[Loading Constitution Attributes…. Complete]

[Loading Physical Attributes…. Complete]

[Loading Mental Attributes…. Complete]

Penelope awoke with a start, scrabbling at her chest and letting loose a choked scream. It took her a moment to realize that the creature was no longer upon her and that instead of laying on uncomfortable shards of glass on a wooden floor, the floor beneath her was a cool, solid marble.

Before she could even register where she had found herself, several screens with various messages seemed to materialize in front of her face in a series of beeps. Some of the screens flashed red, drawing Penelope's eye to their messages.

[Loading Skills…. ERROR: NONE FOUND]

[Loading Racial Talents…. ERROR: NONE FOUND]

[Calibrating Status: System Initiate Level 0]

[Multiple Celestial Affinities Found: Select your primary attribute? Y/n]

Absorbed in the strange messages inscribed on these strange translucent panels, Penelope didn't notice the clanking footsteps approaching her until they stopped less than a meter in front of her. She quickly brushed away the screens on reflex, registering in the back of her mind that they seemed to disappear on her command even as she looked up to see a man looking down at her. At least, she could only assume he was a man. It was nearly impossible to tell beneath the gleaming black armor he wore. It covered the entirety of his body, from his pointed metal greaves to the horned armet on his head. Harsh looking metal spikes jutted from his pauldrons and at odd points along his arms and legs. Even beyond the imposing armor there was something about him that made her nerves scream with a primal sense of danger just from being in his presence.

Without any fanfare the man let forth a shrill, screeching tone, that same microphone feedback sound the gray creature in the shop had made.

Penelope immediately clamped her hands over her ears and grimaced in pain. She awkwardly squirmed backwards along the floor, looking about deliriously for some sort of an escape. The man did not seem to like that and took another step forward, kneeling before her.

He unceremoniously reached out and began to jostle her by her shoulders, continuing to make those horrible cacophonous sounds like the squeaking of a thousand rusted hinges overlaid atop each other. He shook her with a force far greater than Penelope could resist, his grip like iron as his hands painfully pressed into her shoulders.

The teenager pressed her hands harder into her ears and squinted her eyes shut, trying her best to weather the assault and prepare herself for the worst. Her head felt like it would split apart from the noise and the shaking. Dimly, despite the unearthly voice and her own hammering heart, she could hear the far away sound of yet another notification. Another screen appeared in front of her with a loading bar, although it was all but impossible for her to focus on it among everything else going on.

[Synthesizing Translation Module……………… 99% Complete]

While the man kept shaking her about Penelope's headache slowly began to ebb. The noise mercifully began to die down, but as it faded away she realized those otherworldly screeches had not simply disappeared but were slowly beginning to resolve into soft words. The armored figure in front of her was speaking! His voice settled into a timbre a lot brighter and softer than his appearance suggested. He couldn't have been much older than her. Of course, the gentleness of his tone was offset quite a bit by the hands on her shoulders

"...Are. You. Al. Right?" The boy punctuated each syllable with another jolting shake, making Penelope's head loll back and forth.

"..Wh-What?" She barely managed to squeak a reply without biting her tongue

"Gods, Hu, it didn't help the first dozen times you said it, it's not going to help if you do it again. Let her gather herself for a minute." Another boy stepped forward and forcefully pulled the knight, back to his feet, giving Penelope some room to breathe. Unlike Hu, his face was uncovered and he shot a comforting smile down at the girl shaking on the ground. His dark, lustrous hair seemed to shine with an almost navy blue cast in the soft light of the room and fell to perfectly frame his charming smile. That, combined with his more natural looking dressy outfit did a lot to set her at ease. "Are you alright, love?" he asked her again, offering a hand down towards her.

Penelope's gaze flicked from the unreadable knight, still standing there nearby for some reason, and the boy who was still patiently waiting with his hand out. She tentatively accepted his hand and rose to her feet only to begin swaying with a bout of dizziness, her vision going dark.

"Careful!" He ducked forward, steadying her with a grip under her shoulder. His slim frame belied the strength of his touch, and he didn't seem to strain at all to keep Penelope on her feet. She would normally have been more embarrassed to be held like that, but in all honesty she felt as weak as a newborn fawn and it was preferable to collapsing on the cold, hard floor.

Once she'd steadied herself, the boy took a step back to stand next to Hu, giving Penelope ample space to take in her surroundings. She currently stood in a small alcove off a greater hall, and although Hu and the unknown boy's figures were blocking her from seeing further ahead her breath caught in her throat at the space she was standing in. The space itself wasn't particularly impressive. The ceiling was low, just barely taller than the horns on Hu's helmet, and the whole chamber was constructed from some sort of strange, sparkling dark blue marble. What really set Penelope's mind reeling were the intricate gildings overlaid on every inch of the alcove, from the floor at her feet to the ceiling overhead. Inset into the stone was a dazzling array of curving lines and patterns that spread in a kaleidoscopic pattern, through loops and geometric shapes, in small runes and strange glyphs. All of it glowed with an inner warmth, though no visible sources of light could be seen. She couldn't help but get lost in following the patterns for what felt like an eternity.

