Chapter 2 Instead of Becoming an Adventurer I Chose to Fish

“I think he’s waking up.” That was the first thing I heard.

“So it was probably just his body’s version of combat enhancers. Probably was flooded with them, and when we finally showed up the pressure eased, causing a crash.”

Finally, I had the strength to open my eyes, seeing that we were now on board the flying ship. The wind whipped my hair and stung my eyes.

The people who were supporting me stopped when they felt that I was now standing on my own. Only one of them stayed with me, the others leaving.

I stepped towards the railing to get a better look towards the ground. Everything that I had ever had was there, now completely destroyed. Only ruble seem to remain. Tears started to run down my face. I didn’t wipe them; it just didn’t feel right.

In the rubble I saw my dog. For a moment I hoped, but no, she was dead.

“What the fuck is happening?” I didn’t just say it out loud to get the frustration out; this question was directed towards the person still standing next to me.

“What’s happening is the end of your world. I am sorry.”

I looked towards the one standing beside me. He was a bit shorter than me but otherwise looked completely human.

“I’m going to need more than that. Has there always been a secret magical world hidden here, and if so why didn’t you do anything to stop this?”

Even as I was saying it, what I said didn’t make any sense. Magic shouldn’t be real, but I was saying it. At least I think it was magic that was making things go crazy like this.

“No such thing here, I promise you. Otherwise things wouldn’t be so bad. It’s mostly just unconfirmed guesses on what’s happening, but this is the way it was explained to me. Your world and every other world with life slowly ascends closer and closer to a realm that is purely filled with mana.”

He looked at me, trying to figure out if he needed to explain anything he had just said, but it seemed like he was satisfied enough to continue.

“Usually, this process is gradual. The world becomes slowly more saturated with mana as it rises up. As the mana density rises it start to change the live on that world.”

He pointed towards the largest scar way in the distance, stretching impossibly large. The inside of that thing made me shiver. It was like it was trying to draw me in, promising eternal glory and eternal pain, but somehow it was enticing.

My head was forcefully turned away from it.

“Yeah, don’t look at that too long. It wouldn’t end well.” he said after a few moments, as I finally managed to shake whatever that was. I nodded and he continued.

“That scar isn’t what normally happens, although it has been recorded happening before. For some reason your world got way too close to the mana realm. Now from that scar that stretches halfway across this worlds sky, a flood of mana rushes in changing everything.”

There was a moment of pause as I tried to understand what that meant.

“So we are doomed?”

“Most likely this planet will not survive, and I mean that literally. There have been plenty of cases where such a scar has torn a planet apart.”

That made me look at him to see if he was actually telling the truth. I counted myself as one of the few who could actually tell if people were lying, but I couldn’t tell anything about his true intentions.

“But don’t despair. We are here to help as many of you as we can. In fact, you are one of the reasons we’re here. Those system messages you got the blue screens. If enough people get them, the system gets enough of a present here to manifest a system obelisk. The more of them there are, the easier it is for us to find this planet and travel here.”

He then pointed towards the other side of the ship. On the horizon I saw a large portal open up with another ship like this one coming through it.

There were so many questions I wanted to ask. My mouth stayed silent, while at the same time grief wanted to bury me. I was barely able to keep functioning.

For some reason, everyone on board seemed truly dangerous to me, and this ship seemed even more dangerous. Were they just collecting slaves, or did they come to plunder what’s left of our world?

I was led down below into what looked like a cargo area modified to transport people. I wasn’t alone down here, there were a few others, some in beds missing arms or even legs. A few of them seemed familiar; they were probably from the village near here.

For a moment I thought of speaking, but all of them had the dead-eyed look I probably had. What I did was just sit in a corner staring without actually ever properly seeing anything.

Time went by, and more and more people were brought down here. Some tried to speak to me, but I didn’t want to speak to any of them. I didn’t recognize them anyway.

I do not know how long it was, but eventually the ship seemed to land. Those of us who could walk were led up, others were taken more carefully. They seemed to respect us at least, perhaps they were trying to maintain a helpful image.

