Ethan had read about characters falling unconscious, though he had never been knocked out himself. As such, he always believed that being unconscious was like sleeping: Peaceful, quiet, and most importantly, painless.
But if the throbbing in his head when he woke up was anything to go by, the experience was the opposite of what he had thought it to be. Waking up from unconsciousness was the same as waking up from sleep. Blurry vision, muffled hearing, and not really knowing what the hell was going on around you were definitely features of both. The difference was that pounding in his head, each pulse bringing on a new wave of pain piling on top of the dizziness and confusion already inhibiting all his senses. He didn't really remember why he was there, the only memories he had before being knocked out being eerie hissing and complete darkness.
Actually, forget that. Where was he?
Through his hazy eyesight, the dazed student could make out a featureless white ceiling. Underneath him was most likely a bed, though his limbs had no strength in them to move, no matter how much he strained his muscles. In his current situation, his arms might as well have been heavy as steel bars. That was a dead end. Luckily, his hearing was beginning to return, though at this point the sounds he heard from around him were nothing more than unintelligible, intermittent buzzes. That wasn't going to be much help either.
Pushing his neck muscles as far as they would go, Ethan struggled to turn his head around in an attempt to see what was going on around him. But before he managed to turn it even a few degrees, a white shape appeared at the bottom of his vision, pausing for a moment before dissolving away as fast as a scattering flock of pigeons. Not a moment later multiple shapes materialised, all crowded around the bedridden blond as their conversation became more audible.
"…awake…beating."
"How…out…"
"Blasted…too much…"
Their words a drill shredding his head to pieces, Ethan did his best to force air through his throat and tell them to stop talking, though his efforts netted him only a hoarse groan. It seemed enough to catch their attention, however, as their heads (now distinguishable) immediately turned to him.
"It looks like…awake." A short figure wearing pigtails, female according to her voice, commented. "He'll be okay. You should go check on the other patients."
As the girl dismissed the other healers, she refocused her gaze on Ethan. "Are you okay?"
Again Ethan tried to speak, but all that came out of his mouth were incoherent sounds and raspy grunts.
"It seems your brain is still under the effects of that spell…best you don't speak for now. Give me a nod if you're not injured anywhere."
Aside from the dissipating pain in his head, the rest of his body felt okay. The boy sat up groggily using both his arms, raising them to stretch before yawning as if he had just awoken from a long nap. Apart from all the pain, it certainly felt like it.
Wait, both his arms?
Ethan glanced at his previously injured arm and found it was no longer that way. Waving it around as best he could, it felt as if it had never been fractured in the first place. What in the world happened? He turned to the girl beside him with a questioning look.
"Hm? Oh right! Your arm," She answered, grey-blue eyes lighting up. "I healed it for you. I'd imagine it's not pleasant not being able to use your arm, right?"
Healed? Ethan wondered. You can't do anything from the outside to heal broken bones. What's she talking about? And hold up a second, she looks familiar…
"Ah, right, you don't know…" His expression must have conveyed his disbelief as to her statement for her to have answered his thoughts. Her ash-blonde pigtails swayed from side to side along with the rest of her body. "Well…never mind. You probably won't be here much longer, so it's best not to think too much about it."
What does that mean? The newly-healed blond had no time to think about that, however, as a familiar face strolled into the room. That muted pink hair with the fox ear-like side flicks, those purple eyes glinting with mischief and that equally mischievous smile…It could be no one else.
"Mish Ya?!" Ethan exclaimed with his semi-functioning mouth, surprised that he would find his literature teacher, among other things, here of all places.
"Why, hello little one," she greeted. "Brain still addled by that sleep spell? Don't trouble yourself with talking for now."
The student simply nodded, not trusting himself not to sound like he was speaking with his mouth full. He still had to speak with her though. He imitated scribbling on his hand to tell the girl who he now recognised as Barbara Page, the social media star with a phenomenal singing voice (what was she doing here?), that he needed something to write on.
