The Adventure Begins - Cinderella, here we come!

It didn't take long for everyone to wake up, hearing the rumbles of their bedsheets in perfect harmony with painful groans.

Sigh, it should be right around now that the confusion kicks in, wondering about what happened last night.

"WHAT!" shouted Alex.

Ah, now the angst is in full motion, realising they blacked out for twelve hours, combined with a body that hurts like hell, burning heat and a strange feeling within their veins.

Hearing muffled voices coming from the bed rooms, I knew they must have realised that there is a strange, unknown resistance to the air today, and for ever, as mana is now occupying this realm.

*swooh*

That sound should be the curtains being pushed open, sigh, they must be mortified by the blood-red sky and eclipse that is happening.

"Guys come to the dining room; we have to talk! I bet everyone realised it by now!" I shouted while I stood up from my chair in the dining room.

They all run to the dining room, fear, dread, and unease written all over their faces. The little princes even has tears in her eyes, poor little thing.

Trying to comfort them I put on a warm and welcoming smile, as I hold my wand of choice (Sirius) in my right hand.

"I would say everyone understands that something happened yesterday", I said, trying to calm them down, "and I don't talk about my break-up, just to be clear."

I joked in hopes to ease their nerves, which was a success!

The twins started to laugh their ass out, while Sophie stared daggers into me. Even Kathi had to giggle.

"Stop playing around Dan" Sophie said, "something strange is happening. That's why we-" it was just now that she realised me holding a wand, and the strange array of items on our dining table. "Just what are you doing!"

Pointing at my hand and the table, everyone followed her lead and eyed me suspiciously.

Sigh, at least I already planned how to this whole conversation should play out.

Exposure therapy!

With a flick of my wand, I directed four threads of mana towards the chairs at the table, pushing them out for my family.

*Squeak*

"Now if I may Sophie", I spoke calmly to them, "please take a seat everyone, this will be a very unique talk."

All their mouths hung wide open, excitement and fear fighting in their eyes for domination as they slowly walked to their seats.

With another mana pull, I pulled my chair out and sat down with everyone.

"Yes, as everyone can see, our world changed a teeny-tiny bit."

"Duh!" Dave exclaimed, "Y-you can do magic? Like for real, like in the books?" he asked excited.

"How, is it the wand? Can you teach me too?", his twin jumped right into the conversation.

"Hehe, Yes. Magic is real, everyone of you should already feal a bit different, right?", I inquired while eyeing everyone slowly, trying to gauge their reactions.

"Y-Yeah, I mean, I think so?" Kathi spoke, unsure of what to say, ���The air, I mean i-it's heavier."

"Right, I feel this strange resistance in the air", Sophie said "akin to being underwater, just not as strong of a force."

Nodding my head, I waited for everyone to quieten down again before I resumed talking,

"Indeed, a strange invisible force is in the air, but also in all of you" I said, "now don't panic, everything is fine, it will not hurt you." I reassured them again.

"How come you are so chill about this whole situation!" Dave almost cried out while staring at me with disbelief across his face.

"We all fell unconscious when our world changed. I just like all of you was in this comatose like state, when I suddenly had this strange vision." I lied through my teeth's, sometimes a white lie is better than pure honesty.

"I was able to gain insights to our current situation" I calmly spoke to them, "and let me tell you, it's grim."

"Not only is magic now a real thing, no, but also beasts, monsters, even demons." I added, still trying to get a read on everyone's reaction, which were surprisingly good.

"So, in your aforementioned vision, or whatever, you saw glimpses of what is happening, even the future?" Sophie once again hit the nail on the head.

Nodding my head, "Yes, while we all awakened latened magical prowess, so did animals and even objects.", pointing with my wand at all the items on the table. "Let me tell you, sometimes seeing is believing."

With that, I grabbed Sophie's dice bag, to her confusion, and put my whole arm in it, to the surprise and bewilderment of everyone.

"A bag of holding!?" Sophie cried out in excitement. Ahh, right she did love her tabletop-RPGs.

Pulling out a breakfast for everyone I nodded to Sophie, "Yes, about one square meter in space now."

