The gentle touch of the light breeze soothed the panic I experienced not even seconds before. The feel of the warm, soft grass beneath me caressed my cheek as I just laid still for a moment. Gathering myself, I exhaled gently and felt the grass beneath my face waver. The blades gently caressed my palms, both from my breath and breeze that lazily danced through the empty air.

Slowly, but surely, I could feel my lungs expand and contract, allowing oxygen to travel freely through my airways. Grunting faintly, I pushed myself up to my feet and opened my eyes to look around. My breath hitched as I took in the open, cloudless blue sky. I tracked the horizon with wide eyes until I saw something that caused a soft reboot of my brain: three cylindrical towers that topped off a what I swore was a medieval castle. Aside from that, the skyline was empty, no skyscrapers breaking the vast openness.

Even with that feeling of freedom, why did it feel so bittersweet? Oh, Maggie isn’t here. Shaking my head, I blinked away the tears that threatened to come forward.

Where…where am I? I thought as I turned my attention to my immediate surroundings. It was a large clearing around the size of half a football field. All around me, my eleven other classmates and Mr. Lethe were all lying around, groaning in response to the sudden travel we experienced. At my sides, Mr. Lethe and Rudy were disoriented and lying on the ground, moaning. It seems it was two of them who helped me during my…attack of some sort.

"Ah! Sir Hero, are you well?" I jerked in surprise as a voice pulled my attention from my prone class. It was a young woman who appeared to be a few years older than me. She had long golden blonde hair and glistening, bright silver eyes. She wore a long purple dress, with a black corset around her midsection and a scarf around her shoulders. Her face was soft and heart-shaped, with her bangs framing the sides of her face. A simple golden circlet rested over her forehead

At her side stood an older man dressed in elaborate white robes that seemed to trail the ground but lacked stains from seemingly dragging along the ground. He had a shaved head and around his neck was a simple, silver chain. His eyes were stern, dark brown.

Behind the two of them stood a trio of armed knights, each with a sheathed sword at their right hip, a spear in hand, a shield at the back and a silver, shoulder cape hanging over their left arms.

I opened my mouth to respond, but all I did was exhale softly. I blinked as I looked around, then frowned as I got to my feet.

"Why…?" I paused, reconsidering my next words, as confused as I felt. Then I cleared my throat with a cough. "Why am I here?" Why does this place feel familiar? I had nearly asked, though I did not know why.

Her eyes widened, then she smiled contritely. "I…I suppose that I should explain, then." She paused, her eyes trailing along the rest of my prone classmates and teacher. Then she looked at me. "Would it not be more prudent to wait until the rest have awakened?"

"Yeah. That would be pretty helpful." I jerked my head to the side in surprise to see Luke getting to his feet shakily, looking around with suspicion and confusion, if my estimation was right.

The woman inclined her head to us, smiling faintly. "I suppose we shall wait then." She paused, looking to Luke, then to me. "Though, should we not move to a more comfortable place for when they awaken?"

I paused, looking to my still prone, unconscious class, then to Luke. We locked eyes and considered our options together. After a few seconds, he gave me an apologetic smile, and I nodded. Looking at the woman, I said, "Is there anywhere nearby?" I shrugged a single shoulder, looking from her, to the man next to her, then to the knights. "No offense, but Luke and I don't know any of you, so we don't feel comfortable leaving them with you yet."

The man next to her looked insulted at my words, and the knights shifted, but the woman just nodded with a smile. "Of course. There's a dwelling nearby that we can use. There's plenty of room for everyone here to rest comfortably." She paused and smiled widely, bringing heat to my face as she turned it towards me. "But please, if mutual trust is what you're after, perhaps we could begin with names?"

I nodded to her, and her smile brightened. "Then, please, call me Emelina DeVere, Heiress Apparent of the Kingdom of Veritas."

…What?

Being greeted by a princess seconds after you regain consciousness is more than enough to force a soft reboot, or two, of one's mental faculties. Still, I was able to collect myself quick enough to follow Emelina's retinue of knights bring my class to a nearby village and set them up inside of it. We moved too quickly for me to get a feel for where we were, but I was pretty sure I needed a few moments to get my thoughts together.

