The cool, mid-April breeze feels good as I walk down the sidewalk. My goal right now is to reach one of the local parks, which has a few walking trails. One of them takes about an hour and a half to finish, and it has a stream and a small waterfall I like to sit at.

I check my phone and see no new messages, which doesn't surprise me. Everyone who messages me is currently busy, and I have a few hours before my parents get home from their morning date. Just as I go to slip my phone back into my pocket, however, it beeps.

The message is from a friend who's gone to watch a martial arts match for another of our friends.

Lyssa: Check out Nick!

Accompanying it is a screenshot of Nick, his sandy-blond hair darkened from sweat, his bold blue eyes as vibrant as always. Henry took the picture while Nick was in the middle of talking with someone, capturing Nick's energy.

Nick's only wearing his tournament-white gi pants at the moment, revealing his well-toned torso and six-pack abs. He's probably won all of the matches he's been in. Even if we're only sixteen, Nick's already considered a bit of a master at martial arts, and is on his third or fourth degree of black belt in three different ones. He's been training hard since he was four, and not out of need to – he genuinely loves it.

Lyssa only sent me the picture of Nick because she knows I have a bit of a crush on him. She's also not one of those girls who thinks that no one else is allowed to like her boyfriend and she secretly sends me pics like this all the time.

I send her back a message.

Me: You know I like how he looks in the full gi, right?

Lyssa: Forgot to send you the one I took before his matches!

I snort as Lyssa sends me a picture of Nick wearing his full gi, along with a few of him actually in the matches. I examine them as I continue watching, and a video pops up of Nick's most recent match.

Lyssa: We're going for pizza after the matches are over, meet us at the usual spot?

Me: Sure! See you there! Now go cheer on your boyfriend.

Lyssa: Aye aye, captain!

I snort again at her response. Lyssa had crushed on both Nick and me, which is how she found out about me crushing on Nick. She started suspecting it while watching me a couple of years ago because of how I'd glance at Nick. Then she finally decided earlier this school year that it was probably her imagining stuff and asked me out.

Lyssa wasn't even the first who asked me out, though I didn't have anywhere near as many as Nick did until he was taken. I'm roughly average at 5'8", with white-blond hair and dark blue eyes. With clear skin and a slender build on top of that and my friendly demeanor, I'm not a last-choice pick for people.

Her response to my rejection was to admit she'd wondered about me liking Nick, and then she asked him out because we were both sure he was straight. Lyssa's the only one in our friend group who knows about me for now, though we've contemplated letting Nick know come this summer.

As I go to play the video of Nick's match that Lyssa sent me, a glowing white, magic circle-looking thing appears on the ground beneath me. Now, I'm no expert, but I'm fairly certain that it would be insanely difficult to hide the existence of magic in the digital age.

But I also know there's not a chance on Earth that's some sort of special effects. Not unless I'm in a simulation.

The magic circle consists of several circles and patterns, along with runes scattered throughout it. Rings of runes start appearing in the air around me, and all attempts at stepping or running out of this circle fail.

To make things even more odd, no one else seems to notice this – or me running and jumping over things in an attempt to escape it. The runes are surrounding me even more now, creating an almost egg-like formation around me as they start to glow brighter and brighter.

Whatever is happening doesn't want me to escape, and I'm not sure I want to find out why there's something clearly magical here in a world that doesn't have magic. I'm still running, though, able to see objects that enter my vision. Fortunately, the magic circle under me is ten feet in diameter, so I have enough time to react to people and objects that pass through it.

The moment the runes make it impossible for me to see outside the shell, they flare up more brightly than they ever did before, blinding me…

Then I slam into something and we fall to the ground. I can feel something soft and fluffy under my right hand and something firm and soft under my left. There's also a grunt, and when I can see again…

"Hello," I greet the person I slammed into. "You have the cutest blue eyes I've ever seen."

He really does, and I'm comfortable saying that because I'm very clearly not on Earth anymore. Unless there's some sort of translation magic that happens or they speak English here, he won't understand that I was just flirting with him.

