A Mask of Golden Grandeur

   The young man offered them an elegant court bow, keeping a brilliant, pristine smile plastered across his face the entire time. Without taking their eyes off of them, the old man and the knight followed suit.

   “If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me,” the young blond man offered smoothly, “I shall assist you in any way I can.”

   “Who are you guys? And where exactly are we?” Varek demanded, taking a firm step forward to shield his siblings.

   He gave them another bow, “My name is Lucian di Alastair. I’m the Royal Strategist of the royal court of the Kingdom of Axioma.”

   He then gestured towards the two boomers on the throne. “Those are His Majesty, The King Solis de Axioma, and seated next to him is Her Majesty, The Queen Chrysa de Axioma.”

   Then he gestured behind him to the old man and the knight, “The noble man who just used the law is the Grand Envoy and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Eldrin ad Dictum. And this large knight is the Knight Commander of the Royal Knights, Boran ex Veritas.” Boran grinned at them.

   Lucian continued, “To answer your second question, you are currently in the Royal Palace of our kingdom of Axioma, on the central continent of Destrea. A tyrant, the Demon King, is currently a threat to the whole world of Destrea. Thus, our kingdom decided to take it upon ourselves to stop him. It was a mistake.” Lucian frowned. “We completely underestimated them. They were far stronger than what we could handle, and we suffered many casualties. After moping around in defeat, we found an ancient manuscript in our royal treasury that gave us information on how to summon heroes from another world to help us.” He bowed deeply once more. “Please heroes... help us escape from this predicament,” he pleaded.

   Varek’s mind raced. It doesn’t seem like he’s lying. But I just can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right... He glanced at his siblings and swallowed hard. They were all excited and very eager, I mean, they had been waiting for a moment like this their whole lives. There’s no way their blood wasn’t boiling. I’m excited too, but still, I’m the oldest.

   He turned back to face the Royal Strategist. “You just happened to find an ancient manuscript in your royal treasury? Isn’t that a bit too convenient? And if this Demon King is such a global threat, why didn’t you just gather all the strongest people on the continent to fight him?”

   “We... tried to do that,” Lucian replied, his expression falling into a mask of shame. “But the rest of the world... well... they aren’t entirely convinced that the demon king is a threat. Only we, who have lost lives to him and his followers, know just how much of a threat they pose.”

   Varek scanned the immaculate, gold-trimmed grand hall and the expensively clothed crowd. “You don’t exactly look like a kingdom at war...”

   “Well, you see we managed to push the demon king’s army back towards the southern continent, and they haven’t recovered from our last attack yet.” Lucian turned serious, “but it’s only a matter of time before they do, so we hurriedly summoned you heroe—”

   “Lucian,” A loud, thunderous voice cut the strategist off entirely. King Solis de Axioma leaned forward on his golden throne, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized the four teenagers' mundane Earth clothing. “Did something go wrong with the summoning?” The King demanded.

   Lucian stiffened instantly. He spun around, dropping into a deep, rigid bow toward the throne. For a split second, Varek caught a sharp grimace flashing across the strategist's face before it vanished. “Of course not, my King,” Lucian insisted, his voice tight. “Even I cannot fully comprehend why the results shifted in this manner.”

   Hina nervously stepped up beside Varek, her fingers clenching the fabric of her sleeve. “Did... did something go wrong with the summoning?”

   Lucian turned back towards them and gave them a reassuring smile. “No, there was nothing wrong. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

   “Why are you lying to the heroes?” A girl appeared by the King’s side. She hadn’t been there a second before; it was as if she had simply teleported into existence. “They deserve to know the truth,” she added.

   Lucian scowled at the new arrival. “Ah, this here is our beloved and frail Princess, Alena de Axioma.”

   The Princess did resemble the King quite a bit, possessing his dark brown hair and amber eyes. From the Queen, however, she had clearly inherited her sharp features and mature figure. “You forgot ‘kind and beautiful’, Royal Strategist.” She smirked as she gracefully walked down the stairs of the elevated stage. She approached the group and gave them an elegant curtsy, “Let me welcome you, heroes, to our humble kingdom. I hope you’ll forgive us for suddenly summoning you and interrupting your daily lives. But please, put yourselves in our shoes--we were incredibly desperate too.”

   Kael suddenly came forward and straightened up. “N-no, no, no! It wasn’t that much trouble, right guys?” He had turned red in the face.

   Seriously, man?! This isn’t the time for that! Varek couldn’t help but think that his brother was an idiot. He sighed. Behind him, Cecilia also gathered her courage, nudging Kael aside to stand beside Varek.

   “Please forget my idiot brother, princess. And we do not mind at all.” Cecilia also bowed to the princess. “We were just curious as to what happened to the summoning.”

   Not good! She’s too into it! Varek was starting to sweat from the intense internal conflict. Can we really trust them?

   “Oh my, please rise! I may be a princess, but I am no master of yours,” Princess Alena exclaimed, quickly raising a delicate hand to cover her mouth.

   She offered a strained, polite smile before continuing. “There weren’t any major failures with the summoning itself. It is just that... according to the ancient manuscripts and ritual formulas, only three heroes were meant to be called. Because there are four of you, the entire court has been thrown into confusion. And there is—um, well... no, there isn't anything else. Yes, that was the only anomaly.”

   “So, one of us was just caught up in the summoning? Like they have to go back or something?” Varek questioned the Princess. Is this what that nagging feeling was trying to tell me?

   “Oh, no, there is no reason to send you back—seeing as we need as many hands as we can get!” Alena claimed.

   “We couldn’t send you back right now even if we wanted to. The ritual is designed to return you all to your world the exact moment the purpose of your summoning is fulfilled,” Lucian butted in.

   “I see.” Varek pondered. Then it doesn’t look like we have much of a choice. I'll just have to trust the process. But I still don’t trust them fully.

   Hina glanced at Varek. Var-nii seems pretty conflicted. Hmm. Let’s make it easier for him, since the rest of us seem to agree. Hina stepped forward. “Alright, we’d love to help! But how are we supposed to help you? We don't know how to fight.” She added.

   “Oh! Will we learn magic?! Or some awesome martial arts or get some legendary artifact?!” Kael seemed to be jumping in excitement.

   “Ma...Magac? Um, I don't know what you are talking about.” Alena seemed confused. “Although we do have some artifacts—but are artifacts used for battle in your world?”

   “Um, wh-what? Are you saying you don’t have magic in this world?” Cecilia gasped.

   “I’m sorry, I don't understand what you’re saying. Was there something like magu-magoc in your world?” Alena seemed even more perplexed.

   “Um, then what about that thing the old man—Eldrin was it? Eldrin used? The law of something?” Hina asked.

   “Oh. You must be talking about Eidon.” Lucian guessed.

   “E-Eidon?” Kael repeated.

   “Yes, what Count Eldrin used before was Eidon,” Lucian confirmed.

   Just then, a scream rang out from the crowd of nobles gathered in the hall.