Chapter 2: Another World
Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful day trick or treating :D
I'd like to thank each and everyone of you who took the time to read my first chapter and also those who have stopped by for more! So here I am here back with another!
^^ Enjoy
"Suzuki-sama?"
Almost jumping at the mysterious voice that broke his trail of thoughts, Satoru slowly turned his head towards the source, only to find himself staring face to face...
...with his in-game character...the very being he had achieved so much with over the past 2 years...
"Narberal Gamma?"
"..."
Less than a couple of meters away, stood an elegant, snow white skinned, black pony tailed beauty. Despite being someone he saw on a daily basis, Satoru couldn't help but stare at her in awe. Sure it was behind a screen, but you'd still think he would have developed some sort of immunity to her captivating appearance. Now that he was face to face, Satoru simply felt his own eye's drawn to her, unable to peel away for even a second.
"Are you really Narberal...?"
"...Yes Suzuki-sama." The slight pause before her response did little to hide her apparent discontent with the current situation, reflecting heavily upon her features.
She was torn about something...that much was clear to even someone as socially awkward as Satoru.
But that wasn't the only thing that fought it's way to the forefront of his mind.
After all, there was a more fundamental problem at hand.
"Narberal," The young man paused, trying desperately to reorder his scattered thoughts, attempting to voice his concern in an articulated way. "What...you...how are you standing before me? Aren't I you...and you are me?"
'Isn't she my in game character?'
'If so, then why was she standing directly in front of me?'
'And why in the world would she know my name?'
'Was she even real?'
His body moved completely on instinct, attempting to carry him closer to the one that currently filled his vision. However, his feet had yet to carry him more than a single step before giving way completely, still too physically drained to perform any movement beyond standing still. As the ground raced to greet him at an alarming speed, Satoru did the only thing he could to brace himself, shut out his vision.
But the sensation he felt was a lot different to the one he had imagined, for it was neither cold or hard like the stones that composed this room. Rather it was soft and warm coupled with a soothing feminine scent.
Opening his eyes, Satoru found himself in Narberal's warm embrace, her eyes wide with worry in complete contrast to her earlier frown.
"Are you ok Suzuki-sama?"
"Definetely been better but I'm good, thanks a lot Narberal." Satoru said with a warm smile.
Instead of reciprocating his expression, she grabbed his right hand with her own wordlessly. Just as he was about to question her actions however, a faint blue glow began to erupt from her fingers before making its way onto his own.
Immediately, Satoru could feel his fatigue wash away both physically and mentally. In fact, it felt better than usual, as though he just awoken from an extremely adequate rest. Whatever she had done, it was clearly working it's magic...possibly quite literally.
"Thanks fo..."
"You shouldn't be here."
A single word of gratitude was all he could squeeze in before she cut him off.
"What do you mean?"
"There's simply no reason for you to be here, this place is only for..."
A sudden bright light burst forth from beneath Satoru's feet, slowly forming the intricate design of a magic circle, much like the one he saw seconds before he arrived here. Obviously he lacked the knowledge to derive any concrete conclusion about it, but if he had to take a stab in the dark, Satoru would be more than willing to put his money on teleportation. Sure it wasn't the most scientifically valid reason, but when one took into account everything that had happened since the "virtual dive", all of a sudden...the idea didn't seem so far fetched.
How else would you explain how he got here?
Anyway, the point is a change of scenery was more than likely to occur within the next few seconds. Unfortunately the poorly timed event caused Narberal to cut her explanation short. What's more, Satoru realized that was the only one standing within the magic circle.
"Narberal come here!" He yelled, frantically waving her over.
But the pony-tailed beauty remained in her spot, offering him a small smile in return.
"Time is short so please listen to me carefully Suzuki-sama," A look of hesitation hung on her face for a split second before being replaced by pure determination, "when the time comes for you to choose between leaving or staying within this place...I beg of you to choose the former option."
