《We Summon You : One Last Time》


 -1 Hear me out or you might miss a lot of fun!

    @@


    Alright now, before getting into the novel, I want to tell you that parallel conversations (i.e., two conversations happening at the same time.) might play important role in the novel for ''comedy'' purposes mostly. So every time it is written in :


    ''Within the quotes'' it means that it is a background sound or a conversation.


    This is my second novel and I put my first novel on hold as I made some beginners mistakes there.


    I hope you guys like the novel.


    And the only request from my side is :


    PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AND REVIEW cause it helps me a lot, it gives me the inspiration to write and kind of gives me a push.


    And finally one last Obvious note: All the characters are fictional and have no resemblance to anyone existing.


    Thank you and I hope you guys like it.


    ~Deep_Diver@@

 1 We got a situation sir!

    Time: 2 am.


    Location: Indian Ocean.


    ''Knock Knock'' The sound echoed through the room as a middle-aged man in his 40''s turned his head slightly towards the door as he said "Come in.", in a stern manner.


    "Sir! we need you on the deck immediately." The words of a sweating Flight lieutenant Azar, who had run all the way from the deck, were raspy as he entered the Air Marshal''s chambers.


    "Let''s go." The middle-aged man got out of his chair and signaled the cadet in front of him to follow him. This was the Indian Navy aircraft carrier patrolling the Indian ocean which had all the best equipment in India.


    The middle-aged man sat across the control room in the deck as he glared at the Captain demanding to know why he was summoned at this time of the night.


    "We got a situation, sir. Look at this." The Captain immediately handed over a Fax to the middle-aged man whose eyebrows knitted together as soon as he finished reading it.


    "Order the best pilot we have to suit up to fly. Send him over immediately, now!"The seemingly harmless middle-aged man sprang from his seat. And as if he was a different person from before, his eyes turned serious as he stood on the deck staring towards a direction into the Indian Ocean. This man was the Air Marshal of the fleet, Ravinder Singh.


    As soon as the order left his mouth, the whole deck turned busy. It wasn''t long after which an F-35 was on its way to the coordinates 4¡ã55'' South and 78¡ã9'' East.


    The Fax was from ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) which reported weird and troubling Electromagnetic activities in a particular location in the Indian Ocean. ISRO couldn''t handle the reports they received themselves and had immediately contacted the patrolling carrier to clear their doubts after receiving permissions to utilize the navy.


    The F-35 didn''t take long to near the location in question.


    "Shh...Come in ranger-7." The radio buzzed in the heavy silence.


    "This is ranger-7, I am presently 3 klicks away from the destination and I am starting to have a visual. Over."


    "Can you identify what we are dealing with, ranger-7?"


    "Negative sir. I have no idea what it is."


    "Reduce your speed and proceed with caution, ranger-7. Over...shh."


    "Copy that."


    The Air Marshal tapped his legs impatiently as he leaned on his chair lost in thought. "What can it be?" The question echoed in his mind as he uttered it out loud. He rose from his seat and exposed himself to the light night breeze that entered the deck.


    "This is ranger-7 reporting in!" Everyone in the deck turned their attention to the radio, all of their faces painted with the same grave expression.


    "I have never seen anything like this, sir. I don''t even know how to start describing it. Is that a..." His words stopped in his tracks as he hovered his jet at his present location.


    "Complete your report ranger!" An angry voice rang in his ears.


    "Sir. Umm...I think I see a man." The doubtful voice reached the Air Marshal sitting across the control room, whose eyes narrowed as he commanded: "Send in a drone, I need to see for it myself." He ordered sternly as his eyes once again stared ahead, into the distance.


    A Drone was dispatched immediately to the location while the ranger hovered the jet at his present location. As the drone neared the location in question, everyone in the deck slowly rose from their seats as their mouths gradually dropped in shock seeing the visual on the big screen.


    The screen displayed a large whirlpool with at least a radius of two kilometers, which could probably devour anything that neared it. Above it was something that they still couldn''t comprehend.


    As the drone neared the location more and more, the more serious the Air Marshal''s face turned. Everyone held in their breath as the drone finally gave a clear visual. The Drone hovered at its location as the people on the deck contemplated among themselves.


    Under the Moonlight, they could see a black colored portal. It was like a round shaped black door, leading to another location. And exactly in the center of that portal was something that resembled a black skeleton of a man.


    "Contact ISRO and connect them to the Drone." Ravinder ordered the man beside him as he calmly looked at the screen.


    "Sir, ISRO is online."


    "What is this?" Ravinder didn''t waste a second before he asked the obvious question and was met with an answer he was expecting.


    "We have no idea, Marshal. It seems like a portal made by bending the space fabric, connecting two points of space."


    Just when the ISRO and the navy were conversing about the situation something started to change at the portal.


    "Sir!" Someone in the deck shouted as he pointed towards the screen.


    White and dense strings of energy started to make their way from the ends of the portal towards the black Skeleton in the center, in spirals and lit up the skeleton, which now resembled more of a demon''s skeleton than that of a man''s.


    "Call the ranger back, now!" Ravinder shouted as his eyes stayed fixed on the screen.


    As soon as the white light of the energy strings lit up the skeleton, a sound started resonating in the head of everyone that saw the floating skeleton. The skeleton''s body started to shake but it did not move from its location.


    The words they heard were simple and clear.


    "Hand them over."

 2 Hand Them Over

    "What does that mean?! Who is it referring to?" Veer''s brow knitted together as he looked at Ravinder for further orders.


    "Sir! The energy readings!" Shouts were heard from the other side of the radio at ISRO.


    "Air Marshal Ravinder, tremendous amounts of heat energy is accumulating at the location!" Ravinder''s face turned grim as he heard the news.


    "We can''t let more energy pile up at the location, sir! If that energy explodes, it''s going to severely affect India and all the neighboring countries." ISRO chief''s statement made Ravinder decide on what to do.


    "Where is Ranger-7 now?"


    "Sir, he is almost back."


    "Does he have enough fuel for another trip?"


    "Negative, sir."


    "Sir!" Another shout alerted the whole deck,diverting their attention to the screen again. Ravinder knew well enough that it wouldn''t be anything good.


    Seven white and beaming pillars made of pure energy stood around the portal radiating immense amounts of energy. At this point, every research station in the world that had the equipment to read energy fluctuations was alerted.


    "Air Marshal! We have another problem, seven similar kinds of energy readings of the pillars are being read in different countries of the world." ISRO was buzzing with calls on the other side of the radio as Ravinder strengthened his resolve. Every nation''s research station including ISRO assumed that the source of the disturbance was the portal.


    "Scramble the Jets! Take it down, before it causes any unwanted scenarios!" Ravinder waved his hand as he held his stance.


    Seven MIG 29Ks immediately made their way into the sky and were en route to the coordinates. As the MIG''s made their way to the location, Ravinder was flooded with calls and demands for an explanation of the situation.


    Ravinder decided to ignore all calls but he couldn''t ignore the call from the Navy Chief. The information and orders he received from the chief aligned with what he had in his mind. Indian Navy was requested to take down the assumed source of the energy pillars before any catastrophe could follow.


    "Sir, the MIG''s are almost there."


    "Bring the drone back." Ravinder was keen on making sure that the source of all this trouble was destroyed.


    "Sir, the MIGs are within the range to take down the target."


    "Tell all the Rangers to lock and fire now!" Ravinder shouted on the top of his lungs as he stared at the screen without even batting his eyelids as he awaited the destruction of the portal.


    "Roger that, Missile away!" All the Rangers in the MIG''s fired a missile locked at the skeleton. The Missiles made their way towards the skeleton from the gaps between the pillars.


    But nothing happens exactly as it is planned, does it? Just before the missiles hit the skeleton, seven shadows appeared inside the white beams of light around it and as if it was never there, the portal, as well as the pillars of light all across the world, disappeared releasing a massive energy surge which engulfed the Earth.


    "What just happened?!" Ravinder was shocked at the surge he felt, which had pushed him and everyone on board onto the ground. Everyone in the world felt the impact, that had managed to knock half of the sleeping world out of their beds. The MIGs were met with a huge impact as well, but the pilots immediately recovered control over the jets and tried to figure out what had happened.


    "Reporting in! We have no visual of the skeleton or the portal, no signs of abnormality and the whirlpool seems to be clearing, sir."


    Ravinder fell onto his seat slowly as he started to contemplate about the series of events. What and why it all had happened was something that he couldn''t understand and he wasn''t alone in his doubts.


    Debates and analysis of the situation took place worldwide among different associations, trying to find out the answers to the same questions Ravinder had. It was only after two days that they found something.


    Five of the seven pillars of light that fell on different places of the world had been caught on the camera, each pillar of light engulfed a certain person and after the portal disappeared, so did the pillars of light, along with the people it engulfed.


    After proper investigation, the countries on which the light pillars fell declared that the pillar probably incinerated the person or did something with them. They declared that they were missing.


    Seven people went missing around the globe from different countries and the nations had no idea how to rescue them or even find them.


    A meeting was immediately conducted internationally which requested Ravinder and ISRO to attend and give a detailed explanation of the series of events. India had no choice but to accept the request. Ravinder along with Veer and the Rangers who piloted the F-35 and MIGs attended the meeting.


    The meeting concluded with the assumption that the skeleton''s words "Hand them over" mean to hand over the seven people that went missing. It was highly likely that all the seven were alive, wherever they were.


    All the research stations in the world tried to replicate the energy flow that took place in the series of the events. It was funded by all the nations in the world in an attempt to bring back the seven as well as in the hopes to discover a new world.


    The families of the seven people abducted were questioned regarding various matters as well as the bystanders who saw what happened.


    As the world went on with its busy schedule trying to find out what happened, a certain old man deep inside the Himalayas, rose from his rocky seat and looked into the sky with a smile that made his wrinkles stand out. In a soft voice, he murmured;


    "Good Luck, you seven."

 3 Where are we?

    ''Sounds of birds chirping and the pleasant scent of fresh grass filled the air, along with the splendid view of a starry night sky''


    "Hey...hey! Get up!" A teen with snow-white hair and a fair toned face shook the teen sleeping in front of him on a comfortable bed and a warm blanket laid over him.


    "Let me sleep in for 5 more minutes please." The teen nuzzled against the teen who was trying to wake him up and went back to sleep having a nice dream. It probably would have been a great dream if not for someone kicking him back to his senses.


    The white hair teen kicked the other out of his bed making him fall to the floor with a ''Thud!''.


    "What the-?!" Pissed off, he was going to vent out his anger, but couldn''t utter a word after opening his eyes.


    "Where are we?"


    "Wait!"


    "Who are you?!"


    "Welcome back to reality, hope you slept nicely cause it doesn''t look like we will be having any more nice sleep for a while." A girl with red curly hair and a sarcastic look sat on the teen''s bed and looked at the sky, feeling the cool breeze.


    "I beg you, say something that makes sense!" The teen had a caucasian skin tone and raven black hair.He was in a totally disorganized state.


    "Look above, that will give you an answer and also add a ton more questions." This time, the one who answered was a guy who had a nerdy look on his face. He was pointing his index finger upward, indicating towards the starry sky.


    "Huh? What''s up there?"


    A light breeze gently swept through the faces of everyone present there, as a long silence continued, during which the teen kept on staring at the same spot in the sky.


    "..."


    "You people would understand the reason behind my expression if I showed you a dumbstruck face, right?" The teen slowly lowered his chin.


    "It would only mean that you are now reacting as we did a few minutes ago. So, yeah! We clearly understand the reason." A girl with reddish brown braided hair and glasses that covered half her face smiled sweetly at the teen, reassuring him that it was okay to be dumbstruck.


    "We are not on Earth, that''s for sure. You were sleeping, so I am sure you have no idea about what transpired around you while you were sleeping." The white-haired teen slowly analyzed and sounded his thoughts as he gazed at the starry sky with two moons. The moons were almost of the same size, but in comparison with the moon that revolved around the Earth, they were twice as big. One of the moons had around one-fourth of itself hiding behind the other moon.


    "Let me tell you what happened. Five of us were awake while it happened and we had similar experiences, so I guess the same might have happened to you. A white light engulfed us five, it felt as if someone was pouring energy into us. It was refreshing but in a split second it ended, and when we opened our eyes, we found ourselves here. Do you have any memory of something similar happening?" This time, it was a tall man who looked well built for his age, with dark coloured skin and shiny black hair.


    "Well, I will be frank. I was having a wet dream and suddenly white light appeared all around the nice girl in front of me, just as if someone was censoring my dream. It was frustrating, but I guess it was the all ''cause of that damn white energy...tch" The teen looked pissed and had the same expression of a kid deprived of his favourite toy.


    "Hey, look at this. What a beautiful flower, right?!" A cheerful looking girl with blue-hair which fell to her shoulders held a purple coloured flower with both her hands and flashed a bright smile towards them before going back to looking at the scenery.


    The remaining six people turned silent as their jaws dropped while they gazed at the blue-haired girl in front of them. The cheerful girl looked around humming some random song while silence continued to fill the air between the six.All of their faces turned dumb until finally, the white-haired teen decided to talk.


    "We are not asking her for any advice or suggestions for our next step and we will just let her tag along with us. Agreed?" The white-haired teen''s eyes had a dead look and his words were in a monotone.


    "Agreed." The other five replied robotically with the same dead eyes and in the same monotone.


    These were the seven people who went missing on the earth. They were teleported to this world instantly at the exact same moment the skeleton disappeared. All the seven looked as if they were in their teens. They were teleported on to a grassy area in the middle of a forest, which belonged to some unknown planet.


    The moonlight from the two moons was stronger than that of the moonlight back on the earth, most probably due to how big and close the moons where.


    "Hey, look here! These little mushrooms are so cute!" The blue-haired girl called out to the group of six.


    ''~Ignore~'' The other six did not even bother to look at her, but that did not make the blue haired girl stop from doing what she was doing.


    "Well, we should at least introduce each other." The white-haired teen stepped forward and looked at the other five. "I am Leo."


    The curly red-haired girl got up from the bed. "I am Reeva."


    The Caucasian teen who just accepted the reality sighed, as he looked around. "I am Sai."


    The nerdy looking guy scratched his head as he slowly said, "I am Ian."


    "I am Clint" This was the well-built teen.


    The braided girl jumped forth with her hands folded at her back. "And I am Aiko."


    "Hey, what''s your name?" Rina shouted out to the blue-haired girl who was still fiddling with the little mushroom.


    "Oh, me? I am Erina!" She answered sweetly and plucked the mushroom in front of her.


    ''MUNCH!'' The grassy ground around her broke almost instantly. A plant that resembled a man-eating monster plant with pointed canines and flowing juices trapped her inside it. It was a scene straight out of a movie.

 4 Lets hope we live

    ''...'' Silence prevailed for a few seconds before the six came back to their senses.


    "Get her out!" Sai shouted as he looked around for something sharp to penetrate the plant.


    The group scrambled around to find something to cut the plant open. All of them tried to penetrate the plant''s outer layer and cut it open with some sharp sticks lying around here and there, except Leo.


    Leo looked as if he was searching for something on the grassy ground. His mouth widened as he spotted a trail and immediately followed it.


    "Clint! Come here now!"


    "Pull this out for me, it''s lodged in too deep into the ground for me to pluck it out." Leo pointed towards a material lodged into the ground which seemed more like a root of a plant.


    The monster plant immediately opened up, displaying an unharmed Erina who was drenched in the plant''s juices. She was curled up like a ball.


    "What just happened?" A perplexed Ian who was in a ridiculous pose asked, raising an eyebrow.


    "Look closely, the root Clint pulled was connected to that monster plant. So, I assumed that the plant would die out if we pulled it." Leo was pretty calm from the very beginning of teleportation and still remained cool which made the others slowly understand how calm and intelligent the man in front of them was.


    "Nicely done, Leo!" Clint gives a small slap on Leo''s back as a sign of respect to him, but it was enough to make Leo almost fall down on the ground. That made it clear to the group that Leo was a mentally strong, but physically weak person.


    "Get Erina out first." Aiko reminded the rest as she slowly approached a curled up Erina along with Reeva. The two girls gently pulled up Erina who was drenched in slimy juices but was still holding the little mushroom.


    ''Sob''


    "I was only looking for something we could eat, I didn''t mean to cause any trouble."Erina sobbed, making her intentions clear to them. Everyone knew her intentions were good but she was too naive and carefree, thinking that the earth and this unknown world would be the same.


    "We understand what you are saying but this isn''t our world. That mushroom might even be edible. Sai, hand your blanket to the girls. Use the blanket to dry her as best as you can." Leo looked at Sai as he said those words and slowly diverted his gaze towards the girls, who replied with a nod.


    As the girls were drying Erina, the boys came together to talk about the future. They had no idea what to do next and where to go.


    "I want to listen to your opinion, Leo. I am a muscle head and not much of an intelligent guy. I will go with whatever you say cause my primitive instincts are telling me to." Clint stood without moving a muscle, his hands folded as he said those words sincerely, head tilted slightly towards Leo.


    "I agree with him, I will go with your opinion as well." Next was Sai, who had the same image of Leo and Ian nodded in acceptance of the fact as well.


    "We agree as well, we need someone to lead us in a direction and I think Leo is pretty capable. So, what now, Leo?" Aiko spoke up for all the three girls from a distance as they walked towards the group of men.


    ''Sigh''


    Leo let out a sigh seeing that he had no say in the matter. He looked around surveying the wild monster plant and the forest that covered the small grassy area they were currently on.


    "First things first, don''t touch or pluck anything suspicious."


    "Second, We don''t know anything about this world. We don''t know if this world has any living creature that resembles humans or at least has creatures with similar intelligence to that of humans."


    "So, for now, we have to find out if any sort of civilization is nearby or we might not live past even one day. We have to find something useful within a few hours if we don''t wish to move around with a grumbling stomach and zero energy." As Leo completed his analysis, everyone in the group were grinning as if they took the right decision to follow him except Erina who was flashing a warm smile as usual.


    "So, which direction should we go now?" Clint was kind of excited as he could feel the start of an adventure.


    "This grassy plain and forest might look levelled but is a bit tilted towards our right. We might find a source of water flowing between a V-shape terrain if we follow the direction. If we are lucky enough, we might even find a civilization residing in this plain. So, let''s go in that direction. Look up and remember those stars, even if our sense of direction gets lost, we can always find the direction looking at them." Leo said calmly as he turned his head slightly to the right and then proceeded to point his right index finger to a constellation in the sky, which looked like the letter ''M''.


    "If we all agree on it, let''s go with his plan." Ian stepped forward as he shouted looking at the rest of the groups who nodded in satisfaction.


    "Let''s start moving before we lose our energy to move on. Erina, stay in the middle of the group, I don''t want you to wander around, please understand." Leo led the group as Clint followed him closely like a bodyguard while the girls were in middle and the other two guys were in the back of the group.


    "I hope we find a civilization at least as advanced as that of the medieval age of our earth." Ian voiced his opinion from the group''s rear as he looked around.


    "You are hoping for a medieval age Ian, but I am wishing for humans or at least species that resemble humans." Leo mumbled to himself as he led the group while following the stars.

 5 This is not what I expected

    The seven walked through the forest led by Leo who was starting to have a headache listening to an excited Erina''s non-stop bickering. Erina tried to touch everything and anything that grabbed her attention in the forest.


    The forest was filled with plants never seen on earth and unlike earth plants, that were mostly green in colour, here, many plants were in different colours which only made Leo cautious of everything around him. The group also saw similar mushrooms to the onesErina had plucked earlier and had been the monster plant''s bait.


    "Leo, I think I see a river." remarked Clint, who was almost 6 feet in height which made him able to see far.


    "Lead the way, Clint." Leo let out a sigh of relief on hearing the word ''River''. The group was pretty thirsty from their journey as they had been walking for 2 hours.


    "Hmm, I am pretty sure this is water and clean water at that. Don''t drink too much or it might hinder you from walking too long. " Leo glanced at the thirsty group as he said those words while drinking some water himself.


    "Let''s follow the river. All great civilizations are always built around water bodies." Leo''s words were filled with hope as his eyes followed the river''s path.


    "Let''s go, we don''t know what the day of this planet is like. We don''t even know if we can live through the day." The group set out as soon as they drank enough water. Akio and Reeva dragged Erina out of the water who was playing in the water like a small child.


    "Are you sure that this world has a Sun? w What if it has two suns as well?" Sai looked at Leo with a doubtful face as Leo gazed at the sky which seemed to be slowly filling with something bright.


    "I don''t think it''s going to be much different Sai. The plants and trees here seem to have chlorophyll and also seem to have the same sensitivity to heat. I am guessing it won''t be much different." Leo wasn''t that worried about the sun and the heat but was afraid of what kind of creatures would roam around the forests during the day.


