Chapter 1
The air in the classroom crackled with a familiar tension. A small group of students, their faces contorted with a cruel pleasure, tormented their
victim. His clothes, already thin, ripped further under their rough hands. Insults, sharp and vicious, were fung like stones, each one aimed at the
most vulnerable parts of his life – his family, his appearance, his very being. The rest of the class watched, a mixture of morbid fascination and
uncomfortable apathy painted on their faces. Some snickered, adding fuel to the fre. Others stared blankly, pretending not to see, their silence a
tacit endorsement of the bullying.
At the front of the room, the teacher sat slumped in his chair. His shoulders were rounded, his eyes dull. He seemed almost oblivious to the
scene unfolding before him, lost in a world of his own. Rumors whispered through the school halls suggested he had tried to intervene in the
past, only to be met with resistance, even violence. He had been broken, it was said, his spirit crushed under the weight of the students' cruelty.
Suddenly, an anomaly disrupted the familiar horror. A shimmering blue circle materialized in the center of the classroom, pulsing with an
otherworldly light. It hung in the air, defying gravity and logic, an impossible intrusion into the mundane reality of their bullying ritual. The
tormentors paused, their taunts dying in their throats. The onlookers gasped, their boredom replaced by stunned confusion. Even the teacher
seemed to stir, his gaze drawn to the strange phenomenon.
Time seemed to warp and bend. The blue circle expanded, engulfng the room in its luminous embrace. Then, everything went dark.
When the light returned, it was different. The harsh fuorescent glow of the classroom was replaced by a softer, more ethereal luminescence.
The air hummed with an unfamiliar energy. The students, still dazed, blinked and looked around, their memories of the immediate past hazy and
indistinct. And standing before them, where the blue circle had been, was a woman of breathtaking beauty. Her eyes sparkled with an inner light,
and her smile radiated warmth and confdence.
"Hey heroes," she said, her voice melodic and clear, echoing in the strangely altered room. "Welcome to this magic world."