Chapter 2.

Philip was only doing his chores when he found the goddess.

A sacred room where no one but the young man, Philip Smith was to enter once every six months to tidy up and clean. And on that particular day as he swept off the dust that had gathered on the shelf, and mop the glassy tiles floors to become once more sparkly, he saw her.

A young lady fast asleep. She would be no more than eighteen. Her hair was orange and even in sleep, she resembled a divine being sculpted with grace and sanctity.

Then came a loud roar from the astonished young man. "The Protector! She is here! The Protector is here!"

✩★✩

"The what now?" R. B leaned forward on the bed, staring at a tall middle aged woman. She and a few gathered in the room, watching her with malicious gazes.

R. B couldn't blame them. Then she rose up, stepping away from the neatly made wooden bed.

"Do not mind him," said the tall woman. "Philip goes on about spilling rubbish all the time." Her voice came with a sort of elegance, the way queens were always accentuated from movies medieval R. B watched.

Then she realized that she might have been inside one. The room gathered with unfamiliar faces in strange costumes. This woman for example had on her a long green gown with a high cape on the shoulders, radiating firm postures. And her hair was styled into a high bun with flowers beautifying the pretty blonde. Then a few others were not too far distant from the tall lady, except they had been in a different color of dresses.

And the young man the woman had identified as Philip stared blankly at her. He had a fringe hairstyle, and wore a brown shirt and pants. Or was that a tunic R. B could see...

"Please, mind me!" Philip enunciated with agitation. "What else would you say finding a strange woman in the forever chamber, huh? She's the Protector, I tell you!"

"Nonsense!" Scoffed the tall woman. "Do not go about telling this to the students, understand? Else, you and I would go on a trip to the headmaster's office for defying my orders.".

Soon every enthusiasm on the pale skin boy died down. He lowered his head in shame and replied, "yes, Mrs Fitzgerald."

Mrs Fitzgerald?

Forever Chambers?

All of these words were too familiar to her ears.

"Ha!" An amusing chuckle escaped R. B's lips and then it grew into a wild grin. With suspicious eyes alternating glances at everyone in the room, she began to laugh. "Okay everyone, come on out. Ashley? I know you're behind this,"

Eyes glared at her in disbelief, then Philip spoke. "Ashley?"

R. B nodded vigorously. "Yes! Ashley, my bestie. She's here right now, I just know it. Really, you guys can cut the prank now." She said, then with arms akimbo, she observed around her for any hidden cameras. The entire wide square room was a magnificent chamber just like the one described in her book, decorated with a cream colored brick wall and bold red curtains on each wide window.

To her left was the fancy bed decorated in royal red curtains and bedspread, and to her right, a magnificent dressing spot with a giant mirror revealing the face of a young pretty girl...

"Argh!" Yelled R. B the instant she caught a glimpse of herself. Taking a step back she paused, imagining what had been going on. There was a distant chattering among the audience behind her but she had less interest in what they were discussing. Her concern was more on why she had seen the image of a much younger person as the reflection of herself in the mirror. "What have you done?" She whispered then took a step forward and began to observe herself.

"Um, young miss?" Philip called from behind but got no reply from her, but he continued anyway. "Who is this Ashley you speak of?" He asked and a few of the crowd muttered in agreement.

R. B could not hear them as her attention had been fixated on something much more interesting. "Actually, how did you do it? This is some whole new shit level of technology!" Her hands brushed her orange hair softly, then she noticed they hadn't been entirely orange, rather a perfectly mixed color between red, orange and a yellow-ish tone, like a fire blonde.

Comely eyes, one blue and the other gray, stared back at her, radiating a strong image of innocence and youthfulness. Her skin, though a little pale, was beautiful and healthy. Full lips pouted and perfectly shaped brown brows arched slightly. Something was entirely wrong.

Her brows ceased, then she faced the crowd. "How did you guys manage to do this? How am I...this person!"

Mrs Fitzgerald stepped forward, "young miss, what is going on here? Could you do us a favor and explain?"

Philip's face contorted into a frown. "What do you mean? I still say that this young lady is--"

"--the Protector? How silly of you."

"Then how can you explain this?"

Dazzled R. B still had her focus buried into the mirror before her. "What am I putting on?" Her hands adjusted the slightly loose gown. It was a bit more tight from the waist up, then free all the way down. A purple over dramatic material it was, with heavy gathers of pleats—R. B hated purple.

"Miss uh, what is your name again?" Asked Mrs Fitzgerald.

"I have a case and it's due today. I don't have time for your games!" and with that, R. B dashed out the room and found herself in another universe entirely.

"Whoa, impossible!"

✩★✩

'In the school of Mayville heroes held a powerful combination of colors. Strong mixture of these colors nourished the vicinity of the magic school, and rich light filled the halls.'

R. B instantly remembered that particular passage from her novel. The area shone magnificently and fancy doors led to various rooms. The room she'd just come out from was at the center of the hall. There were partial sections of space on both sides and straight forward was a majestic huge door that would lead to the grand hall, then outside to the main entrance, if she had read her book correctly.

Exploring the vicinity before her, she realized that everything had been exactly accurate. A few numbers of students watched her with disturbing looks, but she didn't care. She was growing crazy.

As much as she tried to tell herself that it had all been a dream, her reality seemed to prove otherwise.

