"Honey, if there was any other way, your mother and I would take you with us in a heartbeat."
Alexandra Jennings stared out the car window into the dense forest and sighed deeply into her phone. "I know, Dad. But it still sucks."
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," came her father's reply. "But the International Exchange Academy is one of the best schools in the country. They'll take good care of you. And anyway, you've got Val with you remember?"
Alex looked over to the other side of the car. Sitting there was the closest thing Alex had to a sister, her orphaned cousin Valarie Jennings.
She was wearing some of her favourite clothes, a light blue tank top, cargo pants leading into combat boots, her onyx black hair swept to one side, cut short on the other, and finally, her signature black sleeveless leather jacket, perfectly showing off the tattoo on her left shoulder. Valarie had that tattoo for as long as Alex could remember, which was a very long time. Never had it stretched or faded as she grew, and even Valarie herself doesn't even know how she got it. The tattoo itself was a four-pointed star with a ring around it. Simple, but artistic.
But back to her conversation with her father.
Her mother and father had been offered the opportunity to study under a famous archaeologist—a once in a lifetime invitation—but there was a catch. They couldn't take anyone with them, which had led to Alex and Valarie having to be shipped off to a boarding school for the rest of the school year—eight whole months.
And it got worse. Not only were they leaving her behind, but they were also headed to some middle-of-nowhere dig-site in Siberia—as in, Russia—which was in a complete communication dead-zone. No phone coverage. No Wi-Fi signal. Not even a postman. After today, Alex wouldn't be hearing from them again until they returned at the beginning of June for the summer holidays.
"I just hate that I won't be able to contact you," Alex said, not for the first time. "What if I get bitten by a tick and end up with Lyme disease?" Her eyes scanned the thick woodland. "It's a definite possibility. And don't even get me started on how many wild animals Wikipedia says are in the forest up here. What if I get eaten by a bear? Or a cougar? I won't be able to call you and tell you what happened!"
Val had leaned over the seats and pried the phone form Alex's ear slightly. "I promise she won't get eaten; you have my word."
Alex's father laughed at the two. "I'm going to miss you two munchkins."
"I'm not a Munchkin!" Val called from the other side of the car. Alex's father chuckled again.
Alex finished talking to her parents as they finished their drive. The two got out of the car and began to walk to the reception. Alex was now flicking through her paperwork, partially to check everything was in order, partially to distract herself from their sullen surroundings. Val noticed this and immediately plucked the paperwork out of her hands.
"Hey!"
"Come on Lex, I'm sure you can let your boring big sis handle this stuff. Make some friends."
Alex grumbled at Val and slowed her pace as Val continued to the administration office. When she reached it a woman was clacking away at a keyboard.
"Excuse me, but I'm here to enrol myself and my sis-I mean, cousin. Valarie and Alexandra Jennings."
"Yes, please take a seat, and leave your cousin's papers with me for when she arrives."
After a few moments of waiting the receptionist called her back. "The headmaster will now see you. Down the hall, third door on the right."
Valarie followed the directions until she came to a large oaken door with a plaque that read 'Headmaster' on it.
"Guess this is it." She said to herself as she twisted the handle. "…" Valarie was at a loss as to what she saw on the other side. It was a forest, and not like the one that surrounded the International exchange academy. This one was far more beautiful, with stunning yellow-leafed birch trees. It was quite amazing. She took a tentative step through the door, feeling the ground turn from a hard, wooden floor to crunchy leaf-covered dirt. She looked around the door, keeping her hand on the doorframe, only to find a normal door, leading to the side she was now. She looked back to the side she came through to find the hallway.
"Sweet," Valarie whispered. "It's an isekai." She then squealed in excitement and did a little dance away from the door. "This is awesome!" she cried as she jumped into the air, feeling as if time had slowed around her. But, when the when the ground didn't come back as quickly as she had left it, she sensed something was wrong. She looked down to see herself just above the treetops, gravity reclaiming its hold on her. "Oh shit!" she cried as her body plummeted through the trees and thumped against the ground. "Ugh… somebody kill me." Squeezing her eyes shut as pain rippled throughout her body.
"Maybe some other time." A voice returned. She peeked open her eyes to see two boys, one with scraggly blonde hair and a smirk plastered on his face, the other with short, well-groomed hazel. The blonde offered a hand to help her up.
"Please, I insist." Valarie returned as she took the hand and then found herself upright.
"So, what is someone like you doing falling out of trees?" The blonde asked.
"More like falling from above trees." Valarie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes with a smile. The blonde cleared his throat.
"My mistake, what is thou lovely lady doing fall…" he was cut off from a swift jab to the shoulder from Valarie.
"Man, is this how you treat everyone you just met?" she laughed.
