Exiled

I always thought that I'd go out with a bang.

I never envisioned disappearing like this. Nor did I ever imagine disappearing with them.

One moment, people were screaming while bombarding us, then came the silence. I don't know how long I was stuck like that, but it felt like ages before my ears started working.

Okay, seems like I still have a head if this shit hurts this much.

Someone was clutching my arm and I tried to pry my eyes open. My ears popped, then came the sound of agitated complaints.

"What the hell was that all about?!" Rina. She seems to be screaming at me so I scream in return, "Do I look like I have any idea!?" Her face scrunches up and it's really telling of her mood. "Not you, how could you know?! I was asking him!", then points at me.

I start looking at myself then around me, then it occurs to me that it may be behind me. And oh boy was it behind me, to be precise, I seem to be lying on it.

"You!" I exclaim and look up to see him looking down intently, with a raise of his eyebrow, his demented mouth opens and says, "Someone's finally awake. Thought you'd have gone to meet your maker." Too close.

I momentarily freeze before my brain finally processes the need for boundaries and I clamber, more like roll, away from him. Let's not dwell on that now, since I know it did not look pretty.

She noticed me clutching my head. "How bad is it?" She looks like she's about to cry so I say "I'll live".

Someone snorted and I chose to ignore it knowing where it came from. I look around and see two more people. I see Rai slobbering on the ground and then I notice Idris who's been checking on his watch too intently. Squinting, I finally see where we are. "I don't remember the mess hall looking like this. Are we in some hospital?" It's too white and bright.

"Probably elsewhere entirely. Electronics are down, and nothing has changed here for hours now." Idris summarizes.

"He's alive right?" I pointed to Rai who was being squished by his backpack.

"He's been snoring here and there, seems pretty alive to me". I look back to see him, his posture matching his lazy tone, legs stretched out, with his back against several bags. One would think that it's an ordinary day. For someone who got attacked, Lucian's just too calm- maybe this is what happens when it occurs too often.

While rubbing my head I hear Rina complain "Eli, you really should've dodged it instead. Lucian's pretty sturdy." Light gray eyes stare at me innocently like she did not just suggest I let people maul her cousin. Knowing her, I think she really feels like it'd be fine. "I know, with a head as hard as his, it would've been fine, I just reacted instinctively, blame training."

I hear him clicking his tongue, a sneer on his face, "I'm thankful, lest you say I'm an ungrateful bastard, but she's right, you didn't have to block. Given your height, what could you block?"

This son of a bitch.

I can feel my eyes twitching and suddenly I feel like clocking his head off. Before I know it I feel Rina restraining me from behind as I flail around to reach his ass.

"Ri, just once, just let me clock him once!"

"Do it next time! Right now you really should rest! Don't listen to his yapping. His unconcerned self has checked your head 56 times in the last three hours already- I know because I counted!" She shouts as she raises her hand as if to swear.

"I was checking to make sure she doesn't bleed on me." I shut my eyes, envisioning the Golden Light Sutra, but I don't think that would be enough to deal with this.

Just as I was about to retort, Idris interjects "It seems like we've brought you guys into this, sorry. We have no idea what exactly they were attacking us for, but the attack was still meant for us, you're here because you got dragged in."

"It's fine, we don't-", Rina was cut off by the sudden sound of chimes and we all started looking around for the source. We've been too complacent and now something's happening. It was too peaceful and we got carried away, if we had been deployed, we would've probably died. For something supposedly calming, it was jarring to my heart.

Next to Rai's slumped body was a figure in white robes. Very clean and bright just like this place, I feel like if I stare anymore, my eyes would start burning. Just as I notice his blindfolded eyes, I hear Lucian ask in a serious tone "Who are you? And where are we?". Gone was his lazy tone, replaced by his usual commanding form when he leads the cadets.

The figure before us raises his hands slightly as if to appease us. Then you have Idris grabbing Rai by his leg, moving him away from the figure. "Wha, what?!" Rai, who's been dragged hard, finally managed to wake up. He's surprised, his eyes widening and I feel like anymore and they'd be saucers. He seems to realize that the atmosphere is tense and picks his butt up, only to hide behind Idris.

"I mean you no harm." The man said calmly. "I understand that you have a lot of questions so why don't we all take a seat and talk." He motions towards several chairs around a table, which I was sure as hell did not exist earlier.

I look at Rina who was watching Idris move towards the chairs. She follows, and that makes me move.

Fine, he wants to talk, we can talk.

We reluctantly scramble to sit and I see Lucian deliberately taking the seat closest to the guy. I respect the move despite it being him, but I don't think a pile drive will work on this guy.

"We wanted to wait for a better time to talk since it seemed like you needed some time." No shit.

"Again, who are you? And where are we?" Luci is willing to die on that hill.