It's taken a lot of my effort not to flirt in the past, and the oddity of the situation and everything going on at once and the surprises I just deal with all combined into making me slip up.

The guy I landed on looks to be around sixteen or seventeen, with black hair and fair skin. He also has a pair of triangular wolf's ears atop his head, their tips round like a wolf's. The thing under my left hand is his wolf's tail, and the thing under my right his his chest. His smooth, toned chest that has no shirt covering it.

He has a pretty athletic build, just like Nick, and a rather cute face. He's totally my type.

"What the ancient fuck?"

I find that I can, in fact, understand him – yet he's not speaking English. It's also not as if his words are being directly translated, either. Somehow, I know his language, and I think I can speak it, too. That was basically the equivalent translation into English.

"Hi, I'm Reid, and I have no idea what happened."

"You got summoned," he says, face flushing a little. "And landed on me. Your face is very close."

"Yours is very close as well."

"And you're touching my chest, can you please get off?" His face turns even redder.

I know his reaction well. I have it all the time when Nick accidentally lands on me while we're goofing around. He thinks I'm cute, doesn't he?

"I was thinking of going for a nap," I let my body relax, causing me to drop fully onto him as I close my eyes. "Good night."

"It's morning."

I snore.

"Can you please get off of me?"

"Can you answer some questions?"

"Will it get you off of me?"

"I will be as attentive as a butterfly devouring souls."

"What?"

"What?"

"I'll answer your questions if I can."

"Okay!" I get off of him and sit down, and the guy just stares at me for a few moments before sitting up.

It's as I sit up that I realize my entire outfit has changed. I'm now wearing a dark purple, cotton tunic with a black leather vest, black cotton pants, black leather boots, and a black leather belt. The cute guy I landed on has a dark green tunic tied around his waist, black cotton pants, and black leather boots. I can see his six-pack quite well.

"Why did close contact with me make you uncomfortable?" I ask, meeting the guy's face.

"I'd rather not get into that," he tells me.

"So it's not because you don't like being touched, then?"

"Can we turn the questions away from me?"

"You think I'm cute, don't you?" I ask, and his face turns red. "Don't worry, the sentiment is returned."

"Guys aren't supposed to like guys!"

"Wow, this world is under a rock."

His face turns even redder, but I think he's going to be a little bit more comfortable now that he knows he's not the only one.

"I'm Reid," I introduce myself again. "What's your name?"

"Terrence Windfang."

"Windfang?"

"My family name," he nods. "We're the Windfangs, though air isn't our only element."

More on that later, though we are in an area with lots of air. Whatever being summoned me here appears to have brought me to a hill with a forest to the north and west of us, fields to the south, and a valley to the east. I can see a town in the distance, though it's quite small compared to Earth.

Probably because this world isn't as far along as Earth.

A few beasts roam the fields and in the valley, though none are near us. This really is a fantasy world, and I'm surprised I'm not freaking out or disbelieving it. Though I've never felt "off" on Earth, this world feels right to me as much as Earth does.

Maybe the summoning magic did more than bring me here and teach me their language?

"Okay," I say. "Does a summoning happen often? You seemed to acknowledge it quite fast."

"No," he answers. "In fact, they're extraordinarily rare, and you should keep quiet that you're summoned."

"Why is that?"

"Because your summoning was odd."

"Odd how?" I ask. "The gods don't normally summon people into fields?"

"The gods don't summon people at all," he says. "A summoning is always done by people, the gods tend to stay out of it. It's also notoriously difficult to do because people can't use dimensional magics on their own."

"We can't?"

"You don't have magic on your world?"

"None."

Terrence thinks about something for a few moments, then something appears in my vision.

Terrance Whitefang would like to share his Status with you. Accept Decline

A notification? And a Status? As if I'm in a game? I accept the request and find Terrence's Status in my vision.

Name: Terrence Windfang Age: 16 years Species: Wolfkin Sex: Male Level: 7 Experience: 43.12% Mana: 56/56 Mana Regen: 0.056/second Strength: 59 Constitution: 59 Agility: 60 Perception: 60 Magic: 56 Vitality: 59

"Since you don't have magic in your world," Terrence tells me. "I'm going to assume you don't have the System, either. It was easier to show you than just try to tell you about it. Do you have a way to get stronger on your own?"