"Jordan, yes. Myself, I prefer the way which doesn't get me punched." The hazel stuck out a hand to be shaken "Bear, a pleasure to meet you."
"Valarie, but you can call me Val if you aren't dicks about it." Valarie shook Bear's hand whilst eyeing Jordan.
"So back to the subject at hand," Jordan interrupted, rubbing his shoulder, "What are you doing out here."
"Oh, just the simple magical door scenario," Valarie told them nonchalantly. The two boys exchanged looks before looking at her, eyebrows raised.
"The what?" Bear asked curiously.
"Y'know, or, maybe you don't, but it's just the thing where one goes through a magical doorway and ends up in another world. Which leads me to my next point;" Valarie put her hands together and puckered her lips. "This isn't Earth, is it?"
"No," Jordan shook his head, still a bit confused, "This is Medora."
Bear gasped, eyes widening. "Jords! She a Freyan!" he exclaimed. Jordan took a second and the smacked his forehead.
"Of course! That explains everything" Jordan said sarcastically.
"I'm just gonna assume that's the term you magic people call us non-magical people."
"Magic doesn't exist," Bear said quickly and matter-a-factly.
"Ughhhh" Valarie groaned. "But magic makes everything awesome."
Jordan chuckled. "True, but that doesn't make it real."
Valarie sighed. "Fine. Well then, take me to your leader."
"Yo! Lex!" Valarie called to Alex, who she Jordan and Bear ran into on their way to wherever Jordan and bear were leading her. Alex quickly spun around, catching her foot on a root and falling over. The approaching three suppressed their laughter in either their hands of in huffs.
"Oh, hardy har, Val. How are you here?" Alex asked, grumpy at her tripping over and the three witness of it.
"Came through a magic door." She shrugged.
"Same here. Who are they?" Alex asked.
"This is Jordan and Bear. They're taking me somewhere."
Alex cocked an eyebrow. "Somewhere?"
"Don't argue with it, Lex. It's an isekai."
"A what?" Bear and Jordan asked.
"Is this one of your anime things?" Alex folded her arms. Valarie cringed.
"Alex, never say that again, you sound very cringeworthy."
Alex sighed. "So where are we right now? Is this some weird back door to the academy or something?" Valarie gaped at Alex.
"You can not be serious right now. Alex, we're in another world! You just admitted to going through a magic door!"
"I thought I was humouring you!"
"Ugh, fine. Bear. Do your explaining thing." Bear approached Alex.
"Hello, I'm Bear, and you're now in a new world, Medora. Your world is referred to as Freya or first earth. This is the different hyper-advanced second earth." Bear explained. Alex's eyes had glossed over whilst processing the information.
"I think you broke her," Jordan whispered.
Alex then snapped out of the daze. "Yeah… not buying it."
"Eh?" the three grunted.
"Valarie, I know you like pranking me, but seriously, let's just go hand in our papers and figure out where we're sleeping. C'mon." She then began walking in no particular direction. She looked to Jordan and Bear who both shrugged.
"A big lot of help you two are." She said, following Alex.
"Hey!" Jordan called after her, following with Bear.
It took five minutes to get out of the forest and catch up to a now frozen Alex.
"But—What—How?" Alex stared incredulously at the view, speechless.
Directly in front of them lay a beautiful lake, glistening in the late afternoon sunset. The forest where they stood led straight down to the water's edge, and both the trees and the lake continued on to her right, much further than she could see. To her left, the forest cleared out into a grassy field which bordered the curve of the lake. Alex could even see a few horses grazing in the distance, adding to the picturesque image.
Further on from the fields and resting atop a small hill were a cluster of buildings, each one different from the next. Some looked like they were from the Dark Ages, while others looked as if they'd been built just yesterday. Two, in particular, stood out to Alex, if only because of their contrasting forms: one was a multi-storied U-shaped complex that was almost futuristic in design, and the other was a tower-like structure in the middle of the campus that looked like it belonged in a Medieval Weekly magazine. It was all very strange.
"Welcome to Akarnae, Valarie, Alex," Jordan said.
"What is this place?" she managed to say. "Where's the International Exchange Academy?"
"Hey, remember when you thought you were humouring me about the magic door?" Alex turned to Valarie, who had spoken and had the biggest smirk on her face. "Still think I'm pranking you?"
"B-B-but…" Alex opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish.
"I think it's time for the long story," Jordan said as led the group over to a tree where they all lay down and they spent the next few minutes describing an impossible reality. When they were finished, she looked at them apprehensively, torn between laughter and tears.
"Let me get this straight," she said. "According to you, we're from another world, a world that was once identical to your own—this 'Medora' place—but over time the two places changed and became… different places?" They nodded, so she continued, "And people from my Earth—sorry, 'Freya'—don't know about Medora or how to get here?" When they nodded again, she asked, "Then how do you explain us?"
