5 5

"Heroes! Welcome to the kingdom of Magi, Albion!" Light overturned darkness as a small, excited, voice called out.

The door fully swung open.

The first visible figure was quite petite, short, and lean. Short, luscious, blonde hair hid her left eye while her right radiated in a mystifying azure shine. She wore a pure white robe that flapped down to her knees and separated to reveal her thighs, which were halfway covered by black shorts. And, clutched with both hands, a black staff.

Behind her, the floor clicked under iron boots as a man stepped through. His broad shoulders almost touched the frames of the door. He was noticeably taller and larger than the girl, even his iron chest plate could not hide the mass of muscles befitting his figure. Yet, the boots and chest plate was the only armor on his body. His large arms were bare, and his legs held simple cotton black pants. His short brunette hair stirred as his hazel eyes narrowed into the room.

"These are the 'heroes'? They don't look like they've ever held a weapon in their life." His voice boomed as his right hand held the handle of the blade at his waist.

Ain could see, even more fully armored knights guarding the door.

The trio glanced around the room and each other. Puzzlement filled their faces as they finally stared at the two people before them.

"Heroes?" Aurora tilted her head.

"Us?"Felz asked, rubbing her head, "Ugh, how did I even get here?"

Ain mentally facepalmed, 'You both suck at acting!'

He noticed, momentarily, the brunette knight narrowing his eyes. He tried to gauge the man's strength but soon had to shake away that thought, his current sense stat was not enough for gauging an opponents power. However, if he wasn't wrong, their play had already been seen through by him.

'Now or never.' He thought.

Ain took a step forward, "Excuse me where are we and who are you guys-?"

Only to stumble.

"A-are you alright?" The girl quickly stepped forward to support his body, though visibly shaking under his weight.

"I'm sorry…" Ain's breath roughened, he slowly pushed himself back up.

"I feel a bit shaken, miss, you're the leader here right? May I rest for a moment?"

"Oh no-" The person herself quickly stammered, "I'm not the leader! That would be mister Ignus right here!"

"Wait a minute," A sudden thought flashed through her mind.

"I'm not a miss! I'm a mister! A boy!" He puffed his cheeks as his staff waved around wildly.

Ain raised a brow. No matter how he looked at it, this was a girl before him.

"Hold on a moment, heroes, you must be tired from the transportation."

The boy raised his staff into the air.

Ain glanced towards Aurora and, seeing that the girl was not moving, his heart calmed down. She would never mistake an attack for nothing, since he had known her, this girl had always been sensitive to bloodlust. Just a hint of bloodlust or killing intent would be enough for her to jump into defense.

"<Small Heal>."

A bright light fell on the trio's bodies. Immediately, they could feel their energy returning and fatigue disappearing...what little of it.

The boy placed his staff back down as he released a heavy sigh, it seemed that action alone took a toll on him. Yet, his face quickly raised as he smiled brightly.

"I've healed you! My mana is nearly depleted and I must rest now. I'll return to my quarters and the knights will guide you to his majesty and he'll explain everything you need to know. I know it might be hard to believe at first, but this world you're in is much more fantastic than your world. You'll come to see that, indeed, what I just used was the magic your world can only find in books!" He smiled.

'Healed us?' Ain sneered within his mind, 'Didn't they cause this in the first place?'

Or at least would have if it wasn't for his quick thinking.

'And how can a single healing spell deplete all your Mana? Even more so...he seems to know a bit about our world. We're either unlikely to be the first group ever summoned here or they have a way to gain knowledge of our world.'

The boy bowed, "I wish you, heroes, good luck."

And departed the room.

Silence descended the room as hazel eyes glanced over the small group, stopping momentarily on the visage of Ain, Felz, and straying a bit longer on Aurora.

"Alright, my name is Ignus, follow me." The knight finally spoke wit creased brows, his voice carrying an unmistakable authority.

The group had little to no choice, they could only bring their feet to enter the wide halls of what should be castle grounds. Ain became aware of the surroundings, taking his steps lightly to glance at the blue rugs under his feet and the hanging lamps of light. If they followed the same rules as the game, they should be made of man stones.

Finally, he took a moment to truly observe their current situation. Following Ignus, seven armored knights surrounded them in a closed circle on all sides, each one holding the handle of their blade as they moved in steady steps. Even with his current low Sense stat, he could still notice their glances drifting towards them.

'These many knights just to escort us? They are quite cautious.'

He didn't fully understand their current situation, but he had figured out a few things. One, they had been summoned as heroes of sort--although he had no idea what that entailed. Two, the people that summoned them did not seem aware of what exactly would come from their summon or else they wouldn't have to take these many percussions e.i filling the room with low-grade poison to weaken them and bringing these many people to escort them. And, three, the worst of them all…

'Not only have our characters been reset,' Ain looked at himself, wearing a white beginner tunic and brown cotton pants. The very outfit newcomers received when they entered the game.

'But the U.I has changed quite a bit as well.'

He tried every single user interface command he knew, and floating in front of him, only four worked.

[Status] [Inventory] [Skill Tree] [Party]

However, the party option was grayed out. If it still followed the common laws of Eclipse, then one needed to reach level 10 before they could enter into a party. He wasn't confident of this hypothesis, but it seemed more likely than not.

Yet, as he was thinking all this, a force pulled him back--

Clank

Ain looked up to see Aurora's hand holding onto his collar.

"Look," Felz pointed at his side.

And look he did,

Ignus stood up, slowly sheathing his sword back into its scabbard. In front of him, the marble floor of the castle was revealed with cracks under the blue rug that been ripped with a gash. Yet, around him, the other seven knights stood with sword in hand. Their eyes glanced at the trio under their iron helmets, waiting for an order to strike.

Ain shook his head, he had been a bit too careless, lost in thought. He slowly stood back up, patting himself. Disregarding the rest, he stared at Ignus.

The man himself scoffed, "As I thought, you 'heroes' are not so simple after all."

Ain smiled, "When did you find out?"

"When I saw the rips on your clothing."