Christa holds Juliana in her arms with a mix of surprise and exasperation. The high school student Juliana, is embracing her tightly, her face buried in Christa’s breasts.

“I can’t believe you’re here, Ms. Rowfield! Jesus Christ, I’m glad you’re here! I’m… so glad...”

Christa looks at Juliana’s face. She sees tears start flowing from Juliana’s eyes. Juliana Cassidy silently sobs while in Christa’s hold.

Juliana has been escorted up these stairs by two people whom Christa recognizes as her maid and her guard. They stand quietly to the side while Juliana pours her emotions out.

Christa can understand Juliana’s sadness. Even now, Christa is trying to fight back her own tears. Both of them have been made to leave their world, their lives, everything they once cherished, to be here.

Juliana was one of Christa’s students from last semester when Christa was teaching another 12th grade English class. She is a smart student, and friendly with her classmates.

She is also quite adorable as she is slightly shorter than Christa with a slim figure, a dirty blonde, bob-cut hairstyle and a cute face. She looks like a slightly smaller version of Christa; it wasn’t her intention.

“It’s ok, Juliana. It’s alright. We’ll… we’ll get through it. Right now… Right now, I’m here with you.”

Christa places her right hand on Juliana’s head and gently strokes her hair. Juliana cries just a little more than before. They stay there for two minutes together while their escorts give them some distance.

Christa can see that Juliana’s attendant is a solemn type who doesn’t betray her emotional state from her expression.

I hope Juliana’s attendant has been helping her through this. Being torn away from your life like this is going to be extremely traumatic for someone of Juliana's age… 

Christa feels slightly different about herself because her ties to her world have been almost completely severed. She was raised by a single mother who died a few years ago and she has no remaining family ties.

She lives in a new city completely focused on the development of the students she instructs and she isn’t in a relationship at the moment. Even her friendships have faded because of her proximity from her friend group back in her home city.

But, Juliana has a family, doesn’t she? I remember seeing both of her parents at a parent-teacher conference. She’s probably--

Suddenly, Juliana leaves Christa’s embrace. It isn’t because of embarrassment. Juliana looks into Christa’s eyes with a look of anticipation.

“Ms. Rowfield… Do you… Do you know where Harry is?”

“Harry?”

“Yeah, you know. Harold Darmouth? He’s in your English Class this semester, right? He told me he had an exam in the morning when we were summoned... So, do you know where he is?”

Christa tries to recall where Harry was. She recalls the moment before she fell unconscious. She recalls seeing Harry there with Arthur and Alice, but then everyone was engulfed in flames and she fell unconscious.

For all she knows, Harry is alive; but it’s not clear yet. If she survived the flames then they did too, right?

Harry must have been one of the three hundred summoned here, right?

“He was with the class when we saw the snow outside but then the fire came and… and then I don’t...”

“But... he was with your class when the fire happened, right?”

“Y-Yeah...”

“Ok… I think he’s alive then. I mean, I was also swallowed by that fire and I’m in one piece myself. If he was in your vicinity after the… what did you call that, Cairne?”

Juliana prompts her attendant for the piece of information she needs.

“It’s known as the ritual of water, the freezing stage of the summoning ritual. In the past, any person outside of the summoning area was killed during the ritual of water by being flash frozen. If your friend was with this woman, Ms. Rowfield, after the snow fell and everything surrounding you froze solid, then he’s likely still alive as a summoned hero.”

The woman Cairne answers Juliana in a straightforward manner, her expression not changing in the slightest. Cairne is a beautiful, blonde, tan-skinned woman in a blue dress.

Christa didn’t know any of that. Ritual of water? Was that what the snowfall was? Christa asks Cairne in curiosity.

“What was that snowfall? And the fire? What was the purpose of all that?”

“My lady, it is the ritual whereby the enemies of you summoned heroes on your original world are sacrificed as tribute to bring you over here. It was the gift given to those heroes summoned previously from their battlefields to remove their ties from their home world. But, this time... the people summoned have been students untrained in combat. We’re… not sure exactly what to make of that or why the same ritual of fire and water still occurred. Our guess is… it probably has something to do with the operation of the summoning.”

Juliana ignores the extra information Cairne offers. Right now...

“The important thing is that Harry’s still alive. That’s all I wanted to hear!”

Juliana wipes away her tears and puts on an optimistic smile. Christa knows that Harry and Juliana are cousins. These two are lucky because they have their family here with them. Christa sighs in relief.

“Yeah… yeah, he is…”

Christa and Juliana smile brightly at one another. Brunlit, Christa’s guard and holy knight, speaks up.

“My lady, should we not continue walking?”

Christa looks at Brunlit. She has had a brief respite and a small meal. She could probably continue walking…

“...Alright, let’s continue then. Juliana, I’ll be walking with you now. Hm. Actually, do you need to take a break or anything? You must have been climbing for a while.”

“No. I’m fine. Cairne, my attendant, used healing magic on me a few minutes ago. It’s like my body reset and I gained all my stamina back! And now that I know that Harold’s fine, I could probably run a marathon!”

