"So, you're saying… we died?"
The red-haired boy's eyes hung low like fallen drapes as he posed the question to the nun in front of him.
"That is correct," not a wrinkle appeared on her face hidden underneath the white hood embroidered with golden laces.
"All thirty of us?"
"Yes, to be more precise, there were thirty-four of you who died. Unfortunately, the adults were not brought here."
The boy nodded and looked around himself. The golden satin embroidery on the nun's white robes with their intricate stencil patterns did not look like something he would be seeing back at home, but the marble walls of the church with their ferric alternations and the many statues of a woman more beautiful than the word beauty could describe gave weight to her claims.
"You had bright futures ahead of you, just sixteen years of age," the nun continued, her long eyelashes looked downward and her small lips trembled slightly. "Our gods took mercy and brought you here."
"Right, right," the red-haired boy pursed his lips and nodded. "To this otherworld."
"It seems you are able to understand now."
"Yeah, so…" He raised his eyebrows and leaned closer to the nun. "Where's the camera?"
The nun sighed and pushed herself off the chair. She placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Mr. Claude, I know this is a confusing situation for you, but you need to get a hold of yourself. The others that have come here with you are also waking up, you should go and be there with them."
Claude didn't get a chance to retort as the nun walked away from him, leaving only the young boy in the small prayer room.
A handful of oak desks and benches were in the room behind a short wooden divider separating the seats from the pedestal. Lofty atop the pedestal stood the figure of the goddess, her stone hands clasped and fingers intertwined as the wings behind her back spread out.
The curves with not a sharp edge and the cuts with not a grazed slope made it seem as if a real person was sealed in the stone. Had it not been for the beauty of the goddess, Claude would have assumed that to be the case.
What had happened?
As he looked at the statue in front of him, the questions surfaced in his mind. No, he couldn't think up any questions as that one thought came crashing into the train in his mind.
What had happened?
Claude sighed and turned away. His feet moved on his own, carrying him out of the room.
The faint dawn light illuminated the place as he passed through the giant wooden gates. Claude walked down the empty passageway under the dim light. He passed by the rows of paintings and murals on the abrasive walls, his feet clanged against the wooden floorings, and stopped in front of the room at the very end of the passage.
Not a change appeared in his breathing as he pushed the handles of the door and opened them.
Some sat up on the beds while some were kneeling on the floor. A wide room with dozens of beds and students. The heads of the kids snapped toward the door as it screeched open.
"C-Claude!"
"Hey! Claude! Wh-what is going on? Where did you go?"
A few students turned to their friends with surprised faces. A sense of relief clouded their eyes, but their expressions didn't betray their confusion or awkwardness.
Claude wordlessly walked inside the room, closing the doors behind him, before walking to the nearest empty bed and setting himself down.
He gazed at the other students in the room. Some of them winced and looked around in confusion while the others held their heads on the beds, having just woken up. Of the thirty that were in his class, only twelve had woken up yet.
"Hey Claude," one student called out to the boy. "What is happening here, dude? Where is this place? When did we get off the bus—"
"—AH!"
The student's words were interrupted by the scream of another. They all turned around to see a girl at the back rubbing her eyes over and over.
"I-I can see… I can see without my glasses…"
Another was staring at her legs with her jaw dropped in surprise.
"My scar… where did it go…"
Some of the students who had just woken up approached the screaming ones, but three of them stood still in their place, unable to tear their eyes away.
A strange feeling washed over Claude as he saw the others reacting to what could only be called a miracle.
"J-just what is happening? Are you guys pranking us?" The child that had first called out to Claude looked at the leg of his friend in surprise.
"No," Claude said. He took in deep breaths as his mind slowly accepted the situation.
"We died," he said. "We died and got reincarnated."
"I am glad to see more people in here today. This makes twenty-two of the twenty-three in the church."
A priest in silk white robes extended his hands outward as he spoke to the rows of children in front of him. A kind smile stuck to his bearded face as looked over the gloomy students.
"Since eleven of you have woken up only today, let me explain things from the top. You all, have died."
Gasps and sighs rang around in the room as the students sitting at the front heard the priest's words. Some held their heads and the others shook them in disbelief, only the kids at the back bit their lips and watched their friends.
"Hey, what kind of joke are all of you cooking here? We were on a fucking field trip!"
"Mr. Christos, I can understand your confusion. Death is not a light matter. Though you have died in your world, the benevolent Gods took mercy and reincarnated your souls here, in this world."
The priest placed his hand on his chest and continued.
"You students have been incarnated into this world with special favor from the gods. Your bodies were made again, your wounds were healed and scars were mended. Moreover, great power was bestowed into your souls by the gods, fitting the title of their chosen—"
"—What do you get from this?" The priest's words were interrupted by a red-haired boy sitting at the back of the class. "Most of us are awake now. You can spill it, right?"
"Mr. Claude," the priest said. The kind smile on his face turned flat. "The gods seem to gain nothing from you. The word of your arrival was sent to us, and we of the Ephis church took on the responsibility to host you. It pains me to say this, but the world we live in is not free of dangers, and sending you out without any guidance will be nothing short of repeating the same fate as before."
