William tugged his worn backpack higher on his shoulder, eyes fixed on the cracked pavement. The jeers came anyway, like they always did.
"Hey, Willy, did you remember your blankie today?" Kevin sneered, and his friends laughed on cue.
William didn't look up. He was used to it by now. Skinny, quiet, on scholarship at a school full of kids whose parents could buy the building — that made him a target, simple as that. He just had to get through the day and go home to his RPGs and his books.
He took his usual seat at the back of the classroom and opened his worn copy of "The Chronicles of Aethel." A world of magic and ancient legends, and his escape from being nobody.
The door banged open. Mr. Thompson, their gym teacher, filled the doorway, whistle bouncing against his chest. "Alright, listen up! Pop quiz on the history of basketball, and no cheating."
Groans all around. Even Kevin looked annoyed. William almost smiled. This was one quiz he'd actually pass.
Then the air changed.
A low hum started, like something vibrating just under hearing. The lights flickered, throwing long shadows across the room, and the floor shook hard enough to knock books off desks.
"What the—" Mr. Thompson didn't finish. A rift tore open in the middle of the classroom, swirling with colors that didn't belong to anything William had seen before.
The room fell apart. Kids screamed, chairs scraped back, someone knocked a whole shelf over trying to get away. Even Kevin went white and just stood there, mouth open, none of his usual swagger left.
William felt something else. Not fear, or not only fear. Something in him leaned toward that rift like it was calling his name. He took a step closer before he'd decided to.
Then the light swallowed everything, and he was gone.
He woke up smelling pine and wet dirt. His head throbbed. The classroom, the rift, the screaming — for a second it felt like something he'd dreamed.
He was in a forest. Sunlight came down in patches through trees too tall and too strange to be real, and the air smelled sweet in a way he couldn't place.
He wasn't alone. His classmates were scattered around him, groaning, sitting up one by one. Even Mr. Thompson was there, whistle hanging loose, saying nothing at all for once.
"Where are we?" someone said, voice shaking.
"What just happened?" another kid asked, to no one.
William got to his feet and looked around. This wasn't Earth. That much was obvious.
Then something shifted inside him. A warmth started in his chest and spread out until it settled behind his eyes, and with it came something like knowledge, sudden and complete.
He shut his eyes. Colors moved behind his eyelids, then a sense of something enormous, then words.
SSS-Rank Skill: Portal — Activated.
His breath caught. A skill. His own skill, and SSS-Rank at that.
He grabbed the nearest tree trunk to stay upright as the dizziness hit, and when he opened his eyes again a blue screen hung in the air in front of him, full of numbers.
Name: William Velmont
Level: 1
Class: None
Attributes:
Strength: 10
Agility: 12
Stamina: 9
Intelligence: 15
Mana: 10
Skills:
Chrono Shift (SSS-Rank): Opens a portal to a specific point in the past. (Details Locked)
William stared at it. This was real. Not a game, not a story — an actual system, the kind he'd only ever read about. But "Details Locked"? What was he even supposed to do with that?
"Whoa, look at this!" Sarah's voice, one of the quiet kids from his class, cracked with excitement. "I have one too! I'm a Celestial Archer, and I've got Arrow of Light, A-Rank!"
More gasps followed. Fear was turning into something closer to excitement now. Kevin was already bragging about his S-Rank Iron Skin, chest puffed out again. Mr. Thompson kept mumbling about divine intervention and the end times, to nobody in particular.
"B-Rank Sonic Boom over here!" someone shouted.
"Elemental Control, A-Rank! I bet I can throw fireballs!"
William said nothing. Something told him his skill wasn't like the others. Wasn't just strong — different. He just had no idea how to use it yet.
The undergrowth rustled. A group of men stepped out from between the trees, armored, swords catching the light. Behind them came an old man in a grey robe, his eyes carrying a faint glow that didn't seem natural.
"Greetings," the old man said. His voice didn't match his age at all. "I am Maester Elric, and these are the Royal Guards of Aerilon. We have been expecting you."
The students went quiet. Expecting them?
Mr. Thompson stepped forward, some of his old authority creeping back into his voice. "Expecting us? Where are we? Why are we here?"
Elric smiled. "You are in Aethel, brave souls. You have been summoned for a purpose — a great one." He nodded toward a stone temple rising beyond the trees, its steps climbing toward the sky. "Come. At the Temple of Ascendancy, I will explain everything."