Prologue:

If I could pose a question for a moment, please let me ask you something.

Is the concept of world peace something we as humans can not comprehend?

When you look at our world, what do you see?

Is it one where we can say every person lives an ideal and happy life? One where we don't wage slave in fear of starvation or fear being murdered by the neighbor for something as trivial as one's religious affiliation? This human species of our world has driven the order in which we live to shambles.

It is time for us to change it.

Even being sent into another world, these same issues seem paramount. No matter where we go, living creatures as a whole fails to comprehend the concept of living in harmony with one another. "Living in peace "is something we continually hear but fail to comprehend. This cycle of hatred must come to an end. Otherwise, the dream of the great men and women who sought freedom in our world will never have their wishful prayers answered.

Ask yourself what peace is? What state do you see the universe in? If either of those answers are unclear, then it is up to us to bring about clarification. We must come forward from the fog and clean the mess spewed before us.

Ask yourself what peace is? What state do you see the universe in? If either of these answers is unclear, then it is up to us to b ring about clarification. We must come forward from the fog and clean the mess spewed before us.

My life's journey has been full of questions. Most days, I am simply tired of the perpetual greed and corruption of power. Why must the ambitious concede to rapacity? I am certain that my legacy will be fulfilled.

Just like any ordinary person, It was never viewed as special. For most of my life, it was just ordinary. There were no specifications to what I was born into.

Was I born to be average, or is there a higher purpose in life for me? Many ask themselves this exact same question.

One day, I found my answer.

Along with my brother and three of my friends. I was able to understand what it truly meant to find my purpose.

In life, everyone has the potential to be a champion that is seen as a hero. Nothing is impossible.

World peace is possible. A world with no war is possible. Peace between wading factions is possible.

What once felt like a death game turned out to be a chance of redemption, triumph, and hope. My life was now devoted to the sole purpose of protecting what I cared for. In a world, billions of lightyears from ours, I learne my true reason for living.

To become a Gray Coat. A person who mediates and severs the connection between the light and the darkness of this world.

"The Hero of Eukaperok. Leade r of the guild AFK. Savior of the future. Gray-Coat - "

Chapter One:

End of a New Beginning

"Eukaperok" or, as I like to refer to this universe, a gangster's paradise. "Eukaperok" is conspicuous like the name comes off.

Ignard is a god from this world who summons people from other planets. My name is Omar Marshall, I was summoned to change the tide in a war against a Demon Army that disrupts his world every thousand years. In those thousand years, a new Demon King arises and causes terror and mayhem across this beautiful but forsaken land.

It is then that he drives out the god, Ignard. Forced out of his own homeland, due to the kryptonite energy that plagues his world. He summons regular average humans to fight in a meaningful war for us. Held against our will, to either die or fight.

In the beginning, however, I was not alone. Instead, I had been one of ten champions picked to help the God of this world and save Eukaperok. For whatever reason, a seventeen-year- old, like me, was asked to bring peace back to Eukaperok. The other nine and I that were spawned into this world worked together in two small groups.

We created a guild known as AFK. "Away and Forsaken from our Kind" is what we came up with. A friendly reminder of who we were and where we came from. The driving motivation of the guild to get everyone home, we also made a priority to help innocent bystanders along the way. Since then, only two of us have remained in this long death march home.

"Gah!" my voice exclaimed to the back of my throat.

My sword struck the Demon King Kaiju. I detested myself, becoming battle- tested or one of those hardened war veterans. I could sense the end of the Demon King's life. Through a lengthy war on the desert lands of the world's capitaI, Elbaronce. The burning crisps and beneath my feet, coiled. Finally, we were nearing the end. All the fighting, all of the loss, and all the sacrifices to reach this point culminated in this killing silhouette.

My hollow spirited voice collapsed in a last gasp. "Finally. It's over..."

My clothes became nothing more than mere tattered rags of my former pants and long gray coat. I did not notice until now or cared to look. My longsword struck the heart of the King, kneeling in defeat. I showed him no mercy.

