Alex had always felt most at home in the peace of a graveyard.
The towering spire of a church felt as though it almost brushed the sky, clawing out for something higher.
He sat with his back up against the church's wall, his sketchpad propped up across his knees, the end of his pencil clamped firmly between his teeth.
The sketchbook lay open on a half-finished graphite rough of a crow that was perched atop one of the gravestones, but the light was fading fast and the bird was beginning to look restless.
Alex sighed and pulled his pencil from his lips, tucked it in his jacket pocket, and stood in one fluid motion.
"Gotta get home," he muttered to himself. "Sis is gonna start worrying if I'm out for much longer. Probably has dinner ready too."
He stowed his sketchpad in his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.
Alex staggered as he made his first step.
In an instant the atmosphere of the graveyard twisted. It was as though someone had gripped his shoulders and was trying to push him down to his knees.
Alex took a deep breath, the air was sharp with the smell of ozone and static crackled in his ears.
He stumbled back against the church and gasped as his palms flattened against the stonework, while it had been cold before it was now searing hot.
Light speared down around Alex and consumed him before he had the chance to react.
The crow ruffled its feathers one last time on its gravestone perch before launching into the air with a flap. The first twinkles of stars emerged in the darkening sky. The frigid breeze whispered through the branches of the trees.
It was as if Alex had never existed to begin with.
xXx
The courtyard of the Demon Lord of Calim'Lo was frantic with movement and loud with chanting.
Demons of all shapes and sizes rushed up and down the stone steps.
Some were tall and muscled, carrying cows and sheep to be sacrificed to the glowing red circle that was slowly building in strength below. Others were smaller and wielded staves and wands to lend their strength to the incantation.
"We have but one chance!" The Demon Lord roared from atop the steps.
They stood at least ten feet tall and were clad in heavy armour made of a dark black ore that shimmered red in the aura of the magic. A horned helmet protected their head, but two ruby red eyes gleamed from behind the shadows.
"If the summoning ritual is not interrupted the Humans will have their [Hero] and all hope will be lost!"
The movement at the foot of the stairs became even more frantic and the chanting reached a fever pitch.
One small demon, they barely reached the Demon Lord's knee, scurried up the steps and knelt before them.
"The circle is ready, my Lord. We require your strength," The Demon said, its horned head bowed toward the ground.
The Demon Lord nodded and stepped forward, their hands raised toward the circle below.
"[Greater Teleportation]!" The Demon Lord chanted.
The force of the skill blasted outward from the Demon Lord's seven fingered hands with a wave of pressure so immense the Demons around the circle were forced to their knees, but still they chanted.
The circle blazed red and the sacrifices that had been placed at its center disappeared into the crackling lines with a wet crunch.
The Demon Lord grit their teeth and huffed with exertion as they felt the skill latch onto its target, the human [Hero] that was midway through being summoned from another world, and pulled.
xXx
Alex knew he was falling but how or through what he had no idea.
The light that had surrounded him was so sharp that even with his eyes shut and his palms pressed against his eyelids it wasn't enough to keep it out.
And then, with a thud, Alex hit the ground.
But only for a moment.
Just long enough for him to make out the excited cries of an old man, "The [Hero] has…" before he was falling again.
He fell upward, then horizontal, and then finally he hit the ground once more.
The light faded, the static crackle from inside his ear dispersed, and the ozone smell faded to be replaced with the thick smell of fire and cooked flesh.
Alex blinked the light out of his eyes and immediately began to scream.
He was on his knees in the middle of a circle dripping red with blood, arcane sigils pulsing between every line.
Around him were creatures that almost seemed to be cobbled together out of spare parts. Some were tall with cloven hoof feet and the torso of a man. Others were short and balanced on spindly snake-like limbs.
No two creatures were the same but all of them looked at him with identical hunger.
Alex's screams were halted as the floor beneath him seemed to pound, vibrating with the footsteps of a colossal human-like figure that stalked down a flight of stone steps in front of him.
But Alex knew it was no human.
Its slightly-too-long arms ended in gloved seven-fingered hands and behind the shadows of its horned helmet two eyes dripped blood red malice.
"Quiet yourself, [Hero], you need not mewl so," The figure said. "I am the Lord of this Realm, and this is a place of safety, you shall not be harmed."
Alex's mouth opened and closed but he couldn't bring himself to make a sound. His heartbeat drowned out the chanting, the footsteps, the everything.
He tried to scramble back but something in the bloody lines of the circle held him fast.
"T-take me-" Alex started, his mouth was dry and his voice was barely a croak. "I need to go home."
"Eventually, yes," the Demon Lord said. "But for now, you are my people's only hope. So, [Hero], first you will listen, and then you will fight."