The Author's POV

[Earth]

The blue sky above seemed to shimmer and vibrate. The clouds parted, and then suddenly the sky began to crack, like a fragile pane of glass that was subjected to too much stress.

C... crack―!

The first fracture appeared, jagged and rough-edged, and then another, and another, until the sky was a spiderweb of broken blue glass.

From within the cracks, shapes began to emerge, strange and distorted, like figures from another dimension breaking through into this one.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Figures materialized into the sky, one after another. Their faces were pallid and drawn, their eyes sunken and haunted. They stumbled out of the cracks, their bodies haggard and trembling.

"We're here!"

One of them cried out, a note of relief in his voice.

"We've made it."

Another echoed, sounding more exhausted than triumphant.

After their emergence, more and more figures began to materialize from the fissure in the sky, eventually filling the entirety of the sky with their respective numbers.

The sky above them had stopped cracking, but it remained a deep, unsettling shade of blue, like a bruise on the face of the world.

Swoosh!

As the last of the survivors emerged from the portal, they took stock of their surroundings.

They were standing on top of what appeared to be a city, albeit one with peculiar building styles. The buildings were long and rectangular in shape, and the majority of their surfaces were covered in glass.

Other than that, it was eerily silent.

There were no sounds of life or movement, no signs of civilization or activity.

"Are we in the right place?"

"This is Earth?"

The survivors gathered together, their faces etched with fatigue and anxiety.

They were well aware that they had cheated death by a razor's edge and that it was only a matter of time before it caught up with them; at the moment, they were merely attempting to cling onto their last hope with the remaining forces on earth.

Soon...

Soon, the demons were going to come, and only one ending crossed their minds.

The survivors could feel it in their bones—a deep, primal fear that made their hearts race and their palms sweat.

"What's going on here? Where are all the humans?"

effort to detect the presence

shocked, one of the elven elders voiced out their

it like

because I've made it

echoed, and everyone turned their heads to see a

calm and he appeared not far from

"Who are you?"

voice filled with caution. She was a short dwarven elder

a question I'm supposed to

replied, his voice neither humble nor overbearing, but with a certain authority

elven elder

He seemed rather amicable.

We have heard that you humans have signed an alliance with our races, and we've come

way he looked at them made it seem as though he was seeing right through them. He didn't say anything after that and merely nodded

so you're the

said with no sincerity in his

were rather monotone. It was

time. The demons are

mouth and glared at the human who was standing off in the

and yet, the moment they arrived on Earth, they found out that there was no one and that they were being looked down upon by a single

pride couldn't

You either tell us where the other humans

"Or what?"

body turned stiff. He robotically turned his head, and his heart dropped

"How?"

He stammered.

the only one shocked. The other members of the three races were also in disbelief. No one was able

human extended his hand and placed it on the orc's shoulder. His cold gaze fell on him, and for a short moment, he didn't say anything. Even so, for the orc, that one

for a bunch

words made the air tense as everyone looked at

I don't know you're not reinforcements? Look

didn't change, but each one of his words

"Know your place."

rang in the minds of the three races that had

and turned his head away from

seriously think you managed to escape because

suddenly asked, gathering the attention toward him

"What do you mean?"

the

escape from the demons. In fact, a lot of our forces fell in order to let us escape. If there's one thing I'm

"Heh."

what could only be described as pity. The dwarf furrowed his brows in response, sensing the disdain that was emanating from the human's

went for the

utter

on every

the tense silence. The human shook his head,

because