    It wasn''t long before the group found a dirt road with tracks of what resembled the prints of human shoes. The group followed the tracks as the light of a just risen sun fell on the teens.


    "Smoke! It might be a fire, there''s probably someone in there!" Ian yelled out loud as he spotted smoke in the same direction they were walking in.


    "Leo, can you hear that?" The sound Aiko heard was similar to that of a cart being pulled by something.


    "Clint, be on guard!" Leo called out to Clint who rushed to the group''s rear from where the sound was approaching. It wasn''t long after which the group saw a horse pulled open cart driven by a man who seemed to be in his 30''s, approaching their way from the back.


    Leo walked to the back of the group as the group sighed in relief at the sight of a human finally. Leo waved his hand at the man on the cart, who had a similar body to that of Clint.


    "Heya Kiddos, where are you headed at?!" The man had a wheat straw in his mouth, with a wide smile and a happy- go- lucky, cheerful nature. He wasn''t expecting a group of teens to be wandering in the middle of nowhere. It was quite a surprise for him but it was surely nothing compared to the mixed emotions and doubts the group of seven in front of him were feeling.


    The group of seven were stunned so much that no words left their mouth excluding Erina who cheerfully hopped towards the man and sweetly asked, "Can you give us a lift, please?! We have been walking down the road for a while now."


    "How can I say no to such a pretty little lady?! I am Matthew, hop on lads. Where do you want me to drop you off?" The man pointed his thumb with a closed fist towards the back of the cart.


    "Yay!" Erina hopped on the open cart happily and sat down near Matthew. The rest of the group snapped out of their shocked state and rushed to get on the cart as if they were getting a ride to a paradise.


    "Please drop us in the nearest city.", Leo said in a respectful manner as he got on the cart at last. Leo''s head was producing more than a theory per minute why the man was speaking in English and why everything was so similar to earth, including the accent.


    "What do you mean in the nearest city, do you have no destination specifically on mind?" Matthew munched on the straw as he looked at the group from the corner of his eye.


    ''What are we supposed to say, that we came from another world and got lost?!'' Leo was contemplating what to do before he finally said, "We are actually travellers and were travelling from one city to another but suddenly some monster plant attacked us out of nowhere and we kind of lost our ride and all our stuff."


    "Ah! It must be the Ravager. You must have cut off its mushroom by mistake but Ravagers don''t normally grow on the road that''s pretty strange, hiya!" Matthew never heard of Ravagers growing on the road. Hearing the description of the plant, the group was sure that the monster plant that swallowed Erina was a Ravager.


    "We need to know more about this world. A person cannot get transported light years away from a place just like that. There might be a way for us to go back but we have to investigate more." Leo mumbled slowly to the group as he gazed at the rising sun.


    "Mr.Matthew, do you think you can help us find some work? We are technically broke after we lost all our stuff." Leo asked with hints of hope to settle down somewhere for the time being.


    "No need for any formalities, just call me Matt. And yeah! Actually, my Motel needs help. I will pay you all according to the quality of your work. I will also give you a place to sleep and food to eat. Would you lads be interested in helping out?" Matt flashed a smile asking if the group was interested.

 6 Is she awesome or just dumb?

    "Yes, please! We would love to work with you. You seem like a good man, so we trust you to be fair in judging us." Leo bowed towards Matt in relief and gratitude, after hearing his offer.


    "Hahaha, you trust me huh!? Okay then, I will try and make sure to live up to your expectations. There, we are nearing the city walls. That''s the great city Ostinia. Isn''t she a beauty to look at from here?!" Matt grinned chewing on his straw as he tilted his head slightly towards the group.


    "Woah! That''s Awesome Uncle Matt." Erina jumped on to the seat next to Matt with eyes full of wonder and a splitting,ear to ear smile. The group wasn''t that surprised to see how carefree Erina was as they had already started to get used to Erina''s impulsive and cheerful personality.


    The smoke they talked about before was coming from inside the city. But it seemed different than a normal city and civilization they were expecting. The air got cleaner as they neared the city and a feeling of freshness started to bloom inside them.


    "Life probably will not be bad here righ-" Aiko began to speak.


    ''BOOM!''


    A big explosion near the road made its way into the scene. The explosion was very similar to the explosion that occurs due to the nuclear bombs made on the earth. The sound threw the group into disarray except for Clint and Leo, where Leo was analyzing what he saw, and Clint was getting excited.


    "Phew, that was close. The Knights might be fighting some monsters nearby. We better enter the city fast lads." Matt picked up the pace as he signalled a scared Erina, who was grabbing his arm out of fear, to go sit in the back.


    "Here we go again. I am confused. Knights fighting monsters, accepted. But what''s up with the explosion?" Ian muttered in Leo''s ears.


    "We won''t know anything now. We can''t ask Matt cause it seems something obvious and common sense to everyone who lives in this world. Just bear with your doubts a little longer. We can''t have him look at us in a weird way." Leo said slowly in a voice which was only audible to the group as Matt was riding the cart sitting a little far away.


    As the cart neared the city, jaws of all the seven fell gradually realizing how much they had underestimated this world. The walls were at least 40-50 feet tall and were manned heavily with soldiers who wore weird shiny armour but had no weapon in hand. And at the entrance of the city, there were two battalions on either side of the gates who were guarding the gates.


    "Stop right there!" Two soldiers from each battalion walked towards the group in a stiff way and a serious face.


    "Where do you think you are going?"


    "Inside the city. What will you do? Stop me?" Matt got down from the cart with a serious face and faced the soldiers in front of him.


    "Shit! This might not end well for anyone." Leo got up as he said those words and looked at the soldiers and Matt who were staring intensely at each other.


    "What if they fight and we get involved with it?" Reeva squinted her eyes as she continued to watch them.


    But what everyone in the group neglected was the fact that they have a careless naive happy-go-girl with them who hopped into the space between the soldiers and Matt while the group was distracted with the scene Matt and the soldiers were creating and also the consequences which may arise due to it.


    "Crap! We''re screwed for sure now. Clint grab her and drag her back, now!" But Leo was too late to notice and order what to do.


    "No fighting! You shouldn''t give people a hard time." Erina puffed her cheeks as she said those words looking at the soldiers. This made the soldiers quite confused and didn''t know what to say until one of them stepped forth and said.


    "But Matt was supposed to go out for drinking with us the day before yesterday and he didn''t even tell us he wasn''t going to make it." One of the soldiers retorted, trying to defend his friends.


    "Did you really forget, Uncle Matt?" Erina turned around to face Matt who was trying to avoid her gaze out of guilt.


    "Well...It wasn''t on purpose little girl. I had to leave urgently for something and I didn''t have the time to tell them, that''s it, really." Matt tried to explain himself to an Erina whose face was puffing up.


    While Erina teamed up with the soldiers in their small squabble about a drink, the group of teens had a dumb face on them with eyes that turned white seeing how the situation turned out in front of them.


    "I don''t even want to comment anything. I can''t even tell anymore if she''s awesome or just too dumb and naive." Ian blurted out loud to the group to which everyone nodded in unison as they said "Agreed".


    "Yeah! Kick some sense into him, little girl." One of the soldiers shouted seeing how Erina was scolding Matt.


    "..."


    "Wait, who are you anyways little girl? I don''t think I ever saw you here. Where did you come from?" The soldier lifted one of his eyebrows as he rubbed his chin, after seeing his fellow soldiers shake their heads suggesting that they never saw her either.


    "Shit! She will mess this one up for sure, Leo." Sai looked at Leo who jumped down from the cart and rushed towards Erina and was immediately followed by Clint and the rest of the gang.


    "We are travellers and we travel from one city to another trying to know more about the world. Our ride and all our stuff got eaten by a ravager the other day. Matt found us coming down the road and offered a ride." Leo stood in front of Erina who was later slowly pulled back by Reeva and Aiko.


    "You kids areTravellers?! But you don''t seem to have any Elementors with you. Are you kids bluffingus?" The soldiers straightened up, with hints of seriousness appearing on their faces.

 7 Living here isnst the same

    ''Elementors? What''s that?'' This question was revolving in the heads of the group while Leo was thinking of an excuse to come up with.


    "Well, the thing is, my group and the elementors were on two different carts. We paid them beforehand, and after a few turns, we got detached from them. I think they tricked us and got away with our money. We were in the middle of the forest and a ravager swallowed our cart, while we were riding down trying to find a city, but luckily the ravager wasn''t big enough to swallow us all. Clint here wasn''t swallowed, so he immediately plucked out its roots. During this time, our horses ran away." Leo came up with the first random excuse that came into his mind and tried to confuse the soldiers using logic. He figured out that Elementors weren''t things but probably a rank that was given to humans, as the guards had asked about them, even after they had said that they lost all their stuff.


    "Hmm, that''s strange. Elementors are always supposed to be on every traveller''s cart for safety and that are the rules."


    "Well we were discussing something important and we were just unlucky to have met with a ravager at that particular time."The soldier in the front stared at Leo as he heard his reply until finally, he put a hand on Leo''s shoulder.


    "Poor lads. Must have been tough for you to survive the day. Thank god Matthew saw you down the road. We will let you off the hook, for now, cause these young ones look quite tired. Get them in and come out for drinks with us tomorrow to make it up to us." The soldier waved his hand towards the soldiers near the gate who made way for the cart.


    Leo and the group heaved a euphoric sigh of relief hearing the soldier''s words. They were almost certain that they would be caught lying if it weren''t for Leo.


    "Got that! But let''s drink at my place tomorrow, it''s on me. Hiya!" Matt waved his hand as he got on the cart along with the seven.


    "Now that''s how a man makes up for his mistakes! We will be there. See you tomorrow little girl." The soldiers waved their hands towards Erina who was waving her hand along with Matt. Matt rode the cart through the gate to the tunnel that was made to enter into the city. The group sat down in the cart. The walls were pretty broad on the top and because of that, the entrance resembled a tunnel in a mountain.


    "Ah! That mentally tired me out but look at her." Sai pointed towards Erina who was still enthusiastically waving at the soldiers.


    "Give her a break. She saved us in a way, Sai." Leo shrugged his shoulders as he said those words looking at Sai.


    "Well, that''s true. Come here Erina or you will fall down from the cart." Aiko dragged Erina to her side and patted her adoringly, which resulted in Erina smiling like a child.


    "Yeah, we wer-" Just before Ian wanted to agree to the fact, he couldn''t utter a word after the cart entered the city.


    "What the...?" Ian''s jaws dropped to the ground seeing the city''s interior. Everyone in the group stood up with eyes bulging out, with expanded pupils.


    "This cart doesn''t match with a civilization such as this." Erina said out loud trying to control her mixed emotions.


    It''s hard for them to remember how many times their jaws dropped since they were teleported to this world, and out of that half of the times were because of Erina. The group sat down slowly trying to burn the images into their eyes.


    The city did resemble a semi-modern world.The dressing style and how people were interacting with each other,buildings which resembled buildings of modern earth, only with a few exceptions, were pieces of evidence of a semi-modern world. The roads and the buildings were clearly built with stones and cement in the city. And in the middle of the city was a building which looked like a castle with four towers having bells inside them, from which every corner of the towers could be seen.


    "My motel is a bit deep into the city, we will be there in a few minutes." Matt said vaguely without looking back. If Matt had turned his head to face the group he would have witnessed the stretched faces of the seven.


    "Not a problem." Leo said slowly but audible enough for Matt to hear. Even though Leo regained control of his jaw he didn''t get his eye''s back into his control.


    The roads were being patrolled by a pair of soldiers on each road but strangely even the soldiers on the road didn''t carry any weapons but only had a weird armour which seemed like leather than iron. The shops had signs written in English and seemed like any other shop back on earth.


    "We will learn everything about this world before deciding on our next step." Leo leaned back on the side of the cart, finally regaining control over his entire body. The group sighed facing downwards, thinking that it would be tough for them for quite a while. And just when the storm inside the seven''s head was calming down, they were dealt with another hard blow of reality to their head.


    There was a crowd blocking the road in front of the cart. The seven along with Matt got down the cart and pushed through the crowd to the front only to see the soldiers blocking the road to make way for something in that T-junction.


    As the eyes of the seven wandered around to see what the cause was their eyes fixated on something. They were not to be blamed for being stunned every time, it was really overwhelming for a person to take so much in all of a sudden and they have been receiving shocks since last night.


    In front of them was a creature that resembled a pitch black, red-eyed wolf twice as huge as humans n, while sharp white canines forced their way out of its mouth. It was trapped inside a box which was clearly not made with a physical material. It was as if the box was made with some kind of white coloured energy. The box was floating in the air while six men were touching the box directly with their hands which were glowing. There were different symbols glowing on the hands of each of the men touching the box. They maintained constant contact with the box and moving down the road while the wolf went wild inside the box trying to get out.


    "So, the knights finally caught that damned wolf huh?" Matt called out casually looking at the scene. But it wasn''t anything casual for the seven beside him, who froze on the spot as their mind kept on saying:


    ''Living in this world isn''t the same as living on earth.''

 8 Not surprised anymore

    The soldiers cleared the path almost immediately and the crowd dispersed so that the traffic can clear up. The seven got on the cart with serious faces and didn''t utter a word until they reached Matt''s Inn. The Inn wasn''t too big nor was it small. With a big sign ''Night''s youth'' hanging in front of the building, it had a bar on the first floor and the above two floors had rooms for people and staff to live in.


    "This is it, lads. You don''t have to work today, just get used to the place for today. Let''s go in." Matt got down the cart and signalled the seven to follow him in.


    "Daddy! You are back!" A little girl seemingly of around six to seven years of age ran towards Matt with an adorable expression, almost immediately as soon as they entered the Inn. Matt grabbed the little girl in delight and placed her on his shoulders with a bright smile.


    "This is my daughter, Lily. Lily say hi to the brothers and sisters here." Matt looked at the group, with a proud expression,and tilted his head upward, signalling Lily to introduce herself.


    "I am Lily and I am six years old Nice to meet you all." The cute and innocent smile of Lily turned the serious faces of the seven back to normal. Erina ran towards Lily and took her off Matt''s shoulders. She held her tightly, giving a warm hug as if she was adoring something extremely cute. Lily grinned ear to ear looking at how friendly Erina was and hugged her back.


    "Hahaha...It seems you all are going to fit right in. Lily, show them around our place and then take them to one of the rooms above we allot for workers. I will ask one of the maids to bring you something to wear for now." Matt patted Lily''s head gently before heading towards the bar inside.


    Lily replied with a small nod and a bright smile before showing the seven around the Inn. She took the seven around the place before heading towards the bar in the end. There weren''t any customers as it was still early for people to come in and drink. There was a girl sweeping the floors and another woman behind the counter who didn''t look like a worker.


    Lily ran up to the lady behind the counter and called the lady by pulling the edge of her long gown.


    "Mommy, these big brothers and sisters are going to be working for us from tomorrow onwards." Lily directed her gaze back to the group and said;


    "This is my Mommy, Lisa." Lisa who was standing behind Lily bowed a little, showing that they were welcome here.


    "Don''t think my mom is rude. She can''t speak." Lily sounded sad even though she had a smile plastered on her face. It was rare for children of that age to try and act strong. Her smile stung the hearts of the seven, who bowed back to Lisa.


    "Ok, now let''s head back upstairs. I will show you to your rooms."


    "We have two rooms ready for you and four people can sleep in each room. This room is a bit bigger, so you four take this room and you three take that room. Daddy must have already arranged something for you all to wear, you can go take a bath and rest for the day, big brothers and sisters. You do remember the way to the open baths right?" Lily showed the seven to their rooms which were next to each other and left, after waving both of her hands in farewell.


    "You three girls go and freshen up, we four will do the same as well. Let''s meet up in our room in two hours." Leo sounded lifeless as he opened the door and entered the room boys were allotted to stay in. The rest of the gang had a similar face that displayed a hopeless expression except Erina, whose face turned back to normal.


    The Inn was the same as any modern Inn on earth, with the only difference being the lack of any electrical appliances like air conditioners and lights. The room''s interior and the bar, all looked almost the same as back on earth.


    The boys and girls went into a separate Japanese style public bath for men and women, which was attached to the Inn. The two groups washed up and entered the large bathtub filled with water. The water was just at the right temperature.


    "A lot happened in a day, hasn''t it? " Clint, who was butt naked with only a small towel around his waist, said in a slow tone as he sat right across the other three who were already inside the bath.


    "Don''t. Not now. I don''t want to talk about it right now, we will anyways in an hour or so. So, Just enjoy the bath for now, Clint." Sai sank a bit deeper into the bathtub as he said those words. The other three nodded acknowledging what Sai said and just relaxed in the tub without uttering another word.


    But it wasn''t the same as the Men''s bath at the Women''s bath. Erina was playing around in the bath and lightened the mood for the other two girls, who in turn joined in to calm themselves down as well.


    The boys got out of the bath and dried themselves before wearing a simple t-shirt and a trouser that was already placed beside the bath for them. The girls wore a simple gown and met the boys outside the bath, who happened to have completed their bath at the same time.


    "Big sisters and brothers, lunch is ready! Why don''t you come and eat with us first?!" Lily called out to the seven, who were about to head to the boys'' room for talking things out. The seven sat down side by side, on one side of the table, which was actually five tables joined together. There were six other workers beside themselves and the family of three at the table. The lunch was simple, with a few Japanese and western dishes.


    ''Not surprising to see our world dishes here anymore .'' This was the meaning behind the same facial expression of the seven, except Erina who ate wholeheartedly.

 9 Time to know this world

    The seven initially wanted to introduce themselves and complete their lunch as fast as possible but their stomach had other plans for lunch. The seven ate quickly but they ate much more than they usually do. The seven knew the reason behind them munching on food more than usual was because of the tedious and tiring journey they were on since last night. But only Leo noticed that the second reason for the seven''s munching was because of the difference in the quality of the vegetables and meat they were eating. It was clear for Leo that this world hadn''t used any kind of chemicals for growing them.


    "Thank you for the food." The seven completed their lunch together and stood up after nodding to each other confirming that everyone''s done eating. The gang of seven made their way to the boy''s room after they bowed to the partially stunned staff and family who witnessed the seven munch down ridiculous amounts of food.


    "Hey you lot, remember to cook around twice as much from tomorrow." Matt chewed on the food slowly as he stared at the group of seemingly ordinary teens who ate twice as much any normal man would.


    "Roger that, boss. I am glad you gave us a heads up to cook more otherwise we wouldn''t have had anything to eat right now." The cook''s eyes followed the seven just as Matt''s and every other in the room.


    The boy''s room had two double-decker beds beside a rather large window for a relatively small room and resembled rooms used by students when they go on school trips back on earth. Leo leaned against the wall beside an open window which was letting in gusts of wind, cooling down the room just as good as any air conditioner on earth while the other six sat down on the beds on either side.


    "The air feels nice, right?" Leo said slowly as he turned towards the window witnessing the busy day of an unfamiliar city in a strange world.


    "Seriously Leo, the weather, that''s what we are going talking about?" Ian looked at Leo with a perplexed and a half angry face.


    "No, we are not. I was just thinking about how different this world is from ours. The air, the freshness in food and many things which I don''t even know how to describe."


    "This world isn''t as simple as ours. You guys do understand that after seeing all we have seen in a day, living here with our limited knowledge would most probably cause certain death for us in the future." Leo''s eyebrows knitted together as his face turned as serious as it could which in turn made the faces of the rest to turn serious as well and this time it included Erina''s as well.


    "We need to know everything a normal teen in this world would. All the common sense of this world, we have to know it one way or another."


    "But how do we do that Leo? We can''t just ask people around the city to teach us some common sense." Reeva asked sarcastically before slowly resting her head on Aiko''s shoulder.


    "That''s the tricky part, Reeva. Let''s try and go around the city in pairs and ask people what things they consider as common sense in this world."


    "And if they ask us why we are asking them all these things then what are we supposed to say then?" Aiko shot a gaze at Leo as she asked him the obvious question.


    "Tell them we are trying to figure somethings out. Tell them it''s some kind of research or some kind of data collection for writing children''s books or something else."


    "Erina, rather than going out and asking people around, I want you to get some information from Lily cause you seem to be close to her already. Just tell Lily you want to remember childhood stories if she asks you why. Everyone else be careful and try not to get lost in the city. If you guys are okay with my plan, we should get on it." Leo walked slowly towards the door before looking back at the rest of the group who turned to see each other''s faces before finally nodding at Leo.


