Eric shot up from wherever he was sleeping only to drop his head in his palms in an attempt ease a splitting headache. He was also reminded to get a hair cut as his hands ran through the strands that had grown a few inches too long.
As his vision focused, Eric realized that he was sitting on a sofa in some kind of lounge with giant window along two opposite wall. Whatever outside the windows was either obscured by the crowd walking around or two bright for his eye comfortably look at. While his mind began to clear up from what seemed to be a hangover, it dawned on him that the last thing he could remember was being stuck under a church overhang with…
"ZZZZZZZZZZ"
His head whipped to the right to find his friend making the best impression of a chainsaw while soundly asleep on the couch. Without missing a beat, Eric started frantically shaking the guy back and forth while calling his name.
"Wha- fuck? Stop! Ughrtagsd…", it didn't take more than a few seconds before Bach was wide awake and nursing a hangover.
"Bach, where are we and how did we get here?" Eric asked and promptly realized the answer he would get as his friends started to look around in a fashion similar to his earlier attempt.
"Somewhere between this headache and butt-fuck nowhere, I guess", came the groggy answer in a mocking tone.
"Useless pillock", was all he could mustered to said before leaning back on the sofa, "What the hell happened last night…"
"Where ever this is, I hope it has a washroom", his friend said to no one in particular before stumbling away, leaving Eric to mulled over their predicament.
After unsuccessful attempts to backtrack through memories, he decided to check on what he has right now. He was wearing the same jeans and polo shirts as last night, including his wallet in the back pocket, but his coat was missing so was everything in his wallet except his ID which still shows his face, narrow brow eyes, glasses, black hair and everything. He immediately thought of robbery but a something in the corner of his eye quickly dashed the thought.
To his left was a large camping backpack with a name tag that wrote "Eric Kim" in large prominent letters next to a another similar backpack with Bach's name on it. Hoping to find a clues, he pulled the one for him closer and opened it to take a look inside. On top of a stack of neatly folded clothes was a large lantern that looked like it was barely able to contain a roaring flame inside, which strangely emits no heat at all. Eric took a note clipped to the side of said lantern. It read:
Thine power is only limited by the fuel of the flame and thine own imagination. There is no easy method to demonstrate this but through thine own effort.
Thy wish has been granted. Thy power given and destination realized. Now, it is time for thee, Firekeeper, to fulfilled the bargain struck with the Goddess of Love.
"What the-", before he could voice his disbelieve, an announcement interrupted him.
"30 Minutes before arriving at Beacon Academy, all prospective students, please ensure that all your luggage is with you."
Eric's heart sank as these words, "Beacon Academy", jogged his memory of Bach messing with the church poster.
"This is ridiculous", he muttered to himself as realization dawned on him, "Am I really-no no no…"
'C'mon Eric, life isn't an Anime where you get magically transport to some fantasy world. This can't be real', he thought, 'maybe… Bach is trying to pulled a fast one on me again, yeah, that's gotta be it.' He started looking, trying to find someone with a camera or a hidden one, if that pillock can somehow afford one.
Something caught his eyes, but rather than a camera, it was familiar a blonde boy, wearing some plate armor and shoulder guard, vomiting all over an unfortunate plant pot. It was Jaun Arc from the show. He turned the other way and saw a petite teenage girl in a crimson robe fawning over the sights from beyond the window, Ruby Rose he recognized. Further amongst the crow he could even spot a ponytail of platinum hair. Eric finally turned around to look out the window, hoping it was actually a one-way mirror. It wasn't. The sight of Vale from the air took his breath away, both because of the it's beauty and what it implied.
"I need a cigarette in my mouth", He was so flabbergasted that he truly wished for a fix. Suddenly, strings of light appeared in front of his face and started twisting into a short stick protruding from his mouth. Before he could figure out what's going on, there it was, a cigarette on his lips. Eric blink in surprise, not knowing what the hell is going in on.
'A lighter?'
Similar light appeared and formed a Zippo in his hand.
'A hundred bucks?'
A five $20 bills fell out from thin air in front of his face.
'An Audi R8?'
He could see a car fell out of the sky a good distance beyond the window.
'An MG 42 with bipod and spare barrels?'
The weapon and its attachments fell on to the ground almost hitting his feet.
Eric stood there not knowing what to think at first, then he started thinking about how this could lead to endless possibility. But after standing there contemplating for a few minute, he noticed the cigarette started shinning again and soon he couldn't felt the weight between his lips anymore. A couple of minutes more and everything that just appeared started dissintagrating in similar manner.
"Unbelievable…", He said, standing there.
