Chapter 3: Suspicious…
UNKNOWN LOCATION
Knock, knock.
"Come in," responds Sage Sion. "Oh, Youichi? What is it?"
"You're the one who wanted me to make a report, Sage-sama."
Sion sat herself up from her bed and puffed up her cheeks in discontent, "Youichi, you don't have to speak so formally when it's just us…"
Youichi shook his head and slid his hand across his forehead, as if he were thinking of something frustrating.
"If I don't do this all the time I'll screw up in public," – the Attendant sighed in resignation –"And I have to set an example to the others… anyways, for today:
"Sage Santarou-sama repelled the Darkness…"
"Repel?" Sion raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, according to him it got away, though he doubts it'll show itself again. Sage Lain-sama was also only able to repel the Wolf King."
"Her case is understandable since she loves animals," the Sage said as she exhaled out of her nose.
"And as for the Hedgehog, Sage Yumehisa-sama went out but was killed. The second death this year…"
"I see. Then we'll send a team of Sages to deal with it in the near future, me included. And the Candidates?"
"They managed to clear the first mission and managed to reach the city in the north, barring two casualties… about the dragon–"
"Oh! I was watching when the dragon was killed. It was quite interesting to see the Aggressor save the two students."
"About that, we don't have his current location. I thought you would have exterminated the Aggressor then?"
"I was about to, but the Aggressor and the two students suddenly disappeared. Besides, it would have been a pain if I picked a fight with him. He looked quite strong himself."
"It happened as you said. I was also able to observe three other Candidates returning to the bus, in case you would want to know."
"It's obvious that they returned to plunder what was left in the bus."
"Yes…" –Youichi blinked uneasily and tightened his lips into a thin line– "About the Aggressor problem, what should we do with him? With the way he defeated the dragon wouldn't he be a hindrance in our plans to recruit a new Sage?"
Sage Sion frowned a little, putting as minimal effort into thinking as she could. She then sank back into her bed and lazily looked into the ceiling.
"Since he and the two students are gone, it's not worth the effort to go after them. It's not like he's caused any problems yet."
"But what if he appears again?"
"The other Sages would probably take care of him. If you're still concerned, you may do whatever you think is right."
"Yes, Sage Sion," the Attendant said, after which he promptly left the room.
Sage Sion pouted a little. "Still so formal."
Meanwhile, Youichi decided to report to the other Sasges or their Attendant to exercise caution in case they see an Aggressor with the matching description.
"With her level," Youichi said to himself while walking down the corridors of the mansion, "she probably thinks of him as no more than a bug. I do wish she'd be a little more careful…"
JAPAN
The car smelled… clean? It smelled new, as far as Tomochika knew. The comfy car seats were also a plus. Two of the black suited men were sitting in the front while (in order) Jinwoo, Jinah and Tomochika were in the back. It happened so quickly but from what she remembered they were all led into the car closest to them and they have been driving somewhere for quite some time, the prolonged silence being super awkward. And the atmosphere was too tense to break through also, truly an awkward hell. Not only the atmosphere, but the mere presence of her friend's brother close to her also felt weird.
"Ahem," interrupted the guy in the passenger's seat, "if I may have your attention, we shall now start the debriefing."
He looked at them through the rearview mirror while saying so. The driver translated for Jinwoo and Jinah.
"To put it bluntly, since you've probably realized by now, you have been transported to another world. We are an… organization set up to protect humanity from external threats such as the people who transported you. As for what will happen to you, we will get into more detail when we arrive at our destination."
Finishing his explanation, the car's atmosphere returned to its tense atmosphere.
"These people kinda scare me, Oppa…" Jinah whispered to Jinwoo.
Jinwoo smirked and replied, "Don't worry, they really do have your best interests for this case, so it'll be fine."
"So… how do you know them?"
"Uh…" - Jinwoo clicked his tongue while thinking of a way to reply to her - "Work. I'll explain and answer stuff later, so wait a little longer."
Jinah stared at her brother suspiciously, but decided to let it slide and looked out the windshield. On the other hand, due to the fact that she had no sister to reassure her at the moment, she was still quite tense while Jinah was talking to her brother. Once she'd finished, Tomochika questioned her, trying to get some peace of mind.
"So… what did he say? Are we going to jail or some secret facility where we get experimented on!?"
"He said that we will be fine and that they'll tell us more later."