Claude clicked his tongue.
"Dear Reincarnators of Earth, great evil lurks on the horizons, but we seek not your help. Our only commandment was to teach you the ways of the world. We will teach you to defend yourself and think for yourself in this world. We hold no control over you, so you may do as you please, but we request, that you try to trust us."
***
It had been four days.
Claude remembered the events of that moment as if he was living through them right now.
It all seemed normal. He could hear banter from his friends as his clique talked and made fun of each other at the backmost seat of the bus. As always, he sat at the very center and was having fun with his friends, they would share snacks and jokes or talk about this or that. Further in the front, some of the other students talked in their groups, some chatted in small circles, others played games on their portable consoles, and a few of them read books or drew something, though that must have been tough in the shaking bus, one was even sleeping a seat ahead of him.
The teacher was in the front, turning his eyes away from the racket behind, and three other adults were around too, including the driver of the bus.
It was all just like any other day.
Until it, all changed.
A white truck came crashing into their back. Claude could almost feel his bones jotting again as he recalled the sensation. The sudden push on his back sent him away from the seat. The screams of his confused friends. The way everything seemed to have stopped as the sky came down and the ground went up.
Over and over again.
And then, the impact on his head, the sound of the breaking glass before it was suppressed by the incessant buzzing.
Claude gulped and shook his head.
It had been four days since then.
He woke up here in this very room, where he was told that he and the rest of his class were 'chosen' by the gods of this world and granted a new body for their souls. They were supposed to be Otherworldly Heroes with great power in their hands. It was too fast, too confusing, too strange, too unacceptable.
He didn't accept it, he couldn't, but even then, this was his reality. Even if he refused to accept it, everything wouldn't go back to as it was.
More of his friends had woken up yesterday. The vast room with multiple patient beds was mostly empty now, everyone had been assigned quarters inside the vast church of Ephis. It was only him and the person still in the bed in front of him.
Right then, a light touch on Claude's shoulders. He turned around to see a black-haired girl standing there, her eyes on the person in the bed.
"Erika..."
"Were you close?" Erika asked without turning to face the boy.
Claude looked at Erika and she gestured at the one on the bed with her chin. Auburn hair draped down the head of the person, almost reaching the shoulders despite spreading out on the sheets like rows of wild grass. The person's pale hands sticking out of the cover looked thin and dainty, as if they had never touched the rough surface of a problem. The sharp jawlines, thin rosy lips, and long eyelashes formed an enchanting androgynous look that both men and women would stop and stare at.
"Lived down the street," Claude said. "Same elementary school, same middle school, and high school."
"Oh? You never seemed that close in class..." Erika muttered, shifting her gaze to Claude.
"We never talked."
Erika furrowed her brows in confusion as if sensing it, Claude shrugged his shoulders.
An air of silence covered the two of them afterward as the afternoon breeze made its way inside through the windows in the room. The petals of the vase next to the bed swayed in the breeze.
"Do you know what they said was happening?"
"You can only wake up in this world... once you die in the other, right?" Erika said.
"Yes, even a coma would send you here. They said our death was confirmed, after all."
"Does that mean..."
"He must be suffering."
"It is cold enough to suffer, can you close the windows?"
"Sure."
"Sure."
Claude and Erika left their spots and walked up the windows in the room. They grabbed the iron handle of the wooden frames for windows and pulled them shut, before stopping in their tracks.
Their heads creaked to the side with widened eyes.
Who had just spoken?
They looked at each other first, then down on the bed again.
A rustle spread in the room as the person turned to the other side and mumbled something before making a peaceful face of drowsiness.
""HHAAAAAH!?""
A coordinated scream spread in the room. Claude and Erika's jaws dropped to the ground as they saw the last student that hadn't entered the world casually turn around in his sleep
"Shush! Someone's sleeping!" A soft voice snapped at them.
"Wh-what!! You're alive!?"
Annoyed by the incessant shoutings, the person turned around again and faced Claude. As long eyelashes spread away and the alluring silver eyes revealed themselves, the person answered back.
"Yeah, for four days now."
"Four days!? H-how?" Claude stumbled on his words as he tried to make sense of things. Unable to hold back his confusion, he started spilling out his thoughts. "We died, you know! A-and! And we ended up in another world!"
"I know?" the person said.
"Another world? I'd rather sleep."
/////
"S-so you've been awake for the entire four days?"
The head priest's voice cracked as he faced the child in front of him. He ran his hand through his beard as he saw the androgynous beauty not bother with the priest but instead curiously look all around the place.
"Mhm," the child answered in response, still looking all around the place.
"Why did you never inform us?"
"You never said I had to."
The priest was taken aback at the child's words. Fortunately, it seemed he wasn't the only one who was surprised as even the two otherworldly heroes and the rest of the clergy in a similar reaction. Taking in a deep breath, he continued the line of questioning.
"Did you not get hungry or thirsty?"