What's going on? Where am I? Ethan scrawled on the whiteboard, his arm still half-asleep.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Yae Miko replied, feigning disappointment. "But I can't tell you that. It'll be worse for you the more you know, trust me."
Why is that?
"It'd be too much to comprehend for you, I'd imagine. It is better to stay out of the pool than plunging in and being violently yanked out afterwards, is it not?"
Why would I be yanked out?
"You'll know soon enough. So will your friends when they wake up. They were hit harder than you were."
Glancing both ways, Ethan could indeed see his group of friends all passed out on a bed. On the bed next to him lay Lucy.
What did you do to us?
"Oh, we hit you with a simple sleeping spell," Miko waved it off as if forcibly putting someone to sleep was normal. "Unfortunately, the mage who cast it put too much energy into the spell and knocked you out a little too hard."
No shit. And what was that about spells?
"Don't worry, we've given that one a good scolding. None of you are injured at least."
A spell? Like magic?
"Oop!" she quickly covered her mouth, though the smile behind her hand made it seem as if she wasn't all that worried about letting that slip. "I would seem I've said too much already. But it looks like your friends are waking up."
People dressed in white uniforms began rushing to the beds beside him, checking on their occupants. Ethan too attempted to get up and see before sliding off his bed and falling onto the floor face first.
"Oh no! You shouldn't have tried to get up…" Barbara helped him up and dusted him off. "Are you hurt?"
The sluggish student shook his head and slowly began to get up, legs trembling and arms doing their best to balance him out. After a few shaky steps, he grabbed onto the neighbouring bedpost and observed his sister.
Like him, her expression was pained, though as time went on it appeared to subside. Slowly her eyes opened, adjusting to the light while she tried (and failed) to speak. Other than that, she was fine. Ethan shuffled along like an old man to the other beds as he slowly regained control of his limbs, jumping at anything that stood upright for support when he felt he was about to topple over again. It was like learning how to walk again, except it would be much more painful if he fell. Never mind that, Ethan thought. It seems the others are okay as well. The question now is, what happens to us?
Ethan's friends too took a while to regain full control of their bodies, Itto hilariously bowling over a group of healers when he tried to stand up only to fail and stumble back before falling (no one was hurt, thankfully). Layla remained asleep, unsurprisingly.
"We're going to have to put you back to sleep, unfortunately." Miko addressed all of them when they had recovered. "I won't mince words with you; we're going to wipe your memory."
"Wipe our memories? Is magic really that powerful?" Asked Ethan.
"Oh, it gets more difficult the more you have to erase, but we'll only be erasing your memories of today," she answered as a group of magicians clad in robes walked up to them. "You won't feel anything afterwards aside from wondering where your memory of the last day or two went. You'll forget about it in a short while."
"So why didn't you do it when we were asleep? I have a feeling it wasn't to ask for our consent." Lucy pointed out.
"It was too dangerous to tamper with your mind when so much energy was already present," Miko explained. "It should be safe now."
Sara sighed. "Not exactly a bad outcome. We weren't supposed to be here anyway."
"It's probably a good thing our memories are being wiped. This place reeks of 'your life will never be normal again if you know about this place'" Hu Tao added.
"Well if it's not gonna hurt…" Itto still seemed rather unsure.
"That's fine by me. I wasn't planning on getting involved in this anyway. Wiping memories though? That's kinda cool…" So this would be it. His adventure had lasted only a short while, much shorter than those of the characters he read about. But alas it was a fulfilling journey, teaching him the importance of holding his values close to his heart and standing up for others. Were he not about to have his memory erased, he surely would have remembered and treasured these two days in the years to come, remaining within his heart as an important lesson for the trials ahead…
"No."
…or not.
"No?" questioned Yae Miko, raising her eyebrow.
"I don't want my memory to be erased," answered Lucy with just a hint of standoffishness in her voice.
"And why not?"
"This is something that is too important for me to ignore," Lucy explained. "I don't know if you know this, but yesterday Ethan and I were attacked by this giant monster. I thought I was going to die. I'm not sure what happened next but I remember that we somehow managed to fight it off before Ms Wan arrived and killed it."