Currently, Luke was in the room with our class, keeping an eye on them, while I was down the hall. Outside of the room. Leaning against the wall next to the window, I stared out of it and studied my surroundings. Rows of wooden and stone buildings trailed along a worn traveled path. Horses, horse-drawn carriages, and foot traffic went down the road, the noise of clopping hooves and chatting voices filled the monotonous silence of waiting for my classmates to awaken. I looked past that to the surrounding trees and the tower in the distance. I'm guessing that it was around early fall, considering the varied colors of the leaves that fell to the ground and floated in the wind.

"What is this place?" I murmured to myself. "It's like something out of a fantasy novel…"

"A novel? Are you a scholar?" I jumped at the voice's sudden appearance, my heartbeat accelerating. Emelina gave me a soft smile. "I apologize for surprising you, Sir Hero." She was silent for a moment, before motioning to the other side of the window. "May I join you?"

"Sure, it's your country, isn't it?" I said to her with an arched brow.

Emelina furrowed her brow in confusion at my words. "Yes… my family has ruled Veritas for several generations…" Then her eyes widened, a bright smile appearing on her face as she leaned over to me. "Ah! That must be a euphemism from your world! Being a scholar, your family must have lands as well, yes?"

I blinked at her question before realization dawned. "Oh…no. My family doesn't own any land. My sister and I are students at the moment."

Emelina nodded. "What about your parents?"

A frown escaped from me as I looked out the window. "My parents don't speak with my sister and me anymore, I'm afraid." I closed my eyes and shook my head. I didn’t need to air my dirty laundry with someone I just met. Turning my attention back to Emelina, I took in her concerned expression, her silver eyes glistening in the sunlight. "Forget that, please. My name is Joseph, Joseph Blaine. Stop with the ‘Sir Hero' stuff, please. I'm just another guy."

Emelina's expression brightened, her lips curling into a broad smile. "Sir Joseph Blaine…" She murmured, her eyes tracing my face and my stature. Then she nodded, her smile widening. "Yes. You'll do fine, Sir Joseph. I can tell that you're going to do great."

I grimaced even as I blushed at her words. "Enough with the ‘Sir' thing…Your Highness?" I ended off with a question.

She let out a small laugh, her voice ringing pleasantly in my ears. "I'll permit you and the others to call me by name, Sir Joseph." Her smile turned playfully mischievous as she crossed her arms and leaned towards me, the circlet twinkling in the sunlight. "And though you have just arrived, there is quite an important reason for me calling you ‘Sir,' Sir Joseph. However, I shall explain when the others have awakened, as was decided earlier."

Giving her a frustrated expression, I couldn't help but feel defeated. Then I rolled my eyes; unable to keep a smile from my face. "I guess this is your win…Emelina." It felt weird saying a princess's name so informally, but she requested it, so I couldn't exactly refuse.

"Students." Her statement caught my attention, my blue meeting her silver. "You called yourself a student. What do you study?"

I paused, trying to consider what I should tell her. "Study… At the moment, a little of everything, I suppose."

Her eyes widened. "Everything? How in the world could a person study ‘everything'?"

I couldn't fight the smile that grew on my face. "That's…not entirely true, in a sense. Starting from childhood, we entered school and taught basic information." I paused, studying her enraptured expression with amusement; her silver eyes enraptured my gaze. "After twelve years, schooling becomes optional, but far more…intensive."

"So…all of thirteen of you are scholars?" At my nod, joy grew on her face. "Incredible. Anyone can learn physical combat, but intellectual capability? That's something that only the privileged few in Veritas can experience." Emelina reached forward and clasped my hand with both of hers. "Please, I'd love to speak with you about the different things you've studied and experienced in your world. There has to be so much more to it."

I couldn't help but feel my face heat up as she held my hand, her smile wide. The softness of her hand and the excited adorableness of her smile sent a warm sensation through my chest. "I wouldn't be that excited." I murmured, feeling embarrassed despite myself. "I'm pretty sure that your kingdom has an entirely different alphabet, so we're technically illiterate at the moment."

"Tis but a temporary measure, I'm sure," Emelina stated with confidence, nodding firmly. "If each of your fellow Heroes is as intelligent as you seem to be, then it won't be long until you're just as knowledgeable as one of my family's royal scholars."

