“Earth,” Chad repeated with a nod. “Truly a strange tale. I haven’t ever heard of souls from another world wandering into this one, but I suspect it couldn’t have been a coincidence that so many of you aboard this dangerous ‘bus’ would end up here.”

“Yeah, I think it’s suspicious as well! Someone must have set us up!”

After listening to his side of the story, it had been time to tell ours. None of the stuff that should have been crazy to him had even fazed him. Maybe because he was already used to Dean’s nonsense.

“While I’m not an expert on the matter, maybe there might have been some kind of phenomenon that caused everyone in its vicinity to be sent here?”

Huh… Not something I’d thought about. The weather had been getting crazy that day compared to the weather report, that was for sure. So maybe it hadn’t been the weather, but a weird magical phenomenon as he’d said?

I quickly translated his words for our goblin and demon and they fell into thought as well.

“But if that’s true, then did everyone aboard the bus get sent here?” Kelly suggested.

Well, that would have been interesting. There were a lot of us aboard that bus. With Kelly as a demon, Willow as Goblin, and me as an Elf, I wondered how others had ended up.

“Heh. Maybe the idiot duo got reincarnated as cockroaches! Wouldn’t that be hilarious?”

“Fei…” Willow sighed.

“Or Judy! Remember how she loved to pretend she was a goddess? Imagine if she reincarnated here as the devil instead!”

“Uh, no.” Kelly raised her hand. “The devil wasn’t Judy.”

…

“Wait, you met the devil?! Wait. The devil exists?!”

“Uh, yeah. All demons are born in the underworld under the supervision of the devil.”

“The devil watches all babies being born? Creepy.” I mimicked a disgusted expression.

“Anyway,” Willow interrupted. “If it’s true that everyone from our class is here, we should try to search for them. We might learn the truth along the way.”

“I mean, sure…” I glanced at Kelly. “But wouldn’t some of them be born decades apart?” I pointed at her.

Kelly grimaced. “You’re right… Maybe some of them have already grown old and died…”

“We have to at least try,” Willow insisted. “Sure, maybe we won’t find everyone, but you, me, and Fei were born here only a few years apart. Moreover, the prophecy said otherworlders would come together, didn’t it?” I rolled my eyes at the mention of the prophecy. ”Maybe, like Kelly, those born way earlier are either long-lived or have been put into stasis,” Willow reasoned. “We can’t give up prematurely.”

“I mean, sure. Gives us some kind of goal at least.” I shrugged, turned to Chad, and proceeded to translate our chatter to him.

After listening to me, he nodded once again and said, “I too would like to find my old friend and make things right. And also…” His expression tightened. “Speaking of… I suspect he is part of the grand prophecy as well.”

Oh, not the stupid prophecy again!

“Ugh, the prophecy is nonsense! You shouldn’t listen to it!” I insisted.

But Chad shook his head. “No. The more I hear you speak about your previous world and your ‘classmates’ as you call them, the more I’m convinced.” He glanced at Kelly. “Even when not circulating her mana, I can feel the crest she carries.”

Wait, what? Crest? Kelly too?

I turned to the demon and yelled, “Hey, Kelly! Do you have one of those weird tattoos as well?” I pointed at my forehead.

“Hmm? Oh, uh, yeah. I do, actually.” She nodded and closed her eyes. A second later, her forehead began to glow. Unlike Willow, hers was black and crescent-shaped with its points aiming down. Two triangles to the sides looking like horns added to the look.

“The crest of the destroyer…” Chad murmured.

“What…?” I asked, turning back to him.

“That is the crest of the destroyer. One fated to destroy this world,” he replied, not taking his eyes off of Kelly.

“Oh, come on!” I threw my arms into the air. “Then what is that one?!” I pointed at Willow and shouted in English, “Willow! Show us your forehead tattoo thingie!”

“W-what?” She seemed taken by surprise.

“Just do it!”

“Alright…?” Just as Kelly, she closed her eyes, and after about a minute, the sun-like white pattern appeared on her forehead.

“The crest of the savior…” Chad whispered in awe. “One fated to battle the destroyers and save the world from them.”

Oh, I was so fucking done with this!

“What the hell is this?!” I shouted in half Elvish half English.

Everyone stared at me startled.

“Kelly! Apparently, that’s the crest of the destroyer he said. And Willow! You have the crest of the savior! And you two are fated to battle to the death or some crap! I told you all these prophecies are utter bullshit!” I finished my rant.

The two looked at each other, bewildered. Seconds passed before the silent staring contest was broken.

“I… Don’t really want to fight you to death…?” Willow suggested.

“Um, yeah. Me neither… Sounds like a bad idea,” Kelly agreed.

“So… Friends?”

“Yeah, friends.”

The two shook hands.

Chad kept staring. “This is… unprecedented. The prophecies never lied. Much less a grand prophecy.”

“Well, yeah. Maybe the grand prophecy was like the Titanic. The great and amazing big ship that would never sink! And then it sank.”

“I do not know what a Titanic is, but this definitely needs more investigation.”

“I know right! As I said, you can’t trust propaganda! It’s all fake news!”

Chad nodded, probably not even understanding half the words I’d just said.

“I will join you on your journey to find your ‘classmates’ and unravel the mystery of this false prophecy. For that, I will need to learn this ‘English’ of yours.”

“Oh, yeah! I’ll teach you! Don’t worry! I’m like the best teacher ever!”

Chad didn’t seem convinced.

BottledChaos

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