"The prophecy!?"

  The first to speak was Caden, his mouth hanging open along with gaping eyes that expressed the pure shock all five of us had felt.

  "Yes, it is as I say. I understand that this is a lot to take in, so I hope that you'll listen to my words."

  The king continued unfurling the roll of paper, a little bit of energy peeking out through its crevices.

  As the scroll uncurled to about the halfway point, I hurriedly raise my arms to cover my face, my stomach involuntarily wrenching as my retinas are assaulted by a painfully bright shockwave of light.

  White-hot pain pulses from my eyes, the intensity of the stimulus evoking a primal shrill so barbaric that one might've mistook me for a little girl.

  "I apologize for the sudden light, but if my life is any proof, the acquisition of knowledge is a path oft followed with torment."

  As the pulsing reverberations of heat slow in their approach, each passing wave taking just a little longer, I open my eyes again, again met with the bright red light.

  I look down upon the scroll, the pure luminescence now no longer tacking my eyes and leaving me blinded.

  "This is a knowledge scroll, and an incredibly esteemed one at that. If you look into its light, it will offer its insights that the creator left behind."

  My mouth flinches ever so slightly, queries surrounding the significance of such a scroll occupying the main space of my thoughts, but my words don't roll out, my tongue frozen and my lips still.

  "You will find yourself becoming entranced. Do not attempt to resist it, otherwise you risk splintering your mind."

  A rising black shroom burst from my stomach, infecting my thoughts and leaving me helpless to its dark pleasures.

  My mind splintering?

  I again urge my body to move, to do anything, but a razor-sharp thud cuts both my thoughts and my head into two, akin to a guillotine mutilating your head along the midline.

  The words 'don't resist' hover along my psyche as I ease the tension in my stomach, succumbing to the effects of the scroll.

  The black shroom fully engulfs my body and mind in their totality, the air--no, the space around me unnaturally weaving and churning.

  Soon, guards turned to entire kingdoms and heroes turned to forests as I found myself at birds-eye view of the world.

  Flames red, crimson, black, and blue engulfed the surroundings, so towering that they trivialized what should've been my focus of attention.

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  There were thousands upon thousand--maybe even millions--of men, beasts, or mixes of the two moving at blistering speeds, their fights reshaping the environment around them.

  At one location, a snake-like man was duking it out with Corien, each blow and clashing of arcana devastating mountain ranges with gaping holes and entirely severed mountain tops.

  At another, dozens of unfamiliar men and women were all charging towards a single, impressionable vampire-like beast, his fangs extending past his lower lip.

  He'd snapped his fingers and just like that, hundreds of purple ghouls rose from the ground, each one so ludicrously powerful that I couldn't even put into quantification the extent of their strength.

  There were several other relevant centerpiece battles, but what laid most outstanding was the state of the world.

  The projection of my soul who'd been moving between these fights lost his center of balance, the earth below shaking.

  I tried to fly up and away as I had been just moments ago, but my body wouldn't react, the pit in my stomach so great that it swallowed all conscious thought.

  The dark gloom that'd stayed hidden in the earth soon made its way to the surface, light peering through the now cracking earth as rays of energy shot out.

  Soon, essentially the entire planet was engulfed in this same light, the aftermath of such a destructive force bursting forth from the core of the earth more obvious than ever.

  "Noooo!"

  I close my eyes as the feeling of dread transitions into one of solace, my life mere seconds away from ending.

  ...

  Now on both knees, hands on the floor, a pool of sweat builds from under me as I collapse into a nervous wreck.

  "What the hell is this..."

  What shook me out of my frenzy was the remark of another in close proximity.

  There, Derek had adopted the same position as me along with the three other heroes, each one of them heaving excessive volumes of air as their mouths hung open.

  "That was the end of the Way and the world as we know it as prophesized millennia ago--"

  "No, I meant what the hell is THIS! Why the fuck did you summon us to deal with the end of the world? I didn't sign up for this."

  Derek propped himself up with his hand, his legs shaking violently as he struggled to establish his sense of balance.

  Despite the king being taller, Derek grabbed Viral along the collar, dragging him down to his own level.

  "None of us chose to do this... I mean, who the fuck would willingly sign themselves away to inevitable doom?"

  It was only after he finished speaking that Derek raised his other arm, his fist balled in a like-minded fashion to Kaia.

  Derek going in for the swing, the king looked on nonetheless with no clear intentions of fighting back.

  Fwip!

  Caden stood at Derek's side, holding his arm back with his right hand.

  Derek swiftly shifted his attention, looking on at Caden with burrowed brows and clenched teeth.

  "What the hell do you think--"

  "No, what the hell do you think YOU'RE doing!"

  Derek's head flung back ever so slightly in response, the extreme reaction from Caden weakening his grip on the king.

  "Look around you! Had you swung their king, you most certainly would've gotten yourself killed."

  The king's guard all had their dominant legs stretched outward, a strangely familiar book in their hands as a number of varying arcana levitated in front of them.

  With such numbers directing attack at Derek, there's no way he could've survived such an onslaught.

  Caden looked upon Derek again with admonishment, Derek diverting his attention to the floor as he eventually resigned all contact with the king.

  Subsequently, the king's guard withdrew their attacks, their books closed and their arcana dissipated.

  "I... apologize for my actions."

  Derek and Caden both stepped back, returning to the line us heroes had originally formed into.

  "I understand after such horrific projections, you would be in disarray, but even if I wanted, I couldn't send you back. The truth is that our hand was forced by the kingdom of Veridia, and we wouldn't have summoned you if we hadn't needed to."