In a room with low lights there sits a young man strapped to some sort of throne on top of a podium with a blocky medieval-style helmet, with cuffs on his arms, shackles on his legs, and some kind of papyrus wrapping the torso to the chair. Before the podium there are multiple occupied chairs in front of it, some by the side that seems to be the next in line, and two women standing to the right of the throne in the podium. Little by little whispers are heard from the crowd.
"Is he dead?"
"No way..."
"Chill out; the rest of the people up until now were fine!"
"You are saying that because you don't need to go up there, my brother is next!"
"Class, calm down! This happens occasionally; he is probably just dazed. If the situation is serious, we will address it shortly.
With a small shudder, the person on the throne starts mumbling and moving.
"Huh..."
As soon as the tall woman in the suit hears the one in the chair, she slowly removes the helmet from the person, rubs a towel on his head, and asks loud and clear.
"Hey! Can you hear me?"
[What is going on? I feel like I've slept forever... Where am I?]
"This brat seems to be waking up, nurse. What do you think?"
"Doesn't seem to be a malicious spirit possession; we should wait for a little bit longer before moving him so there are no complications."
"From what I can tell, the soul and the aura should be stabilizing shortly... Hey..."
The tall lady snaps her fingers in front of the throne. "HEY, SAY SOMETHING, HEY!"
"Uh... Hello..."
"Oh, great, very well, kid, try to focus. How many fingers am I holding up right now?"
As the man on the throne groggily looks forward, he sees her hand up with two fingers up with what seems to be a blurry third finger up as well, but he can at the same time see that the third finger is folded at the same time, under her thumb, which kind of freaks him out.
[Uh, what am I looking at?]
"Tw... Three, I think?"
"Neat, his para-vision is working now! This is already an improvement."
"Teacher Fuyuko! Check first if his mind is stable; remember the procedure."
"Right, right... What was first again? Ah, yeah, do you remember your name?"
"My name is Louis..."
"Your full name, please."
"Louis Coval..."
"All right, where are you right now?"
"I don't know."
"Huh? Anyway, give me a moment…" As the teacher pulls a folder and starts checking for files, Louis accustoms himself to the ambient lighting and sees the people sitting in the audience, who seem to be mostly older teenagers with odd clothes. What he initially thought to be some sort of weird operation room or occult site is actually a school auditorium, the sort of place he has had nothing to do with since graduating.
[Am I in some sort of anime convention event or something?]
"Next question: where are you from?"
"I am from Brooklyn."
"Hm, yeah, correct, Brooklin."
"Well, do you know why you are here?"
"No"
"…? Do you know who I am?"
"I think we've met before, right?"
"…"
"Nurse, this brat is busted. Disconnect him from the throne, take him to the infirmary for a check-up, and then check him out. HEY, YOU AT THE BACK, take the kid to the infirmary."
"Good grief."
"Very well."
As the restraints start getting disassembled, Louis feels himself calming down, as at least it seems he isn't going to get hurt or anything.
[…i … I thought I was about to die? Guess things are going to be ok. Where was I before coming here again?
As he thinks about what he was doing before being here, sweat starts building on his brow and shivers go up his spine.
[No… I think I died? What is this…? Did I get a second chance or something? I guess I am blessed or something!]
[**&(@#@1"&!]
[Huh?]
The nurse shakes Louis's shoulder; she appears to have finished removing his restraints, which are wrapped in some sort of paper around the chair.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, I think."
A young woman in a shrine maiden outfit climbs up to the podium holding something like a roll of paper… toilet paper?
She points to Louis and calls out!
*Scroll Seal*
A golden string flows seemingly from her hearth and connects to a side of the scroll, which then goes and warps Louis, removing the old scroll bindings by itself. The nurse and the young woman put him on a stretcher.
"You can take him to the infirmary without issue, right?"
"Of course."
As they leave via the ramp, the teacher begins speaking to the seated individuals again..
"Anyhow, you saw what happened; there is still time to turn back. You can just go and find another career if you can't handle the risks!"
"To do what we do, you need power, and if you don't have the talent..."
As her voice fades away, Louis is still trying to process the current situation.
[Hmm, well, even with all this mystical stuff, it seems this is some sort of school after all, all this career speech and stuff. Maybe I can get some info from this girl?]
"Ah, hello?"
"What?"
"Can you tell me what happened? Am I going to be ok?"
"Dunno."
"Uh..."
An awkward silence follows...
"Can you tell me what you saw happening at least?"
"No."
"Why...?"
"Shut it."
"Ok, sorry."
While they pass the corridor from the auditorium, Louis gets goosebumps, and instincts seem to tell him he might be in some sort of trouble.
[If I think a little, I can probably figure something out... either she is in a bad mood or they are keeping me in the dark on purpose. It seems before I woke up, I sat on the throne by choice?]
[I need to think really hard and remember... why did I come here?]
[/*2%$!& %$#! 45%$#&]
[I remember something? Uh... I wanted to get stronger I think?]
"Hey!"
By the time Louis broke out of his concentration, he was already in the infirmary bed, and the girl was shaking his shoulder.
"Oh, yeah, what is it?"
"You are probably going to have to wait here until what they are doing is done; it shouldn't take too long."
"Thanks for telling me... Uh, by the way... can you take..."
"No."
"..."
"Listen, I am only going to say this once; after this, I am going back to the auditorium to take the next fellow if necessary, so pay attention."
"Yes, miss."
"..."
"Uh... yes?"
"Pretty sure it's not him..." The woman mumbles something.
"What did you say?"
"Anyhow, if you break out of those bindings and get out of here, you might get killed, so stay put."
Her words hit him like a brick.
"N... no problem..."
"Anyhow, I'll be going. The room and the way here might seem empty, but there are people guarding the premises. No escaping, you hear?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Farewell."
"Wait!"
"What?"
"What is your name again?"
"...Laura." The lady frowns as she responds.
[Somehow, I kind of expected something else? weird...]
"Uh, nice to meet you?"
"...Damn..."
With that she leaves, making the room feel more desolate with her absence.
[I am definitely in trouble... Out of nowhere she is talking about killing? hopefully she was exagerating? I think I just came back from the dead and now I am about to die again?]
As Louis always believes, in times like this, panicking won't help at all; maybe think positively?
[No... she was probably just exaggerating. I just gotta chill out for a bit, and things will be ok!]
After a few deep breaths, Louis calms down while looking at the ceiling. Maybe things are not going so bad, bound like this; if they wanted him dead, he would be already!
.........
And...
And as one minute turns to two and two minutes turn to ten, he starts to get anxious again; over time his mind clears up more and more, and he feels a shiver on his spine. The instincts in him are definitely saying there is something wrong!
[Wait, what is this? Maybe I am missing something? What happened to me definitely wasn't supposed to happen. I've heard of those stories where people end up in other worlds. People are definitely using magic in here. Maybe I unlocked my past life memories or something? I am pretty sure I remember some stuff from this place, but it is really vague...]
Louis can feel himself getting goosebumps, his heart rate quickens, and he tries to focus.
[If I check out this room, maybe I can get some tips on what is going on; maybe I'll remember something then?]
The situation seems dire. As Louis inspects the infirmary from his bed, there are curtains on his right side, so he can't see much. To his left there is the space that seems to have had the stretcher while he was put there. He can see a table to the right with some sort of instruments.
As he twists his torso to try to get a better look, he notices that there is some sort of platter with some bloody metal tools, which he could only describe as some sort of butchering kit.
[Ah]
"This is bad."
The door bursts open, and a fat dude with a gas mask and a bloody machete enters.
"Howdy!".
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"