Professor Gemstone and the Awakening of Heroes (3)

"An apocalypse."

The formal first meeting had been cut short the moment Ezera's students had begun to - quite literally - glow. It had made Ezera panic and demand answers until the Queen and her subjects had explained it was a side effect of the dimension travel. Ezera hadn't been reassured, not until the glowing had subsided and he personally could ask his students how they felt.

It turned out that, in this world, people were bestowed with 'the Grace' from their suns. Their three suns. Ezera had yet to understand the physic of it, but he would soon, no doubt. The ritual they had been pulled through had used the three aligned suns as a passage to summon them through the light of their own single sun, back on their Earth. The ritual was called the Summoning of Heroes because, when people passed through the barrier between their worlds thanks to the five suns, each sun would bestow them with the Grace, and that accumulation would make the dimension travelers more blessed than any other inhabitant of this world. Which was why they were Heroes. Heroes who had received the blessing of the five suns - appropriately revered thanks to an international cult, by the way, for being the source of magic of the world, how nice - and therefore would be the chosen champions of the world to save it through the future apocalypse.

In other, simpler words, Ezera's class had been chosen to be something quite complicated. Truthfully, Ezera wanted nothing to do with it.

But then he had looked at his students' alarmed but awed expressions, and the people from this world had told them there was no way known to bring them back to their own world - when he threatened them scarily enough - so he couldn't stop his children from discovering their new abilities, which would accompagny them for quite some time even if they managed to find a way to travel back to their Earth. It would be far more comfortable if they at least knew what they were dealing with.

Which was why, now a few hours later, Ezera found himself standing on the side with Queen Lenacia as the students went through something the priest - the coated and hoodied figure that had stoon next to the Queen before - called a registering reading. That spheric device would reveal one individual's information and grace then register it in the palace's records.

Queen Lenacia nodded.

"Yes. An apocalypse."

"That's not anything my students or I signed for."

"We are aware, and you have our sincerest apologies."

Ezera didn't quite believe that.

"Yuga, assassin!"

It started. Ezera decided to keep an ear out for his students while he spoke with the Queen.

"You have to be aware, this is their choice. If they don't want to accomplish this heroic destiny you're proposing, then they won't, and you have to find a way back. It's the same if they don't wish to stay after they're done."

"Saemi, clerk!"

"I will endeavour to do so," she said, not exactly a promise, but still worth something.

"What about you?"

Ezera frowned.

"What about me?"

"What will you do?"

"What do you mean?"

What could he be planning to do?

"Sandra, alchemist!"

His students needed him, they had been cut off from their friends and families, he couldn't abandon them as their guardian.

The Queen turned to him.

"It was unlikely that you, the teacher of those children, would also accompagny them during their travel. You are a collateral victim. But we cannot send you back to your world. Which is why we must give you new possibilities. It is our responsibility, after all."

Ezera pinched his lips.

"Ernst, paladin!"

"There are a few schools located in the capital. The noble academy might interest you, but there are also more mundane options. We have recorded from previous heroes that your world is more developped than ours, novelty might do good to us in our research our education department."

"Ashera, archer!"

"Of course, we won't separate you from your students if that is what you fear. All the locations we can provide you with are close enough for you or them to visit one another. I'm afraid that as off today, the best we can do for you is offer you a new life, as close to your previous normalcy as possible."

"Shuna, potioneer!"

Ezera remained silent for a moment. He could feel the Queen's sincerety. Truthfully, their offer might have been accepted by a lot of other teachers.

But he wasn't any other teacher. He was Professor Gemstone. And these kids needed him.

He smiled amiably.

"As grateful as I am for your generous offer, your majesty, I would prefer to stay close to the children. You consider them as heroes, or apprentices. But their parents have entrusted me with them. They need me as a familiar adult figure."

While the Queen's intentions may be good, he also knew that, for her council, driving him away would be akin to giving them the all clear with the children to do as they please. He couldn't accept that.

Politics were terrifying, and he had the obligation to teach them how to defend themselves in such an environment. Ezera internally sighed. That had never been an issue before, and he hadn't thought it could become one.

"Hymei, lancer!"

The Queen nodded, something somwhat relieved glinting in her dark eyes.

"I understand."

"Alexandra, pugillist!"