Honestly, this didn't clear her doubt away as much as Tomochika would have hoped, but she may as well take it. She was also curious about how her brother knew these scary-looking guys but she decided not to press further into the matter. For now, the girl wanted some peace and wanted to enjoy the surroundings. After all, all of this was almost taken away from them not even an hour ago.
One and a half hours later…
"...ah, wake up. We're here."
Jinah felt her body being gently shaken by a hand on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by her brother.
"Wake your friend too," he said.
Tomochika took a little longer to wake up. Seeing her sleep so comfortably in this kind of situation, it felt like a crime to wake someone like her up. Eventually, Tomochika's eyes fluttered open.
"Are we there?" She asked, half asleep. "Where are we?"
Jinah looked to her side, towards a lonely building, with no other buildings as far as she could see, where her brother was waiting for her at the entrance. There was a wooden board hanged on the front of the building with dark letters that read:
CAFÉ ROSE.
As Jinah and Tomochika got out of the car and walked towards the place, they couldn't help but feel glad for the snowy background and the cold, freezing air biting at their faces, the opposite of the deceptively non-threatening warm plains of the Otherworld. Contrasting the still dark sky was a wintery landscape which was illuminated by stray street lamps. And contrasting the mostly white background was a line of black cars that'd already arrived before them.
When Jinah stepped into the café, she noticed that the place was empty. Despite the warm smell of bread and the sweet and sour smell of fruit, she didn't see a single employee nor customer anywhere. Neither were there couples, for that matter.
A black-suit motioned them to sit down on the long table, in the middle of the room, where the driver of the car was sitting beforehand. He motioned Tomochika to sit in front of the sitting driver.
Once they all sat down, the man in front of the siblings started talking,
"Now that we have arrived, we want you to tell us what happened before and after you were transported to the other world.."
Jinah noticed that the black-suit next to him was speaking softly in Japanese to Tomochika. Besides that, she was very surprised that they were talking about this in a café of all places.
I thought we were going to some secret facility or something, Jinah thought. She felt pretty grateful right now. Will we get drinks or something to eat?
Of course, Jinah didn't dare ask the question. But, of course:
"Why don't we get them something to eat or drink?" asked Jinwoo. "We should calm them down a little, don't you think?"
The black suits looked at each other. The driver took out a walkie-talkie, said some things into it, and then asked the girls what they wanted. Though Jinah initially passed, at the insistence of her brother she finally ordered a drink, as did her friend who looked both a little nervous but surprisingly laid back. Jinwoo and, much to the surprise of the girls, the driver (the Japanese translator) ordered a drink also, the translator ordered an iced coffee.
A black suit came out of the kitchen (Tomochika and Jinah raised their eyebrows at the sight, looking at each other to see whether either of them had processed it) weirdly quickly, put their drinks on their table, and then left the building. As easy as it would have been to just conjure the drinks in front of everyone, they decided to minimize supernatural abilities they use for now.
"Anyways," the black-suit speaking Korean continued, "please, tell us what happened as detailed as you can."
Tomochika and Jinah did as instructed.
"We will discuss what's going to happen from here on forward… Yes?"
Tomochika lowered her hand. "What about our other classmates, uh…"
"Ah, call me Smith." the black-suit replied. "As for the agent who has been translating for you, you can just call him Takeshi. As for your classmates, we will get to it… Yes?"
"Uh… what is your connection to my brother?" Jinah finally asked. She needed to hear the answer first before listening to what was going to happen to her later.
"Your brother helps with the containment of different spatial anomalies and breaches. As for how your brother got his powers, we will leave it for your brother to explain.
"Continuing on, no one knows that your bus and your classmates disappeared as there were no cameras or any other cars present to see the bus. Therefore, we have three options. One, to leave the bus as an unsolved case, with you as survivors. We'll create a cover story for your survival. Two, to cover up the disappearance as an accident, complete with a fake crashed bus and ultra-realistic cadavers. Finally, to return to the Otherworld, locate your classmates and return them to our world."
Jinwoo snapped his neck towards Smith. He felt an outrage inside of him.
"We should obviously choose the third one, don't you think?"
"Of course," Smith replied, "that would be the best option. However, we must take into account so many factors. We don't know how powerful the threats there will be, especially when they operate on different rules than us. And, with all due respect, we don't even know how much of your power can function in a world with different rules as there. We know they can transport people from one world to another, meaning that it's possible that they will follow you back to this world when you succeed. There are too many risks!"