The child raised his eyebrow and reached into the pockets of his garments, coming back out with a large piece of bread. "There was food everywhere—"
"—Ah! That's the fruit bread I was saving!" One of the sisters standing behind the priest snapped when she saw the bread in his hands. "That's my bread! Why?!"
Seemingly uncomfortable at the sudden accusation, the child alternated his gaze between the bread and the sister. He furrowed his brows and tore off a granule from the bread and reluctantly extended it toward the sister.
"No! Give me the bigger piece!"
When the child frowned and reached out to tear off another granule from the bread, the head priest realized this wasn't working at all. He sighed and took a step back, he gazed around as if he could see the strange atmosphere filling the special prayer room of the church. The priest rested his hand on the wenge wooden divider that separated the benches from the pedestal of the room. His face wrinkled slightly as he turned to the other two otherworldly heroes in the room.
Talking to the first one was like chasing a fly, his experience told him enough to not even attempt it.
"Come to think of it, Sir Claude, Miss Erika, we never got to hear the last of your friends' name."
Claude and Erika shifted their gaze up at the priest's words as if thinking. Their thought lasted a second too long for the priest to be comfortable with, though. Sweat appeared on their foreheads as they next looked at each other.
"What's his name?" Erika asked.
"Is 'he' even a guy?" Claude doubled down on the question.
"Wasn't he your neighbor!?" Erika snapped in a whisper.
"My name?" A helping hand came in to diffuse the awkward situation, but the priest saw this as throwing fuel on the fire. "It's Elric, Elric Wald."
"Elric... Wald?" the priest muttered. "But, those are just two last names!"
The child, no, Elric Wald stared at the priest with an open mouth and widened eyes. The strange silence and the lack of reactions coupled with his creepy face grew to make the priest very uncomfortable. Worried he might have offended Elric, the priest apologized at once.
"I meant no insult," Elric's face returned to normal and he turned his gaze away. "Please forgive me, Mr. Elric—"
Elric's dropped jaw and widened eyes returned.
"U-uh... Miss... Elric?"
It showed no signs of going away.
"Elric?"
As if there was never a reaction, Elric turned away again.
"I-in any case..." the priest continued. "We must move on with the pressing matters."
He turned around and a sister handed him a tray. The tray was covered with a velvet maroon cloth with golden seams on its edges. Atop the cloth rested a slate of stone, its edges cut in fine lines with intricate markings drawn over its center. The priest carefully extended the slate toward the child, who looked at it with a curiously head-tilt.
"This here is an empty God Stone. It is the providence of the gods in the heavens and shows you your status. Please nick your thumb and let a drop of your blood touch the stone, and then pray to the statue of Goddess Ephis."
The priest was excited at the prospect of seeing the last reincarnator's abilities. The status of the other students here was extremely jaw-dropping, to the point that he started referring to some of them as 'sir,' instead of 'Mr.'
Bodies made by the gods' hands, and a soul rich in experience from another world. He could only wonder what kind of skills and growth the heroes were capable of.
"Why?"
'KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!' The priest held in the urge to shake the disrespectful sixteen-year-old right then and there and took in a deep breath instead. An old man as he was, he was experienced. After the Oracle of the goddesses was bestowed down and the Ephis church in the Zarak duchy claimed to be looking after most of the otherworldly heroes, he was the one chosen by the head church of Ephis to come down here and handle the more important matters.
He had seen a couple or two of these kids.
It made him hopeful, since all the arrogant brats, especially ones like Elric whose nature was arrogance and not his actions, always turned out to be great geniuses that made a big name for themselves in the world. So he would deal with it similarly.
"Isn't it interesting? You could find out how strong you are, you know?"
"Huh... I don't care about that."
"U-um..." It wasn't his loss yet! "You can also show others your worth and make them grovel at your feet!"
"What the. Old man, are you sure you are a priest?"
"I am saying this because of you!"
Elric Wald yawned.
A blatant show of disrespect.
The others in the room frowned at the distasteful behavior in front of the statue of their goddess, they wanted to take objection to it but were interrupted beforehand.
Without a warning, Elric had bit his thumb and let down a drop of his blood on the slate.
The reason was simple.
He was getting sleepy now.
Elric took the slate in his hand before the priest could react and turned to the statue of the goddess.
"Uh... I pray to you? Something like that—"
A bright light emerged from the God Stone in Elric's hands. The blinding light spread all over the room, taking everyone inside by surprise. The other sisters and priests along with Claude and Erika covered their eyes, only two people stood unfazed.
'Yes! This! This amazing, brilliant light! I knew it! This arrogant reincarnator, maybe he might even be stronger than Sir Claude!' One was the priest.
'Hell. If I close my eyes now I'll probably fall asleep on the spot.' And the other was Elric Wald.
The light dissipated away in the air and calm returned to the room of white marble.
"Ooh!" An excited hand reached out and took away the slate from Elric's hold and leaned in toward the stone. The others in the room closed in on the stone as well out of excitement including Erika and Claude.