"I guess my time has finally come to an end, huh? Who would have thought a pathetic human like yourself would do the bidding of a god. And win..." The demon king said as he began to laugh in my face, coughing up his own blood. My only partner who has survived up to this point grabbed my trembling shoulder to let me know he was still alive.

"Magnus!?" I spoke. Magnus Kelly, a young Irishman with a crimson, beard, and hair to match. During our time in this world, he was my shield for my blindside throughout our battles together. My sworn brother in battle, the perfect combination. We trained together and fought together to reach this point. My life was saved by him, the same number of times I had saved his more times than I could count. Our bond is deeper than brothers by blood.

"Go ahead and finish this, Omar , I will go and activate the signal fire so we can finally escape this hell hole," he stated coldly. He turned without another word and walked away to fire off the beacon of victory.

Magnus walked through the quiet battlefield, the winds rushing him towards the signal fire. I turned away while he continued. My eyes rested back on the soulless Demon King and his dying breaths.

"All the lives you've ended, all the friendships you've ended, and all the hopes and dreams you've shattered. It's all been avenged by the piercing of my blade, you bastard!" I yanked his carcass off my blade, which had pierced the Demon King's heart. As I watched the blood pour from his fatal wound, I let out a furious savage roar of victory.

Kaiju's reaction turned out to be the opposite I expected. He should have groveled, begging for mercy. Instead, he laughed at me. "You have escaped death, boy, " the Demon King spat, feeling the last of his life draining away.

"But remember this! And that is that you will carry these war wounds with you for the rest of eternity." His words clung to me, I recognized that I truly would remember this hell I endured when I returned back to my world.

"For me, Kingsman, death is an escape as I will join my brothers and sisters in death. Where shall you go to escape the madness ? Innocents' loss is never retained."

"Tsk."

In blind fury, I slammed my blade back into his bleeding heart, creating another hole into his chest. No time to ponder his taunt, for fatigue and exhaustion removed all rational thought from my mind.

His body slid from the edge of my blade, at my feet, now laid a lifeless corpse. I dropped my long sword with feelings of shock and relief flooding through my body, like a hurricane. I fell onto my knees, gasping for air.

I sat there in the blood- stained sand as the wind blew. The sky was an aura of magenta , and a purple moon had appeared. I could hear the animals finally humming a peaceful, harmonious tune. The stench of battle now faded from around me. I sat on the ground holding my hands together. My hands were drenched in the crimson blood of the Demon King Kaiju.

"Is it finally over?" I asked myself silently in my head while I was physically shivering on the outside. I'm unsure if this panned out to be another sick twisted game.

You know... I think this is the first time my eyes are able to pierce the stars and capture this world's true beauty.

Magnus and I finally won the battle against Kaiju. The demonic energy faded from the Demon King, which brought so many horrors into our once innocent lives. I finally got from my knees, remembering that completing our objective meant we could go home. In joy, I stood up and began to walk away from the graveyard in the smoky desert.

"It's finally over..." I repeated as if I could not believe the words I'd initially uttered.

The signal fire Magnus built using the weapons of the fallen enemies for the completion showed on the tower burned into the magenta sky. Now lit up blossoming like a phoenix bird, I could see Magnus with his fist raised high in the distance. I could see his smile. The more I got closer to him, the brightened the entire mood of my fractured, battle-weary soul.

The sand quietly blew across the bodies of the fallen until all th at remained was clean and appeared pristine. Changes in the world lightened followed, as if a deep darkness that the Demon King had brought to the land, lifted all the evil and left, into the beautiful aura unfurled in the magenta sky.

"We did it, Brother!" Magnus stated, giving me a thumbs up. Tears of relief stained his cheeks, well as my own.

We ran towards one another like little kids and embraced each other. Overwhelmed by emotion, we could not hold in the tears , from the loss of our comrades, and our joy in completing the mission.