As much as he didn't want to admit, he did feel slightly conflicted. The students they wanted to save DID betray his sister and three classmates, resulting in the death of two. He thought back to when the Orcs had invaded Jinah's school in the previous timeline. Her classmates there had banded together, trying to defend themselves. No one used the others as bait so they could get away. In this case, however…
It was suggested that a student may have used a mind-influencing skill to have all the students leave the bus, but it was still unpleasant to think about.
Jinwoo was taken out of his thoughts as he felt a slight tug on his sleeve. He looked to his side and saw his sister pinching his sleeve.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Oppa… I know that they acted like that, but I don't want them to stay there. It's too dangerous there. Unless you can't… Can you guys get them out of there?"
Jinwoo made up his mind. He was going to, no, he HAD to save them, to get them
back to their home, their family. Even the dead students in the bus.
"We… I will do my best."
"What option we will choose will be discussed privately within the organization, so for now we will address where you will stay for the time being."
Tomochika imagined a white room with them in a straitjacket, locked up there forever. She shuddered at the thought.
"You will be situated at a private residence that our organization has bought for situations such as these and you will stay there until we manage to successfully resolve the anomaly. If we manage to return your classmates, we will address further matters with you and your classmates. If not, we will swiftly act according to protocol (do not ask what it is, we will tell you eventually). Any questions?"
"Wait, so there were other people who went through the same experience as us?" Tomochika asked. "How many?"
"Confidential."
"Uh… where is this residence?"
"Will we be able to use our phone?"
"Yes, but your activity will be monitored."
"Um, how long will we have to stay there?" Jinah asked nervously.
"Situations like these usually take around two weeks to be resolved. But for this one, depending on what option we will go with, it can be extended to over a month. Any other questions?"
As an answer, the room was quiet. The only sound made was of Jinah finishing up her strawberry latte. Once all of the cups on the table were emptied, they were instructed to return to the car. For some reason, Jinwoo was told to stay behind for a bit. The driver, Jinah, and Tomochika returned to the car outside.
Tomochika reached for her pocket and found it empty. Sadly, it seems that she left it on the bus. She looked to her right and saw Jinah looking out towards the café.
There's nothing to do, Tomochika thought, let's just admire the outside…
There's only so much to admire about a background that only had two colors, black and white.
"Jinah-san," Tomochika asked, since there was nothing to do, "Do you have internet?"
"Sorry, there is no internet here," Jinah replied. She turned on her phone and showed Tomochika the blank bars and the lack of a Wi-Fi symbol.
"Haaaah…" Tomochika sighed. She leaned on the back of her seat and counted wooden boards from her family dojo. Surprisingly, they were usually a good object to focus on for sleep. Unfortunately, it didn't work this time. So she just closed her eyes, trying to catch some sleep. It's not like she could make conversation with the driver, right?
Eventually, Smith and Jinah's brother came out of the café and entered the car. Tomochika and Jinah felt a little less tired after briefly being hit by the chilly breeze from outside again.
The driver grabbed a walkie talkie from his pocket and ordered the cars in front of them to move first. Jinah watched as each of the 3 cars started to hypnotically depart from the line, one by one. Eventually, their car moved, followed by three other cars behind them. Tomochika looked outside her window, tracing the passing rails with her eyes. Combined with the soft rumbling of the car and the quiet occupants of the vehicle, she eventually fell asleep. Talking a lot tired her more than she expected. Weirdly, Jinah also felt very tired. She rubbed her eyes, closed them, and then slept.
For a while, there was no talking. Just the rumbling of the car and the slight friction between the tires and the road.
Slowly, Jinwoo turned his head and casually looked upon the sleeping Japanese girl. Her breathing made her chest rise and fall slowly and in regular intervals. Quite a calming sight. And a handsome man like himself fondly looking as the helpless body of a teenager, how frisk–
"Hey, who are you?" Jinwoo sternly asked, his eyes glowing with a slightly threatening aura.
Wha– how can he see me?! She thought.
The ghost panicked.
Bonus Content!
REPORT
Date: xx/xx/xxxx
Subject: Testimony of Returners from Parallel World
*Since all of the objective facts in both of their accounts could either be corroborated or did not differ at all, their accounts will be composited into one singular testimony.
