Young Writers Society

So. Helena had been taken from her world (through magic? How did that exist?), then brought here to, what, defeat a king that had a bunch of monsters to fight for him? That’s at least what the pirate seemed to say. Helena wasn’t exactly sure what isekai was, but it seemed like some sort of anime. Anime wasn’t Helena’s favorite medium, but Dariel loved it, so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.

And apparently, these were the people she would be fighting with. A guy wrapped in bandages, a pirate complete with a golden hook-hand, a guy with wings (where did he come from?), an actual witch, and now a child. A frickin’ child. And of course Helena was there, a teenage Space-walker who had only fought some law enforcement before.

“What kind of heroes are these?” she demanded, lowering her knife. “I get you said this... summoning, or something, is inaccurate, but look at us.” She gestured to the rest of the group. “Maybe you don’t know this, but...” Helena sucked in a breath. She wasn’t used to telling people, especially strangers personal information. But if she was going to make a point, she had to divulge a little. “I’m fifteen years old. And the most heroic thing I’ve done is... well, beat up some law enforcement. For my own good, not anyone else’s.”

She sighed. “What I’m getting at is that I’m not what you call heroic. And based on what we have? I’d say the majority of the people we have here aren’t heroic, either.” Helena glanced down at the seven-year-old near her. “Especially not the kid.”

Tove, distracted by her incantations, barely registered the arrival of the other heroes. She had to get back to Da before he left. She had to, she had to.
She was nearly at the end of her tether when a sharp ringing hit her ears. She looked up as the final words of her last incantation left her lips and saw a deep purple portal opening above her. Her eyes widened in shock. It had worked? It had actually worked! A grin spread across her face as tears of relief blurred her vision, and she felt her feet leave the ground.

Tove turned her gaze to the people around her as she rose. "I don't have time," she informed them, not caring if they didn't understand. "I have to get back. Good luck!" She turned her gaze back up to the portal and reached up with her staff. There was an intense amount of pressure surrounding her as wind roared in her ears.

And then she was gone.

The moment the supposedly child-eating witch disappeared through the portal, as well as the portal itself vanishing into thin air, chaos broke out in the summoning chamber. The chaos was mostly from the ones who had done the summoning; a spell like that simply wasn't supposed to be done. Even more importantly, the witch would have been useful. Erevan was already selfishly wishing that the spell hadn't worked - though he was certainly grateful and happy that she had managed to find a way home.

The portal closed with a pop. Captain Foxy, who had almost seemed like he was considering pushing Harry away from both him and the girl, immediately pulled the girl close. He had a wild look to his golden eye, but the look almost immediately faded when he seemed to realize there really was no threat.

A prince. A fifteen year old girl. A pirate. And a child.

They weren't much, but...

Erevan didn't get a chance to finish the train of thought. Just as the summoners finally came to the terms with the sudden disappearance of one of their heroes, the door to the summoning room opened. An eerie quiet fell onto the room - or, at least, onto the summoners.

Flanked by several knights, King Ximum entered the room. He was a regal man, with the finest clothes from the best tailors in the kingdom. Even his crown seemed to have an extra shine to it. He looked the group over with wise and calculating gray eyes.

Erevan bowed his head along with the summoners.

Letting the girl go, Captain Foxy got to his feet and gave a bow of his own - though this was a much more dramatic full one.

"Good morning, your highness," Erevan said.

The king gave them a warm smile.

"I see that our heroes have arrived," he said.

A man in a shiny crown swept into the room. Siren's jaw dropped. She had never seen anyone who looked so expensive, not even her own king. Well, she had never actually seen her king, but she never imagined anyone could be that rich.

The Captain, who had hugged her close to him when the witch disappeared in whatever effort to keep her from disappearing(though she didn't even know how the lady had done that), let her go before she could wriggle out of his embrace. She may be okay with people wanting her, even wanting to protect her, but she couldn't get rid of her habits of being independent and untrusting so easily.

The Captain swept into a bow and the king warmly swept his gave over their funny group. "I see that our heroes have arrived."

"Heroes? Where?" The words tumbled out before Siren could think.