I turned my face away from her, unable to keep it from heating up. God, what am I in, some anime or light novel? This whole situation is ridiculous.

Nodding to her, I said, "Thank you, but I'm in the middle ground of the percentile when it comes to intelligence. Maybe we shou-"

"Hey, Joey! The others are waking up." Luke caught my attention, stepping around the corner just in time to freeze as he saw Emelina and I. His expression shifted into an amused smirk. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

I paused, half-frozen, and slowly looked at our entwined hands, then back to Luke. "Absolutely nothing." Luke opened his mouth, no doubt to retort, but I cut him off. "You don't see a thing, just a pair of people talking about stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Yes. Stuff." I said dryly. Emelina looked between us, confusion and amusement on her face as she studied us.

Luke snorted and shook his head. "Whatever, Joey. I'm sure I can tell everyone that woke up that you're busy with talking about stuff with the princess."

Almost simultaneously, Emelina and I stood, our hands coming apart. "Everyone's awake?" I asked him, concern, and urgency in my tone. Luke nodded. "Then let's get going. I want answers." I looked over to the princess, feeling a surge of adrenaline pound through my body.

"And you shall have them, Sir Joseph, Sir Luke," Emelina stated to the two of us definitively. She motioned us forward. "Let us meet with your comrades." With that, we walked to the room and stepped inside. The room was large enough to hold twelve twin-size beds and still space to roam around, with wooden walls and a risen arched ceiling. There were a set of windows on the back wall that allowed the bright sunlight flow inside, illuminating it. The walls were rather bare, lacking any shelving or frames.

Mr. Lethe was currently on his feet, standing between an older woman wearing a long, flowing, white robe, and one of my classmates. My classmate was sitting upon her borrowed bed, rubbing her face, as if to wake up. Her long, straight, hair was a professionally dyed, strawberry-blonde and she glanced around with confusion in her light blue eyes. She was wearing a pair of skin-tight white khakis and a sky-blue T-shirt with a white jean jacket over it.

"Look, Miss, I don't care if you are a ‘Royally appointed Healer.' I don't know you, so I'm not letting you go anywhere near my students." Mr. Lethe was beginning to look pissed if the furrowing of his brow and his dark scowl meant anything. "Anyway, I'm missing two of my kids. If your ‘knights' are holding them, hostage, then so he-" His eyes widened when he finally caught sight of Luke and me. "Luke! Joseph! You're both alright?" His gaze flicked to Emelina and narrowed faintly.

I lifted a hand to my teacher. "Mr. Lethe, it's fine. We're fine." I said quickly, to reassure him. It didn't do much, unfortunately. I grimaced at his deadpan glare. "Just…" I paused with a sigh. "Let Emelina explain. We'll have our answers soon enough."

His gaze flickered to Luke, no doubt for a second opinion. "We're good here. We were in a large clearing, in the open, but they carried everyone here." He looked to the princess, a careful suspicion in his countenance. "I'm all for the benefit of the doubt, considering it's the only option we have."

"Not a good thing, that's for sure." Mr. Lethe murmured, turning a flat look to the princess. "When everyone's lucid, then?"

She nodded, "I gave my word to Sir Joseph to offer answers, and I shall keep it."

"Well then, do you mind taking your people out for a few minutes, first? I want to speak with my students before anything else." Emelina nodded and motioned for the robed woman to leave; not before the woman glared at our teacher, though. Within moments, the only people left in the common room where the entirety of class 12-B, each person slowly coming to consciousness. "What is happening here, Joseph, Luke?"

"I don't know," I stated bluntly, walking forward and dropping onto an empty bed. Motioning to my teacher, I said, "What happened when we came in?"

"The old woman in the robes tried to do something to Deandria. As the teacher of this class, I disagreed." He retorted, looking down at my classmate with concern. "Are you okay?"

She nodded with a grimace. "Aside from an upset stomach and a small headache, I'm good, Mr. Lethe.” Deandria looked over to Luke and me, or, rather, me in particular. "Joey, what's going on? I remember that old woman saying something about a ‘Sir Joseph and Sir Luke waiting for the others to awaken’…" Her full lips curled in playful amusement. "And since when were you two ‘Sirs'?"

Luke snorted, "I'd say when Joey here was holding the Princess's hand."

