Chapter 1. Part 1.

A Doorway to Another World.

Based on several anime tv shows of the isekai type.

By MJM 2025

Introduction.

You should know a few things about our main character – Mark Claymoor.

He is a teenager without friends, who is not good at anything. Not good looking or in good shape, not ever that good at video games. He was living with his grandpa up until the old man recently died.

His parents having died a few years ago while on a trip with grandpa. His uncle blamed the old man for their deaths. He took Mark's siblings in, seeing how they were good kids. But he refused to take Mark. Saying that he should go live with grandpa.

When he was young, people often told Mark that he had great potential, but they quickly got disappointed when he failed to live up to their expectations. Now he was below average in just about every way, because life was easier that way. It he did not really try, then he did not really fail. That is the sort of think he told himself. Living up to people's expectations was just too hard. But somehow grandpa still had faith in his potential. “One day you will decide to do great things. One day you will find motivation.” the old man often said.

Story Begins.

It is summer brake, a few days after the funeral of Mark's grandpa.
Mark has just finished junior high and will be starting high school next semester. He is returning home after getting paper work from grandpa's lawyer. The documents spell out how he has access to a trust fund that will provide a reasonable amount per month, until he is 21. At which time he will have full control over everything. The house is now his, but he must not sell it or give it away. Grandpa's will insisted. The documents are carefully written so that any challenge from relatives will fail. They are entitled to a small amount of money each, but not the house or his collection of special artifacts.

We are given this info in the form of a flash back and a monologue as MC goes home.

On the walk home Mark encounters a nasty situation just outside the subway station.

A girl around his age is being harassed by four guys. There are people near by but no one is paying any attention. After she loudly says “No way. Now leave me alone.” Mark thinks “Iv got to do something.” But he knows there is no way he will win in a fight against four guys.
Grandpa's voice comes to him “It is better to do what is right, to fight, and risk getting hurt, than to stand aside and let evil happen.” That is the sort of profound thing the old man would say.

Mark steps up to help.

He gets beat up rather quickly.

But the fight draws attention and people start recording it with their phones.

So the thugs walk away.

Mark is left on the ground. People ask the girl how she is doing. They ignore him.

At home.

Grandpa's place is a classic brownstone style building, three levels tall. The kind of place that is often divided into an apartment on each floor. But not this one. Grandpa owned the entire thing and kept it the way it was originally built, as one big house.

Mark patches himself up. He has a lot of experience doing this because of getting beat up at school.

Feeling like shit and not really wanting to do anything, he goes into grandpa's room for the first time since the old man died. He pokes around a bit, then discovers a hidden door in back of the closet. This opens into a room full of nick-nacks. Strange stuff he collected on his travels.

Then he spots an envelope sitting on the desk, his name written on it.
Inside is a letter and a note book.

The letter - “Well my boy, if you are reading this, Im dead or something serious like that has happened. Sorry I didn't have more time to teach you about life. Maybe I should have pushed you more, but it seemed everyone else was doing too damn much pushing. You have to take things at your own pace. Push yourself when you decide it is what you need to do. But ready or not, here we are.

Look around the hidden room. What you see are objects so valuable they should never be sold. They are from my travels. Some have sentimental value, others have powers so dangerous you should not touch them until you learn a lot of unbelievable things. Read the book, you should find with this letter, it explains what you need to know. Dont use the doorway until you are ready. I love you. Etc...”

Mark read the letter a second time, yup it sure sounded like his grandpa.

What a strange turn of phrase “use the doorway”. He looked around. Aside from the door through the closet there was actually another door. He had not noticed when he first entered the room. Maybe that is the one in question.

He walks over to inspect it. The door frame was fancy, more so than any other in the house. The door itself was heavy wooden planks held together with black iron fittings. He put his hand on the door and gave a slight push. It did not move. There was no door nob to turn or lock he could see.

Giving up on that for the moment, he slowly walks around the room taking a closer look at the items. There were suits of armor and weapons, prominently displayed. Some artwork and statues on shelves. Pieces of fancy clothing neatly put away in wicker baskets. A shelf full of books. A chest full of bones. A rug that was wrapped in chains. Etc...

Mark stopped his search back at the desk, looking at the painting on the wall above it. At the centre of a group of people was grandpa. They were all dressed like D&D characters. Maybe it was a renaissance fair or gaming convention. But it was for sure a painting not a photograph or print. Some artist had put a lot of time and effort into it.

“Read the book” grandpa had said. That seemed like the logical next step.

So he took it and went back to his own room for some bed time reading.

What he read.

In the note book grandpa explained that he travelled regularly to an other world, much like one found in fantasy novels. It had kings and wizards, dragons and monsters. He had learned magic there. He had gone on many adventures. He tried to keep it low key, but eventually he was known far and wide as a hero.

Mark was not sure what to make of this.

After a few pages of introduction, the book went into a more detailed recounting of his life. It was incredible, unbelievable. It read like one of his novels. Maybe that was all it was. Grandpa's last work, a fictionalized story of his life.

Mark spends all night reading it. Torn between wanting to believe it and knowing it cant be true.

Morning comes and we find Mark at the door.

He puts his hand on the door and says the words he found in the notebook, to open it. Feeling a bit silly at doing so. Then he pushes the door open. He looks into the next room. It seems to be a cabin.

A log cabin that you might find as a vacation spot in the forest. Just as grandpa had described it.

One main room with big fire place, a small kitchen with a potbelly stove, and a short hallway leading to a bedroom and bathroom. It all looked rustic but rather modern. Not what you might expect from a medieval dwelling. However there was the notable absence of any electric appliances or lights.

Haaa – says Mark, it has a bathroom, so it cant be in another world.

But just as he says this, he looks out the window. There is forest all around.

Naaa it must be a trick. He thinks.

Rushing to the front door he opens it and steps outside, into the yard.

Maybe a room or two could have been hidden inside grandpa's house. MC never paid close attention to the way it was built. But there was just no way this yard could be there. Looking around he saw no sign of the house, of the city. There was just this log cabin in a small clearing, in a forest.
The smell of the forest and the fresh cool breeze were undeniable.

“The yard is safe enough, but don't go outside the fence, the forest is dangerous.” grandpa had written.

Never mind going into the forest. Mark went back into the cabin and through the fancy doorway, back to the hidden room full of nick-nacks, out through the closet and into the normal house. Taking a deep breath. He walked all round the inside then the outside of the house. It was all normal as it had always been. There was simply no way to have concealed what he had just seen.

“I guess I have inherited a doorway to another world.” he said the absurd thing out loud.