"Crystal was there, you say?" Miko inquired unbelievingly. "I haven't heard anything about that from her."
"Then she hasn't told you yet," the blonde attempted to reason.
"If that indeed did happen, I would know from her already," Miko dismissed Lucy's attempt to stop the memory wipe. "Prepare the mindwipe, mages. And be sure not to blast them with too much energy like that novice earlier."
"You can't do that!" Lucy argued, turning to the rest of the group. "Ethan, I know you've always had the will to protect. You saw what we can both do. If we have the ability to protect others with that power, isn't that what we should do?"
"I…didn't think about that," Ethan admitted, slightly guilty. In his defence, he was entirely focused on himself when he could have died when crashing into that monster.
"And you, Itto!" she turned to the slightly dazed delinquent. "Are you just going to stand there and take it or resist it like a man?
"Uh, I mean, well, I…" Itto stammered before shaking his head vigorously and gathering himself. "You're right! I ain't gonna lie down and take this like some dog! You won't have my memory!"
Neither Sara nor Hu Tao were sure of what they were supposed to do, but Miko made the choice for them. "Oh, you poor children…" she sighed. "If you knew anything about this, you would be scrambling at the first opportunity to leave this place. Now be good and stay still while we put you to sleep…"
They would be ready for more arguing, Lucy thought to herself. But not this!
Lucy flung herself off the bed and knocked the nearest mage to the side before dashing through the corridor and out the nearest doorway.
"Wait!" Barbara called, just as Itto yelled something along the lines of "get outta the way" before barrelling through the cloaked magicians and going the same way Lucy did.
"Why does this always happen…" Ethan lamented the fact that they could go nowhere without making a scene and prepared to follow the two when one of the magicians clamped a firm hand on his shoulder, signalling that he was not to go.
That was all before the previously slumbering Layla launched herself at said magician and grabbed his neck in a rear naked choke, loosening his grip on the blond boy. "You won't be taking any of our memories!" she yelled, completely unlike the Layla he knew. "Go! I'll hold them back. Make sure they're safe!"
Dismissing the fact that the usually physically weak and lethargic Layla was now overpowering two people on her own, Ethan bolted across the corridor amidst calls of "Wait! Come back!" and "Don't let them get away!" and slammed open each door he found, trying to find the way out. He at last came across a double door, likely the entrance or exit. When he burst through those double doors, it was as if he had entered a whole new world.
The hospital stood on a level overlooking an entire town. Below was a motley mass of misshapen, alien structures packed together, clusters of buildings sliced up irregularly by thin streets and murky alleyways. Along those roads walked crowds of citizens, so congested that each road became a river, its inhabitants the raging and flowing water that kept it alive. High, high above on the 'ceiling' and on the distant walls, crookedly spaced and shaped growths of some sort of multicoloured crystal burrowed through from behind the rock and thrust out into the particle-filled air, filling the immediate surroundings with a multihued, brilliant gleam. In the very middle of the town, a great monument composed of both dull stone and lustrous crystal stood tall and proud in a wide circular plaza, towering over the strange settlement and extending its soft glow into every corner of the town.
Looking below not far below that Ethan found what looked like a bustling military training yard. The yard itself, while nothing compared to the sprawling town below, was still more than large enough for the people there. In the midst of multiple structures set out in an orderly fashion were large groups of people dressed in the same tracksuit-like uniform, the colour of the uniform separating each group. On one end the trainees stood rank and file, wielding wooden weapons and drilling the same motions over and over again. In those barren yards, the blond observer witnessed all kinds of sword strikes, spear jabs and martial arts manoeuvres, along with the brief flash of arrows flying through the air. The other side appeared to be less ordered, with buildings being noticeably more sparse and trainees spaced out across the wide-open spaces. After witnessing a large pillar of flame erupting from behind a lone shed and storm clouds gathering before unleashing a brilliant lighting strike, Ethan felt he understood why that was. But he had spent too much time gazing down and the grandeur of…wherever this place was. He had to go find Itto and his sister. But no matter where he looked, Ethan couldn't seem to find that familiar golden hair that might've been around there somewhere. Although he wished he could have stayed and searched for longer from up there, the double doors behind him burst open, grey-clad guards wielding menacing spears rushing out as soon as they caught sight of him. He had to run.