"But how come you already have all this; didn't you just wake up like us?" Alex injured, still suspicious about the whole situation, about me.

"No, actually I'm awake for ten hours now." I answered, "Trying to get a head start for us, because trust me, right now the most dangerous place is the convenience store."

Remembering those blurry images, I can remember a deadly encounter in there, some awakened beast found its way in, making the whole store its nest.

"Another information of your vision?", Kathi carefully asked.

Nodding her affirmation, I could see everyone sulking back into their chairs.

"What about this?" Dave asked, as he took the book, Little Red Ridding Hood, "Did they 'awaken' as well?"

"What do you even mean with 'awakened' to begin with?" his twin spoke up.

Sigh, these two are way to in-synch with their thoughts.

"You better put that book back down Dave, ", I warned my brother, "well at least if you don't fancy fighting a wolf demon to breakfast."

I've never seen someone drop a book faster then that. Well, that's a lie, I have seen my fair share of mathematics classes.

"Now, now, no need to panic, as log as we don't open it, everything is fine." I told them, easing their nerves once more.

"Now let's eat while I answer your questions.", with that I started to dig in, "Ah right, 'awakened', that's seemingly the term everyone uses in the future about what is happening."

"I mean, we all just awakened from forced comatose state, and so did some other things." I said while munching on some nice sandwiches.

"Everyone that survived today will be able to slowly attain certain powers. Ranging from a Wizard, which I fancy myself, up to mystical Knights." Saying that, I eyed the twins reaction.

"Yes! I'll leave the wand waving to you, I call dips on the Knighthood!" Dave and Alex almost simultaneously cried out.

"What? No! You already stole Yasuo from me, no can do with the Knight!" Dave shouted at his twin.

"So what? I'm better than you with Yasuo, so I will best you in real life as well." Alex proudly rebuked.

With that a kick-off about a power and class talk started.

"In short, all you will have to do is meditate in a certain way that I will teach you all tonight, which fastens the natural intake of mana. Which in turn helps to create two certain new systems with you."

"First, for those that fancy wand waving, as Dave lovingly put, will have to create a Mage-Root first, while those that seek melee confrontations will have to create an Aura-Heart."

"Mage-Root? Aura-Heart? … Systems? What are you talking about?" Sophie asked, completely flabbergasted by these terms.

"Haa, to keep it simple," I deeply sighed, "Imagine this, the mana is rushing to our hearts and condenses there in two ways, one to be able to manipulate your surroundings; Mage-Root. The other to augment yourself in unbelievable ways, strengthening your physique to inhuman levels; Aura-Heart." I explained.

"While you can have both, I would advice to focus on one at a time, you need an occupation as soon as possible." I said, realising that I once again stated something still unknown.

"Right, before anyone asks how you decide on which of the two you cultivate first, your body does. It creates the one you are better suited for first. And the talk about occupations, just think about it like character classes in video games."

"The most important thing right now is how to survive, like I told you, with all of you awakening, so did the first beasts, but this is by far not the end, nor the worst. Every month from now on for a year the awakening process will repeat itself, changing our world more and more." I told them, not to scare but to prepare them for the future.

The rest of the meal was rather uneventful and quiet. I described the different items, and the content of our three bottomless bags, while also clearing a new order of command in the family; me on top, followed by Sophie, the twins; Dave, Alex and last but definitely not least, Kathi.

With me having the most information and confidence in this new situation, it was the most logical thing to decide to follow my lead for the time being.

"So, uhm, Dan?" Dave mumbled, "the sword there, could I by any means have it?"

Not even looking me in the eyes, heck, he was just starring at the sword as if it were his lost lover.

"Haa, with me being more proficient in magic, yes, you can handle it, but beware it is no toy." I warned my little brother. Even thou he can be over the top sometimes; I know for sure that in such situations he's got my back.

Before his twin, Alex, could even protest I added, "If I remember correctly both of you took HIMA classes? So why don't you two talk about who gets the staff and who the sword."

"Its called HEMA; Historical European Martial Arts.", Alex was quick to correct me, "Of course the two of us will be the front liners!"