When Penelope finally came out of her stupor, she realized how long she'd been standing there ignoring the pair and looked towards the boy in sheepish embarrassment. To his credit, he simply smiled knowingly. "First time using a teleportation array?" the boy asked with a chuckle. Penelope frowned and, misinterpreting her confusion, he quickly introduced himself. "Sorry, where are my manners! My name's Renslow, this is Hu, and… well we ought to have these introductions with the whole group. You're the last to arrive, though better late than never I say!" With a laugh, Renslow briskly turned on his heels and stepped out of the alcove and back into the brightly lit great hall. Hu gave Penelope a lingering glance - or perhaps a glare - but quickly turned and followed leaving her dumbstruck at this turn of events.

Penelope's thoughts finally began slowly grinding through her skull again, working double time to process everything that was happening. …Ok, not aliens. Maybe… Penelope glanced at Hu's tall back with suspicion.

She again noticed the message about a translation module at the corner of her vision. Remembering the messages she'd received right after waking up, she focused on the screen and thought hard about dismissing it. It winked away with a dim flash of light, confirming once again that the strange floating screens were responding to her thoughts. Ok. Telepathic messages and knights. Oh, and teleportation apparently. Does magic seriously exist? Well, I guess monster's do, so anything's possible assuming I'm not just passed out and in a fever dream… And Renslow's acting like we just met up for a trip to the movies. At least he seems nice. Maybe I should just tell him I have no idea what's going on and let him explain? Or at least let him know that some weird, gray monster thingy kidnapped me from a thrift store. She shuffled awkwardly for a moment, and when no better plan magically made itself known she took a few deep breaths then stepped out of the alcove, resolving herself to do just that.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A resolve that evaporated as soon as she took her first steps out into the great hall and felt her stomach do a backflip at the grandeur of the scene in front of her. If the small alcove she'd exited had stunned her with its otherworldly artistry, the main room bowled Penelope over with its sheer mundane opulence. The ever-present marble that seemed to make up every surface had shifted to a golden color that spiraled upward in odd, twisted columns to support the unbelievably high vaulted ceiling. The entire scene was lit both by natural lighting streaming through arched windows and a cascade of floating, shining amber suspended overhead. It all reminded her of photos of the Sistine Chapel she'd seen in the past, although with considerably more fantastical elements and with the renaissance murals on the ceiling replaced by more runes and arcane patternings.

If that wasn't enough, the hall was absolutely packed with people. On either side, two rows of lavishly dressed people were arranged. The front row was composed of people dressed in fancy frock coats. They knelt on the floor with their heads bowed, not one of them a hair out of place. In contrast, behind them stood dozens of men and women in light armor colored in swirls of blue that ran across the surface of the silver breastplates like wisps of smoke. They each held rather large, intimidating spears that were no less ornate than anything else in the room. Thankfully their faces were exposed making them appear far more human than Hu had.

Far in the back of the hall stood a row of figures that, while not quite so numerous or meticulously organized as the soldiers, had a certain aura of power and authority that further unsettled Penelope's rapidly fraying nerves. Penelope quickly turned her eyes away from them, feeling chills just thinking that one of them might notice her return her gaze.

Finally, in the very center of the room and looking far and away the least intimidating, was a small group of teenagers. Small, of course, relatively speaking to all the other groups packed in the hall. Penelope counted around a dozen of them.

Among the group, she noticed yet more… odd individuals. She'd already met Hu of course, but the girl who was standing to the side staring at her while positively vibrating with excitement garnered her attention just as much. Noticing Penelope's gaze upon her, the girl gave a huge grin and an enthusiastic wave before settling back to just staring intensely while bouncing on her heels. On the opposite side of the spectrum, another odd teen girl was on her knees studying the floor, her arms clad in some sort of shiny black gloves that glowed periodically. She seemed to be muttering to herself.

Finally, Penelope spotted Renslow. He seemed engaged in what looked like a pleasant conversation with the blond boy to his side.

Seeing the familiar face, Penelope could finally remember what she'd been planning before entering the room. With sheer force of will, she forced her leaden legs to take halting steps forward, step by step, until she stood in front of the group of fellow teenagers.

Those caught in conversation abruptly stopped and everyone stared at her analytically, swiftly making her regret her decision. Even the girl on the ground fixed her gaze on Penelope briefly before nodding and returning to poking at the floor.

Penelope's thoughts slowly churned as she struggled to greet the odd group of strangers. Before she could stammer out her questions about what was going on, her thoughts were cut off as the group's chatter began in earnest.

