“Welcome to your destiny, chosen ones! An epic adventure is awaiting you. A chance to become the ultimate hero—by defeating the Supreme Dark Lord.” An old man with white, long beard was standing in a gothic castle, smiling at five people in front of him. His eyes were tiny, almost like just two thin lines. He talked slowly in an old, deep voice that made him look compassionate and approachable.
“A chance to what? Who the fuck are you?” Viper asked. His mind was still filled with the revenge plot he had sketched out in five minutes the day before.
“Where am I? I have a new weapon of mass destruction to test,” Queen looked around, her eyes squinted, assessing the place—how primitive, they were still using candles.
Lyndzee made a fist and held it in front of her chest. She was stuttering from excitement. “I know it. Not that I ever doubted myself in the first place. But this confirms it. Officially. Not that I need your approval for anything, officially or not, it doesn’t matter. But this—this is inevitable, I mean, my fate. Yes, Mr. Mentor, I will kill the Supreme Dark Lord and return peace to the world.”
John Doe was also stuttering, but from anxiety. “Supreme… Dark… Lord? Is that… who murdered… my parents?”
Scraankral made a superhero stance, legs wide open and arms crossed in front of his chest. “Rest assured, mere mortals. Scraankral Kot’ils is here to protect the weak earthlings from—”
“Skra-what?” Lyndzee knitted her brow, puzzled.
Scraankral raised his chin and spoke proudly. “I am Scraankral Kot’ils, the only heir of Crer’eol Kot’ils—the legendary wa—”
“I’ll call you S.K.” Lyndzee cut him off. “Anyway, let’s talk about me. My name is Lyndzee. L-Y-N-D-Z-E-E. I am not like the other—”
“Look who’s having an opinion on names.” Viper smirked.
Lyndzee frowned. “And who are you exactly?”
“Doesn’t matter. Look! I don’t know what the fuck you’re selling, saving the world or whatever, but I’m retired, I will be back for only one last mission, and that mission ain’t yours. So, you all can fuck off.” Viper said. His voice was hoarse after decades of smoking.
“Great. One less opponent to eliminate, not like I need you anyway,” Lyndzee said.
Queen finally joined the conversation. “One fewer opponent. You see, opponent is a countable noun, so you must—”
“Shut up! Who let little kids in this deadly mission?” Viper said.
Queen frowned. “Excuse me? I am Aevangelina Queen, and I’m the princess, head of the ministry of science, and Principal Inventor of my country—the Republic of Strong Nation.”
“That sounds cool. What is the principal inventor? I’ve never heard of that title.” Lyndzee asked.
Queen smirked. As expected, their unenlightened species couldn’t understand the only proper structure of society. “I invent and oversee all projects in my country, including building infrastructure, manufacturing all machinery and equipment, the cyber security system, vaccine testing, artificial intelligence, weapon designing, game development, data sci—”
“You look fourteen.” Viper cut her off.
“I am actually sixteen. And don’t you dare interrupting me again, or I will incinerate you with my Strong Superpower Suit, 3S, the latest addition to the—”
“How do I go back home? I have an evil organization to destroy.” Viper directed his question to the old man, who had been quietly listening to their conversation so far.
Queen frowned. She put her left hand in the pocket to pull out the 3S, which had not been there when she fell off the helicopter. Regardless, it was more convenient to have it with her at this moment, but it wouldn’t have been convenient if it had been there before.
Fate finds a way. She shrugged, then raised the 3S up in front of her chest, but before she could activate it, the old man calmed her down.
“Ms. Queen, please keep your weapon for another time. We are here today for an important mission that will affect the fate of the universe.” He finally spoke, realizing that it was finally his turn, after all the chosen ones had finished their parts. It would have been awkward if he had remained silent for any longer.
“Fine.” Queen agreed grumpily. “What’s the deal this time?”