"What about you? Why aren't you coming with me?" He questioned, already feeling his feet leave the ground and the room beginning to fade.
Diverting her gaze, Narberal could no longer bear to watch him leave through her blurred watery vision. Instead clenching her robe tightly with her right hand before uttering a whisper so soft it fell on deaf ears.
"Goodbye Suzuki-sama."
Floating in zero gravity without any footholds or sense of direction...such was the sensation of teleportation. At least that was how Satoru felt during both occasions.
Naturally he had no idea who or what was responsible for whisking him through space twice, and whether it felt any different for the original caster. Although he had a small feeling that his curiosity would soon be sated, or the first part of it to be exact.
'1...2...3...4...5...6'
Unlike the first time, the young boy has a much clearer conscience now, most likely thanks to Narberal's help. That in turn prevented the nausea he had experienced earlier, allowing his unhindered mind to make sense of the time he had at hand.
'So the spell takes roughly 6 seconds to fully cast, by the end of which, i can clearly feel my feet against ground.' There was no way of telling what he should and shouldn't commit to memory, but making even the most irrelevant observation helped to ease his tension in an otherwise unfamiliar environment.
"Urghhh..." A unfamiliar voice resounded in the hall.
"Is anyone there?" Another occupant questioned almost timidly.
"Yes but where are we?"
"What's going to happen to us?"
"Someone help me!"
The young boy had of course, opted not to speak out loud, instead listening to what everyone else had to say. It didn't take a genius to figure out he was no longer alone, and while Satoru was normally a firm advocate of the whole security in numbers mindset, he wasn't so sure if it was really applicable right now.
The nervous whispers produced by the clearly unsettled crowd continued to grow in volume, inciting a new level of fear within the young boy's stomach, eventually dragging him into the gloomy atmosphere's depths.
His heart began to race and his hands began to shake uncontrollably.
'Its ok Suzuki-sama, everything will be fine.'
A gentle voice erupted throughout his mind, one he had only heard once before yet still imprinted itself deeply in his mind, giving him the mental strength to once again quell his fears.
'Thanks Narberal.'
Of course there was no way of knowing if her voice had been real or a figment of his imagination. Judging from the voices of those around him however, none a single soul had heard Narberal. Therefore Satoru had to conclude that it was probably his own mind's doing. Regardless, the illusion had served it's purpose as Satoru once again returned his attention to the situation at hand.
'Let's access this as calmly as possible.' Satoru thought before looking around in every direction. However with the room being completely pitch black, the only real sense he could actively work with was his sense of sound. Of course one could be a smarty pants and mention the smell of fear too, but that wasn't going to get him anywhere.
From this alone, Satoru was able to quickly surmise a couple of facts. First of all, judging from all the anxious chatter surrounding him, he was able to estimate the room contained quite the number of people.
'30...no perhaps even 50.'
It was almost surprising how loud it was now that his sense of fear no longer clouded his judgement, as though he was standing in the middle of a busy marketplace, except worse.
Additionally, this...place they're in is by no means small, something you could tell from the way noise echoed around the area, further amplifying the already loud environment. Satoru could only assume that everyone else here was bought via the same method he was, which mean't that whoever teleported them had already predicted this large volume of people.
As the minutes slowly ticked by, Satoru's eyes began adjusting to the dark, now able to picture faint silhouettes of those around him. With his sight and hearing working together in unison, the young boy was able to pick up one very odd detail. Unlike the rest of the scattered people, there was a small group standing a little ways off, positioned in a very coordinated formation with 1 in front and 2 behind him. Furthermore, Satoru was almost certain that not a single member there spoke a word, nothing but silence radiating from that direction.
'Could they possibly be...' Wanting to confirm his suspicions, he squinted his eyes in the general direction almost out of instinct in hopes of getting a clearer image. Just as he did so however, light rained from the ceiling, bathing the entire bunch in a blinding fashion.