Harry looked at the shiny crown with apprehension. Kings that like shiny bling were never a good sign for a proper monarchy from his past experience. But he supposed that he of all people should know that judging a book by it cover was a bad idea. He plastered on a smile.

He made to offer his hand like he always did to most kings before he remembered that he wasn't a prince at the moment and ended up turning it into a bow, before realizing an outstretched hand was weird. Deciding to go with the flow he turned it into a cartwheel and came up standing next to the king.

"Umm...Good Morning or Evening, man, I mean your majesty," he said with a smile, "Pri..." He almost growled in frustration. Breaking a millennia long habit was hard. "Harry Hardy, at your service my leach...no wait that's wrong, my liege." He tried for a million dollar hero smile. Those always seemed to solve problems.

Helena gave a side-eye to the winged person, who had just floundered into a cartwheel (a flippin’ cartwheel), then stumbled so badly over his words that Helena wondered if his tongue would flop right out of his mouth. He’s from a different dimension, he has giant wings and probably superpowers... and he’s a dork. What a combination.

And of course there was the king, too. He looked like something straight out of the fairytale books Helena’s mom had read her as a kid, all the way down to the crown. Everyone around her was bowing, and they had all gone quiet in his presence... too quiet.

Harry (was that his name? Normal name for a not-so-normal guy) had finished talking; Helena decided to add on to his introduction. “Yeah, and I’m a teenage girl who can teleport. Not gonna lie, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the one you want for your quest.”

Foxy - who decided to use that identity for now, seeing that he wasn't even the slightest bit sure how to explain everything that came before this moment - listened as his companions introduced themselves to the king.

And he listened as the king explained just how desperately the kingdom nearly their help. Like Foxy had been insisting from the moment he first got here, this was a textbook case of an isekai anime: they got desperate and needed to defeat some terrifying, unbeatable foe, so they summoned a bunch of people from a distant world to do the beating instead. They weren't the heroes that the kingdom had been hoping for, and the king apologized for taking them from their homes. But, as Erevan Lalian (that was a name) had already explained, they couldn't go home until they either found a way out like the child-eating witch had or until they actually defeated the mysterious foe.

Who, apparently, was named the Slime King.

What kind of name was that? Foxy knew it was stupid to keep questioning the names of other worlds, but that name was just disappointing. Everyone else in the room from this world looked nervous when the king spoke it, though. Even Erevan, who seemed fairly confident even in the presence of royalty, looked a little spooked.

Which was odd, but Foxy wasn't going to focus on it. There were other more pressing things to deal with.

Apparently, this slime guy had started causing problems with his army of monsters after the last king - King Ithos - had died. Now that his son had taken the throne, they saw the whole kingdom of Itozan as free real estate. The kingdom's royal army had been repeatedly outwitted. The Slime King's hordes only left a few survivors when they ravaged villages, but those survivors were so traumatized from the experience that they never wanted to leave the castle's gates.

...Foxy could admittedly see where the desperation was coming from.

The group reluctantly agreed to help. After giving his explanation and wishing them all luck, the king departed with his royal sorcerers. Now they were solely under the leadership of Erevan, who wasted no time before bringing them to the armory. Foxy hadn't actually used any weapons before, but he had used a Nerf sword as a kid. How hard could it be to use an actual one now?

After they had all picked out armor and weapons - if they wanted either - the group set out into the woods beyond the kingdom's capital.

It was time to go slay a king.

They were deep in the forest now.

Foxy didn't really know how deep. Erevan did have a map, but Foxy was terrible at remembering physical locations. Give him a diagram of a machine? He'd be right at home. He could remember coding no problem. But Foxy was in desperate need of a GPS right now, and he knew he tragically wouldn't see one for a long time. Even after he got out of this place, he'd be stuck in another backwards place that stubbornly relied on maps.

A thought suddenly came to him.

"...So if we have a lass who can teleport," Foxy said, "why we be walking to th' Slime King's place?"

Erevan turned back to give Foxy a look. Even though their guide had the map on him, he had barely looked at the thing. Either he had a great memory, or he knew the woods like the back of his hand already.