The old man glanced around the room. The scene ambience was great—tense and mysterious. Everyone held their breath. Because there was tension in the air, and their muscles tensed up. Creepy candles were flickering in a corner. Shadows were drawn out. Faces were barely visible.
All in all, the castle was atmospheric, and everyone was tense.
The old man waited a long time to let the tension sink. “I know all of you are surprised to be here, but you should be honored. I have summoned the best chosen ones from all the alternate realities. We gather here today for the ultimate Battle of the Chosen Ones, and the winner will save humanity across all the universes for a happy ever after.
My name is Wise Mentor. I will be both the judge and your trusted guide during this tournament. The battle consists of five rounds in each of your own universe. You are tasked with defeating your respective evil nemesis while I will observe and rate your worthiness. Let’s begin, shall we?”
“Hold your horses, old man.” S.K. yelled. “You haven’t explained anything. Who is this Supreme Dark Lord? What is this world? How do we fight him? Who am I competing against?”
“We don’t have time to waste. The multi-universes are waiting to be saved out there,” Wise Mentor said.
“Fuck the multiverse. I’m out.” Viper frowned.
“Nobody gives a shit if you’re in or out, Viper, we’re all chosen ones here, so piss off,” Queen said.
John Doe raised his hand shyly. He was stuttering. “I’m sorry… but… Why do we need to compete against each other? If the Supreme Dark Lord is so scary, can we join hands to defeat him? Five is bigger than one… I think?”
“STOP!” Lyndzee screamed, startling everyone in the room. She winced, looking like she had just swallowed a cockroach. “What kind of garbage idea is that? I am a lone wolf. I don’t teamwork. There can only be one chosen one, and that is me. Although…” She turned towards Wise Mentor. “Why are you the judge? How do I know we can trust your decision? What are the grading criteria? Are you the grandfather of one of us? You ain’t gonna play favorite, will ya? What achieve—”
“Enough!” Wise Mentor slammed his staff, rupturing the ground. Everyone stopped talking and turned their eyes to him.
“Where did the staff come from? You didn’t have it five… minutes… a… never mind.” Under Wise Mentor’s very intense stare, Lyndzee’s voice kept lowering, and in the end became almost like a whisper.
“I will answer your questions only once, so listen carefully.” Wise Mentor stared at them menacingly. “I am the greatest wizard of all time. Everyone in the multiverse trusts my advice, so they voted for me to be the judge. It was a democratic process. All Hail Democracy! Freedom! Liberty! These are the principles I hold dear. No, I am not blood related to any of you. No, you can’t team up because the prophecy specifically said…” He paused, his eyes suddenly turned white, his body started shaking like he was having an epileptic seizure, and his voice became deeper. “The Ultimate Chosen One will defeat the Supreme Dark Lord. Appendix: the definition of Chosen One—noun, singular, cannot be the greatest wizard of all time Wise Mentor. Get it?”
John Doe’s mouth turned into the letter O, Queen nodded, Lyndzee opened her eyes widely, S.K. was sharpening his knife which he just pulled out from his shoes, and Viper was still cursing.
“That makes perfect sense. Thank you, Mr. Mentor.” John Doe smiled happily, showing all his teeth.
“Yay, another broken world for me to fix.” Queen smirked.
“That’s enough chit chat. The Supreme Dark Lord is a very bad, very evil guy. He was defeated by the previous Supreme Chosen One a long time ago, but the prophecy has it that he will be back in about three and a half weeks, so we must hurry. If he returns, the world will turn into dust in no time, because that’s what he enjoys the most: ruling over miserable souls and eventually sitting on his empty throne, doing nothing but looking at corpses until the end of time.” He raised the staff above his head and said some unintelligible words.
The castle was shaking violently. Walls started collapsing. The roof was falling. The sky turned deep red, and clouds turned vomit green.
The five chosen ones were dodging to the left, then dodging to the right, while Wise Mentor was smiling softly at them. “Enough exposition for now. Let’s start our first adventure.”
