《Eleven Bystander》 Prolouge: Background Chapter Early Tuesday morning bus ride from Snoh County to Key County in Washington, it takes 40 minutes to get to Seam city from Lynnwall city before the morning rush hour. Seam known for its rain, one would think that drivers would be used to driving in this rainy weather conditions. The Sol Transit bus was carrying 30 people, including the driver. The heavy rain storm was something that the early morning commuters have not seen before. The most dangerous part of driving in the freeway in this condition was the ramp connecting to the freeway. With the low visibility and slippery conditions, an entering car lost control and spun around. The bus did not have enough time and space to react, causing an unfortunate fatal collision. ***************************************************** In another world: Valeenia Continent, Kingdom of Japolez Eight people wearing robes, each with different colors and patterns, were chanting a highly complex summoning spell. Normally, summoning a creature is limited to animals and monster creatures. The eight elders theorized several ways to summon human beings. In this 57th attempt, they were confident that they will finally succeed. Their goal was to summon human beings with talents, high intelligence, and innovative combat abilities. In turn, these summoned people will fight against the monsters and demons that are terrorizing the human continent. It was afternoon. The sun was starting to set. A huge ray of light beamed in close proximity of the eight elders. The summoning ceremony was a success. "It worked! Grand Elder!" Elder in red robe yelled with tears pouring out like waterfalls. "We can save our kingdom, humanity..." "Yes. Let''s go ahead and greet them." The Grand Elder said this with a smile extending almost to her ears, dressed in white robe with patterns similar to the Maori tattoo in Earth. The eight men and women all rushed towards the area where the beam of light landed... Main Characters Background Name: Grace Young Sex: Female Age: 23 Height: 5'' 11" Weight: 135 lbs. Other significant features: Blonde hair, blue eyes, high intelligence, Occupation: 2nd year Med Student Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian Miscellaneous background: 4 years tennis varsity as an undergraduate with Pre-Med @ Seam University. Wants to specialize in either general surgery or orthopedic surgery. ****************************************************************** Name: Barbara (Barbie) Tatum Sex: Female Age: 19 Height: 5'' 5" Weight: 115 lbs. Other significant features: Redhead, blue eyes, smile that can brighten a person''s day. Occupation: 2nd year University Student, business major. Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian Miscellaneous background: Team captain at intramural soccer team. Highly fast and agile. Loves to eat. Great leadership attribute. ****************************************************************** Name: Natalie House Sex: Female Age: 20 Height: 5'' 1" Weight: 130 lbs. Other significant features: brown hair, dark brown eyes, athletic muscular built. Occupation: Retail store, various positions, 2 years. Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian Miscellaneous background: Have been doing Cross-fit for 3 years. Has 3 brothers. Likes to hunt animals with the brothers in Okan County, Washington (hometown). ****************************************************************** Name: Fa''amuli Tukuafu Sex: Male Age: 20 Height: 6'' 3" Weight: 235 lbs Other significant features: muscular, surprisingly agile, black hair in dreadlocks. Occupation: American College Football linebacker, Seam University. Race/Ethnicity: Samoan American Miscellaneous background: Varsity football player, likely to get drafted in NFL with stats: bench:360 lbs., Squats 460 lbs., 40 yards in 4.6 seconds. Kind hearted soul. ****************************************************************** This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.Name: Eric Williams Sex: Male Age: 19 Height: 6'' 3" Weight:200 lbs. Other significant features: Dreadlocks, black hair. Occupation: American College Basketball, 2nd year point guard @ Seam University Race/Ethnicity: African American Miscellaneous background: Great passer, great ball handling, Team Leader. Extremely agile. Comedian among his peers. Teammates and roommates with Joseph. ****************************************************************** Name: Joseph Mann Sex: Male Age: 24 Height: 6'' 11" Weight: 275 lbs. Other significant features: Brown hair, blue eyes, athletic build Occupation: College Basketball Center position, Athlete Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian Miscellaneous background: Have been doing sports since he was 8 years old. Extremely handsome and wealthy. Likely to be drafted in the NBA. Teammates and roommates with Eric. ****************************************************************** Name: Melanie Rodriguez Sex: Female Age: 19 Height: 5'' 3" Weight: 100 Other significant features: Curly wavy long black hair (natural), high intelligence. Occupation: Bartender Race/Ethnicity: Mexican American Miscellaneous background: Dancer - YouTube channel