I remember the pain as the green flames were eating and consuming me. At first, it was just painful, my skin was burning and began to digest. While the flames absorbed and crept further into me until it reached my bones, which in the end were also absorbed. Until nothing was left. I held Cecilia tight to the end, but I knew it was to no use.

 

But my mind was still there. I couldn’t see, hear, speak nor feel. Only think. I just hoped it would be the last minutes of my brain being active after I have died, not that I have one anymore. After I ruled that out by the fact that my body was non-existent, when I just was present wherever I was now. 

 

After some time, what felt like an eternity, in which I only had my thoughts available to use, I decided to do something about my current situation.

 

I tried to search for any lead for my 5 senses, I had lost. But I couldn't find any . The few things I found out was that I can’t see anything, I didn’t even recognize the endless darkness or any form of colour. There was absolutely no input for me to recognize it, same for my ears and my other lost senses. 

 

When I finally accepted that I have to live with my thoughts for the rest of eternity, someone started to pull me towards them. It was like someone grabbed me with a big hand. Then I started to even feel something. The being who had grabbed me, dug the tip of a finger into me. Directly into the core of my soul. I could feel every move from the finger, as it tried to trigger something that was deeply hidden inside the core of my soul. As soon as the nail of the finger touched the seal lightly, it shattered into nothingness. 

 

Immediately, an unknown source broke free and spread across my soul with a rapid speed. It laid a whole new network of veins and connected every millimetre of my soul, just for it to pulse freely through me. As it waited the whole time to be released, to be awakened. The unknown power was something I have never experienced, but it still felt like it was part of me. 

After it laid its last veins, I could feel it pouring through me with a powerful, wrathful and uncontrollable mass.

 

While I observed and tried to comprehend the newfound power that now flowed inside me, the hand that held me let go and the finger disappeared out of my soul. After that, I was alone again. Since I had nothing else to do, I started to experiment with the power I just received. 

 

It wasn’t something I could control. I could move it a bit and then it abruptly changed its direction of its own. After then I tried to move in countless other directions just for it to change its mind after a short while. Following that, I tried other techniques to control it. In the beginning I was sure it was possible, since it felt like it was part of me and could change the way it moves at the beginning of every try. But after a while, I had to give up. It seems that it was against his code to be controlled, like a natural disaster that we will never be able to tame.

 

While I was drifting back into my thoughts, I wondered what happened to Cecilia. I don't think she has survived, but I can’t tell that for sure. Or has she also experienced the same things I did? I jumped then to the next thought about what had happened earlier. I already accepted that I was dead. Nonetheless, I’m not someone without regret. I still have two little sisters I had to care for. Now they are alone. I still had the money I inherited from our parents and the savings that I got from my part-time jobs. That should provide them with enough money for some time. 

 

As I was occupied with thoughts of my sister, I almost didn’t notice that the hand came back. I realized that just after it held me tightly. And when I did, I was across the whole universe. I broke the layers of dimensions, shattered the barrier of time and consumed the whole cosmic with all their hidden wonders. Weirdly, I could feel the coldness of the galaxy, see the stars that engulfed me and heard the cracking of planets that run out of their lifetime.

 

But with this astonishing spectacle, I completely forgot about everything else. I just wanted to savour this view as the colours flew by and were mixing to a dance battle between them. Like two rivals, always trying to beat the other one.

 

But all of a sudden, everything turned black. Still, my senses were not taken from me again. I heard in the distance some noises and sounded like they were chanting something. It took a while before I noticed I had the ability to move my finger again. Then after some time my leg and then I was able to open my eyes. Which was quite painful because the rays of the sun shined directly into my eyes. While I’m trying to adapt to the sunlight, I felt that I not only got the feeling back for my limps, but also from the insides. My organs are shifting through my body, looking for the place where they normally belong. In addition to that, I was having the biggest headache I have ever had. It felt like it would explode and any unnecessary movements would worsen it or even trigger it to do so.

 

However, it seems I was not the only one. I could hear the groans of my classmates and confirmed it moments later with the blurry view my eyes provided me when I looked to the left and right, without trying to move my head too much. Most of them laid on the ground with a few already on their knees. But the ones who were, were just vomiting and tried not to drown in it. 

 

When I looked to my right again I saw Cecilia lying next to me. But she wasn’t in a better position than anyone else. She had put herself in a fetal position with her hands covering her stomach and moaned in pain. As I couldn't do anything to help her since I was in no better condition, I saw a pair of sandals next to me. When the owner of these came down on her knees with a thin bottle in her hand. Then tried to give Cecilia some sort of red liquid with gold accents out of a thin cylinder-shaped glass bottle. She didn’t give the possibility to do so since she was occupied with the pain that plagued her nor held still. Then the person tried to hold her still and pressed the bottle against her lips and pressed two fingers against her nose wings to close it. She opened her mouth immediately and began to swallow the content that flowed out of the bottle into her.

 

When the mysterious person turned to me and took out a full bottle while putting the empty one way, into a small case where a few other ones were strapped to the interior. While I was watching the person bring down the strange liquid to my lips, I inspected the content of it suspiciously. But with Cecilia still in my sight, I could see that she got better and even was able to sit down and showed no pain in her perplexed face. As I didn’t have a choice nor could I refuse it even if I wanted since I could barely move and was in massive pain. 