"We did this for all of them. The ones who could not make it here to this very spot we are standing," I said as I continued to pour out all the pain, I endured through my tears with my brother who sobbed with me. For a while, neither of us spoke as the emotions were too raw, too fresh to allow any thought or sound besides our breathing.

"Remember what I promised you?" He exclaimed at last, breaking the revelry of the moment."I would get you back to that blessing of a life you have." He squeezed my shoulder and smiled as he brushed the tears from his cheeks and regained his composure. The people I met here were like family, through all the hardships and obstacles we'd faced. Our guild had each other's back, and now only Magnus and I stood here.

Only the two of us...

The end goal for the group was always to send at least one of us home. I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Looks like we were able to keep our promise." I said to Magnus , but he had no time to respond as the sky above us started to change.

Magnus and I heard a loud sound from a pulsing blue light that appeared. A door in the sky opened from the light, with two heavenly figures walking out of it casually, as I might have done entering a new room. The taller of the two descended ahead of the other smaller figure; His broad shoulders straightened approaching Magnus and I. Ignored, the God of Eukaperok gave a sigh of relief as the soles of his feet touched the hot sand.

He slowly approached us simultaneously, clapping his hands slowly. "My... My... I can't say I am not impressed. Your will to live is impeccable." He stated as he grabbed both of our shoulders with a smile.

"Well, Overseer Cassie. A promise is a promise, so see to it that these heroes are sent back to their world." He said to our over seer who by then unhooked his face to reveal himself. He has been keeping knowledge and record since the birth of this world. A young, cocky individual who helped us along the way came as a shock to Magnus and me, who had relied on the old man for advice more than one time.

Ignored, he turned his back to us, and more of the surviving soldiers from the war showed up. They began to fill the warzone, and Ignored and the people rejoiced in ann ouncing his return. The people chanted our names, like they looked at us like gods, but we were no gods, just mere mortals wanting to get home. We saved a lot of lives on the way, and some of them stood in the crowd before Magnus and I, but our intention was to leave this world and return home.

Ignored continued to gloat towards the soldiers, who followed in his grace's footsteps. Taking all the credit. "Humans are something, am I correct? I know how to pick the best of the best."

My face grinned as Cassiel walked over to me. "Omar, is something bothering you? Kaiju is finished, and you are moments from returning home," Overseer said in a bewildered voice as he turned to face Magnus and I once more.

"This world... will the war ever end, truly? How many more lives must be spilled? It can not keep going on like this. Can it?" I grumbled. Knowing he worked hard for ignoring the whole time left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"If only it were that simple child. Unfortunately, the way of the demons and common folk could never coexist in this cruel world. That is just how life is, I suppose. Egos are larger than the bigger picture." Cassie muttered.

I sat in a trance for a short stint before holding my tongue from further unnecessary questions. I had been here too long.

And there were more questions than when I first arrived.

Overseer smiled slightly, putting his hands together, asking if we were ready. For a moment, Magnus and I looked at each other hesitating, we realized this might be the last time we saw each other for a long time.

Part of the plans we, as a guild, had made early on was to exchange cell numbers in case we ever managed to make it home. This small hope became a driving force in keeping our minds focused on home and not giving in to the despair of how our numbers were shrinking and the difficulty of the world increased.

"Goodbye, my boys. Do try and live a regular life now." Finally, we were leaving. As the magical light surrounded us, memories of all the pain I went through, the good times I had, and the adventure I went on hit me all at once.

Magnus and I were the sole survivors of our guild and defeated the Demon Army. Even now, it seemed almost unbelievable that this horror was finally over.

"I guess this is it now, I hope you do fine without us, Overseer." Magnus laughed.

"He'll probably be miserable now that the hideout is empty, outside of Zeo." We shared a laugh, and then the light overshadowed us. I could not see at all in the light but only heard the voice of two men.

