It wasn't long before all of his classmates were awake, seated in an arc. Thanks to the effects of the mind scripts that pulsed around them and the mind-healer's own work, asides from some fearful looks and anxious expressions, most of his classmates didn't seem too horrified by the turn of events.

In another time, Donovan would probably protest the mindscripts; they could be insidious, but considering that he couldn't feel any malicious intentions as it flows through his thoughts, he decides to leave it be.

One of the few things he knew of the Lucemiere Clan was their devotion to honour and their saintly conduct; more importantly, he doesn't really want to deal with a gaggle of panicking teenagers.

It's more interesting to watch their curiosity grow with their minds soothed anyway, their eyes widening as they hungrily devour the sights around them. The room they were in was impressive by any standard- the towering walls are engraved with scenes from history, the proudest moments of the Lucemieres immortalized.

A spear-wielding emperor highlighted by the sun thrust his spear, cleaving apart a horde of ravenous dragons. A woman with seven suns orbiting her head lights up a dreary underground world. A boy with veins of sunlight and a severe frown cuts apart a horde of undead, wielding a dazzling greatsword alongside a mace of holy light.

The wars and battles and triumphs glide upwards, until they're impossible to make out before history gives way to the deep blue sky of the present. He wonders if they'd specially made sure there weren't any clouds today, as the rays of the sun are the sole illumination as they stream inside.

As the two healers fall into place to either side of the stairs, the three waiting figures make their way up, catching their attention as more chairs rise from the ground. Astonished exclamations escape the students' lips along with muttered curses glazed in awe - Leo gasps, and Star softly whistles, the two sitting to his left and right near the center - as they take their seats opposite them, all three radiating power and prestige.

The woman in the center, with her curly sunshine yellow hair and kind smile, golden jewelery adorning her wrists and neck, draws their eyes. The hem of her shimmering yellow dress was an intricately stitched tappestry of towering mountains and flowing rivers, patterned flowers blooming across the silken fabric.

She sends shivers down his spine.

Perhaps he was too cynical, but the sight of someone so blatantly conveying a message with their appearance- that never led to good things, be they dressed in knightly armour or a murderer's bloody robes.

Or maybe he was the monster here and shouldn't be judging someone so cruelly based on their appearance.

"Greetings, otherworlders," The woman begins, her warm yellow eyes rolling over each of them, "Lest we lose ourselves in questions, let us begin... with our deepest apologies." The three of them bend their heads forward in a half-bow, hands on their knees, their saintly, powerful auras flaring down.

It was an startling contrast- their noble presences bowing to students in uniform, sincerity draped on their faces, in a room fit for a king.

It was likely a contrast that was meant to be noticed.

The class glances amongst each other, uncertain murmurs trading between them for a few moments- despite the frowns that curved their faces, or lips that moved in prayer, everyone found themselves at a loss under the weight of the moment--

"Your deepest apologies for what?"

Violet Gold, arms crossed, a frown on her face and an imperious authority lining her words, looks at the three summoners with nothing short of sheer skepticism.

The three of them sit up, the woman's gaze falling on Violet, "For bringing you here." She simply says, clasping her arms together ontop her lap. Her golden hair twinkles and shines beneath the shifting constellation of the script above them. "Harnessing the workings of a ritual, my clan brought you to this world out of yours. You are no longer in the land of your birth."

Her eyes turn to each of them, lingering, "You are in the world of Aureole."

Stunned silence meets her statement, nineteen pairs of eyes gazing at her in mute shock, jaws dropped. Even as the air stills with silent tension, the room heavy with brewing anger, Donovan has to desperately bury a laugh at their expressions.

"W-what?" Leo bursts, breaking the valve- a stream of questions flow out, a noisy tide of fear and disbelief spersed with grains of wonder, crashing against them in useless babble.

The three summoners wait for the noise to die down, the woman's smile never wavering. She was the perfect image of motherly kindness, patient and warm under their outburst. The two men to her side - one young and brooding, the other old and grim - look far more uncaring, but slightly pleased nonetheless.

Well, he supposed if he'd drained a good chunk of his coffers for a bunch of teenagers, he'd feel pretty happy if they showed some brains from the start.

If he wanted to really impress them, he could start condensing his core here and now. However, it was wiser to wait and play it safe

Not wanting to risk inpecting his body under the watchful eye of three masters, Donovan contents himself with waiting until the ruckus dies down, more than a dozen red faces glaring at the summoners as the noise drops to a buzz, to a whisper, to a hum, to quiet.

"All of your questions will be answered in due time," the woman promises, "but to begin, I will answer the ones most pertinent."