"Hehe, I, David Stark now equipped with Longclaw, just like Jon Snow!" Dave cried out in excitement.

"Yeah, you are just like him, but a lowly bastard of the family." Alex was quick to rebuke his twin.

Sophie took the knife, perfect for throwing and keeping her distance, as the knife will return to her on its own.

In the end only Kathi was without a weapon, so I handed her Narcissa's wand. Which needed a short lesson where I thought her the basics of how to use mana, alas, I knew it was a futile task. This little girl was even in the past better suited for an Aura-Heart.

We also put the purse and backpack into the dice bag, which we could simply wear in our pockets, giving us full range of movement.

"Now listen one last time, stay together, don't ever wander off on your own. Keep your voices low, never shout, it may attract even more unwanted attention and even awakened beasts." I slowly but firmly repeated myself twice to ensure that everyone listened and heard everything.

We all decided after a short family debate on where to go first. Which was easier done than imagined, because we all were on summer holidays almost no one was in town, nor in this country right now.

Sophie was a lone wolf for most of her time, with but two friends worthy to speak about, which were both in another country for the holidays.

Kathi was very much ostracized by her peers, they couldn't handle her skipping two grades, a bright star in the fields of academics. Sadly, this talent won't help her in the first steps of this hell, only after she forms her Aura-Heart will this bright head of hears truly shine.

And the twins? Well, them and I had the same friends group, yeah, these blockheads were part of "poor but sexy".

Our first target? Mike, also known as King; Michael King, a sandbox friend that helped us out numerable times. Be it with money when our cash got short, or helping to further develop Kathi's talents in music by paying for her music instruments and tuition.

Ever since our parents died three years ago, Sophie had to work full-time, dropping out of college. While the twins and I got Saturday jobs, to get at least some money into the household.

With that, it was just a given that we have to help and rescue him. He lives about 30 minutes away from us, which should be safe enough.

Exiting the building, the eclipse no longer was there, the moon started to move again after it hit twelve o'clock.

And as fate has it, it was a rocky start from the get-go; three reptilian humanoid creatures where clawing and feasting on some unlucky german shepherd's corpse. Kobolds! Little beasts of about 60 cm in hight, with Reddish brown scaled leathery skin.

Just as I was about to remind everyone to keep it shut, the youngest one, Kathi, screamed at the sight, alarming the kobolds in front of us of our arrival.

The kobolds, seeing our group, immediately rushed at us. Shouting a high pitched battle cry that hurt one's ears.

With a flick of my wand, I concentrated on their legs, and pushed at the right moment to make them all trip no more then two meters in front of us.

"Dave, Alex and Sophie! GO! Now while they are down!" I shouted at my still petrified siblings, bringing them back to reality.

With a slight jump Dave rushed forward, stabbing towards the prone kobold piercing its head!

A perfect killing-blow, while his twin smashed the other kobolds head repeatedly, turning it from flesh and bones to paste.

Only Sophie hesitated again, giving the last best the opportunity to stand back up and jump at Dave, who tried to withdraw the blade from his first kill.

Just as it jumped, hoping to claw away on Dave, it was greeted by another one of my mana pushes, pushing it back instead of it intended trajectory.

With a swift side-cut, Dave decapitated the confused beast.

"Sophie," I immediately confronted her, "I know it is hard, don't push yourself to hard, we got this."

"Yeah Soph, you see this?" Dave said, holding up a blood dripping reptilian head, "We can handle these small fries without a problem!

"Just take it easy sis." Came Alex's encouragement, "Even if no one reacted, it's just Dave we are speaking about. Nothing to lose."

At which Sophie finally reacted with a short giggle, before apologising to everyone for freezing up.

Well then, this trip is going to be challenging. Luckily, I informed Mike that we are on our way. While Chris and Jay, who are roommates, decided to meet us at Mikes, which is about 5 minutes or so away from them. Lucky bastards on their bikes.

The rest of the journey we walked slowly, keeping our eyes and ears open for anything suspicious, with that, we were able to evade another, bigger, group of kobolds. I counted over twenty heads in their group, way to deadly for us right now.