    "Let''s head out then. Clint, you are with me, we will go straight into the city and try to find out more things by witnessing how the core of the city is. Aiko, Ian pair up and go towards the left of the Inn and ask people around while Reeva and Sai go to the right." Leo opened the door and led the pairs down the stairs as he explained some things while Erina made her way towards Lily.


    "Little Lily are you free?" Erina approached Lily slowly who was reading a book.


    "I am, Erina big sister." Lily put down the book before she flashed her cute signature smile and hopped towards Erina folding her hands behind her back.


    "What is it that you are reading little Lily?"


    "This is a book my mum used to read out for me when I was younger." Erina was confused for a minute after hearing Lily''s answer. If she remembered right, Lily''s mother was mute. She wanted to pry deeper but remembered how important it was to know about this world first.


    "I see. Lily can you tell me all the stories your mum told you from when you were a kid. I want to listen to them all again and remember my childhood too. Will you do that for me?" Erina flashed her own signature smile while refraining herself from asking Lily about her mother''s inability to speak.


    "Mmm...I will and I know right where to start." Lily nodded at Erina before they walked towards the girl''s room where they continued their stories.


    .............


    "Rex!" A sudden shout alerted a young man alone in a big room who seemed to be in his early 20''s. The young man had blonde hair and a very fair skin tone while the man who shouted seemed to be around the same age as the other but had dark hair and a fair skin tone.


    "Please tell me you succeeded Alan?" Rex shot up from his chair seemingly very unsettled as soon as he saw Alan who shouted out his name as soon as he entered his room.


    "Well...I got good news and bad news. I recommend we start with the good news." Alan said slowly as he laughed awkwardly looking at Rex.


    "Oh god! I have a feeling that you are going to add a ton more work for me. Go on, tell me in whatever order you want to." Rex said slowly as leaned back on his chair.

 10 Common sense

    The six returned by dinner time and none of them uttered a word or commented about anything until they settled down at the same positions back in the boy''s room, after munching down a heavy dinner.


    "..."


    "Leo, why don''t you start talking as usual." Sai had a face with mixed emotions and an enthusiastic tone, which was in contrast to the rest of the group, who had a terrified and blank face with lifeless, glassy eyes.


    "Let''s pool in all the stories then. Erina, tell us what you got first." Leo''s face was more composed than the rest of the five.


    "This world has something called ''Qi''. Lily said everyone has it even little plants, puppies, kitties and...." Erina was about to continue her list but was interrupted by Reeva who signalled her to get on to the next point.


    "Well, the people of this world have learnt how to use it and create magic or something like that, I am not so sure. They use it for many things but not everyone has powerful qi. But Lily mentioned in one of the stories for children that creatures can be summoned from different realms to this world. That''s all I understood." Erina concluded as she tapped a finger on her forehead trying to remember if she forgot anything."


    "That''s the basic idea which I thinkeveryone already got." Leo looked around the room and after witnessing everyone nod, he dragged a chair towards the window and sat down by it.


    "Let''s put together all the different pieces of information we gathered now." Leo''s eyes were just as serious as they were before heading out.


    The group talked about various things they found out and tried to piece together the information they obtained into one complete piece.


    "I''ll sum it up then." Ian leaned forward as he started summing up the so-called Common Sense of this world.


    "We are in the city of Ostinia from the Kingdom of Arcadia. They have ''Qi'' which is a kind of internal energy residing within all the living beings. Qi was actually mentioned in Indian and Chinese histories as well. Everyone isn''t strong enough to use it but those who can use it normally train themselves to defend and develop the kingdom. The ratio of people who can''t use Qi to those who can is around 7:3. There are schools all around the kingdom that teach how to use Qi." Ian said everything that he had grasped in one go and was immediately picked up by another as soon as he finished.


    "And Qi can be used to generate and manipulate all the great, basic elements that make up any world. Air, water, fire, earth, lightning, nature, divinity, darkness and the list goes on. The people in this world can sense spirits and even summon them. And the people who have learnt how to use them are called ''Elementors''. Simply put, Aethists, who don''t believe in this kind of stuff would love to take a bullet to their head, rather than see this world." Aiko picked up from where Ian started and tried to add more information to it.


    "Let''s not forget the different ecosystems, demons, man-eating plants, animals and monsters." Clint added slight details once Aiko was done stating things.


    "Why the long face? It is going to be hard, but look at the bright side. This world is straight out of a fantasy anime! C''mon!" Sai slowly showed his true colours. As soon as Sai discovered the ways of the new world, his heart was flying high in the sky.


    "But first, don''t forget the fact that we are not from this planet and we might not be able to use those powers. Second, we don''t know how we got here, after knowing all this, there is a chance that we were summoned accidentally cause none of the stories ever mentioned humans being summoned. Third, we don''t know if we will be able to go back even if we do find a way, who knows if we will survive till then, Sai." Leo nonchalantly as if he was saying how stupid it was to push all the important stuff aside.


    "Sorry, I am such a huge fan of fantasy and magic animes, that I just forgot to think about all these things." Sai said slowly, as he sighed taking in all the hits he got from Leo.


    "What now?" Reeva asked in a stern manner.


    "What do you think brought us here?" Leo asked ever so casually as he got up to lean out of the window looking towards the two moons.


    "Summoning, I guess?" Reeva was not sure what to reply, so she decided to say whatever came into her mind.


    "And who do you think can summon anything?"


    "Elementors, right?" Clint answered confidently, trying to figure out where Leo was leading them.


    "Then, if we want to know how we were summoned or find a way back to earth, we have to understand and learn how to control Qi." As soon as Leo completed his statement, the first to react was Sai.


    "So, we are going to train and become an elementor?!" Anyone in the room could easily understand that Sai was overly interested in training to be an elementor.


    "We don''t have any choice. We have to learn it. Any objections?" Leo turned back from the night sky towards the six with folded hands, only to see the other five in deep thought with conflicted emotions.


    "I won''t say, ''Don''t rush to take a decision'' but you can take a night to think about it. Tell me your decision in the morning. Just don''t forget that our future depends on it."


    "Let''s conclude the meeting with this." Leo turned back to face the dual, pale white moons in the sky. Gentle gusts of air from the window swept past the faces of the seven, as the girls slowly got up to head back to their own rooms.


    "Where will end up in this world? And if the person who summoned us didn''t do so by accident, then for what purpose did he summon us? What does he want from seven normal teens?" Leo was racking his brains for answers to many questions that he didn''t put before the other six, trying to avoid creating any new kind of doubts for the six, who already look stressed out.

 11 Time to settle down

    "Hey, what do you think Aiko?" Reeva asked with an uncertain face as she kept on trying to adjust to her new bed. Reeva slept on the upper deck of the bed while Erina was on the lower deck with Aiko on the lower deck of another bed.


    "I actually want to say yes. I have to go back home, for my family. I can''t leave my little brother and mother alone. I have to go back, I have to." Aiko''s tone seemed decently normal but anyone can understand how desperate she was if they could look at her face at that time.


    "Hmm, I see. What about Erina? Did you ask her what she wanted to do?" Erina was already sleeping soundly below Reeva without much care of the future.


    "She said she would go with whatever we both choose. We don''t have much time to chose. What Leo said was true, we have to choose a path and that too as fast as possible. And I would like us to stick together Reeva." Aiko was honest in her thoughts and Reeva knew it.


    "Well, I want to go home as well anyways. I guess that means we will be sticking together for a long time then." Reeva rolled in her bed as she looked at Aiko from the edge of her bed who in turn smiled at Reeva.


    "Then that decides our next step then, huh?" Reeva sighed as she rolled back to the middle of the bed as she stared at the ceiling.


    "But we still don''t know if we can have a powerful Qi and if we can even use it. We don''t know if we are qualified to become an elementor." Aiko''s words were filled with doubt as she wished internally that her doubts would be wrong.


    "I love Sushi too, hehe." Erina blurted out loud as she hugged on to another pillow which she grabbed from the empty upper deck of Aiko''s bed before sleeping.


    "..."


    "Hahaha..." The other two girls laughed out loud but also tried to keep the voice down so that Erina won''t get up.


    Inside the boy''s room, the atmosphere wasn''t as tense as it was earlier in the girl''s room. Leo slept on the lower deck of the bed which was on the right side of the window with Sai on the upper deck while Clint was on the lower deck of the bed on the other side of the window with Ian on the upper deck.


    "I am not going to think much about this Leo. Frankly, I am excited to learn new ways of fighting. So, I am going to become an elementor with you." Clint who was on his bed stared at the upper deck as he slowly said those words which were immediately followed by ''Hmm'' and a nod by Leo.


    "I don''t need to say that I am in, you should have already guessed it anyway, right?" Sai had a broad smile on his face as he called out to Leo.


    "Yeah, your answer was pretty obvious. But aren''t you worried about your family?" Leo asked with hints of disbelief that Sai wasn''t worried at all about his family.


    "Worry, about my family?"


    "I have a big brother and I believe in him. I know it''s like placing all the responsibilities on my him which were supposed to be shared by us but if there''s anything I know, it is the fact that I don''t need to worry about my parents." Sai''s words were confident and anyone can feel his confidence after they hear his words.


    "Good for you Sai. Then, what about you Ian?" Clint heaved a sigh remembering his own family before diverting their attention towards Ian.


    "Oh don''t, put any attention on me now. I am just a nerd who usually goes with what the masses follow. You guys have decided to become an Elementor, so I guess I will tag along." Ian''s words were pretty much on spot and that concluded what the boys were going to do.


    "So, I guess we have to test ourselves if we can become an elementor or not first. And how do we do that Leo?" Sai directed the attention back on the person who was leading the group.


    "Don''t worry, I already found out how we do that. As soon as I get the decision of the girls, I will set the plan to motion." Leo sounded pretty confident in his next step which reassured the rest of the boys.


    Even though the world didn''t have electricity in this world, they still had devices which ran on a different type of batteries which were charged with Qi.


    The group was woken up by little Lily as early as 6:30 in the morning to work on their first day. Leo and the other boys came out to only be met with the girls who declared that they were to follow Leo''s plan.


    "I guess we are going to stick together for a long while." Clint grinned looking at the girls which confirmed that all the boys decided to become elementors as well.


    "I found out that any person can check if he or she is an elementor or not in the local Elementor''s office but I heard it is pretty crowded and they hand out tokens because of that." Leo was nonchalant in the way he spoke as the seven made their way down to the open bath.


    "..."


    "I didn''t expect that. I guess people come in to check their Qi very often or the time it takes to check is very long." Sai commented after deep thought to which the others replied with a nod.


    "Let''s go to the office in the afternoon. I will ask Matt for some time. I am sure he will agree if we tell him it''s for checking Qi." Leo looked at the others who raised their thumb showing their approval.


    "Well then, for now, let''s take a bath and do our best at work. After all, our pay is going to be decided according to the quality of our work. Let''s do our best people!" Leo shouted out loud as he punched the air above him trying to motivate the rest of the gang who replied with the same action while shouting "Oh yeah!".

 12 Time to test what we can do

    "You three, clean the floor and you four boys, come with me to do some heavy work." Matt ordered the gang as he walked through the bar towards the exit.


    "Coming, Boss!" Clint''s mood changed abruptly and sounded as if he was more excited and inspired to work. Ian and Sai shifted their heads to the sides, seeing each other, before sighing.


    "Boss, can we go out in the afternoon during lunch? We will be back before lunchtime is over. The thing is..." Leo called out to Matt and started to give him some kind of excuse why the seven want to check their Qi again. Matt didn''t understand the logic well, but Leo made sure he was confused for sure.


    "It''s your first day and you seven are already asking for favours huh? But whatever, if it is the Qi exam then no one has the right to stop you. Such are the rules, so make sureto notbe late." Matt was actually mad in a way, but he didn''t want to shout at them on their first day.


    The seven munched down the same amount of food as the day before, but faster and left in a hurry. The last morsel of food was still in poor Erina''s mouth, when she was dragged in a hurry to the office.


    "Sir, we want to reserve seven spots for Qi test." Leo spoke for the rest of the gang.


    "You do know that the candidate himself must be here even for reservation, right?" The officer had a stern tone and a wrinkled serious face on him.


    "Yes, we do. Well, the reservations are for us seven." Leo and the rest let out a gentle smile to which the middle aged man in the counter countered with a face which screamed ''What?!''.


    "Sixteen!" The seven said ever so casually but at the same time to which the middle aged man''s right eye started to twitch.


    "You young lads are seventeen and you never tested your Qi!?" The middle aged man shouted as he slammed the table with both hands before he stood up.


    "Oh about that..." Leo started talking to the middle aged man. The group sighed with a smile before looking at each other and giggling in their minds. They knew very well that Leo would be well prepared to tell another good story, which made them feel a little bad for the man in the counter, who was going to be confused and manipulated.


    "Ah! Whatever! Just take these seven tokens. Your turn would probably come in a week''s time. Just be here on the 7th day, around the same time." The middle aged man was very agitated and it was clear by the tone he was using.


    The seven took the tokens and left the office, giggling as they were before.


    "Poor guy, we had no choice but to play with him." Sai said with a smile and hints of pity for the confused middle aged man.


    _________________________________________


    "Aiko, bill for table 5." Matt shouted from the other end of the bar which was now a restaurant. Almost everyone worked in the day, due to which they wouldn''t have any customers at that time. After learning this, Leo advised Matt to covert the bar into a restaurant every afternoon and open it as a bar in the night but Matt wasn''t very sure of his idea. But two days after following Leo''s plan, their income rose by fifty percent and so did the group''s salary.The restaurant became more and more popular because it only served for a limited time per day and also due to some new dishes that Aiko taught the chef.


    "Got it Boss." Aiko rushed towards the table.


    "Matt, we need to go for the Qi test we told you about." Leo approached Matt from the behind slowly knowing it was the peak time for the restaurant.


    "What?! Yeah, but I don''t think we can handle it without the seven of you."


    "Ah!!! I guess I''ve got no choice but to let you go. Qi exam can never be prioritized below anything. You won''t be returning till night for sure. Well, I will just hope things go good for you, but if it goes good for you then I will lose the seven of you and if it goes bad then I won''t lose you seven . Don''t worry,I won''t wish you bad luck for my own selfishness,alright? Hahahaha!"


    "Best of luck to you seven. Now go!"


    "Lily, bring the change for table 5."


    "Let''s go everyone. We can''t afford to be late." Reeva said loudly, as she removed the apron on her and rushed towards the exit along with the others.


    The same middle aged man was in the counter squinting his eyes, trying to confirm whether the people approaching from afar, were the same seven.


    "Right on time you teenagers. There is a 12 year old kid inside the Examination room. As soon as he is finished, start going in one by one. A person usually sits one to two hours in front of the emerald. The officer inside the room will tell your state of Qi after that."


    "Understood sir." Leo said with a pleasant smile as he pulled back to sit on one of the chairs nearby.


    "Leo, what''s the exam going to be?" Ian came rushing to Leo''s side.


    "I got no idea as well. We will be directed anyway, just calm down. I will go in first and tell the five of you what happens inside, but one of you will have to go in without knowing anything, just like me, after I come out." Leo was very calm in his words.


    "Hey you seven, the kid inside is done. And he flunked the exam it seems. One of you can go in now."


    "I will go in now." Leo got up from his seat still maintaining his composure. The other six looked at him with worried eyes.


    "It''s going to take at least one or two hours for him to come out. If anything out of ordinary happens for Leo, then the same might happen to us." Reeva had a concerned look on her face as it involved everyone''s future.


    ''About that Reeva...''


    "Yeah? " Reeva looked around in question, at the other five, to see who called her but everyone shook their head denying that it wasn''t them.


    "Here, Reeva."

 13 The Qi examination

    The six turned around to look at the person who called out to Reeva. The six shot up from their seats as they looked at the other person.


    "Why the hell are you out already? It''s only been three minutes Leo!" Reeva shouted from the top of her lungs believing that something did go wrong in there.


    "Sai go in first. We can''t hold up the line." Leo ordered Sai as he made his way to the group.


    "Okay then." Sai was getting a bit afraid that he wouldn''t pass the exam cause they were not from this planet and something went wrong with Leo as well.


    "Stop it with the stares and let me tell you what happened peacefully."


    "I went into a dark room and there was an officer holding a gem. He told me to hold it in my hands and to calm down while concentrating on the gem in my hand. He inturn started chanting something."


    "And?" Reeva probed with visible irritation and impatience towards Leo''s breaks in the flow of the story.


    "The gem started to shine and cracks started to appear inside it."


    "The officer immediately snatched it from my hands and told me to wait outside. That''s all."


    "What? What were his facial expressions? Did you flunk it?" Aiko poked Leo''s shoulder as she sat beside him.


    "I don''t think I flunked it. But his face seemed..."


    "Guys?" The sound came from the entrance to the examination room.


    "Yeah?" The group turned around to face the entrance to the room only to see a Sai with a face ready to cry.


    "Did you hold the gem in your hands too, Sai? Did it have cracks in it." Leo said casually as he leaned back on the chair, starting to think that everyone might have a similar outcome and if the same gem was reused.


    "Yes, I did and yeah, it had cracks in it." Sai sat down right across to Leo with teary eyes. Everyone in the group knew how badly Sai wanted to become an elementor and have powers, I mean who doesn''t?


    "And the officer told me to let the next one inside after five minutes and not immediately."


    "The officer began chanting something and you broke the gem, right?" Leo asked casually as if he knew everything.


    "How did you know that!?" Sai yelled out loud alerting everyone in the office, who now shot glares at him.


    "Next!" the same officer from before came out with a grim and serious face, glaring at the teens he was informed about.


    "Reeva, you should go next. He seems pretty mad though, be careful."


    The other six stayed silent as they waited for Reeva to come out in a minute or two as well, and she did come out in a minute just as everyone expected.


    "And?" Leo questioned Reeva thinking the same must have happened after witnessing Reeva''s facial expressions.


    "Not exactly the same happened to me, but something similar to what happened to you. This time there was a big pyramid shape crystal and it did crack a bit when I touched it."


    "I guess he brought out a bigger one to avoid damaging more gems. Clint, you next. Go in." Leo called out to Clint who immediately got up and entered the room.


    Ian, Aiko and Erina followed Clint one after one and each time they touched it and concentrated on the crystal, it broke as soon as the officer began chanting.


    "What now? Did we pass or did we fail? They seemed pretty serious though." Ian was the last to come out and by that time the crystal was half broken.


    "I don''t know. That officer rushed out just now and took that middle aged man in the counter inside somewhere. Let us just wait for him to come out, then we will ask him." Leo put both his hands on the back of his head and relaxed in the chair, leaning back leisurely, while Sai walked to and fro with hints of tension and stress.


    The seven waited around half an hour after which the middle aged man walked briskly towards them.


    "Come with me you seven." The middle aged man commanded the seven before he turned around sharply without any more words. Leo was the first to get up and follow him after which the six followed closely behind them.


    The seven were led outside where there were thirteen soldiers with spears which had their blades made of Qi. The Qi was white in colour and was shining radiantly. As soon as the seven stepped outside, twelve of the thirteen soldiers pointed their spears at the seven while the thirteenth one stepped towards all the seven and handcuffed them with chains which had weird circles with a hexagon in them.


    "You seven are coming with us." The thirteenth man had a badge on the left side of his chest, unlike others, which clearly told the others that he was in charge.


    "Umm...Okay. No problem, sure. Let''s go guys." Leo looked at the others who weren''t that scared for some reason, but were clearly dissatisfied.


    The seven were led into a horse pulled cart with an iron cage with the same weird circles inscribed inside them. The seven sat down on either sides of the cart and looked at each other, before they all stared at Leo, who was still pretty calm.


    "I got nothing to say. Let''s just wait till we know why they are taking us in and where they are taking us." Leo was pretty cooperative to the soldiers and had a calm composure even after being arrested for something they don''t know.


    "How can you say that Leo? As if everything will just go fine?" Reeva yelled at Leo who was sitting right beside her.


    "You got any better idea than being calm and collected right now?" Everyone in the cart diverted their stares from Leo after they heard him.


    "If that''s a no, then let''s go with my plan and just wait for now."

 14 I dare you to have a clarity

    "Hey you six, listen to me." The seven neared the centre of the city when Leo opened his mouth.


    "Listen closely and remember every detail I tell you."


    The six leaned towards Leo while the cart entered the gates to the castle in the middle of the city. The castle surely covered at least 4 km square in area and had four towers on the corners of the castle boundary.


    "Get out you seven. Follow me!" The doors opened and the commanding officer of the other 12 soldiers yelled at the seven inside the cart, while the other 12 soldiers pointed their spears towards the seven again. The seven got down one after another and let Leo be in the front of the gang.


    "You guys got it, right?" Leo mumbled slowly to the group as they got down, and they replied with a small nod.


