3: World War II in the New World

23 4 0
                                    

+++

After they got over their initial shock, their closed eyes blinked and saw the Pope holding a sphere of light. His eyes took in their shock, surprise, and delight. The girl with black hair couldn't believe that magic could be manifested in such a way. The girl with brown hair had never seen magic outside of the screen. And the girl with lavender hair was excited at the possibility that magic provided her.

"I've upheld my promise, now it's your turn to uphold yours." The Pope reminded them after a couple of seconds of stunned silence.

Since the lavender-haired girl was the one who had sealed the deal verbally, she introduced herself first. "My name is Atrillia Genevivon Rosa Marie-Ferri Sariline, though, for your own convenience, you can refer to me as Atrillia."

A silence followed after she uttered her name. They couldn't believe that there was someone with such a long name. Even the Pope, who was accustomed to nobles having long names, couldn't believe that there was someone with such an abnormally lengthy name. Atrillia simply smiled, unfazed by their stares. The Pope glanced in the direction of the girl sitting in the middle, the brown-haired girl.

She saw their expectant stares and shook her head. "No way. I didn't agree, she did. You're a stranger. Besides, if you kidnapped me, you should know my name."

"Well, we actually don't know your name." The king said helplessly. "In fact, we don't know anything personal about any of you. We are sorry if you felt as if we had kidnapped you."

"What do you mean?" the black-haired girl asked.

"Once again, we summoned you," the Pope said patiently.

"How can we be summoned? How is that even possible?" The other two girls had grasped the situation somewhat, but the brown-haired girl was still adamant in her firm belief that these were crazy people that thought they had magic. What the man showed her earlier was probably a trick of the light.

"Please, we will explain everything. However, how do you want us to refer to you, Hero?" the Pope said with a smile.

The brown-haired girl sighed. She didn't want to give out her name in front of so many strangers, in case they recognized her as the wicked woman from the news. But she ended up saying her name in the end. They most likely knew it but pretended they didn't. "Lexie Liang."

Then the Pope turned to the last girl and she stoically introduced herself. "Yixue. Yan Yixue is my name." A part of her wondered if her name sounded strange in this situation. It was a Chinese name in a...medieval setting.

"It's a pleasure, Miss Atrillia Gen..."

Atrillia waved her hand dismissively. "You may call me Atrillia."

The Pope nodded and repeated what he said. "It's a pleasure to meet all three of you, Miss Atrillia, Miss Lexie, and Miss Yixue. Now I'm sure that you are harboring many questions, which we will be happy to answer."

"Hold up." Lexie raised her hand to stop him from speaking further. "Introductions are usually a two-way street."

Realizing that he had yet to introduce himself, he said, "My apologies. My name is Claudius Francis and I am the Pope of the Elubarith Continent." He saw their eyes filled with confusion at the words 'Elubarith Continent' and quickly added, "Currently, you are in the Kingdom of Pheoles in the world of Terra."

"You're joking?" Although Lexie was asking him a question, it was very rhetorical. It was words of disbelief. As much as she couldn't believe it, she had actually been swept up in this bizarre situation and might've been in a different...world!?

Pope Francis shook his head. "I apologize but every word that I speak is the truth and may the God of Light bear witness."

"Continue." By now, Atrillia was assured of her own conclusion. Again she had been whisked away to a brand new world, leaving her with no identity of her own. Bitterly pushed into the role of 'villainess' with no outward path, she could only go against fate for her own happiness, but now the hands have changed, for she was to be a 'hero'. A powerful hero with magical cheats.

"Have you taken a note that you are able to communicate with us despite coming from another world? The whole time you have spoken in our language, are you not curious as to why?" He explained, not waiting for their responses, "It is because of the summoning circle. As a result, the moment you get summoned here, you inherit the language we speak and unlock the full potential of your magic aptitude."

Lexie's eyes were wide as she opened her mouth to speak but closed them again. She hadn't been speaking Chinese at all. It was an unfamiliar language she was hearing, but she still could proficiently understand it, to the point that she could speak it. It was an anomaly, there was no possible way for her to know a language without ever learning it before.

"What is it called?" she asked.

"It is Elubarithian, the universal language of this world."

"How peculiar," Yixue commented. "But you never explained the reason for summoning us in the first place?"

Pope Francis widened his eyes and shot them an apologetic smile. "The most important detail and I forgot to explain it. Five centuries ago, there was the Great War of Light and Darkness and Terra fell into terrible chaos. The angels of the upper realm, Paraden, fought with the lower realm, Yuterra's demons in the middle realm, which is essentially the Elubarith Continent. All the races of the middle realm were caught in the midst of the war and we had no chance of eradicating the evil demons either." Pope Francis' gentle eyes hardened for the first time since he met the heroes. "Even our great savior, the God of Light, was forced to descend to fight against the vicious villain, the Demon King."

All three girls were very intrigued and their eyes urged him to continue the story. He found their eagerness very interesting. "Yet as the God of Light and Demon King were the opposite balances of each other, the interference intended to end the war had only caused it to become more severe." He paused and looked at the king. "It was at that time that the Kingdom of Pheoles had suggested doing what was considered the impossible: summon an otherworldly Hero to help the side of good have an advantage against evil."

"How did the Kingdom of Pheoles know?" The quiet Yixue asked with narrowed eyes. They couldn't have just guessed such a convenient method of dealing with the Demon King.

"Actually, the summoning chant was found on an old magic book. No one knows its origins since it could be either from the ancient dragons or from the elusive spirits. The magic book was very odd since it was filled with what looked to be the handwriting of a toddler that listed how to call a powerful friend from another world. After the Kingdom of Pheoles discovered it, it was assumed to be the playful behavior of a child. Hence, the complex summoning circle chant was attempted in the era of desperation."

"And what you ended with was heroes?" Atrillia asked blankly, though the curiosity in her eyes betrayed her emotions.

"Hero." Pope Francis corrected her. "The summoned Hero defeated the vicious demons, pushing the Demon King to a deep slumber and calming the wave of evil, thus ending the war."

"Then why are we here?" Lexie asked with annoyance. As much as she disliked Richard, staying in Country A was much better than this new historical world filled with weird things like magic usage and demons, and whatever other nonsense the man in front of her was uttering.

"Because after five hundred years..." Pope Francis frowned as his tone filled with dread. "We have received news of the Demon King's reawakening." 

Some Idiots Abandoned the Road of Being ClichésWhere stories live. Discover now