"So, Kolin, do you mind telling us exactly what you are?" Asks the sergeant.
We sat in an office. The absence of any windows suggests that we are indeed underground.
"I'm human if that's what you're asking."
"I meant—"
"As per my abilities," I cut him off, "I am what we call in our world, a mage." I proceeded to explain that I was a reincarnation of a past life in a different world and reassured them once again. "I am not your enemy, neither do you have to worry that I will cause any harm to anyone."
This time, it was the general who spoke, "You see, Kolin, we cannot just blindly trust you. You have to understand, that promises do not mean anything—heck! Contracts are useless since no one can probably subjugate you anyway…"
I stared at him for a second before responding with a quick breath, "Actually…"
"We are aware that there are two of your kind." Says the sarge.
His remark made my brow shoot up though, "My kind?"
"Yes, you're kind." But he did not falter, nor had any change to his expression.
Sigh
"I should probably tell you." I looked them in the eye, "There are mages—there will be mages that are not from my world…they are of this world."
The stoic expression of the sergeant faltered, "E-elaborate."
I nodded, "Although unintentionally, my presence has affected your world. There are now three mages that currently exist, and I suspect there will be more soon."
The general leaned onto the sofa, while the sergeant stood straighter, "Has it affected them in any way?" Asked the general.
"Of course, it has affected them in many ways." I sneered at him asking the obvious.
They did not pry any further and just stayed silent.
"I trust that you keep this to yourself first," I said.
"Not possible. There will be many ears who will hear this—" He stopped, "Who am I kidding, no one would believe such a story." He wryly smiled
"Heh," I chuckled, "Tell that to the people who believe this planet could be flat."
That garnered a laugh out of them.
"Do we have any further things to discuss?" I asked.
"We do have quite a lot. It's just that we lost composure for a moment." General said.
"I will answer transparently."
"Good. Are you tied to any country at all?"
"No. I was born here, but I have no intentions to be a part of your military force—If that's what you're inferring."
"Mhm. That would also cause quite a lot of trouble for us after all."
The sergeant interrupted, "Also. Be more careful. Although this is top secret, I doubt that there were no spies who heard of this." He said seriously.
I nodded. In my mind, however, I was talking to Caner.
'You doing okay?'
'Yeah, but the guy is still here though. It seems like he's taking shelter in this cave.'
'Alright, be careful not to be found out.'
'Sure. Should I open the portal already? I think I can do it alone.'
'Hmmm. I don't think you should. But if you really could, there's no harm in trying. If it fails, then it fails, we'll try again.'
'Alright.'
"—Kolin."
I flinched at the mention of my name.
"Are you okay?" Said the general, with more annoyance than worry.
"Y-yea, just thought about something."
He just stared at me with his fingers interlocking each other, "As I was saying, do not do anything rash, then we won't have any problems."
"Rash, like what?"
"Like flying outside the atmosphere."
"oh, sure." I rubbed the back of my head, "Then, can I go now?"
"Yes, you can go now. Although we will contact you from time to time."
"I understand—" I paused and had a thought.
Is Caner's mana field stable enough? He just got a new body…
I figured it would be fine. Since the mana in that mountain seemed to be of higher concentration than usual.
And Caner's mana field is wider than even mine.
To make sure, I reached out to him. To my surprise, however, he reached out to me first.
'Hey Kolin, what was Auel's royalty symbol again?' I found the question odd, but I answered anyway.
'It's a crest with an eagle's claw pointed down. Why'd you ask?'
'Well…weirdly enough, the dude that came here has that exact crest. I reached out to you to verify.'
I squinted my eyes, 'It's a big world out there. Anyway, are you sure your mana field is stable enough? Should we plant the three there?'
'Yea, too much work.'
'Alright.'
"I'll go see you next time, sarge, general." With that, I teleported out there, not even waiting for an escort.
I arrived at my mansion where I found Sypher frantically pacing back and forth.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Kolin! I for sure thought they would open you up." She worriedly exclaimed.
I scoffed at her, her worried face made me less tense, "I doubt they could."
"You never know," She wryly smiled.
Thinking back, yeah, I never know. Even the country that I had thought to be low in intelligence has such advanced bases and weapons. This world would be the fantastical one in my opinion.
I smiled, at her, "Well, I'm here now; safe and sound."
***
Beverly just left, and she looked quite out of it.
"You sure the orientation just finished…? That's not normal." I sneered.
Choccy was quick to reply though, "Yeah, for real, the principal was acting quite sketchy. For sure they found his child por—"
"I believe there was an emergency." Putting her hand over Seung's mouth, Lux made a more believable approach to the situation.
"I see." There are a lot of inconsistencies in the plot… "You guys wanna go somewhere?"
"Sure?"
"Mhm."
"While we were here anyway, let's make this as an excuse to hang out." I chuckled at my way-too-obvious ploy to be close to Lux.
Not far from this street is a famous hotdog stand called HotLongs, and I worked there for quite a bit. The street was bustling with noises. Cars, people going on a walk, and other vendors on a truck or a food stand.
It felt great being in my natural habitat.
"OHh, there it is, I promise it's good."
"Sure, lanky one—well, you're not that lanky anymore."
I looked at my arms, and yea, she was right. I am practically the best version of myself right now.
School's great, I finally get to talk to Lux…My body's better than ever.
Man…Life's great.
"Tobin, about Bev—"
A sharp ring drowned out every noise surrounding me.
'Huh? What's that?' I said, but I couldn't hear my voice.
I turned to Lux, but I can't quite focus my eyes.
So I turned again.
Like a cat, every hair on my body stood.
The sensation overwhelmed my other senses. It felt like I was punched in the gut.
Far out on the horizon, there was a vortex-like wound in the sky.
'It's mana, it's mana that I feel.'
A lot. An overwhelming whole lot of mana was coming this way.