La Pointe de la Hève at Low Tide

The rest of our tour wasn’t much different, just quieter with more charm. 

The start of the tour came with the well-stocked cafeteria. Mountains of food were stacked in the kitchen, their smell making my stomach growl. I pushed that aside as we walked through the rest of the room. Honestly, it was more like a bar than any cafeteria I had ever seen.

The bedrooms came next, not the biggest rooms in the world, but compared to some of the shoeboxes that were in Japan, all this space felt like a luxury. It was maybe twenty feet in length and the same wide, with a soft bed and ample lighting from the massive window facing outside.

“And lastly, this is the task room!” Richard pushed open a set of birch doors.

Inside, a long marble table stretched across the length of the room. Piles of papers covered most of the massive wooden table, with even more plastered against the walls. The only one that caught my eye was the map displaying an alien world stapled onto the opposite wall.

Chess pieces were scattered across the wood, some having fallen onto the velvet chairs tucked neatly underneath the table's wood. Cold cups, maps, and a rainbow of pens scattered on the side shelves gave the room a lived-in feeling.

“Even as students, the members of Unit E are expected to go on assignments at regular intervals to serve as support.” Richard led us into the room, taking a seat near the end of the table. “This is where those expeditions are coordinated.”

I took a seat next to Aila, who leaned back in her chair with a sense of familiarity. “He makes it sound all tough, but we only go on missions like twice a year anyway.”

“What kind?” I asked.

“Nothing that crazy,” Aila said, pausing as she tried to remember. “There are things like protecting diplomats, serving as the rear guard during skirmishes. I wouldn’t call anything we do dangerous.”

“Better boring than dangerous,” I said, leaning my elbows against the table. “I meant to ask, what did Francis mean when he mentioned those wanted posters?”

“Great question,” Richard said, pulling a stack of papers from a random shelf. “There is one more aspect of our job I haven't mentioned. Rescorge like you and I may serve to protect the country, but not every person summoned from another world has the same mentality.”

“You’re a rescorge too?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Summoned fifteen years ago to the day.” Richard lifted up his chainmail, revealing a Senn with blue stripes and a silver book at the center. “This is a mark of Gabriel, the patron god of Gallai.

I recalled what Aila told me. Gabriel and Uriel were revered here, while the rest were walking disasters waiting to happen. Hatred wasn’t new to me. I could only hope that my first experience in this world with it wouldn’t be too annoying.

Richard continued on. “But enough about that. These are the most wanted rescorge across the Empire. Genocide, murder, arson, you name the crime, someone on here has committed it.” He passed the stack of papers over. “Take a look for yourself, there are only around five or so unlucky enough to get this designation.

I flipped through the stack. “Seth, wanted for crimes of mass murder and the razing of the city of Piyta. You weren't kidding.” I read the first of the fliers, a massive man with fiery red hair and a stern face, pictured above his crimes.

“We’ve been after him for years, but ever since the emergence of the next person in the stack, he has fallen to the wayside a bit.”

“Who hasn’t? No one can match up to her.” Aila said.
“Who?”

“Flip to the next page,” Richard said. “In just a few days, she’s gone from not on our radar to the most wanted person on the list.”

But when I flipped the page, my muscles froze.

“Hey, Rin are you ok?” Aila leaned in, waving her hands in front of my face. “Rin?”

My hands shook, jaw clenched with the force of an industrial vice. “T-there's no way this is real. There's no way.”

“You know her?” Richard’s voice became stern.

“K-know her? This has to be a joke!” I cleared the desk with a single swipe of my hands. “This isn’t funny! Ha Ha, I get the joke, where is she really?”

“Who!” Aila shot up, matching my shouting with her own. “Rin, who are you talking about?”

“Who do you think?” I snatched the wanted poster back up from the desk. “Lilly! The girl you’re saying has apparently committed mass regicide!”