"Reconnaissance showed that it's impossible to use any kind of magic to get inside. There are wards in place. We can't risk trying to teleport there and ending up somewhere else."

"We be able to teleport near th' place, then."

Erevan shook his head. "The wards still protect it."

Foxy crossed his arms. "Ye could have gotten horses to make th' trip faster-"

There was a howl in the distance.

Erevan came to a stop.

Foxy almost went walking right into Erevan, but he stopped before he could. Erevan had gone deathly still. As another howl was followed by a series of similar howls in slightly different tones, Foxy had a sneaking suspicion he knew why.

"Wolves," he plainly said.

Erevan nodded. "Dire wolves, more specifically."

"Me didn't expect the Slime King to give a welcomin' party," Foxy said, hand going for the sword he had grabbed back in the armory. Fire was ready to start dancing at the very tip of his hand, but he wanted to wait until the wolves actually showed themselves - it would give them more of a shock.

"It's not the Slime King," Erevan said. He was in the middle of drawing his own sword. "There are some things that don't fall under his jurisdiction - and wolves are one of them."

Harry let out a yawn and did a couple of stretches.

"How big are these things?" he said, a smile on his face for the first time on their long trek. "It's been entirely too boring so far. Any chance they will want to kill us?"

Foxy blinked.

"Ye be messed up in yer head," he blurted, giving Harry an incredulous look. He got that Harry was secretly a prince after his slip-up earlier, but still. What happened to royalty being stuck-up and wanting to stay away from battles?

Erevan didn't say anything at first. He just watched the two for a moment before turning his attention to the woods again.

"Dire wolves are large," he said. "I'd say they're about the size of us. It's hard to tell how many are in this pack from their howls, but they're likely hungry. This forest is the prime hunting grounds for the kingdom and the wolves."

Foxy got what that implied.

He eyed their group. Helena could teleport; she'd theoretically be fine. Erevan was their guide, and Harry seemed excited at the thought of battle. He wasn't really worried about any of them. But he was worried about the final member of their party. Siren was tiny. The wolves could snatch her up in one gulp if Foxy took his eye off of her.

He moved closer to Siren.

Erevan must have gotten the same idea; he also moved closer to her.

"Hey, not more than everybody else," replied Harry, with a smile. "Also, when you said dire I did expect something a tad bit larger than one of us but I suppose you make do with what you get. Them being hungry is a wonderful bonus, so do we wait for them to come to us or are we charging forward?" Harry shrugged.

As far as he knew, those in the hero business tended to charge right into trouble, apparently this gang had not quite gotten that memo yet, which was probably something that had ensured they survived longer than most heroes. He quickly glanced at the smaller girl, there were enough people surrounding that one, no sense in crowding around the girl or that would only increase her chances of getting hurt. He turned back towards the sounds.

Siren crossed her arms. She wasn't used to people protecting her and, since she didn't knowing how to react, was offended. She was sure they didn't know that she knew how to deal with wolves. She dealt with them on a nightly basis, although, to be fair, these wolves definitely bigger than the ones back home. She would need a slightly different kind of plan.

So she sat down and pulled out her flute. As she was digging in her bag for it, a plan was already forming in her mind. She couldn't deal with all the wolves, but she did have a daring plan that should work. Hopefully.

So she started improvising. She knew it would have been better to choose an instrument she could sing with, but she wasn't ready to sing in front of the group yet, and also didn't want to affect them with it. She based her tune on a lullaby she had once heard a mother singing to her baby on a stormy night, but layered additional emotions into the simple melody, creating a unique and complex piece.

The trees rustled furiously, and a large wolf shot out of the woods, barrelling towards her. It was very large, but Siren could tell it wasn't the biggest these wolves could get. It stopped and sat down abruptly outside of the half-circle of the group protecting her. Before they could do anything she pushed past their legs and started scratching its chin. Its giant tail started thumping against the earth. Siren let out a little noise of glee at her success.

"Aw, you will do perfectly. What's your name, pretty girl?"