“Healing magic? Is that what it sounds like? Magic that heals wounds and stuff?”

Ponyi speaks up to Christa’s inquiry,

“Yes, my lady. Healing magic of the lowest tier can restore stamina and heal sore muscles.”

“Wow, that’s amazing! What can healing magic of the highest tier do?”

“Hm. That’s an interesting question... I heard that popes in the past have performed reanimation tier healing magic… Is that right, Cairne?”

“I believe so, Lady Ponyi. In the past, when the holy popes were chosen to be incarnations of Sapiora, they gained the ability to resurrect the dead. Even if arms are lost, organs destroyed, even if the brain died hours ago, so long as major rotting of the body hasn’t taken place, the person can be restored to life.”

“Oh my gosh… that’s… that’s so far ahead of our medical science it’s… it’s unbelievable...”

“Come on. That’s got to be wrong… Even hours after brain death? That’s… that’s impossible!”

Christa expresses shock while Juliana denies Cairne’s claims. Juliana hasn’t fully assimilated the knowledge that she’s in a world with magic just yet. A world where scientific possibilities are constantly overturned by the existence of the supernatural.

~

Christa and Juliana keep walking up the stairs. Several hours pass.

Cairne also applies healing magic to Christa in order to reduce her fatigue. Ponyi would have done so already but she doesn’t have an affinity for healing magic like Cairne has.

Cairne reveals to Christa and Juliana how she’s the first daughter of a baron family who fled from Therea when the demons first attacked a few years ago. Her rank is lower than Ponyi who is from an Earl family.

Christa and Juliana learn more about the threat of the demons. The war the humans here are fighting. The deaths of millions. Cairne does most of the speaking and Christa can see how Cairne is patient and kind to Juliana. Quite motherly even.

For now, they’re in good hands.

Yuvna, Juliana’s guard, is a stoic individual who hasn’t spoken a single word for as long as they’ve been walking. However, he is careful that Juliana doesn’t get hurt.

Once, along the trip up these mountain stairs, when Juliana almost fell backwards, Yuvna swiftly and carefully caught her in his gauntlets. Christa has also explained to Juliana how they’re actually climbing a staircase carved in the center of a mountain.

Juliana is flabbergasted. They talk to each other about what they each know since getting here. Neither of them have seen the other students. Apparently Christa and Juliana were among the first heroes to wake up.

Eventually however…

“My lady, you were also given the ring?”

Cairne notices on Christa’s left pinky finger, a small purple ring. It is a ring that was given to her by the archbishop Jultrem. Christa didn't know its significance and had been preoccupied by a lot of other things to ask.

She might have forgotten it was there if not for Cairne speaking up. She only really knows that she must never remove it under any circumstance.

“Yeah, I was given this by the archbishop Jultrem, I think his name was. By the way, what is this thing? I’m not being asked to be the archbishop’s wife, right?”

Juliana, Ponyi and Brunlit laugh. Christa, in exchange, learns that people of this world also have the tradition of the ring to signify matrimony. At least Ponyi and Brunlit do.

Or were they laughing because it’s absurdist humour? Or perhaps because they know that it is a tradition to signify matrimony from previous heroes? Or perhaps they infer that it’s a signal of matrimony from my context? Hm. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a detective… No shit, Sherlock...

Juliana looks curiously at her teacher deep in thought.

“M-Ms. Rowfield, it’s some kind of emergency escape magic tool. That’s all I was really told about it. Can you explain anything more about it, Cairne?”

“That isn’t a tool I have seen before. I know that it is extremely expensive and I have seen the pope wearing it but… do you know, Yuvna? By the way, I think it isn’t very polite to remain silent around the women here, please converse with us more. The girls are nervous.”

“N-No, Cairne, we’re not nervous!”

Juliana denies any anxiety towards Yuvna. However, in truth, when Juliana woke up, Cairne was with her like a bright ray of light and Yuvna was… like the elephant in the room.

When Juliana saw Yuvna, she knew not to speak up or complain about her situation. Even when it became clear that Juliana is a divine hero and even when she learned that Yuvna is her protector.

Juliana believes (somewhat reasonably) that Yuvna is more than just a protector. He is the implicit threat of violence against her should she not obey these people. A mighty individual who could cut her down should she resist.

Right now, she is not so afraid, now that Christa is with her and after Yuvna gracefully stopped her from tumbling down the stairs but still… she’s in a strange situation and it feels somewhat precarious.

“Hm… Yes. I believe that those rings are transportation artifacts… In case of emergency, we are to activate them for you so that you may be transported to the holy city of Reid instantly. They are single use, can’t be used indoors and there aren’t enough for every hero, which is why those heroes who are most promising to the archbishops are given these rings in case the circle at the mountain peak fails. But we still need you to the peak, so we don’t have to waste these...”

“Thank you, Yuvna. There, Juliana… are you less afraid now? He’s harmless.”

“I-I was never afraid, Cairne! I was just… I wasn’t afraid!”