"My name," she says, placing a pale hand on her chest, "is Luciella Lucemiere, the second princess of the Lucemis Kingdom and, for the time being, your loyal attendant." She dips her head towards them subserviently, "You may all call me Luciella, and as long as you are with us, feel free to consult this humble one regarding any difficulties or curiosities."

The class glances among each other - no one was bursting into fits of rage yet, though their thin veneers of patience were quickly giving way to frustration.

"Though this one does not have any right to ask this, please- grant me some small measure of your trust. The Lucemis Kingdom nor the Lucemiere Clan bear you any ill-will; you are our honoured and respected guests from beyond the void. Not a single person will dare harm you or hurt you within our territory." She nods, looking into each of their eyes in turn, before she continues,"To that end-" She places two fingers against her heart.

"I, Luciella Lucemiere, swear to be your staunchest shield, to evermore safeguard your bodies and soul under the guard of my protection, with the honour of my soul and clan as the weight of my honesty."

Donovan twitches, smashing his surprise back down- the Lucemieres were serious then, if they had direct bloodline members taking soul oaths. He hadn't taken a single soul oath when he'd been here; they could be incredibly punishing.

While the loopholes here were inherently obvious - 'within our territory' was far too easily abused, and the oath took context into account - it still bore considerable meaning with the girl's soul on the line, and no real expectations of them.

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The class trade glances again, hesitance pooling in all their eyes - clearly, no one wanted to be the first to step up in a situation like this; they were on uncertain ground, and whoever made the wrong first step and brought it crashing beneath them would likely be reviled.

He waits a few beats, wondering if he'll have to prod Star up--

"Your promise is nice and all, Second Princess," Violet's voice is cold and hard, cutting through the silence, "but you understand that if you're being real right now, you've effectively kidnapped us?" She scowls, her British tone edged with ice, "Why the hell would we trust someone like you? Your promise is worth squat to start with, and you ask for our trust?"

She scoffs, "You're madder than a dosed-up badger. Never."

The rest of the class chimes agreement, throwing their own slander and hard glares at their summoners. Donovan sinks back into his seat, eyeing the subtle confrontation.

He'd never known Violet had such colourful phrasing; he always took her for the prim perfectionist.

Luciella grimaces, "That is understandable- the immeasurably cruel act of bringing you here is a transgression that can never be forgiven. Alas," she clenches her hands into fists, "this one must still brazenly plead for an opportunity. Certainly your trust cannot be so easily given, least of all here, so I beg your honured selves let these unworthy ones prove worthy of it." She stands up, pressing her fists together and bending at the waist. After a moment she straightens, gazing at Violet with eyes like solid gold- gone was the tender saintess she'd been playing, and the hardened martial artist deep within was on full display.

A hardened, desperate martial artist to put down their pride like this.

Violet squirms, now looking as uncertain as the rest in the face of her sincerity. She was still only sixteen at heart, despite her background- and well out of her depth.

"That doesn't change anything," says Lilah, taking the reins, "You guys still brought us here, and- and- god, where are we?" She says, her anger faltering under the grip of fear and grief, "My parents- my home- you can't just expect us to fucking forgive that!"

The rest chime in agreement, their voices rising back to a fever pitch, their own emotions driven to ignition with Lilah's- the calming scripts only helped so much after all, their strength obviously controlled to allow them to retain their reasoning. Fortunately, they did help a little, and though the tides of heated conversation flood the room, it never rises to a tsunami.

As his classmates' accusations smack the three cultivators on the face, Donovan rubs his temples. He'd long given up his act of fitting in - he wasn't sure he could even if he wanted to, safely cushioned in the knowledge they were all desperately craving yet didn't want to hear.

He was half-tempted to cut in and handle this himself, and would, if it wasn't for the fact that the most important question of all still remained unanswered.

"Star," he whispers, turning to her, ignoring the class - who were now all back to asking questions, their desperate pleas 'Can you please let us go home?' laced with their angry demands 'Tell us the truth, you Simpsons hag!' - "Star", he insists, tugging at her white sleeve.

She finally turns to face him, seeming to break out of a trance, her face ringed with despair and eyes moist with unshed tears, "D-Donvan," she hiccups, hastily rubbing at her eyes. "You- you're so composed!" She finally exclaims, looking him up and down like a ghost.

"Can you get these guys to quiet down?" He asks, looking pointedly at his classmates, "We're not going to get anywhere if they can't control themselves for longer than ten seconds."

She hesitates, looking at the naked fury on display, at Leo's desperate grip on the arms of his chair, at Violet's mouth as she bites her nails, at Frey's questions as they roar across the room. Luciella tries to interject a few times, but her reluctance to use any degree of force is her downfall, her words blanketed by theirs. "I'm- not sure I can, honestly." She quietly admits, sniffling as she looks away.