Now that they had come to an agreement, Ezera let their conversation fade, as they both watched on the reading. Three boys were out of the waiting line, as well as five girls. Twelve yet to go.

Honestly, those graces' names sounded a lot like they were directly extracted from a video game, but Ezera could only guess it meant this world could also influence their Earth in some ways.Whoever invented MMORPG clearly received a vision from above.

Inspiration was such a mysterious thing... It wouldn't surprise Ezera if souls reincarnated from one world to another without care for the barrier. Not just those two worlds, probably.

"Helene, scribe!"

Helene turned toward him as soon as she left the podium, her eyes lit up when she saw him looking back. He smiled at her. Helene then ran to him.

"Professor! Have we really been Isekaied? This is extraordinary!"

She was jumping around in front of him. Helene, while a shy girl, had always been quite excitable. But Ezera blinked.

"Ise-what?"

"Isekai! It's a genre- or a trope, from books! It means that a character has been transmigrated into another world! It's basically our situation, right? We're in the middle of a fantasy plot!"

He blinked again. Helene has also always been the class' bookworm.

"Is this some sort of new genre? I'm too old to know about this," he teased the girl.

"But professor, aren't you still in your twenties?"

"Aren't you the kindest?"

"Leo, Hero!"

Ezera frowned, turning back to the ceremony.

"Hey," he whispered to the queen, "didn't you say they were all heroes?"

"Yes," she said. "However there is always one of the summoned who is blessed with the 'Hero' grace. This is the Hero's party, which the Hero is supposed to lead, and it is why they are called Heroes. They will save the world, with the Hero as their leader."

Ezera hummed dubiously.

He really, really didn't like this.

"Lucas, magician!"

"Kai, samurai!"

That at least didn't surprise Ezera. Kai practiced Kendo since he was a young kid.

"Hiro, healer!"

"Suzuka, sniper!"

Leo was slowly making his way toward his professor. His features were clouded by confusion and doubt, but also this strange sort of awe that Ezera had already noticed from his class some time ago.

"Izak, thief!"

Leo had a good nature, and a certain amount of charisma. He was an altruist boy. Ezera had been quite amused when he realized Leo was popular with girls, and that the boy didn't actually know what to do with so much attention.

Being a Hero sounded like a lot of responsibilities alright.

"Lina, necromancer!"

Leo stopped in front of him, his head lowered to the ground.

"Professor Gemstone... I..."

Ezera's hand fondly fell on Leo's head. The boy silently gasped and raised his eyes to meet Ezera's kind blue ones.

"You do what you want, kid. This doesn't mean anything. If you don't want it, you can say so. No one will resent you. It goes for all of you."

Most of them were sixteen. High schoolers should only have to worry about what they would do later, their grades, their family lives, and potential girlfriends or boyfriends. Saving the world wasn't something that should burden them.

Ezera would very much like to refuse this duty for them and whisk them back to their world. But he knew it was their choice. And as their teacher, it was his role to support them, whatever they chose.

"Alan, knight!"

Leo turned back to stare at his best friend, the newly appointed 'knight' already making his way to them, his usual warm welcoming smile plastered wide on his lips.

"Hey, Leo! Did you hear that? Lina's a necromancer! Oh, hi professor!"

Ezera smiled back at him, before turning back to Leo.

"Maybe you should think about it, together. You're not alone in your decision, after all. Perhaps hearing them out will help you to discern what path you wish to walk on. Now go with your friends."

He patted the boy's head one last time before shooing both young men off.

"Ilun, tamer!"

"Ming, draconic master!"

Okay, what the heck did that mean?

Ming looked scared like a mouse. Poor boy, Ezera winced for him.

He resolved to speak with him later. One last student to go.

"Shanon, shaman!"

Finally. It was done. The head knight waited until Shanon had walked down to the rest of his classmates to announce.

"Now that the reading is taken care of, we will be showing you the way to your quarters so that you can rest for the night."

Ezera looked behind him, through the window. When they were summoned, the suns had been setting, just like their back on their Earth had been rising in perfect opposites. Now, it had long gone down the horizon, and night was upon them.

Yes, he thought. After so many emotions, it would be best to rest.

"Now, children, assemble around me!" he called his students cheerfully. "We're going to follow our guides, stay close to me, alright?"

"Alright!"

And just like that, they were on their way.