1 The unexpected summoning of a horror writer, part 1

One moment Shin was eating his dinner, the next he was lying face-down in the bowl of rice. Shin's soul watched this from the side, too shocked to entirely process what was going on.

'Did I just die?' he thought.

As if to answer him, a shining light glowed above—cold and harsh, like in a surgery room. If Shin had a choice, he'd run away from it, but he couldn't move.

Too late, Shin's life flashed before his eyes.

His full name was Kugutsu Shin, and he was only 24 years old. He skipped quickly through his childhood and young adulthood, because there was nothing Shin liked to remember. His best days came after he graduated from school.

This was Shin's routine in those six years: he woke up at seven sharp, ate leftovers from yesterday's dinner, and spent an hour on a packed train to get to work.

Shin's job in the fast-food restaurant was grueling and paid enough only for a very modest lifestyle. His shift started at nine and ended at six, but Shin often stayed until seven or even eight because overtime paid extra, and he needed extra. At least, lunches were on the house, and Shin always ate as much as he could.

Another hour later, he would get home, grab some groceries from a store near the house and maybe a can or two of beer. Back at home, Shin would make something quick and simple for dinner, and then…

Then he wrote until midnight, and sometimes past that. Shin only needed his phone to write and post short stories online. They all were set in the same world, often in the same places, but the characters in them rarely met.

Writing was Shin's sole hobby, and putting imaginary characters in terrible situations made him feel better about his own life.

If this made Shin a freak, he didn't care.

He also didn't care that almost no one read his stories.

This was a simple life, just the way Shin liked it. Not boring at all—just peaceful.

Shin didn't want to die and leave it, but the harsh light drew him in.

The closer Shin got to the light, the farther away the rest of the world went, until there was nothing but light. Then even this faded away, leaving only darkness, which soon turned into shapes and colors.

Shin stood in a strange, yet familiar landscape.

It looked like hell drawn by an abstract painter. Orange sky covered aggressively purple rocky ground, which shifted and pulsated with life, and the stench of sulfur overpowered everything. A row of empty thrones, as huge as mountains, was visible on the horizon. They were all made from bones of creatures that didn't exist on Earth.

A dozen smaller, but still huge—like houses—thrones surrounded Shin in a circle. They were made from jagged crystals and bloody meat.

And on each throne sat an equally massive demon, staring down at Shin. Beneath the thrones, an entire crowd of much smaller demons sat on the ground, subdued and silent. They had little in common with common images of demons, except for their sheer monstrosity: horns, claws, scales, fur and teeth were in abundance.

"Who is this?" one of them asked from three maws at once. The language was not Japanese and it hurt Shin's ears to listen, but he understood it anyway.

"The one that gets summoned last. Didn't you keep count?"

"Quiet, both of you!" a demon wearing a crown of horns shouted with authority. A lesser demon was speared on its longest horn, still alive despite the hole in its chest. "We explain the rules of the game now. Human, you only have one chance to listen."

Shin took a deep breath and confirmed to himself that he, somehow, appeared in the Court of Words. Because this was exactly how he described it in his horror stories!

This was a place where the strongest demons of the demon dimension gathered for their unfathomable business. From the looks of these demons, Shin could even guess which one was which.

He stared at them with huge eyes, unsure if he were hallucinating. Unsure about everything, Shin stayed quiet and observed the surrounding situation.

"The Fourth is about to ascend to true godhood," the horn-crowned demon said. "You know his name, so you were summoned as his harvest to the world he crawled from."

Shin remembered easily who the Fourth, or the Fourth God, was. Unlike these demons, the Fourth was a human once, then became something more—but not quite a true deity yet. His name was his primary source of power—he claimed any soul that knew it.

Like Shin, who came up with the entire concept of the Fourth. Who wasn't even real! How could he summon anyone if he wasn't real?

Anyone in Shin's place would've probably been hysterical or shell-shocked by this point, but Shin was almost calm. The entire situation was nightmarish, but being in nightmarish situations wasn't new to him.

He could accept it with grace and some self-deprecation.

'I really was cursed at birth…'

When the horn-crowned demon kept talking, Shin forced his emotions aside and listened, knowing that the information might be the key to his future survival.

"The Fourth would love to eat all of you who were summoned, but that will be too easy for him."

"Yes! Some of us are almost starving here, and he just… plucks souls? Unfair," another demon lord grumbled quietly.

"We decided to give you a fighting chance. Maybe you will even be able to destroy the Fourth while he's weak and return to where you came from. If you will entertain us with the fight for your life, we might help in other ways, too. We caught you mid-way that you could make a Contract—it will protect you from the Fourth's influence. Just pick anyone here who's willing to have you. They will help you fight," the horn-crowned demon gestured with a three-jointed hand at the demons beneath the thrones, and the demon impaled on its horn whined in pain. "Choose."