has 3 million subscribers. Coordinated, agile, visual learner. Proclaimed independence from alcoholic father once she turned 18. Loved by many. Saving up money to go to college for engineering. She has a roommate that is going to school for engineering. He would always talk to her about his classes. ****************************************************************** Name: Keysha Edmonds Sex: Female Age: 24 Height: 5'' 6" Weight: 135 lbs Other significant features: Natural curly black hair, calm, relaxed, professional attitude. Strong sense of responsibility. Occupation: Air Plane Company, 2 years, Global trade control specialist. Race/Ethnicity: African American Miscellaneous background: worked her way up by graduating high school at 14, Seam University with Business Degree at 19 . Three younger siblings are dependent to her, no parents. Great at cooking. Many men in the company are envious of her social status climb as she overtook them at such a young age. ****************************************************************** Name: Miyazaki, Tooru (Tommy) Sex: Male Age: 24 Height: 5'' 10" Weight: 170 lbs. Other significant features: Black long hair ponytail. Has a laceration scar on the left forearm. Occupation: Japanese American Race/Ethnicity: Barber at a barbershop in Seam City Miscellaneous background: Came to United States at age of 10 with his family, passed his citizenship test at age of 18. Trained many various martial arts from a young age until 10 under a Japanese grandmaster. ****************************************************************** Name: Anastasiya (Tay) Galina Sex: Female Age: 19 Height: 6'' 0" Weight: 155 lbs. Other significant features: blonde hair, blue eyes, athletic build. Occupation: Nursing Assistant at a hospital, currently attending nursing school. Race/Ethnicity: Russian Miscellaneous background: Trained Krav Maga at a young age. Hard worker, works 35 hours per week and a full-time student. Strong willed. Enthusiastic. Still an immigrant. Works with Talim at the same hospital. ****************************************************************** Name: Talim Dapuan Sex: Male Age: 23 Height: 5'' 4" Weight: 140 lbs. Other significant features: Black hair, dark brown eyes. Occupation: Registered Nurse at a Hospital in Seam, 1 year. Race/Ethnicity: Filipino American Miscellaneous background: New grad nurse with 1 year experience. Began training boxing in high school at age of 13. Enjoys gardening. Relaxed calm personality. Works with Anastaysia at the same hospital. Chapter 1 Eleven people transported from Earth to Valeenia Continent. People that should have died on the bus crash were given a chance to live. One by one, these eleven started opening their eyes. They were getting up from the grassy plains that they were laying on. The sun was setting. Everyone was confused with mild headaches. They remembered that the bus had hit a car. They knew that they were supposed to be dead as the final event in their memory was the large explosion that devoured their whole bodies. They were looking at each other, still with the confusion and headache. "Hey guys! Where are we? What are we doing here? Where is the bus? The freeway? This doesn''t look like Seattle anymore." (Grace) Being the first to wake up and recover from the headache, remembering the situation, she spoke up first. Assessing her own body, she does not seem to have any injury. Her skin is intact, dry, and warm. Looking at others, they were not under acute distress. Everyone vaguely recognize each other as they all take the same bus at the same time in the morning. However, most of them were still in disbelief, denying the whole situation. Perhaps some of them were interpreting the situation as a dream or nightmare. "Does anyone still have their phone? I need to call in. I''m late for work." (Talim). Talim is a nurse in a Seam Hospital. Realizing that this is not a dream, he immediately thought about his work. With this question, everyone had checked their pockets. They do not possess any of their technological gadgets. They didn''t have their bags and purses around. "What kind of joke is this? Where we at, brah?" (Fa''amuli) "Somebody, please explain what''s going on." "Dry soil, green grass, night time, and this scenery... I don''t think we are in Washington at all..." (Grace) Said with her face paled in color and started to show some anxiety. "Do you all remember anything right after that bus explosion? I do not recall any memories after that. Besides, with that explosion, I think we all died. There was no way we could have survived that!" (Keyshia) "Okay, I need to calm down now. Deep breaths, in... out..." "Ahh! This is real! I pinched myself and it hurts!" (Eric) Pinched himself, and was clearly not faking his reaction as blood started dripping down his cheek. Talim walked over and pulled out sterile gauze packet that was in his scrub pants pocket. "Here, just put some pressure." "Everyone, please listen for a moment. It seems that there would be no point in asking questions to each other. What we must do now is to collect information from each other on what we already know. Blonde girl, since you seem to be first to break the ice, you