Chapter 1: The Failed Summoning
After finally getting my certificate and graduating from a hellish six month course, I finished packing my things and was ready to leave for home the next morning. I sat down on my bed and scanned the room to make sure I hadn't left anything behind - not like it would matter anyway since I was coming back after I graduated university.
Stifling a yawn with the back of my hand, I glanced at the wall that divided my room from my parents. It was late at night and everything was quiet, save for the occasional snoring.
(Guess I should sleep too...)
Feeling my eyelids beginning to close, I walk towards the light switch on the other side of the room and killed the light. The room was black as the night and I couldn't see a thing in front of me, but I already memorized where everything was so there was no need to bother with a flashlight.
(So why the hell is there glowing-?)
I looked down and finally realized that I was the one that was glowing. Pale blue light enveloped my entire body and I was too shocked to scream or call for help. The next thing I remembered was...
A magic circle appearing beneath my feet, the strong winds swirling from inside and pulling me away. My vision turned foggy and my head felt dizzy like I was in one of those amusement park rides. The glow intensified as I floated off the ground.
(Wait! What is this?! Someone help me!)
And just like that... I disappeared from the face of the earth...
Voices of several people were the first thing I heard when I regained consciousness. Two sounded angry at each other and a third one sounded concerned. A fourth voice was present but it barely expressed any emotion.
I forced my eyes to open and look at my surroundings. There were three men in the room and one girl. Once they noticed that I was awake, they all stopped talking and stared at me.
(Who... are they? Was I kidnapped?)
I was too scared to move so I didn't. Staring back at them, I realized that they wore very fancy clothing. Cosplayers, perhaps?
"How are you feeling?" The blond man spoke first as he approached me.
I flinched when he crouched down beside the couch that I was lying on and inspected my eyes.
"Don't worry," he assured me, his own eyes looking concerned, "we won't hurt you."
I blinked at him, not sure how to reply to him. When I didn't respond, the man looked behind him at the girl and she walked over with a comforting smile.
"He's right. We won't hurt you." She placed a hand on my shoulder. "But we are worried about you. So can you tell us how you're feeling?"
This girl had light brown hair styled in pigtails and her eyes were a golden brown color. She looked innocent and sweet.
Seeing the worried expression on both their faces, I figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to them. Sighing, I nodded and tried to speak.
"I-" My voice broke and I cleared my throat to try again. "I... I'm okay..."
The two of them nodded, the tension on their shoulders relaxing somewhat.
"That's good..." The girl sighed in relief. "My name is Liz Hart. What's yours?"
"My... name..?" I stopped to think it over. "It's... It's..."
(What was my name?)
The blond then looked over his shoulder and scowled at the dark-skinned man with blue/grey hair.
"Congratulations, Zeus," he said, sarcasm dripping from his tone, "you gave her amnesia."
The one he called Zeus scoffed and glared, unhappy to be accused.
"How is that my fault?!" He yelled.
"Well, for one, YOU were the one who summoned her here."
"Though he didn't really mean to, Klaus..." Liz mumbled under her breath, trying to calm the blond man.
"So what do we do now?" The hooded man that stood beside Zeus looked at me with disinterested eyes. "Since King Kook summoned her by accident-"
"This is unacceptable!" Zeus frowned, hands balling into fists. "I've never failed a summoning in my life! Not once!"
"S-Summon..?" I finally spoke, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
(Like dark magic? Like... like summoning a demon?)
I started to panic and Liz did her best to calm me down. Taking deep breaths, I tried my best not to cry. Though it was hard to do when I was placed in this situation.
"What do you remember?" Liz asked.
"U-Um- I'm- I-" I bite my lip, racking my brain for any information about myself, "Asia... Philippines..?"
"What is that?" Klaus looked confused. "Your name? A place?"
"P-Place... Where I live..?"
I sounded uncertain, but my memories were pretty mixed up so I couldn't very well be sure either.
"I've never heard of that kingdom," Liz's eyes lit up with wonder. "Where is that located? Is it in Gedonelune?"
(Gedonelune? Is that the name of a city?)
