The Nexus

"Pbzzzzzz."

My vision comes back to me, and I'm once again hurled to the ground from a couple feet in the air. This is the third time today that I have been unceremoniously battered into the floor upon entering an unknown location. I'm annoyed, but at least it didn't hurt this time...

I feel an energy surge into my body that produces a tingling feeling, similar to when I drink the health potions. Upon exiting the portal, I had heard a loud buzz, sounding comparable to something like a high-voltage Tesla coil, now I'm lying on my stomach, face down on a smooth-stone flooring of some kind. I can't see anything else right now for... reasons apparent.

"Pbzzzzzz."

My menu is still up, so I look at my health bar to assure myself that I'm not gonna die anymore. It reads [HP: 126/126]. I sigh in relief and decide to spend a little bit more time just resting here, unknowing, uncaring, about any potential dangers in front of me. The magical words said that the Nexus was safe; I will take its words for it.

I continue to rest on the ground for what feels like a couple minutes, a godsent couple minutes. Now that I can process some information better, I look at my inventory to see what I grabbed from the brown bag Bonegrind dropped.

What I discover catches my interest. It appears like I was able to snag myself one more health potion and one more magic potion. I also take the time to look at the silver ring with a red gem that I vaguely remember equipping. It reads...

[Ring of Vitality T1

Ring: Can Be Equipped

A ruby set in a silver ring.

On Equip: +3 Vitality

Feed Power: 20]

It's not too long after I finish looking at the ring that I hear the sound of multiple shoes, both hard and soft, thumping against the ground in front of me. The thumping comes to a halt, and I hear someone clear their throat before a masculine voice questions, "A little late, don't you think...? And alone, where are the others? Are they still coming?"

Words from a foreign language are all that I hear, but for some strange reason, I can understand them. I don't respond right away. Instead, I keep my head down on the comfortably uncomfortable rocky surface, and I just keep breathing.

"Hello! Are you in there!" the guy inquires.

I hear other voices whispering to each other, and I can also hear distant talking and even the birds and insects chirping.

Sighing in annoyance, I respond in a questioning groan. "What? Who?"

"You! Where are the others that you were with?" He asks again, louder this time.

I don't respond right away because I'm confused. I had tried to say, 'What? Who?' in English, but all that came out is what I think to be, 'Sri'gaer?' and for some odd reason, I'm absolutely sure that I said 'What? Who?'

"What others? You mean the chickens?" My voice comes out a bit muffled and in the alien language again.

"What? No? Humans. There were others with you when you entered the Kitchen, don't you remember?" He sounded confused at first but then continued questioning.

I take a bit of time to think and continue resting before responding with, "There were no others unless you're talking about the guards, but they weren't exactly friends."

There is a pause for a good couple of seconds before I hear a different voice ask out, "What do you mean there were no others? Did you complete the Kitchen alone, or did you teleport back early?" Her voice sounds older and coarse.

I finally lift my head to look at my would-be interrogators. I have to squint due to the positioning of the Sun, but I am easily able to make out eight or so figures, two closer to me than the others. The two in front of me, one male and one female, were garbed in golden plate armor, of differing degrees of shininess, while the six behind them were outfitted in chain and plate mail and leather boots. Each of them was wielding either a sword or a long polearm. Neither the armor nor weapons seemed to have any level of synchronization, and all looked slightly different or were just outright made of varying materials altogether.

The man in super shiny gold in front of me has a full brown beard, and the hair on his head seems to stand tall, neither long nor short. He looks young, perhaps in his mid to late twenties, and is holding a long iron-like shafted halberd with pitch-black blades at my throat.

The woman to his right has a darker set of gold plates adorning her body. She has either blonde or white hair, I can't really tell, and it's held together in a tail. Her face is aged, looking to be in her late 40s or maybe even late 50s, perhaps 60s; I'm not good with ages. In her hand is a golden hilted blade, and on her hip is an ivory white scabbard. Neither of them is wearing any head protection.