Name: Elric Wald
The name wasn't a lie! That was already a big enough surprise for Claude and Erika, they knew there were quite the antique characters in their class, but Mr. Two Surnames here was going a bit wild.
Age: 16
Gender: Male
He was a guy after all.
They skipped over the basic details, though they were curious about it too. The stats of the Reincarnator took precedence here.
Strength: 4
Agility: 8
Magic Control: 5
Endurance: 3
.
.
.
Mana: 3
.
.
.
"S-skills. The Reincarnators also have unique skills, and aptitude matters too!"
Skills: [Hex Magic: Beginner (Charm)], [Water Magic: Beginner]
Unique Skills: [Awakening]
"O-oh! The unique skill. Even if the skills are bad, this is new." The priest was clinging too hard to his hope. He tapped lightly on the word 'Awakening' on the slate.
Unique Skills: [Awakening - Force yourself to stay awake for 5 more minutes.]
"N-no way..."
"H-hey Erika, what were your starting stats?" Claude asked. Flabbergasted at the sight in front of him.
Erika gulped and answered. "An average of 30... The lowest of us was 17 in strength..."
"A healthy child's stats average at 10..."
All the people in the room turned back to the root of all the clamor. But the person who should have been standing there... was nowhere to be seen.
After shocking the people of Ephis church and two of his classmates with the worst stats they had ever had to lay their eyes on, Elric Wald had gone back to sleep.
Losing all interest, everyone in the room just left his God Stone lying around and left the place. That was why they never noticed the remaining stats that appeared after a while.
Intelligence: 52
Unique Skill: [Awakening] [Adaptability - No matter the situation, you remain calm and collected. Absorb knowledge like a sponge. EXP Multiplier -101%]
//////////
Two weeks had passed since Elric was found to be awake.
Two weeks and four days had passed since everyone in class 2-1 died. In the time that had passed, the people of the Ephis Church continued to treat them all with great care. They educated the students on the ways of the world, taught them to use their skills, and helped them develop their stats.
From magic to swordsmanship, the church in Zarak was well equipped to teach the kids everything and anything that they could need. Unfortunately, though, the otherworldly heroes chosen by the gods were not just any kids. It didn't take long for them with their superior skills and innate talent to pick up on most practical skills.
Elric's hand rested on the sill of the window in his room. His hair swayed lightly in the breeze as he gazed down at one such group taking the practice of these skills to a different scale that he couldn't have imagined back at home.
Seven templars wearing black leather armor took low stances with wooden swords in their hands. They stood in a formation, circling one single red-haired boy in their center. A bulky man with a scar running down his face watched the sight from the side with some other faces that looked like those of the students from his world.
"Go!" One of the templars screamed.
The encirclement of seven jumped into action. They all raised their swords and charged at the boy in the center.
A glint of light blinded Elric.
When he opened his eyes again, all seven of them had fallen over.
The others standing down there clapped, but the culprit of the sight treated it as if it were natural.
Claude, the swordsman who had taken down seven others in a flash, walked back to the bulky man and stood quietly.
"Hey! Are you planning on skipping training, Micheal!" The bulky man called out to another student who was walking away and dragged him back to the field.
Elric's eyes met with the man's below, but he didn't receive even a nod. He put up the fluttering strands of hair on his ears and walked away from the window.
His face remained blase as his light weight fell on the feathery mattress with an oomph. Elric closed his eyes, but after sleeping for two weeks straight, he was feeling slightly full.
For the two weeks, the child had simply slept his days away. Not a single member of the church came to bother Elric with his abnormally low stats, and not a single of his classmates had ever talked to him so they never mustered the courage to come and say hey.
Maybe if he had a roommate like the rest of the students, he would have been disturbed a bit and had still been sleepy, but a few sisters and his classmates took objection to let him sleep with another guy.
Turns out, the church was not very open with matters that required maturity, so they found it "preposterous" for him to sleep in the same room as a guy.
He was a guy too, though.
As he was lost in thought, two knocks rang on his door. It was a familiar sound that he had heard many times over the two weeks.
His favorite moment when he wasn't asleep was the knocking on the door.
Food had come.
Elric tried his best to suppress the childish grin on his face as he skipped over to the door and pulled it open. Like always, the lower-ranked sisters of the church had left him food outside the door, completely against bothering him. As he bent down to pick up the plate, the sound of some people chatting from the sides reached his ears.
"Head-Priest, I hope you understand that the matters regarding the heroes do not concern a single country."
"Y-yes, certainly, general. Do not worry, the church will ensure a small kingdom like Epheseal can't intervene in these matters. It is integral to the future that the heroes be nurtured well."
Elric picked up his food and turned around.
"The Hero Claude… I am looking forward to seeing him—Oh? Who is this?"
At that moment, the eyes of the armored man fell on the beautiful person walking into a room with a plate of food. The man with streaks of white hair flowing through his neatly trimmed hair walked closer to the retreating child, his mythrite armor glistened red as his imposing figure closed in.
Sweat dripped from the head priest's forehead. Worst timing.
"Hello, Otherworlder—"
A slam sounded out.
