A Game.

That’s how it began.

Ifrit, the Elemental God, created the playground.

Yhwe, the God of Origin, created the pawns.

Branwen, God of Beast, would side with him.

Oblivion, the God of End, was jealous of the other’s creations and thus would create hideous monsters to oppose them.

Albia, the God of Beauty, bestowed upon the pawns their unique form.

Iblis, the God of Spirit gave Branwens creations the gift of magic.

Caliburn, the God of Sword, saw the unfairness and thus gave Yhwe's pawns the means to defend themselves.

This world was the outcome of the boredom of seven almighty beings inhabiting a higher plane of existence.

And so they played their game.

***

“Woo! Congrats, you finally did it, just a couple minutes before our first day of school starts!” Raynard exclaimed loudly, and let himself fall back onto his bed sheets, dragging a pillow over his face to emit a muffled scream.

Aurelia was sitting on the floor, her old schoolbooks scattered all around. All three of us were in mine and Raynard’s room. The last few days, basically since returning from Blackwood forest, the two of them were helping me learn around two years' worth of school materials.

It was already near midnight, and I wouldn’t be returning to the mansion anymore, since school started early tomorrow. I don’t know when I was this excited for school the last time. These past days I still slept at the mansion to get as much alone time, at least at night, as possible, but starting today that wouldn’t be happening as frequently anymore, I guess.

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„Thanks so much you guys ...“ I was really exhausted, and we had to get up in less than 7 hours. If we wanted to refresh ourselves before school that is.

„Well, you should at least receive a passing grade.“ Aurelia’s words sounded harsh but she was telling the truth. After all, I barely managed to remember whatever was considered common knowledge in this world. „But I guess most people would just consider you ‚otherworldly‘ without really questioning it.“

„Great, that was always my goal: Barely scraping by without wasting too much energy.“

„And I sure hope this work ethic won’t last. Ataraxia isn’t there for barely scraping by.“

„I wonder how school will work out for you though, considering you can’t use magic the conventional way,“ Raynard asked.

„Oh yeah, I had a couple of talks with Shelly, Raven, and Featherhead about that, actually. They said we are all just going to pretend that the Grimoire is a normal book that I use as a host. So actually, not all that different from you guys.“

„Except you can’t do magic without it,“ Aurelia commented.

„Well, you are just an entirely different breed, princess and all,“ Raynard said, „though even I can do a few simple spells.“

„Yeah, so I’ll just pretend to be a low-grade spellcaster of some sorts, who is reliant on his stupid book. No-one is going to question how I made into the academy at all, hahah.“

„People will soon catch on that you have ties to the Dementia-Way family and probably bought yourself into the academy,“ Raynard added with a dry laugh that I shared with him. Aurelia just looked blankly between the two of us.

„It is what it is,“ I responded.

„Well then,“ Aurelia said, as she stood up and did a few stretches, before gathering her things. „Any more questions?“

„I mean, that story about the Gods barely makes any sense to me, but heck if religion had made sense in my old world, we would have far less problems. But it’s late and I think I got Raynard at my disposal.“

Raynard gave me a quick thumbs up.

„Good, then we’ll see each other tomorrow. Have a good night.“

We replied in the same vein as Aurelia left the room.

Raynard and I fell into our respective beds immediately. This would only be my second night sharing my room with him.

„Can you turn the lights off?“ I asked.

„Oh right,“ he said, remembering I wouldn’t be able to do that, and snipping with his fingers.

The stars shined upon us from the ceiling.

„Cool.“

Normally I slept on my side or my stomach, but I thought a bit of star-gazing to fall asleep was a nice thing to do. I tried finding the Big Dipper as it was the only constellation I knew.

I couldn’t find it.

I looked over to Raynard who was doing the same as me. Just looking at the stars.

When he noticed my stare, he awkwardly said: „Did you know, the stars on our ceiling are just a reflection of the night sky directly above us?“ Like a child blurting out some random trivia.

I chuckled and answered: „No.“

Raynard groaned and rubbed his eyes.

I chuckled again and asked: „Can you find any constellations?“

„Constellations?“ He asked.

„You know, star constellations?“

„No.“

„Are you kidding me?“ I almost sat upright. „Is that not a thing in this world.“

„I ... don’t think so?“ He replied.

„Okay, so in my world people at some point thought ‚hey, if we draw lines between these stars, it almost looks like a certain thing‘. They used the constellations for navigation on sea I think.“

„Well, we’ve always relied on magic for that so ...“

„Hm, I suppose it makes sense for constellations to not exist here ...“ I looked at the stars again.

I spend some more time looking for patterns but fell asleep without finding any.