Chapter 1: The SAMA association

A young guy of 15 was walking towards his school. Hey that's me! Let me narrate my story myself. I am sick of a third person narrator. Umm so where were we....

My name is Manthan Khetade. I am a tall guy, about 175 cm. I have black hair which are annoyingly curly and a dark skin tone. Completely normal!

About my weird family name, it's because I live in a small town and almost all family names here are just as weird as mine.

I study in a small private school in my small town located in Maharashtra, India.

I am a talented guy, or so they all say. 'Straight As in tests, captain of school football team, ace player of school handball team and a good painter. It's unfair for a person to have so many talents.' my friends used to remark. Talented maybe, but I was very dreamless and undetermined about my life. No motivations! No Dreams! Life was just passing in boredom. Monochromatic is maybe the perfect word to describe my uninteresting life.

I spent hours reading mangas, manhwas and comics. Horror thrillers by R L Stine were some of my favourites.

And I really liked Solo Leveling manhwa and Tokyo Revengers manga.

I was always delusional of the world and childish enough to think that something miraculous would happen that'd take me to another world.

Maybe it was because I watched a lot of animes and fantasy movies.

'Ahh. I was never meant to be in this world. Such a boring place. Hey f*cking god! Just send me to an isekai.' was all I used to think. Rather, ordinary anime weeb you'd say.

5th December

SUNDAY

'F*ck, today is supposed to be a holiday. They always give us holidays after exams. That too, today is Sunday.' I muttered to myself. Our matriculation examinations were over just a day ago. Days of studies were gone. We all were so happy. But the school just called us out of nowhere on that Sunday.

'Kindly note that tomorrow is a school day for Class X. It is strictly compulsory for all the students to be present tomorrow. Absence will not be tolerated and a harsh punishment will be given.'

I received an unexpected message similar to this the previous day. The school was never this serious before. So I decided to attend the school the next day. Important stuff was probably going to happen. But the sight I saw in school was totally unexpected.

Upon entering my school I saw strange men wearing some weird uniforms which seemed like the ones some secret agencies would wear in movies. They all looked like soldiers on some mission which was rather intriguing. Why would such men visit my small school? That too, about forty or fifty of them.

I was trying to figure out what was happening. It had never happened before. Lost in thought, I paid no attention towards my teacher passing by me.

'I see, the young star has grown quite disrespectful.' my teacher commented.

'Ohh no sir. I was just lost in my thoughts. I was wondering why they all are here and who they are.'

I have no interest in school, but I always respect my teachers and obey them. I believe that they all try hard for me and I should always respect them.

'You are perhaps talking about the men in weird uniforms. They all said they are from a NGO. I have no further details as to why they are here.'

'NGO? Here in a small town like ours?'

I was clouded with questions as I walked towards my classroom.

Unlike the usual atmosphere, the class was uncannily silent and serious. It was very unusual for the classroom to be this way. 'Unbelievable!' I exclaimed. My class was the most undisciplined one in the entire school and we have been threatened a lot to be in discipline. Teachers warned us a lot but we never paid any attention. They even cancelled our sports period for a FULL MONTH. They also called in our parents. But still a leopard can never change its spots. So it was almost impossible for my class to be so silent.

'Heyy, buddy' I said in my usual cheerful way. 'What's with the class. Don't tell me they really rusticated someone.' Shrawan was my best friend in the school. An average heighted nigga with short black hairs. He budged and said. 'No. That's not the case. You would be shocked too if you hear this. The guys who are here...'

'Yeah about that men in weird uniforms. Just like some secret alien agency. Booo!'

'You watched Men In Black International, didn't you?'

'Well...' I started to say. But he interrupted me 'That's not what's important now. The men are actually from a secret organization. They called themselves the SECRET ASIAN MAGE ASSOCIATION, SAMA in short.'

'Really. Man.. wait you almost got me there. But your sense of humour is just as rotten as a smelly egg.'

'I am serious.' He maintained that serious look in his face. 'You remember what we saw yesterday....