"I've never heard of that place either..." Klaus murmured, glancing at Zeus. "Did you... summon this girl from another world?"
"WHAT?!" Liz gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.
Zeus's eyes widened, seeming to be in shock himself.
"I-" He frowned, cutting himself off with a frown.
(He doesn't know?)
"So, what now, is she his familiar or something?" Liz scratched her head, looking over at me. "Or... maybe not..."
"She's hardly a familiar," Klaus scoffed, standing back up, "this is practically kidnapping. So send her back already."
Everyone looked at Zeus expectantly, but he just stood there frozen in place. Klaus rubbed his forehead and sighed heavily.
"You don't know how, do you?" He muttered in annoyance.
"...Hiro?" Zeus looked over at the hooded man with a frown.
"What are you looking at me for?" Hiro's eyes widened from the sudden request.
"Well he did summon her by accident," Liz reminded them.
"So now she's stuck here..." Hiro briefly glanced at me, his eyes changing from disinterested to almost sympathetic.
No one in the room said anything, the severity of the situation beginning to sink in. Without a clue from my memories of where I came from except that I was from another world, they couldn't very well send me back.
(What's gonna happen to me now..?)
I felt hot tears pricking my eyes and I look away to avoid being seen crying.
"We should take her to the Headmaster." Klaus suggested, placing a hand on my head and patting it gently. "He might be able to know what to do."
I looked up at him and smiled gratefully for his attempt at cheering me up. Looking over at the one who summoned me, I could see Zeus staring with a troubled frown on his face.
(Does he feel bad that he brought me here?)
As my thoughts were occupied by this stranger, Liz took me by the hand and guided me out of the room with Klaus in the lead. Zeus and Hiro stayed behind, neither of them saying a word as we left.
Once the door shut behind us, I squinted my eyes to adjust it to the dim light illuminating the corridors.
"Is this..." I whispered to Liz, almost terrified of what her answer might be, "Is this a prison?"
"Huh?" Liz blinked, looking around. "Oh! No no, it's not! We're just underground!"
"U-Under... ground..."
I felt my chest tighten with unease but I tried not to panic. I kept my focus on following the two of them out of this creepy place.
"Scary..." I murmured to myself.
"Yeah, that's how I felt when I was first dragged here too." Liz shared my concerns and laughed nervously. "Don't worry. We'll find you a way back home!"
She was trying to make me feel better, so I gave her a smile to show her that I was thankful for their efforts. But my mind drifted back to that Zeus fellow...
How did he summon me from another world? Is he that strong of a-?
"Wait, I just realized," I gasped, catching their attention, "are you guys wizards..?"
Klaus looked at Liz and she looked back at him.
"Yes, we are!" Liz replied, smiling at me. "Welcome to Gedonelune Royal Magic Academy!"
"Magic... Academy?" My eyes sparkled with interest. "Is that... Is that like Harry Potter's school? Like Hogwarts School for Witches and Wizards?"
"Err, I guess so?"
They obviously didn't know what I was talking about but at least Liz sort of understood what I was getting at.
Klaus led us to another building that looked like a castle. I stared in awe at the architecture as we walked inside.
It was quiet and only our footsteps made a sound as they echoed within the stone walls of the hollow corridors. We climbed staircase after staircase until we reached another gloomy corridor.
Klaus knocked on a door and I could hear someone from inside inviting us in.
"Headmaster Rembrandt." Klaus opened the door and sighed. "I'm sorry but we need your help with this one."
I stepped inside after them and the first thing that came out of my mouth was...
"A DEMON LIZARD MAN!"
Seeing the beautiful and majestic being with curled horns and lizard tail standing in the middle of the room, I immediately hid behind Liz like a shield and cowered.
"Who is this?" The Headmaster ignored my comment about him and walked forward to inspect me. "What is your name?"
"Um-" I glanced at Liz, hoping she could help.
"She can't remember much, Headmaster Rembrandt. Not even her own name." She explained to him with worried eyes.
"I see..." Rembrandt hummed in thought, still inspecting me from head to toe. "I'm suspecting you didn't come to me just because she has memory loss, am I right?"
Klaus nodded, his expression looking annoyed again.