General Volfram of the Empire, one of the key military and political figures of the world, had a door shut to his face.
"Did that just…"
"… Yes."
Elric's days continued with relaxation and ease. He would sleep most of the day, and eat at other times, when he was up during the daytime, he would peek out the window and watch people train, and if he couldn't sleep at night, he would sneak out of his room.
Even though he was stuck inside at all times, curiosity got the better of him now and then, and he would hide behind the marbles or sneak into the library. His lifestyle of lazing around at the expense of some random religious folk of another world continued without any hiccups for two more weeks.
On a certain spring night, around one month after the death of the students of Class 2-1, Elric was yet again sneaking out of his room in the night.
The soft breeze came flooding in from the sides as he walked over the stone passageways on the ground floor of the church. The white paint of the walls on the left and the pillars on the right were tinted with a hue of blue under the glow of the full moon. His body barely weighed anything, and having left his boots back in the room, Elric's footsteps were barely as loud as the rustling of the leaves in the courtyard.
'Ninja… If it's a different world, I can be a real ninja and no one can object.'
Elric's thoughts were interrupted when he heard light footsteps and giggles creaking closer. Some of the sisters working in the night were approaching from the other end of the passage.
Still in the mood to play ninja, he rolled on the ground and stuck himself against the wall. Elric held his breath and tried his best to "remove his presence," whatever that was, and waited.
The footsteps grew louder.
It was tough to hold his breath, so Elric just ignored that part.
A shadow appeared on the path in front of him. Two sisters clad in their black gowns appeared in the corner of his vision.
"Sir Claude is very dashing, don't you think?"
"I hear he can already use Sword Arts and Fire Magic! In just a month!"
The two sisters giggled and talked about someone as they passed by. Elric stood on his toes and tried to stick as close to the wall as he could.
"The goddess truly favors him! Even General Volfram finds Sir Claude to be the most talented reincarnator to have ever come here."
"Do you think he would be wed off to the Empire?"
"Isn't it settled? It might only not be an option if he insults the gods or something, hahaha!"
"Hahaha!"
"What about Sir Devon and Eugene…"
Elric let out a sigh of relief as the two passed him by without noticing him. This had never worked back home! Was the place just wide, or had he truly become a ninja?
Then, Elric's eyes fell in front of him.
Out in the courtyard of the church, it stood there. On all fours. Its tongue lolling out and its ears drooping down. The eyes of the dog peered straight into Elric's own.
'Wha! This is no time to relax!!'
Elric froze in place as he thought of his next actions. It should be safe as long as he keeps hiding. The dog will stay quiet, and the ones that just passed by won't notice him.
Elric continued staring at the dog as he shook his head from side to side, staying as quiet as he could.
Unfortunately, the derpy creature in front of him only grew more excited with each shake of his head.
The dog opened its mouth.
'No, no, no, no! Stupid mutt!'
Its eyes, like black buttons, flickered as its breathing grew fast.
And then.
"WOOF!! WOOF!"
The two sisters turned around immediately at the sounds. Behind them, a furry dog with a cartoonish face was gnawing at the footboard of the passageway as it jumped and barked.
"Oh dear," one sister said as she saw the place the dog barked at. She walked up to the dog and shooed it away. "Go! Don't bark at the statue room!"
"Woo…f"
The two sisters sighed at the dog and went back on their way under the moonlit night.
For the first time in one month, the door in Elric Wald's room had visitors that stood in place after knocking on it.
The priests and templars standing outside expected they would have to cave the door in after hearing of Elric from the head priest, but to their surprise, the door opened up on its own.
Standing there with lustrous auburn hair and piercing silver eyes was an androgynous beauty. Elric's casual motion of covering his mouth while yawning and pushing his hair behind his ears made the ones outside stop and gulp in admiration. It was only after he titled his head to the side did the priest in front collect himself enough to speak.
"Reincarnator Elric Wald… We would like you to come with us to the church's courtyard,"
"W-why is that…?" Elric asked back, avoiding the priest's gaze.
"Someone… has smashed the statue of the Goddess."
////////
The gentle spring breeze of the temple's courtyard was cold today. The yellow petals of the coreopsis' had darkened, and the pink of the azaleas seemed to have taken on a shade of light red. The singing birds and the laughing squirrels were nowhere to be seen today.
Had the Goddess of Beauty, Ephis, seen the state of her church in Zarak, she would have winced in pain. Unfortunately, the members of the church did not share that thought. For today, a disrespect that none of them could let go of had occurred in the temple.
"Dear Reincarnators and Members of the Church…" The Head Priest's voice resounded in the courtyard. His white robes gently swayed as he held his hands behind his back and walked in an ellipse. The Head Priest's gaze remained to the ground as only the top of his forehead peeked out to the rows of clergy, templars, and students standing around in a semicircle.
Anyone could tell from the dozens of wrinkles on his forehead that the priest was splendidly pissed off. Had it not been for the sour moods of everyone else, they would have been shaking in their boots, but today, only their clenched fists and teeth shook in their shared rage.