"No idea," Jordan said, grinning widely. "But I reckon we'll have fun trying to figure that out."
"Pff. I don't care, this is like, number six, on my fantasy bucket list so I'm cool with it."
"What's number one?" Jordan asked.
"Do a Deus Ex Machina."
"What about number three?" Bear asked.
"Get superpowers." She answered. Bear and Jordan exchanged looks.
"You're going to love this then." And with that Jordan blinked out of existence. Valarie sat up quickly while Alex fell on to her back in surprise.
"SWEET! You've got invisibility!" Valarie exclaimed. She then turned to Bear. "And you said there wasn't any magic."
"It's still not, it's actually a genetic mutation." He corrected.
"Whatever, it's still awesome." Valarie looked over to Alex and Jordan, Jordan was laughing at Alex's expression."
"We call the gifts," Jordan said, wiping away tears of laughter. "My gift allows me to transcend – become invisible and move through objects."
"So, a density shift?" Valarie proposed. Bear looked at her as if she was the only thing in the world.
"You are now my best friend." Bear told her, "Jordan, your number two."
"Aw, what?!" Jordan complained. Alex cleared her thought.
"So, what can you do, Bear?" Alex asked, distracting them from their antics even if in the back of her mind she was totally flipping out.
"I'm a charmer," he said with a wink.
She felt her lips twitch. "I bet you say that to all the new girls."
He laughed at that before explaining, "I can use my speech to convince people to do things. I literally charm them into action."
"That sounds kind of dangerous," Alex said. If what he said was true, then he had a gift that could cause a lot of damage in the wrong hands.
"It might seem that way, but it's really not," Bear said. "My charms are more like suggestions, you can either act upon or dismiss them depending on how much you like or don't like the idea."
"Care to give us a demonstration?" Valarie asked
Bear shared a sneaky glance with Jordan before turning back to her and saying, "You must be hungry, Alex, Valarie. I doubt you two have eaten for hours, right?"
His voice sounded the same, but there was an almost hypnotic quality to his tone. Before she even realised what, she was doing, Alex nodded in agreement.
"You're probably so hungry that you would eat anything just to feel relief."
Alex's stomach clenched painfully. She was starving. What had she last eaten? A piece of toast for breakfast? She couldn't even remember what it had tasted like, it seemed so long ago.
"I wonder if there's anything around here that we can give you to eat?" Bear continued in that same mesmerising tone.
"Please," Alex said, her own voice sounding strained. "I'll eat anything."
"Here, this will help." Bear scooped up a handful of dirt and handed it to her. "It's just like chocolate. It'll taste delicious and you'll feel so good afterwards."
Alex reached her hand out and Bear passed the dirt over. Part of her was desperate to pour the chocolate-like goodness straight into her mouth, but another part of her was beginning to scream from deep within her subconscious mind. She paused in the act of moving her hand towards her mouth, her thoughts warring with each other.
It's dirt, Alex thought to herself. Why would I ever eat dirt? Gross!
She threw the handful of earth to the ground and then turned to glare at Bear. "What did you just do to us?"
"Sorry Lex, but just you," Valarie told her, arms crossed and hands clean.
"Whoa," Bear said between fits of laughter with Jordan, "Nobody's resisted it the first time that well!"
"Well, as soon as you explained your gift to me I thought of how to combat it," Valarie explained. "It's a process of audio waves and brainwaves, you emit special audio waves in a verbal manner, which a person's brain then processes. In a sense, it's a virus, altering the brain's reasoning function to whatever you say, but if you do something too drastic, say," She looked over to Alex who was pouting furiously, "Get somebody to eat dirt, the brain detects the 'virus' and kicks it out. All I had to do was visualize your words being an invasive body, and my brain picked up on it simply. Kind of how vaccines work, I'll know how to fight it if I know what I'm looking for."
Jordan and Bears mouths hung open. "I… I never heard it explained like that before." Bear admitted, "You'd be an absolute genius here, I mean, you just heard a basic explanation of my gift, and unravelled it further than anyone else."
"Well, she is a geeky weeaboo." Alex jabbed.
"Hey!" Valerie object, blushing at the embarrassing term.
"Well I think Marselle would love to have you at the academy regardless of your 'Geekiness'" Jordan quipped. Valarie blushed further.
"Wait a second, who's Marselle?" Alex asked.
"He's our headmaster," Bear answered. "If anyone can get you back to Freya, it's Professor Marselle. He can do anything."
"Sounds like a regular Einstein," Alex muttered, low enough for only Valarie to hear, who chuckled a bit. Louder, she said, "All right, let's go see this headmaster of yours."