** The names of the returners will be changed to Witness J and Witness D.
*** Due to Witness J's difficulty in understanding Japanese, most details were provided by Witness D.
The narrative is as follows:
The passengers, consisting of the class chosen to go on the retreat and their homeroom teacher, were on their way to the hotel reserved by the school via a bus, also reserved by the school, from the airport. After roughly one and a half hours of driving, the bus went through a tunnel. From the testimonies of the witnesses, exchange student Witness A and classmate Witness D, it appears that the bus never finished going through the tunnel when the students saw, instead of the dark and snowy landscape they'd just seen, a blue sky and a vast plain.
According to Witness D, she heard the driver remarking to the teacher that the bus did not stop even when the bus driver stepped on the brake, but instead kept moving, albeit more slowly than before. Eventually, the bus stopped, and the bus door was forcefully opened followed by the entrance of a (in appearance) human woman,with blonde hair, wearing a pink-purple dress (according to Witness D, "she looked like a pitiful magical girl cosplayer"). She greeted the students, introducing herself as "Sion" and addressing the students as "Sage Candidates". The teacher tried to question the said woman however she killed him for interrupting. And, according to Witness D, after an unsuccessful attempt at calming the students, she incinerates the driver in annoyance.
She claims responsibility for their transportation to the parallel world, stating that they were summoned for the purpose of being "Sage Candidates" to replenish the decrease in number of "Sages" (beings who "manage" the world) in the world, and grants them the ability to utilize various powers via installing a "system" within each student. Witnesses J, D, and two others were not compatible with the "system" (called "Battlesong" by Sion) and therefore did not receive nor experience any alteration to their being.
Sion tells the students that they must produce a "Sage'' within a month, the punishment for failure to do so being the harvesting of everyone's mana by, according to Sion, having them locked up in a "dark magic tank" where they will spend their entire life in where they will have their mana harvested. The reward for producing a "Sage" is that the others can become their assistants which (according to Sion) is still a position that holds immense influence in the world.
Sion then leaves the bus and a "mission" appears to those who have the system, the mission being to survive an incoming dragon "with a taste for humans". After approximately one hour, the students decide to use the four non-gifted students as bait for the dragon. After a brief altercation, the remaining four are confined in the bus with the door jammed shut. According to Witness D with some detail provided by Witness J, a student uses her "skill" called "beautification" to make the four students look more appetizing as to distract the dragon from the escaping students. And according to Witness D, the student who led the others probably used a mind-altering ability on his classmates to listen to his orders.
Student A then Student K were first killed soon after. The witnesses escape through a hole made by the dragon. The Shadow Monarch arrives and saves the witnesses, allowing them to return back to our world.
- END OF NARRATIVE -
METHOD for RETRIEVAL
We followed traces of an unknown energy (most likely mana of the Otherworld) through the direction of the distortion of space. After continuously traveling to each world, the Monarch of Shadows eventually found the correct world, and used a Return Stone to make the process of returning to this world much easier.
CONCLUSION
As there are too many unknowns about this world, an expedition is recommended if more answers are needed. However, anything more than a solo expedition to this Otherworld is not recommended due to an experience discussed with the Shadow Monarch (refer to INTERVIEW). As for how we should proceed, it is a priority to locate and return the students back to this world. Upon their return, memory erasure will be applied on all affected students, including both Witnesses.
Entities of Interest
DRAGON
Threat Level: Neutralized
It is a wyvern as it only possesses two legs and two wings. It is green with a sharp, bony stinger at the end of its tail. Approximately 40 ft. long, longer than the bus the Witnesses rode in. It is able to completely withstand destroying the bus via impact by diving from the sky. It was killed by the Shadow Monarch
SION
Threat Level: Unknown
A woman with blonde hair, pink-purple dress set, and an estimated height of 5'6". Despite her appearance, she seems to be of Japanese origin, speaking the language perfectly. She has no regard for human life, killing two people unprompted out of annoyance.
Her arrogance may come from her immense strength, which is unable to be estimated due to the Witnesses only witnessing a fraction of it, including the ability to grant other abilities to others through the "system"*, to manipulate energy of some kind as seen by the death of the class's teacher, and the ability to conjure and possibly manipulate fire of immense heat, able to completely destroy the driver and melt parts of the bus, as testified by both Witnesses. It can be assumed that she is a "Sage". She also claims to be over level 530,000, though unknown by how much, nor how strong a level is (to be discussed later). However, it can be assumed that she is powerful and that conflict should be avoided if possible.
A known ability that is the most dangerous is the ability to summon people from another world. Whether she can use her ability to travel to other worlds is unknown, nor to what extent she can use her ability. And with the process of choosing a "Sage Candidate" considered, it can be assumed that Sion was not originally of the Otherworld but instead was also transported to the Otherworld from a different world, and, in all likelihood, so were the other Sages.