"Last night," the priest continued. "A shameful, unforgivable incident occurred on the grounds of our very church. Yesterday, the statue of our Goddess Ephis. The Structure concocted with the God Stone and blessed with the great holy-power of the gods, the priceless relic that connected us with the goddess and was kept hidden away, was brutally smashed!"
Gasps and screams rang out from all over the courtyard.
"Which bastard!"
"Oh, Goddess! Forgive us! Forgive us for this sin!"
"The eyes of the gods were taken away! Only evil could do this!!"
The templars got on their knees and apologized to the heavens for their mistake while the priests and sisters openly flashed their fangs. Even General Volfram and his knights had large frowns on their faces as they heard the words of the head priest. The students of class 2-1, with Claude and Erika in front, shook their heads with nervous looks on their faces. They held their tongue and some covered their mouths in shock.
"As if that wasn't enough," the head priest continued, and the crowd came to an immediate silence. "The criminal tried to frame others!"
Another round of loud gasps spread in the courtyard.
The head priest stepped back, and General Volfram, the General of the Imperial Knights from the Empire took the front of the crowd.
"It is true. The person who broke the statue snapped it into two pieces from the center. The two halves of the statue were discovered this morning… One in my carriage, and the other in the Head Priest's room…"
"What!?"
"Which fool!"
Out of everyone the culprit could have tried to frame, the ones least likely to have done anything had the blame pinned on them. The Head Priest who was the one in the lead of the place, and though not a follower of Goddess Ephis, the General of the Empire, suspecting whom would lead to great repercussions.
It was a bad move by all means.
Even the students, who were not very familiar with the working of things were shocked at the stupidity the culprit displayed. It was so stupid, even, that they wondered if there was any ulterior motive behind it.
"One chance."
The head priest's voice rang like toiling bells.
"We will give the culprit one chance to come forward now, and we would be willing to listen to your reasoning. Just one chance."
Silence hung over the courtyard. Everyone swayed their gaze around, waiting for someone to come up to the front.
Claude and Erika looked back at their friends, then at the priests and the templars and the knights. Maybe they were too shocked, so none of them noticed Elric with his gaze averted as sweat dripped from his forehead like a waterfall.
"You won't?" The head priest's fists tightened. He sighed and walked closer to the group of students. With his eyebrows deeply furrowed, the head priest stepped up to the group of students with General Volfram following in tow. "Even though we found your hair on the statues, the dust of the statue in your room, and on your clothes?!"
The sweat dripping from Elric's face grew more and more as he even started whistling.
"The culprit of the incident…" the priest's hand flowed out of the robe. "Is you! Claude Almstedt!"
"W-Whaaaaoaoat!?!" Elric screamed as he stepped back while waving his around. He stopped after pulling the bottom of his shirt with one hand and the chest with another while his thighs were spread in a low stance.
The people had their attention detracted from Claude by Elric's extraneous actions. They processed it for a second.
"WHAAAT!?"
Then all of them screamed and stepped back.
Claude Almstedt.
The de-facto leader of the reincarnators.
The red-haired boy looked around with a shocked gaze. Everywhere his eyes went, the people standing around stepped back.
"No way… Claude…" Erika muttered.
"W-what… I-I didn't! I didn't do anything!"
At that time, the head priest stepped in front of Claude. His previously enraged expression turned into a pained frown. "Why, Sir Claude? We placed our hopes in you! The Oracle is on her way to meet you! How can you?! Please, tell me it was a mistake—"
"No, Head Priest," Volfram interrupted and pushed the priest away. "Your education wasn't lacking, especially not for him! There's only one explanation for taking away the god's eyes! He is trying to be a Devil worshipper!!"
///////
"No, Head Priest," Volfram interrupted and pushed the priest away. "Your education wasn't lacking, especially not for him! There's only one explanation for taking away the god's eyes! He is trying to be a Devil worshipper!!"
Another set of gasps and screams rang out at Volfram's words. The colossal general grabbed Claude by his collar and lifted him.
"You bastard! For all the trust! Our gods give you a second life and you do this!?"
"I-I truly didn't—Ahk!"
Claude slammed against the ground as Volfram's fist landed on his jaws. He slid back from the impact and rolled on the ground before falling limp. Blood trickled down from his ruptured lip and streaked over his immediately swollen cheeks.
Claude coughed and tried to push himself up. He took the support of the ground, but his hands were kicked away, and fell back down.
"Devon!" Erika screamed.
The Bruno child with tanned skin, Devon, shook his head from side to side. "How much more are you going shame us? In front of our benefactors, Claude?"
Claude looked at his classmate with eyes dyed the color of disbelief.
"Just stay down."
Strength seemed to leave Claude with his every breath as he sunk back down, unable to believe what was happening.
At that moment, the Head Priest spoke out again.
"Claude Almstedt, and his pawn!" the Head-Priest then swung his hand again as his finger landed on the one person looking away from the entire scene. "YOU! Elric—No, Mr. Elric Wald!"
The order of respect was flawed.