Although no vomit came out as Bach dry heaved into the toilet bowl, it did somehow make him feel better and clear his head.
"Guess there isn't only one vomit boy on this airship."
"At least this one knows where to do it". Bach quickly put outside gossip aside as a piercing pain on his chest caught his attention.
After finding out that rubbing the area only make it sting even worse, he turned toward the washroom mirror and lifted his T-shirt up in an attempt to get a grip on the problem. At the spot where his heart supposed be was a metallic circle slightly bigger than a Canadian $1 coin with a letter taped to it. Touching the thing just made him recoil with from the stinging pain so he opted to carefully removing the letter off the object.
As demonstration of the power granted, a nail has been impaled through thine heart. Fret not as thine estus flask is placed within the unlimited storage box located in thine shorts. Regrettably, the removal of the nail will still be quite unpleasant.
Thy wish has been granted. Thy power given and destination realized. Now, it is time for thee, Unkindled, to fulfilled the bargain struck with the Goddess of Love.
Bach blinked a few time to make sure it wasn't the hangover but after finding the words unchanged, he gave in and started checking his pocket. He indeed found a small box the size of his palm and only half an inch deep. When he opened and put fingers into the opening, he was taken a back as his hand warped to fit in as it crossed the edge toward what seemed to be a bottomless pit. He tried putting his fingers in the box a few more time before he muttered: "Fuck it", and shove his whole hand in and grabbed something. He pulled out a jade flask containing a flowing golden liquid, an estus flask if the note wasn't a load of bull.
"You can't be serious", Bach mumbled as his brain started taking in the clues: airship, weird letter, magic box, an estus flask and the poster from last night, "This gotta be a joke…"
He stood there with his mouth agape for a bit before the ache on his chest told him there's one final way to test this out…
After an intangible scream came a series of profanity that finally ended with him hammering on the with his fist while gritting his teeth. He could felt the cold sweat on his back and the all the hair on the back of his neck couldn't be straighter but he was more concerned with what he just pulled out of his chest. His jawed dropped in disbelieve as his hand was holding what seemed to be a nine inches' stake made of solid metal and caked in dry blood, his blood. Bach quickly propped himself up and widened his eye at the reflection in the mirror. The short crew cut was normal, the black eyes that stared back at him through the glasses was normal; the slightly rectangular face was normal; the hole that goes from his chest, through his heart and back was not.
He hoped it was an optical illusion but that hope was quickly dashed when he tried touching the supposedly fatal wound. The pain made sure of that. He stood there looking at that mirror for what felt like an eternity then, with his mind made up, turned his head toward the bottle in his other hand, sighed and shrugged.
"Well, bottoms up"
As he walked back to the lounge while trying to rub away the phantom pain of the chest wound, Bach saw his friend standing next to the sofa, facing out the window, hands holding an opened backpack and a letter.
"Ey! Eric!", he called attention, "I think I know where we are…or where we're going."
"Let me guess", Eric turned back, "Beacon?'
"Got that from that letter?"
"Ya, part of it, unfortunately", Eric dropped back to the sofa looking exhausted.
"What? Don't like it?"
"It's fucking horrible! I just managed to pay my tuition for this term! What the hell, Bach? Why the fuck are we here?"
"Shh…" Bach jerked his thumb toward the crowd in the back before sitting down, "We got what we wished for, I guess."
"No. It. Was. Your. Stupid. Wish." Eric said gritting his teeth, "Why are you so relaxed about this?"
"Well, there's no point thinking about what happened before, best we figure out what to do now…", shrugged the guilty party, "and it's not like you got the short end of the stick, unless it only granted my wish…"
"No, my wished got granted, I can create things just by thinking of them but they disappeared after few minutes", Eric deflated as he handed his note to his friend, "How's Yours?"
"Yeah, officially Undead I guess", Bach said while handling his note and a long metal nail to Eric, "Man, you got the new the easy way."
"Ouch… that gotta hurt", came Eric's reaction to the what was written in his friends letter.
"So, found out anything else", said Bach as he rummaged through the backpack with his name.
"Found, some file saying a I'm going to be a huntsman in training. You should have the same files if I'm right"
"Yep, found it. You're a Huntsman now, Eric!"
"Are we seriously going to Beacon and do whatever Hunstman do?"
"Well, the way I see it, it's the only place we can go. Besides food is free.'
"Ughhhh… Can't believe I'm stuck in an Anime, with you no less."
"Cheer up lad, I thought you'd love to be in an Anime with cat girls and shit", said Bach as an ecstatic girl in a crimson red robe ran back and forth through the crowd leaving petals in her wake, "See, that girl got the right idea."