The six behind are decked out in silver and dark-grey plate mail or just chainmail. I can't make out the facial features much, but half are using big long pokey sticks while the other half are holding swords. Five of them are wearing helmets, but one of the men is not. Every single one of them is currently pointing their weapons at me.

I answer back with, "Teleport? No, I completed the Kitchen, I think. But I didn't do it alone; the chickens helped me." I move my head away from the blade at my neck a little bit with a frown. Not appreciating the hostility in the slightest.

"The chickens helped you... right?" The man jumps back into the conversation, asking me, before looking towards his companion.

I don't think he was actually asking me, but rather trying to get a confirmation of my insanity, but I respond anyway. "Yes, the chickens led me through the Kitchen. They are probably the only reason why I'm still alive."

After saying that, we all just stand... or lay in silence for a bit before they each yield their weapons. The pitch-black blade is finally moved away from my head, and that calms me down tremendously. I decide that I'm done lounging around, and I start to stand back up. The man rushes forward to help and does so by lifting me up with a surprising amount of strength and speed. He's a bit taller and looks buff, but not that buff; I'm 140 pounds after all.

He pats me on the shoulder with a smile once I'm all standing and stabilized. Now that I'm standing, I notice that the tears in my robes have been fixed, and there are no more bloodstains; how peculiar.

The man turns to the rest of the group and shouts, "Rest easy. You can all go back to your stations!"

He then tells the woman in gold, "Marell, you stay here. Send word if any more strangers arrive."

Marell nods her head and moves towards a nearby bench to sit and wait. A little strange if you ask me. I believe that these guys are probably guards, so to see one rest, unguarded, while on duty is interesting to see.

The man turns towards me and says, "Let's walk." while gesturing for me to follow.

He turns back around and walks off the large smooth-stone stage we were standing on. Since I am no longer distracted by the happenings of the guards, I take a quick glance at the scenery before walking.

Starting from where I am, I'm situated between four water fountains made out of pristine white marble, long obelisks shooting out of their bottoms. There is a floating red gem gently spinning and rocking above each of the obelisks. Surrounding each fountain are a couple dark red benches. Lively green potted bushes are decorating the perimeter around the fountains as well. There are four separate paths to take off the stage, each in a cardinal direction, I'm guessing.

I start to follow the golden armored man off of the platform.

The stage I was standing on was just two steps off the main ground. Now standing on one of the paths, I see a long white smooth-stone road in front of me. There are many, many people I see standing about in little cliques or walking down the path. Some are entering the different signed buildings I see surrounding the stone road or entering the alleyways in between if there is space.

I don't see any litter on the ground and everyone is, uhh, nicely dressed? If that is how I should put it. Most are walking around in plain clothes, just like the ones I had obtained in the tutorial. Some are in fancy robes like me, and others look like mercenaries or the guards I see standing around, but they don't have the same feel. It all looks like I'm in one of the main cities of a popular Fantasy MMO. Some people seem to be walking around cluelessly, or they might even be outright lost.

I reach the side of the man who told me to follow, and I ask him, "Where are we?"

He continues to walk forwards without looking at me and says, "The Nexus."

I nod my head because I already knew that, and I say. "Yeah, but like, where? Am I even still on Earth anymore?"

"Earth? Is that the realm you come from...?" He finally looks at me and takes a breath.

I'm about to respond, but I'm stopped when he continues with, "No. You are not in Earth Realm anymore. We are currently in the Realm between Realms, and we call this Realm the Nexus. The Nexus has kept us safe from Oryx's tyrannies, for now. But that's why you're here."

We continue walking. I can smell the scent of bread as we pass a bakery named "Boe's & Blee's Breading." I stare at it while I try to think of what to ask, but while I'm thinking, I notice a person with green skin and black hair standing at the doorway of the bakery.

"Hey! That person has green skin! Oww!" I exclaim in surprise, but I immediately get punched in my right arm by a golden fist.

The man looks at me with a face bordering confusion, annoyance, and disgust, all at the same time. He tells me, "Not everyone is Human like you and me. I presume that there were no peoples of difference in the Earth Realm?"