Elric's head creaked as he turned to face the Head Priest. "I-I D-O-N-T K-N-O-W W-H—"
"You liar! Playing ignorant?! Even after two of the sisters saw you standing suspiciously outside the statue room!?"
Elric's jaw dropped to the ground. His ninja! It had failed! He couldn't hide his presence!
The students again stepped back and looked at Elric. Some in confusion and others in disbelief… and confusion. Devon grabbed Elric's hands and pinned him to the ground, next to Claude.
Elric sighed and decided to accept his fate.
He knew about the broken statue.
He saw it all transpire. It was all the fault of one derpy dog that Elric had to sneak away and ended up breaking the statue. He was kind, though, he didn't want the dog to suffer, so he took it upon himself to hide the statue, one part in the room right next to the statue room, and another in a carriage he thought would be going out of the temple.
Elric didn't know how Claude's hair got on it, though. He had dropped the statue once more in the training grounds, and had taken the remaining small bits of dust and spread them in a random room among where his classmates were given board. The locked rooms had been used in other places, so it was easy sneaking around.
He may be condemned here. But the dog that barked and ultimately caused the breaking of the statue, at least the dog was safe. Elric could rest in peace knowing that.
The head priest clicked his tongue and looked at the two with enraged eyes. "Heretics," he muttered, his voice cracking. "What you've done is heresy. Destroying the god stone statue…"
He stopped to take in a deep breath, and then another.
"But you reincarnators were brought here by the gods. A punishment of lifelong torture… we can't give you that. So disappear. Disappear from our sights and never show yourselves again."
Everyone in the courtyard nodded at the priest's words, some templars spat at the two, and others cursed, complaining about the punishment. The other students of class 2-1 could only gulp and watch.
Claude was about to speak out, but a foot slammed on the back of his head and pushed his face to the ground. "Just accept your punishment, traitor," Devon said. "Don't make things any more difficult for us."
"Head Priest," General Volfram stepped forward and said. His voice carried a tone of respect and understanding toward the priest that was nowhere to be seen two weeks back, or even two days back. "Let us, the knights from the Empire take care of these rats,"
"General, they are still children of the gods. How can we kill them?"
"Don't worry," the General shook his head. "I'll make sure they repent."
***
The clip-clops of horseshoes merged with the rattle of the wooden wheels as the hinges of a black carriage squeaked over the scruffy forest path. The bulging roots and the haphazard rocks came under the wheels over and over as the horse-drawn carriage passed through a sea of trees.
Black reins tied to the bit whipped the horses to a sudden stop and their neighing filled the silent forest.
With a thud, the gate of the carriage snapped open.
"Huut!"
Two more thuds rang out and a small cloud of dust rose in the air. Two children tied up with rope were thrown out of the carriage and sent flying face-first on the forest grounds.
An auburn-headed androgynous beauty, and a handsome red-haired child, both wriggled around in a futile attempt to break free from their ties.
"We will kill you if you show us your faces again, though, you'll never get out of the Mystic forest, fucking heretics." With those words, the doors of the carriage shut again. "Let's go! Hiya!"
"W-wait! Wait! You can't leave us in a forest like this! Wait!" The red-haired boy screamed at the fading carriage. "At least free us! What if something attacks!!"
"Yeah!" the other child chimed in. "At least give us a bed!!"
///////
"Elric!" Claude called out to his tied-up companion as he slowly crawled toward him.
Elric was struggling to free himself at first, but got slightly comfortable on the deep green grass as time passed by and decided to close his eyes a bit. Before he could drift away, though, Claude's head slammed into his feet.
"Elric, I'll try to untie you, alright?" Claude said. His hands were tied up behind his back, so he had to bite the rope open. "Untie me, and then we can go back on the path… Mystic forest, I don't like the name."
"Yeah, yeah, do that."
Claude squirmed a bit and then bit on the rope tying Elric's hands. He struggled a bit, but thanks to Elric's bony hands, it became easier to pull on the knot. As the red-haired boy did his best, Elric took the chance to look around the place.
Blades of green had grown tall all over the forest with stony, fine pecan soil. The roots of the many trees stretched deep within the ground and pushed it up in bumpy bits. Opposite the growing thicket of old trees, a thin, worn-out path of sand stretched all the way out of the forest. The path that they had just come in from and the carriage had left from had a rebellion of grass trying to take back its place from the tyranny of sand, a sign that the path had barely been used in recent years. For the ominous name that Claude had just taken, the forest seemed strangely normal.
"Ummf!"
The rope around Elric's hand loosened slightly.
It was then, that his eyes fell on the encroaching shroud of mist from the north.
"H-hey…There's a thick mist coming close…" Elric said.
Claude stopped pulling on the knot and turned his gaze up.
There, breaching through the bulwark of trees came flooding in the thick, dense mist. Everything that it grazed over was eaten away from sights, a mist so dense that Claude wondered if he would be able to see his own hands inside it.
"T-that's… mist? Fog…?"
"The lord of shadows!" Elric exclaimed. "It's the mystic forest because this is the place they offer sacrifices to the lord of shadows! Ahhh! We're done! It's over!"