"Zeus summoned her by mistake and we don't know how to send her back." He crossed his arms. "We think she might be not from this world-"
"And you are right, she's not," Rembrandt interrupted, frowning a bit. "I can sense a strong magical power from her, but it is foreign to this world. It's safe to say that Zeus really did summon her from another dimension."
"Do you know how to send her back?" Liz asked, hoping that he might have our answer.
But Rembrandt shook his head as he looked at me sadly.
"I can't say that I do, but maybe we can find a way." He turned to Klaus and sighed almost regretfully. "Klaus, I'm sorry, but I'm going to need your help for this."
"Cleaning up that idiot's mess is becoming a chore." Klaus scoffed, clearly talking about Zeus. "I'll do some research about it, but we'll need someone to keep an eye on her."
"Oh! I can-" Liz began to offer her help but Rembrandt held up his hand to silence her.
"I think Zeus should be the one to take care of her." His eyes were shining mischievously and he flashed us a smile that seemed to hide an ulterior motive. "Consider this as his punishment."
"O-Oh. Okay?" Liz looked over her shoulder at me, concern written all over her face.
(Yeah, I'm not convinced about this either...)
"She'll live in the girl's dorm with you, Liz," Rembrandt added. "I want our guest to be around the people she's already acquainted with."
"Okay!" Liz answered him with a cheerful smile this time.
After discussing on what to do for a few minutes, the three of us left the office and headed back downstairs to retire for the night.
We said our goodbyes and Liz brought me to the girl's dorm where I'll be living until Klaus and the headmaster can find a way to send me back to my world. I met Liz's roommate Amelia and she seemed incredibly friendly.
"We can put our beds together and make one big bed!" She suggested, gesturing towards the two single beds in the room.
"Oh, um, I don't mind sleeping on the floor..." I blushed in embarrassment, not at all expecting the warm welcome.
"What? But your back is going to get sore!" Amelia pouted.
(Ugh... I can't resist that easily...)
"Amelia and I don't mind sharing our beds with you." Liz giggled. "It's the least we can do for someone in your current situation."
"Th-Thank you?" I tried to smile, still unsure.
The three of us pushed the beds together and crawled in with me in the middle. I preferred sleeping at the side of the bed, but I couldn't very well complain to them when they've already done so much to help me.
"Hey," Amelia turned to her side to face me. "Since you can't remember your name, why don't we give you a temporary one?"
"I guess I'm okay with it," I shrugged.
"How about... Patricia?" Liz suggested, her head resting on my side to look at Amelia.
"She doesn't look like a Patricia to me..." Amelia frowned. "Maybe something like Hannah?"
"How about a really exotic name?" I mumbled. "It would be nice to have an extravagant name like Headmaster Rembrandt's or like... Zeus."
My voice trailed off as the image of Zeus's face appeared in my mind. Amelia and Liz gave each other a knowing look.
"You know, I heard he's pretty popular with girls," Amelia giggled.
"Though he has a rotten mouth and pushy attitude..." Liz added with a disapproving frown.
"Maybe you want a matching name with him, like Hera?" Amelia offered.
"There's no way I want that..." I blushed and covered my face with a pillow.
"Well, what did you have in mind?" Liz asked.
"I don't know... Something related to me, I guess?" I shrugged, lifting the pillow to look at them. "It'll be a lot easier for us to remember it if it were something like a characteristic or trait of mine."
Amelia and Liz stayed silent for a moment, thinking of names that could help identify me.
"Tiny?" Amelia was the first to throw in a suggestion.
"Mini?" Liz followed, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
"WHY ARE THE SUGGESTIONS ALL RELATED TO THE WORD SMALL?!" I sat up on the bed and yelled in exasperation.
"S-Sorry!" Liz apologized immediately, but I could tell she was obviously trying to hold in her laughter. "It's kind of hard to give a name that defines you when we barely know you at all."
"That's true..." Amelia giggled. "Well we can think more about it tomorrow after classes. Right now, we should just rest."
At Amelia's logical suggestion, I laid back down on the mattress and closed my eyes. The three of us said our goodnights and slowly drifted to sleep.
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