It all happened in seconds. One moment, Kiran was sitting at a bus stop and the next, they were engulfed in a blinding white light and the sensation of falling. At first, they thought maybe they'd just fallen off the edge of the bench, but the ground didn't seem to come. They were falling, falling, falling with bright lights surrounding them. Panic flooded their system as they tried to figure out what was happening. Had they fallen asleep? Did someone drug them?
When they landed, they roughly fell onto a hard stone floor, not regular old concrete. The sky above wasn't sunny anymore: it was covered by light grey clouds. This couldn't be LA - they weather couldn't have gone from bright and sunny to this in seconds, right?
A girl that couldn't be over thirteen stood above them, reddish-brown eyes looking at Kiran curiously. She had some kind of gothic style dress on with a bizarre gold chain draped across her face and a gold . . . hairpiece kind of thing on. I wouldn't be staring if I were you, Kiran thought. I'm not the weirdo here. A young man stood beside the girl, dressed in an equally weird outfit and a mask covering part of his face. Great. I have Little Gothlet and the Phantom of the Opera with me.
"Did I pass out, or something?" Kiran asked, slowly sitting up. The guy moved back to give them space, but the girl remained close by.
"No, we summoned you here," she replied.
"Summoned?"
"We brought you to our world with a portal." Oh great. The kid's on drugs. Fantastic. "I'm Princess Veronica of Embla and you are a hero of legend."
"Listen, I don't know your life, but lay off the drugs, kid," they told her. Veronica's eye twitched.
"Excuse me?"
"I know it seems cool to do drugs, but don't do it. It's a waste of money and if you're tripping this much, you're on harder shit than you need to be," they advised. "I hate to sound like an after-school program, but there's a reason they say crack is whack."
"I don't understand what you mean by 'drugs,' but I don't like the tone you're using with me," Veronica said harshly. For a little girl, she could look scary. "I'm a princess and more importantly, I'm your commander from here on out." God, either she was seriously tripping or she was way too into this weird prank. Whatever it was, Kiran was done. They just wanted to get on the bus and go home.
"I'm not in the mood to play games -"
"I'm not playing games!" Veronica interrupted, a dark fire burning in her eyes. She held up a white gun, shoving it into their chest. "I summoned you with a divine weapon, you work for me now!"
"The hell?! Get that thing away from me!" Kiran shrieked, falling over in an attempt to get away from her. "Why the hell do you have a gun?!"
"Veronica, let me handle this." The man had a deep yet pleasant voice. Veronica pouted and stepped back, but left the gun near them. What's going on? Why did she just give me a gun? "Am I right to assume you have no idea where you are?"
"Uh, I know where I am," Kiran told him. "We're in Los Angeles."
"So you don't know where you are," he continued. "You're in Embla now." What was this, some kind of prank TV show?
"Quit trying to gaslight me. It's not funny," Kiran told him sternly.
"Look around, Summoner. You're not home anymore." Kiran glanced around and dread set in. LA had some shitty areas, but nothing like this. A cobblestone floor lay beneath them, cracks and scorch marks marring every stone. Several large tan blocks were littered around the area. A few had been stacked on top of each other on a pedestal. A translucent sphere was embedded in one of the stones. A makeshift wooden fence surrounded the area, but Kiran could see castle spires rising above the spikes topping the fence. There was nowhere in LA that looked like this and Kiran knew something was very, very wrong.
"W-what? Where am I? What's going on?!" they demanded. Even with the mask, they could telling the young man was rolling his eyes.
"We told you already. We summoned you to Embla, where we are right now, with the divine weapon Breidablik," the man explained harshly. "You're going to help us win this war by summoning more heroes for our army."
"What war? And you summoned me. Can't you just summon more people?" they demanded. Faster than lightning, Veronica slapped Kiran. The force sent them back onto the ground. Kiran hissed as their head hit the hard stone floor.
"Are you stupid?! Only the Great Hero can summon other heroes. Everyone knows that," Veronica seethed. "I'm sick of playing games. Here are some orbs. Summon me more heroes." She threw a heavy bag into Kiran's arms. They knew they were in a precarious situation. Clearly, this little girl was batshit insane, but she wasn't afraid of using force. Would it be best just to play along? Or maybe they could try shooting her with the gun. Inhaling deeply, Kiran opened the bag and pulled out a small, heavy, ball.
"These are the weirdest looking bullets I've ever seen," they mused.
"They're not bullets. They're orbs," Veronica said impatiently. "Gods, if I knew the Great Hero was going to be so dumb, I don't know if I would have gone through with the summoning ceremony. What are you waiting for, Summoner? Load Breidablik," she added as Kiran inspected the gun. Or Breidablik, as they kept calling it.
"Oh, just because I'm American I'm supposed to know how a gun works? Last time I checked I wasn't a redneck or a misogynistic white terrorist. Of course I don't know how a fucking gun works," Kiran fired back. Veronica stepped forward but the man grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.
"They're not from our world, Veronica. They're clueless." Even though he was coming to their defense, he was glaring at them. "However, it wouldn't kill you to be polite to members of the royal family. Put the orbs through the barrel's hole and fire it at the summoning orb in that capstone over there. Make it quick. We don't have all night." Biting their tongue, Kiran loaded orb after orb into Breidablik. Would it kill them if I shot them? Probably not. They're heavy but I don't think they could pierce a skull.