"L-lord of shadows!? W-what the fuck is that!?" Panic colored Claude's face as the mist came closer and closer, it was just nigh of reaching them. "They never said anything like that in the classes!"
"Aww… There's no lord of shadows in this world?"
"You—AHH!!"
The two were swallowed up by the mist.
***
The flood of white slowly dispersed as the sight of the forest returned.
Elric raised his eyes to see the same tall and thick trees with their brown stumps standing proudly in a formation as if the mist had never broken through them. Left and right, the number of trees seemed to grow in all directions the deeper his gaze went. He looked down.
It was gone.
The path that they had been brought over on, was gone.
No signs of sands, no mauled blades of grass, no marks of the horse's footsteps, it wall gone.
"Ow-ow-ouch…"
A soft groan sounded from behind Elric.
"Did you have to pinch my ears like that?" Claude asked.
"The anti-shadow lord energy sealed in my left hand saved you."
"You know what? I am not even going to argue."
When Claude didn't play along with his games, Elric clicked his tongue and explained things normally. "I just thought we'd separate, then it'd be tied up you against the forest. And see, I was right. The path that we came from is gone. Or should I say, we were moved away? No idea"
Claude's eyes widened at Elric's words. He engaged his core and sat up with his hands behind his back to take a look around the forest. It was just as Elric had said.
"Mystic forest…" Claude muttered.
The Mystic Forest had swallowed them up.
Many questions streamed through Claude's mind, but he shook them all away. Most important right, it was to break free and find a way out. Sighing, Claude squirmed back to Elric and went to loosen the rope again, when he stopped in his tracks.
"Hey, Elric…"
"Yup?"
"Your hands are not tied up anymore."
"I know," Elric said with a nod while still lying on the ground, his hands in the same position behind his back. "It stopped touching me when you loosened it a bit, I guess the Shadow Lord took it."
Claude could feel veins pop up on his forehead. Things were already too confusing for the poor child, and this bastard was not helping at all. Taking in a deep breath, Claude asked, "Why aren't you getting up and untying me, Elric…"
"Eh… My muscles are sore… Just wait a bit, ok?"
After a few minutes passed, Elric finally sighed and moved his hands back to the front. His sedentary lifestyle of eating, sleeping, and looking pretty wasn't very kind to his muscles, or his personality. After struggling a lot to stand up, he walked behind Claude and started untying the ropes on his hands.
Finally untied, Claude stretched his hands and back. He looked around the place, touching the trees and the grass. He and Elric looked around in a circle through the woods and peeked around.
"As expected…"
"The Shadow Lord's labyrinth traps us,"
Fear was trickling up Claude's back, but he did his best to ignore it. Strong or not, just one month ago, he was merely a school student having fun with his friends.
He was so kind all the time. So helpful. He did his best to not make the people of the church antagonistic, and he was also always there for his friends.
And then?
This is what he got.
Claude clenched his teeth and turned to Elric.
"Hey," he said, his voice tinged with a poison he didn't know he had.
Perhaps sensing the darkness in Claude's mood, Elric stayed shut and stared back at Claude.
"Did you do it? Did you break that statue?"
Elric almost stuck his tongue out with an oops but held it in on time. He could feel sweat come flooding out again from his forehead.
But, Elric was different.
The Elric that he was this morning, wasn't the same as now.
This Elric had already settled on the narrative that it was completely the dog's fault. He was so hell-bent on blaming that dog that if he was put on a lie detector and asked if he broke the statue, the 'false' answer would be saying yes.
And so, Elric shook his head.
"I didn't break it."
Did he dispose of it? Yes. But that wasn't Claude's question.
Claude's eyes narrowed. "Then what were you doing outside the statue room, huh?"
"D-dog…"
"What?" Claude asked.
"Dog."
"You…" Claude leaned closer to Elric. "You were there because of a dog?"
Elric averted his gaze away from Claude. The gentle red-haired boy seemed truly pissed with his sharp brows furrowed together and his soft eyes and softer smile scrunched into a big frown. Elric gulped and nodded softly.
The two stood in place like that for a few seconds.
Then, a loud slapping sound reverberated through the air.
Elric nervously looked in the front again to see the boy with red hand-shaped marks stuck over his cheeks.
After slapping himself, Claude let out a deep sigh. As his swollen chest let out the air, his brows loosed and his eyes softened.
"Elric… I believe you."
The boy that no one trusted.
That boy decided to trust today.
His bright smile with his cheeks reddened from the slap looked like a blooming flower to Elric.
"So, what now?" Elric asked. He wasn't sure if Claude had more eye-opening events in line or if he could just go to sleep.
"Quite the forest, right?" Claude ignored the question and looked around.
The far-reaching branches of the tree and the leaves standing on their toes covered enough of the sky to form a canopy above. They could see things well for now, but the night wouldn't be as kind.
And the beings that dwell in such places.
Monsters could come up at any time.
"Elric," Claude said. "Let's find a way out, two of us."