"You mean like working out to build up our strength?" I ask.

"No," he says. "Sudden increases, possibly among people who hunt animals for food."

"No," I answer. "We have to work hard and train hard to build up our Strength, and we have natural limitations."

"Like people who don't hunt monsters," Terrence nods. "Okay, so your world probably doesn't have the System hidden from sight, then. You can access your Status just by willing it open. What Attributes you gain every Level depends on your elemental affinities."

"I'm going to assume those also dictate what magics you can use?" I ask.

"Yes," he answers. "And there's no 'dimensional' element. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just that we can't use it. Elements are divided into three types, and they're split into four Tiers."

Terrence holds out his right hand and starts drawing on the air with fire that stays behind. That is a neat trick. The flames are slender and only barely waver, and they remain despite it taking him a bit to do his writing trick.

He first creates a box, which he segments into five rows and two columns with the dividing line between the first and second row being thicker than the others, and the dividing line between the left and right columns being thicker. The left-hand column is narrower than the right-hand column, and above it, he writes [Tiers]. In each box below that, he writes to things, the Tier at the top of the box and a number at the bottom of the box.

The first row has [Tier I] and [1], the second row has [Tier II] and [1,000], the third row has [Tier III] and [100,000], and the fourth row has [Tier IV] and [10,000,000].

Once he finishes with that, he makes the right-hand column [Affinities] and writes in the first box four things. [Fire, Water, Earth, OR Air]

"Everyone is born with an elemental affinity," Terrence tells me. "And nearly everyone has one of these four affinities."

Terrence then divides the second row for Affinities into two parts. On the left-hand part, he writes [TWO OF] and underneath that, he writes [Fire, Water, Earth, Air]. In the right-hand part, he writes [ONE OF] and underneath that, [Light, Shadow].

"One in every thousand people, however," Terrence indicates this row. "Is born with either two of those four elements, or either light or shadow affinities. Though those affinities are rarer, they're extremely useful against monsters that are primarily made up of their opposing element. Light magics are especially useful against all types of shadow creatures, for example."

Terrence then writes [THREE OF] at the top of the third row for Affinities, and below that, he writes [Fire, Water, Earth, Air].

"Only one in every hundred thousand," he tells me. "Is born with an affinity for three of these elements. Keeping in mind that people are born and die all the time, a kingdom of a hundred thousand will likely only have one born every century or so assuming they have a birth rate of one percent."

Terrence divides the final row for Affinities into three segments. In the first one, he writes [Fire, Water, Earth, AND Air]. In the second, he writes [Light AND Shadow]. In the third, he writes [Lightning].

"Only one in every ten million," he indicates this row. "Is born with either all four of the standard elements, both light and shadow, or lightning. A kingdom of a hundred thousand would be lucky to ever have one born ever. They'd likely never last ten thousand years."

"And this kingdom?" I ask.

"We number around three million people," he tells me. "So a Tier IV mage is born roughly once every three hundred years or so. There are only two kingdoms – including ours – which has a Tier IV mage right now. Actually, we have two of them, and there are only three on the entire continent. The other isn't even old, so we got lucky."

"What's the population of the continent?" I ask.

"Around eight million," he answers. "There's normally only one Tier IV born every century or so, and the one from another kingdom is around two centuries old. When Silvia was born, she was believed to be the one for this century and a quarter."

"And then another was born?" I ask.

"Yes," he answers. "And then another was born in our kingdom less than fifteen years later. It was seen as a blessing from the gods, despite other circumstances surrounding his birth."

"Other circumstances?" I ask.

"He's a bastard," Terrence nods. "His father sired him with someone other than his wife. There was a whole uproar about it, and he wasn't actually treated all that well – until he gained the ability to view his Status when he was five."

"Is that when you can cast magic?" I ask.

"No," he answers. "It takes most longer than that. You see, the prince-"

"The bastard was a prince?"

