Chapter 1 - Ortus

In a single moment, the skies tore open. Pillars of light engulfing the land in its fiery blast. People panicked, running away from the vicinity as quickly as they could, but despite their desperation and cries of help, the pillar didn't care as its flame rushed at the fleeing citizens, devouring them whole.

A single moment.

Only a single moment was all it took for the world to break into chaos.

In the aftermath of this event, mass cases of disappearances had swarmed police stations, news outlets and social media. People asking if they have seen any of their loved ones, whether it be children, spouses, siblings or parents; the whole world cried for their family to be returned to them.

But who could help them?

Their leaders? They were just as lost and defeated as their citizens. What about the scientists? They've never encountered such a phenomenon before though, what could they do? Could anyone help?

Simple: no.

Nobody could. Nobody on Earth could fathom the unexpected event, not one soul.

So, with their world recovering from the disaster, only a single question was shared amongst the leftover denizens of Earth.

Where did everyone go?

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Within the world of Ortus, among the dancing fields, not too far off the grand city, Esteria, was the appropriately named village built on both sides of a running river, Riverbank.

This village was hailed for its bountiful harvest, as well as expert craftsmen of wood art. So it was no surprise to the residents that an abundant amount of the kingdom's people came to them to buy food or decoration.

However one day, the village was visited by two people loitering at the entrance. Checking out who they were, the citizens gasped upon laying their eyes on them.

The two wore clothes that the villagers have never seen before, they were colourful, tight at certain parts and was just all around, odd. They spoke an unknown language, but the two were clearly in a panic, sweat dripping off their faces and gestures that were all over the place.

Though wary, one of the villagers approached the two and attempted to communicate, but their visitors just tilted their heads to the side and blankly stared at the villager.

Others tried to communicate via movement, but even then very little could be conveyed. This lack of communication led to both parties just standing still and staring at each other.

Eventually though, the village head arrived and took hold of the situation. He too tried to communicate in various ways but had as much success as his citizens. Though despite the inability to verbally communicate, the head could tell they were not dangerous.

He turned to the villagers and in a loud voice said, "Do not fret everyone, they mean no harm. They are more lost if anything."

Taking the chief's words to heart the villagers began to disperse, leaving the chief with the two bewildered young adults.

"Alright you two, come." He signalled them to follow him before walking off.

The pair shared a reluctant glance but decided to follow anyways. They were taken inside the village where the two proceeded to look at the surrounding buildings.

Everywhere they looked all they could see were large hut looking houses, made from stone and hay for rooves. There were also some that looked more lavishing, completely made of stone with some wooden windows.

It was a quaint little place, with fields of golden wheat and rows of green trees, all bearing colourful fruits.

Children giggled and laughed as they ran through the two, waving little sticks around.

Although he couldn't understand when they spoke, the chief could tell the two were enjoying their stay when he heard them giggle behind him.

The group then arrived at a small cottage situated right in the middle of the village. The chief invited them in and urged them to sit down.

He then began to attempt to talk to them again this time using pictures, it took a couple of tries but eventually, they managed to communicate something. Mainly that they're not from around Riverbank, which was a given.

With nowhere to go the chief allowed the two to stay at the village, as well as study their languages and customs, just so they can get started. When they're not studying the two would work on some miscellaneous tasks around the village: from helping tend to crops to even repair some houses, the two did it all just to give back to the people who openly let them stay with them.

After some more learning, they could finally communicate and they introduced themselves as Rio and Sora. Unfortunately that's all they could convey early on. It took some time, but at long last, they became fluent enough that they managed to explain their origins being outside Ortus. It was hard to swallow, but it lined up from their lack of knowledge about Ortus and their odd looks; still, it was unbelievable.

Though the ones who were even more whiplashed were the outworlders themselves. Apparently, in their world, things such as magic or magical creatures were only told in books, believed to be fantasy. This led to the hilarious scene of the two freezing in place, jaws to the floor when they laid eyes on a travelling caravan of beastmen swung by the village for trade.