start." (Barbara) with her leadership attitude, turned to face Grace and asked for her to speak. "Okay. I was the first one to wake up and get up among the eleven of us. Based on everyone''s looks, I know that we all ride the same bus in the morning, yet I have not spoke with anyone here before. There were about 30 people in that bus, but only 11 of us is here. No one seems to suffer from a life threatening injury." (Grace) started with her initial observations. She then faced towards Keyshia. "Before I start, may we have your name please?" (Keyshia) "Oh, right! Sorry about that. My name is Grace Young. I am a 2nd year med students at the Seam University." (Grace) glanced back at Keyshia after saying this. "My name is Keyshia... Keyshia Edmonds... I work for an Air plane company. I take care of my three younger siblings... My siblings..." Suddenly, Keyshia''s facial expressions changed. "Who are going to take care of them... Now that everyone probably assumes that we died from explosion... How? Why?!" (Keyshia) normally composed and calm, lost control and tears flowing out of her eyes like waterfalls. "Don''t worry. We will get back to town. We will." Barbara walked over and embraced Keyshia. And Keyshia calmed down and let go, Barbara started talking, "All right. My name is Barbara Tatum. My friends call me Barbie. I am a business student at Seam University. From what I remembered, the explosion was the last thing I remember before waking up from here. This ground, as Grace had mentioned before, is not wet. It had been raining for the whole week, which means that we are not in Washington." (Barbie) glanced at Fa''amuli. "My name is Fa''amuli Tukuafu. I play football for Seam University. I had a bag with me on the bus, but it''s gone now. I am pretty sure that my clothes wouldn''t have been in this clean and intact condition after being blown up by that explosion, which is strange. This is not normal at all." (Fa''amuli) then glanced at Eric. "I''m Eric. I''m point guard for the Seam Basketball team. I''m honestly as shocked as everyone else. I don''t know what else to say." (Eric) glanced at Talim. "My name is Talim Dapuan. I am a registered nurse for a year now. Fa''amuli, you mentioned about your bag. I don''t see mine as well, but the contents of my pocket still remain. I have my stethoscope, saline flushes, alcohol wipes, pen light, gauze, and a couple of gloves. I still have my watch, but I don''t see my phone anywhere. Everyone should check their pockets for items that may be useful here." Talim then glanced at Tooru. "I still got my Swiss Army Knife kit and my spare scissors, my cellphone is missing for some reason. I still have my car and house keys" (Miyazaki, Tooru) "My name is Miyazaki, Tooru. Please call me Tommy. I''m a barber in Seattle. I hope that I get along be an assistance to everyone. Please take care of me and I will do my best for everyone." Tommy bowed in the end. He then glanced at someone across. "Thank you, Tommy. Hi everyone, I''m Natalie House. I work at a retail store doing various jobs from sales, register, and even cleaning the bathroom. My pocket is empty, as I usually have everything in my bag. I have been training Cross-Fit for 5 years now. I may be small, but expect me to be an all around help for everyone!" (Natalie) "My name is Anastaysia Galina. Please call my Tay. I am a nursing student at Seam University. I am a certified nursing assistant working in the same hospital as Talim. I am from Russia, moved here 11 years ago. I trained Krav Maga since I was young. I have a couple of tissue on my pocket." (Tay) She then glanced at Talim. "Oh Tay, you take the same bus?" (Talim) "Yea. I just moved to Lynnwall three months ago. It''s nice to see a familiar face." (Tay) "Enough with the reunion. My name is Joseph. I am in the same basketball team with Eric. He''s my roommate. I honestly don''t think that we are in Washington." (Joseph) "I''m the last one. My name is Melanie Rodriguez, a bartender at a bar in Lynnwall and one in downtown Seam. I''m also a dancer. Call me Mel." (Mel) "The sun is about to set, and it would get dark soon. Around us are just grass. Looking out far are trees. It would be bad if there are wild animals lurking around at night." (Barbie) "We shall find shelter. Or at least make fire." (Grace) Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "I can make fire. My brothers and I used to hunt in forested areas." (Natalie) "someone help me gather some dried leaves and branches." "Wait look! People around that direction, my 12 o''clock." (Talim) pointing out with his finger the rushing elders wearing different colored robes from beyond the plains towards their location. ******* [Elder''s Perspective] Over the high plains, the robed men and and women were running towards the summoned people. The sun has set. It was dark, but the moonlight and stars provided enough visibility for them to locate the summoned people. "Everyone, allow me to be the one to speak with them. I''ll explain everything. They''re still humans. Unlike the animals and monsters that we summon, they have thoughts and feelings. One wrong move, and they might turn against us." (Grand