"Goodbye, my boys!" I recalled it being the voice of the Overseer, and then Ignored followed with a startling phrase. "May we meet again Magnus Kelly and Omar Marshall..."

Chapter Two:

End of a New Beginning Pt. II

It's been six months now. When I returned back to Earth, I returned to my home in Japan. Me, my brother Jai, and mother moved here when we were young after my father died.

We live in a small apartment on the tenth floor of a huge complex. With three rooms for each of us and our balcony contains a whole view of the downtown area of Tokyo. We were foreigners to the people who lived here, but we were still given a lot of love with our situation. Jai and I went to a small academy in Tokyo and were extremely popular until I returned home, and I changed.

"To be continued? That is such bull, man." I threw the manga I was reading onto the ground under the bridge, I sat under at my school. Upset, I held both of my hands on my head. I kept wondering why romance manga always leaves a cliffhanger at the end. A normal teenager stressor to be upset over a manga.

I heard footsteps with my face watching over the sky. I dropped my head after I heard my manga getting kicked and disappearing from the ground.

"Love is love?" A voice spoke that he owned the leg that kicked the manga to reveal its cover.

The criminal was my overzealo us little brother Jai, who wore his athletic attire instead of our school's uniform. Jai wrapped his dreads in a small bun, but they still were coming down from behind his shoulders. About six feet tall, when he didn't slouch. He is still a couple inches shorter than me, always carrying a great physique.

Jai held a smirk on his face, so I knew there was going to be trouble. "You're getting that desperate for love advice, Omar? I guess you really are hopeless now."

He smacked himself on the back of his head, from my own embarrassment. Jai always tries to one up me no matter what I do. Since I returned, he has noticed I have been different. I no longer engaged in the sibling rivalry, which had fueled our relationship since we were kids. Instead, I tried to keep my distance.

It was a difficult adjustment when I came back to earth from Eukaperok. Faced with overwhelming challenges that you would likely see in a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Anyone in my situation would agree. This is not your comm on trauma. I mean, I fought a fulI-scale war in another world, with only my life on the line.

This feeling made me feel as if I needed to isolate myself from who I was before the summoning. The grades and sports that defined my life at our academy no longer held any meaning to me. Jai was angered and beyond frustrated at this point by the sudden change in my behavior. I never told him what truly happened, so he took the reins and delt his frustration into sports to prove to be better than I ever was.

It was a strange transition because the amount of time I disappeared felt like years to me. Truth be toId, I remained in Eukaperok for only seven minutes according to the gym clock. I disappeared and reappeared in the basketball gym of our school after hours. Which was normal for me when I still cared to be the very best athlete. Staying later than anyone else, a gym- rat mentality is what I would call it. The mamba mentality.

The passion that had driven me before into competition, killed by my experiences in Eukaperok. I could no longer muster the desire to practice a sport when my mind could only question the universe. I turned my attention back to Jai after reflecting on that fateful day.

"Could you hand me my book back, Jai?" I asked him as nicely as possible. That is when he called his friends over. I sighed because I knew this situation was going to take a turn for the worse.

One of our family friends from back when we were younger appeared suddenly behind me. Her name was Lucy Bell, and she came from the United Kingdom. She had silky, smooth blonde hair with a flushed look on her face . Her eyes were a gorgeous deep-sea blue, and she was petite with the exception of her hourglass figure, but her kind- hearted, soft- spoken manner always remained her most endearing trait.

"Heya Omar! What did you want to show me, Jai?" She said as she bent over to read the cover and saw the manga he had been reading, which Jai still held hostage.

"Love is Love", I love that one so much, but it leaves too many cliffhangers for my taste. I need a story that is quick and to the point these days." Jai's jaw dropped to the ground, looking completely shocked and flustered. I chuckled to myself after seeing Ja i's reaction.

"Heh!? Not you too!"

Something we can agree on...

She proceeded to get in my face and try to whisper something, but her breasts pressed against me and became distracting. I put my hand calmly on her shoulders and pushed her back gently.