"Do you not have beastmen in your world?"

Rio stuttered as he collected his thoughts together, before bluntly stating: "We don't, but we sure have people dress up as one."

This went on for every race and the entire village concluded that their world must've loved other races.

That, or they just really love the idea of cat-girls and elves.

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On another occasion, some children from the village made their way to the woods where they spotted a makeshift campsite, not too far from the entrance.

The children were excited, thinking it was an adventurer's abandoned camp and there could be some treasure left behind.

However, when they took a closer look, it wasn't really the definition of an adventurer's camp, the tent was a mish-mash of tarps all stitched together, their seats were to logs lying on its side. The only thing living in the site was a campfire slowly emitting the last of its smoke into the atmosphere.

Taking note of the location, the children returned to the village and told their parents, which in turn made the families tell their village head.

Worried that some raiders may have set up camp near them, the villagers proposed to issue a lookout to alert them of any danger. But after taking into account that the children said it was barren, the folks realised to whom the campsite may have belonged to.

The only two who didn't have a house in their village.

Speaking of the two, a hard day of work always warrants a nice sleep on one's bed. Though for Rio and Sora, that meant returning to the nice hard ground. It wasn't as though they wanted to, but asking for a home while the village already provided so much, just didn't sit well with them. So with the little scraps they've scavenged, the two managed to live a somewhat comfortable life in the nearby woods.

A crying shame when they were caught and was quickly interrogated by the villagers.

"What were you two thinking?!"

"It's dangerous out there!"

"What about your health?!"

"Surely you two can't be satisfied with that."

Of course, the two tried to explain their reasoning for living in such a state, but they couldn't even get a word in due to the fact they were constantly being cut off by someone.

It was endless, with everyone saying something different to the two about their living conditions. It even turned physical! The villagers grabbed the two outworlders and hauled them away as if they were being paraded only to then be cooked.

However the two didn't need to fear a thing because their destination wasn't going to be a stake; but instead, it was actually a house situated at the outskirts of the village.

It looked far more lavishing than the rest of the houses in the village. It was larger, more polished and had a mixture of stone and wood as materials. The house had a front garden, with healthy soil ready to be used.

This was a house that was too lavishing for the outworlders to receive. Turning to the villagers, the two outworlders tried to politely refuse but they were quickly refuted by the rest, urging them to take residence.

Even the chief joined in, stating it was an abandoned property so it was better to give it away rather than continue to let it rot.

That night, the two moved into their new home with everything they had in the camp. Which mainly consisted of the clothes on their backs, their giant tarp and some books they used to study about Ortus.

They didn't have much and honestly, that was for the best when it came to moving.

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Years go by and the outworlders continued to live their lives in Riverbank with relative ease, but elsewhere other kingdoms also had their fair share of outworlders.

In the capital city, Esteria, a squadron of knights are all lined up in front of their newly appointed lieutenant. A silver-haired girl who rose up the ranks in a stupendous fashion. Her strength was nearly unmatched, her kindness radiating towards her peers and her determination ever-burning like the sun.

"Attention!" she ordered.

Her knights then stiffened, raising their heads towards their new leader.

"Our mission, to apprehend a group of raiders southwest of the city. They've been causing a ruckus and it has now come to the point we cannot ignore them. Do whatever it takes to ensure that they are stopped. Also note this: they have hunter wolves, so be vigilant at all times. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!"

The lieutenant nodded. "Ready yourselves, we leave soon."

With that, the lieutenant leaves the soldiers and goes to prepare herself for their objective.

Elsewhere, a red ship was docked in the middle of a calm, azure sea. On it were several men and women were running around the deck with crates and barrels in their hands.

Watching over them was their captain, a young woman with crimson hair tied into twin tails.

"Make sure nothing is broken every one, these are special orders!" she shouted at the crew.

"Yes cap'n!"

With her crew working on carrying their load, the pirate captain then unravelled a piece of paper, on it was the map of Ortus with multiple crosses and circles scattered across it.

"Right, let's get going. Set Sail!"