Isekai.
This Japanese word, like no other, describes the predicament I am in.
It means ‘Other world’ and, at least lately, the stories follow some social outcast from the modern world, who gets cast into a different world by some means, where they get to rise to glory, find admiration and recognition – all the things they are denied by a hectic society.

I did not fall through a TV or follow a white rabbit. Nor did I die after being hit by a car or anything. There was no big flash of light either or some stellar phenomenon or whatever else.
I just went to bed one day and the next morning, I woke to the ramblings of some old wannabe wizard, who proclaimed that I was ‘the promised one’ and all that jazz.

Of course I figured that I was just dreaming, after all stories like this cannot be real.
Unfortunately, up to this day, I have failed to wake up, no matter how hard I tried.
I got injured, burned and almost killed a number of times, but I never woke up, leading to the realization that either this is, in fact, real, or one of the wackiest dreams I’ve ever had. Regardless of which it is, I had no choice but to accept this reality as ‘real enough to hurt like shit’.

But I am getting ahead of myself. I should probably start by introducing myself.

My name is Thomas Townsend, married to Mary for over 12 years now, father to a son who, assuming the time passes the same as it does back home, would likely be 10 years old by now. I have a day job which pays the bills, a fair employer and colleagues I get along with. I am not the most popular person on the payroll, nor am I social butterfly, but I am pretty good at my job and that’s all that matters in this context.
Oh, and I have been stuck in this world for 3 full years, give or take a few days or months. They aren’t really big with calendars or timekeeping in this world.
I am writing my story down, because the coming days, my long way home will either finally come to fruition or I will die trying. I am hoping that, in case this ‘portal’ they are currently preparing kills me when I go through, at least my story will survive, so my wife and son will know that I’ve never meant to leave them. And that I’ve done all I can and then some more to come back home.

But, once again, I am getting ahead of myself.

I still recall that day, when I first came here, like it was yesterday.
And just who wouldn’t, seeing how it was the day when my life changed drastically and quite potentially ‘for good’, albeit not ‘for the better’.
It was a warm summer evening like many others, the mosquitoes dancing around the fly trap we put on the balcony of the flat my family and me are living in.
My little guy, 7 years old back then, was already fast asleep after an exhausting day with sports and play and I looked out over the small meadow towards the setting sun and Mary, who had taken him to bed, just came crawling out, more asleep than awake herself.
I swear to God, if I didn’t wake her up, she’d sleep through till the morning comes.

So yes, all in all, it was a very normal end to a very normal day.
Nothing hinted at what would expect me on the other side of the night.

After watching a little more TV and discussing the next day, whether to get a new couch and which model it should be, we eventually said good night to our son’s pet, whose cage was standing in the living room, brushed our teeth and went to bed.
Yes, a perfectly normal day indeed.

My morning, however, was far from being ‘normal’.

I woke to the sound of birds chirping and the voice of an old man mumbling something incoherent.
My mind, still more asleep than awake, pulled up a memory from a game manual as immediate response, which said, ‘They just stand there, chant a bunch of nonsense and all of a sudden, there’s a big, perfect building. No wonder, that people want to kill them!’

As my mind slowly started to clear up and I looked up, I was no longer in my bed. Or my bedroom. Or any sort of bed for that matter.
I sat up and looked around, quickly noticing that I was sitting on some sort of stone altar, which was located in a cave of some sort, which, in turn, was covered with runes and drawings like straight from a fantasy novel.

An elderly man, huddled and his face hidden by a red robe with a pointy hat, which made him look a bit like the hypnotized smurfs in the one episode with the evil sorcerer locked at the bottom of a well...ah yes, I should probably mention that I indeed am a bit of a nerd with an insane memory for useless information which come to the surface at the most strange of times.
A great party trick, for sure, but other than that pretty useless.

Either way, so there was this guy who kept mumbling some incoherent stuff I couldn’t make heads nor tail of, seemingly avoiding to look at me.
At the time, I was certain that I was dreaming. I mean, whatever else could it have been, right?

I recall a soft breeze coming in from the cave entrance, caressing over my bare skin, sending shivers down my spine and it was only then, when I realized that I was, in fact, stark naked.
And not just that, my body had also changed significantly.
You see, in the real world, I am a bit on the chubby side, slightly overweight, but not obese. I am also not very strong and my endurance is a joke.
Here, however, the belly I had nurtured over the years of living a decent life in a western country, was replaced by a pair of abs, like I didn’t have them since I was 15.
No, to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever had abs like this all my life, which is not surprising, considering I didn’t really do much sports.

Suddenly, the hooded man pulled out some sort of medallion, walked up to me and put it around my neck before raising his hands and telling me, in perfect English, “At last, the promised one has come to deliver us from the evil that threatens us!”

At first, I didn’t even realize that he was talking to and about me, even though there was nobody else here and it must have shown on my face.

“Oh great and powerful hero, please lend us your aid in delivering our world from evil!” the wannabe wizard proclaimed, this time addressing me directly.
“...wait, are you talking to me, old man?” I recall asking.
“Yes, of course, my Lord. At long last our prayers have been answered!”

Another memory, another game: ‘When people pray, they get a God. It is, however, not always the kind of God they deserve.”

At the time I still thought that I was dreaming. So I decided to roll with the script for the time being. After all, playing the hero is always fun.
That’s what we play games for after all. To feel like what we do matters. That we can make a difference. That we are important. And I’ve played a number of games in my time, though it’s gotten significantly less, ever since arriving in ‘real life’ and getting myself a wife, a job and a kid.

So I said, “Sure thing, old man, what’s the situation?”

And, as if the cliches hadn’t been served enough already, they guy props up and recites some sort of prophecy style poem.

When darkness and destruction loom,

take heart and hear our prayers.

For in a foreign world shall bloom,

the tribe of demon slayers.

Bring forth, bring forth, in moonlit night,

on summer solstice day.

Call forth, who’ll purge the demon blight,

and pave for peace the way.

So I was supposed to be some promised hero who got roped in from another world.
Sure, why not, it’s not like I had not heard that kind of story before.

Another breeze reminded me of still being naked and I asked, “Hey, what’s the deal with me being naked? I’ll be angry, if there’s a school class waiting to laugh for me outside of this cave.

The old man gave me a surprised and puzzled look, so I just shook my head and mumbled a ‘Never mind’ his way.

“So, what’s with the pendant?” I asked, upon which the eyes of the old man lit up and he explained with great zeal, that the trinket was to protect me from harm and was essential for my quest.

While he was explaining, I took it off to take a better look at it, but the instant I did, his words changed back into the gibberish from before, so I hurried to put it back on and surmised, that this must be a world, where ‘magic’ was a thing, because I doubt there is a Babel fish in there and the cave didn’t exactly spell ‘high tech facility’ either.

After the well overdue introductions, the wizard briefed me on my quest, which was, much as expected, to ‘quell the source of all evil that has become incarnated by the demon king, who resides in the far away castle’ and I took a mental note to watch less anime.

After giving me a brief rundown on the current events in the world, he then provided me with some basic armor and gear, including a padded shirt which did little more than keep out the cold and a blade I had no idea on how to use.
But, since this was a dream, I was confident, that I would be fine.
After all, in a dream, one can neither die nor feel pain.

Boy, was I wrong about that last one.