Scanning the immediate area and finding a narrow and steep staircase, the boy descended to the training yard below. Wading through the multicoloured sea of uniforms the best he could, Ethan had time only to briefly glance around each area before he was forced to flee once more when his pursuers caught sight of him.
But just as the boy was about to give up and head to the other side, where continual elemental attacks made traversing that area more dangerous, two guards appeared right behind him, catching him off-guard in what seemed to be a planned maneuver.
Shit.
Ethan bolted through the yard, pushing past trainees and cutting through the crowds with his shoulder. He didn't know where he was going to go, only hoping that there was somewhere for him to hide. Think, think, think. What do I do? He could blend in with the crowd. Haha, no. He'd be spotted in an instant for his lack of uniform. He thought of throwing them off, but how would he do that? Hiding seemed like the best option, but where would he hide?
As he attempted to figure out what to do, the fleeing student's path was cut short when out of nowhere a trainee dressed in a light grey uniform flew over his head from behind and landed in front, wooden sword pointed at him.
"You're the one they're after, are you not? It would be best if you stopped running."
Ethan studied the boy that now blocked his path. A mop of platinum blond hair with an orange-red streak on the right rested atop wide, red eyes, a ponytail trailing down to the right behind his back. Although his expression conveyed a nonchalant, almost indifferent tranquillity, his relaxed yet ready poster told Ethan that this boy was ready to intercept any escape attempts.
"There you are."
The crowd that had formed around the two parted for Yae Miko as she strolled up to them, so casually you would think she was going up to Ethan for a little chat and not to catch him.
"Well done, Kazuha. You've done what our guards couldn't." Yae Miko addressed the tranquil youth before turning to Ethan. "You've caused quite a bit of trouble for us this afternoon, you know." The priestess eyed the student with disappointment. "And you're normally so well-behaved! I would discipline you, but you wouldn't remember it anyway. Come along, now. No need to make this any harder than it is." She seemed almost bored as she approached, like this was something she had had to deal with many times before.
The boy sighed, contemplating what he should do next. "You're right. I'd also like it if things could be resolved simply. If circumstances were different, I'd have gone with you without arguing. But Lucy also has a point. I don't want my brain messed with. And I know we do have something to do with all of this, whether you know it or not. I know I have the power to protect others from whatever it was that attacked me yesterday. So don't–"
Before Ethan had a chance to launch into his anime main character monologue, two familiar faces burst through the crowd surrounding Miko and Ethan.
"S-stay back!" Itto yelled at a higher pitch than he usually spoke with. "Or I'll–"
He dashed over to a nearby weapons rack and snatched a strangely technological-looking greatsword leaning on it. "I'll knock all of you out?" He questioned his opponents, quite unlike the bold proclamation he imagined himself making beforehand.
"Listen, kid," One of the pursuing guards called out. "Just calm down and drop the sword. We're not gonna hurt you."
"Tampering with our brains and erasing our memories isn't hurting us?" Lucy shot. "Like I'll ever believe that!"
"Yeah! I've got wicked skills with the bat, so, uh…don't come any closer!"
"You know what, that's enough." Another guard, most likely the leader, decided. "Take 'em by force!" That set all four armoured spear-wielders on the pair, weapons poised to strike.
"Ah! Wait! No–" Itto yelped and raised the greatsword. He didn't notice in the moment that an amber glow had flared up around the sword, growing glaringly bright as the frightened delinquent lost balance and the blade dropped to the ground.
There was the sound of the ground fracturing and an explosion of dust. Itto's eyes remained tightly shut for a moment before all went silent. "Huh…?"