"No?" I respond and question, not quite sure what 'peoples of difference' exactly means.

"Well, get used to it, and fast. I've gotten reports of prejudical violence and harassment amongst you newcomers against peoples of difference. A few of you summons have already been... deleted." He ominously warns.

"Deleted? Summons? What does that even mean?" I'm actually concerned. Deleted? Summons?

We continue walking for a bit down the path before he answers. "Ten Thousand of our most prestigious summoners conducted a grand-ritual to summon ten billion persons from your realm to this one as heroes. You are expected to aid us in our quest of removing, Oryx from power. A couple of your people have acted aggressively against our people, and we have since removed them from existence."

"Ten billion! Why do you even need ten billion of us for that? I'm not even sure if there were ten billion humans on Earth." I ask in shock.

"Well, that would explain why many of our summoners survived the ritual then. Thanks for the important information. Do you know how many of you were in Earth Realm?" The man asks while thanking me.

"Uhhh... Like seven or eight billion. I don't know." I'm unsure of the exact number; wasn't it like 7.6 or something. I'm probably wrong; I didn't care beforehand. I still don't.

We keep walking. I suddenly realize that I don't know the man's name or where he is taking me, so I ask, "Oh, by the way, what's your name. I still don't know it yet."

He responds with, "Emani. What's yours?"

"Marcus Griff... Emaniiii...?" I respond, and I fish for the last name.

"Just, Emani, but that's not your real name, so what is it?" He accuses me of lying.

I shake my head in confusion while responding with, "Uhh, mm, mm, Wa-What? My name's Marcus Griff. I'm not lying about that."

Emani stops and looks at me with a pointed glare. He says in a stern tone, "No, your name is not Marcus Griff," and then, he once again asks, "What's your name?"

"I'm not lying!" I start to yell.

"Yes, you are!" He yells back.

I suddenly remember my time back in that dark, void room where I was asked to choose a name. I think back to the last thing I inputted, and I remember what it is.

I say, albeit embarrassingly, "I think I know it now; my name is Momasjeejj."

Emani looks at me like I'm an idiot and laughs while saying, "What type of name is Momasjeejj...!" He takes a second to catch his breath before following up with, "But no, your name is not Momasjeejj."

"Huh? I... I don't know then." Now I'm seriously perplexed.

He tilts his head to the side and remains silent. I opt to do the same while standing around rather awkwardly.

After a bit of time passes, he randomly comes back to life and says, "Give me your shoes."

"What? No, I know how this goes; you can't have my shoes." I respond with a perplexed smile and a chuckle in my voice.

He gives me a confused stare and then restates, "Give me your shoes." But in a much more serious tone this time.

I frown and nod, acquiescing this time, and I bend down to unstrap my sandals.

Emani continues the conversation with, "How come you are wearing those sandals rather than the set-piece shoes?"

I had forgotten that I even changed them out, so It takes me a bit of time to come up with a response, "I didn't like the elf shoes."

"Elf shoes? What do the elves have anything to do with your shoes?" He questions me.

"Elves? Elves exist?" I ask

"Yeah... didn't you already know?" He quickly responds.

"Oh, yeah, I totally knew that," I respond sarcastically in a not so sarcastic tone.

"You're lying." He calls me out

I just ignore him, and I bring up my now unstrapped sandal. My right foot, now shoeless, rests against the stone underneath; it's cool to the touch. Emani grabs the sandal and looks at it inquisitively. I prepare myself to chase after him if he decides to run.

After a couple seconds, he passes my sandal back to me and mumbles, "Strange?"

"Hmm?" I murmur back

"Your name is Zero, but I have never heard of a hero with a number for their name, so I find it strange."

So my name is 0? Didn't the screen tell me I can't name myself after numbers? Maybe that's why there were errors, but I swear, I tried to give myself the name Momasjeejj in a panic. Anyway, I strap back on my sandal, and I straighten back up.

"Ready?" Emani asks

"Yeah." I casually respond

---

"Oh, and that's the Crusty Cow, the best hamburger joint in existence. You should give it a try next time you're free." Emani was talking to me enthusiastically and pointing out locales of interest.

