The familiar white space above clouds.
Li Tanrin sighed.
God walked beside him. "You've heard this before. Earthling. You've been summoned as a Worldwalker. You were nothing in the past, but now you're offered a chance. You're job is to prevent calamity in a world doomed to die.
Need me to continue? Or should we just cut to the chase?"
Li Tanrin lit a cig.
"You know," He exhaled, "you're a real bitch, God. Anyone ever tell you that?"
The blinding figure paused.
"Actually, that might be a first from anyone. It's not everyday a failed Worldwalker is summoned twice to save the same world. But well, now the calamity is the ones who were summoned alongside you. So I thought you'd fare the best against your fellow five worldwalkers -unless you're gonna quit of course."
"Fuck you. What happened to Sicelboros?"
"Sicelboros was allowed to live by your comrades thus he yet thrives in the White Tower as the Titan of the Perished Sun. Everyday he is allowed to live he grows -he might prove to be a worse enemy than your fellow worldwalkers if left alone long enough, Worldwalkers were never meant to stay that long in a world -they either
And as for Iverssorn itself, the sun is still dead- it'll be a dark journey ahead and full of despair -You'll go back to Moros Tyr, and the one who rules Moros Tyr right now is Luina Agalene, the Rain of the Abyss -known to you as Kiyoko.
After you'd died, Moros Tyr and her Queen, Irena of house Rulienceza refused to acknowledge you could've been the only one defeated by Sicelboros -and therefore house Rulienceza was wiped off the face of Iverssorn over a fortnight by the Worldwalkers and their armies, and they left Kiyoko there to manage the populace."
Li Tanrin breathed in the smoke as deep into his lungs as he could. Suffocating really.
"Fuck that bitch. Will I still be Ewan Sorrenswal? Or would I have to commandeer another unfortunate guy's corpse?"
God led him towards an open gateway, idly casting sparks of brilliant light that erupted the full span of the color spectrum.
"No. You cannot become Ewan Sorrenswal again. He died. You'll become someone new. But the name of Ewan Sorrenswal yet lives in Moros Tyr. You can capitalize on that."
"Never took you for such a schemer." Li Tanrin tossed his burnt-out cig away.
"What'll happen once I kill those children-of-bitches? Will they just go back to our world like I did and get a happy ending?"
If the blazing white figure could smile, Li Tanrin could've sworn He did.
"No. That's a priviliege reserved for people I find worthy. If you kill them," the alien voice was full of mirth "they'll be my possession."
"Good. Send me in. You know the drill. High magic potential, with a decent amount of background and money. I know you can only give me a corpse, so I won't be too picky."
Alright fuck it. "Time to speedrun their shit-eating asses."
Li Tanrin pocketed his half-gone pack of mevius and jumped into the nearest door.
------------------------------------
He opened his eyes.
He was in a small, dark room, the only light source being a small green lamp flickering in the corner.
Hah. Necromantic lamps. One of the worst decisions he'd ever made last round was listen to Kiyoko's advice and not touch necromancy. In a world of pain and corpse, he'd given up an immense source of power for that bitch.
Didn't stop her from standing by and watching the others kill him.
Pigeon-bitch.
The lamp sat on a small writing desk, very simple and bare, with an ink jar and a pen and some papers strewn about in a messy manner.
A banner hung on the wall which he recognized.
Maler's Academy.
Hah -fucking hell. Straight from college back to college. He'd thought at least transmigration could solve his homework headaches. Apparently not.
The room was so bare it was almost a bit sad -the walls were bare yellowed stone, and the only window showed another stone wall outside. The floor was planked with wood, and a single dirty carpet that could've been any color ranging from purple to green lay before the tidy little bed.
No pillow. Fuck.
He held a small wand -used for quick castings and premeditated spells. His right temple felt quite woozy.
He touched it and blood came off on his hands. Hah. Suicide, fine.
He rifled his pockets.
FUCK YES.
His pack of mevius came over and it was refilled to the brim. Thank you God.
Besides that, a simple leathery pouch showed an ID coin issued by Maler's, saying Tren Klavir, 001181959, 2nd Year, Age 19 (Alcohol Permitted).
Second year? Seems a bit premature to end one's life at such a beginning stage of university, but who's he to judge?
He didn't recognize the last name.
A bloodied letter and a ring.
Wow. Not even a single Eucal. No wonder he'd kill himself. With this guy's finance he probably can't even afford the hot water system of Maler's -he wouldn't know. Ewan Sorrenswal was at least the third son of a minor Moros Tyr noble.
The sun outside was, as usual, blackened with its red streak going through it -Sicelboros' ultimate spell that got stuck to the star's gravity. Nonetheless, he'd learned to tell time, and he estimated it to be around 11am.
Good.
Time for class then.
First, a bath.
He quickly mopped up his head with an essay lying on the desk and strolled out the door. He didn't bother locking. If anything, if a robber came, he'd probably leave poor Tren some Eucals.
Going out, the long familiar arched corridor stretched long and empty, -maybe class was in progress already. Hah. Sorry Tren. Missed the very first class as your new commandeer. Can hardly blame Li Tanrin though, he didn't dawdle a bit.
His blue regalia robes dragging across the even floor and his red lapel straightened, he almost felt like a real student for once!