Elder) "Understood!" (Everyone) ******* (Eleven Earth people''s perspective) As Talim pointed towards the direction, most of them were delighted. The robed people were running down towards them. Thinking that they can finally find their way back home, Talim, Grace, and Keyshia noticed one thing. "Everyone brace yourselves! That one in the middle is wearing a white robe with white hood. This looks like the Ku Klux Klan!" (Grace) Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a cult in the U.S. with a goal of eliminating African American people in the United States. "I will try and talk with them. Everyone should stay back. We shall avoid as much trouble as possible. Worst case scenario, we''ll have to fight. There''s less of them." (Barbie) Tommy gave his barber scissors to Grace and the Swiss Army Knife tool to Natalie. "I trained martial arts when I was young. I still know how to fight. Please take care of yourselves. Fa''amuli and I will be on stand by." Fa''amuli nodded. "I am a boxer. In case things to bad, I''ll step up and fight." (Talim). "I''ll also fight." (Tay) The Eleven bystanders didn''t know that this is no longer Earth. ********************************************************** [Meeting of the two groups] Around 30 minutes since the Earth humans recognized that they were being pursued, the Elders have arrived. The moonlight provided enough visibility for the earth humans. The Elders wield staff that illuminated the area. "Greetings. I am sensing some hostility from all of you. Fear not, as we have come in peace. I am the Grand Elder magician of Japoles Kingdom. You can call me Grand Elder. We are currently in Valeenia Continent. I understand that you are not from this lands. We have come to give explanation to your concerns." (Grand Elder) The group of eleven were shocked and dumbfounded. They did not know how to react. At least, the fears for KKK assault were decreased. However, they still kept their guard up, despite the words from Grand Elder. "I don''t understand. We have a lot of questions. Such as, what happened in the bus, where are our belongings, how did we get here, and how will we get back to Earth." (Barbie) "I am afraid that we don''t know what a ''bus'' is. We do not know where your belonging is located. What we do know is the reason for your existing in our world." (Grand Elder) She said this while revealing her face by pulling her hood of the robe down. "Humanity is currently in a constant war with the monsters, demons, and other creatures of this world. Our God has sent you here to help us fight against the evil forces of this world. You are all talented geniuses that our God sent from the Heavens. As for getting back to your world, I am certain that once you''ve help humanity, you will be sent back." "What! I have three younger siblings that I am taking care of! Why would your ''God'' pull out a joke like this? I worked so hard to gain my high paying position, against all the adversity and from being discriminated for being black. Why would your ''God'' take all of that away?" (Keyshia) Tears flowing down like a river turned waterfalls. Moments of silence occurred, and Grand Elder finally spoke. "Worry not. Our God has made sure that he did not mess with your world''s timeline. It would be as if you have never existed. Your siblings shall not suffer because you were never there in the first place." Hostility grew from the Eleven bystanders after hearing this. ''Why would this "God" erase their existence in the world? What kind of things do these people want?''. More questions appeared in their minds as they found out about this revelation. The other robed people did not understand Grand Elder''s explanation. Feeling the hostility emitted by the Eleven bystanders, Grand Elder spoke, "once your mission of saving humanity is accomplished, ''God'' made a promise that you all will get back to earth. The timeline continuum will be back to normal as if there was no change since you were sent here." "How do we know that you are speaking the truth? I think you are mistaken. We are just regular human beings. We do not possess the talent that you are speaking of." (Barbie) "I am the Grand Elder. Believe it or not, despite my young appearance, I have lived for 120 years. I have been given the ''God''s blessing to stay young and spread His knowledge for us to survive against the evil forces." (Grand Elder) The other robed elders revealed their young faces by dropping their hood and nodding towards this statement. "If you do not wish to believe us, it is okay. But it seems that you all need food and shelter. Come with us and we will provide this for you. We will show you that our intentions are pure. Beyond the plains further from here, lies a forest full of evil creatures. I do not wish for everyone to be in danger by staying in this empty plains." "Before we move, I would like to ask about your glowing stick. What is that?" (Grace) "This is magic. Our staff are powered by magic power within ourselves. We will provide further explanations once we are in our palace." (Grand Elder.) Barbie nodded at the other ten innocent bystanders. "Looks like we have no other choice. Let''s stay close to each other." [End chapter]