She needed to go back home. But how?

✩★✩

Philip went on to spread the tale of the arrival of the Protector, and he knew it would get him into trouble with Mrs Fitzgerald. But it was too much of a grand tale not to tell.

"I don't believe you," said a young lady, Mirabel.

Some others agreed with her as well, and it drove him nearly insane. "Come then, let me take you to her,"

"I have seen her, a strange lady with orange hair and an ugly gown?" Said Sal, a friend of Mirabel.

"Have you seen the colors of her eyes?" Philip said, the enthusiasm in his eyes shining bright.

"Colors of her eyes?" A young man named Nyles asked, and Philip nodded in reply. "Crazy."

"Yes indeed!" Exclaimed Philip.

"Where is she now?" Mirabel demanded.

"Downstairs exploring her vicinity." He replied, then quickly realized he wanted to be down there.

As he left, a few numbers of the students followed. Once downstairs, it hadn't been hard to miss the view.

R. B had gathered quite a large audience. "I am a lawyer and I've got a pretty big case so if you would please send me back home!"

"Where is your home?" Asked one of the audience.

"New York. I need to--"

"New York?" This brought repetition from the crowd as they called out the name with funny accents.

"Which kingdom is that located in?" Asked another voice from the crowd.

R. B grunted in frustration. She didn't have time for their games. "Could I speak with your leader..." She paused, then recalled what they called him from the book. "The founder. May I speak with your founder? He should be able to explain better."

Mrs Fitzgerald advanced forward. "For the one hundredth time, there is no such thing as the Protector being amongst us. She is just a lost student."

"Lost student, eh? Look at her eye colors!" One student yelled.

"And her hair!" Then another.

"And the way she speaks, the things she says, she certainly isn't one of us!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" The crowd's voice chorused out.

R. B let out a deep sigh. "I am definitely not one of you. I read this book, uh, the school of Maeville heroes, and here I am at the exact setting and place from the novel. It's crazy, really." She said and entertained more chattering and annoying questions from the crowd like, 'what is setting?' Or,' why do you talk like that?'

Her accent had been exactly fluent like the American citizen that she was, and then the way they spoke was completely different from how she did so she couldn't blame the person for asking that question.

"Does anybody have a phone here?" She yelled out and the crowd's chattering halted into a nearly complete silence.

"A phone?" Asked someone.

R. B nodded. "Preferably with strong Wi-Fi connection? I need to make a quick call."

"What is a phone?"

Then it hit her. If truly she had been teleported into some novel universe and it was the same book she had read before, then she was doomed. They had no phones there!

She found herself repeatedly muttering, "typical."

"If you have read about us in your book, then you must be able to predict our future." A girl asked, and R. B realized that she had been right.

"Of course I can." She said proudly, then thought about who's tale to begin with. "You there," her eyes fell on a young lady with black long hair and big eyes. She instantly reminded her of Ashley. "You're Daniella, and that guy you've been crushing on, he finally noticed you and you both go on this festival thingy together."

"Maeville' Feast night?" Daniella asked with brightened eyes.

"Sure thing." Confirmed R. B, "and Philip!"

The young man rushed forward to meet her, "I'm here."

"You're hiding a secret. Spill it now, and no harm will come to you. If you however chose to keep it to yourself like you did in the book, then you will suffer the consequences."

The feeling of queasiness began to stir inside his stomach, as his eyes flashed wide. "R-really?"

"Oh for heaven's sake, do not trust this lady!" Mrs Fitzgerald said as an attempt to share to the students that she was still very much present in their midst, but they ignored and fixated their audience on Philip and the strange girl. Deep down, she too wanted to see how the story would end.

"Yes. Spill your secret and you'll leave unpunished." R. B confirmed.

In the book, Philip had given his dog a mixture of herbs that the elders had specifically warned him not to because it contained some powerful ingredients that could be harmful, but he went ahead anyway and fed his dog. Although nothing had happened, he still felt guilty.

"I fed my doggy some Folium!" He blurted out and his confession led to a loud gasp from the crowd.

"Yes, that is the word. Folium meaning leaf in the old tongue." R. B found herself explaining quietly as she recalled the passage where the author had listed out some strange words used in the book along with their meanings. "Okay, see? No punishment!"

Mrs Fitzgerald stepped forward. "Of course there's a punishment! Philip, you're not allowed to see doggy for...two days!"

Philip didn't like the idea but he was much more relieved. He hated keeping secrets and was more than happy he had shared his wrongdoing to the authorities.

"What about me?" Yelled a lady from the crowd. She was tall and muscular with short brown hair.

"You are Robin Clay, a Monster Hunter. You didn't die on your next hunt, however you were badly injured. Stay away from rats."

"Oh, and me?" Yelled a few more students.

"You found your mom... You faced your fears... You mastered your spell... You--"

"Philip!" Cried a voice as her eyes met with the poor boy.

There was joyous chattering in the air with the crowd asking questions and jubilating at their responses, until the horrifying moment engulfed all of the excitements and imbibed darkness and bitterness in the air.

Philip was laying in a pool of his own blood.

"What? He didn't die." The words came out as a sharp dagger piercing its pointy tips down her chest. "Philip didn't die. I never read it like this. No way? He didn't die!"