Both Richard and Lilly stayed silent for a moment, unwilling to say the first word.

I shakily took a closer look at the poster. For being a simple picture, there was a lifelike element to it that no picture I had seen could represent. I could almost feel her light brown hair, hear her laugh through the flimsy piece of paper in my hands.

“Are you sure that is the same Lilly you mentioned back in the forest?” Aila spoke, carefully choosing her words.

“I couldn't mistake her for any other person in the world.”
“I didn’t think… when you mentioned the name Lilly back in the forest I thought it was a possibility but… Holy shit...”

“It’s ok Aila,” I said, a tear falling down my eye. “I know Lilly better than anyone! Someone must be framing her, using some transformation Senn.” Lully, the same girl who talks down a fly yet never brings herself to hurt it. She could fight for sure, but kill? No way in any world she was capable of that. “Tell me about her, what she has been accused of!”

“Aila, grab a spare map from the shelf, second cabinet from the left.”

“R-right!” Aila shot up and gave him the map, hands slightly shaky.

“Let me give you a bit of background.” Richard laid out the map.

At a glance, it wasn’t very different than any continent-sized map on earth. Europe was a good comparison, with several medieval sounding names dotting the map. Though two in particular, Gallai Empire and The Holy Kingdom of Eastol seemed to dominate most of the continent.

“There are ten main kingdoms on Sarai, both large and small, yet every one is still ruled by a monarch. I have heard the royalty have fallen out of favor in your world.”

“You said she was wanted for regicide?” I asked, voice cold. “Which king did she kill?”

“Not king, kings.” Richard’s voice was solemn. “In the last week, she has been responsible for the murder of the king of Cryter, Wazan, and Runa.”

“I see…” My voice trailed off. If there was one ounce of truth to his words I could see why she was the most wanted person in the world? But Lilly? And the timing made no sense either! “This is impossible. I arrived barely a day ago! Considering we got summoned at the exact same time, how the hell did she go slaughtering kings while still on Earth?”

“I don’t know Rin, but what I can say is that they got a good look at her face during the assassination of the king of Cryter,” Richard said. “Now that's enough for today. Go to your rooms, both of you.”

“But–”

“Are you questioning your superior?” Richard raised an eyebrow, the authority in his voice clear as day.

“Fine,” I relented, ignoring the burning flame in my chest. Arguing now wouldn’t solve anything. If this was true, Lilly had to be out there, scared, afraid as some monster copied her face and made her the most wanted woman in the world.

                                                                             ֎ ֎ ֎

As night came, the dorms slowly grew to life. Chitchatter sprang up from the nearby rooms, people walked through the common area, and the lights buzzed with a colorful hum.

Aila and I sat across from each other at a table shoved in the corner. It wasn’t anything special, solid oak and metal with its fair share of scratches. The chairs evoked a similar feeling, though after my long day, just sitting down for more than five minutes felt like heaven.

The rest of the common room has a similar feeling; rustic, yet still fashionable and put together, the kind of thing I would expect to see in a southern American home.

Francis and Mia were the only other two relaxing in the room, playing the most heated game of pool I had seen in my life. Those poor pool sticks were going to break any second now with how roughly they treated them.

“So…” Aila was the one to break the silence, leaning back in her chair. “Umm, so you know Lilly then?”

“More than anyone else. She and I were inseparable.”

“I see…” For whatever reason Aila clenched her lips in what looked to be disappointment. “What’s she like, this Lilly person?”
“An overcompetitive, super athletic show off who can never resist getting the last quip in. She's obnoxious, full of herself, a living mess whenever she loses, and for the life of her, she refuses to comprehend the slightest bit of what it means to be humble.

She’s also the person I look up to more than any human to ever live.”

“She sounds… Complicated.” Aila said.

“Complicated doesn’t even begin to describe her,” I sighed. “But that is exactly why I can't see her becoming a mass murderer overnight. She’s never cared one bit about politics before, why start now?”