Kiran got to their feet and raised Breidablik, pointing it at the the sphere embedded in the stone. They pulled the trigger and light filled the area. Carvings in the various stones lit up and the orb went from dull to looking like a fire burned inside it. The light grew and grew until it stung Kiran's eyes and they had to close them. Through their eyelids, they could see the light die and when they opened their eyes, a young man stood before her. He was fairly handsome, with long silver hair tied back in a ponytail. Veronica squealed and ran up to him, tugging on his arm.
"Uh, do I know you?" the youth asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"I can't believe you brought me Takumi on your very first summon! Do it again!" Veronica demanded of Kiran as she dragged Takumi off to the side. Do I have any other choice? Kiran was able to summon four more heroes: Lilina, Nowi, Reinhardt, and Matthew. How this was working, they had no idea. Could this all be real? Or some elaborate hoax? There was nowhere for these people to hide beforehand. But then again, magic wasn't real. Right?
"What a great haul! Bruno, take our summoner to their quarters! I want to play with my new toys," Veronica ordered. Toys? I'm pretty sure those are real people . . . Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into? The young man in a mask nodded, hands gripping Kiran's arm.
"Let's go." Kiran wanted to fight him, tell him no, but let themself be escorted away, all the while staring back at the five newcomers with a sympathetic look on their face. What was going to happen to them? What was going to happen now? Could Kiran make a break for it when they stepped out of the summoning area? Or did they have to play their cards and wait?
The landscaping of the castle looked dreary. Everything was alive, but the dark browns and dingy golds of the flowers made the area just as dreary as the cloudy sky above. Weeping willows and trees draped in Spanish moss stood abundant and proud. If it weren't for the obvious differences between them and the lack of other vegetation, Kiran would have guessed they were in a forest.
"Where are we going, exactly? Kiran asked the man. Bruno, Veronica had called him. He didn't look at them. He stared forward as he walked.
"To your quarters," was all he said. So they want to keep me here.
"You mentioned earlier there's a war going on. I doubt it's Iraq War?" Kiran asked him.
"Unfortunately, our empire has had some troubles, so my sister decided to invade a neighboring kingdom and few other worlds to gain more resources," he explained. "As you've probably guessed by now, there's dozens of different worlds and within our realm, it's possible to traverse them all." He kept talking about what he expected of them, but all Kiran could hear was a low hum. They were invading other countries for resources?
"So wait, you're telling me that there are loads of different worlds and your government is planning to invade them for stuff?" they demanded.
"That's what I said."
"Fuck no. I don't want any part of this," Kiran piped up, stopping suddenly. Bruno looked back at them and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not about to take part in some bullshit imperialism-driven war."
"This may surprise you, but no one cares what your opinion is on this war," he replied.
"Uh, you might when I refuse to do this weird summoning stuff anymore. I'm not bringing you more soldiers to fight in some war because you think stealing resources and ruining lives is a justified way to help yourselves?!" Bruno's chest rose as he inhaled deeply before sighing. He grabbed Kiran's arms tightly and started dragging them through the castle entrance.
"Let me make this clear for you. If you refuse to cooperate, we'll have no use for you and we'll just kill you," he told them harshly. "That being said, what do you want to do? Cooperate and live, or die? This war is going to happen with or without you. I suggest you pick the winning side and live." Kiran was ready to rip their arms out of his hands and beat the shit out of him. They didn't want to be a player in an imperialistic war and have blood on their hands. Atrocities would happen, lives would be ruined, and some of it would be their fault. But if they refused Embla's demands, they'd be killed. There would be no return home. It was horrible, but they knew the choice they had to make.
"Just take me to my room," Kiran mumbled in defeat, folding their arms across their chest. Bruno smirked and lead them up a steep spiral staircase.
"I'm glad you made the right choice," he gloated. Kiran remained silent, simply following behind him as they ascended.
Their room was on the top floor of the castle and Kiran reluctantly admitted it had a beautiful view. The furnishings in the hallway were bare. A few grim and ancient tapestries hung on the wall, sconces with lit candles lined the wall, and threadbare rugs ran across the floor. Two guards stood at the end of the hallway, one on either side of the door. No guess where we're going, Kiran thought darkly. And they were right. With a nod from Bruno, the guards unlocked the door and let them in.
The room was a lot nicer than Kiran was expecting. A large, four-poster bed, a wardrobe, a desk and plush chair, hell there was even a bookshelf in there. But it would have been nicer if the window didn't have thick but decorative iron bars going every which way. Clearly, the royal siblings didn't want Kiran to escape.
"We'll send for you when we need you next. Meals will be brought to you and we've given you new clothes," he informed them.
"So I have no need to leave?" they asked.
"So you have no need to leave."
"I see." Bruno nodded curtly, turning on his heel and leaving the room. The door locked shut behind him, leaving Kiran alone for what felt like the first time in years. Whether or not they were in some kind of fantasy world, they had no clue where they were and needed to play along until they knew enough to run away to safety. Sighing, Kiran sunk onto the bed. They just needed to survive long enough to break free. That was it. Once they got out of this crazy situation, they could go home and pretend this never happened.
But right now, they just needed to get through this.