I heard voices around me. "At last! Welcome! Heroes from another world- Only one?"
I gasped out loud to take in a breath. My vision returned and I turned to see men in strange white robes. I was in some kind of enclosed grand hall with blue walls with silvery banners with an emblem I didn't recognise. It looked European, like a fantastical design. The illumination at my feet drew my attention. I was standing on a red carpet, with the same giant circle of glittery light under my feet. It was a giant illuminated effigy. After a few seconds, the light disappeared instantly.
"How can there be only one?" I overheard those robed men murmuring amongst themselves. They appeared to be in their thirties or forties. Their robes had the same emblem as the ones on the banners.
Who are these guys? A cult? Some kind of new Jehovah's Witness group? I already know who Jesus is, I don't need another lecture about him.
"This is a hero from another world? A boy?"
"How old is he?"
"There should be a legion. What happened? Is this a mistake?" I heard them talking with worried tones, and I knew they were talking about me.
"Acolytes." The man with the staff spoke and the hall went silent. He stepped forward towards me. The one standing at the centre had swept-back grey hair that reached to the base of his neck. His beard was so thick I could barely see his lips. He was also holding a white staff with a swirling orb of sparkling light on the top. The whole getup made him look like some kind of priest from a fantasy story.
The priest had a scrutinising look on me. "You are… You are not what we were expecting."
"What are you talking about? What is this? Where am I?" I approached the priest, demanding answers. "Who are you?" My distress was clear from my tone. I was on the verge of freaking out.
"Calm yourself, Hero." He put a hand up. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ferilmah, Grand Wizard of the Order of Paremal Wizards.
Grand Wizard? Order of Paremal Wizards? Are you for real? I stared at him with narrowed eyes.
"Is this some kind of joke? What sort of prank is this?" I scowled at him.
Ferilmah continued, "I understand that this is very confusing for you. All will be explained very shortly." He said before making a bow, "Allow me to escort you to the royal courtroom, where we can discuss this matter with the king. He is expecting you."
"I don't understand," I said. Then, I realised something else was odd. "Wait? Where are my classmates? What happened to them?"
"Your classmates?" Ferilmah raised a thick bushy brow. "Please, follow me. There is much to discuss."
He turned around and opened a door behind him. I didn't exactly have a choice, the room was enclosed and the only way out was through the door. I had to follow him.
"Acolytes." Ferilmah addressed the other priests, "Find out what happened."
"At once, Grand Wizard Ferilmah." They all said in unison.
I followed Ferilmah. We headed up a spiral stairwell. The wall and the steps were made of marble. There wasn't a speck of dust on the steps like they were regularly maintained. As we reached the top of the stairs, we were in some kind of lobby. There were wooden doors leading to other rooms. But what drew my attention was the golden statue at the centre of the lobby. It had the same emblem of an extravagant cross like the robe Ferilmah was wearing.
I was starting to think this wasn't a joke anymore.
"This way, young Hero." Ferilmah, standing by the main exit, called to me. I didn't know why he kept calling me 'Hero'. He didn't ask for my name, I didn't plan on telling him my name for the time being.
I had to shield my eyes from the sunlight as we stepped outside. We were in the courtyard of a massive castle. Nothing like that existed in the modern day. The air was cool and dry, the blue sky was so vibrant with only spots of clouds up there. As we walked across the courtyard, I saw something on the horizon launched my heart to my throat and it hammered harder than ever. I dragged my feet over to the edge of the courtyard to gaze at the landscape. This castle was almost twenty storeys tall. Below, there were settlements that had mediaeval appearances to them. The whole area was surrounded by stone walls. Beyond the walls, there was a snowcapped mountain range by the horizon. It looked nothing like Japan's landscape. The castle, the courtyard, the mountains, all of it finally dawned on me. I was a whole lot further away from home.
I was frozen in place with shock. This is… This is another world? This is real! This is friggin real! Oh God! This kind of thing is supposed to only happen in web novels. How can this be real?!
I didn't notice then but I was trembling and my throat felt heavy.
"Hero?" I flinched when Ferilmah came to my side.
"This is real…" I said under a shaky breath.
Ferilmah sighed, almost sympathetically, "I understand this may be quite upsetting. But we must have an audience with the king. He awaits us. Everything will be explained."
As Ferilmah led me across the courtyard and into the castle's corridor, there were knights in shining armour on guard at every exit. Soon after, we were standing in the middle of a grand hallway. A red carpet rolled out in the middle. To my left, several noblemen and noblewomen kept their eyes on me. To my right, there were royal knights in shiny armour.
In front of me, the king sat on his throne. His white silky robes had silvery stitching. He looked to be in his forties. He had a healthy beard and brown hair reaching to the base of his neck. A silver crown was fitted on his head. There was another throne on his right which I assumed belonged to his queen, but she was not present at the time.
The king was giving me a very sceptical look before he stood up from his throne. He descended the few steps to be on my level.
"Ferilmah." The king said, his voice was deep and it commanded presence. "What is the meaning of this?"
"King Baeolmar." Ferilmah made a small bow, "The summoning ritual has finished. This is a hero who was summoned from another world." He gestured towards me.
King Baeolmar narrowed his eyes. The nobles from the side were whispering amongst themselves. Then, King Baeolmar said, "Where are the rest?"
Ferilmah and I glanced at each other for a moment before he answered, "He is the only one."
The nobles got into an uproar.
"One?! How can there be only one?!"