Yesterday's sunny afternoon scene started to flow into my mind....

THE PREVIOUS DAY

'Finally exams are over.' I joyfully said. 'We are free. Freedom baby.'

'Hey tomorrow is Sunday. Let's have a football match.' Shrawan said to Ashvin. He was very interested in football. 'Yeah tell Raj to fix a match.' I added. Ashvin and Raj were my classmates and some of my closest friends in the school.

Ashvin had brown, straight hair which really stood out. He was tall about 173 cm. Just as tall me. He had a fair skin tone and he looked really cool like the fashion magazine models. He was the ladies' man of our school. Maybe I was a little, just a little jealous of him. Just a lil!

Raj was another one of my close friends. He was about 170 cm and had short and curly black hair. He was very good at skating and was one of my coolheaded friends whom I really loved to hang out with.

My friends were all football maniac. Weekends and Football Matches were synonymous for them. I was not that much interested in football, but still was good at it.

'Hey Sharawan.' I said while catching up with him. 'The library is open. Let's go grab some comics for tomorrow.'

'Not interested. Wait why is the library open today. Isn't it a holiday for the other classes because of our school being the exam centre of our town?

'Who cares. I know you don't like comics but let's just go. If the librarian isn't there, we can just grab some good comics and shove them in our bags. Simple, isn't it?'

'Just do as you please.' He said listlessly.

'Hey Sharawan' A girl called him from behind.

Her name was Mansi. Mansi was my classmate and a good friend. She was Shrawan's crush. Even though he tried, she rejected him both the times. But they both were still friends. She had blonde straight hair styled in two ponytails. She was of a short stature.

'Hey bro! she's calling me. I'll be right back. Grab your dumb comics by yourself.' he said with a face full of joy and excitement. I couldn't believe this guy. He was listless and unenergetic just a moment ago. Her talking to him was literally enough to make his day.

'He has fallen for her beyond the point of retrieval.' I remarked. I sighed and entered the libraby alone.

It was a small room filled with all kinds of books. From encyclopedias to novels, from dictionaries to comics, from school textbooks to porn mags. Wait, not porn magazines. That unholy thought just popped in my mind out of nowhere.

As I was picking some good volumes of my favourite comics, a light shone behind my back. Still I was busy picking some good comics.

A weird thundering and clicking sound came out of nowhere and the next scene that I saw was just purely unreal. I saw a magic circle like thing appear in the middle of room out of thin air. It was a big circle with designs in it and some chants written in an ancient language. I couldn't decipher them.

I stood there for another minute, stunned, trying to understand the situations. Utterly unbelievable. My heart refused to believe the scene and I was standing dazed. Suddenly, a blue screen like thing appeared in front of me. And my ears echoed with a voice.

'Would you like to register to the system?' it said.

Two options appeared: ACCEPT and DECLINE.

'I accept.' I said unconsciously.

'H-hey! Wh-what is that?' Shrawan walked in.

'I don't know.'

How was I supposed to know. It doesn't happen everyday that a magic circle appears in front of you.

'Let's go and tell some teachers about it.' He suggested. We went out but the school teachers were busy evaluating our papers and we were not allowed to see them. Those not involved in evaluation had already left the school. The non teaching staff was also gone.

'Let's go and check that weird magic thingy again.' I said with excitement. I always wanted to witness something like this. Plus it was so vivid and beautiful, my eyes craved to see it. I have always believed in magic like a small kid.

Now any other person who saw this couldn't call me dumb. Because what I just saw was something that only magic could explain.

'What if it is something dangerous.'

'Come on. Don't tell me you are afraid. You are a man, big guy.' I teased him.

'I am not afraid or anything asshole.'

'Yeah yeah. Mr. pussycat.' We were in the library now. But the magic circle was gone. Not a single trace of it.

Poof! And just like that my dreams were also flushed. I seriously thought it was something like a doorway to another world. I realized how childish I was.

'Maybe it was just an illusion.' I mumbled.

'But we saw it clearly for a minute. It can't be an liiu..'

