“...What should we do?” A man clad in spotless silver armour was mulling over his thoughts. Even though his helmet was covering the entirety of his face, his dismay was evident. The God of Law was not one to share his feelings in the first place.

“This is truly unfortunate, to invoke one of the fundamental Laws of the universe the moment Uldritch did… that. What are the odds?” A woman with an ever changing answered.

“How could I know, Anord? You are the most used to deal with unexpected situations, it’s your essence, remember?” A slight tinge of annoyance could be felt from the colossus’ voice.

“I thought Laws were ruling everything though~~?”

“Stop joking around Anord! Their souls will come here in an instant and we will need to deal with Uldritch’s mess. Again.”

The Goddess of Chaos looked somewhat apologetic. “Sorry Iudex, I was trying to lighten the mood. I know we will have to be rigorous. They are victims to one of the most unlucky events, we need to somehow make up for the trouble.”

“Thanks for your understanding, Anord.”

“We are working together for more than four billions years now, and it’s the first time you request my assistance. I shall lend you my help on this matter.”

*****

‘No, I can’t collapse now, I have to be a good brother for Ester, I can’t let her down now that our parents left us. I need to be a role model for her, someone for her to look up at, not a sobbing mess like I want to.

I will help her grow into a fine woman, that’s the least I can do for mom and dad…’

A bright, silvery light welcomed Ciaran’s newly awakened consciousness. He kept his eyes half-closed at first because of the blinding light, but he soon enough raised himself in a seated position and threw a hazy glance around him.

And what he saw surprised him. He was in a silver room, with a style somehow mixing greek and egyptian heritage. There were no clear boundaries, and yet he knew the space he was in was finite.

Looking down allows Ciaran to see the groggy figures of his teacher and classmates. They were as lost as him. A more focused inspection revealed the blonde hair of Sive, relieving Ciaran of a good chunk of his worries.

Finally, -and the young man was amazed he didn’t see it earlier-, a five meters tall giant covered in armor was sitting in a huge throne, his hands on the armrests.

The giant had a stiff, very dignified posture. His armor was of heavy plates, silver in color. If one looked carefully, a slight resemblance with a judge’s attire was discernible. The being’s face was entirely covered by a helmet, only showing a pair of shining silver-colored eyes.

The giant took a deep breath that resonated in his armor as if it was empty. “I am Iudex, God of Law and ruler of the manaless Earth.” His shoulders were visibly slouching even though the god’s voice resonated powerfully in the room. A light, undoubtedly feminine snicker echoed, answered by a grunt. “An… incident occured in this plane of existence, leading to your current predicament. It shouldn’t have been possible to interfere with the mortal world, but an unfortunate turn of event involved mortals in this mess. Long story short, one of you invoked, consciously or not, one of the fundamental Laws of the universe right at the moment a dimensional shockwave occured. Since Earth heavily relies on those Laws, the effect became somewhat out of hands and I wasn’t able to fix it quick enough to save you.”

Ciaran looked at his comrades, trying to gather as much informations as possible. Liam was unusually silent while a mix of fear and excitement surrounded Aisling and Cathal. ‘Well, I guess they are pretty familiar with this kind of situation, seeing how much isekais became popular these days.’ Ciaran thought wryly. Sive was wordlessly looking at the God of Laws and Cillian was doing the same thing as Ciaran, keeping an impassible mask as always. Finally, Ms Helena was threatening to burst from within with questions. Which she did.

“How did we end up here? What happened to our selves on Earth, will we be able to go back? What kind of fundamental Law did we use? Was it the Golden Ratio? Is it the first time this kind of situation happens?” Helena suddenly stopped, her ears becoming red as she realized what she just said. Finally, she said meekly. “Sorry for interrupting you…”

The same laughter from before echoed again. “Anord, you either shut up or show yourself. Stop teasing them, they have others things to think about.” Iudex spoke in the void, leaving everyone confused until an answer came.

“Okay, okay. ...Happy now?” The being who appeared was a pale-skinned woman with striking swirling eyes. She was dressed in black, ever changing clothes, and she seemed to not be able to stay in place more than a few seconds.

Iudex sighed. “Meet Anord, Goddess of Chaos and ruler of the Mana Earth.”

“Mana Earth?” Another question escaped the lips of the definitely too curious teacher.

“Each world has a similar copy full of Mana in some kind of parallel dimension. It would be too long and boring to explain so I will just leave it at that. Magic and alternate worlds exist. And you will soon be denizens of that Mana Earth.” Iudex answered somewhat quickly.

“What Iudex can’t bring himself to tell you is that he failed to prevent the dimensional shock wave that brought your deaths. Your bodies are currently are currently sitting in coffins, ready to be buried or cremated depending on your family’s wishes.”

Ciaran’s mind went blank. His purpose was slowly flowing out of his hands like a rain of sand, leaving only his empty dry hands. He wasn’t able to process the exchange that followed, trying to not blow up was already taking most of his processing capabilities.

When he finally came back to the present, Anord was speaking again. “Since it’s a matter that involves the Manaless Earth and outside forces, I was given a special authorization to transfer you to my Mana Earth. You will be reborn there and will have a new chance at life. We are aware that it can’t make up for your lost lives, but the Laws’ verdict is final, and even gods have to bend before it. What I can do though is to give you a headstart in your life, something that will pretty much ensure you a bright future.”

Ciaran absentmindedly looked at his comrades. Some were openly crying, some had silent tears rolling on their cheeks, and some had a stone-like face. Being told that you died was not the best thing in the world, everyone would agree on that.

“In my world, lucky people are born with Gifts, special and sometimes unique powers making life easier for them. I will give everyone of you a unique Gift, I hope you will put them to good use.” The Goddess raised her left hand and did a clawing motion. Seven balls of diverse colors rushed to the chests of the misfortunate earthlings, settling were the heart normally was.

A message appeared in front of Ciaran’s eyes.

[You have been bestowed the unique Gift ‘Archon’.]

“You will be able to get more informations on your Gift once you reincarnated-.” Anord stopped on her track and threw a pitiful look at Liam. “I feel like yours will need a lot of efforts coming from you in order to be properly used. Take that Gift too, it is a somewhat common one but will prove to be quite handy.”

The God of Laws stood up from his throne. “You will now be reincarnated. According to the Laws, your birthplace will be randomly chosen, but you will all be born in a one hundred kilometer radius, so do your best to meet back. We look forward to your accomplishments.” Anord waved with both her hands while Iudex slightly bowed.

A light both dark and white shone upon Ciaran and his classmates, and, the next moment, they were dissolved into thin particles of colored light. Those were promptly absorbed by the rooms floor and flew at light speed toward an upside down Europe-looking land.

*****

“...Are you sure about the Gift you gave to that boy, Ciaran?”

“I am not the one who chooses the unique Gifts. Moreover, he looks like he has the spine to handle it.”

“He will not only need a spine and talent. You and I know that you need to live on the edge of craziness to use this Gift.”

“I know, and I know that Ciaran is already living that way. That’s why he received that Gift. Perhaps we will finally witness the birth of the first full-fledged Archon.”

“I hope you haven’t doomed us all, Anord.”

“Aww, you are always so serious, Iudex. Just relax and enjoy the show. Once the boy learns the truth, Uldritch better watches her back.”