It was only for an instant, but Satoru briefly made eye contact with all 3 individuals before shielding his eyes. He did however, miss the small grin that surfaced on their faces as they saw not just Satoru but several others looking in their direction amongst the crowd.
Having given them all sufficient time to recover from their daze, the three men, all clad in what looks to be army uniform, began walking closer to them. As they did so, Satoru could see the man in the middle muttering something quietly to his right.
"What group is this?"
"Group 1F sir."
"Very well, let us proceed as per usual."
"With all due respect," The youngest and last of the trio, a blonde-haired man who appeared to be in his twenties, began in a tone that was calm yet tinged ever so slightly in irritation, "An individual of your caliber should be addressing the more gifted bunch rather than wasting time on unwanted leftovers..."
"What exactly are you trying to say?" By now, the 3 men had stopped in their tracks, obviously having reached a difference in opinion.
"Kawakami-sama, you know just as much as I do that this a complete waste of time. No one here has the skill or guts to do it, time has proven that again and again."
"Tachibana-kun, have you ever heard of the phrase A diamond in the rough?"
"Yes, but..."
"Enough! Now get ready."
Of course, no one from the crowd had heard their heated conversation, their mumbling far too quiet and their mouthing too subtle to read.
Just like with everything else that had occurred tonight, Satoru had not a single inkling as to what was going on. Rather than making wild predictions and assumptions, it was probably best to save whatever brainpower he had left for when it really mattered. Besides, from the looks of things, they were about to get an explanation.
"Greetings to all of you present!" Pausing to lock gazes with each member present, the muscular man continued with a voice that conveyed immeasurable confidence and power. "My name is Chouji Kawakami and I'm responsible for overseeing this event as head commander. It is my honor to welcome each and everyone of you to Yggdrasil's beta test. As i'm sure most of you are aware, only those of you within the top 20% were invited to participate, an achievement that I have no doubt you would all be proud of, having made numerous sacrifices with time and money being just a couple of many. Therefore in light of your efforts, we thought that it was only fair to present you all with a rather unique opportunity...in person that is. Now before we move on, is there any questions?"
There were certainly quite a lot floating around Satoru's mind, so much so that he didn't even know where to begin from.
Where is this place?
Where is Narberal?
Why was I not in my in-game character?
Is this a dream?
The list went on and on, and somehow, he knew everyone else felt the same. All curious, but too afraid to ask. Perhaps these raw emotions had reflected off one too many of their faces, for the older man decided to alleviate their worries if only a little.
"I know that most here are skeptical about this whole situation, and trust me, I would be too had the roles been inverted. While it would certainly be best to shed light on the entire situation, such a task would take far too long for our circumstances...are rather special. To put it simply, this place..." Waving both arms around to further amplify his point, Kawakami continued seriously. "...isn't planet Earth. However! I will guarantee you will given the choice to return tomorrow should that be your desire, along with compensation for your time. That I swear on my life. Needless to say, you may also choose to stay and for what reason? Well, you all possess skills which we would like to help you nurture and develop. Skills which you can use to start over anew"
"Potential?" Something about that particular word struck a chord in Satoru, causing him to instinctively pay extra attention. After all, it was precisely because Satoru wanted to escape reality did he even start playing Yggdrasil in the first place. Unfortunately, amidst all his excitement, the young boy found himself exclaiming his interest a bit too loudly, successfully throwing himself into the spotlight. "Sorry for interrupting, don't mind me."
"There is absolutely no need to apologize." With a look that seem to bore into his soul, the muscular man proceeded with the interaction much to the black-hair's dismay. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your name young one?"
"S-S-Satoru." He had never been socially strong, and his current stuttering was as clear an indication as it gets.
"First of all, let me applaud your courage for speaking out loud. Definitely not easy given the situation, and I urge the rest to learn from Satoru-kun. Rather than waiting for information to be handed out, don't be afraid to seek them for yourself. Secondly, to answer your question in as blunt a fashion as possible, all of you present in this hall possess one unique trait, a trait that sets you apart from the rest of humankind. That trait...is magic."
