Awaken.

The date was January the 29th, of the year 2017 C.E., formerly A.D. For reference, C.E. is Common Era, where as A.D. is Anno Domini, which I think translated into the Year of the Lord? Yeah, our calendar is based off of religion. Best idea ever, I suppose.

The time was approximately anywhere between 5:00 A.M. and 5:30 A.M. Don't ask me what A.M. means. I don't know. P.M. just so happens to also elude me. Seriously, don't ask me about time measurements more specific than years, I don't know why two weeks is called a fortnight or why the months are named as they are. I'm not the master of all temporal knowledge. I'm just a guy. And I'm a nerd, not a know it all. There's honestly a difference, the way I see it.

Heh. I've started this story in first person and I haven't even introduced myself. Hi. I'm Albyne Rudolf.

...I know. I'm fully aware. My dad, Joseph Rudolf, was a Fire Emblem nut (I can't blame him for that) and thought it was a good idea. It wasn't. Had to take the teasing all through middle school. "What kind of a name is Albyne?" and all that jazz. I just stopped calling myself Albyne and introduced myself as Alm all the time.

The setting was the room of one Albyne "Alm" Rudolf, that being myself. It's a messy room, and I have a bunk bed for the sheer reason of just having one because I was a kid at the time. Nothing special.

And honestly? I did as commanded, though I don't know why. I woke up. Immediately. Which is very odd, all things considered. After all, I can take anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes to really awaken, but that day, my eyes shot open and I got up, got dressed, and got downstairs to get breakfast and get ready to get going.

...yes, I get ready for school early. I eat a big breakfast, and I'm still a bloody twig. Sue me. Anyway, by the time father dearest got down, it was about 6 A.M. Still an hour early for the bus, but closer to the time I usually get down.

"Hey, what's up, kiddo?" Great. How he can be this chipper this early, I'll never know. "What are you doing up at this hour? Too excited for school or something?"

That's daddy dearest, Joseph Rudolf himself. Funny enough, I'm slightly taller than him, and I'm only 16. That doesn't stop him from taking his fist and giving my fern green hair a noogie. That's right. FERN. GREEN. My dad went all out with the resemblance. I don't hate him, but he really didn't have to do that. I look like some dumb Japanese anime protagonist or a cosplayer.

Sorry. Anyway. "Dad...actually. Sure. Let's go with that. I'm super pumped. I just can't wait to be learning away from the constant noogies." I was too tired to give my voice anything other than words and air. It just came out as a tired monotone, and my drooping eyes only served to accentuate that. It seemed whatever forced me awake was wearing off a little. Guess I'd spend English conked out.

"... I understand how you feel, Alm." Wait, what? "Hell, when I was your age, I was bullied a heck of a lot too. I have barely any friends." At this point, the man wrapped an arm around me, clearly convinced that I had been referring to my school life sucking. And don't get me wrong, it did suck, but...this wasn't what I was referring to. "But, take this advice that I wish I was given when I as young as you: do not try to act like someone else. You don't need to try and make friends, you just do because people are friendly naturally. It's what we do best as a species."

Sap. Sappity sap sap sap. Come on, Joseph, really? Do you honestly think that works?

"...I was referring to your noogies." Luckily, calling him out on it seemed to get him backing off, so I could keep brewing our shared morning coffee.

"Me!? No, never! Maybe a rough ruffle in the hair, but never a noogie." ...right. Forgot he hated that.

"...right. Sorry, dad. Can this wait until I've had my share of the coffee?"

I beg of you…

Woah, woah, woah, wait, what? I'd no sooner heard this than I'd picked up a glass, and the sudden unfamiliar voice nearly made me drop it. It was...feminine, for certain, and sounded young, too. I looked around the kitchen, to no avail. I peeked back in on my father, but he was just sitting on the couch in the living room, watching television. None of the voices matched.

I kept quiet on the matter, and just finished the coffee. Maybe I was finally losing my mind after dealing with dad's insanity for so long…

"Good Morning."

"Good morning." I responded back to my bus driver when she finally arrived. The woman was of African American descent, with relatively short black hair. I never paid enough attention to describe her much further, and I feel awkward trying to not sound racist as I characterize people. It kind of stinks, being the white guy, because you have to watch what you say. You hear 2 good friends calling each other the n-word, but you'll find that neither are white most of the time. When the past generations are jackasses, you tend to take the longer fall.