Cracking his eyes open after wondering why he had not felt four pairs of hands pushing him down, he found a wall of solid earth standing between him and his pursuers, the latter whispering amongst themselves confusedly.
"Wha-what just-" Before Itto could process what had just happened, another contingent of guards emerged from the crowd, holding Layla, Hu Tao and Sara in a tight grip. "These three put up quite the fight, but we managed to subdue them." One of them reported to Miko. "And who cast that wall?"
The observers all pointed to Itto, still figuring out what he'd just done.
"But if that's the case, then why…" In their confusion, the guards relaxed their grip on their captives, a grave mistake.
"Hah!" Taking advantage of the situation, Layla threw the guard off her and swiped a sword from the rack. "I don't want to hurt anyone with this, but I'll have to if you get any closer-ah!" From the sword came a sudden burst of frost right after she picked it up, knocking it out of the unusually active insomniac's hands.
"Gah!" Tendrils of electricity danced around Sara's stiff form as she anticipated being hit by a wave of freezing cold, flames flaring up beside her as Hu Tao had a similar reaction. Flame and electricity mingled with each other a second too long, causing glaring fire to blast outwards in a dangerous yet dazzling spectacle. The explosion scorched the stone floor and sent bolts of lighting coursing through all those present…
…or at least it would have. The smoke cleared, revealing a dome of glowing amber surrounding the site of the explosion. Along the shield swam luminescent strips of jade, arranged in intricate patterns that might have been runes. Despite the elemental explosion, there was no visible damage to the shield, though Ethan would have struggled to call it a physical object that could be damaged. But one thing was certain: It had saved them all from freezing and roasting to death at the same time.
"Don't the young ones know not to trigger any elemental reactions in this area?" A tall and elegant man strode towards them, golden tassels trailing behind his brown tailcoat as amber eyes appraised the scene with crossed arms. "I will deal with the punishment in time. Are any hurt?"
"We're quite alright, John. I must say, you do know how to make an entrance in a timely manner." Yae turned to the newcomer as John brushed the dirt and stone off his amber waistcoat and black hair.
At this point, Ethan was not even surprised to see his history teacher John Lee Zhongli here. A knowledgeable and somewhat old-fashioned teacher, he knew pretty much everything about the history and culture of many places around the world. John himself wasn't disliked by students by any means, but his constant deviations from the syllabus would make it hard to keep up in class sometimes. Despite that, Ethan felt that it was a rather interesting class.
"You would have done something to protect them had I not been there, I'm certain." John focused on each of the three students who had caused the explosion. "Though it seems our culprits are not trainees, and yet they can wield elemental energy. Allogenes. Why were they not taken to the testing area for their affinities?"
"They're parents requested that this place never reveal itself to them," Miko answered. "But it seems that they found it themselves."
"Miko!" Someone called from beyond the crowd, which parted to reveal none other than Crystal, the very person they had all followed into this place. "And John. What just happened? My communicator broke down, so I've been trying to find you…wait, what are they doing here?"
"They stumbled in a few hours ago," Miko answered. "And according to the gate, the last person to open it before they got here was you, Crystal."
The secretary paled for a moment before she shook her head. "Did I? I was very sure no one was behind me…never mind, I'll answer for that later. It just so happens that I wanted to talk to you about them."
"Oh?" the priestess asked. "And what about them?"
"I believe that we should let the twins stay. Not just them, actually, all six of them," Crystal explained. "I know that their parents told us to stay away from them, but now that they already know about this place, and now that we're certain their allogenes, wouldn't it be a waste if we just wiped their memories and lost six more people in the fight against all that threatens this world? We should give them a chance to convince their parents to let them learn here. Only if they want to, of course!" the secretary quickly added.
"That's not for us to decide, Crystal." Miko rejected. "We lose potential wielders, yes, but remember that it's only human for the parents to want to protect their children. It's entirely their choice, and if they make such a choice we must respect it."