Various murmurs broke out from the crowd, everyone eager to give their two cents on the matter. Naturally the crowd's opinion was diverted, with the more skeptical of the bunch throwing suspicious glances around, while the others wore expressions that reflected both fear and excitement. And patience Chouji gave, as he let the natural chatter take over those he currently faced, allowing for several long minutes to pass before interjecting once again.
"As I have mentioned just now, each and everyone on of you present has the innate ability to use magic, although to what level I cannot say for certain. It is precisely because of this fact however, that we are offering you all a chance to nurture and develop this skill with our help. Again, I must stress the fact that this process is completely voluntary, and you have all the way up until tomorrow to make your decision."
Despite the level of authority that Kawakami exuded, doubt was still evident amongst the crowd. Therefore the older man decided to bring out the ace up his sleeve.
"There is something I would like to show you all." Having said that, he grabbed what looked to be an ordinary piece of paper from inside his jacket pocket before holding it up for the crowd to see. "While this here looks to be an ordinary piece of paper, it is in reality, a magic evaluator. It is able to reveal the hidden magical talents of every magic user by simply being in contact with one's unique mana. I'll give you all a demonstration."
Without another word, the man closed his eyes. Just as Satoru began raising an eyebrow in confusion, words began inking itself across Kawakami's paper. The entire process finished within a couple of seconds, and from it, the young boy was only able to capture a single word from that paper given the distance.
Teleportation.
'So Kawakami is the teleporter huh.'
He wasn't going to lie. At this point, Satoru was genuinely curious as to whether or not Kawakami's claim about them possessing magic had even the slightest shred of truth.
'I mean, who wouldn't want to have supernatural powers right?'
Sure, the possibility of all of this being some elaborate prank has yet to be ruled out, but the older man's performance was becoming harder to disprove scientifically.
"Now, how about we let you all have a go at this? Perhaps once you've seen your powers, you might be more inclined to stay and train." With a single snap of his finger, every single occupant within the giant hall was given a single sheet of the mysterious paper.
"Whenever you're all ready, I want you to close your eyes and focus."
'Well no harm in giving it a try right?' Satoru thought before doing just as he was told with many others in the crowd doing exactly the same.
"Picture your mana as a liquid that flows through your veins, very much like your blood except that it is unrestrained by your physical body."
'Ok...weird but ok.'
"Picture it leaking from your fingertips and onto the paper."
'Nghhh...' The young boy mumbled at the surprisingly difficult task given his limited imagination.
"Repeat this step a couple of times before confirming your results."
Being quite the perfectionist at heart, Satoru repeated it 8 times in his head for good measure, wanting to get it right the first time. Once he was satisfied, the young boy gently opened his eyes. Giving himself a couple of blinks to clear his vision, Satoru stared as his paper to find rows and rows of neat writing much to his joy.
However, as he took a closer look, what he read on the print was enough to draw out his recently suppressed fear.
"It can't be..."
A/N - Thank you very much for stopping by my fanfic once again, and I hope you enjoyed your stay!
If you did enjoy it, I'd really appreciate it if you could leave behind even just a short message as it really gives me that positive push forward :D
Looking forward to seeing you all in the next chapter !
-Lynn
Review responses:
L.B.N - Thank you for your kind words, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
OldWorldVulture - Thank you very much for both your kind words and the feedback!
Guest - Thank you!
B563 - Thank you :D This story will have a completely different story line, hope you enjoyed this chapter!
DivineDemon1 - Thanks for your review, hahah we will see in the future chapters as to what path he takes.
0November0 - Ikr? AinzXNarberal romance! Thank you very much for your kind words!
Awareness Bringer - I still have a lot of improvement to do as a writer but you are correct in all those points! Thank you very much for your review!