    "You seven better behave or else grave circumstances might befall on you seven. I am warning you, no funny business." The officer led the seven through a number of corridors before they finally stopped in front of two huge doors which was guarded by four knights. The Knights had thin leather coats and no armour. They had glowing symbols on their hands just like the ones they had seen on those who had captured the big wolf.


    The commanding officer opened the door with great difficulty and closed the doors as soon as he entered the hall. The seven were being glared intensely by the knights in front of them as well as the 12 guards around them.


    ''These guys got no cool.'' That was exactly what was going through the heads of the seven.


    The officer came out of the room after a while and led the seven towards the other side of the castle. If the overall atmosphere of the rooms in that side of the castle was to be explained in one word, then the correct word would be ''creepy.''


    The seven were separated and sent into seven different rooms which had a table, and a light bulb glowing with the help of Qi batteries, hanging over it. The room was very similar to the investigation rooms of the police back on Earth.


    The officer went into each one of the rooms one after another asking the same questions.


    "When did you arrive in the city?"


    "It''s been a week, sir." Erina answered confidently.


    "What is your profession?"


    "We are travellers trying to explore different lifestyles, sir." Sai was actually excited to be in such a thrilling scene as it reminded him of a few scenes he saw in different animes and manga.


    "How do you know each other?"


    "Oh, we are all childhood friends." Clint answered sweetly, which didn''t go well with his rough appearance.


    "Where did you all come from?"


    "We hail from a small village outside the kingdom." Reeva answered in a casual manner.


    "Does that mean you are here from one of our neighbouring kingdoms? So, you are spies, huh?"


    "Spies? No! First of all, we are not from any kingdom, we are from a small village inside the mountains to the north of the kingdom''s outskirts." Ian yelled at the officer impatiently.


    "A village in the mountains?"


    "Yeah. It got destroyed a few weeks back by some large wolf and forced us to flee and become travellers." Aiko answered with a gentle smile on her face.


    The last to be interrogated was Leo, as he assumed Leo was the one leading the other six. All the seven were asked the same questions. But the officer snapped at Leo after getting the same answer from all the seven.


    "But? Wait, what!? Whatever, I can''t take you guys on anymore. I can''t hit you or anything without a reason or evidence. Ughh!" The officer was agitated seeing that nothing was out of the ordinary in their responses.


    "Cool down, officer. Drink some water and I will cooperate with you in clearing all your doubts." Leo said with a pleasant smile, to which the officer unconsciously picked up the glass of water on the table and drank it all up in a single gulp.


    "Now, tell me what you are suspecting us off, sir?" Leo clearly turned the scene from being investigated to him investigating the latter.


    "You guys broke the quartz crystal and also the Nex gems with your seals unbroken, that''s why!"


    "Well, technically we didn''t break them. And hey, what do you mean by unbroken seals?" Leo corrected the officer before shooting another question at him.


    "What!? I mean ''The seal'' kid, ''The Qi seal''." The officer was pretty amazed at how dumb Leo was.


    "I don''t know what you are talking about, officer." Leo tilted his head a bit to the right before showing off a ''What''s that?'' face to the latter which made his jaws fall to the ground.


    "Well, I am from a small village. What do you expect?" Leo explained patiently after seeing the officer with a long face.


    "It''s the seal everyone in the world is born with, the Qi examination officer chants a spell to weaken the seal for a little time to test the candidate. And that isn''t enough to crack or break a quartz crystal or a Nex gem!"


    "Oh, I see! That means we have strong Qi, huh? I guess that means we passed the Qi test. Awesome! Thanks for the great new officer." Leo exclaimed with a cheerfully to which the officer nodded.


    "Yeah, you did. Congrats, kid. Wait, what!? Don''t try to trick me into believing some story you made up." The officer snapped back into senses after congratulating Leo.


    "We are just from a small village, sir. We don''t have that much intelligence to trick big people like you, officer." Leo said innocently as he stared into the officer''s eyes.


    "What is the problem, if we are so strong? What is the actual problem, officer?" Leo asked with hints of pity for playing with him.


    "I suspect you seven of being dark injectors."


    "''Cause except for the ancient families, none were able to break the Nex or Quartz exceptpeople with dark Qi."


    "Oh! I see. If you don''t mind me asking, what is a dark injector?"


    "..." The officer stared at the latter with blank eyes.


    "Well, I am from a villa-" Before Leo got to finish his words, the officer shot up.


    "Don''t say it! Don''t say it''s because of the village shit again!"


    "Ah! I am done with you seven. I will just leave you to my Lord." The officer had a pitiful and confused face on him, which made Leo feel bad for doing this to him.

 15 Lets talk business

    The seven were dragged back to the front of the huge doors they had stood before just a while ago. Same before, the officer went in first, while the other knights and soldiers around them stiffened and stared at them. Leo looked at the rest of the gang and gave them a secret thumbs up for pulling off the investigation, exactly as intended.


    ''We are just seven teenagers for god sake!'' This was the exact same thought running in heads of the six while Leo was busy planning the next move.


    "You seven can go in now. I am warning you one more time, no funny business." The officer''s face was in a full-on-serious mode as he stood before the seven with his eyebrows knitted together. The officer nodded at the four knights out of which two of them headed towards the gates, and with a slight touch of their hands, the doors opened.


    The seven were surely expecting a grand hall and some kind lord in it, but they truly underestimated its grandeur. The hall was at least 70-75 meters in length and 40-50 meters in breadth. The Knights stood on either side of the path, leading to astern man sitting on a grand chair, at the other end of the room, with a stack of papers and other stuff on his table.


    Everyone in the group except Clint had an urge to run at his sight but refrained themselves.All the knights tilted their heads in unison, which made shivers run on the spines of the six with the exception ofClint.


    "Sir, these are the seven I told you about." The officer knelt before the man, who was seemingly in his early 40''s. He donned a long brown coat with a matching cream colour shirt and dark pants. He had dark brown hair with a caucasian skin tone and looked as if he was an Asian.


    ''Gulp'' The six gulped at the grand sight while Clint''s face remained nonchalant. Leo was brainstorming, wondering if he would be able to successfully manipulate the man.


    "I am Liam, the protector of this city as well as it''s Lord." His words were stiff and one could tell that he was a man with authority.


    "I am pretty sure one of you is leading the other six. Step forward." Liam got up from his seat and made his way to the front of the desk and leaned back on it.


    The rest of the gang looked at Leo as he stepped forth. Liam walked up to Leo and walked past him after placing his hand on him for a second or two. He did the same with the rest of the six but had different expressions on his face when he touched Leo''s and Clint''s shoulders.


    "Don''t worry, you lot. I know you are not dark injectors." Liam''s face turned into a relatively pleasant one than before, after he said those words.


    "Thank you, sir!" Leo sighed internally as he said those words and his face started to show hints of happiness but immediately turned grim after he heard Liam speak again.


    "You seven kids are in luck and also not in luck at the same time."


    "Cause I also know that you are not from the northern mountains." Liam''s face turned into a smirk and mocking one as he glanced at the seven.


    "And thanks for proving it yourself."


    "Sir, I don''t know you are talki-" Just when Leo was trying to convince Liam he was interrupted by saw the latter look at him with a mocking look.


    "You are lucky because I am an elementor who can control the divinity Qi. It is quite rare in nature and because of that, I could say that you had no dark Qi inside you when I touched you. And you are unlucky cause I have another gift." Liam tilted his head to the left. A small glowing symbol was tattooed behind his right ear.


    "I have the ability to become ultrasensitive to sounds and because of that, I could sense the increased heartbeat of all seven of you, when I claimed that you were lying." Leo had nothing to counter with, after hearing him speak.


    "So let''s go over this one more time. Shall we?" Liam looked straight at Leo as if he was peeking into his soul with a serious face on him. Leo knew he was dangerous from the start, anyone would know it just from the pressure of the aura around him. For the first time since they came into this world, Leo saw no way out.


    "Alright, sir. But I hope you will believe every word of ours."


    "A week ago, while we were on the everyday routine we suddenly got teleported to the forest some kilometres away from here. We don''t know how it happened, or why. We just got here in the blink of an eye, that''s all. We didn''t even know each other before that." Leo blurted out everything except for the most important and probably something people won''t believe if he told that they were not of this world.


    "I believe you. But where did you all come from?" Liam went back to his seat fascinated with the true story of the seven.


    "We all are from different cities of the Earth Kingdom and we didn''t have any Qi or any other kind of energy there. Our lifestyle is very different than here, which confused us a lot when we first arrived here." Leo was frank in most of his statements but only manipulated a few minor details.


    "Hmm...I see. I can see why the summoner particularly chose you seven. You all have very strong Qi, enough to break a Nex gem. I never heard of such a kingdom though." Liam''s pupil contracted as he looked at Leo with doubt.


    "That''s the truth, like it or not." Leo was pretty confident in his speech as most of what he said was true. The heartbeat of the rest of the gang wasn''t abnormal, as it was almost the whole truth.


    "Alright then, I will believe everything you said right now. Now let''s talk business, shall we, Mr.Leo? I believe you talk for all the seven, right?" Liam''s face turned pleasant again as he looked at Leo. Liam was more like a chameleon that changed colours whenever convenient.

 16 A deal with the devil

    "Yes, I do talk for all of us. So, what do you mean by business, Lord Liam?" Leo was extremely careful and sharp with the man in front of him. It was pretty clear that any misstep or a wrong agreement with this man would mean ''Game Over'' for them. He gave an aura of a demon, while the business felt like a deal with the devil.


    "Simple, I don''t care who summoned you and I am not interested in the place you came from either. But you do have an extraordinary amount of Qi and that is what I am sure of. I am pretty sure you will become significant elementors in the future if you are trained with proper support." Liam said with a smirk pasted on his face.


    "What exactly are you proposing, Lord Liam?" Leo stared right into Liam''s eyes which made the latter smile, noticing how daunting Leo was.


    "I have no lack of money and I got a lot of authority. While you seven need a good amount of money and a little bit of help from the outside to get into one of the great academies, don''t you?"


    "And you are going to provide it for us?" Leo''s pupils flared as he said those words.


    "Yes, Mr.Leo."


    "So, what''s the catch, Lord Liam? What do you want from us in return?" Leo maintained the same expression as he asked.


    "Simple, you seven will be on my side if you ever might have to choose sides on anything." Liam''s face had a big grin on his face as he declared his conditions.


    "It sounds good, but I got a few more conditions to add."


    "Go ahead, tell me your conditions." Liam''s smile vanished as he turned back to sit on his chair.


    "Firstly, if you order us to do something unethical or if your personality turns out to be similar to a devil in disguise, then it will void our agreement."


    "I agree that many have called me a devil, but I assure you that I am true and loyal to humanity, as well as the kingdom. So, I have no issue with your condition."


    "Second, if we ever do anything consequential for you, then I ask you to release us from our bond. I am expecting you to have some pride and dignity. That would mean that you will stand true to your words when you judge whether what we did for you, was prominent or inconsequential."


    "Hmm."


    "I guess, chaining you down for the rest of the life is not correct anyway. I agree to it as well. Do you have anything else to ask for?"


    "Yes. Actually, the thing is...we have no idea about this kingdom. Please teach us some commonly known facts or things we have to know before we leave for the academy or we are sure to stand out." Leo''s face turned awkward as he put forth his final request.


    "Hahaha." Liam laughed out loud barbarically, not giving a care to his position as a lord, seeing which the knights in the hall sighed.


    ''I saw that coming.'' This was what the face of everyone in the seven said.


    "Okay, I gladly agree to the last request as well. So does that mean we have a deal Mr.Leo?" Liam sat back properly on his chair as he looked at the latter with a smiling face.


    "Yes, Lord Liam." Leo looked back at the rest of the six, who nodded at him in agreement. Leo walked up to the desk and gave a handshake which Liam accepted gladly.


    "Rachael, take them to our guest rooms. They will be staying here for a while." Liam ordered one of the maids who were standing in the corner of the hall to Liam''s right.


    "Wait!" Leo yelled out of nowhere.


    "Any problem Mr.Leo?"


    "The thing is..." Leo''s face turned awkward again which confirmed Liam that he had another request.


    -----------------------------------


    "Hey! More beer here! Hahaha!" The night bar was as lively as any other night but the seven didn''t return. Matt started to worry if something happened to the seven and decided to go out and look for them. But as soon as he opened the door he was greeted by the same squad of soldiers who captured Leo and others in front of his gate.


    "Can I help you?" Matt asked with a serious face. For some reason, he felt that the soldiers came here because of something the seven had done.


    "Can we talk inside, sir?" The officer asked with a polite face and Matt agreed almost immediately.


    Two of the soldiers followed the officer inside with Matt while the rest waited outside. Matt led the officer and the soldiers to the living room of their house which was quiet and had no smell of alcohol, unlike the bar. The soldiers stood beside the officer, while he and Matt sat down across each other.


    "The seven teens who worked for you are actually nationally important people and Lord Liam wants to thank you for taking care of the seven for him. He asked me to reward you for all your hard work." The officer recited the same story Liam ordered him to tell Matt, while he signalled the soldier beside him to place the small bag he was holding on the table between them.


    "The seven will be leaving for the academy soon, Mr.Matt. Let me thank you on behalf of our Lord once again. We will see ourselves out then Mr.Matt." The officer bowed a little along with the other soldiers beside him before leaving immediately.


    Matt just stayed silent with a grim face throughout the conversation that was actually only the officer talking.


    "So, they are gone huh? Well, they will have a bright future ahead of them for sure." Matt looked into a distance, with hints of sadness visible on his face, as he slowly proceeded to open the bag.


    "..."


    "What the hell!?" Matt''s jaw fell to the ground, his eyes seemed ready to pop out of their sockets in astonishment.


    The bag had a letter along with fifty platinum coins which would amount to more than what he could earn with his Inn/Bar/Restaurant, even if he lived for another fifty years. Matt immediately proceeded to open the letter inside, inked with only a few words.


    "We thank you for all you have done for us Boss."

 17 The reality of the world

    "So, Miss Rachael, the elementors who have done great deeds or qualify as powerful are promoted to the rank of a ''Knight'' then, is that right?" Sai recalled what he understood. The seven had been in the castle for almost a whole week and Liam told them that they will be sent away to the academy soon.


    "Yes, and I have been telling you for a week, Young Master, that you can just call me Rachael." Rachael slightly pouted as she glanced at Sai. She seemed to be in her late teens and had straight blonde hair that hung down to her waist, with green eyes that can allure any man, but none of the boys were actually in the mood or situation to make a pass at her.


    "Hmm, so Rachael, how many Knights do you think there are roughly in this kingdom? " Clint leaned forward from the comfortable sofa he was lying on, as he voiced his doubts.


    "I would say around 800-900."


    "What!? That''s it? Didn''t you tell me that our kingdom has around 10 million population? According to you, there are at least 1-2 million elementors, out of which half are in the army and the other half are mostly employed in the cities and by other agencies. That''s quite a landslide in the number of knights, for sure." Ian exclaimed as he got out of his chair and walked around contemplating the information he had received.


    "Who would have thought that Lord Liam was the king''s brother? No wonder he had so many knights at his disposal." Reeva sighed as she remembered the sight of knights standing still in the hall.


    "And above the Knights are the Paladins who are less than 70 in number, you say." Aiko tried to recollect something as she said those words.


    "I didn''t see anyone like that with Lord Liam, don''t we have any Paladins here?" Aiko asked in a slow tone.


    "There are four paladins guarding the city. Half of the paladins guard the great cities, while the rest hunt for demons and dark creatures as they guard the boundaries. The Paladins are almost the same rank as Lord Liam and can be only ordered around by the commander or the king himself."


    "And do you remember what I told you about the dark injectors? They are the people who smuggle dark Qi inside the kingdom, but in truth, they are only innocent people who are manipulated and used by other kingdoms to smuggle the dark Qi without their knowledge. That is the reason why dark injectors or anyone who is suspected of being a dark injector is captured immediately and treated with extreme hostility." Rachael went on explaining things just as she had been doing from the last week.


    "Training people with good enough Qi is the first priority to any kingdom right now. The stronger you are, the more significant you are to this world."


    "So it''s a power-thirsty kingdom like any other, huh?" Sai could feel how general and common it was.


    "I told you most of the things you people need to know but I guess its time for me to tell you the actual reasons behind the hunger for power."


    "Yes, our kingdom and also our neighbouring kingdoms are hungry for power, they have always been, but not as much as you are seeing now. The desperate need for power we are witnessing now isn''t for dominance but it''s rather for survival, young masters and young madams."


    "Survival?" Leo who was standing beside the window finally had a change in his expression as he walked towards Rachael.


    "The world I told you about till today was just the better parts of it. But just like a coin, even the world has two different sides to it. Hundreds of years ago the ancient families sealed away those dark forces to as far north possible, deep in the icy glaciers. The ancient families'' descendants died mysteriously one after the another since the last few years.A few months back, the last descendant drew his last breath."


    "And according to the ancient texts, the seal on those dark forces would break once the ancient line of the family disappears."


    "So what you are saying is that every kingdom in this world is actually preparing for war against a common enemy, the so-called dark forces?" Leo raised one of his brows with utter seriousness on his face looking straight into her green eyes.


    "Yes, we are not certain if the seal has been broken yet Young Master Leo but the ancient texts were never wrong in anything they said. So it is most likely, valid to assume that the dark past is going to come back and haunt us once again."


    "Don''t you have anything else to tell us about those forces?" Sai furrowed his eyebrows together with his face tense.


    "We have absolutely no information on the dark forces. All the ancient texts on them were either destroyed in the great wars or must have rotted away, after all, they were written centuries ago."


    "This was the last thing I wanted to tell you before informing Lord Liam, that we are done."


    "I hope you become strong and important to this world." Rachael flashed a bright smile before getting up to leave.


    ''Thud'' It was the sound of the door closing after Rachael exited the room and immediately heading towards Liam''s study room.


    "I guess we have to get stronger." Sai said with absolute seriousness on his face to which Leo turned around.


    "Why?"


    "What do you mean by ''Why?'', Leo?! You heard her, right?!To protect the world, of course!" Sai yelled back yet Leo.


    "I had a feeling that you would go off track, Sai."


    "Did you forget why we decided to become an elementor, did you?"


    "It was to...go back home. I am sorry." Sai''s face paled away as his eyes fell to the floor.


    "I want us to become powerful but I don''t want you all to forget the purpose of that power. We are doing this only to get back home, do not forget that." Leo said with a deep voice to which everyone nodded in agreement.


    "I am sure Liam is going to send us away as soon as possible, now that we are done knowing the things we needed to." Leo went back to his usual spot by the window where slow winds gently caressed his hair.

 18 It is time for you to leave

    "I am sure you have a rough idea of why I called you seven here, don''t you?" Liam said with a serious tone as he leaned forward towards the desk.


    "Pretty much." The six beside Leo nodded, as he replied nonchalantly while maintaining eye contact with Liam.


    "I have made arrangements for you seven to study at the Arch Qi Academy. The first year students are going to start their classes within two to three weeks. It''s time you guys leave or else you might not arrive on time."


    "The Arch Qi Academy of the city Arcadia, also known as the ''First Academy'', because it is the first Academy that was built to teach control over Qi. But why the ''First Academy''? Why not the ''Second Academy'' or ''The Third'' or ''The Fourth'' in the three other directions?" Leo knew full well that the man in front of him wouldn''t do things without a reason.


    "Because it is close to our city Mr.Leo, and I can summon you if anything happens. Besides that, I have some good friends there."


    "Fine, Lord Liam. We will get ready to depart right away." Leo was about to turn around and leave, but stopped on hearing Liam say something.


    "Wait, just a minute." Liam snapped his fingers which made Rachael who was in the corner of the room to approach the seven. She handed a unique gold coin and a badge with a sword imprinted on it to each of the seven. It was the kingdom''s flag on the badge along with a letter ''L'' below it, and the seven had no idea what the peculiar gold coin was for.


    "That badge is proof that you are acquainted with me and give that gold coin to a man named Ramsay in the Norion Bank there. He will open an account for you seven. I already sent a little amount of money for a start."


    "You can leave now. Safe journey young lads." Liam got up from his chair and nodded at the seven who bowed a bit, to show their respect towards him.


    The seven didn''t have much to pack, only a few clothes that were given to them for the journey. And as soon as they packed their luggage, they were greeted by Rachael who escorted them to a royal cart accompanied by two dozen soldiers and four knights on horses, along with a cart in the front and back. They were filled with some boxes with a royal seal imprinted on them.


    "This does look cool, but it feels as if we are being pretentious." Leo said with a detesting tone.