Outside, we found that we were surrounded by more ships, all of them landed on specially built docks that seemed to be perfect for these types of ships.

Looking around, I was amazed to see that we were inside some sort of fort. One of the walls was only half done, so I could see outside, there were hundreds of people fighting what seemed like hordes of monsters.

More ships were taking off and landing, bringing more people. We were led to a large open area and sorted. The wounded going one way, and we who were healthy were led the other way into a large courtyard. There was a huge structure on one side that looked like a house with only the supporting pillars built. A lot of it seemed to be built with precious metals like gold and silver.

Some tried to run when they saw it. No one stopped them exactly, but people did run after them. Some of the people who were herding us were trying to assure us that nothing bad was happening. Most of them I couldn’t read, but some seemed genuine. Were they really just helping us.

Then we heard the voice. It seemed to be talking next to us, but also to everyone.

“This is never an easy situation, but I assure you, you are in no danger. Your world is being flooded with mana. This is changing the very essence of this world, but more specifically, a lot of the animals and plants are rapidly mutating into monsters.”

“Usually this is a slow process, but you were not so lucky. Behind me is a gateway that will take you to another world, a safer one. We are the Adventurers Guild, and I promise you, all of you will be taken care of to the best of our capabilities.”

“Usually these types of evacuations are not so swift, but we simply don’t have any options here, as this is one of the worst mana apocalypses we have seen.”

“Please do not be afraid, nothing bad will happen to you.”

The moment the voice stopped, a huge portal opened up. It was big enough for an entire airship to get through, and just a moment later one did fly through. I wondered why they looked so similar to old sailing ships.

“Please move towards the gateway. This world is not safe.”

Punctuating those words were several loud bird shrieks. Everyone looked in the direction the sound came from. There was a flock there heading this way. For a moment I thought they were close to us, but they weren’t, the birds were just massive in size.

Multiple ships that were docked quickly took off, heading towards the birds. I did not wish to see if they would succeed or not, so I started to push forward, trying to escape the coming death.

Others started to realise that we were in danger as well, but before mass panic set in the ship that had come through the portal opened fire. Beams of light burst from the ship hitting many of the birds, killing some instantly while others took enough damage to start to fall.

I looked at the ship. It was bigger than the others and seemed to radiate more power. I guessed that they were bringing in the big guns when they realised how bad the situation here was.

“Please don’t rush or you will trample others. You are going to a safe world. It will be quite close to the world you had just a tiny bit more magical. You will get more information there about what’s happening.”

The fighting in the sky continued and it seemed like the adventurer guild was winning. More and more of us made it to the gateway. I hesitated only for a moment and then stepped through. It was like the entire sense of what I was changed as I stepped on the other side.

This world felt so different. The gravity was different, the air was different, my inner ear popped but swallowing made them return to normal. Everything also seemed to have a different vibration to it.

“Please move and clear the way for others!” someone yelled. That snapped me out of it and I started to walk again before someone could crash into me.

I looked towards the sky to find a normal-looking sun that was just about to set. The sky was also blue. The buildings around here looked like they were made out of wood. There didn’t seem to be any street lights either, at least not electrical ones.

The excitement of being in a different world dimmed as I remembered what had happened. It was like all the joy was sucked out of me. Once again I simply followed the flow. There must’ve been at least a few hundred of us that were led to this new world.

We were given food and new clothing. A lot of people asked about their family members. The people here promised to get a list of the names of the survivors, but that it will take time.

We also had to give our names. I gave my real one, Ray Wilson, just in case someone wanted to find me, but I didn’t think there would be any.

Seeing the worried faces on everyone trying to find their family members, for the first time it felt like a good thing that I didn’t have any proper family left. What a morbid thought.

Those who wanted to could go and shower, but I wasn’t that dirty. I did change my clothes to the simple gray sweatpants and sweatshirts they offered.

What I wanted more was sleep. I was directed towards a bunkhouse and told to pick any bed I wanted. Sleep eluded me for a bit, but then I realised I still held the broken fishing rod.

Hugging it tightly, the last true reminder of my home helped me finally find some sleep.