But the trees rustled again, and more wolves pushed through, prowling their way around the group with fire in their eyes. Her wolf barked at the pack, but they didn't even acknowledge her. Her mind was no longer the same as theirs.

These wolves had nothing on their minds but dinner.

Foxy moved the moment he saw the wolf barrel out of the woods, but he was stopped by Erevan before he could actually do anything. To make things worse, Siren had just slipped past his legs and was heading right toward the wolf.

Foxy screwed his eye shut and desperately hoped a little girl wasn't about to be torn to shreds right in front of his face.

Then he heard Siren speak.

He hesitantly peeked open his eye.

Siren was...scratching the wolf's chin?

Foxy's eyes - both the visible one and the one underneath the eye patch - widened.

"Ye be a druid," Foxy managed to get out.

The bandages covering Erevan's face moved a little; Foxy was sure he was giving a tiny and somewhat bittersweet smile. "I see why the hero spell picked you, Siren."

It was a touching thought - and one that made sense - but there were bigger fish to fry. Or wolves to fry. As the pack emerged from the woods beyond, Foxy held up a hand and let fire crackle at his fingertips.

"Me thinks they answered yer question, yer highness," Foxy said to Harry, taking a step towards the wolves. They didn't pull back when they saw the flames, but Foxy could see the wariness in their eyes. "They be bringin' th' fight to us."

"Oooh, yes, this is going to be fun," said Harry, before resetting his tone to a deeper and more heroic one," This shall be an epic battle." Then the statement fully registered and he frowned at Foxy.

"What do you mean, your highness?" he said, doing his best confused face.

He turned towards the wolves with a big smile and opened his arms. Blue veins lit up all along his arms and up to his eyes, the air around him crackling with the smell of ozone as he charged up.

"I think these wolves are in dire need of a good punching," said Harry, with a wink, giving an approving nod to Siren and her newly acquired pet wolf. This was going to be fun.

Three wolves burst through the bushes. One of them had slobber dangling from its mouth, its eyes reddish and wild. Helena’s eyes widened. The wolves were huge, bigger than her brother. One shot straight towards her, howling. With a yelp, Helena dodged it just in time, teleporting away and flicking out her pocket knife.

Why the hell am I here again?

It was a question she had been trying to answer all during their walk in the woods. The best thing she had thought so far was that this isakai was completely random, and so it had picked her, of all options. And three other people.

Helena glanced back towards them and had to blink. Harry was glowing blue, light-up veins popping all over his skin like he was some sort of Smurf-Hulk. There was a wolf among them, and Helena almost yelled out in shock... until she saw it was nuzzling the tiny girl’s hand like a tame puppy.

What about the pirate? Helena’s eyes glanced over at Foxy and saw fire crackling in his hand. Woah. So he’s not just the bad accen—

Suddenly, behind her came a growl—then pain. Thick, hot teeth like nails pierced Helena’s upper left arm, near her shoulder, and she saw spots swim in her vision. Quickly, gritting her teeth, she teleported above the wolf, knife in her right hand, and stabbed into the wolf’s neck as she fell on top of it. Red filled her vision, and she stabbed again and again. Once she felt the body collapse underneath her, she relaxed her arms.

With a wince, Helena reached around to her injured arm. She couldn’t see the injury, so she would have to feel for it. As she touched the skin around the wound, the pain exploded, spots swimming around her vision again. Slowly, tears leaking onto her cheeks, Helena crept closer and closer to the injury, feeling cautiously for broken skin. Her fingers hit something hard, jutting out. When she jostled it, her arm screamed pain. Grimacing, Helena latched her fingers around it and pulled.

Finally, it was out. Helena held what she had pulled out in front of her. She stared. It was a wolf tooth, bloody and still sharp. Musta been embedded pretty deep for it to have teleported with me, Helena thought, her arm throbbing horribly. There had to be more teeth embedded, but there was no time to think about that now. Thinking had already gotten Helena injured.

She stood up, pocket knife clutched in one fist. A howl behind her made her turn—just in time, because another wolf was already sprinting towards her. More wolves ran out from the trees behind it. Helena teleported away once again, dodging and slashing at wolf throats where she could.