"She has strange clothes, does she not?" A boy's reedy voice rose up from the crowd, resulting in a few of the strangers snickering and others frowning towards the voice in disapproval.

Penelope whipped her head towards the source of the rather blunt comment, ready to snap at him, only to gape in shock. While she had grown quite used to hearing the occasional snip at her eclectic style of dress, she was not used to these comments coming from boys with the shaved hair of a friar and… robes. Wait, was he actually some sort of a friar-in-training? Penelope's already stressed mind was again put into overdrive as she struggled to remember what exactly a friar was.

One of the girls dressed in an absurdly elegant, multilayered robe nodded her head, her face a mask of pity and thinly veiled contempt. "Yes, she looks like another commoner. Not that there's anything wrong with that," she quickly corrected herself, her tone not the least bit apologetic. She brightened visibly as she turned towards the girl standing off to her side. "Mirquet, do you think that you know her?" her lilting voice carrying over the constant chatter.

The girl apparently named Mirquet seemed to stiffen at being addressed. Penelope had barely even registered the plainly dressed girl among the throng of individuals . "We don't all know each other or somethin'. I haven't seen anyone dressed like her either." Mirquet snorted, screwing up her face as she took Penelope in. "Where r'you coming from? Somewhere North?'

"...What?" Penelope struggled at suddenly being directly addressed in the group discussion. Mirquet scoffed and rolled her eyes at the non-response.

Before either of them could continue the line of questioning, a small girl pressed her way out from behind the crowd and approached Penelope excitedly. She was dressed plainly in something resembling a thin pair of patterned burgundy overalls, but what caught Penelope's attention the most was the short tawny fur that covered every inch of her small body. As she stopped forward and looked happily up towards Penelope, the girl's eyes shone like emeralds.

"I like your clothes, they look really soft. I'm from Merak! Though I guess everyone knows that. My name's Lilcia, what's yours?" The small girl piped up with a childish smile, leaning up on her tiptoes to get a better look at Penelope.

Penelope gawked at the girl, unsure how to address her. "Um…." Was she human? Other than her fur she looked it for the most part, although her eyes had a glimmer to them that didn't quite look natural. Penelope began to stammer out a response. "I. Um. P-Penelope."

She flinched in shock as a trumpet sound played over the hall and interrupted their small discussion. Everything exploded into motion. The guards on either side, who up until now had remained largely motionless, all raised their spears and slammed the hafts to the ground in unison with a resounding THUD. Lilcia gave a small yelp of excitement and turned around to bolt past the rest of the group. The rest started to follow after her, chattering among themselves excitedly.

"Wait, what's going on?" Penelope called hopelessly to the group.

One of the boys seemed to finally take notice of her distress and broke off from the rest to come back to her. "Come on! It's starting." He gave Penelope a roguish smirk and linked his arm around hers, pulling her along without a care in the world.

"What!" Penelope cried for the fifth time, to just as little effect. The boy, seeming to not have heard her, simply dragged her stumbling along into a line up with the rest of the teenagers.

Facing the back of the room, Penelope finally saw the grand stone stage that rose up from the floor. Unlike the rest of the floor, this was a rough gray stone. It was covered in as many, if not more archaic patterns and runes than the "teleportation array" had been, though these were inset in some sort of dark blue crystal rather than gold. It seemed to absolutely hum with some sort of indiscernible energy, and though it was dull and had no glow, Penelope felt as if she had to squint just to look at the patterns properly.

"Wait, what's happening?" Penelope whispered to the boy at her side whose arm was still hooked up with hers. He looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes, but only seemed amused at her ignorance. Her dull confusion finally started to shift into a bewildered anger. How could these people just drag her into this ridiculous situation like this and just expect her to go along with things?

One of the older, white-haired men from the back row was slowly climbing the stage, looking like he was preparing to make an announcement to the hall. He wore an extravagant get-up of pristine, white robes embroidered in golden thread. To top off the whole overwhelming display he had on a billowing cloak of murky darkness and purple nebulae. As Penelope focused on the cloak she noticed something small drifting along its surface like a pond. It was an eye, its iris and pupil both a cloudy white, but unmistakable in its identity. After a few moments of her scrutiny the eye, which had up until now drifted about aimlessly, shifted quickly to focus on her. It gave a great big blink in her direction before resuming its carefree drifting. Inside her mind, Penelope felt something snap.

She stared at the man with his impossible cloak on this impossible stage in this impossible room and all her logical reasoning finally short-circuited. The overwhelming stress, the faint lingering nausea, all the denial that this was even happening finally bubbled to the surface. As the man opened his wizened old mouth to speak and the room hushed, Penelope tore herself free from the boy at her side and stepped forward, her patience entirely gone.

"What the HECK is happening!"