 

I opened my mouth a bit to drink the red-golden liquid. When the person saw my mouth move, the movement of the bottle stopped. Shortly after the action resumed. When it finally reached my lips and started to pour it into my mouth, without holding my nose closed. After I swallowed the content, I felt an immediate reaction. My pain was vanishing, so was my headache and the urge to vomit. 

 

Just a moment later I felt that my body was back in my control and slowly tried to sit up. Then I finally saw the person who cured me with just some drops of this mysterious liquid. She had her head turned in a different direction and told someone that I was the last one. When she finally turned back to me, I saw a beautiful woman. She was tall with long legs, which you could see through the slit that ended mid-thigh on the side of her clothing that resembled a tunic. The woman in the red coloured tunic that had a few golden accents that hang just above her knees, was smiling and looked at me with her hazelnut brown eyes and put some of her loose brown hair with a tint of red behind her ear.

 

“You surprised me a bit earlier. By everyone else I had to force the potion down their throats.”

 

As I then finally stood up, feeling replenished and feeling nothing out of the ordinary like the pain was never there. I answered her with a hum. Next, I was observing my unfamiliar surroundings. I was on top of a hill, while the top, where I stood, was paved in a circle form with white stone plates that already showed their old age. The foot of the hill was surrounded by a dense forest with thick trees and gave a sacred feeling.

 

Additionally, there were five shrines in a triangular form that stood on the edge of the platform at a regular distance from each other. On the stone plates were strange symbols and runes carved in. It was concentrated in the centre and spread out until five lines went to the shrines and atop of the triangular shrine, there is a bowl carved into the edge of it, which looks like you could fill with some liquid. If you look precisely into the carvings on the ground you could see that these were reminders from a bright-green fluid with a hint of turquoise.

 

“Come, the messenger of the goddess of miracles wants to talk to you and will answer all your questions.”

 

Said the woman who, I assume, is a sort of priestess or healer who gave me the potion. As I observed my environment and started to walk, some students were already questioning the strangers who were spread across the platform and demanded some answers. Others were still in shock of the recent events and a few were crying. When the odd figures finally calmed the students down and gathered us around at one of the shrines where the messenger of a god was waiting to answer our question.

 

“So this is the world where I will collect my harem and rise to glory. Hehehe. Then I will take my revenge. I will probably have a ton of cheat skills. Hehehe.”

 

‘Maybe not everyone thinks of this as a big disaster’ I thought while listening to Amos’s mumbling again.

 

When we gathered around the triangular shrine and behind it was the messenger still talking to an elderly man. While she was having her conversation, everyone went to their friends and were standing by their social group. Except a few, including me and Cecilia, who stood right next to me and leaned her shoulder against my upper arm. I could feel her trembling lightly.

 

When the messenger finally finished with her chat and pulled off her blue-purple hood and revealed herself. She’s a mature woman who looks like she is in her end-thirties, but hasn’t lost any of her charm. She has an hourglass figure and braided her black hair, which its tip reached her lower back.  The most extraordinary thing about her was her eyes, they were the same colour as her hood, but that's not what them so special. It was the stars that shone brightly in her eyes like they were displaying the whole galaxy.

 

“Welcome to Ethereal, summoners. My name is Midne, a messenger of the goddess of miracles.”

 

She said that with a calm voice, but still loud enough for everybody to hear it. With that, everyone ended with their chats or stopped whatever they were doing and looked at her. Many were stunned by her looks, but she just resumed her speech.

 

“You all are probably wondering why you are here and why we summoned you to our world. I will tell you everything you need to know and after that, I will try to answer your question the best I can.”

 

She said that with such a graceful manner that nobody dared to interrupt her. After her short break, she continued.

 

“You are currently located near the capital of the Evandari Empire, Athsos. The Emperor was the one who asked my goddess for her support against the threat that appeared from the eastern sea 15 years ago.”

 

While she took another short break and observed everyone's reaction. When she decided that nobody was reacting or couldn’t even figure out what she meant, she resumed.  

 

“Of course, with such a demanding quest, my goddess gave you the necessary abilities you need to fight the threat and to overwhelm it and finally to thrive them off from our land.”

 

After she explained that, everyone was looking at her dumbfounded. Why should we fight off their problems? For that, I had to leave my sisters alone. 

 

After I was debating internally, many of my classmates also began to understand the situation we are now in. Then a big argument broke out.

 

“Why should we fight your war!”

 

“We didn’t ask to be summoned!”

 

The one argument after the other was thrown at her, without letting her get a chance to answer them. Everyone was outraged. We had to go through a lot of pain just for their egoistic cause.

 

“So we really got some cheat ability. Brilliant. My time to shine has finally come. Hahahaha.”

 

While I heard Amos talking to himself yet again, someone asked the question we all had in our minds.

 

“Can we go back to our world?!”

 

After that, everyone went silent and looked at her with a displeased face, while we were demanding an answer.