For a brief moment, confusion played across her face, and then she grinned.

"Your rack was about to perform another rack attack, Lucy." If acetiously stated to her impishgrin.

"Dah! Not again... not again... I should have been born a man. Oh, wait! A cat." Her face got really red after I called out her blatant disregard for her own figure. With the thoughts of being reincarnated as something else, she scooted to my side in embarrassment.

"Maybe be born as a lion instead of a cat. Then you can rule the jungle." Jai muttered, walking a way.

Cats are technically... you know what? Never mind.

"Lucy. I was kidding, but what were you about to tell me?" I asked to politely diffuse the awkwardness of the moment.

"Jai has really been upset. You've been avoiding him since school started back in the spring. It hink you should try and talk to him about things." She said while looking at Jai. He still looked shocked from her sudden appearance and response to the manga. "I mean, you guys are brothers after all."

"She agreed with him. She betrayed me." Jai sarcastically sobbed.

My breath drew out a small sigh as I stood up slowly. "I suppose you are right. Sorry if it's been a problem."

"It's okay. We all go through rough stints in life sometimes. But you know what, Omar, one day it will all be better. I promise!" Lucy happily advised, placing both of her hands like she planned to pray.

She had a point, I finally made my way to my brother and grabbed his shoulder.

"You want to talk, well we have ten minutes of lunch left, so come on." I said, opening a door, I wasn't sure I wanted to walk, though. For family, though, there should never be a door you do not walk through for them. I could see him get flustered as if he had been waiting for me to say these words so he could speak his mind.

We walked close to the cafeteria into an area with only us two in it. He attempted to walk around and tough, with his chest puffed out, head held high, but I wasn't buying it.

"What do you want to know, Jai ? Lucy said you had something to get off your chest, so speak." Jai looked away into the distance as if this subject suddenly became very awkward to him.

"Umm... well." Jai stumbled on his words.

"Speak man!"

"Is puberty bad...?" Jai asked. My eyes rolled to the back of my head.

"Huh!?"

"I mean, you are so different, I don't even recognize you," he finally blurted out. "What the hell happened to you? Did the horm ones in your brain really make you collapse into a loser who reads bad manga?" He flushed as he looked away.

"Puberty..." I laughed.

Jai looked at me, like I appeared to be an idiot. "Really!? That is aIl you can give me. Wow..." Jai whiffed, disappointed, easily seeing that I was holding back.

I had no choice but to lie. Ever since I returned, life has changed . My mind only has questions that can never be answered. Sometimes, it feels nothing more than a lost cause, in this thing called life. Eukaperok has scared me . I wake up from bad dreams with scratches all over me. I had no words for the horrors playing in my memory within me since I returned from Eukaperok. And it is not like you would believe me, little brother. It would sound ridiculous!

It was a minor miracle when I texted Magnus number AFK, and he replied with our guild motto. The confirmation that Eukaper ok had not been a dream of some kind made the experience even more real at that moment.

We talked monthly about the events in that world and how we coped in these situations because of Magnus's crazy work schedule. At times, the conversations helped, but overall, isolating myself from everyone that was not inside Eukaperok seems to be the best course of action until I could regain my composure. I knew, eventually, I would have to tell someone about what happened.

It was fake it until you made it.

Anytime Magnus and I discussed what happened to us, I would be somewhere secluded. I mostly would go to my favorite park down the street from my apartment. The bench I sat on, which usually did not see, and people came by. Which meant I was free to discuss what I could not discuss with anyone else who had not been there and lived through those experiences with me. I was glad I remembered his number before we left Eukaperok.

"I am sorry, Jai, about everything. I promise that when we get home today, I will tell you everything even if you don't believe me. Puberty really changes the game." He looked at me, and the relief on his face was obvious.

"Now that is what I am talking about!" He said as he handed the manga back to me. "I am going to hear you out! We are in this together!"