That caused her eyes to widen and her lips to pull apart into a grin. "Hoping to land a Princess, Joey? Going from virtual royalty to real is a pretty big step, don't you think?"

I rolled my eyes at the two of them, but before I could respond, our teacher cut in. "Enough. We can speculate on Joseph's love life later-"

"Come on!" I cut in, but everyone ignored me.

"-But, we need to figure out our current situation." Mr. Lethe looked to each of us, then to the rest of our classmates, who appeared to be in various states of lucidity and listening to us. "Where are we? What happened back in the classroom? Why are we here? Who are these people? When did we get here? And how did we get here? Let's run through the questions quickly and efficiently on our own before we call in the people who kidnapped us." He met our eyes individually, both to reassure and direct us as a group. "We don't have long, so let's get to brainstorming." He clapped his hands. "Go."

I decided to start us off. "First thing I remember after ending up here was a bright light. When it died out, we were all in a field on the outer edge of the village here." I turned towards Luke and nodded. "Luke and I were on our feet in a few seconds, but the princess and a small retinue of knights were waiting on us." I paused and pursed my lips. "She called me a ‘Hero.'"

"Hero?" Luke stated plainly, as he blinked. "That's what she said? I didn't hear anything for a few seconds after that light; my head was ringing so much." He murmured as he ruffled his hair. He then snorted and looked over to another of our classmates. "Isn't this like one of your animes, Tadashi? Being called to another world or something like that?"

"Luke… Be quiet." Tadashi was a shorter teen our age, with short, dark hair and dark eyes. He was on the taller end, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a long-sleeve shirt with a white jacket over it. He furrowed his brow and placed a hand on his chin. Then he turned to me. "Joseph, you were outside earlier. What did you see?"

"What little I saw reminded me of your standard middle ages scenario. Wooden and stone buildings; horse-drawn carriages; people mostly wore simple clothing, tunics and the like, but with pure colors." I paused and glanced to the side, frowning in thought. "There's a castle in the distance, I think. The towers are visible over the horizon, but it looked pretty damn far."

"I'm going to assume that we're within a ‘day's ride' if my guess on their lexicon is right." Kacee murmured as she stood up, brushing her skirt to straighten it, a seemingly nervous gesture, though her expression remained blank. "How the ‘Royal Healer' spoke further aids your hypothesis, Joseph." Then she frowned, her expression almost mutinous. "Though, if that were true, then we shouldn't be able to understand one another verbally, considering our language has evolved from an entirely different beast, comparing the ‘then and now.'"

"Could it be magic, then, allowing us to communicate?" Luke posited, meeting Kacee's incredulous stare with an arched brow, as did everyone else. He lifted his hands, palms out. "No, look, hear me out. Trying to find a purely mundane reason for something as fantastical as being pulled into another world seems to be an exercise in futility. It’s best to go with Occam’s Razor." He paused, meeting everyone's gaze for a second before continuing. "We were in our classroom not even fifteen minutes ago, even less, and here we are now." He paused, not seeing acceptance beyond a few tentative shrugs. "Mr. Lethe, when you spoke with the woman, how easily were you able to converse with her?"

"Like she was someone I met at home." He answered.

That caused us to jerk in surprise almost simultaneously. "Mr. Lethe…" Another of my classmates, a girl who wore a dark brown hijab with dark brown eyes and light colored skin. She wore a long black skirt and a dark brown long sleeve blouse. "When she spoke, did you hear English or Greek?"

Our teacher frowned, but as he opened his mouth to reply, he stiffened as well. Then he closed his eyes. "I heard Greek. What of you, Baasima?"

"Arabic." She said softly, clenching her hands tightly. That caused silence to settle amongst us.

"So… Magic." Amber stated, her tone dry. "That clears things up, I suppose." Her eyes flickered to me, amusement along with restrained fear warring in her gaze. "Joey, as our resident gamer, I'm sure you've played a few games with magic. Any ideas?"

I shook my head, causing quite a few frowns. "I don't want to give anyone false hope. There are so many different magic styles that it'd be dangerous to make too many assumptions." I answered with as much authority as I could. "I'd recommend we speak to an expert, or as close to one before I offer any ideas. All of you will be the first to know if I ever figure something out."