"Where are the others?!"
"A child?! A child is a hero? How old is that boy?!"
"Order!" King Baeolmar raised his voice at the nobles, his voice echoed and the nobles clammed up and an awkward silence lingered in the room. King Baeolmar turned his attention back to me and Ferilmah.
"Ferilmah. What happened?" King Baeolmar asked the wizard.
"My acolytes are looking into the cause as we speak. But for now…" Ferilmah glanced at me.
"Ah, right." King Baeolmar said, turning to me. "Hero of another world. I am King Baeolmar."
Holy crap, he's tall. This guy was standing one head above me.
"What is your name?" He asked.
"Uh," I stammered before the king, "Haruki Hoshino. Haruki is my first name."
"Haruki." King Baeolmar nodded at me. Using my first name like that? That's fine, I guess.
"On behalf of the Kingdom of Khorinus, we welcome you." King Baeolmar said proudly.
"Thank you, King Baeolmar." I said as politely as I could. I didn't know how honorifics work in this kingdom, I just followed how Ferilmah addressed him.
"I can only imagine just how confusing this may be." King Baeolmar said. "Frightening even."
"Yeah. Quite." I uttered.
"Well, we have to start from the beginning." King Baeolmar began to explain, "Five hundred years ago, this land, this world, was in turmoil. Demon-men and goblin-kind made a pact and sought to conquer this world and rule the free races, under the banner of the Virmalum Empire ruled by the Demon King, Rausivor. Our ancestors formed an alliance with elves and dwarves to rebel against Rausivor. War raged on for years, both sides lost too many. But our ancestors tipped the scales in their favour when they performed an ancient summoning ritual.
"The summoning ritual transports heroes from another world to our world through the aethereal void. As they travel through the aethereal void, they become hosts to powerful magics that reside in the void, and they become bestowed with magnificent power. The heroes of old aided our ancestors and defeated the enemy forces. Rausivor was slain and the Demon King was no more."
"Our land began to heal. The alliance remained united and another race, the fauna-folk, joined us. The heroes of old passed on into legend and we have lived in peace for centuries. The Paremal Order of Wizards was created to study magic from the aethereal void.
"But recently, the demon-men began amassing their numbers again. As did the goblin-kind. Other forces of evil that we do not yet know soon aligned themselves with them. They intend to finish what Rausivor had started."
King Baeolmar had to take in a deep breath before he carried on with his story-telling, "The alliance came to a decision. The legendary heroes are needed once more. The Paremal Order commenced the summoning ritual, and here you are."
Once his story ended, I kept staring at him with a dumb-looking face. Demon King? Elves? Dwarves? Goblins? Fauna-folk? I could feel my rib cage rattling from my hammering heart.
"Uh…" I croaked and backed away, "You want me to fight an army of demons and goblins? Me? One guy? A high school student? You summoned one guy who was in school to fight an army?"
The more I said it out loud, the more ludicrous the situation seemed to everyone in the room.
"That is the problem. The ritual should have summoned fighters. Soldiers. Warriors. It should not have summoned a pupil who is still in his adolescence. And you should not have been the only one. There should have been a group. There should have been a legion of heroes to help turn the tide for us. Just like it was for our ancestors." King Baeolmar stroked his chin with a pondering expression, "Haruki, were you alone when you were summoned? Was there anyone else with you?"
"I was in my class, with my classmates," I answered. "Why?"
"Grand Wizard Ferilmah!" The door burst open, and one of the acolytes I saw earlier hurried into the room, "My King Baeolmar!"
"Wizard Vensir. What is it? Ferilmah said.
"We looked through an oracle stone," The acolyte raised a crystal ball, purple and translucent. "We looked into the aethereal void."
"What have you discovered?"
"We should have acquired the legion. They should have been here. But it all went wrong. We could not have known it at the time, but the summoning ritual was commandeered."
Concerned voices rose from the nobles and knights in the room, and I just stood there clueless.
"Commandeered?" King Baeolmar narrowed his eyes.
"The heroes were intercepted. Syphoned away from the path to us in the aethereal void." The acolyte said.
"Wait." I stepped in, "You telling me that you saw my classmates? Where are they?"
The acolyte had a dreaded look on his face. "We identified the nature of the magic that took control of the summoning ritual. We know who possesses the heroes."
I urged him, "What? What is it? Who?!"
***
The sound of dripping water echoed in the dark spacious cavern. Red orbs of light were placed on the walls for illumination. The same large ring of white light was at the centre of the cavern. Haruki's classmates began to appear on the light, including Hayate, Keika, and Sora.
"Ugh… Wha…" Hayate rubbed his head.
"W-Where are we? What is this?" Keika whimpered. "Hayate?" Keika immediately clung to him.
The circle of light disappeared, leaving the students in the cavern. The others were sharing worried faces as they took in their surroundings. Certain girls were on the verge of tears, some of the guys as well.
"Heroes from another world!" A grand voice stole everyone's attention. They turned to see who it was and they shrieked.
A row of men in black robes were present. What horrified the students were the curled horns on the side of their heads and their pointed ears. One of them stood in front of them, he was the tallest amongst them. He had long red hair, horns spiralling upwards on his head. He held an ebony staff with a swirling black orb on top.
"You have been summoned to the Virmalum Empire of Demons and Goblins." He proclaimed, "I am High Mage Jaakobah of the Virmalum Court. Heroes, you will use your power to aid us against the alliance and we will conquer the world."