Other Things of Interest
OTHERWORLD
Threat Level: Unknown
A world reminiscent of fantasy worlds of novels and several animated media. Mana and magic, floating lands, and dragons are all that is known to exist that significantly differs from what exists in this world. This world, in all probability, has another Creator with significantly different rules in regards to power.
* SYSTEM
Threat Level: Medium (Must be terminated from user as soon as all users are retrieved)
It seems to be very similar to the System the current Shadow Monarch used to get stronger. There seems to have been several iterations of it, and is run by a software called "Battlesong". The System grants a variety of abilities, some that have never existed in the previous timeline such as the ability to subtly manipulate the mind to follow orders and the ability to make a target more attractive as bait.
[MINIMUM LEVEL FOUR ACCESS REQUIRED]
According to Mokomoko, she is the reason that the System was not installed within Witness D. Mokomoko describes the system as thus: "When I detected something being installed within [Witness D], I had to destroy it. The thing being installed, the System you say? It is truly a frightening thing: it decreases the user's fear of death and makes them less adverse to killing or causing collateral. A thing created for battle. It slowly changes the user into something else, a cold machine or a bloodthirsty being that thrives on killing. You see why I couldn't leave it be?"
[MINIMUM LEVEL FOUR ACCESS REQUIRED]
MOKOMOKO
Threat Level: Safe
An spiritual entity who sticks with Witness D. She claims to be the witness's ancestor and the family's guardian spirit, meaning that she originated from this world. She has the appearance of a plump woman, long hair, and wears white clothing in the style of the fashion during the Heian era. She refers to herself as a "High-Level Divine Spirit". As a being of energy, she can apparently charge devices or act as a signal amplifier. Interviewed when both witnesses were sleeping in the car.
INTERVIEW (FOR AGENTS OVER LEVEL 3 ACCESS)
Smith: When I saw you return, many of our agents, myself included, could observe you in subtle distress. Could you explain why? I must make it clear that you do not need to share your experience, but -
Monarch of Shadows: It's fine. Right before I left with [Witness J] and [Witness D], I expanded my senses to observe my surroundings. But… I couldn't see very far because something noticed me. I could tell that whatever it was, it was very powerful and against my best interests to not fight it in my current situation.
Smith: Is it possible that this entity could have been this Sion mentioned by the witnesses?
MoS: Possibly, I didn't look far enough. They probably detected my mana presence early on, though. What I DO know is that they were somewhere closeby before we left. They were observing us. Whether it was arrogance or overconfidence, I think they didn't care much as long as I returned as quickly as I came back. What I could tell was that they were strong.
Smith: How strong? Stronger than you?
MoS: … I don't know.
Smith: And you are still willing to return to the Otherworld?
MoS: Well… [Witness J] asked me to, even after all that. I don't think I can refuse. Besides, they're kids. They should return home before they get killed there. As a protector of this world, I at
Smith: Did you manage to resurrect the dragon?
MoS: … I think it would be weird if I could, given that it was a world with different worlds. I didn't try to, though, because I felt using that amount of mana would make me detectable.
Smith: I see… Anyways, if you are going to return to the Otherworld—
MoS: And I will.
Smith: —we will have to return to this topic later and make sure that all preparations for a possible contact with the… threat have been made.
MoS: Of course.
Smith: …Monarch of Shadows, I didn't want to discuss this too openly with the…witnesses with us, but you do realize that we will have to erase their memories eventually?
MoS: Like you did with my father.
Smith: Yes. Like your father, many who retain knowledge and memories of the Otherworld are rendered severely distressed, traumatized, or power-hungry along with several negative effects.
MoS: Do any of them retain their powers?
Smith: Usually not. In some cases, their power and/or system is not compatible with this world, rendering them nonfunctional. In others, memory wipes are enough to erase their memories of spells, making them forget how to utilize the fabric of the world. Of course, rarely, we extract the foreign energy in them to return them back into ordinary people. So far, there have been no incidents of their powers returning fully.
MoS: Alright. And we will discuss my return to the Otherworld another time. I'm going.
- END OF INTERVIEW -
Welp, a month has already passed. Shit happened here and there, but now, I'm back. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I made the chapter extra long because I was feeling great. Anyways, have a nice day. Stay hopeful and eat good food once in a while.