The flames of the lit candles flickered as a sudden gust of wind swept through the hall.
For a moment, thousands of flames swayed as though they were about to be extinguished, only to remain burning the next.
What followed was a blinding flash of light, accompanied by the faint sound of hushed gasps.
The people kneeling in the hall prayed fervently at the miraculous sight.
[Wh... what happened?]
Dea drowsily opened her eyes to a world of darkness. Rubbing her forehead, she struggled to recall what had happened.
She remembered walking out of campus to head home when a girl stopped her. The girl had said something while handing her a handkerchief, and then...
There had been a flash of light, and... nothing.
As she rubbed her glabella once more, she suddenly jolted.
[Where is it? Where is it?!]
Dea began fumbling carefully but frantically in the darkness, terrified of accidentally breaking her glasses.
Inch by inch, her hands searched the cold floor.
[Shit! Shit! Shit!]
Dea cursed inwardly, frustrated by her inability to see a damn thing.
Her irritation grew with every passing second. Her fumbling became increasingly desperate by the minute, while her inner voice grew more agitated, repeating the same frantic questions.
[No! No! Where is it?! Where is it?!]
Fortunately, the walls and floor were smooth, sparing her hands and knees from getting scraped.
After what felt like an endless search, she finally managed to grasp her glasses before she completely lost her sanity.
She held the thick-rimmed glasses in her dirty hands, cradling them as though she had just recovered a priceless treasure.
[Mom.]
A minute later, she carefully wiped them with the hem of her shirt, paying no mind to her throbbing fingers or the darkness enveloping her.
Once she had put them back on, she immediately regained her composure.
She then tried to assess her current situation.
Dea sat on the ground and absentmindedly glanced around.
[Where the hell am I?]
It was supposed to be pitch-black, yet a narrow ray of light streamed toward the opposite side of the enclosure. Its faint glow was barely enough to illuminate its surroundings, but it stood out distinctly against the darkness.
[Has it always been there?]
She followed the beam with her eyes, tracing it toward the farthest end of the wall.
The distant murmurs and the eerie absence of light might have unsettled anyone else, but Dea wasn't particularly frightened.
She even got down on her knees to feel around her surroundings, eventually concluding that she was inside a box-like structure made of concrete.
What had initially felt like an open field was, in actuality, an enclosed space barely two meters in height and four meters in width.
Following the light to its source, she discovered a small hole in the wall and cautiously peered through it.
There, she was greeted by an astonishing sight.
Hundreds of people were kneeling with their palms pressed together, much like devotees in prayer.
[Damn it, why are there so many people here?]
Her brows furrowed in annoyance.
Dea had initially considered asking for help, but...
She really disliked crowds.
Fidgeting with her fingers to calm herself, she peered further through the opening to get a better look at her surroundings.
Then Dea spotted someone familiar.
"Hey... Isn't that the girl?" she murmured.
The girl was wearing a school uniform and standing before the kneeling masses.
It was the very same girl who had stopped her on her way out of the school gate.
The joyful expression she had worn just moments ago had now been replaced by sobs and an unmistakable look of apprehension.
Well, Dea couldn't exactly blame her.
One moment, they had been standing on school grounds. The next, they had found themselves in a place resembling a massive church, surrounded by all sorts of oddly dressed people.
Just look at that.
There was even an old man wearing strange clothes and holding an equally peculiar, fancy-looking scepter. He stood beside the schoolgirl, looking all solemn and whatnot.
[Good thing I ended up inside this box thing.]
Dea mused, conveniently acting as though she were merely a bystander who hadn't been transported to this strange place herself.
They seemed to be in the middle of something serious, so Dea decided to stay put and let them finish before asking for assistance.
Crouching inside the "box," Dea watched the scene unfold while reminiscing about her missing pancake.
She had been transported here, but her takeout pancake hadn't come along.
How sad.
She should have just eaten it on the spot, even if there had been quite a crowd at the school festival.
"Priestess, as the prophecy foretold, you have finally come to save your people," the old man in fancy clothes declared.
"Wh... what? No, I don't know what you're talking about, sir! Where is this place? Could you please send me home?" the schoolgirl pleaded, looking utterly pitiful as tears streamed down her face.
"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Priestess. Our world needs you. The people of Andean need you."
"No! No, sir! Please send me home!"
Dea stopped paying attention to the girl's desperate pleas and began pondering.
[Andean, huh?]
In all her, ugh... twenty-something years of existence, she was absolutely certain that there was no place called Andean on Earth. But...
She touched her glasses and pinched her arm, confirming that she was, in fact, physically present in this place they called Andean.
After some consideration, she concluded that she might have died without realizing it and that this was the afterlife.
That, or she was in a coma, dreaming all of this up, or simply hallucinating like crazy.
Either way, none of the possibilities sounded particularly appealing.
She still had work tomorrow. She was almost done arranging the boxes in the utility room.
She still had to dispose of the garbage piling up by her door because tomorrow was collection day.
And...
She wasn't even sure if she'd unplugged the rice cooker before leaving that morning.
[Oh, wait!]
As though remembering something important, Dea fished out her mobile phone.
Maybe she could...
Before she could finish the thought, she was greeted by the dreaded No Signal notification and a battery level of 4%.
[Sonnova****.]
Without changing her expression, she turned off her phone and shoved it back into her pocket before returning her attention to the drama unfolding before her.
Dea wasn't sure what they had discussed in such a short time, but the schoolgirl had finally stopped crying her lungs out.
She continued watching them converse for a while longer.
From what she could gather, the gist was this: the schoolgirl was their priestess, they had summoned her, and she couldn't return home until her mission was complete because their world was on the verge of destruction or something along those lines.
Well, Dea could only silently remark that it sucked to be the schoolgirl.
And the mere thought of entrusting the fate of an entire world to a thirteen-year-old girl made her roll her eyes.
No wonder their world was falling apart.
Anyway, it wasn't her problem.
She was merely waiting for them to finish so she could ask them to send her back.
After all, she wasn't the priestess. She had simply been summoned by mistake.
Much to her dismay, however, they just kept talking and talking. Then came the introductions, followed by more talking and other formalities.
It would have been impolite to interrupt, so she kept quiet.
Eventually, boredom got the better of her. She began exploring every corner of the box and, quite by accident, discovered a small door.
What a pleasant surprise. An exit!
Dea silently crawled through it, careful not to interrupt the ongoing conversation.
When she finally managed to stretch her limbs and adjust to the light, she realized that she had been hiding beneath the platform of a gigantic sculpture.
Emerging from behind the statue, she couldn't quite make out its details, but she could tell it depicted a woman.
She sat down, leaned against the cold marble, and waited for the ceremony taking place before the artwork to end.
Fortunately, she was positioned on the statue's blind side, where nobody could see her.
Just as Dea was about to doze off from waiting, she finally heard her cue.
"Priestess, allow me to escort you to your chambers for some rest."
Dea scrambled to her feet and hurriedly shouted,
"Wait! Wait!"
She emerged from behind the sculpture and called out.
The hall, which had been filled with hundreds of people just moments before, instantly fell silent.
Dea felt terribly uncomfortable under the weight of everyone's stares, but she could only suck it up and speak.
"You accidentally summoned me along with your priestess!"
She paused, took a deep breath, and continued.
"So... would you please send me back now?"