“A person’s Senn can do weird things, but I’ve never heard of one changing a person’s personality.” Aila grabbed a pen from the table, resting the blue stick between her lips like a toothpick. “Not to mention the whole timeline thing! Why does this all have to be so complicated?”

“Have you ever heard of a Senn that allows people to transform?”
“Transform?” Aila asked. “Like a Keptolok?”

“A what?”

“It’s a sea creature that changes its color whenever it wants to, twice as big as a human and three times as wide!”

“So like an octopus? No, I mean imagine if someone out there could make themself look exactly like you, Aila, cat ears and all. Wouldn’t it be possible to frame Lilly that way?”

“Maybe.” Aila hesitantly spoke, not looking convinced. “I’ve never heard of a Senn that can do that.”

“Transformation? Now that's interesting.” While we talked, Francis pulled up a chair stolen from the table next to us. Mia had apparently gone to bed. “What brought that up?”

Francis listened as I caught him up to speed. The more people who knew the truth about Lilly, the better, and considering Aila hadn’t said a word to the contrary, she trusted him enough to hear this, at least I hoped.

“Well I can’t say much to the guilt of your girlfriend Rin, but–”

“Not my girlfriend–”

“Sure sure,” he put his hands up in a mock surrender. “Senn’s are a very interesting type of magic, if whatever god summoned her happened to be feeling a certain way I could see that being the case. Yet doesn’t that seem a bit… too perfect, Rin?”

“Perfect? I know Lilly better than you ever could, Francis.”

“Never said I was insinuating anything. But sometimes things don't always go perfectly,” Francis said, gaze pointed toward the window. “How much do you know about the religion of this place?”

“The religion?” I asked, hesitant at the sudden change in topic. “Just the bit about there being all these gods that kidnap innocents at a whim and shove them here.”

He chuckled. “Harsh, but fair. There aren't too many of those so-called gods, you know, just the five or so main ones.” Francis’s hand reached towards the table to our left, grabbing a set of chess pieces.

He laid a set of four pawns out side by side, like the start of a miniature game. “Four beings have dominion over Sarai, gods by technicality, though they have much too high an ego with little to back up their use of the word.”

“Francis!” Airi gasped. “If someone from the church heard that–”

“Let them,” he shrugged. “They have no claim to the world, that would go to the actual god above them.” From his hand, Francis tossed the king onto the table like a bowling ball, knocking the pawns down one by one. “East is their name, the god of water and all that flows calls them their master.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” I scowled as Francis sat there, amused.

“Patience, we’ll get there eventually. The important part lies in what they do. Urial and Gabriel I’m sure you’ve heard of before. The shield and messenger of East, though, ask them and they’ll throw you out at merely suggesting the idea. Both typically give Senn’s within their respective fields, though, considering Gabriel hasn’t been seen in a thousand years, have fun confirming anything with him.

Michael is the sword. Though the number of people he’s summoned in the past hundred or so years is a whole three. That just leaves Raphiel, the healer. Do you see where I’m going with this now, Rin?”

My hands dug into the wood. Despite Francis’s cocky tone, we both understood very well what he was implying. “Could shape shifting not be under Urial?”

“She likes her Senn’s to be a bit more direct,” Francis said, hesitating before he finished. “But who knows? Like I said, maybe one of them happened to be feeling bored that day.”

“What about East, then? Anything preventing him from summoning rescorge?”

“East?” Francis scoffed. “East barely knows this planet exists from what I’ve heard. “But what do I know?”

“I’ll prove that wrong, trust me.”

“I hope you do, Rin,” Francis stood and stretched before turning towards the dorms. “Before you ask, Michael was the one who summoned me, and my Senn is in a bit too precarious of a spot to show, ask Mia if you’re so inclined.”

“Thanks…” I said with the largest heap of contempt I could muster. 

“Anytime,” Francis said, disappearing around the corner.