Chapter 1:

Chapter 1

The Folly of the Sorceress: My Troubles in the Other World


I’m sure that the way this story begins will be familiar to a lot of you. I was 16 at the time events began to move. Well, move for me at least. In the other world, things had been moving for millennia. 

I had just walked in to my physics lab at community college. That day was going to be the midterm presentations for the class. Now, my philosophy with presentations was never to go first, aim for third or forth. That gives you enough time to gauge audience and teacher expectations while still being early enough that the bar isn’t set that high. So, I went and sat down. I was going third this time, as we had picked our time slots ahead of time. My presentation wasn’t anything too fancy. It was an simple experiment showing how air pressure and surface area could impact velocity. Gravity was my mortal enemy, so I wanted to show it up at any chance I got. 

“Ready for presentations today?” A boy came and sat next to me, a big grin on his face. 

“Yeah.” I took out my notebook and began to doodle in the corner. Drawing always helped me to pay attention in class, despite what the teachers tended to think.

“Drawing already, huh? Is it a character from an anime or just another OC?”

“I guess just an OC... her name is... Lealel.” Sometimes I just let my hand move on it’s own. I’m not really conscience of the characters I draw.

“Why aren’t you taking any art classes, Cy?”

“I’ve taken them before, but usually they’re more all different kinds of art, I’m only decent at drawing cute girls.”

“Well, you should draw yourself more often.”

I froze for a second. “You need to stop joking with that sort of thing, Dave. People already think we are dating. It’s hurting my chances.”

“Oof Critical hit!” Dave acted like he got hit in the face with something. No, he did get hit in the face with something! Another boy chuckles from the lab table ahead of us. It seems he threw a crumpled up piece of paper at Dave.

“Francis, you’re so immature. We’re supposed to act like college students, remember? Even if we are 16.”

Francis made a face at me and turned back to the front of the class as the last student came in.

“You’re running awful close considering you’re the first presenter.” The lab instructor said.

“Yes, I’m sorry... this box was just really heavy to carry by myself...” the girl was panting as she sat the box down on the desk at the front of the room. It landed with a thud that even I could tell meant it was extremely heavy. 

“Hey, Cy. I didn’t know she was one of those cosplay chicks like you. You friends with her?”

I looked up from my drawing to pay attention to the girl’s outfit. It looked like medieval fantasy clothes. I know we were supposed to dress up some for the presentation, but isn’t that a bit much? She wasn’t dressed quite finely enough for a princess... a duke’s daughter maybe? I had only worn my nice red coat and some of my nicer jewelry today on top of a regular outfit, and I was still overdressed compared to Francis, who had on one of those shirts with a tuxedo drawn on them. This girl was in another realm of formality.

I am extremely bad at remembering names faces of real people, but I thought her name was Talia or something? Tania? Regardless, she didn’t really talk much in class, and she never stood out. This was the only class I had with her though, so I couldn’t be sure. The only thing I ever remembered was the way her platinum hair was always put into a long braid that nearly reached the floor.

“Hello, my name is Titania Resilu.” the girl began, taking a few deep breaths, “today, I will be proving to you all the existence of parallel universes.” 

The entire class fell silent. Was this a joke? Some people began to look at each other or at the lab instructor who seemed to be filling out a grading rubric already.

“I will be doing so by transporting everyone in this classroom to another world. Of any of you wish to stay in this world, I suggest you leave the classroom now.”

“Whew, she’s really going extra with this presentation, huh? Well with something that’s gonna fail I guess she needs to boost her theatrics to not get a failing grade. What do you think, Cy? ... Cy?”

The others were expressing similar opinions throughout the class, no one was taking her seriously. But I wasn’t paying attention to them. I had noticed something very off about this girl... it seemed like she was wrapped in a very faint layer of pink light. I very nervously packed my bag and began to stand up.

“No leaving in the middle of a presentation, that’s rude to your classmate. Sit down Miss *****”

...Hold on, what was that? Is my memory corrupted? Hmm well it’s probably not a big deal...

I sat back down in my seat. The girl made eye contact with me and smiled. It wasn’t a mischievous smile, but an excited one, like she knew I could tell something was off. 

“Well without further ado... Let the presentation commence!” The girl pulled out a large crystal from the box. It was shining a myriad of colors, and within a few seconds the room was filled with a bright light. 

That was the last time I would see Earth for quite some time.

Ana Fowl
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