"Yup," he looks uncomfortable. "And it's generally not looked favorably upon to discuss that. Anyway, I mentioned that your affinities affect what you gain per Level, right?"

"Yeah," I answer.

"Each element has its own values," he tells me. "So it varies based on what you have and your combination of them. However, there's one absolute truth."

"What's that?"

"The sum of them for each grouping," he says. "Is +7 to all Attributes. So if you're a Tier IV mage, then you will always gain +7 to everything."

So fire, water, earth, and air combined gives +7, light and shadow combined gives +7, and lightning by itself gives +7.

"Your Mana, Mana Regen, and Magic Attribute," Terrence tells me, tail swishing a little. "All reflect the value for how much they will increase by. So at Level 0, a Tier IV Mage will have 7 Mana, 0.007 Mana Regen, and 7 Magic."

"Okay," I say. "And can someone have elements from different groupings?"

"No," he answers.

Which means that when he turned five and gained access to his Status, it became apparent that he was a Tier IV solely because of his Mana, Mana Regen, and Magic. For a bastard prince to be one, that must have really been a shock.

"So you're the bastard prince?"

His face turns red as he looks uncomfortable, his ears drooping a little.

"No bodyguards?" I ask.

"I ran away from home," he tells me. "I came here to seek out Silvia, she lives not far from here. I'm hoping she'll teach me stuff."

"Ah," I pull up my Status. "So what would you call it if someone had affinities from other groups?"

"An impossible mage," he says. "Like I said – it's not possible."

"Okay," I say. "Well, guess I'm an impossible mage, then."

"What do you mean?"

I send him my Status.

Archon Name: Reid Krezvil Age: 16 years Species: Human Sex: Male Level: 0 Experience: 0% Mana: 21/21 Mana Regen: 0.021/second Strength: 8 Constitution: 9 Agility: 10 Perception: 10 Magic: 21 Vitality: 10

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure twenty-one divided by three equals seven. Unless my Title of [Archon] gives me a tripling bonus, I have an affinity for all seven elements.

"An Archon," he murmurs. "So those weren't just tales."

"Not just tales?" I ask.

"Yeah," Terrence nods, his tail swishing a little as his ears perk up. "About five hundred years ago, a pair of beings became known. They were called [Archon]s by the System, just like you. They were casters who could command every single element, and then three hundred years ago, they simply vanished from the world. This is actually where their tower was – and it disappeared with them. So the story goes. Everyone always thought it was just a myth, but the System gave you that Title…"

"Which means it's real," I say. "Or at least, partially. What's the difference between a caster and a mage?"

"Nothing," he answers as the flame on his finger disappears, and the entire diagram he wrote vanishes as well. "Mages are just people who use magic. They're classified into caster and contractor. If you were a contractor, you would have Spirit, Spirit Regen, and Spirit Power instead of Mana, Mana Regen, and Magic, respectively.

"Almost everyone is a contractor, actually," he tells me. "They're born with a spirit contracted to them, and when they use magic, their spirit is actually the one doing it. They can contract additional spirits as they grow stronger as well, and the spells they can 'cast' are dependent on the spirits themselves."

"While casters do the spells directly," I say.

"Yeah," he nods. "We're pretty rare – one in ten thousand. This also means we don't have to rely on the spirit's cooperation to cast a spell, and we have much greater control over the strength of the spells we cast."

"Okay," I say. "So we're both casters."

"Yeah," he says.

"So if people can't summon people without a complicated ritual," I say. "And using stuff that has the necessary properties since they can't do it themselves… how did I get summoned?"

"I don't know," Terrence scratches the back of his head. "My family certainly has the resources to perform a summoning, but we generally don't. The gods take a very close look when that happens, so it's reserved for if we need it. We can specify the type of mage needed – but we can't go outside the normal bounds with that. We can't summon someone with affinities from different groups. In addition, the summoned always appears in the center of the ritual, and there's definitely none here."

"So it's a mystery, then?" I ask.

"Yeah," he nods. "But Silvia might have answers. We can trust her with the knowledge you're a summoned being."