Cairne smiles softly at Juliana’s obvious denials. Christa sees how good Cairne is at making Juliana feel safe and secure. Juliana even lowers her guard a little further around Yuvna.

An effective attendant, huh… I wonder if she’s already a mother herself… She looks to be in her early thirties I think, so probably… Wait, what did he just...

“What’s at the peak? I wanted to ask earlier. You just said it’s so we don’t have to use these rings and something about a circle?”

They’re being taken up to the peak as an alternative to the rings. What’s at the peak, is Christa’s question. Ponyi answers.

“At the peak is a transportation magic circle that will allow all of you heroes to be transported quickly to the holy city of Reid without using the rings or needing Miella and carriage. The rings you have are extremely rare and expensive. It's the reason that those rings are only distributed to some of the Cardinals and the Pope himself. We weren’t even planning to use the magic circle for transport but… it’s simply emergency protocol.”

“What is the emergency? I’ve heard the archbishop talk about that too but I didn’t get the details of it. Do you know, Ms. Rowfield?”

“No, Juliana, I don’t...”

Brunlit answers this question.

“Well, apparently, there were intruders to the primary summoning facility. They tried to pretend to be heroes like you and Juliana are, even sneaking into your group, but neither of them had the divine protection of the hero unlike you two, so we found them immediately. When they were restrained and interrogated, they started to get belligerent and resisted us. My friend Kinser was actually killed by one of them and then that one also went and killed an Archbishop. The Cardinal killed the other one, a female intruder, before she could fight back but somehow… she came back from the dead. The Cardinal was killed after probably confronting the two of them and now nobody can find the Cardinal’s body... and everyone who faced them in battle is either dead or severely wounded.”

The severely wounded men who Ajax had left alive relayed the fact that Shaula was still alive after being killed earlier by the Cardinal. Even the details of Ajax and Shaula’s powers were distributed to the knights.

“Oh my god… were they… were they after us? The heroes or whatever?”

Juliana asks this to Brunlit. The fact that they’re summoned heroes is ludicrous. The fact that they’ll be able to do god-like actions is something Juliana still can’t believe. But… the fact that people are sacrificing their lives so that the heroes including her can live...

“Yes, that’s what we believe--”

“I’m not sure about that.”

Cairne interrupts Brunlit to give her own opinions about the two intruders who are responsible for this emergency situation.

“I heard from Vonis and Nadir who attended to those two intruders that their stories match up to what Juliana has also said about her past. They both claimed that they were students, not warriors. They had said this before Juliana or any of the other heroes even woke up. I don’t know who they are or why they were able to use magic this soon but I think it’s too early to think that they’re on the side of the demons.”

“Cairne, they killed so many people though… Even the cardinal was killed. These are dangerous elements we’re dealing with...”

Christa gasps in shock. If this was a student then… who could have done something like that? Who is that much of a psychopath in her school?

“I’m not saying they aren’t enemies but they might actually be from the world of the heroes. And if they are from that world then it’s inconceivable that they’re working for the demons. We may have… made a mistake, that’s all.”

“...What were their names?”

Christa asks this question to Cairne. Perhaps Christa knows them. She has taught many students in the 12th grade this year. 

She has probably taught them either this year, or last year when she taught 11th grade English.

“Their names… Hmm… Vonis called one of the intruders… Ajax, a man, and Nadir said that the other intruder was a woman named Shaula.”

Christa stops walking forward.

“Hey, I think this is the exit, I don’t see anymore stairs! Wow, we’re at the top already! It took so long but… huh? Ms. Rowfield? Are you alright?”

Juliana looks over at the frozen Christa whose eyes are wide in shock and anger.

“Ajax… and Shaula… What? Hold on, what? Ajax and Shaula? Ajax Leonid and Shaula Seikennith? Those two!?”

Cairne’s eyes widen as she looks at Christa. Christa has just spoken their last names which Cairne didn’t even mention.

“...What happened to them? Are they ok? What did… What did you do to them? They’re my students! They wouldn’t hurt anyone! Unless… Did you hurt them? You said you restrained and interrogated them right? Did… Did you people mistreat them? They’re not intruders, they’re not enemies, they’re my students!! What happened to them!?”

Ponyi and Cairne slightly step back at Christa’s rage. Brunlit and Yuvna tense within their heavy armour.

“Ponyi, tell me right now! Where are they? Cairne!”

“Th-They are… They es-escaped! They’re somewhere in the Ystrian forests! I-I don’t know anymore about them.”

Ponyi gives this answer in fear. Even though Christa is a newly summoned hero, incurring her ire is not something she wants.

Cairne speaks up.

“We can’t find them. They’re… They’re gone. They probably won’t attack us again. But… from what we’ve been told we might not be able to stop them without a hero’s intercession.”

“Oh my god… What did… Ajax and Shaula… Jesus Christ, Ajax and Shaula!”

Juliana and Christa are near the top of the mountain now.

Christa is at the limit of her anger and fear.