A new beginning

Everything was pitch dark. Suddenly a ray of dim light appeared in the distance. Then another one and the second one and the third one until dim lights Illuminated the whole room.

I found myself lying on the ground in a mossy stone hall that had weird hieroglyphs inscribed on its walls. I was lying in the middle of a circle formed out of hooded figures holding wands in their hands. The hooded figure's robes were gray, their faces were completely hidden behind their hoods and they were giving off an ominous vibe.

I stood up in shock. I am certain that moments ago I was in the classroom preparing my notebooks. As I looked closely at the pile of bodies next to me I recognized them to be my schoolmates. They were all clearly in shock, but some were already trying to stand up.

"Great heroes," a loud female voice exclaimed.

One of the hooded figures lit up a torch and fixed it onto the wall. A female figure broke through the ring of hooded figures and started walking towards me. She was undeniably beautiful with long golden hair, piercing blue eyes and a calm soothing expression. She was dressed in an extravagant pink dress and was wearing a masterfully crafted silver necklace with a big crimson colored ruby in the middle. I assume she probably is not much older than me.

"Sister you can't just barge in like that," said a guy covered head to toe in shining silver armor incessantly decorated with ornaments resembling different animals. The man's hair was brown and was pointing in many directions as if he had just woken up.

My schoolmates finally came to their senses and stood up. The princess stepped in front of me.

"Welcome great heroes!" she enthusiastically said while completely ignoring the armored man.

"Where are we and what is going on?" asked one of my schoolmates.

"You were summoned to the glorious continent called Fantasia," replied the princess and enthusiastically smiled as if she was describing the weather forecast for tomorrow. "My name is Telles von Lionheart, and I am the second princess of the great Lionheart kingdom. This guy next to me is my brother the third prince of the Lionheart kingdom: Marvin von Lionheart," she continued.

My eyes widened in bewilderment. I was summoned to a fantasy continent. Kind of like in books and TV shows. I could not believe that something like that happened to me for real.

My name is Daniel Reinhart. I am a rich kid like most of my classmates since we were all going to a prestigious private school. My father was the owner of an oil conglomerate. Although he had enough money to retire he spent most of his days and sometimes even during weekends working. After my mom left when I was still a baby I was raised by different babysitters that were hired by my father to take care of me. I have blonde hair and grey eyes that were currently widened displaying a look of surprise.

"I understand that you're in shock but I reassure you that you're safe. If you follow me I will show you to your rooms where you will be able to prepare yourself for an audience with the King. I will explain everything then," said the prince after stepping in front of the princess to obscure her line of sight.

The students albeit reluctantly followed the couple out of the ominous chamber up a flight of stone stairs that were etched in stone.

After walking for a while they stepped out of the tunnel and before them a beautiful view opened up. It was a dazzling rose garden with red and pink roses covering both sides of the paved road that was leading to a giant arch that seemed to be an entrance into a gigantic castle that was rising into the sky in front of them. The castle looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale with many pillars, arches and towers creating a neat symmetrical pattern. However the castle could hardly compare to the garden that seem to stretch into infinity with water fountains doted here and there and different types of flowers with bright colors creating gigantic patterns that could be only visible from the sky.

The students were in awe.

"This is the royal garden," the prince explained while pretending to ignore the students shock.

After walking for a while they entered the palace. The interior looked just as medieval as the exterior. With chandeliers and old paintings decorating the ceilings and walls. The floor was adorned with a red carpet that seemed to stretch into infinity following the never-ending corridors and covering the many empty rooms they walked through.

They stopped in a bigger room where they met an elder maid that was giving orders to a couple of younger maids who were just like her dressed in a black and white uniform with a long skirt. The younger maids had green strips cloth tied on their left arm.

"Show them to their rooms and assign a personal maid to every one of them. They are to be given clothing that is appropriate for an audience with his majesty," said the prince to the older maid.

The younger maids stared with a look of surprise and curiosity at the young heroes in front of them while the head maid had an indifferent look on her face.

After being shown to his room and given a bell with which he could call his personal assistant I sat on my bed. I still couldn't quite come to terms with what had just happened but I was already calmer. My room looked like a typical guest room. Decorated with a desk and a wardrobe, it contained a single bed.

I stood up and looked at the clothes that I had been given. They looked like clothes that dead people wore in old pictures and portraits. There was a white shirt, dark blue pants, a blue blazer and something resembling a tie. The clothes were embroidered with a golden pattern and the blazer had the insignia of the royal family on the left shoulder. As I looked closely the clothes looked more like something a medieval civil servant would wear. Unbeknownst to me the clothes were enchanted with basic self-cleaning and self-repair magic which gave them a subtle shine that could be noticed if you looked from the side. In this world such clothes were extremely expensive as weaving magic into cotton was very hard.

I had no problem putting on the shirt and the pants but the thing that looked like a tie was a problem.

I grabbed the golden bell that was sitting on the table and shook it. A clear ringing sound came from the bell and one of the doors opened revealing a young girl around the age of 16 wearing a maid uniform. The girl had shoulder length brown hair and hazel eyes.

"How may I be of service?" the girl asked.

"Can you please help me put this on?"

The maid tied the tie around my neck and started fiddling with the blazer. While the maid dressed me her expression remained indifferent as if she was dressing a doll and not a human. I was used to this as I was often dressed by the servants.

"How should I address the King?"

"Your majesty," the maid replied while fixing his buttons.

"Is there any other etiquette I should be aware of?"

The maid showed me how to express basic courtesy and how to kneel properly in front of the king. The etiquette was actually very similar to the one I already knew from my world.

"What is your name?"

"Agatha," she answered without stuttering.

"Well, thank you Agatha,"

After that I exited my room and after asking a few servants for the way I found my schoolmates waiting in a large reception room decorated with portraits of members of the royal family. The prince and the princess were already waiting for us.

It was time to meet the king.