping ahead to the delicious satisfaction of telling his boss exactly what he thought.
But fate had no intention of letting him have the last word.
Without warning, the ground convulsed beneath Yuki's feet, rattling his building as though it were no more than a child's toy. Plates clattered violently in the kitchen, walls groaned under the strain, and a deep, ominous rumble reverberated through the air. It felt like an earthquake—strong enough to measure on a scale—yet the tremors were uneven, wrong, more like the world itself was writhing in agony.
Yuki staggered, clutching the railing with white-knuckled desperation, his heart hammering in his chest.
"Wh-what the hell—what's happening?!" His voice cracked, swallowed by the chaos around him. Furniture crashed to the floor, and the very air grew heavy, charged with a suffocating tension that made every breath feel like a struggle.
Then, through the chaos, a faint glow flickered into existence—a small, translucent panel suspended in midair, pulsing with a soft blue light. Yuki froze, eyes wide, as the surface rippled like liquid glass, strange runic symbols twisting and reshaping themselves as though alive. It hovered there, silent yet insistent, as if waiting only for him.
[Get ready~]
The playful message shimmered across the panel, far too casual for the apocalyptic moment. Yuki's breath hitched. He didn't even have time to blink, to question, to reach out. A cold sensation seized him, slicing down his spine. His skin prickled, his chest hollowed, and in the blink of an eye his body no longer felt like his own. Weightless. Untethered. Vanishing.
"W-what… what's happening?!" Yuki screamed, panic clawing up his throat. Yet no sound came out. His mouth moved, but silence swallowed everything. His arms thrashed wildly, flailing in the hollow space where his body should have been, grasping at air that no longer answered to him.
In that instant, the world he had known—mundane, frustrating, safe in its predictability—was torn away. The fantasy he once daydreamed about, the rebellion against his work, even the simple comfort of his home… all of it shattered in a single, merciless moment.
Yuki's reality splintered. And the adventure that awaited him… was no longer just a dream.