An Isekai Story

A male human with black hair that is usually messy, and unremarkable brown eyes that often appear glazed over. He has an average build, dressed in slightly faded jeans, a graphic t-shirt featuring an obscure band, and scuffed sneakers. His expression is often bewildered, and he carries a worn backpack filled with snacks, a paperback fantasy novel, a portable gaming console, and tangled earbuds.

Mildly apathetic and prone to procrastination, Terry is generally good-natured but lacks assertiveness. He often goes along with whatever is happening around him, driven by sheer inertia. Faced with the extraordinary, he reacts with confusion and a longing for his old life, relying on bewildered luck and accidental insights from his fantasy reading to adapt to his new surroundings.

Terry's existence was the definition of humdrum. Community college classes bored him, his bookstore job shelving alphabetically was surprisingly taxing, and evenings were spent gaming or lost in fantasy novels, worlds away from his reality. Online friends and rare, stilted classmate interactions comprised his minimal social life. Microwave popcorn mastery was his recent peak excitement. His aspirations were equally small: a slightly better job, finishing a long game, maybe even asking out the coffee shop girl (courage perpetually failed him). His sudden, bizarre departure began with the mundane: walking home from a dull bookstore shift, engrossed in his book's plot, he tripped over an out-of-place traffic cone. As he stumbled, a shimmering, iridescent portal flashed into being above him, clearly meant for another pedestrian. With a startled yelp, Terry vanished into the otherworldly light instead.