“Where the hell am I?”
“What is this place?”
“I remember dying…”
Jean slowly surveyed her surroundings. All she can see is a land completely torn asunder. She looked up, and to her surprise, a strange moon hung above a greyish sky devoid of clouds.
“This is definitely not Manila…” she told herself as she took a deep breath to calm herself down.
Jean started to walk unsteadily. Her legs feel a bit sore for unknown reasons, her bare feet feeling the warmth of the earth. The air is silent and the last light of day is starting to wane when a glint of light reflected upon something metallic caught her eye.
The naked girl headed slowly towards the curious object wanting to have a closer look.
“A necklace?” She said as she stooped down and reached for the very first object she had seen since waking up in a strange land.
The necklace was half buried under a pile of dirt and ash when Jean saw it. She gingerly slept the ash away with her hands to see what else was under the pile of dirt, hoping to perhaps give her a clue as to where she is.
Her eyes widened in horror as she saw a dead girl, her body completely charred from the waist down. She can still see the luxurious clothes she wore before whatever tragedy had befallen her. It was a purple dress made of silk, but the style was strange to her, like the ones worn by Roman nobility that she once read in her book at school. But that wasn’t the reason why Jean was shocked… It was the face of the dead girl itself.
Blank eyes of death staring at her… her own face.
“Kyaaah!” Jean screamed as she scrambled away from the dead girl who looked exactly like her. The echo from her scream reverberated across the desolate land. She hurriedly picked up herself and ran from sheer terror, the soreness of her feet completely forgotten. She didn’t even notice her hand tightly clasping the necklace.
“What the hell is happening?!” Her mind was racing, a million thoughts flashing in her mind.
She ran and ran, far away from the dead girl, it doesn’t matter which way, as long as it’s away.
Out of breath, she found a huge tree and a pond of water beside it.
“Finally… water and shelter…” she gasped as she approached the pond. A little smile formed from her lips as she cupped her hand and drank the water greedily. Finally, her thirst quenched and her mind a lot more calm, she started assessing her situation.
“I remember dying alone in a hospital… then, darkness… or is it?” Jean’s face was serious as she tried to make sense of everything. She has always been the smartest girl in her class, she has this gift of carefully assessing situations and creating solutions that would be the most effective way of solving problems.
“Strange moon… an unfamiliar land, old fashioned clothes?” She said to herself as she scratched her head to relieve an itch. It was then she noticed that she was naked all this time. Her light smooth skin was completely covered in ash and dirt that it caked around her small breast to her flat belly, all the way down to her groin.
“I need a bath… and some clothes…”
Jean waded towards the center of the small pond to take a much needed bath. She saw a porous stone, and used it to scrub the grime off her body. Cleaning herself, she finally understood her situation.
“Looks like I got isekaid…” she mused, her hand scratching her chin, a habit she developed when contemplating unfamiliar things and thoughts. “Hmm… all the boxes are ticked… there is no mistaking it. It’s just surprising that it turned out to be real. I always thought it only happened in the manga and anime…” her mind thought as she continued scrubbing her body.
“I guess it’s not so bad… I am already dead anyway… might as well start a new life here, in this world. But still… Who was that girl and why does she look exactly like me?” Jean pondered.
“Oh well… First things first. I need to find a village and some clothes…”
….…………
In another continent, thousands of miles from where Jean was, inside a tall tower which serves as the building for the Sporeforge Academy of Magic, in the capital city of Mendelos, a man collapsed in exhaustion and slumped weakly at his chair. Having been blasted by a psychic backlash of a powerful mana surge. The mage weakly casts a spell of protection over him and the tower itself as he won’t be able to do anything until he sleeps and replenishes his strength.
A young man emerged from the shadow, hooded and loud. He carefully surveyed the room of his grandmaster and shook his head in disbelief and worry.
“Grandmaster Finas! Are you alright sir?!” The young acolyte’s voice filled with nervousness.
“The summoning was a success… and this is bad news…” the grandmaster struggled to say, his weak hand resting on the young acolyte’s shoulder, as the acolyte offered his arms for support.
“Marco, you must call the masters!” He said to his young student, his voice weak with pain and exhaustion.
“You need to rest grandmaster… know that when you wake up in the morning, the school masters would be here to hear what you have to say.” The young acolyte said as he supported his grandmaster and carefully laid him to his bed.
After making sure that the grandmaster is comfortable, he turned around and stoked the fire in the hearth, making sure that enough warmth would keep the grandmaster comfortable. Seeing everything is in order, the young acolyte Marco walks out of the room.
The grandmaster suddenly opened his eyes, staring straight at the ceiling, muttering to himself.
“Now, the only problem is, where the f*** is the summoned being… not only that we have to deal with a Primeval God, we don’t even know what the summoned being is, or it’s alignment!” With that thought, the Balekon Finas Alteraine closed his eyes and melted in the darkness of sleep.
