All the other recruits came from exotic sounding places, planets light-years away from Earth, even in entirely different galaxies. They were all sorts and sizes, wearing varying types of clothing Alan couldn’t begin to describe. But their reasons for being here seemed rather… mundane. They talked as if this was a job application, or a college interview, rather than a chance to join a deadly fighting force. They discussed local sports teams, exchanged news about their sectors and gossiped about celebrity players. Still, even Alan could sense there was an underlying tension in everyone’s voices, as they were about to compete with each other for a limited number of spots in the guild. Alan answered a few questions directed at him, but once the other recruits learned he was from Earth, a new planet, a backwater, they seemed to leave him alone. Alan could tell that they didn’t see him as a threat. That was good.

He’d briefly tried to keep up a conversation with Kitana, but she answered nearly every question with a single syllable and it had turned into one-sided rambling. His interests in anime, fantasy fiction and video games weren’t shared at all by her, and the more he thought and talked about them, the sillier they seemed in his head. After all, he was now living in one of these stories, rather than simply watching one. That was his goal though, right? To become the hero. To protect the earth, at least as best he could. Still, he had no idea how to go about doing that or what his best options were… he should just try his best to get into the guild and complete his quests for now. Maybe some idea from a game he played or book he read would turn out useful. And so Alan stared out the window in the shuttle, watching the scenery breeze past.

A few minutes later, the shuttle began to slow down. A bright blue spherical bubble appeared, an energy shield with a radius of about 100 km by Eve’s estimates. After a brief pause, the shuttle entered this shield. Once they entered the radius of the energy field all signs of it disappeared. The blue seas and skies were all that remained, as if there had never been any shield at all.

Eve immediately highlighted a number of artificial islands and ships, all surrounding a larger hexagon-shaped island, each side around 50 km long according to Eve, a bit smaller than the Hawaiian island Oahu. Each smaller island and ship had clear defensive turrets, although they were too high up for Eve to evaluate the defenses any further. She just knew they were there. Alan thought this was a bit excessive. They were still in a safe zone, after all. Most of the island was green, left in its natural state, with a smattering of structures that Alan could barely make out.

The shuttle began to descend, silently approaching a massive stone fortress in the center of the island. It reminded Alan of a medieval castle, except with its battlements and towers covered by futuristic gun turrets. It was a majestic structure, with four main towers at each of the outer wall’s four corners and a massive keep the size of a small skyscraper at the center. A number of other buildings were held within the walls, a few rectangular administrative type buildings, a hangar and a large, dome-shaped coliseum. At the tip of each of the main towers was a massive colored sphere, containing some undulating energy unknown to Alan. The keep had an even larger pyramid of energy at its tip. Each orb was constantly shifting in color, from a deep blue, to a plasma green, to a fiery red to a clear sort of cloud, and then back again. Alan wondered what the purpose of these spheres was.