    "The road to the academy is filled with monsters, demons and highway thieves, Young Master. We can''t risk your life just because you feel pretentious." Rachael replied calmly as she opened the door to the cart.


    ''This is still an overkill!'' Leo and the rest shouted in their minds as they got inside the cart.


    "Safe journey Young Masters and Young Madams, Farewell." Rachael closed the door gently and as soon as she did, the knights nodded at each other and set out at a good pace. In no time the convoy exited the city gates and rode into the same forest they were once summoned at.


    -----------------------------------


    "And? What did you find out Alan?" Rex was standing behind glass walls as he observed a busy city.


    "I got good news. Haha." Alan smiled a bit embarrassed.


    "And bad new, right?"


    "Yeah." He said awkwardly.


    "Let me guess, they are inside the kingdom but you don''t know where. Is that it?"


    "You should work as an astrologer Rex. Cause you are damn right on spot!" Alan jumped on to the sofa near Rex as he said those words.


    "So what now?" And in a split second, Alan''s face turned as serious as it could as he inquired their next step.


    "We don''t need to worry as long as they are in the kingdom. They will show themselves soon enough." Rex relaxed as he sat down on a fancy chair.


    "If you say so. I will keep on looking for them then, catch you later Rex." Alan disappeared from the room almost instantly.


    -----------------------------------


    "Ah! I think I am going to go crazy sitting in this cart." Erina yelled out of nowhere in a silent cart which woke up Clint and Reeva who were sleeping soundly. The group has been travelling for two days and still had at least five more days of journey to endure, even if they continued at the same pace.


    "Just calm down! That almost gave me a heart attack, oh god." Reeva yelled back at Erina who was pouting as hard as she could. It was already dark and the group was getting slowly until Erina decided to ruin it.


    "Let''s stop here and camp in for today, Mr.Hiro" Leo opened the window and called out to the knight beside the cart who nodded at him before signalling the other knights and soldiers. The soldiers took turns in staying guard at the night while the rest slept soundly. It had been the same for the past two nights until tonight.


    Time: 1:47 AM


    ''Hmm..'' Leo woke up in a daze for some reason, only to see the four knights staring at the same spot into the forest while the soldiers held their spears pointed towards the same direction.


    "Hey, get up. I said ''get up''!" Leo whispered slowly waking up the rest of the gang. The rest of the six slowly woke up and rubbed their eyes, trying to see what the fuss was about.


    "Well, how many do you sense Raj?" Hiro asked without any traces of panic on his face same as the faces of the other three knights, and in contrast to that of the soldiers who were sweating profoundly.


    "It''s a pack of seven Hiro." Raj answered calmly, who was another knight like Hiro.


    "I am sorry Young Masters and Young Madams, were we too loud?" Hiro''s eyes seemed to apologetic as he said those words.


    "What''s the problem Mr.Hiro?" Leo''s words were a bit tense as he stared at the four knights.


    "Not a problem, just a pack of seven demon wolves Young, Master Leo. No need to worry, we will take care of it in a minute, sir. You can go back to sleep, Young Master." Hiro said with a smile and a slight bow.


    ''Go back to sleep? Are you kidding me? How can I go to sleep after knowing that there are seven big demon wolves ready to eat our ass out.'' Leo wanted to shout out loud but refrained himself. He tried to calm down but his heartbeat rose rapidly as he saw a huge demonic grey wolf, jump out of the bushes at Hiro who was bowing at him.

 19 The Power of a Knigh

    ''Swish!''


    In a split second, the wolf was rendered headless, spraying black blood in all directions. In that split second, Hiro had turned around sensing the threat behind him and opened his right fist which had a symbol ''¡ì'' tattoed on it. The symbol shone with bright blue light, summoning a long sword which appeared in his hand. The long sword had mystic symbols engraved on its hilt and with a wave of his sword, the wolf''s head went flying to the other side spraying blood everywhere.


    "You don''t need to worry about anything, Master Leo, we got it under control." Hiro turned around again to reassure Leo of the situation.


    Seeing their alpha dead, the wolf pack rushed out of the forest in a fury, to kill everyone present there. But in contrary, within a few seconds, every single wolf that exposed itself was headless just like their alpha. The other three knights moved at such a speed that not even the trained soldiers beside them could see properly. Raj summoned a lance while the other two summoned a katana and a short sword.


    The Knights moved at a speed that normal human eyes couldn''t keep up with and the Knights did not even use any of their elemental powers but only used their Qi to be fast in their movement and strong enough to slice the wolf into two pieces.


    "This smell is awful. I can''t sleep with such stink. Simon, Kart, can you please clear it up." Raj called out to the other Knights standing beside him, who shot glares at him as if they were saying ''You were the one who killed four of the seven wolves and now you are talking as if this scene has no connection to you.''


    "Whatever, let''s do it Kart, because even I don''t want to sleep with corpses lying all around us and with thatawful smell in the air." Simon couldn''t be more casual in his words as he turned around to face the dead wolves.


    Simon and Kart raised their hands and pointed their palms at the dead bodies. The Aura around them started to change and then water gushed out of a small blue circle made of water in front of Simon''s palms. The water jet flowed at such a speed that it forced all the corpses back into the forest.e a similar kind of circle made of thick fog, appeared before Kart''s palms, releasing strong air currents. The air shook the forest and the grassy area before them, clearing most of the awful smell, while also sending the corpses more inside the forest.


    "All done, phew." Kart turned around with a happy face, seeing that the stink had cleared out a lot.


    "Everything is dealt with young master Leo. Now you can sleep in peace." Hiro turned around and headed back to the grassy area where he was sleeping before and so did the other knights and soldiers. Hiro did not maintain eye contact with Leo as he said those words, which was the only reason he didn''t have any problem going back to sleep cause if he had seen Leo''s eyes, then he would have surely asked ''If he was okay?''.


    As soon as the knights and soldiers went back to sleep, Erina fell to her knees with a traumatized face and eyes that were wide with horror. The soldiers who were standing guard tried to approach Erina immediately but were stopped by Clint.


    "We can take care of this, please do not worry." Leo said in a low voice from the spot where he stood frozen, the entire time which was actually less than ninety seconds within which a pack of demon wolves were killed and the area was cleared of any battle traces.


    "Get in the cart guys. Aiko, Reeva, help Erina into the cart." Leo''s voice was hoarse as he finally moved from that spot and got into the cart.


    "..." It remained silent inside the cart for quite a while, until Leo finally snapped out of it and batted his eyelashes on his dry eyes that were open since the moment he saw the wolf jump on Hiro.


    "Just calm down. That was too much, I agree." Leo tried to calm down the other six, out of which Clint wasn''t that shaken, while Sai was a bit excited now.


    "I think I understand why there are only 900 Knights or so in the kingdom. Not everyone can reach that level of speed and strength." Clint added with a face filled with complex emotions.


    "I couldn''t even see them." Ian said slowly as he just came back to his right senses.


    "Neither could I." Clint said slowly as he looked down at the floor of the cart while the other six except Erina, signalled Ian that it was the same with them as well.


    "Aiko, Reeva, can you just try and turn Erina back to normal?" Leo''s voice started to sound better than the shaky voice he had earlier.


    "So, that is the power of a Knight and I am pretty certain that we haven''t even seen their true power. They seemed like they were playing around right now. Their face was so calm, as if this wasn''t even something to worry or think about." Sai looked out of the window towards the murder scene, which was now only a clean grassy area.


    "Are we going to ever reach their level? Do you think we need to reach that level to have enough power to teleport ourselves back?" Aiko blurted out a few questions out of the many that were going around in her head.


    "I hope not." Reeva said slowly as she hugged Erina deeper into her chest, trying to calm her down.


    "I don''t think we need to worry that much. We are students, not soldiers who need to fight those things and as soon as we find a way to go back home, we will be gone." Leo declared with a confident tone which calmed down Erina, who raised her head to look at Leo.


    "We really won''t fight those things in the future, right? Right?" Erina asked twice, trying to convince herself that it was alright.


    "Yeah. Most probably, we might not need to. We will find out a way to return as soon as possible, don''t worry." Leo reassured Erina before getting lost in his thoughts.


    ''I do hope that what I said comes true. But why do I have a feeling that things aren''t going to turn out so?'' Leo''s head was overheating with so many thoughts, that he ended up not being able to sleep all night.

 20 The great city of Arcadia

    The convoy reached the outskirts of the city by the morning of the fifth day. The next five days of the journey were pretty uneventful, unlike the second night which scared the hell out of the teens, excluding Clint.


    "Young Masters and Miss'', the great city Arcadia is now within sight. Isn''t she a beauty!?" Raj reported to Leo before fixating his eyes on the vast city of Arcadia.


    "You seem to have a thing for Arcadia, Raj. Your eyes are glimmering too much." Leo inquired half-jokingly.


    "Well yes. My family is here in Arcadia and thanks to you Young Masters and Madams, I can see my family after a long while. I heard that I have a new baby girl to take care of now." Raj declared proudly, with hints of fatherly affection on his face, making Leo''s and everyone present in the convoy''s hearts fill up with warmth.


    "The first time you see them and hold them is always a memory you will never forget. It will fill your heart with joy every single time you remember it, Raj." Hiro had a tender smile on his face,as he looked at Raj from the corner of his eyes, to which Raj reacted with a smile.


    "So, what is your next mission after you escort us to the academy, Raj?" Leo asked, casually trying to hold a conversation to kill some time.


    "We have a few letters penned down by Lord Liam himself and we have to hand them personally over to some important people in the academy, Master Leo." Leo squinted his eyes after hearing Raj''s answer.


    "I am going to ask you some serious questions, can you answer honestly Mr.Raj?" Leo''s face turned slightly serious as he looked at the clear sky from the window.Raj glanced at Leo, waiting for him to ask.


    "Why is Lord Liam making such a deal out of the seven of us and investing so much, just because we broke a gem and some Quartz crystal? It doesn''t feel right to me. You work under him and even if you report him that we asked you such questions, I am sure he wouldn''t think much about it. Why did he even trust that we will hold up our end of the bargain when the time comes?"


    "Hmm...you sure are thinking about this a lot, aren''t you Young Master Leo? " Raj let out a small smile as he said those words.


    "Please, answer me Mr.Raj."


    "It''s only natural for you to be so worried. I will tell you exactly what you need to know, Young Master Leo. I have worked under Lord Liam for three years now and I know everyone sees him as a sly man. But everything he says and does always has a meaning, that people like us don''t know. His assumptions have never been wrong and he never goes back on his words."


    "Even though you have many doubts on my Lord, from my personal experience I would only say ''Trust him''. I don''t know if this will make you feel better but the last time a Nex gem was cracked by a human, was centuries ago, and breaking it in a Qi exam is a miracle Master Leo."


    Raj''s face was pleasant like he was saying ''You can trust my words and calm down.''. He looked forward at the approaching city gates.


    "Alright then. There is nothing that I would get out of worrying too much, anyways." Leo sighed as he leaned back on his seat.


    "You act too mature and logically for your age,


    master Leo. It might save you and your friends someday." Hiro complimented from his heart, looking around, trying to check for any dangers.


    It took less than twenty minutes for the convoy to reach the city gates of Arcadia. The seven inside the cart were exhausted from the long journey, so they had no interest in exploring or even looking at the city currently. But it all changed as soon as the soldiers guarding the gates let them in.


    The seven had heard that the city was the Northern most city and also the farthest from the capital which made them imagine a small city with an academy somewhere in the city. But this world never ceased to amaze them by proving them wrong, and it made sure to amaze them once again.


    Anyone can say at their first glance from outside the window, that the Academy occupied at least half of the city.the city was more advanced than the city of Ostinia from where they came. The city was as big as Ostinia, even after excluding the Academy that occupied the city majorly. The city was filled with different kind of goods working on Qi batteries and had four big towers which seemed to be the same as the signal towers back on earth.


    "Well, that''s the expression any man would give when they see Arcadia for the first time, hahaha." Hiro laughed heartily as Raj and the other knights smiled, looking at the seven who had their jaws falling to the ground.


    The Academy was at least 500,000 sq.ft in area with visibly large structures even from very far away. The Academy occupied the entire western half of the city, while the rest of the city was on the east.


    "Let''s not waste time and head right for the academy and finish the formalities, Master Leo." Raj said with a straight face to which, Leo denied by shaking his head.


    "Mr.Raj, if I remember properly, Lord Liam gave me the authority to command you for the journey, right?" Leo looked straight at Raj to which he nodded in agreement.


    "Then, I command you to hand over the letters to Hiro and let him complete the delivery. You are relieved of your duties. Go to your family, to your daughter, Mr.Raj. Are you okay with delivering the letters on his behalf, Mr.Hiro?" Leo gave his first order with a warm smile before looking at Hiro and asking him if he had any problems with it, to which he shook his head with a similar smile like Leo''s.


    "Master Leo...Thank you. I''m really grateful to you." Raj bowed slightly before he gave the letters to Hiro and rode as fast as he could, down the familiar road to his house.


    "I didn''t know you were such a considerate man, hehe." Erina and the others who had just witnessed another side of Leo giggled, as a warm feeling crept inside their heart.

 21 The Arch Qi Academy

    The convoy soon reached the gates of the academy which were at least as tall as 40 feet. The walls had weird symbols emitting a blue light inscribed on the top part of the wall. The seven had a hunch that it was some kind of barrier. They heard so many stories of the world from Rachael, and it was quite easy to guess after hearing all those stories.


    "I guess he is on duty right now, just like he always is. We have a letter we need to deliver to him as well." Hiro sighed as he looked towards the top of the gates as he said those words. The seven followed Hiro''s gaze out of curiosity only to see a man with a golden aura around him standing on the stone path above the gates. He had a long sword in his hands that he had lodged deep into the stone path.


    "Mr.Hiro, who is that man?" Leo asked curiously without averting his eyes from that man. The convoy stopped before the gates while Kart and Simon got off their horses and walked towards the soldiers to show the proofs, that they are here on duty, and the seven were new students.


    "That man? He is the protector of the academy, he is not much of a talker but he is one of the most powerful Paladin in our kingdom, Orion. The only one who can command him is the King himself. The other three academies are guarded by a Paladin as well. They are not obliged to protect the city, but only the academy and its students. The city is protected by two other Paladins."


    "A Paladin, huh?" The seven leaned out the window to sneak a peek at the first Paladin they ever saw. He seemed to be around 40 years old with brown hair and black eyes. A thin layer of golden Qi surrounded his white and red coat but unlike the glowing symbols on the Knights hands, they couldn''t confirm if he had one too, as he wore brown gloves which covered his palm. It''s back but showed the upper parts of his fingers.


    "We are in, let''s go fellas." Kart shouted out loud as he got onto his horse along with Simon. The convoy moved in slowly as the gates opened. The inside of the gates didn''t match the city surrounding it. The city itself was very advanced but the academy seemed much more advanced than modern cities of the earth.


    The academy had large structures which the seven assumed to be battlegrounds or practice arenas. They looked around in all directions and it was obvious for them that they would get lost in the academy one of these days. But what the group didn''t notice was that the paladin, Orion turned around to stare at the cart in which the seven were.


    "What have they done? They are not supposed to be here. They were never to walk these grounds again." Orion mumbled to himself as he shook his head while he stared at the cart carrying the seven with a serious and angry face.


    "Erina chan, don''t forget to tell us where you are going in the future, okay?" Aiko asked sweetly as she looked at Erina who replied with a question of her own. "Why?"


    "Because it''s going to be a pain in the ass to search for you." Ian said with a straight forward face to which none of them denied.


    "Fine, hmph." Erina puffed her left cheek trying to show her discomfort.


    "Young Masters and Young Miss'', we have arrived. We will lead the way, please follow Kart and Simon. I have to deliver these letters, so with your permission, I will take my leave now." Kart and Simon opened the doors to the cart as Hiro bowed slightly before them.


    "Thanks for all the hard work, Mr.Hiro. You are relieved of your duties." Leo stated with a smile on his face to which Hiro nodded back before leaving.


    The seven were actually early by a day, due to which there weren''t many students around the campus at that time. The seven were led inside the campus building and straight into the headmaster''s office. The office was quite spacious with a big desk and a royal chair right before a large window. There were sofas on either side of the room.


    "Simon and Kart, my old students. I have been expecting you and also the young ones Lord Liam told me about." The one who spoke was the headmaster, Edgard Felix sitting on his chair.


    "Been a while, Master Edgard. These are the seven students, Lord Liam mentioned. He hopes you to take good care of them." Simon said with a pleasant smile.


    "Do not worry about them. You can leave now Kart, Simon. They are my students now, I will take care of the rest." Edgard seemed to be in his 60''s but didn''t emit the aura of one. He had a strong aura to him which would assure others that it wasn''t a wise decision to go against him.


    "We will leave it to you then. Young Masters and Young Madams, I suppose it is farewell now." Kart and Simon turned towards Leo and the others as they bowed a little, to which the others replied with a slight bow.


    "I am Edgard Felix, the headmaster of ''The Arch Qi Academy'', and you young lads are?."Edgard got out of his chair and walked to the front of the desk as he introduced himself while also examining the seven.


    The seven introduced themselves and also told him everything that they told Liam. Leo thought it would be the best to let the headmaster know, in case if they mess up something because they didn''t know. Also, to know if he knew a way to send them back.


    "Quite a story, but I believe the fact that you are not from anywhere around here. No one from around here can break a Nex gem." Stating his thoughts, Edgard threw a few Nex gems at the group which he kept in his desk for the seven. The seven caught the Nex gems and looked at Edgard as if asking ''You want us to break them again?''


    "Can you do the same again? I will chant the spell to weaken your seals, just as before." Edgard started chanting as soon as he finished informing the seven what to do.


    The seven had no problem in doing what he asked. They just concentrated on the gem in their hands and before long the gem cracked before turning into pieces.

 22 Time to break your seal

    Edgard looked at the seven seemingly normal teens while they were waiting for him to react. Edgard walked towards the exit and opened the doors, gesturing the seven to follow him. The Academy was huge in size and as expected they had to take a lot of turns and walk for a while before they reached their destination.


    "Come in and stand in a line, young lads." Edgard commanded as he led the seven into a hall which had contrasting design than other parts of the Academy.


    The interior of the room was semi-spherical while the walls and the floor were built with Quartz. The walls had symbols '' ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? '' inscribed in them while the diameter of the circular floor was roughly 15 meters and had a circle of 5-meter diameter with a Hexagram inscribed inside the circle in the centre of the room.


    "Headmaster Edgard, if you don''t mind me asking, would you please explain what those symbols mean?" Erina asked like a little girl filled with curiosity as she placed a finger on her lower lip.


    "Those symbols represent the numbers one to nine in an ancient language. And in turn, each number represents one of the ancient families. The ancient family lines were the guardians of the seal on the dark forces as well of this world."


    "And now they are gone, so what now?" Leo stepped towards the centre of the circle trying to have a closer look as he asked in a serious tone.


    "If there''s something the ancient families taught us, then it would be to believe that there is always a way and all we needed to do was to search for it. They are gone, but that isn''t going to make anyone in this world give up without facing the dark forces. The fact that they are gone only highlighted the need for unity and strengthened the bonds between the neighbouring kingdoms."


    "So, it brought Unity?" Sai asked with a doubting face as he stared at Edgard for a reply.


    "You can say that." Edgard flashed a small smile as he looked at Sai.


    "Leo, stand in the middle of the circle. It is time, ''Time to break your Seal''. Stand firmly and I suggest you to just stay calm and try not to pass out." Edgard stood outside the circle facing Leo while the other six stood behind him.


    Edgard closed his eyes and lifted his hands while projecting his open palms at Leo. The room was lightly lit with Qi bulbs which looked pretty much the same as any other electrical bulb on Earth but had a gem inside the glass bulb instead of a filament. In a few seconds, the room dimmed and the six could see a string of Qi being drawn towards Edgard from the ground, the walls and even the Qi bulbs. Edgard was in his 60''s but the aura he emitted and the density of the Qi that surrounded him swiftly was clear evidence for the seven that he was no normal man.


    His body started to become less visible as the golden Qi surged from his toe to head. Edgard started to recite a spell which was inaudible to the six behind him who were still wondering if it would hurt to have a seal broken. The symbols on the walls shone in a golden colour just as the circle and the hexagram while the same golden symbols appeared on the space above the circle. Soon a semisphere made of thin Qi formed around Leo which covered the entire circle. The symbols were about 30 centimetres in height and revolved on the semispherical Qi around Leo.


    "Mucyate!" As Edgard shouted out the last word, Leo felt as if a large rock fell on his head while his heart felt as if it was being squeezed. The Qi in the flying symbols flew into Leo as they revolved around him. A sudden burst of Qi rushed out of Leo which shook the six behind Edgard and soon everything went back to normal and the Qi around Edgard dispersed.