'Nope, it was just a trick of an eye. You seriously believe that. How delusional can you be, bro.' I said to Shrawan. But those words were actually meant for myself.

I was disappointed. Imagine your life is totally boring and you get a sight just like that one. You get your hopes up, just to find out it was just a trick of eye. And this was not the first time.

God knows how many times I imagined something delusional and it was not what it looked like.

Like one day, I had finished watching an anime with a protagonist having psychic powers. Then I saw a polythene bag in front of me. I pretended to place a chant on it and I said 'Awaken my psychic powers' out loud. Embarrassing right, I know.

But it began to rise gradually. To my surprise, it followed all of my hand gestures. I was just so excited but later I found out it was just the wind. A lot of incidents like that one had happened.

'Anyways, let's leave or we'll be late for home.'

Shrawan came to school by his scooter. So he dropped me back at my place.

While changing my clothes, I tried to piece up everything that happened that afternoon in the school. No matter how hard I tried not to think about it, the scene lingered in my mind.

But again, what was that notification type thing that came in front of me. I was still confused.

PRESENT

'Yeah that illusion thing. We almost believed it was true. Man, how childish can we be.' I said in a way that displayed my inner disappointment.

'Actually that thing was real. It was there. Some officials came in our class 5 minutes ago. They called themselves a secret organization, something like the Secret Asian Mage Association.'

'You are trying to mess with me, aren't you? It was a good one. I almost fell for it.'

'No, what he said is really the truth.' Swarup said. 'A man and a woman walked in the class and told us about them. At first we also took it as a joke. But then one of them used fire magic and told us to be silent. That's why the whole class is in silence.'

I thought all of them were really out of there minds to be saying such things.

'They called themselves the SAMA association. Pretty lame name, if you ask me.' Swarup added.

'No, actually Sama is a honorific used in Japanese and Chinese. It is used to address people of higher rank and status. In past, Sama was a honorific used for the royal family and nobilities. So it actually makes sense.' I told them.

'You know that from some animes, right.' Shrawan and Swarup said together.

'Hehe' I just giggled. It was true though. I knew it because I watch a lot of animes.

Just as we were chatting someone walked in. 'Please form line in front of the assembly stage. We have some announcements to make.' We all did what he asked us to do. The assembly hall was very close to our class, so it took us no time to reach there.

Tgere were a lot of soldiers lined up inside the assembly hall and on the stage was someone who seemed liked the general or squad leader.' I looked around and the assembly hall was almost empty. 'Our class is the only one asked to attend the school. I wonder why.' Ashvin said. That's right, we were the only ones asked to come to school on that Sunday. That's why the assembly hall seemed almost empty. Suddenly a voice echoed in the big room.

'Hello dear children, my name is Zhang Weiying. I am the mission commander here. Nice to meet you all. You must be really confused about what's going on. Don't worry I'll clear it all for you.'

'Zhang Weiying, sounds like a Chinese name' I wondered 'What are they doing here?'.

'Let me clear a common misunderstanding that you all have. Magic isn't just fantasy. It is the wonderful reality of this world. But there are relatively less mages around the world. Only 1% of the total world population can use magic. Today I am here for a mission. The SAMA association has found out that a gate connected to magic plane had recently appeared here....'.

I was trying to process the stuff he was saying. Magic, mages, SAMA association, gate, magic planes I couldn't take all of them in. What was going on. All of the things that were real in just fantasies were claimed to exist in reality.

The SAMA association was really mysterious.

'Wait, by gate did he mean the magic circle we saw yesterday....'

AUTHOR'S COMMENTS:

Hello there everyone. This is my first novel. I hope you all enjoy it. And those who think that this novel in too much Indian-ized, don't worry. Soon a lot of Korean, Chinese and Japanese characters will be included. This is not eastern fantasy for nothing.

Also, I like to write my stories in first person point of view. So please bear with me. As I am a novice writer, I hope you will give your personal feedbacks so that I can improve the story and please overlook some spelling and grammar mistakes (tho I am trying to make sure none of them exist).

Love you all....