Five Years Ago — Tokyo

  In a cozy yet cluttered apartment, four colleagues sat around the TV as they discussed what they wanted to watch for movie night. Marian, who was still fairly new to the group, had invited them to her tiny apartment to thank them for inviting her to the team.

  Wrapped in a homemade throw, she sat cross-legged on the floor, flipping through DVD cases.

  "Okay, so we've got Spirited Away, Your Name, or Princess Mononoke. Votes?" she asked. "I have others too, but this is a good start, don't you think?"

  "Mononoke," Hiroto said right away.

  His girlfriend Hina curled up next to him on the futon, her head resting on his shoulder, and she raised her hand.

  "Too intense," she objected. "I know you have; I've always liked you hiding somewhere in there."

  "We just watched that st week, fine, I'll add that to the list." Marian grinned. "Kevin, your vote?"

  One of their assistant cameramen sat uncomfortably on a kitchen chair, looking through the bag of snacks he had brought. He wasn't really part of their team, nor had he been invited, but overheard Hiroto mention a movie night at work. No one wanted to turn him away; he was a nice guy and brought plenty of food and drinks for everyone.

  "Your Name," he said, mouth suddenly full. "I want something romantic and funny. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get isekai'd someday too."

  Marian rolled her eyes. "Right, into a world with plenty of girls with big chests."

  Kevin grinned. "I wouldn't be too upset. As long as there's a harem."

  Hiroto groaned. "You're the reason anime gets a bad rep."

  The four shared a weary chuckle. They had been working together at the agency for months, filming "Otaku adventure" tours for Western clients. They really needed a break from long nights and weeks of travel.

  Marion knew it wasn't gmorous, and her parents didn't approve, but it paid the bills and was her way to stay in Japan after her teaching contract ended.

  Deciding on a movie on her own, she popped in Spirited Away, dimmed the lights, and settled in.

  "I'm gd you thought of this," Hina whispered. "It's been a rough week."

  Marian smiled in agreement.

  Then the lights flickered and the room shook.

  "Earthquake," Kevin murmured.

  Suddenly, a low hum filled the air, vibrating through their bones and sending a few things off the shelf.

  "What the hell?" Hiroto sat up, shielding Hina.

  Marian scrambled to her feet. "No, this isn't an earthquake?"

  The TV then exploded in a burst of sparks as things were thrown about the room, as if it had been caught in a tornado. Everyone then discovered they could no longer move as a glowing circle surrounded them.

  Hina screamed.

  Hiroto tried to grab her.

  Kevin ughed hysterically. "I knew it. I freaking knew it."

  Then everything went white.

  Present Day - Necropolis

  Marian Elizabeth Hampton stretched, groaning as her joints popped, while memories of that day gradually faded. Sleeping on the cold ground never got any easier. She hated it, but this was now her life.

  God, she wouldn't have said this to anyone, but she missed her overly conservative parents, her old bedroom, and heck, even the cornfields. She cursed herself for trying to escape the small-town monotony if she knew this would be her fate.

  Still, it was better than the fate of some of her friends who had appeared with her.

  Kevin was the first to die, the idiot. He treated everything like a joke, rambling about harems and "isekai rules". Until they spped a colr on him. Even then, he didn't take it seriously enough. Sadly, he never made it back from his first trip into the crypt.

  Hiroto sted nearly a year. He died when he stepped in front of an attack targeting Hina. Marian still remembered how the crypt guardian gutted him from crotch to neck, like a fish. That left only the two of them.

  And Hina… she had been unraveling ever since. With her boyfriend's death and being separated from her family, she was nearly broken.

  That, at least, made the Hantiliya family, their owners, pause their crypt exploration for a while. Summoning costs a fortune, and training sves to survive the crypt's dangers costs a lot less. They even seem to recognize Hina's fragile state. For a time, anyway. Eventually, they sent her back in.

  Really, the summoning system was horrible. Everyone knew people disappeared from Earth all the time; some simply vanish. Marian had never given it a thought, sad for the families, sure, but still. However, she now knew the truth.

  Worse, nobody was selected for greatness. They weren't summoned to defeat some Demon Lord like Kevin insisted. Instead, it was for wealth and power for whichever family summoned you.

  The nobles paid in gold, blood, and relics to summon "heroes" from other worlds and wanted a good return from their investment. Worse, magic didn't care who it grabbed, and once you arrived, you were property.

  "Morning," Hina murmured, not looking up as she worked a needle through a torn tunic.

  One of their many responsibilities, besides fighting, was taking care of their masters—cooking, cleaning, and keeping them happy, regardless of gender. Thankfully, that didn't include sleeping with them. It happened to other sves, but summoned ones were usually spared, although that wasn't the case in other families.

  She knelt beside her pack and started pulling out breakfast: ftbreads, dried fruit, and hard cheese. Their two masters were still asleep, but they would expect food the moment they woke up.

  She gnced at the sleeping forms, then leaned closer to Hina and whispered, "Hey… did you ever hear why we're down here? We don't have enough supplies for a full crypt dive."

  Hina paused, then shook her head. "No, but something's up."

  Marian frowned. "The brothers seem to have fallen out of favor with their sister."

  "No surprise," Hina's voice dropped to a whisper. "They were talking about moving supplies from one quarter to another through unused passageways."

  "So, something Illegal," she snorted. "Thankfully, we won't get caught up in it if they're caught."