The bus ride was as long as it was usually. I didn't sit with my few friends in the morning, that was always saved for when all of us were more awake. But the bus ride finished around 7:15 AM. Just 10 more minutes to wait on that thing before I'd be inside of an educational facility, keeping my trap shut and ignoring most people. My friends weren't even in my classes most of the time. It was just me, the teacher, the subject, and the unimportant people. Sometimes even my phone.

My servant that exists somewhere in the universe…

Oh crap. Again.

The voice couldn't be anyone around me, because they would have had to also be in my house. And I had checked before I left. No intruders. My eyes glanced left and right, to see if I might find any ghostly apparitions. Nothing. Just fellow students, and the bus held together by screws. Outside the window, only more busses.

The time was now 8:10 A.M. I had managed to stay awake through most of English class, with the help of the fact that there had been a quiz that day. I didn't study for it, but it was open note. The sound of writing utensils on paper was almost as prevalent in my head as the headache the voice had given me since I got off of the bus. It hadn't said more, but I began to feel some kind of tugging. It...it was like...something had hooked itself into my brain stem and was now trying to tug it back, out, and away. I had to refuse, of course, and focus on my quiz.

The perspective of Beowulf was...third person omniscient...Beowulf did what to Grendel...tear his arm off…

My divine, beautiful, and powerful servant!

For God's sake, woman, don't shout in my head, I need to focus!

Oh, sorry...ahem…

...wait. It responded this time. Meaning...I...I can communicate with whatever this voice is.

My pencil stopped. My hand stopped. My eyes stopped, and for a moment, it felt like the world stopped. I'd bet two New Gold that my heart stopped for a moment too. I could communicate with this woman, whoever it was, that was tugging my brain away.

I was definitely crazy at this point. My hand lifted into the air.

"Yes, Alm?"

"May I please use the restroom?"

"Of course."

I got the hell out of there. I sat up so fast I almost knocked over the seat, and I walked as fast as I could without outright sprinting out of the classroom and towards the bathroom.

I wish and desire from the bottom of my heart…

I ran into a bathroom stall, clutching my head as I sat down on a toilet, pants up, murmuring under my breath. "Wishes are nice and all, but if you could stop tugging at my head to do them, that'd be very nice!"

...heed my call and answer my guidance!

"Hell no! You aren't even...real…"

My thoughts trailed off faster than my words. I was fairly certain if my heart kept stopping, I'd die a very unpleasant death, but my world was kind of crumbling around me.

Wouldn't your world crumble too, if you were raised in a society with no proven magic, and suddenly a voice in your head opened a glowing emerald green rift in the void right in front of you? Because that's exactly what happened. The voice asked for me, and a green magic portal just tore itself a place into reality.

There was really only one thing I could say to this lady's request.

"Hell no! I'm not stepping into the glowing green thing!"

I...what?

"You heard me! I. Said. No!"

How...how dare you! I am your master, and you are my servant! Now get over here!

"You can't make me!"

That was the day I learned not to open my big mouth to wizards. The moment my words finished, the tugging in my head vanished, replaced by a very rean, and very rough tugging...coming straight from the portal.

I wish I could say I grabbed on to something to prolong the inevitable, fought against the pull as best I could, but...I wasn't that prepared. It flung me into itself, and instantly I was falling.

Falling. It's actually kind of relaxing, once you get over the fact that there's not a ground to hit in a kaleidoscopic void of everything and nothing. I spent the first minute just screaming and tumbling, like a sane person, but...then I ran out of breath, and had to stop. It gave me a lot of time to think, anyway.

"So...may I ask who just kidnapped me?"

And why are you so interested all of a sudden? Just hurry up and get here!

"I'm on my way. Your green glowing portal seems to have a lot of distance being covered, given how long I've been falling."

Falling? Familiars fall when summoned?

"How would I know? Maybe you're just a special case, or you botched it a little or something?"

Wha-how dare you!? Don't you ever say that I can't use magic ever again! I will whip you!

"...I never said that. Are you okay? For a figment of my mind, you're awfully developed."

Figment of your-I am not a figment of your mind! I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc de la Vallière, a noble, and you will show me proper respect!

"Funny. Mom was a Noble by birth. Married my dad, though. Now she's stuck being a Rudolf. Noble's a much better last name."

I didn't get to hear her response. By this time my eyes had closed, and I hadn't noticed the kaleidoscopic void fade away to a bright sunny sky above a castle courtyard...and judging by how hard I landed, I wasn't going to notice until I woke up.

The moral of the story. Falling isn't the sucky part. It's hitting the ground.