Mr.PurpleBook

I realize that I'm not the kind of guy who's good at sticking to schedules. I'll still try to stick to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. But since school's picking up for me, don't be surprised if a chapter is late by a day or two.

Chapter 18 - Alien Ambassador

I caught up to where Anna was waiting for me after classes ended. 

"Hey!" I waved to her as I neared her.

I was still conscious about how I was just in P.E. before this, so I made sure I didn't go too close to her.

She nodded back at me. "Mary has already left for the day, so it'll just be the two of us."

"Sure," I replied. "We're still meeting at the library today, right?"

"Actually, no." She began to move towards where the bus stop was, and I followed after her. "I feel as if your current level of skill is sufficient enough that I can bring you along with me as I accomplish one of my chores."

"Chores?"

"As a magician, there are multiple jobs that we handle away from the public eye." She gave me a small smirk. "From dealing with cursed objects to investigating supernatural events, and even dealing with other awakened factions from time to time."

I frowned as she spoke and looked around us. "Is it okay to say stuff like that in public?"

She shook her head. "Nobody will be able to listen to our conversation. I've already set up a security measure for that."

Huh. 

Concentrating on the feeling of our surroundings, I was able to make out a shifting presence moving around in the air. "That's a useful trick."

"You'll probably learn it soon," she replied. The two of us sat down and began to wait for the bus. "Now, I've mentioned before that magicians are just a kind of role assigned to an awakened person. However, the number of awakened individuals cannot simply be encompassed by a label defining magic users."

"So you're saying that other awakened people aren't like magicians?"

"Correct," she nodded and began to list off names off the top of her head. "There are the Martial Artists of Murim, the Agency of the Council of Angels, the Demons of the Red Planet, the Association of Magic Affairs, the People of the Lost World, and multiple small organizations that even I don't know about."

Murim? Council of Angels? The Lost World?

"I have so many questions."

She nodded in a sagely way at that. "As would anyone else. The five names I've listed are currently the most powerful factions in the supernatural world. Most awakened people probably heard mention of one of those organizations before."

My head began to hurt as I tried to recall everything she just said. "That's a lot to remember."

"Eh, I grew up hearing their names and accomplishments." She shrugged her shoulders. "But in your case, I doubt you'll need to remember them since the chance of encountering anyone from those organizations are slim."

"What about the... thingy with the Magic Affairs?" I asked. "Are we part of their faction since we're magicians?"

"The Association," she clarified. "And to answer your question, no we don't. You're technically not part of any faction, while my family has been close to the Demon World for several generations now."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that earlier." I reviewed the memories from when we first entered our partnership. "Something about how you're close friends with the Demon Princess?"

"She's not a Princess," Anna replied. "Being the daughter of the Demon King doesn't make you royalty. The position of Demon King is honestly more of a presidency, where you're elected based on your qualifications instead of your bloodline."

"Neat." I paused as I recalled what prompted this conversation in the first place. "So how does this relate to whatever job we're doing?"

The two of us saw the bus stopping and we stood up to walk towards it. "Well, as it so happens, it turns out that the current Demon King has business on Earth this week and his daughter is staying over at my place. We're going to pick her up now and bring her to my house."

I almost tripped at that.

"Wait, you're taking me to help a Demon Princess settle into your house?!" I gave her a wide-eyed look. "Are you sure about this? I have absolutely no idea how I'm supposed to handle myself around royalty."

"Just treat her like any regular teenage girl," Anna flippantly replied. "She's around our age, so it's not like it's impossible to get along with her. If you don't know how to start a conversation, just ask what her planet is like. She'll probably want to ask you questions about what the human world is like anyway, so it won't just be an awkward silence."

 "Well, I guess that's fine..." I muttered. "Asking questions about what the Demon World seems pretty cool. And if you think about it, this means that I'll actually be talking to an alien. Can't say everyone's done that before."

"Well, humans have dealt with aliens before out of the public eye since long ago." Anna ignored my gaping mouth as she boarded the bus. "What do you think all the crop circles and pyramids were for?!"

I shook myself out of my thoughts and quickly tried to catch up to her. "H-Hey, what are you implying there?! Are you saying crop circles are actually related to aliens? Hey!"

The more I learned about this world, the more questions I had.

oOo

"You really weren't kidding," I said in amazement. "You're actually serious about the crop circles."

Anna was currently busy drawing out various designs on a flat surface of the empty parking grounds she took us to. I was watching from the sides since I couldn't help her since I didn't know what she was doing.

"Again, mentality and the public perception of what is related to aliens play a big part in this." She stood up and used her wrist to clean some chalk dust off her face. "Geoglyphs and crop circles have a powerful connection to the idea of extraterrestrial life, and magic allows us to actualize the pseudoscience of such symbols and make it a reality."

Dropping her supplies into a little box next to her, she took a step back. "The Nazca Lines are a perfect example of this phenomenon. Anthropologists, ethnologists, and archaeologists have all tried to figure out what the giant geoglyphs were for, but were never able to truly figure it out. Due to the mystery of their purpose, claims of the Nazca Lines being related to extraterrestrial activities are still valid until proven otherwise."

Clapping her hands, she began to chant another spell.

"For breath — I breathe in the winds of a new world. Hear my request and let the whispers of demons and men dance together.  I request a path to the planet under the blessing of the God of War, and to facilitate the summons of the Aerolith Maiden onto our plane.”

The symbols on the ground began to glow a bright red, slowly growing in intensity as the pressure around them continued to build up.

It was getting harder to hear, so I yelled to Anna. "Is it working!"

"Yes," she yelled back. "She should be getting a response soon. Once she accepts the connection, she'll appear before us with whatever she's brought with her."

Suddenly, a glowing red mist began to emerge from the lines of the chalk. The mist began to form together into a dazzling spectacle of light and sound, all swirling together around the center of the parking lot.

The motes of light all began to merge until the rough outline of a person could be made out.

"I'm guessing that means she's accepted the call!"

"Yup!" She turned to me and gave me a wide grin. "Now, say hello to the daughter of the current Demon King. The one who was granted the title of Aerolith Maiden by all the citizens of the land."

The light finally started to dim as the figure of a young girl could be seen.

"My best friend, Irina Ares."

The girl herself finally noticed them and caught the last part of what Anna said. Smirking towards us, she puffed out her chest and followed up the introduction with her own line.

"And the most beautiful Martian there is."

It took me a second to process what she just said.

"What?"

"I did say that Demons were more accurately described as aliens." Anna was giving me a shit-eating grin at this point. "But I guess I wasn't specific enough. I should've said that it would be more accurate to call them Martians."

I could only stare at the two of them in shock. The two of them started to laugh at my dumbfounded expression. Meanwhile, I was processing another piece of information that forever changed my worldview.

Aliens were actually real.

Demons were aliens from Mars.

And right now, the alien was currently laughing at me along with my classmate who's also a magician.

I sighed to myself.

"When did my life get so weird?"