Chapter 1: Summoned
The spreadsheet blurred in front of Cael's eyes. He blinked hard, trying to force his vision back into focus. The office fluorescents hummed overhead like angry insects. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, but he couldn't remember what cell he'd been editing.
3:47 AM.
He'd been at his desk for nineteen hours.
Cael pushed back from the desk and stood on shaking legs. His manager had left at midnight with a casual reminder that the quarterly report needed to be done before the morning meeting. Six hours of work crammed into what should have been sleep.
The building was empty except for the security guard downstairs. Cael gathered his jacket and bag with mechanical movements, his body running on fumes and coffee. He didn't bother turning off his computer. He'd be back in four hours anyway.
The night air hit him like cold water. Tokyo never really slept, but at this hour even the city seemed tired. Cael walked toward the train station, his mind pleasantly blank with exhaustion. Maybe he'd grab a few hours on his apartment floor before the alarm went off.
He didn't see the truck run the red light.
There was a moment of confusion. Bright headlights. The blare of a horn. Then impact, and the world went sideways and dark.
Ah.
So this is how it ends.
The thought drifted through the darkness with strange calm. Twenty-six years old and he'd die having accomplished nothing except making someone else rich. At least he wouldn't have to finish that spreadsheet.
Then the darkness shifted.
Light bloomed around him. Not harsh fluorescent light but something warm and golden. Cael gasped and his lungs filled with air that didn't taste like stale office ventilation. His body felt different. Lighter. The bone-deep exhaustion that had been his constant companion for three years was simply gone.
He was standing.
Cael's eyes snapped open. His body felt wrong. Lighter, younger, like years had been stripped away. He stood in the center of an intricate circle carved into white marble, glowing with runic script he somehow understood. Around him, robed figures chanted in a language that rang like bells in his ears. Massive pillars rose toward a vaulted ceiling painted with golden constellations. Braziers burned with blue flame.
This wasn't Tokyo.
This wasn't Earth.
Holy shit.
Cael's heart hammered in his chest. He'd read enough light novels during his train commutes to recognize what was happening. The realization hit him like lightning.
He'd been isekai'd.
A grin split his face before he could stop it. This was real. This was actually happening. No more spreadsheets. No more soul-crushing meetings. No more sleeping three hours a night to meet impossible deadlines. He'd been given a second chance at life, and this time it would be in a world of magic and adventure.
The chanting reached a crescendo and cut off. The circle's glow faded. An elderly man in elaborate white and gold robes stepped forward, his weathered face breaking into a warm smile.
"Hero," the man said, his voice resonating with power. "Welcome. I am High Priest Aldric. You have been summoned to our world of Aethermoor in our hour of greatest need."
Cael barely heard the formal words. He was too busy looking around in wonder. Real magic. Real fantasy world. The priest's robes actually glowed with enchantments he could somehow perceive. This was everything he'd ever dreamed about during those endless office hours.
"The prophecy spoke of a hero who would arrive to save us from the coming darkness," Aldric continued. "That hero is you, chosen one. Are you willing to accept this destiny?"
"Yes!" The word burst out of Cael before he could think. "Absolutely yes!"
Several of the gathered priests smiled at his enthusiasm. Aldric's expression warmed further. He gestured and a shimmering interface appeared in the air before Cael, visible only to him. His breath caught.
A system. An actual status screen like in the games and stories.
"The goddess Lythara herself shall grant you a class befitting a hero," Aldric explained. "Please, focus your will upon the interface and allow the divine selection to commence."
Cael stared at the floating screen with barely contained excitement. This was it. The moment that would define his new life. Would he be a powerful swordsman? A legendary mage? Maybe some unique hero class that only appeared once a generation?
He reached out and touched the shimmering surface.
The interface pulsed with golden light. Warmth flowed through him like sunlight, and for a moment he felt connected to something vast and divine. Power rushed into his body, settling into his bones and blood. The sensation was intoxicating.
Then the light faded and text appeared:
CLASS SELECTION COMPLETE
Name: Cael
Age: 18
Class: Necromancer
Rank: F
Abilities: - Raise Dead - Death Sense - Inferior Undead Control
Hidden Abilities : - Locked
Cael blinked at the screen. Necromancer. That was... unexpected. He'd been hoping for something more traditionally heroic, but necromancers could be powerful, right? Dark and edgy, sure, but in a cool way. He could work with this.
The warmth in the air vanished.
Cael looked up from his status screen and froze. Every face in the chamber had gone pale. Aldric had taken several steps backward, his expression transforming from welcoming warmth to naked horror. The other priests clutched their holy symbols with white-knuckled grips. One had actually drawn a warding sign in the air.
"Necromancer," Aldric whispered, and the word fell like a curse.
The temperature in the grand hall seemed to plummet. Cael's excitement curdled into confusion. He looked from face to face, seeing fear and disgust reflected back at him. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
"I don't understand," Cael said. His voice sounded small in the vast chamber. "What's wrong?"
Aldric's face had gone ashen. He looked up toward the painted ceiling as if seeking guidance from the goddess herself. When he spoke, his voice trembled.
"The class... that class has never appeared before. Not in three thousand years of recorded history." The High Priest's eyes met Cael's, and there was something like pity mixed with the fear. "Necromancy is the domain of death itself. The antithesis of the divine light we serve."
Cael's mouth went dry. The excitement that had filled him moments ago drained away, replaced by creeping dread.
"We must present you to His Majesty," Aldric said finally, though he looked like he'd rather do anything else. "The King must be informed of... this development."
Two guards in gleaming armor approached from the shadows. They kept their hands on their sword hilts and maintained careful distance as they gestured for Cael to follow. He looked down at his hands, half expecting them to be skeletal or rotting. They looked normal. He felt normal.
But the way everyone looked at him had changed.
The hero's welcome had lasted less than five minutes.
As the guards escorted him toward the massive doors at the hall's far end, Cael caught sight of his reflection in a polished shield. He looked younger than he remembered, maybe eighteen. The exhaustion that had lined his face for years was gone, replaced by smooth skin and a face that belonged to someone with their whole life ahead of them.
Except now everyone was looking at him like he was a monster.
The heavy doors swung open with a groan of ancient hinges, and Cael walked forward into uncertainty, the word still echoing in his mind:
Necromancer.