"Even so," Crystal argued. "The children are self-sufficient humans too. Are they not capable of making their own decisions? I'm not saying that they should be doing this if they don't want to. But if they are willing to fight, then at least give them a chance."
"I'm sorry, Crystal, but I can't do that. You should know what this line of work is like–their parents didn't want their children here for a reason. They may be older, but they are still children. They have no idea of the pain and suffering that comes from this." Miko turned to the guards, intending to have them capture the students again.
"Wait!" Lucy yelled. "Ms Wan's right. I know this is dangerous, but I can't help but feel I'd be making a huge mistake if I walked away from this. And I definitely would have some idea of what the cost of all this would be. My brother even more." the blonde glanced at said brother, urging him to say something.
"I, uh," Ethan stammered. "I think you're not, you know, entirely wrong. I certainly didn't like going up against that thing. But if I were given the chance to learn how to stop the same thing from happening to other people, I feel like I'd regret it if I didn't take it."
"Listen to them," Crystal urged. "If their parents remain unconvinced, then we'll have to let it go. But if they're willing to do this, why not give them a chance? Besides, we'll need every wielder we can get to protect this world from what's coming."
"Hm…" Miko gave them both a curious stare which unnerved the hell out of Ethan for no apparent reason. The stare was abruptly broken by a tired sigh. "I'll consider it." she clapped and called out to the trainees. "Back to training little ones! There's no reason to linger here any longer."
As the trainees dispersed, Ethan attempted to make sense of the events of today. He had followed Crystal to a secret entrance to this 'underworld', been knocked out after following her in, woke up only to narrowly escape being mindwiped and discovered that his friends were able to use this 'magic' as well. Most importantly, he had learned that there was a place where people trained with these abilities, most likely to fight beasts like the one he had encountered. On one hand, the fantasies and daydreams the blond student had had about magic, heroes and monsters had come true. On the other hand, he did not like that supernatural threats to his life now existed, and that he had pretty much no way to fight back.
Unless he learned to use the abilities he had, though if that one science fiction game he had played with only female playable characters was anything to go by, doing that would guarantee run-ins with the very monsters he wanted to avoid.
"You six!" Miko called to them to gather around. "Follow me. There's a lot to explain."
And so all walked through the training yard once more, though now Ethan had more time to focus on the little details that he had missed during the chase. The ruckus from earlier was gradually returning, the sounds of the yard now coming in more clearly to the boy. Instructors stood in front of their pupils arms crossed, surveying their progress and barking out orders to change drills or give advice to those struggling. Ahead the sound of wood striking wood rang out through the air, boot soles scratching against the stone floor as trainees danced around each other trying to strike their opponent. A closer look at the archers revealed their laser focus, arrows whooshing through the air and piercing targets with a satisfying thunk, all actions carried with deadly precision and accuracy.
"You'll have many questions, just like everyone before you," Miko addressed the group as they walked. "They will be answered in time, but for now you will listen."
"Wait, but why did you–" Ethan began before being shut down by Miko.
"I said, you will listen." the priestess gave the boy a smile that seemed almost threatening.
Said boy gulped as Miko continued her explanation. "Now, have any of you heard of Ley Lines?"
"The pseudoscientific belief that historical monuments are all built along deliberate alignments that channel spiritual energy?" Sara questioned, slightly confused that the priestess would bring that up.
"Yes, except that they weren't quite right about that. The ley lines are a network of energy containing the memories of everything that has ever lived and happened in this world, as well as the worlds beyond this one," Miko explained. "By drawing on this energy, we are able to use it to perform extraordinary feats only seen in fiction. This is what we call 'wielding' or 'channelling'. You can see that happening over there."
She was pointing to the area where the trainees were using their magic, lighting up the training yard like a disco. A disorganised chorus of chants and yells was followed by all manner of explosions, cracks and crashes, each sound accompanied by an unsettling rumbling below his feet. There were quite a few times when spells landed uncomfortably close to Ethan, causing him to flinch from time to time.