    "Are you okay, Leo!?" Edgard walked up to Leo who was sweating profoundly with closed eyes as he panted heavily while still standing.


    "I am okay, but I will be frank. That was a horrible experience." Leo said with a mocking smile as he opened one of his closed eyes.


    "Hahaha. The ceremony of breaking the seal isn''t the same for everyone. You seven are the only ones who have to go through such crude experience. I will explain later." Edgard laughed at how strong Leo acted even after taking in such a heavy blow to his brain and heart.


    "So, who wants to be next!?" Edgard turned back to face the rest of the gang as he asked.


    The rest of the gang hid behind Clint who had no reaction on his face while the rest only peeked at Edgard and Leo in despair. Edgard and Leo weren''t much surprised by such a reaction from the other five cause they knew how they would feel after seeing such reactions from Leo.


    "Is there an option ''I will Pass, no thank you.'' headmaster?" Erina stood last in the line as she asked slowly while she peaked at Edgard.


    "No. At most the only options you have are ''Me'' or ''Definitely Me'' little girl." The five sighed and trembled in fear as a shiver rode up their spine.


    "I will go next." Clint walked up casually to the centre of the circle while Leo walked slowly towards the wall and sat down leaning on the wall.


    The same procedure was repeated over and over for the rest of the five as well after Clint, starting with Sai and then Aiko, Reeva, Ian and ended with Erina. But what surprised Edgar was that none of the seven passed out as he expected them to.


    The seven sat down on the floor and panted heavily except Clint who wasn''t much affected by the intensity of pain. Edgar and Clint helped the six up and led them back into his office. The seven were given some cream coloured juice to drink, after which the seven felt as if all the pain and sweating they had a second ago was only an illusion.


    "What was that juice?" Ian asked slowly as he eyed the juice bottle on Edgard''s table.


    "Just a potion for pain and calming the body. You will learn all about these sorts of potions soon in the academy."


    "So, Headmaster, you said we were the only ones who have to go through such kind of ritual to break our seal, why? Is the ritual for others easier?" Reeva asked with a straight face as she put down the empty cup.

 23 A busy day at the Academy

    "Your Qi is too strong and would require a very strong seal to contain it. Normal means used to break other seals wouldn''t be sufficient to break yours. And just as I suspected, it was surely a tough task to break your seals. The stronger your seal, the more pain you receive. It took a lot of Qi from my side to break your seals and that just goes to show how exceptional your Qi is." Edgard sipped on some juice as he sat down while explaining the stuff to the seven.


    "So, what''s the procedure to break the seals on normal people?" Aiko asked with a curious face which was also filled with envy towards others who don''t need to go through that horrible experience.


    "All the professors here are either top elementors or Knights, they won''t break a sweat to crack a seal. The professors only need to chant in one of the many rooms similar to the one we were in right now. It won''t be that painful for the rest, they will only feel as if someone hit their head in a friendly manner."


    "Well, lucky them I guess." Sai said casually as he got up from his seat to stretch out a bit.


    "So, what next, Headmaster?" Leo got up from the sofa and faced Edgard as he inquired their next step.


    ''Snap!''


    Edgard snapped his fingers immediately after which the door to Edgard''s office opened and a woman walked up to the group of seven.


    "This is my daughter Riana Felix, a professor in this academy and also a Knight. Riana hand the student accessories."


    Riana was in her 30''s with brown hair and black eyes just like her father, Edgard. She raised her palm into mid air and in an instant, seven sets of accessories flashed out of nowhere before the group and were waiting to be picked up by them as they floated in mid air. Each set had a blue gem, a book and a card.


    "The blue gem is called a Templar, a Qi powered gem which connects all the students in the academy via the Qi towers and has a map of our kingdom as well as the academy. And is also your identity proof. To activate the gem, you need to pour in a very small amount of Qi in it. The book contains all the school rules and restrictions as well as a few important warnings. Finally, the card is the key to your dorm rooms. Any questions?" Riana sounded like a strict and workaholic woman as she explained the set of accessories before the seven.


    "Umm, yes, I have a question. How many students per room?" Reeva asked as she lifted her arm trying to grab the attention of Riana.


    "Three for the girl''s dorms and two for the boys."


    "Why the difference?" Erina asked as she tilted her head slightly with a question mark face.


    "I will answer that question. From my previous experience, I understood that it is always better to allow the least no. of boys per room after witnessing how unhygienic they keep their rooms." Edgard said with a serious and pissed of face, after remembering some bad memories.


    "I alotted you three girls, the same room. While I split you four into two pairs and alotted two different and opposite rooms. Any more questions?" Riana looked at the seven who shook their heads.


    "Follow me then." Riana led the seven out of the room after they bowed to the headmaster. The seven were led into one of the spacious halls in the academy which was more like a P.E hall in the schools back on the Earth.


    "Now try to find your way to your rooms using the Templars. Hold the gem in your hand and concentrate on it. But it''s not the same as you did in the Qi examination, back then the spell weakened a part of your seal through which the Qi leaked out, but now I need you to release your Qi on command and in control."


    "And how do we do that?" Ian asked lifting an eyebrow.


    "Sit down and close your eyes you seven." The seven sat down on the ground and closed their eyes just as Riana instructed them to.


    "The powerhouse of the Qi is located in the crown area of a person. Simply put, it is in your head. Concentrate and try to feel the difference in how your head felt before your seals broke and now. Focus on that particular feeling."


    "Try to channel that feeling in your head to your entire body and then channel it into your hand and try to let it out through your hands."


    "Wait, isn''t the head too stuffed and small, why contain Qi in there?" Erina questioned with a puzzled face.


    "Silence! I said focus. How old are you little girl, 10!?" Riana yelled at Erina with a strange expression.


    "Hey! I am 16." Erina puffed her cheeks as she glared at Riana.


    "Then you are supposed to understand that the location of the Qi powerhouse isn''t our choice, that''s just how we were created. The head is the central part for a human and according to the ancient scrolls it is also the central part of a soul."


    "Enough of this. Now Focus!"


    The seven entered a state of meditation and started to feel something different in their head. It felt like a force trying to burst itself out of containment, an energy trying to escape their physical bodies. The seven started to focus and create a path from their head to every part of the body, allowing the Qi to surge freely in their body.


    ''Ouch!'' Leo and the other six suddenly screamed at the feeling as if someone slapped their head. The seven opened their eyes only to understand that Riana really did hit their head. Riana had a face with mixed emotions as she stood in front of them.


    "What was that for Professor Riana?!" Sai shouted at Riana trying to understand the situation.


    "Just look around you! I think I am starting to understand why my dad called me over particularly and ordered me to teach you some basics." Riana''s voice seemed shaken with her eyes wide open.


    The seven looked around only to find out that they burnt the floor around them. The floor was made out of wood instilled with ancient spells. It was made to sustain the Qi blasts and any spell, but it turned black just after being burnt with the Qi of the seven for a few seconds.

 24 Keep it in control

    "What happened? Did ''we'', do this?" Sai asked slowly emphasizing the word ''we''.


    "Yes, and I guess I have to keep you seven under surveillance. We can''t have you blowing up stuff at school or hurting other students by mistake." Riana was thinking of ways to control and teach the seven teens in front of her as she calmed down.


    "Alright, for now, I will take you to your dorms. And I am warning you! Don''t you dare use your Qi. The academy officially opens tomorrow and thousands of students are going to be in the campus. With the seal breaking rituals in place, the fourth years and the professors will be very busy. So I recommend you to stay together if you are going somewhere or preferably just stay in your dorms. Got it?" Riana''s tone went back to normal as she glanced at the seven.


    "Yes, mam." The seven shouted in unison and followed Riana.


    Riana led the group first to the entrance of the boy''s dorm and asked one of the dorm supervisors to lead the four to their rooms and also to show around the way to other parts of the dorm while Riana led the girls to their dorms. The dorm had enough rooms to contain at least 9,000-10,000 students and had many supervisors who try to enforce the rules to their best.


    "Ha...what a soft bed. I think I am going to fall in love with this bed." Sai fell on to the bed as soon as he entered the room and let out a sound of satisfaction. Sai and Ian shared a room while Clint and Leo were in the room opposite to them.


    "Hey, wait! How do we contact the girls now?!" Sai got up from the bed abruptly and rushed towards Leo''s and Clint''s room.


    "Leo, how do we contact the girls now?!" Sai rushed into their open room without knocking while the latter were finally about to relax on their beds.


    "Don''t worry, I told them to meet us at our dorm entrance around four in the evening cause we don''t know their dorm yet, besides that, we will meet during lunch anyway. Let''s just have our lunch and then go out to the city and buy whatever we need like clothes and stuff." Leo answered nonchalantly as he closed his eyes.


    "We still need to meet that man Ramsay and get the money Lord Liam sent as well. We won''t survive long without money." Ian reminded the group as he walked in slowly to which they all agreed with a nod.


    "Alright then, it''s only 11 right now. Let''s relax for now and just laze in here till the evening after lunch. You guys do remember the way to the canteen, don''t you?" Clint laid down on his bed and stretched out as he said those words. By the time the four boys settled down, the three girls already took a shower and went to take a nap.


    The seven were extremely tired mentally and physically after their seven day journey which included a less than a minute death round with a pack of wolves. The seven got up by 1 in the afternoon and made their way to the canteen which was situated between the girl''s and boy''s dorm.


    The group got used to eating more compared to others and munched down the food in the canteen after buying food with all the money they had with them. Their lunch constituted of salads, curry, fried chicken and rice.


    The seven agreed on meeting back at the boy''s dorm before they separated and went back to their own dorms. The three girls took a quick nap after chatting with each other before meeting up with Leo and others at their dorm.


    The seven found their way out of the academy after asking directions from the guards that were present every here and there. Soon the group merged with the busy streets of Arcadia and asked the people on the streets, the way to Norion bank. After walking for around thirty minutes looking around the city, the seven stood before their destination.


    The Norion bank was like the centre of attraction and was extremely busy just as any banks on earth. The bank was guarded heavily by many skilled elementors who were always on high alert. Erina shrank behind Clint after witnessing the overbearing demeanour of the elementors guarding the bank. The seven walked in through the front gate which had a white layer of Qi which covered the entire building. The Qi around the building was infused with special spells which prevented others from using spells but one could still use his Qi.


    "Umm...excuse me, we are looking for someone named Ramsay. Can you tell us where we can find him?" Leo asked one of the many assistants present in the bank who were helping the customers in every way possible.


    "What?! You want to meet Master Ramsay. Do you have an appointment? Who are you?" The assistant who had a pleasant face suddenly turned serious as soon as he heard the name, Ramsay.


    "We were told to meet him and show him something." Leo answered casually.


    "Who are you trying to trick kiddo?"


    "See, this is what we were supposed to show him." Leo took out one of the golden coins Liam gave the seven and showed him.

 25 I have been waiting for you

    "That coin!"


    "Pl...ple...please forgive me, young masters and young madams. Please follow me, I will lead you to Master Ramsay." The young assistant stuttered as he apologized after seeing the gold coin. The seven were led into something similar to an elevator which took them to the 10th floor which was the top floor of the building.


    It was very clear to Leo that this world is slowly going to develop in a similar way to that of Earth but would use Qi as a substitute for electricity. The elevator had a layer of Qi on the top and bottom of it which activated gravity and wind spells according to the floor requested. The elevator door was manually operated and could only be opened after the elevator reached the particular floor.


    "This way, please." The assistant led the seven to the only door on the floor and was very grand to look at.


    ''Knock''


    The assistant knocked the door trembling in fear at the thought of disturbing the man inside. But in contrary to what the assistant expected, the grand doors were wide opened by two maids from the inside, while a man in his 40''s stood in the middle of the hall as if he was waiting to welcome someone.


    "I have been waiting for you, young ones." The middle-aged man was none other than Ramsay, the owner of the biggest bank in the kingdom, which had branches in all the great cities.


    "My name is Ramsay and I was told you seven would come for me." The old man smiled sweetly looking at the seven as he informed them.


    "How did you know it was us seven behind the door?" Erina, as usual, didn''t hold back her doubts.


    "None dare to disturb master Ramsay except the royal family. It was pretty obvious that it was you, cause master Ramsay kept his schedule empty to receive you seven whenever you came searching for him." One of the maids answered politely as she bowed slightly.


    "That said, I believe you seven have something for me, don''t you?" Ramsay extended his hand hinting the group to hand over the coins.


    "Oh the coins, yes. Here you go Mr.Ramsay." Leo collected the coins from the other six and handed them over to Ramsay who flashed a smile with a face that showed envy towards the seven.


    "Thank you. Now, take these cards, they are your bank cards, don''t lose them. They will register data about how much you spent, when and where. Whenever you withdraw money from one of our banks, the banker will change the data in the card and that''s how we keep track of how much you spend." Ramsay handed a white blank card to each of the seven as he explained how they work.


    "What if someone steals our card and uses it?" Leo asked the most obvious question that any person would ask.


    "Don''t worry, look at the cards now. Your Qi and your face will prove if the cards belong to you." The cards which were supposed to be blank, had the face of its owner and had a number on it which signified the unique Qi signature of its owner.


    "So, even if they get stolen, the thief can''t use them. And if you ever lose them, come straight to me, no one will stop you." The seven nodded in agreement clearing all their doubts but something important kept bugging Leo.


    "One last thing, Mr.Ramsay." Leo called out to Ramsay who smiled looking at Leo.


    "You want to know the limit of money you can withdraw, is that it?"


    "Yes." Leo waited for the answer as the six diverted their attention towards Ramsay after hearing what he asked.


    "You have no limit, just don''t go crazy because of that."


    "That''s what Lord Liam asked me to tell you. You are presently some of the most important customers for us." Ramsay sat down on his chair on the other side of the room as he said those words.


    "You seem to be close with Lord Liam, Mr.Ramsay."


    "Yes, we were close friends since childhood. I can sense you are a man with many doubts but even I can''t answer your question. Even though we are close, I can''t say what''s going on in his mind even if you ask me. He is a very secretive man, but rest assured he is loyal to all humanity." Ramsay sounded the question that Leo was going to ask and answered it.


    "Don''t think too much little man, just go with the flow for now." Ramsay reassured Leo just as the knight Raj gave him his word before.


    "Alright then. Thank you for everything, Mr.Ramsay." Leo and the six bowed slightly and turned around to leave being led by one of the maids.


    The seven remembered their way back to their dorms perfectly and returned to their rooms. The group completed their dinner soon and got into their beds.


    "Can you seven hear me? It''s me Riana." And just as the seven were about to go to sleep, Riana''s voice woke them up.

 26 Just a feeling

    The sound resonated from the Templars, the seven had. The blue gem was blinking as it emitted a faint blue coloured Qi. The group held their templars in their hand and replied to Riana with a ''Yes''.


    "Okay, good. I know, I told you seven to just stay put tomorrow, but there''s been a change of plans..." Riana stopped in her tracks as if she was contemplating something.


    "Change of plans? What plans, professor Riana?" Sai inquired unable to maintain his urge to know what''s going on.


    "For some reason, I am not so sure if I should just keep you seven untrained. I just have a feeling that you are going to blow up some building if left alone."


    "And?" Reeva impatiently butted in the conversation, trying to have Riana spill everything.


    "Be ready to move out by nine in the morning. I am going to train you seven to control your Qi. Just stand at the entrance of your canteen and I will come to pick you seven up."


    "Any questions?"


    Everyone in the group replied with a ''No'' except Sai, who kept silent. The other six and Riana were waiting for Sai to respond while Sai was lost deep in his thoughts.


    "Professor Riana, we are unusual students aren''t we?" Sai sounded serious as he asked.


    "In a way, yes."


    "Do you think we are going to be exceptional students who are going to be popular?!" Sai yelled out in excitement as he jumped up from his bed.


    "..." Silence prevailed for a few seconds over which none uttered a sound.


    "So, that means all of you are fine with it. Good night." Riana ended the conversation after wishing the seven. The blue flickering light slowly dissipated before which everyone except Sai replied with a ''Good night.''


    "Hey! What about my-" Before Sai got to complete his sentence, the blue light disappeared entirely leaving an overly excited Sai hanging to his question.


    "Why did she treat me like thin air, Ian?!" Sai turned to glance at Ian as he vented. But Ian only replied with a pitiful and meaningful gaze at Sai before rolling back onto his bed after turning off his side of the light.


    "..."


    Sai stared at Ian for a while before turning off the other light and going back to sleep. The dorms had no A/C''s or table fans, but the quality and temperature of the air that made its way through the large windows in the rooms were just right for anyone to fall asleep in seconds. The two moons filled the night sky with their light as the kingdom fell asleep.


    Like any other, with a constant and pleasant breeze of air being supplied, the seven were in deep sleep. It was quarter to eight when all the seven heard a buzzing sound in their head. The sound came from the Templar which shone with the same blue light as before.


    "I am sure you seven are up by now. Aren''t you?" It was Riana again, disturbing the seven who were in their bed.


    "Yes, Mam." The seven except Erina shot up as soon as they heard Riana''s voice and replied swiftly.


    "I think I am missing one of the girls. Wake her up."


    "Erina, get up. Eina, get up!" Reeva shook Erina who was clenching on to her pillow as she nudged deeper into it as she said, "Five more minutes..."


    "Miss Reeva."


    "Ye...Yes, Mam." Reeva stuttered as she responded.


    "Kick her off the bed."Riana''s tone seemed stern as she ordered Reeva. And just like that, without any hesitation, Reeva executed Riana''s order by kicking Erina off her bed.


    "Ouch! What was that for?!" Erina pouted as she rubbed her eyes and got up to see the other two girls.


    "It was professor Riana''s orders, don''t look at me." Reeva defended herself as she crossed her hands.


    "Just get dressed up and meet me at the canteen in an hour. I want you seven to be punctual. That is all." Riana hung up after she said those words. The seven expected this kind of behaviour from Riana as she emitted the aura of a workaholic and a strict office lady.


    The boys and girls dorms had four levels each and were located near to each other at the southern corner of the academy with the canteen lying between the dorms. Tens of different arenas and creepy buildings were located all over the academy with the academy headquarters situated at the northern section of the academy ground.


    The seven freshened up within thirty minutes and met up at the canteen but unlike the previous day, the academy was filled with students and professors who were performing rituals on the academy grounds, arenas, just simply any place possible. The ritual for the students only contained the circle with the same ancient symbols floating around them and the Qi that surrounded the students and the professors was relatively very dull.


    "You seven are on time, good. Now, let''s go." Riana appeared behind the seven out of nowhere with a red hood covering her head and a white mask concealing her cold face.


    "I haven''t shown you the entire academy yet, so let us start our class after I show you the entire academy. Okay?"


    "Why do you have a hood? That is so cool though!" Sai yelled looking at Riana with excitement.


    "Okay then, let''s go." Riana turned around and led the group forward.


    "Hey! Why are you-" Before Sai had the chance to complete his words, Ian patted Sai''s shoulder and gave him the same look that he had flashed the previous night before advancing forward.


    "Uh, whatever." Sai followed the others as he sighed.


    "So, that is the main arena. All the final matches are held here." Riana stopped in her tracks and pointed her index at a building which was similar to a cricket stadium in size and appearance as she explained. A number of students were undergoing seal breaking rituals everywhere in the academy even around the group.


    ''And now to activate your Templar, you have to focus your Qi.'' The professors around the ground were teaching how to control the Qi, enough to activate their Templars as the group continued with their work.


    "So professor, the arena ground has water, nature and many other resources for the elementors to fight, yes?" Leo continued to sound his doubts trying to have a grasp on the basic layout of the academy.


    ''Okay professor, I am going to focus everything I got!'' A cheerful voice made its way towards the group as they were listening intently.


    "yes, there are dif-" Riana stopped in her tracks as she heard the cheerful voice. The group turned to look at the source of the voice and act immediately but they were too late.


    ''BOOM!''


    In the place of a trimmed lawn lied a thirty centimetre hole with smoke covering the area.

 27 Everything is abnormal

    A white coloured barrier surrounded the blast area. The barrier wasn''t very thick but sure was very strong. The barrier was created by Riana who reacted quickly and generated a barrier rather than trying to stop the person in question. There were at least a hundred to two hundred students surrounding the area who were stunned witnessing the turn of events.


    "I was right about you seven. You seven are bad news." Riana said with an angry face as she removed the barrier while glaring at the girl who almost blew away a dozen students.


    The dust cleared displaying a frightened Erina who was waiting for a lecture. The six stared seriously at Erina with a ''What are we to do with her?'' face as Riana approached Erina and pulled her by the ear.


