It had been nearly twenty-four hours since Class 9 arrived in the capital city of Grangutan. To help them adjust, Rehan took the group for a walk through the bustling streets of the capital, letting them soak in the sights of their new reality.
Meanwhile, in the depths of the Royal Castle...
Chirag felt like a prisoner. He was currently confined to an experimental chamber, forced to answer an endless barrage of questions. The researchers were obsessed with his home universe—specifically, the scientific theories that remained unproven back on Earth.
Mizuki leaned against the cold stone wall, letting out a long, dramatic yawn. "Alright, you're free to go," she said lazily.
Chirag slumped, his shoulders dropping with relief. "Finally... I can—"
"Go rest for a bit," Mizuki interrupted, her eyes half-closed.
"No way!" Chirag cried out, his voice echoing in the chamber. He had been through enough "mental gymnastics" for one day.
Later that evening...
Rehan led the group to his favorite restaurant. However, as they stepped through the door, a strange silence greeted them. The place was eerily empty, save for a single figure: an old man sitting in a corner chair. Every time he shifted, the wood let out a rhythmic, haunting creak.
"Hey, Gramps! Looking handsome today, aren't you?" Rehan shouted with a grin.
The old man looked up, his voice sounding like dry parchment rubbing together. "No... not at all..."
Rehan leaned casually against the wall and called out, "Shiko!"
Suddenly, a small child burst from a back room and lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Rehan. "I missed you, Uncle!" Shiko cried, clinging tightly to Rehan’s massive hand.
"Did you do what I asked?" Rehan asked, his tone shifting to something more serious.
The students of Class 9 stood frozen. They were beginning to realize that Rehan’s "connections" in this world went much deeper—and darker—than they had first imagined.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The Castle: The Anomaly of Logic
Back at the castle, the researchers were in a state of absolute shock. Chirag had finally finished his "interrogation."
"It’s unbelievable," one researcher whispered to his colleague. "That boy just provided over a hundred theories. He proved sixty of our world's existing laws , he used something called math and debunked forty others. Aside from Magic Theory, he’s proven almost everything we knew was wrong."
His partner stared at the stacks of parchment on the table. "He just drew those weird symbols—those 'equations'—and suddenly, everything made sense. It was like magic, but without the mana."
Meanwhile, Mizuki and Chirag were roaming the castle grounds during a short break.
"Can I please just go to sleep?" Chirag begged, rubbing his temples.
"Why so soon?" Mizuki asked.
"My brain is fried," he replied. "This world's system is taxing."
Suddenly, Chirag stopped dead in his tracks. A memory flashed in his mind like a bolt of lightning. A realization hit him—he had been wearing a bag during the summoning, one that contained something that hadn't appeared with him in this world.
"Coins adds mass" he murmured, his face turning pale. He shouted "mizuki Is the summoning ritual circle still active?"
"Maybe? I don't know," she replied, startled by his sudden intensity.
Chirag didn't wait. He sprinted toward the ritual hall. He threw his weight against the heavy oak doors, bursting inside just as the court sorcerers were beginning to scrub the chalk and mana-dust from the floor.
"Stop! You have to restart it!" Chirag yelled.
One of the sorcerers looked up, his voice rough and annoyed. "And why should we do that, boy?"
"Because there are people trapped inside the ritual stream!" Chirag shouted back.
The room went silent as he frantically explained the physics of the "in-between." The sorcerers’ eyes widened in horror. Realizing the gravity of the situation, they immediately began channeling mana back into the circle. Mizuki arrived moments later, her casual demeanor gone as she watched the floor begin to glow.
"Does anyone have a blade?" Chirag asked.
A guard slid a sword across the floor toward him. One of the lead mages looked at Chirag with a grim expression. "The coordinates are unstable. We can send you in, but it will take us at least two hours to track your signal and pull you back. Can you survive 'The Jungle' for that long?"
Chirag’s heart hammered against his ribs. "Two hours...?"
He looked at the swirling vortex of the ritual. He didn't have a choice. He nodded firmly.
Chirag grinned "why am I like this."
The circle erupted in a blinding flash of light. Mana surged, and without a second thought, Chirag leapt into the heart of the glow.
The Multiverse Bridge
CRACK.
The world shattered and reformed. Chirag found himself suspended in a realm beyond logic. The environment was a psychedelic dreamscape of glowing pinks, deep purples, and electric blues. Star-like structures drifted through the void like celestial jellyfish.
So this is it, Chirag thought, his mind racing to categorize the sight. The bridge between universes. The thread of the multiverse.
ZIP!
Three streaks of light shot through the void toward him. As they drew closer, he recognized them: three girls from his own world, unconscious and drifting toward oblivion.
He quickly stripped off his jacket. In the zero-gravity environment, he "swam" through the ether, reaching out until he could grab them. He used his jacket to tie the girls together, creating a makeshift tether.
He gripped the end of the jacket tightly. Then, the world pulled.
ZOOP!
Gravity returned with a vengeance. They tumbled through the air and slammed into the damp earth of a forest floor. It was pitch black. The only sound was the heavy thumping of his own heart.
This is bad, Chirag thought, shivering. Midnight. A foreign forest. This is officially the worst moment of my life.
Then, he felt it. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. From the shadows of the towering trees, a pair of eyes locked onto him.
He wasn't alone.
To Be Continued...
