Chapter 1: What???

Eric Bird is in Ms. Knight's math class. He's minding his own business watching YouTube on his phone when:

*SLAM*

"Mr. Bird, I don't think that's what you're supposed to be doing right now…" Ms. Knight sighs. "Here, let me help you out."

Ms. Knight snatches Eric's phone out of his hand before he can put it away and tells him, "You can get it back after class".

Eric scowls and slumps down in his chair and stares at the floor. His friend Jerald leans and whispers "Bro, you're fucking stupid. She stood in front of your desk for like a solid minute" while snickering.

"Shuddup" Eric mutters and gives Jerald the bird.

Then silence. No teacher talking, no students whispering, no annoying Jerald just… silence. Eric blinks in confusion and looks up to find himself in a pristine white hallway with smooth pearl-looking floors.

Eric spins around in confusion, looking at his surroundings. To his left is a short hallway that ends after twenty feet and to his right are two completely identical white doors with round black handles.

"Um, Jerald?!" Eric yells. "Did you drug me or something?". Eric glances around again. "B-Bro this isn't funny…"

"What the fuck is happening?!" Eric questions the air.

He slowly walks up to the door on his right and twists the black door knob. He pulls it open, and it doesn't make a noise opening, unlike Eric who gasps in surprise at what greets him on the other side.

What it looks like to Eric is a market, a market filled with weird bi-pedal creatures. Blue people with fins on their heads and gills on their necks, weird dark orange-skinned people whose faces look like they were folded several times with black glassy eyes, he counts over ten different looking creatures. He sees a few humans in the crowd, too.

Eric stood, frozen in fear, at a couple of hairy people walking directly at him. But they don't seem to see him. Eric slams the door shut.

"This isn't happening… there's no way something this cool is happening to me!" Eric cracks a smile.

Well, now Eric's curious. He walks over to the left door, grips the handle, swings the door open, and is greeted with a… forest? It looks like any ordinary forest.

"Well, that's underwhelming. Okay, I have to think about this rationally. I'm guessing that the forest is safer than the foreign market. For one, I doubt they would even know English. Secondly - wait, why am I even explaining myself?"

Eric steps through the door and onto the forest ground. Eric turns around and looks at where the door used to be, only to find the door gone.

"I should have expected this. Oh well, I'll figure something out… probably,"

Eric shrugs and starts walking in a random direction. He walks for what he thinks is a few hours, having to take a quick break every 30 minutes.

Eric is not what you would call fit. He was overweight and never exercised or played sports. At one point, he took his hoodie off and tied it around his waist.

A few minutes after dusk, Eric sees a gravel road. He speeds up a bit and steps onto the road. Looking in both directions, he spots nothing and follows the road.

Eric notices it isn't as dark as it should be for nighttime and looks up. He spots two moons right next to each other. They both glow a soft blue, illuminating the night two times better than on earth.

"I'm definitely not on earth anymore," Eric smiles.

Eric didn't have any family on earth. His parents both died in a car accident when he was young and nobody in his extended family wanted to adopt him so he was thrown into the system where he eventually ended up in a group home.

Eric's only friend was Jerald as he is very antisocial and hates talking with people. Jerald is probably the only one whos going to miss him. Eric feels bad a bit but he's sure Jerald would be happy if he knew his predicament.

I mean he's in a mystical world!!

Since Eric is zoned out he doesn't notice the medieval-era wagon parked in the middle of the road until it's sixty feet in front of him. Eric walks faster when he sees that the wagon's doors are open and there are people on the ground.

Eric runs over to the first person and kneels over them. A man is face-down on the ground. Eric flips him over, getting something wet on his hand. The man looks to be in his fifties with a red-stained beard and mustache, but what Eric notices is the arrow sticking out of his throat.

Eric jumps back in surprise and disgust and lands on his ass. He tries to hold in his vomit as he attempts to wipe the blood off his hand. Eric's throat burns as he swallows back the bile and runs to hide behind a tree.

After a few minutes of hiding and not seeing the ones who murdered the man, Eric steps out from behind the tree and walks back over to the man. He looks away as he pulls the man's coat off and puts it over the man's head.

As he moves the coat, a card that looks a lot like an I.D falls out of its pocket. After Eric covers the man's body he picks up the I.D. Instead of being in English, it looks very similar to Hebrew. It's a white card with a light blue trim.

But for some reason, Eric can read the language. It's like as soon as he lays his eyes on the letters, they translate into English. The man on the ground's name is William. Eric is flabbergasted for a second at the fact he could read a language he's never seen before, then remembers he's surrounded by dead people.

Eric shakes his head and walks over to the other body he notices how small it is. It's most likely a child from its size and he decides to check its pulse just in case it's alive.

Without looking at the body he puts his index and middle finger on the child's neck, feeling its cold skin and lack of pulse he pulls away and decides to check the wagon.

He notices a purse and with a bit of guilt, rifles through it. He finds a little sack filled with copper and silver coins. He puts those in his pocket and doesn't find anything else interesting.

He steps back out of the wagon and sees a trail of smashed bushes and broken sticks.

"... well at least I know where the attackers went."

Eric didn't plan on going after them, but the purse means that there was probably a woman. He didn't like the idea of abandoning a person whose life is in danger.

Eric wasn't stupid, he knew he would most likely die if he follows them. He has been in a couple of fights, only one being bloody. And even then the attackers are most definitely armed, while Eric isn't.

Eric glances at Williams's corpse again and sees a sword on his hip. Eric crouches down and pulls the belt and sword off of Williams's body.

"I'm going to avenge you, William. I may not have known you, but this is just sick." Eric growls out the last words and starts following the trail left by the attackers.

From what Eric can tell this world is a fantasy one. People using wagons, swords, and bows signify that this world is severely lacking in technology.

So, he would not be all that surprised if the attackers were cultists or monsters. But what monsters use bows? The first ones to come into Eric's mind are goblins. Ugly, green, tiny men, AKA goblins, are a pretty common fantasy trope.

After an hour or so of Eric speed-walking through the forest, he comes across a clearing. The entrance to a small cave lies ten feet in front of him.

Eric crouches down and slowly makes his way toward the mouth of the cave, trying to avoid sticks and leaves. The cave's entrance is about five foot-eight inches tall and about three feet wide.

Eric is five foot ten so he has to duck down a bit to get in.

"So… definitely not bigger people." Eric looks at the trail of blood and gulps.

His hands shake a bit as he pulls the sword off his belt and Eric steps into the cave.