    "Ouch! I am sorry, let my poor ear go. Please!" Erina cried out as she tried to free herself from Riana''s grasp as the other six stood beside Erina as if they were standing in a line to lecture her next.


    ''Did you see that girl.''


    ''She was about to blow them up.''


    ''Who is she? Let''s stay a little away from her.''


    The other students around the area started to chat among themselves as Riana started lecturing Erina.


    "I was just following what the professor said."


    "He wasn''t teaching you, he was teaching the other students! So, why did you do it?!" Riana tried to kick some sense as the other six heard what the crowd were saying.


    "That''s bad. We will become famous in the opposite way than I wanted us to become." Sai mumbled in a voice only audible to their group and Riana.


    "Let''s get out of here first, follow me." Riana sensing the situation the seven were facing, immediately led them towards their next spot.


    The group soon reached their next spot which was the same wooden arena they were led to before the day. But unlike other parts of the academy, this place had no students.


    "You seven might have it rough with the other students if the word got out about you blowing up stuff on your first day." Riana took off her hood as she let her hair fall freely to her waist.


    "We are extremely sorry about what she did. We will try not to repeat it." Leo apologized in Erina''s stead as she bowed before Riana.


    "Alright. But I am curious about you seven. What is wrong with you bunch?"


    "One is intelligent. The other is dumb. While the next one is nut lose and so on. How on the earth did you seven even come together?" Riana pointed at Leo, next at Erina followed by Sai.


    "Long story Professor. But headmaster knows it. You can say we seven got kind of forced to group up." Leo explained as he looked around at the other six.


    "Whatever the reasons, I am not going to let you seven run amok."


    "I need to fix your problems with controlling Qi. And I am intending to do it right now, I don''t even want to think of the consequences if you blow someone off."


    "What are you going to do professor?!" Sai asked excitedly as his brain stormed through a no. of thoughts.


    "Just stay still."


    Saying those words, Riana knelt down and started chanting some spell.


    ''Everything has a twin in this universe.''


    ''Even the divine light itself.''


    "What the heck is she reciting? Is that a nursery poem?" Reeva mumbled slowly to which Ian and Sai glared at her who were previously excited seeing Riana chant.


    "That''s a spell. Can''t you tell?" Ian said in a low voice as he tilted his head towards Reeva to which she gave a look as if saying ''Whatever''.


    ''Let the darkness come forth.''


    ''Come forth, nightless sky!''


    With those last words, a barrier, pitch black in colour expelled from Riana engulfing the seven and herself. The barrier was only a few meters in diameter but was powerful enough to absorb all the light inside it. With light unable to enter the barrier, the interior of the barrier turned as dark as it could.


    ''Ouch, get off my foot.''


    ''Don''t grab me there. I am going to kill you if you are a guy.''


    The seven were rattled by the sudden appearance of the barrier which made them bump into each other inside the barrier.


    "Silence! Stay still!" Riana shouted in an attempt to calm down the lot.


    "Professor, what is this about?" Leo unlike the other six asked in a nonchalant way as he stood in the same spot.


    "You will see in a minute."


    "Now, you seven concentrate on the feeling in your head once again and channel it into your body. I am sure you can keep your eyes open this time. It won''t be that hard."


    "Okay." The seven replied slowly but they weren''t without fear of blowing up again.


    Unexpectedly, what they saw was beautiful in contrast to what they were expecting. Threads of golden Qi running through the body was what they saw. All of the seven could see the golden threads of Qi running in the body of the other six. The threads started from the brain and split into a number of directions as it ran down.


    "And this is mine." Riana said slowly as her body showed a similar kind of Qi thread with the only difference being that her Qi was white in colour and thinner in size.


    "I don''t know what this is, but it sure is beautiful. It is as if we are trees with roots." Erina giggled as she flipped around.


    "Why aren''t we blowing up?" Leo did like the view but he couldn''t run from sounding his thoughts.


    "You are not blowing up cause the barrier is absorbing all the Qi that is being emitted by your body. It can''t absorb the Qi inside you because of which we can see your Qi."


    "So, did you find anything abnormal, professor?" Leo asked as he knitted his eyebrows together.


    "Everything, Leo. Everything." Riana''s voice was very slow as if she was answering absentmindedly.


    "Ian?" Sai called out slowly to which Ian pulled Sai''s shirt as he followed his voice.


    ''Can I say that''s cool?'' Sai whispered in Ian''s ears to which Ian looked at Sai with a blank face. But as expected Sai wasn''t able to see his expression due to the darkness inside the barrier.

 28 That doesnst sound so good

    Riana got up from her knees and approached Leo as she followed his voice. Her eyes sparkled as the bright golden colour of his Qi got reflected by her eyes before being absorbed by the barrier.


    "You seven are not supposed to be possible." Riana said in a very slow voice as she continued to stare at Leo.


    "You yourself said I am dumb, professor. So, can you please explain what you mean?" Erina was hopping around after noticing that the Qi threads in her body changed their position every time she moved.


    ''The golden Qi and the thickness of your threads. They are not supposed to be possible.'' Riana thought to herself as she diverted her gaze towards Erina who was hopping like a kangaroo all around the area inside the barrier, while occasionally bumping into it.


    "I need to discuss something with an old friend of mine and my father before giving you any clarity."


    "But the solution to your problem is pretty easy. You guys have to meditate a lot and try to control the amount of Qi you use. Usually, other students wouldn''t exactly need to control their Qi this much. But your case is different."


    "So we are special! We got special powers?!" Sai interrupted Riana with excitement only to be hit by Riana on the head.


    "You need to learn some manners first. Don''t talk when I am talking."


    "But you aren''t denying what I said. Hehe." Sai grinned at Riana but thanks to the barrier, Riana didn''t see his grin otherwise another hit to his head would have been inevitable.


    "I don''t know. With the amount of Qi flowing through you, you seven are more like bombs than a normal elementor."


    "So, you are saying that we might lose control and self destruct sending ourselves to kingdom bye-bye." Reeva presented her thoughts in an attempt to clarify herself.


    "Yes. Exactly. You will pop like an overinflated balloon."


    "''Gulp'', that doesn''t sound so good. Hahaha." Erina laughed awkwardly as she gulped down imagining herself blast like a balloon.


    "You seven will be granted a special position due to your condition. I will talk to my dad later about this."


    "Special Position! You mean we are going to be trained in an elite way or something like that!?"


    "No, you are hereby banned from using your Qi until I say so. You seven are placed in the research group which doesn''t use much of their own Qi but uses Qi batteries. I will notify the other professors that you are not allowed to use your Qi''s."


    "No! Please don''t do that to me...I mean us." Sai fell to the ground ready to cry while the other six looked at him like a piece of trash.


    "He''s lost complete track of our goal." Leo said slowly to which the other five nodded while Riana ignored what Leo said.


    "I am going to train you seven how to control your Qi every day in the morning except Sundays. You won''t be in the research class for long. As soon as I classify you safe, you will be shifted to another section."


    "See yourself to your dorms, I have some errands to run. And I am warning you seven, do not use your Qi." Riana released the barrier finally letting the seven see daylight. The seven blocked the sunlight trying to adjust their eyes to the sudden illumination and by that time Riana disappeared.


    "You heard her. No Qi, unless you wanna get blasted to the netherworld. We will meet back at the canteen during dinner. Okay?" Leo looked at the other five for confirmation while Sai was still on the ground.


    "Clint, grab that trash. Let''s go back." Leo pointed towards Sai as he led the group back towards the dorms.


    ------------------------------------


    "You should learn to knock. I heard there was an explosion. Were anyone hurt?" Edward said nonchalantly looking out of his window with his hands on his back.


    "None. I believe you have an explanation for those seven." Riana said as she appeared out of thin air.


    "They told me their origin. But surely they are hiding something. I can tell you what they told me, but I am afraid I can''t tell you anything else." Edward didn''t move from his position as he continued staring out the window.


    "I doubt that ''The Wiseman'', you, have no idea about their origins. Why not share it, father?" Riana approached Edward slowly as she glared at him.


    "There are always reasons, my daughter. Always."


    "Alright then, just tell me their story." Riana sighed in discontent as she stood on the spot.


    Edward turned back and sat down on his char by the window as he signalled Erina to sit down. Erina wasn''t surprised hearing the origins of the seven but only had new doubts in her mind.


    "Something doesn''t add up dad." Riana squinted her eyes as she looked at her dad.


    "Yes. As the Wiseman, I am sure that I have covered most of our planet in my journey. But I have never encountered such a kingdom with no Qi."


    "I am sure Lord Liam knows that too. Lord Liam isn''t an idiot, so why did he believe the words of that seven teens even after knowing it all?" Riana was starting to lose her cool as she dropped thoughts.


    "That man is a dark horse. Don''t try to judge his motives through basic common sense. It is better if you don''t try to figure out his motives otherwise, you will only have more headaches."


    "Alright then, I need to visit someone. I will be on my way now." Riana disappeared into thin air as she said those words.


    "I wonder how much he will tell you." A smile appeared on Edward''s face as he went back near the window gazing at a busy academy.


    "It''s rare to see you visiting me. What''s the occasion?" A man observing the busy academy just as Edward, tilted his head to his right as he saw Riana.


    "Not an occasion exactly. I just had some doubts, Orion senpai." Riana looked straight at Orion, the Paladin, the protector of the academy as she walked towards him.

 29 They were forbidden

    "Doubts? What might be bothering you so much that you decided to approach me?" Orion said with an emotionless face as he stared at Riana.


    "They say nothing escapes your eyes. You were born with special eyes, infused with Qi from your birth. I am sure you saw it when they entered the academy." Riana approached Orion as she jumped right into the matter.


    "Riana, you are one of the most powerful knights and are almost at the level of becoming a Paladin." Orion declared the facts with a straight face as he looked at Riana.


    "Yes."


    "But even though you are one of the most powerful knights in the kingdom, the truth regarding the seven is still below your pay grade." Orion didn''t move an inch or change his facial expressions throughout the conversation as if he was an emotionless being.


    "Below my...pay grade?! Mine!?" Riana raged at Orion who kept the same emotionless face.


    "The information you are seeking was passed down from one king to another in all the kingdoms and only four other."


    "One being the Wiseman, knows only half of the truth. The other three Paladins are chosen by the counsel of kings. Only the strongest and the most trustworthy are given hold of the truth. And I am one of the three. We three know the other half of the truth that the Wiseman doesn''t. When the time comes, we were supposed to tell the other half of the truth to the Wiseman." Orion looked into a distance as he said those words.


    "What time? When?" Riana squinted her eyes as she put a leg forth towards Orion trying to gain more information.


    "The time, when the destruction of this world becomes inevitable."


    "But it doesn''t matter anymore. The forbidden act has been performed." Orion''s face started to get angrier as he reminded himself of a few facts.


    "What do you mean?" Riana couldn''t help but question him.


    "The Wiseman, your father will never betray our king. But I assume one of the kings who know the truth, have broken the ancient promise." Orion tilted his head slightly towards Riana as his face turned grim.


    "Soon enough, I will be relieved of duty and as one of the four truth keepers, I have a duty to catch the person behind this. Things are going to busier, darker and bloodier, soon."


    "I hope you take care of yourself. That is all I can tell you." As he said those words, Orion reverted back to his original state and observed the academy just as before.


    Assuming that Orion wasn''t intending to disclose any more information, Riana disappeared without uttering a word.


    "You are known for being so silent, but you always talk too much when it comes to her. Hahaha." A voice echoed from the Templar in Orion''s pocket as he continued to watch the academy without giving much care.


    -----------------------------------


    "The dinner was heavenly, I just can''t get enough of the food in this world. The food feels so natural, I wish I had a bigger stomach just to eat." Sai fell onto his bed as he let out a sigh of satisfaction from his dinner.


    "The dorm filled up just in a day. Let''s go and say hi to the others tomorrow." Ian had a straight face as ever as he said those words.


    "Yeah, right. Remind me tomorrow, we will go visit our neighbouring rooms with Leo and Clint." Sai fell asleep in a few seconds as soon as he completed his sentence followed by Ian who didn''t take much time either.


    ''Knock Knock''


    "Huh...What?" Ian woke up hearing the knock on his door.


    "It''s me, Leo. Open the door."


    "What? Leo...?" Ian rubbed his eyes slowly as he looked at the time on the wall clock. It was exactly one in the night which made him feel confused thinking what Leo wanted at this time. He got up from his bed slowly as he rubbed his eyes trying to see clearly.


    ''Thud!'' It was the sound of thunder. Ian, not expecting a thunder, looked out of the window only to find out that it was raining.


    ''This is the first time I saw rain in this word.'' Ian''s thoughts were distracted by the rain and the thunder until he heard another knock.


    "Yeah, coming Leo." Ian walked towards the door in a sleepy manner and opened the door.


    "What''s going on, it''s one in the nigh-" Ian rubbed his eyes as he lazily opened the door only to see that no one was there.


    ''Thud'' Another thunder hit the ground at a distance but was enough to illuminate the entire room.


    "Leo?" Ian put a foot out of his room slowly as he called out in a low voice. Ian turned his head towards the left to check if someone was there.


    And just as he turned his head to the right, ''Thud!'', Another thunder hit the ground. Ian got up from his bed while breathing heavily.


    ''Wait, that was a dream? No, that can''t be. I am sure I saw someone to my right.'' Ian looked around the room only to see that the door was locked, Sai was sleeping peacefully on his bed and the skies were clear without any traces of clouds or rain.


    ''But that felt so real.'' Ian lied back on his bed and was about to fall asleep when his eyes accidentally fell on something which gave him a wild chill down his spine. The minute hand moved from 00 to 01, while the hour hand was exactly on 1.


    ''Something doesn''t feel right.'' Ian pulled his blanket and covered his whole body including his head trying to calm down and sleep before finally, he gave in to his sleep after an hour.


    "You don''t look so good. Well, it''s not like you usually have an active and cheerful face anyway. But something is really odd with you today." Sai commented casually as he put on the academy uniform which was given to every student as soon as they completed the ritual of breaking the Qi. The seven were given the uniform separately the before night.


    "Nothing. I am fine, just as usual." Ian commented in his usual dull and nonchalant tone as he put on the uniform.


    "But still don''t you think these uniforms are cool. Just look at them. Seeing myself in them makes me feel so cool." Sai''s eyes sparkled as he admired himself before the mirror. The uniform had a long sky blue coat with a white shirt, a navy blue tie and trouser. It had a symbol with a unique sword imprinted on a wolf situated near the position of one''s heart. The sword represented the kingdom while the wolf represented the academy.


    ''Knock''


    "You guy''s ready to go?" Leo asked casually as he opened the door. But only god knew that Ian''s heart raced like a horse at the sound of his door knocking.

 30 Research section

    "R2..."


    "R3..."


    "R4...that''s it. This is our classroom. Now, I am warning you six beforehand, do not stand out in any way. We are here in this academy only to find a way to get out of this world. Sai, you are the most likely one out of all of us to deviate from our actual goal."


    "Roger that Leo." Sai saluted in a childish manner with a smirk on his face before entering the classroom.


    "Let''s go in." Leo led the other five into the classroom following Sai and found some free seats here and there while the other students occupied most of the classroom. The classroom was like any other classroom back on earth with a blackboard, chairs and tables with huge windows on the other side of the wall.


    "I was planning to switch schools on earth anyway, but not this kind of switch." Leo sighed as he sat down on an empty chair somewhere in the middle.


    It didn''t take much time for the classroom to be filled. The seven split into different directions except for Erina and Aiko who sat next to each other under Leo''s words. It was pretty obvious to the other six that Leo wanted Aiko to keep an eye out on Erina so that she doesn''t do anything stupid.


    "Good Morning class." A vibrant male voice resounded in the classroom as a man with a very built body entered the room.


    "My name is Miller. And I am going to be your homeroom teacher."


    "First of all, we are going to arrange the seating, before jumping into anything."


    "Starting with this row, approach ''this'' and send your Qi into it." Miller held out something similar to a crystal ball which was perfectly transparent in nature.


    The students approached one after another sending their Qi into it. That was when Leo noticed something different. Initially, Leo thought that everyone had different colour Qi''s after seeing Riana having white Qi and he was right in his assumption. He thought their group had the same colour Qi only because of their origin, the Earth and it had something to do with their Qi. but out of the 60 or so students, he did not see anyone else having a golden Qi. The students Qi were blue, red, green, purple and so on, but none had a golden coloured Qi.


    Soon came Ian''s turn but just before he was going to explain the situation to Miller from his seat, he was signalled to approach him. Ian approached Miller slowly looking confused and stood before him.


    "Just put your hand on the crystal, you don''t need to transfer any Qi." Miller whispered in a slow voice which was inaudible to the rest of the students.


    "And next." Ian returned to his seat and glanced at Leo with a blank face, but that was enough for Leo to understand that Miller knew the seven''s special status.


    "Okay, now that everyone is done with it, look at this crystal. It is a mixture of different Qi''s. Yes?" Miller lifted the crystal to a height so that all the students could see it.


    Leo''s eye''s shone as his brain ran, trying to conclude from the facts he just observed. The crystal had a near golden colour which was similar to the colour of the seven''s Qi.


    "Holy cow, I hope Sai doesn''t get what that means. God, please, make sure Sai is dumb enough not to get it." Leo held his breath as he turned towards Sai to see if his face had any drastic differences.


    "I guess God isn''t very merciful towards me. Now I got to listen to his passionate speech." Leo exhaled a long breath as he closed his eyes after seeing Sai''s eyes shine like a kid who was opening his birthday gift.


    "Now, this is the original Qi. It is called the ''Origin Qi'', the actual form of the Qi that flows within all of us."


    "This is lesson 101 in your journey towards becoming an elementor. The origin Qi can generate any Qi, fire Qi, water Qi, etc. Usually, a person can only extract one to three different Qi''s from the origin Qi from his powerhouse. In very rare cases do we see a person drawing more than three Qi''s out of the powerhouse." The entire class, even the happy go girl Erina was deeply concentrating on the lecture and it only goes to show how interested the students were in learning the ways of Qi.


    "It has one more name to it. Just like any extracted Qi from the Origin Qi has different properties and behaviours, even the Origin Qi has a unique behaviour. Yes, I agree that I myself said that no one ever has used more than four extracts of the Origin Qi, but I never said that none ever used the Origin Qi as a single Qi."


    "The ancient ones." A student in the first bench answered in a low voice as he deeply immersed himself into the lecture.

 31 Should have brought some books

    "Yes, the ancient ones. Although, the ancient lines failed to retain their control over the origin Qi. The legends do suggest that the ancient lines used the Origin Qi to defeat and seal the dark forces. The Origin Qi is a name given to it a few centuries ago but its actual name, the name given by the ancient ones was ''Divinity Qi''."


    "After all that said, it''s time to assign your seating order."


    ''Tick'' Miller snapped his fingers and the different Qi''s that mixed together started splitting. The Qi''s slowly made their way on to different seats and hovered above them.


    "I am sure every one of you can sense your Qi. Go and sit in the seat where your Qi is hovering over." But to Leo''s surprise, there were Qi''s hovering all over the seats. Which meant Miller added some of his Qi to compensate the seven''s Qi.


    Leo signalled the rest of the gang to group up with him as he got up. The other six gathered around Leo just as he signalled while the other students went to their seats and sat. After observing the seven spots which were unoccupied, Leo and the other six sat randomly at those seven seats. Erina sat behind Aiko while the other five split in different directions.


    "This being the first lecture, I am not going to teach anything else. Why don''t we introduce ourselves? Starting from you." Miller pointed towards a girl who was pouting as she got the first seat in the row.


    "I am-" As soon as the introductions began Leo stopped paying interest towards the class and got lost in his own thoughts.


    ''Things are getting complicated.''


    ''Why do I feel that I am missing something? Something that is just before me, but I can''t see it.''


    ''Similarities between our worlds, the languages, the ways of life.''


    ''Something...I am missing something-''


    "Hey...Hey!" As Leo got lost in his thoughts, his neighbour shook him out of it.


    "It''s your turn to introduce yourself." Leo looked around quickly after hearing what his neighbour said. Seeing everyone fixated their eyes on him, Leo immediately rose up from his seat.


    "I am Leo and I am from Ostinia. My hobbies are playing chess and reading books." Leo said casually without thinking much. Only after he saw the faces of the rest of the students did he realize something was wrong.


    "What''s chess? I never heard of such a game." A girl from the other corner of the room asked in a slow voice.


    ''So chess doesn''t exist here. I have to confirm things from the next time if they exist in this world.'' Leo thought internally while Sai grinned at Leo seeing that he slipped.