"Priscella," he begins gravely, - her timidness seems to burst out of her, her eyes flashing furiously as her head darts upwards, her gaze piercing him like daggers, "this is the most frightened I've ever seen you. Are you really going to let yourself be brought low by," he rolls his eyes, gesturing around them with a wave of his hand, " an otherworldy summoning, of all things?" He winces, dreading his next words, "Superstar up, dude."

It wasn't a great pep-talk, but one he'd given many, many times before- Star was relatively easy to motivate by the right people, as long as you said those accursed words at the end.

She seems to think about this, even as Leo tries to get up from his chair - Donovan puts a hand on his shoulder and pushes him back down, not wanting to see this devolve into a brawl they'd definitely lose, "...I guess that is kinda lame," she admits, twiddling her fingers. She takes a deep breath, glances around at the chaos, and nods her head, her expression fixed with steely determination.

"Alright. Okay. Sure. I'll do it." She says, trying to motivate herself.

She gets up from her seat, fists clenched at her sides, and approaches Luciella - instantly, the voices start to die down, all of their classmates' attention fixed on her. Even the three summoners turn to look at her, curious and appreciative that someone is trying to end the chaos.

"Okay, blowing everything else," she stops midway, standing in the very center of the room, "Can you send us back home?"

The class wait for an answer with bated breath, the air in the room coming to a standstill.

"Currently, we cannot." She responds evenly, lacing her fingers above her lap as she scans Star up and down.

Even to someone with no essence perception, it's easy to feel the malice and despair that spikes in them, like sharp spears pointed by their gazes. It'd be harder to not feel it.

Star falters, shifting her weight between feet, biting down on her bottom lip- before she can say anything, Violet slides in next to her.

"Alright, you can't send us back now," She says, sounding more composed than the bitten remains of her nails would suggest, "can you ever though?"

The Second Princess' smile returns and she eagerly bobs her head, trying to reclaim some amount of goodwill. "Indeed! There are others in this world who can send all of you back if they wish- and in a few years, we can send you back once enough resources have been restored." Her smile widens, and she looks at them with a hint of anticipation, "Or perhaps by then you'll be strong enough to do it on your own."

Even as the class digests this new information, Donovan decides enough is enough- they'd gotten the harsh truth, and before things continued, he needed one of hi* questions answered.

And it was probably best to end this little Q&A; he knew best how overwhelming it could all be, and even with all of them here to lean on each other, knowing what his friends were going to have to go through felt like shards of glass caught in his throat.

They'd lost everything- and were now stuck, in a world they didn't know, surrounded by strangers, for years at the least.

Taking the time to accept that was best.

"Considering that," he says, raising his voice, propping his elbow on the chair's arm and his hand on his palm, he looks at the three summoners with wide eyes, "why did you call us here in the first place? Surely a... 'ritual' can't have been cheap. Why bother? What do you get?"

Eyes wide, fear and wariness flash across the students' faces as the truth strikes them- no one who attended Potaru was stupid, and so it didn't long for them to figure out what he meant; these people wanted something from them.

The Second Princess thins her lips, a dire look in her eyes like a doctor about to declare a death.

"There are many reasons we decided to bring you all here," she says slowly, "And all of them are self-centered."

Donovan at least appreciated her honesty. At least she was being straight with them.

"The most significant reason, that started us on the path of even considering it, is this," She waves her hand, and thin streams of vivid light fly out of her fingers, Violet and Star hurriedly moving out of the way as a hulking figure comes to life in the middle of the room.

Ten feet tall, curved horns protruding from its forehead and arms and legs thicker than Donovan's waist, a monster appears. Burnt red skin littered with scars and a greatsword strapped to it's back, its lips stretched into a mad grin, the creature couldn't be more familiar to him.

A dracken.

"This is a dracken, a beastly creature birthed from an invasive hive," She looks hatefully at the image, "With nothing but the strength of their muscles they can break through mountains, and a single swing from their sword can lay waste to armies. They can match a peak Jewel through sheer physical might." The illusion moves, growling at them, the entire class recoiling in terror, "These are mere Captains of the forces we face, and thousands of them roam the land even now."

She dismisses the illusion with a wave of her hand, looking at them gravely.

"This world is facing calamity, and we are unsure if we can stop it- kingdoms burn to ashes and the blood of great clans waters the soil. The armies of the hive - the self-titled Keepers - ravage this land remorselessly, killingly wantonly, with no regard for respect for any. Already, they've devoured the southern kingdom of Flarefyre and buried it beneath the sand. Sanctuaries to the north fall like snowflakes, while the port-cities of the Klement to the east lie under siege. With our hands bound, the clan considered that we might need assistance greater than what this world has to offer to stave the coming cataclysm."

Damn it all to fuck.

At least he wouldn't have to keep secrets now.