The common bath was really far away from his room, 015, both a pro and a con. Though it might be annoying to cross from the room to the bath every time he wanted to take a bath, at least he wouldn't hear the water running and people singing their lungs out every night he had to sleep.
The baths was unfortunately not empty.
A stark-naked scrawny blonde (probably from north of Moros Tyr) stood there shivering and panting, and tried very desperately to cover his manhood with his only free hand as the other was trying to cast the spell to activate the hot water system. A pretty tricky spell with one hand and a hand-sized wand.
"H-hey, dude, do you mind?" The guy pointed to the pedestal that activated the hot water.
Li Tanrin casted the spell. A red light glowed.
"Sorry brother. Out of cash."
"F-fuck. Why does the hot water stop at every f-five minute interval? T-that's cursed."
"Heh. You're new I take it?"
"Y-yeah, Pierten Shaw. F-first day here actually."
So it's the first day of school. Wonder what happend to poor Tren. Hopefully God didn't just blam him into nothingness because the world needed saving. That'd be pretty gruesome. Efficient, but messed up.
He stepped into a showering cubicle. "Tren Klavir. Second year."
"W-wow", poor Pierten managed to pull-off a very complex ballet pirouette, leaning on one foot and sticking his wand into the hexagonal machine. "N-nice, nice to meet you. I'll be in your h-help." Steam started pouring from that cubicle.
Li Tanrin sighed, if only he had hot water too. But well. He stuck his wand into the socket by the faucet and freezing water gushed out onto him, making him gasp.
But what was this compared to the truly cold dagger that Thomas slid across his neck?
He gritted his teeth and washed out the blood from his hair.
"W-why's there blood in your hair?"
"Tried to kill myself."
The other guy fell silent.
"Oh."
Another lapse of silence.
"Did you succeed?"
Li Tanrin gritted his teeth. Can this idiot stop talking? He finished up and pulled his wand out.
"Yes, then no. Fuck you and shut up."
He slung his robes on and walked out the baths.
Outside the halls were suddenly full of jostling apprentices rushing about going to their classrooms and chittering like locust swarms. Black and blue poured before his eyes like some messed-up medieval set cramming into Line 3 Metro.
He sighed. Fuck his life.
He began bumping his way through the crowds, and in the midst he careened into some white-haired girl surrounded by her gossip clique.
Her stuff spilled onto the floor, making a huge mess in public.
"Hey", the girl squatted down to pick her stuff up, craning up to look at him "watch where you're going."
He sighed and helped the girl pick up her stuff.
"Look at that grubby guy. He looks like a corpse. Is he seriously trying to hit on our goddess Anerette?"
"He's so pale. Don't turn our girl into a zombie, hahahahaha."
"Can't believe the nerve. Bumping so accurately. Mwahahaha."
He finished stacking the books on the girl's arms and rose.
"Sorry."
He left and kept pushing his way until eventually he reached the 2nd year classroom wings. The decor substantially changed from the dorm regions to here, as the walls suddenly became blackstone and were draped with banners of every color, decorating the top achievers of the 2nd year.
He walked along the halls, reminiscing about a time when he had loved Moros Tyr. He stopped in front of two side-by-side banners that showed himself and Kiyoko.
In their 2nd year...
They'd had fun -being new to this world. From the very beginning, he and Kiyoko had inherited magic users, and were both Moros-Tyrians, whilst Thomas began in the Central Lands in the Kingdom of Murrdezal as Avarren Sturmenas, a place famed for the Etebus Order, knights who upheld the rights of Dezalian citizens. Thomas had rightly accepted training and became a knight -guess he never learned the code of chivalry. Alice spawned to the north as Thela Belledona, in Ekelon -where she became the famous Blood Witch. Pooh. Born into royalty.
Bah. Always a witch, always a bitch.
Herman was just to the east of Moros Tyr, Flugia. He never spoke much of his experiences in that bandit-infested kingdom, but it couldn't have been pleasant judging from the scars all over his body and the collar mark.
Enrico -eh. No one cares about Enrico. He spoke a sum of three words for the whole decade.
Li Tanrin had been so happy to meet someone from home, that he and Kiyoko stuck together like glue for the longest time -till the others came along and suddenly Kiyoko lost her voice.
The banner before him read:
Kiyoko, Invention of the Spell Z102759
It showed Kiyoko's form, Luina Agalene, dressed in the year two regalia and smiling shyly.
That bitch.
He lit a cig and walked into the only classroom with sounds coming from within.
As soon as he entered, the professor on the lectern swiveled around, a bespectacled hawkish man, with drooping eyelids and too many zits and not enough hair.
"Ah. Mister Klavir." The professor smiled sardonically, "How kind of you to finally grace us with your presence." Li Tanrin took a seat next to a guy who had white streaks in his black hair. The guy looked nearly as gaunt as how he imagined himself to be, with great panda circles and purple cracked lips.
He very kindly scooted over a bit.
The professor bore his gaze into him. "Very bold you to be late to your first Curse lecture this year. Smoking some sort of new pipe nonetheless, you little hoodwink. Please come see me after class." He smiled. Li Tanrin rolled his eyes and took a deep, deep, deep lungful.
"Now. Where were we? Ah... yes.... the basis of a virgin's potency..."