The Best Friend's Inescapable Fate

Chapter 1. Fish Out Of Water

Sachrys City is a pretty lively place. It looked like your common RPG medieval fantasy town that had tall, looming buildings with red shingle roofs and wooden casement windows. Ruth walked by Sunfeld Boulevard, full of different stores and vendor stands, only beginning to open up in the morning. Ruth looked at the displays through the window, reminded of the times she went window-shopping in the mall.

"Sachrys is pretty impressive, don't you think? I even drew up a map of it for this novel, and let me tell you, mapmaking is absolute hell." The Storyteller rambled as Ruth continued to walk. Ruth could see the numerous grand towers of Bellaforte reaching towards the sky as she was approaching. No doubt, Sachrys was a sight to behold. It was a lot like walking through a big and elaborate theme park attraction, but with real people living and thriving in it. Even though Ruth was born of this world and one of its common people, she felt extremely out of place. Well, you always do when you're in a new environment. I will probably get used to it when the time comes.

Here it was. Bellaforte. It really put the 'prime' in school. Beyond the gate, the school building sat in the middle of a wide expanse of freshly trimmed grass. It looked old, almost ancient, but still pristine and magnificent. Two rows of trees with red leaves and colorful flag banners lined the smooth stone path to the school.

This place looked a lot like a certain magical school from a certain franchise.

"This is a blatant rip-off, an infringement." Ruth mumbled. "Don't even try to hide it."

"I was inspired, honeybunch." Ruth had no intention of indulging the Storyteller's excuses. Sure, inspired is what she'd call it. It was so obviously copy-pasted.

Bellaforte Prime School of Arcane Arts was a prestigious school of magic, founded hundreds of years ago and an extremely important part of Sachrys' history. They pioneered the Era of Knowledge, which was two hundred years of non-stop progress; full of new discoveries and inventions. The smartest scholars and strongest sorcerers hailed from Bellaforte, making it the perfect place for shaping mere pebbles into diamonds. It was one among the four magic schools in Sachrys City.

The entrance had a nine-foot tall statue of a lady in robes carrying books in between the marble steps. She held her head up high, her nose almost pointing to the heavens. She had an expression of nobility and courage. The engraved plaque on the base of the statue said "In Dedication of Bianca Bellaforte, Our Beloved Genius." Above the arches of the school entrance was the giant school crest of Bellaforte Prime School with the motto "Ad Astra Per Aspera".

"Before going in, you think she'd be around here?" Ruth's eyes wandered around the entrance, anticipating a certain irresistible blonde-haired protagonist. Flocks of students merely passed her by, continuing to walk into the school. "Yeah, just keep looking."

"Hi, hello, good morning." A tall, dark-skinned boy with long and curly brown hair smiled and greeted students as he walked in, gripping his satchel over his shoulder. A name card appeared once again. "Rene Bellaforte, Lillia's love interest, 23 power points." Ruth finally encountered one of Lillia's suitors.

In the novel, Rene was a goody-two-shoes kid who looked after the wellbeing of his fellow students and would help them out in any way, but he was actually the most attention-hogging and controlling boy in Lillia's harem. As the novel progressed, he got more and more possessive of her, constantly doted on her, and weighed heavily over her judgement. Ruth couldn't help but close the novel several times because of how many red flags he gave. Alas, red is Lillia's favorite color.

Stupid protagonist, stupid pretty boy, stupid audience who's into this type of thing. Rene walked towards Ruth's direction. He had a rather sweet fragrance that was strong enough to be smelled from a distance, which made Ruth think of s'mores all of a sudden. "Good morning. Pleasant day today, right?" He smiled at her and Ruth was almost blinded from the dazzle. This pretty boy...he was way too bright! Her eyes blinked several times until she could finally see again. "Hi there. Pleasant day, indeed," she replied flatly. He walked in.