"Good." Mr. Lethe stated with a nod. "Logical and safe, which is what we both need and want, considering our current circumstances. We'll shelve that for now, until we get an opportunity to discuss it with the appropriate people."

"Why are we here then?" Rudy murmured loud enough for us all to hear. "They called us here for a reason. Why?"

"To fight," I stated bluntly, causing everyone to look at me with surprise. I closed my eyes to refrain from rolling them. "They called Luke and me ‘Sir.' Plus, before learning my name, Emelina called me ‘Sir Hero.'" I spoke slowly, looking to my class with a severe expression. "For one reason or another, there will no doubt be some large-scale conflict, with the opposition that they feel is so far beyond them, that they reached out into the ether and called on a bunch of students and their overworked instructor."

"But we're just…kids." One of my classmates, a dark-skinned girl with shoulder-length, wavy black hair and dark brown eyes, dressed in a pair of fashionably torn jeans and a form-fitting, V-neck, short-sleeve shirt. She looked like she'd eaten something bitter on saying that but continued regardless. "What can we do that they couldn't?"

I grimaced, reaching up to rub the back of my head. "The best way to answer that Nailah, would be this…" I paused and looked around sheepishly. "It feels dumb to ask it, but does anyone feel any different?"

"‘Different' how?" Rudy asked me, frowning noticeably.

"Stronger? Better? I don't know. If you're all relying on me because of my game knowledge, then it's important to get this out of the way." I paused and rubbed my face. "In stories like this, when the character is summoned to a different world, they develop abilities that make them stand out from the norm. Whether it be increased strength or superior magical skills, it's all about making them stand out as someone better, thus making it look like that they were meant to appear when they did."

Mr. Lethe nodded to that. "Makes sense, in some way, I suppose. But that doesn't exactly help us as we are right now." He acknowledged me. "Still, thank you, Joseph. We may be relying on you a bit longer." I could only answer with a now, feeling a little overwhelmed by that. He must've seen it in my expression because he offered an apologetic smile. "With what we know, we've managed to figure a large amount of information, even if it is guesswork. The biggest issue, right now, is who are these people?"

"They're important, that's for sure." Another of my classmates spoke up, a young man with close-cropped black hair and dark, narrowed eyes. He wore a pair of dark grey jeans and an open front shirt with a T-shirt beneath it. "I mean, the woman Mr. Lethe was arguing with was called the ‘Royal Healer,' and the one commanding her was the ‘Princess.'" He looked to me, the corner of his mouth quirking up. "She did seem rather friendly with you, Joseph. Anything you want to come clean with?"

I rolled my eyes as Luke snorted. "That's what I asked him, Guang, but the guy just brushed it off." He nudged me on the side with a grin.

"Hmph, Joseph. You don't pay girls any attention at school, yet you chase a Princess? Such standards!" A young woman with chin-length platinum blonde hair and bright blue eyes smirked salaciously. Her thin, pouty lips curved as she crossed her arms. She wore a form-fitting blouse and a pair of light, skin-colored stockings with a short skirt.

I glared. "Colette, my ‘love life' isn't up for discussion, so can we get back onto more important topics." My tone was testy, but I held back my frustrations. Everyone was having a tough day so far, and I'm sure this was part of her way to cope.

Colette just smiled at me, but Mr. Lethe cut in swiftly, amusement in his expression, much to my dismay. "Joseph's right. It's time to get to the bottom of this." He paused, his appearance turning pensive. "We're going to have to call them back in…"

"What if…" The last member of our class spoke up, her voice soft, but noticeable. "What if they just want to control us?" She was somewhat on the shorter side, with long black hair that fell to her lower back but was tied off with a white bow. Her eyes were a mix of brown and a dark grey. She was wearing a closed dark blue jacket and a knee-length black skirt. "Sure, we could've been called to ‘save' them, but will they let us roam free?"

That sent a chill down my spine, and my hand clenched as a hint of anger fluttered in my chest, but I tried not to pay it any mind as I looked back to Mr. Lethe. He nodded once, but his expression was resolute. "You have a point, Mitsuki, but…we aren't capable of functioning on our own in this world yet." He looked to each of us, in turn, as if measuring us. When his gaze reached mine, I didn't look away, meeting it with as much resolve as I could. "Joseph…call them back inside."

I nodded and turned around, walking towards the door.