  "Too valuable for execution," Hina shrugged.

  "I'm going to quickly wash up, then I'll go ahead and wake them," Marian offered, then walked over to the fountain.

  -Break-

  Annabeth blinked. She hadn't fallen asleep, but she'd definitely been zoning out. The day had started early, and they'd made solid progress, but after that encounter with whatever creature that was, she was more than ready for a break. Thankfully, her chest no longer ached; the potion they found was incredible.

  She noticed Jason's absence and turned to see him standing over the two bodies, his brow furrowed in concentration.

  "Find anything interesting?" she asked.

  Jason leaned back on his heels, thoughtful. "It's colder here than the rest of the necropolis, isn't it?"

  "Quite a bit, but still tolerable," she replied.

  "But colder than the corpse room, right?" He gestured toward the bodies. "They're not decomposing. It's dry down here, too. No bugs. No smell."

  Annabeth stepped closer. "What are you thinking?"

  "These two were killed months ago, not years like the others. And the food in that one's pack was, well, 'fresh' isn't the right word, but you get the idea. It hadn't molded."

  Getting off the cold ground, she approached, poking the dead adventurer with her boot. "These two are pretty dried out."

  "Right, but they aren't mummified." Jason reached for the one with the severed arm. "Help me flip this guy over. We'll grab his pack and strip the armor. You need something to wear."

  Neither of them hesitated, no longer worried about looting the dead. In the necropolis, those unfortunate souls didn't need their gear anymore. Survival was more important.

  After they had taken what useful items they could from both adventurers, they gently set the bodies against the wall, arms crossed.

  Jason examined the supplies. Apparently, the pair hadn't been down here long, as food, torches, and oil were still plentiful. Unfortunately, the journal cked dates but included a rough map. No clear exit, just an arrow pointing to a specific area. He guessed that part of the dungeon was familiar to the two. At least it gave them a new goal.

  "How's the armor fit?" he asked sometime ter, stepping back after tightening the st strap across her back.

  "The belt helps," Annabeth replied, adjusting the chain hauberk over the buckle. "Takes the strain off my shoulders. Gd I didn't have to pull it over my head like a shirt. The padded thing underneath is a bit big, though."

  "Gambeson," Jason corrected, running his fingers along the sleeve. "Well made. Every link is riveted. Not cheap."

  "Too bad it didn't help the poor guy," she muttered, bouncing lightly on her toes to test the fit.

  Jason nodded. The previous owner had been half-decapitated by one of the creature's cws. The blood had soaked the top part of the padding, but Annabeth didn't seem to care. They could always wash it ter.

  "Do you think I should put on the colr? Might give some protection."

  He shook his head. "No. Something's weird about it and the bracelet. They're magical, sure, but just feel off."

  "Well, you're the wizard. Too bad the helmet's trashed. You want to try wearing the other one?"

  "No, my head would get lost in it," he replied with a faint smirk. "Ready?"

  Though the idea of facing another masked guardian made them cautious, they kept moving forward and didn't slow down. At the next fountain, they only paused briefly for a drink and to refill their water bottles.

  "It's gotten colder," Annabeth murmured, stepping back from the fountain. "Do we need to make a right at the next intersection?"

  Jason nodded and unfolded the map. "From here, there's a fairly long corridor that leads to another set of stairs going down."

  "How close do you think we are to that arrow?"

  "A few days if we push it," he said, frowning. "Assuming the map is accurate. How safe it is, I have no clue."

  "Probably best not to assume anything." Annabeth tightened her grip on her sword. "That thing might still be out there."

  "Most likely."

  They moved cautiously, scouting the hallways and quietly opening doors. At this stage, discovering civilization wouldn't end the nightmare, but the idea of a warm bed and real food motivated them to keep going.

  Thankfully, the stairs appeared just as the map had shown, descending into shadow. The two paused at the top, listening.

  "Nothing," Annabeth whispered, gncing at the walls, relieved to see no warnings, then looked back at Jason.

  "Let's go," he said, giving a small smile, and they began their descent.

  The next floor looked much the same, but Jason frowned as he studied the map.

  "Hold up a second."

  "What's up?"

  He rubbed his hands together, blew into them, then pointed at a scribbled note on the map's edge. "There's a small note on some kind of hidden doorway."

  "Right, the one that woman didn't want to go through and turned back," Annabeth recalled, leaning in. "How are we supposed to find it?"

  Jason shrugged. "Hopefully, we'll know when we get there."

  They didn't have to search for a hidden doorway. A breach in the wall had scattered debris everywhere. Something had burst into the other section from this side of the hallway, quite violently.

  Jason knelt and picked up a fragment, grinning. "Pster. Fake wall."

  Annabeth moved through the gap, sword ready. Beyond that was a hallway, simir to many others, but the signs were different. The floor showed faint scuff marks. Burned-out torches were scattered on the ground, and broken gear y around.

  "Someone definitely came through here," she looked back as Jason followed through the breach.

  He then turned a broken buckle over in his hand, which he picked off the floor. "Or several someone's. We made a beeline for the exit, but there could be half a dozen other groups wandering around, and we'd never know."

  Jason then rechecked the map. The hallway stretched ahead, curving slightly to the left.

  "We need to be careful," Annabeth said as she moved forward. "The people who brought us here weren't exactly friendly."

  "No," Jason sighed. "They were not."