"But alas, channelling isn't for everybody. Only a fraction of the population can handle elemental energy without being destroyed by it. We call these people 'allogenes'. All six of you are one of these people."
"Woah, so you're saying that we all have special powers? That we can do cool things like that?" Hu Tao asked, excitement dancing in her flower-shaped pupils as she stared at the trainees.
"You have the potential to use special powers. Learning to channel isn't easy, you know. It requires a great deal of effort and concentration to control elemental energy, especially as a novice. Even when you do learn to use magic, it won't necessarily work the same way as others. Magic is a reflection of who you are at your core."
"Does that have something to do with the 'affinities' Mr Lee mentioned?" Lucy inquired.
"Partly." the aforementioned John Lee answered. "Since raw energy from the ley lines is too unstable to be channelled, it is converted into one of the seven common elements when in close proximity to an allogene. That element is your affinity. We speculate that there are more, but we have yet to find any solid evidence for them."
"So this place is for training these allogenes to channel energy," Sara observed.
"Yes. 'This place' is called Academy Azvala of Azvala Katafyg, where we train students to fight all manner of threats hailing from other worlds, from ordinary monsters to giant, world-destroying super beings." Miko giggled at how all their faces paled at the last one. "I'm only joking about that last one of course. But you heard Crystal. You'll have to convince your parents if you want to train here."
They had already passed underneath the gate leading away from the stone walls surrounding the academy, across a barren field leading towards a seemingly ordinary stone wall.
"Right, you mentioned that," Lucy observed. "But why do our parents know?"
"Because, little one, the ability to channel is mostly hereditary," Miko answered. "It can sometimes pop up at random in a wielderless line or skip one generation of wielders. Your parents were here as well when they were your age. They understandably didn't want you caught up in any of this, but now I'm giving you a chance to change their minds."
"I'm not looking forward to this," Ethan scratched the back of his head. "We just argued with them today. Nor do I really want to do this either. But if it's necessary…"
"Wait, I was adopted," Itto cut in. "Does that mean Granny Oni doesn't know…?"
"With a name like that, she probably does!" Hu Tao commented. "To think my grandpa was once here…"
"Is this why my father has been making me take archery and kendo?" Sara wondered. "It shouldn't be too hard to convince him then…"
"Ah, right! Layla!" Lucy spoke to the blue-haired student. "I was too busy thinking about all this that I forgot to ask. What happened to you?"
"Well, I'm not really the Layla that you know." Layla answered, already with a positive expression and energy that seemed strange on her. "You could think of me as a different person. We're like two personas. Day and night. I come out in the night, and she in the day!"
"Is this the thing they call 'multiple personality disorder'?" Hu Tao whispered to Lucy as if she was afraid she would offend Layla by saying it out loud."
"I think it has a different name now…can't remember what it was. Maybe?"
As this was going on, Ethan had been speaking with Crystal. "Um, thanks for helping convince Ms Yae. But you were so adamant that we stay away before. Why were you helping us?"
"Why? Well, I had a think about it, and I suppose I do understand how you feel. " the blue-haired secretary replied. "I understand how it feels to have that desire to learn so you can protect others. That's exactly what we need here, so I thought it would be a waste if we just wiped your memories. It won't mean anything if you can't convince your parents though, so do your best."
"I will." Ethan affirmed as they approached the wall.
The priestess laid her hand on the wall. "Epkasor," she chanted, the same as Crystal did when she opened the gate outside. "Anoeke!" Once again, the wall was briefly adorned with all manner of runes before revealing a tunnel back to the outside world.
"Well," Miko addressed them. "I wish you all good luck.
Hello, and welcome to Chapter 3. We've got quite a few things being revealed about the world here, including a magic system slightly different from Genshin's (was it really necessary? Probably about as much as me giving the Liyue characters English names. But it is an AU after all. Things wouldn't work the same way they did in Genshin). Anyways, enjoy the chapter, and see you in the next one!
P.S., I can say with dubious confidence that you can probably expect each new chapter to come within two weeks of the last one. It may or may not change, but we'll have to see.