    "It''s an interesting game which requires a lot of concentration. If you are interested I can teach you later." Leo said with a sweet smile trying to cover his blunder. The girl swiftly turned towards the board after seeing Leo''s reply to her.


    "Next." Miller was actually excited and looking forward to the seven''s introduction. The only thing he was told was that the seven had special status and they are not supposed to use their Qi but none of the teachers were told the reason which made them quite interested in the seven.


    The introductions ended peacefully with the others managing not to slip something and for a change, even Erina introduced herself in a neat and cute manner without messing anything up.


    ''Ring'' It was the sound of the academy bell which is rung once every hour starting from 8 in the morning to 8 in the night.


    "That''s it for today. I do notice some people coming to the class even without a bag, I hope you bring one to the next class." Miller let out a smirk as he looked at the seven one after another.


    ''Shit, we totally forgot about that.'' Leo''s eyes opened wide after he realized that everyone in the classroom brought a bag and some books.


    The classes started at 9 in the morning end had a lunch break from 12 to 1:30 in the afternoon and after which the classes continued till 4:30 in the evening. The seven met with similar remarks from all the teachers the whole day.


    ''Ring'' The final bell for the day rang giving the seven a relief. They were dying in embarrassment after every teacher reminded them to bring some books.


    "Leo! Let''s go get the books, please. I don''t want to go through the same experience tomorrow too." Sai sprinted towards Leo as soon as the class dismissed.


    "I am so not planning to get embarrassed either. Let''s go get them." After saying that, Leo and the rest headed towards the academy gates.


    "Sai..." Reeva called out slowly to Sai which made him look back while walking.


    "Is he looking at ''us''?" Reeva''s eyes were fixated on Orion who was staring at the seven with a serious face.


    "Well, that''s his job, to observe. I guess?" Sai said casually as he followed Reeva''s gaze.


    There were a lot of shops right outside the academy gates as it is a hotspot for students in the academy. The shops sold machines which ran on Qi cells, clothes, books and a lot of stuff. The group immediately found the shop which sold what they needed. The group quickly headed back to the dorm after paying with the money they took from their accounts earlier when they visited Norton bank.


    "Ah! That wasn''t a very good first day. But I got to know of something interesting. The divinity Qi." Sai laid back on his bed as he lost himself in his thoughts and slowly fell asleep.


    ''Knock Knock'' Hearing the knock, Ian''s eyes opened widely in an instant. His eyes quickly turned towards the clock. And what he saw was the one time he didn''t want to see.


    ''It''s 1 am again.''

 32 Somethings donst change

    "Ah! I can''t do this every day Leo, my knees hurt. Riana is making us sit on our knees when we are meditating in the morning." Sai complained as he sighed looking at Leo.


    The seven were returning to their rooms after meditating with Riana for the first time and they found it harder than they expected it to be. Riana made the seven sit on their knees for no less than an hour while meditating.


    "Don''t complain Sai, you know Leo can''t do anything about it anyway." Aiko patted Sai on the shoulder after seeing Leo''s helplessness with Sai''s complaints.


    "Aiko chan, I can''t walk anymore." This time it was Erina who complained to which Aiko sighed helplessly.


    Ian, Reeva and Clint kept silent as they dragged their body towards the dorm just as Leo.


    "I am so sleepy right now. I wish I was like Ian, he is waking up early in the morning without any problem." Sai said with slight envy. Little did Sai know that Ian was actually a very sleepy and lazy guy and the only reason he was up early was that something was bugging him in the night.


    The seven went back to their rooms, laid down and freshened up in an hour before meeting back at the canteen for breakfast.


    "I never believed when people said that the food tastes better after a good exercise. But I am taking it back now, its an absolute bliss." Sai munched down on the food as he talked.


    "Don''t talk while you are eatin-" Just as Reeva wanted to complete her sentence, a loud sound of something breaking alerted the group.


    "What''s that sound?" Clint stopped eating and turned his head to look at the source of the sound.


    There was a small crowd surrounding the area already and more students started to surround the area. The group turned back to look at Leo


    "Let''s have a look." Leo couldn''t deny the enthusiasm the other six were showing. Leo got up and started heading towards the crowd and the six immediately followed him. As the group neared the crowd, Clint took the lead and pushed the crowd aside giving way for the group to look.


    There was a group of seven in the middle surrounding a trio. The group of seven contained six boys and one girl with the trio having two guys and one girl, all of them wearing the first year uniforms. The canteen was exclusive for the first years because of which there were no seniors to stop the fight.


    "Leo, I will go inquire." The one who volunteered to gather information was Ian to which Leo replied with a nod.


    The trio that was surrounded had a grim face while the seven were grinning. The other seven were taunting and trying to provoke the trio in ways. But the trio kept calm and suppressed their emotions.


    "Leo, according to what the other students know, the seven are descendants of some noble families and the other three are actually cousins. There seems to be some bad blood between their families." Ian informed slowly with his never changing nonchalant face.


    "Some things never change, do they? People with power like to squash the people beneath them." Leo said in a slow tone as he continued to watch.


    "Leo, let''s go help them." Sai was about to step forward but was immediately stopped by Clint who was looking at Leo.


    "Like I said, Sai. We can''t lose sight of our goal. We can''t get mixed up with any troubles. We can''t even fight back if they decide to use Qi. Besides, the teachers will clear the mess up in a bit." Leo analyzed and informed as he kept on following the banter of the ten in the middle. Sai retreated and waited impatiently as he stared at the ten.


    Just as Leo said, it wasn''t long before some teachers rushed to the spot and cleared the crowd. But surprisingly, the teachers didn''t say much to the ten in the middle. The teachers didn''t seem to be afraid of the influential background of the seven but there was definitely something else the seven didn''t know.


    "Let''s go to class." Leo turned back without much care and the rest turned around one after another with Sai being the last to head back. Even after the crowd dispersed the trio didn''t move from their spot and stood their spot.


    "Let''s go, brother Aaron." The girl said slowly as she looked at the tallest of the two boys.


    "Aaron, we can''t do anything about it. Let''s go." The other boy in the group walked towards the exit and soon the other two followed.


    --------------


    "We got an early start unlike others, you girls should go to bed as soon as you reach your room too." Leo said as he put down the spoon.


    "History and Properties of Qi are fine, but Maths...I didn''t expect to see my enemy here." Clint said in a serious tone which made the rest of the gang except Ian, let out a little smile while Erina hopped towards Clint and patted his shoulders.


    "What happened Ian?" Leo asked immediately seeing the seriousness in Ian''s face.


    "What do you mean? I am always like this." Ian was quick to deny Leo''s suspicion that something was wrong.


    ''I hope I can sleep without having that dream again.'' Ian looked down as he walked back to the dorm along with the other three boys.

 7 Living here isnt the same

    ''Elementors? What''s that?'' This question was revolving in the heads of the group while Leo was thinking of an excuse to come up with.


    "Well, the thing is, my group and the elementors were on two different carts. We paid them beforehand, and after a few turns, we got detached from them. I think they tricked us and got away with our money. We were in the middle of the forest and a ravager swallowed our cart, while we were riding down trying to find a city, but luckily the ravager wasn''t big enough to swallow us all. Clint here wasn''t swallowed, so he immediately plucked out its roots. During this time, our horses ran away." Leo came up with the first random excuse that came into his mind and tried to confuse the soldiers using logic. He figured out that Elementors weren''t things but probably a rank that was given to humans, as the guards had asked about them, even after they had said that they lost all their stuff.


    "Hmm, that''s strange. Elementors are always supposed to be on every traveller''s cart for safety and that are the rules."


    "Well we were discussing something important and we were just unlucky to have met with a ravager at that particular time."The soldier in the front stared at Leo as he heard his reply until finally, he put a hand on Leo''s shoulder.


    "Poor lads. Must have been tough for you to survive the day. Thank god Matthew saw you down the road. We will let you off the hook, for now, cause these young ones look quite tired. Get them in and come out for drinks with us tomorrow to make it up to us." The soldier waved his hand towards the soldiers near the gate who made way for the cart.


    Leo and the group heaved a euphoric sigh of relief hearing the soldier''s words. They were almost certain that they would be caught lying if it weren''t for Leo.


    "Got that! But let''s drink at my place tomorrow, it''s on me. Hiya!" Matt waved his hand as he got on the cart along with the seven.


    "Now that''s how a man makes up for his mistakes! We will be there. See you tomorrow little girl." The soldiers waved their hands towards Erina who was waving her hand along with Matt. Matt rode the cart through the gate to the tunnel that was made to enter into the city. The group sat down in the cart. The walls were pretty broad on the top and because of that, the entrance resembled a tunnel in a mountain.


    "Ah! That mentally tired me out but look at her." Sai pointed towards Erina who was still enthusiastically waving at the soldiers.


    "Give her a break. She saved us in a way, Sai." Leo shrugged his shoulders as he said those words looking at Sai.


    "Well, that''s true. Come here Erina or you will fall down from the cart." Aiko dragged Erina to her side and patted her adoringly, which resulted in Erina smiling like a child.


    "Yeah, we wer-" Just before Ian wanted to agree to the fact, he couldn''t utter a word after the cart entered the city.


    "What the...?" Ian''s jaws dropped to the ground seeing the city''s interior. Everyone in the group stood up with eyes bulging out, with expanded pupils.


    "This cart doesn''t match with a civilization such as this." Erina said out loud trying to control her mixed emotions.


    It''s hard for them to remember how many times their jaws dropped since they were teleported to this world, and out of that half of the times were because of Erina. The group sat down slowly trying to burn the images into their eyes.


    The city did resemble a semi-modern world. The dressing style and how people were interacting with each other, buildings which resembled buildings of modern earth, only with a few exceptions, were pieces of evidence of a semi-modern world. The roads and the buildings were clearly built with stones and cement in the city. And in the middle of the city was a building which looked like a castle with four towers having bells inside them, from which every corner of the towers could be seen.


    "My motel is a bit deep into the city, we will be there in a few minutes." Matt said vaguely without looking back. If Matt had turned his head to face the group he would have witnessed the stretched faces of the seven.


    "Not a problem." Leo said slowly but audible enough for Matt to hear. Even though Leo regained control of his jaw he didn''t get his eye''s back into his control.


    The roads were being patrolled by a pair of soldiers on each road but strangely even the soldiers on the road didn''t carry any weapons but only had a weird armour which seemed like leather than iron. The shops had signs written in English and seemed like any other shop back on earth.


    "We will learn everything about this world before deciding on our next step." Leo leaned back on the side of the cart, finally regaining control over his entire body. The group sighed facing downwards, thinking that it would be tough for them for quite a while. And just when the storm inside the seven''s head was calming down, they were dealt with another hard blow of reality to their head.


    There was a crowd blocking the road in front of the cart. The seven along with Matt got down the cart and pushed through the crowd to the front only to see the soldiers blocking the road to make way for something in that T-junction.


    As the eyes of the seven wandered around to see what the cause was their eyes fixated on something. They were not to be blamed for being stunned every time, it was really overwhelming for a person to take so much in all of a sudden and they have been receiving shocks since last night.


    In front of them was a creature that resembled a pitch black, red-eyed wolf twice as huge as humans n, while sharp white canines forced their way out of its mouth. It was trapped inside a box which was clearly not made with a physical material. It was as if the box was made with some kind of white coloured energy. The box was floating in the air while six men were touching the box directly with their hands which were glowing. There were different symbols glowing on the hands of each of the men touching the box. They maintained constant contact with the box and moving down the road while the wolf went wild inside the box trying to get out.


    "So, the knights finally caught that damned wolf huh?" Matt called out casually looking at the scene. But it wasn''t anything casual for the seven beside him, who froze on the spot as their mind kept on saying:


    ''Living in this world isn''t the same as living on earth.''

 28 That doesnt sound so good

    Riana got up from her knees and approached Leo as she followed his voice. Her eyes sparkled as the bright golden colour of his Qi got reflected by her eyes before being absorbed by the barrier.


    "You seven are not supposed to be possible." Riana said in a very slow voice as she continued to stare at Leo.


    "You yourself said I am dumb, professor. So, can you please explain what you mean?" Erina was hopping around after noticing that the Qi threads in her body changed their position every time she moved.


    ''The golden Qi and the thickness of your threads. They are not supposed to be possible.'' Riana thought to herself as she diverted her gaze towards Erina who was hopping like a kangaroo all around the area inside the barrier, while occasionally bumping into it.


    "I need to discuss something with an old friend of mine and my father before giving you any clarity."


    "But the solution to your problem is pretty easy. You guys have to meditate a lot and try to control the amount of Qi you use. Usually, other students wouldn''t exactly need to control their Qi this much. But your case is different."


    "So we are special! We got special powers?!" Sai interrupted Riana with excitement only to be hit by Riana on the head.


    "You need to learn some manners first. Don''t talk when I am talking."


    "But you aren''t denying what I said. Hehe." Sai grinned at Riana but thanks to the barrier, Riana didn''t see his grin otherwise another hit to his head would have been inevitable.


    "I don''t know. With the amount of Qi flowing through you, you seven are more like bombs than a normal elementor."


    "So, you are saying that we might lose control and self destruct sending ourselves to kingdom bye-bye." Reeva presented her thoughts in an attempt to clarify herself.


    "Yes. Exactly. You will pop like an overinflated balloon."


    "''Gulp'', that doesn''t sound so good. Hahaha." Erina laughed awkwardly as she gulped down imagining herself blast like a balloon.


    "You seven will be granted a special position due to your condition. I will talk to my dad later about this."


    "Special Position! You mean we are going to be trained in an elite way or something like that!?"


    "No, you are hereby banned from using your Qi until I say so. You seven are placed in the research group which doesn''t use much of their own Qi but uses Qi batteries. I will notify the other professors that you are not allowed to use your Qi''s."


    "No! Please don''t do that to me...I mean us." Sai fell to the ground ready to cry while the other six looked at him like a piece of trash.


    "He''s lost complete track of our goal." Leo said slowly to which the other five nodded while Riana ignored what Leo said.


    "I am going to train you seven how to control your Qi every day in the morning except Sundays. You won''t be in the research class for long. As soon as I classify you safe, you will be shifted to another section."


    "See yourself to your dorms, I have some errands to run. And I am warning you seven, do not use your Qi." Riana released the barrier finally letting the seven see daylight. The seven blocked the sunlight trying to adjust their eyes to the sudden illumination and by that time Riana disappeared.


    "You heard her. No Qi, unless you wanna get blasted to the netherworld. We will meet back at the canteen during dinner. Okay?" Leo looked at the other five for confirmation while Sai was still on the ground.


    "Clint, grab that trash. Let''s go back." Leo pointed towards Sai as he led the group back towards the dorms.


    ------------------------------------


    "You should learn to knock. I heard there was an explosion. Were anyone hurt?" Edward said nonchalantly looking out of his window with his hands on his back.


    "None. I believe you have an explanation for those seven." Riana said as she appeared out of thin air.


    "They told me their origin. But surely they are hiding something. I can tell you what they told me, but I am afraid I can''t tell you anything else." Edward didn''t move from his position as he continued staring out the window.


    "I doubt that ''The Wiseman'', you, have no idea about their origins. Why not share it, father?" Riana approached Edward slowly as she glared at him.


    "There are always reasons, my daughter. Always."


    "Alright then, just tell me their story." Riana sighed in discontent as she stood on the spot.


    Edward turned back and sat down on his char by the window as he signalled Erina to sit down. Erina wasn''t surprised hearing the origins of the seven but only had new doubts in her mind.


    "Something doesn''t add up dad." Riana squinted her eyes as she looked at her dad.


    "Yes. As the Wiseman, I am sure that I have covered most of our planet in my journey. But I have never encountered such a kingdom with no Qi."


    "I am sure Lord Liam knows that too. Lord Liam isn''t an idiot, so why did he believe the words of that seven teens even after knowing it all?" Riana was starting to lose her cool as she dropped thoughts.


    "That man is a dark horse. Don''t try to judge his motives through basic common sense. It is better if you don''t try to figure out his motives otherwise, you will only have more headaches."


    "Alright then, I need to visit someone. I will be on my way now." Riana disappeared into thin air as she said those words.


    "I wonder how much he will tell you." A smile appeared on Edward''s face as he went back near the window gazing at a busy academy.


    "It''s rare to see you visiting me. What''s the occasion?" A man observing the busy academy just as Edward, tilted his head to his right as he saw Riana.


    "Not an occasion exactly. I just had some doubts, Orion senpai." Riana looked straight at Orion, the Paladin, the protector of the academy as she walked towards him.

 32 Somethings dont change

    "Ah! I can''t do this every day Leo, my knees hurt. Riana is making us sit on our knees when we are meditating in the morning." Sai complained as he sighed looking at Leo.


    The seven were returning to their rooms after meditating with Riana for the first time and they found it harder than they expected it to be. Riana made the seven sit on their knees for no less than an hour while meditating.


    "Don''t complain Sai, you know Leo can''t do anything about it anyway." Aiko patted Sai on the shoulder after seeing Leo''s helplessness with Sai''s complaints.


    "Aiko chan, I can''t walk anymore." This time it was Erina who complained to which Aiko sighed helplessly.


    Ian, Reeva and Clint kept silent as they dragged their body towards the dorm just as Leo.


    "I am so sleepy right now. I wish I was like Ian, he is waking up early in the morning without any problem." Sai said with slight envy. Little did Sai know that Ian was actually a very sleepy and lazy guy and the only reason he was up early was that something was bugging him in the night.


    The seven went back to their rooms, laid down and freshened up in an hour before meeting back at the canteen for breakfast.


    "I never believed when people said that the food tastes better after a good exercise. But I am taking it back now, its an absolute bliss." Sai munched down on the food as he talked.


    "Don''t talk while you are eatin-" Just as Reeva wanted to complete her sentence, a loud sound of something breaking alerted the group.


    "What''s that sound?" Clint stopped eating and turned his head to look at the source of the sound.


    There was a small crowd surrounding the area already and more students started to surround the area. The group turned back to look at Leo


    "Let''s have a look." Leo couldn''t deny the enthusiasm the other six were showing. Leo got up and started heading towards the crowd and the six immediately followed him. As the group neared the crowd, Clint took the lead and pushed the crowd aside giving way for the group to look.


    There was a group of seven in the middle surrounding a trio. The group of seven contained six boys and one girl with the trio having two guys and one girl, all of them wearing the first year uniforms. The canteen was exclusive for the first years because of which there were no seniors to stop the fight.


    "Leo, I will go inquire." The one who volunteered to gather information was Ian to which Leo replied with a nod.


    The trio that was surrounded had a grim face while the seven were grinning. The other seven were taunting and trying to provoke the trio in ways. But the trio kept calm and suppressed their emotions.


    "Leo, according to what the other students know, the seven are descendants of some noble families and the other three are actually cousins. There seems to be some bad blood between their families." Ian informed slowly with his never changing nonchalant face.


    "Some things never change, do they? People with power like to squash the people beneath them." Leo said in a slow tone as he continued to watch.


    "Leo, let''s go help them." Sai was about to step forward but was immediately stopped by Clint who was looking at Leo.


    "Like I said, Sai. We can''t lose sight of our goal. We can''t get mixed up with any troubles. We can''t even fight back if they decide to use Qi. Besides, the teachers will clear the mess up in a bit." Leo analyzed and informed as he kept on following the banter of the ten in the middle. Sai retreated and waited impatiently as he stared at the ten.


    Just as Leo said, it wasn''t long before some teachers rushed to the spot and cleared the crowd. But surprisingly, the teachers didn''t say much to the ten in the middle. The teachers didn''t seem to be afraid of the influential background of the seven but there was definitely something else the seven didn''t know.


    "Let''s go to class." Leo turned back without much care and the rest turned around one after another with Sai being the last to head back. Even after the crowd dispersed the trio didn''t move from their spot and stood their spot.


    "Let''s go, brother Aaron." The girl said slowly as she looked at the tallest of the two boys.


    "Aaron, we can''t do anything about it. Let''s go." The other boy in the group walked towards the exit and soon the other two followed.


    --------------


    "We got an early start unlike others, you girls should go to bed as soon as you reach your room too." Leo said as he put down the spoon.


    "History and Properties of Qi are fine, but Maths...I didn''t expect to see my enemy here." Clint said in a serious tone which made the rest of the gang except Ian, let out a little smile while Erina hopped towards Clint and patted his shoulders.


    "What happened Ian?" Leo asked immediately seeing the seriousness in Ian''s face.


    "What do you mean? I am always like this." Ian was quick to deny Leo''s suspicion that something was wrong.


    ''I hope I can sleep without having that dream again.'' Ian looked down as he walked back to the dorm along with the other three boys.