Apparently, Emani has been bringing me nowhere in specific for the time being, confirmed my Emani himself once I asked, but he explained that he would take me to someone who should be able to help me. He just wanted to ask me some questions and get familiar with the Nexus before sending me off with them.

I learned that he is an 'Upper-Commander' of the Nexus Militia of District #72, Northwest Region. He had explained that the Nexus is vastly large and that we are only situated in the Northwest region, of which there are ten separate regions. Nine for every cardinal and intermediate direction plus the "Middle Region." The tenth region is called the "Outer Region." Basically, it's all the land outside the super-megalopolis.

The Nexus Militia defends the Nexus from those who wish to do it harm, and they also attack Oryx directly, but since doing so often leads to heavy losses on their side, they had begun losing hope. They decided to summon worthy people from a random 'realm' to help them on their mission as heroes. I don't know how that works because Emani was not able to explain.

If it's true that they brought everyone from Earth here, then I should be able to find my parents and friends, but by playing the sheer number's game, I can tell that the Nexus is HUGE, so I don't know how long that will take. I'm not sure if I have seen any people from Earth yet, or if I did, maybe I just didn't notice them.

We talked about my time in the 'Tutorial,' and he didn't seem interested in the 'Kitchen.' Apparently, the 'Tutorial' is specific to heroes only, and that the natives are not permitted to use it, something Oryx had put into effect to both test and scare off new arrivals.

It's probably only been an hour since I arrived in the Nexus, and I have already learned a lot thanks to Emani. Speaking of Emani, he keeps looking at me with a weird face, like he wants to ask a question but is debating doing so.

---

"English," I say out loud in the alien language.

"What are you doing?" Emani asks.

"English," I say again.

"English, I'm trying to say English." Frustration seeping out in my voice.

"But you are saying English," Emani says the obvious.

"No, I'm trying to say English, in English," I explain.

"Is that your Earth Realm language?" Emani asks.

"Not exactly, but yes, it's my 'Earth Realm language.'" English was not the only language on Earth, I know that, but it's the only one I know how to speak and read in, other than this new one.

Emani keeps walking with me for a bit before revealing, "When you were summoned, you were gifted with the knowledge to speak our native tongue. It would be a problem if you couldn't communicate with us."

I come back with, "But that doesn't explain why I can't speak 'My Native tongue.'"

I keep practicing while we walk. Emani told me he was bringing me to the guide now since he is busy.

"Perhaps it's a mistake on the ritual's part." He remarks and then goes silent.

---

After a really, really long walk, we arrive in front of a multistory homely-looking building with a sign reading "Small Steps Orphanage." We had left what I would like to call the business area of District #72 and are now in a residential area. I don't know how big each district is, but there are one thousand per region, the only exception being the "Outer-Region," which has no form of management.

Emani pats me on the shoulder and tells me to go in after saying, "See ya around, kid..."

"Kid..." I grumble silently to myself

He then takes out a see-through crystal thing and crushes it in his golden gauntlets. I watch him slowly turn into those motes of light I see whenever I defeat something, and they begin to congregate together. His fragments of lights condensed into a ball and sped off into the distant skyline, leaving me standing alone outside the orphanage.

I don't go inside right away; instead, I just watch the things around me. I can see multiple people walking up and down the white-stone street just minding their own business, often in groups. Many kids run up and down the road, playing together or hauling things along. There are also carriages pulled by horses... or lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! I also stand to witness different animals carrying people and/or packs on their backs.

I snap out of my reverie when I feel a tug on my sleeve. I turn around to learn what caused it, and I see a little boy with dark brown hair and green eyes wearing a long blue gown, like my own, minus the color. He can't be older than seven by the looks of him, and he has an inquisitive look on his face.

He's looking up at me and asks. "Aren't you gonna come in?"

He doesn't even wait for a response and tries to start pulling me towards the door to the orphanage. I don't budge at first, but since I don't know what else to do, I just follow along and keep my mouth shut for the time being. He drags me to the entrance door and pushes it open.