Neon Cavaliers

Chapter 1: New world, new start

My name is Alexander Durham or Alex for short, a university student, just like my friends Leo, Matt, and Connor. We are at a park visiting San Francisco during summer vacation. Leo and Connor are playing catch with a football while Matt is just sitting on a chair playing on his phone, and I'm just reading my favorite Manga, sitting under a tree, enjoying the summer breeze.

"Alex, can you go get the football? I threw it past you, and it landed in a bush over there."

I put my Manga down and got up, heading toward the bush Leo was pointing. As I got the football, I noticed something strange behind the bush.

"Hey, guys, come and look at this."

"What's up, Alex?" Leo said. I pointed to the flat circle with strange markings, and before I could say anything, Connor walked on it with Matt and Leo doing the same. I stood there with a scared expression on my face.

"Guys, what are you doing!"

Connor looked back at me.

"Getting a closer look at it."

I gave out a sigh and walked towards them. When I stepped on it, the markings began to glow and began engulfing us in light. We all tried to run but couldn't move our legs. I looked at my friends, who had scared expressions on their faces, and I soon began to feel light-headed and passed out.

When I awoke, I was in utter shock. The park, the football, and my phone were gone, not only that but the glasses I wear were gone, and I could see clearly! "What's going on here? Where are we?" I got up and looked at them as they walked around in a panic muttering to themselves. 

"Guy's calm down. I think I have a basic understanding of what is going on right now."

They all stopped and gave me a confused look. "I watched a lot of Anime, and I read Manga like this. We are in an isekai, where we are transported to another world and must fight evil or something, and if I'm correct, there could be something here that will prove this. Let's look around."

We looked all over until Matt found a cave behind some vines with a bright light shining through. When we entered the cave, to our surprise, we found four weapons glowing. I stood there with a smirk on my face.

I walked forward and then turned around to face my friends with a big grin on my face. "Heh, looks like I was right." Behind me was a sword with a glow of green, a bow that glows yellow, a spear that shined orange, and two katanas that glow blue. I instantly ran toward the sword yelling dibs. I picked it up, and a screen appeared in front of me.

"Whoa!!"

I looked at the screen. It showed my stats for Luck, Attack, Defense, HP, MP, and Speed/Agility.

"Looks like my Luck is extremely low, my HP, MP, and Attack are high, and my Speed/Agility looks average, but why is my Defense so high when all I have is a sword?". Just then, I noticed a blinking icon near the equipment section, and when I clicked on it, a shield appeared on my arm. "Woah! I guess that explains why my defense is high." I thought to myself for a moment and then looked over to my friends to see what weapons they picked. Leo picked the katanas, Matt picked the Bow, and Connor picked the Spear.

"Guys, check your stats; I want to see what you got." They opened their screens, and we looked at every one of our stats, comparing them.

Alex (Level 1): Luck (10), Attack (30), Defense (40), HP (100), MP (45), Speed/Agility (20)

Leo (Level 1): Luck (20), Attack (25), Defense (20), HP (150), MP (55), Speed/Agility (30)

Matt (Level 1): Luck (30), Attack (15), Defense (25), HP (130), MP (75), Speed/Agility (25)

Connor (Level 1): Luck (25), Attack (20), Defense (27), HP (110), MP (65), Speed/Agility (20)

"Looks like I outrank you guys in my Attack and Defense stats, but do you hear that sound?"

We all looked at the entrance to the cave. We walked out to investigate, finding what appeared to be soldiers in medieval armor, when one of them began walking toward us. "Who are you, and what are you doing in these lands?"