Distorted Familiarity

“So I am not the only otherworldly here?” Ren said with disappointment.

“Yup,” Riley didn’t hesitate to drop the ‘you aren’t the only one’ bomb.

My hero dreams are already shattered… but what if I am super powerful. His hopes were somewhat high now.

“So you-um….I saw that phh-girl had magic… how do I use magic here?”

“You mean Philomena, Mr. Perfect memory,” She said as if she was waiting to say this for a long while.

“You are rude,” Ren said in a monotone that made Riley uneasy

“I am sorry, I was joking,” she said in a soft voice. Ren looked at her with a blank face and spoke in the same tone, “I was also joking.”

The two looked at each other for a while before bursting into laughter.

Next to the laughing teens was a slightly lowered portion of this lounge. This lowered portion had a large couch that extended along the three walls of that lowered space, creating a comfortable sitting area. Four to five wooden steps were present instead of a fourth divider. There was a long table in the middle, with many snacks. A large screen hung from the wall above the steps. There was a door right next to the screen. The couches took up about one-third of the lounge.

Ren looked towards the other side, and he could see an enormous dining table. This place is surely made for many people. The left wall had many rooms and two corridors. There were many vases with plants decorated outside every door.

Riley took Ren’s hand and pulled him. They walked past the frame, then the verandah's entrance towards the wall with the screen. They stopped outside the room with a tag entitled “POTION ROOM.” Woah, I can not only speak this language but even read it. Hah, screw you, school. His thoughts were disturbed by Riley, who nudged him.

“You sure love talking to yourself.”

“Thank my years of neglect.”

Riley kept looking at him; it was hard for her to make out whether that was his sarcasm or reality. She thought to herself, It's best if I don’t ask; it might bring up unpleasant memories if he is not joking.

“Hey, were you neglected, too, or something?”

She jolted slightly as his words brought her back. She looked at him and shook her head no. She quickly composed herself and looked at him smilingly.

“This is the potion room. In this world, if a person is powerless, they can use these to gain power. Since all the Star Awesome members are from other dimensions, we all lacked powers. Princess Amanda gave us all powers through potions.”

“Princess Amanda?”

“She is originally a princess of the star area, but she was made our leader by the late king.”

Ren looked back at the potion room; eager to get powerful, he grabbed the knob. As if Riley read his mind, she quickly added.

“We cannot enter. When she comes, she will give you a potion for any power you want.”

“Ah, bummer…can you tell me what type of powers there are in this world?”

Riley looked at him teasingly. “You sure love power.”

“Yeah, I want to save this world from the threat.” Ren’s eyes widened, and he accidentally said it out loud. He looked at Riley. Her face was all red, trying to hold back her laughter, but she couldn’t and began laughing. “Ah, cute.” She looked at him, still giggling.

Ren felt embarrassed, his eyeball darting left to right, stopping at Riley frequently. He smiled slightly. “Yeah, I am a cutie.”

The two laughed. Ren was already liking it here; Riley is cool and nice

Riley paused and looked at him as if she had heard what he thought. Ren looked at her nervously

“I am sorry…” She took a step back and looked at the potion room and back at Ren; his heart skipped a beat. “… I don’t know much detail about powers.”

“Eh?” He was confused, but he remembered that he had asked her about the types of power in this world.

“But I will try telling you what I know…” She paused, clearing her throat. “In this world, the word ‘power’ is used for abilities a person is either born with or It is also used for abilities one uses through stones, crystals, and potions.”

“O-oh, so when I am given a potion, my mag-err-no-'-‘ability’ will be called a power.”

“Exactly, and before you ask, stones and crystals are objects that grow in this world, mainly in the stone land and crystal land. These can be used by people without any inborn ability.”

Ren took a moment to process all her words.

“There is another way to use abilities, and that is magical spells and symbols. This method of using ability is mainly referred to as 'magic.' Though this method is more common amongst witches and wizards, others can use it too.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Yeah, but it requires more knowledge and training, plus if I am not wrong, I think there are some side effects.”

“bummer”

“Haha, it's okay…..” She paused as if remembering something. “Oh, I remember there are two varieties of abilities, white and black. Mostly, the powers Amanda gives are of the white variety, or the good type of power. I bet you know what the black one means.”

A tune filled the air, and Ren looked around and finally realised it was coming from Riley. She took out a mobile phone, swiped the screen, and began talking.

“Yeah, Vivian, I will be there… hehe alright, alright… i am with the new member...no, he is a guy.”

W-what the? She has a phone. The screen shone as she was talking, and it's a smartphone. Wait, now I remember, all the girls I met—their clothes were like normal clothes I have seen in my world. He looked around, and the infrastructure wasn’t too ancient.

Riley turned back to him. “It's lunchtime." She pointed towards the enormous table; that's where we eat.

“O-oh.”

The two of them went past a door entitled kitchen. Just looking at it made me hungry. The smell of food filled the air; weirdly, it didn't come from the kitchen but rather the dining room. He quickly diverted his gaze towards the dining table that was now full of food.

"The food here is never cooked by us; Amanda has arranged that the meal vanishes here, which is cooked at the royal castle."

"w-woah, so she teleports it here, the royal meal, she is nice"

"That's not all, we are free to use the kitchen, which is stocked by Princess Amanda. We even have bank accounts, which she adds money to each month."

"I like her already.....Though I noticed you call her casually as well as with her title"

"Ah, yes, that's because normally we call her Amanda, but in front of others, we have to call her princess, mainly because the people of this world say she favors us way too much, which has caused many conflicts-"

"Riley! Where were you? We were supposed to go shopping."

Ren turned and saw a girl exactly like Riley, but with longer, darker hair. She wore a shirt and was way more well-maintained than Riley.

"Don't tell me this loser is the new member."

She spoke, eyeing him up and down with a snarl. He knew that they looked alike but were opposites to each other in terms of personality.

"Vivian, rude!..... Sorry, Ren, she is my twin sister."