Making a 30 minutes march into almost an hour of sneaking and crouching, we safely arrived in front of Mike's house, a pink and white two story building.

I could have phoned or simply messaged him, instead I took this opportunity to educate my siblings, by demonstrating the fine arts of magic.

I pick-locked his front door with magic.

Closing the door behind us with a semi-loud but deliberate bang.

*Bang*

Followed by three teenagers that jump out of their hiding spots.

A muscular hunk of a man on the right, jumping out of the dining room, clutching an aluminium baseball bat. Chris, the oldest and fittest of the bunch, simply known as Beast. The moment he realised who the intruders were he let go of his bat mid-swing, effectively throwing it towards my face.

Hump, with a little pull and push of mana I held the bad suspended in air. While Chris stood there, mouth wide open, shocked by what he sees.

The other two idiots, jumped to uncoordinated and banged into each other mid-air, sending them down on their asses, letting them witness the scene playing out in front of their eyes.

"Bu-But How? Magic? W-What?" all three stuttered in disbelieve, while I proudly made the bad fly back into Chris' hand.

Before I could even show of a bit more in front of them, my whole family betrayed me, "Yeah, our Lord Stark sold his ginger soul to the devil and got some magic" Dave said, walking towards the trio.

"A vison he called it. Rigged! Even when the whole world turns upside down that bastard gets all the good stuff." Alex added, while he and his twin helped the two teenagers on the ground back up.

"Simply put, he knows a bit about the future and how to use magic, which according to him, we all now can do." Sophie explained as she betrayed me as well.

Looking to my side, making eye contract with Kathi, hoping for her to at lest safe me some face.

"Yeah, he boasted about it the whole morning." Spoke Kathi while she abandoned me as well.

"Ah come on! With a family like this, why would I even need beasts to murder me!" I grumpily stated, withdrawing my wand, still sulking.

"So, what exactly is going on?" Chris asked as he was scratching his pitch black hair.

"Yeah you did write quite the strange text in the group" The blonde boy asked, while Dave helped him up. Mike, our little King.

"You idiots, don't act to surprised, everyone already saw those beasts out there, and no one of you is dense enough to not feel the changes" The black haired youth to Mikes side snarked as he adjusted his round glasses.

"Ah come on Jay, your tone could be a bit friendlier, or would that hurt you really to much?" Dave asked playfully. Only to be answered by a cold, indifferent stare of Jay. His trademark.

"Let's sit down first." Mike gestured us towards the living room, "Dan, if you wouldn't mind, could you explain what is happening right now?"

And so, I told them the same information as I did for my siblings earlier today, everyone listened and tried to digest all the information.

Afterwards I did a quick mana divination in Mike's home only to find that they already found the only awakened item, his baseball bat.

Not every household had awakened objects, it was all random, and on top of that, the chances to find these items without the right spell were minuscule, a pure shot in the dark.

"Now, our first adventure should be the Cinderella story." I said to everyone, "It will be dangerous, but out of all options the safest. With this, we can quickly increase our power, ensuring our survival."

"The moment we enter, we can only exit after finishing the story."

Everyone nodded.

"The most dangerous part, we will be split, staring in different locations within the story. We will meet up the first night of the ball. No one forget that! Try to get information, but above all, keep yourself safe and alive."

Taking the book out of the dice bag, "Go after me, watch and learn." I said as I opened the book and placed my hand on the first page, being sucked into the book, vanishing in front of everyone.

"Oh fuck, we are actually doing it" Mike said, as he grabbed the book and followed my example.

"Huh, seems so easy to go in, but the restriction of exiting is quite tight." Mumbled Jay as he followed.

"Three, two, one – MINE!" Dave shouted and dived right into the book.

"You bastard, beat me to it!" Alex laughed as he followed his twins lead.

"Can't let these blockheads beat me to it." Chris hissed as he vanished.

"You go first, Kathi, I won't let you be last and chicken out." Sophie sighed softly, watching her sister hesitate, before she grabbed the book and vanished.

"Just what did you see in these visions, Daniel…" Sophie whispered in her heart as she too vanished, leaving the house completely empty.