"Rather than tell you, it may be easier to show you" He flicks his wrist and the air starts condensing. It seems like a projection of what happened earlier.

A mob of angry girls were cursing Lucian and Idris, including what seems like eighteen generations of their families. But why? Then they started hurling those giant bells that were the size of a volleyball. "What the-!" I hear myself say while blocking Lucian's head from being hit by the giant bell from above us.

"Are you planning on killing him?! Throwing that from the second-floor balcony!" I scream angrily while using my backpack as cover. I would've thought that they'd stop, but instead, they threw out more.

Lucian moves from his seat, he probably didn't think they'd do that in the middle of the training mess hall of all places, and to the captain, of all people. But before he could utter anything, intense wailing started and the girls started to chant ominously.

I can feel Rai vibrating in his seat while the projection plays. I get it, because all he was doing was eating his rolls and then the next moment- flying projectiles.

Different versions of calling them scum, then all of a sudden a voice that I now remember started drilling in our heads saying "I curse you! I wish you never even existed! I curse you! I curse you!"

All along, I thought it was one voice, but now that I'm watching this, it was all of them, as if they were all possessed to say the same thing.

Rina tugs at my pants and I can see she's disturbed. Who wouldn't be though? I didn't think it was that bad, but now, I feel like I need cleansing, and I'm not even Lucian nor am I Idris!

All of us were visibly bothered by the chanting. At first, Idris and Lucian were clueless as to what was happening, but the moment the strange aura started crawling, they started tugging on us.

Unfortunately, before we managed to leave, we got hit by the bells.

They were heavier and hurt like hell.

I saw myself raising my arms to protect my head, but it was too late and there were just too many. I watch myself pass out, crashing into Lucian, who picked up as many bags to serve as shields. No wonder there were so many bags earlier. He probably took someone else's too.

The other three tried doing the same, at least enough to cover their heads. Then something I didn't get to witness firsthand happened, the ground shook, while the bells started floating. Then they rattled. The disturbing part was that they were visibly rattling, but unlike when they were thrown earlier, now they weren't making a sound.

Nothing at all.

The bells started converging toward us and now even the cursing and the jeering were fading. I watched us huddle together, but the moment the bells caught up, we disappeared, just like that.

The projection showed that the people around the area started falling, blood oozing from their noses. Now I'm scared.

The man in white flicks his hand again and the projection stops. "Are we dead…?" Rai voiced out like a mouse, it was so quiet that his question sounded like a blade.

"No…"

Tense shoulders start relaxing a bit.

Then the man continues to say "Well, not exactly."

Oh great. I felt like being punched in the gut.

"To put it simply, your very existence was cursed away." I'm sorry, what?! My ears started ringing like it was refusing to process his statement.

Lucian's muscles were taut like he would strangle the guy any moment now. Even Idris was clenching his fists while trying to digest everything.

"The bells you just saw were Eldritch Bells. As you can see, they're not your ordinary bells, they are Empyrean artifacts. Able to grant wishes or curses. It's a medium that answers provided sacrifices are made. It has been locked up in the vault after it was first used."

Then what were they doing next to us?! I scream internally.

Clearing his throat "We recently discovered that the artifact was taken without authorization, and that allowed the bell to fall into the mortal world." My jaw clenches at the words "mortal world" as I try to digest the implication.

"Unfortunately, the bell makes its use known to the current owner which was why they were able to perform the ritual." Rina inhales sharply and it takes a while before she exhales, she'd pass out if she kept this up, so I reach out to her.

"The good news, if you can call it that, is that they weren't able to perform the entire ritual properly." Even from where I was sitting, I could feel Lucian's aura, Luci is definitely not having it.

Pretty sure that even he could feel the killing intent through the blindfold as he hurriedly explained "They were catfished." Our reactions were probably very odd because he looked rattled, hurriedly attempting to explain better.

"Mr. Sinclair and Ainsworth were being impersonated. People believed it because as influential individuals they should be capable of bypassing the rules of what you call the Star Net. The ruse was to start online relationships and eventually ask for money or expensive gifts. It was fine at first, but then came the public notice regarding the engagement of Mr. Ainsworth and Ms. Zellner." The man starts coughing and despite our situation, my best friend manages to blush at the mention of her engagement.

Idris' eyes narrow at the man and he continues "It drove those girls mad, they had thought that you were cheating. Then came the magazine cover of Mr. Sinclair and Ms. Thornhill…" Fuck. Fuck me.

"What's that got to do with all this?" Even Lucian found it incredulous. "The cover for the graduating cadet class tribute?" Next to me, Rai pounds his hand and exclaims "Oh THAT cover!" What do you mean by "THAT" cover?! I can see the man trying to find words to explain as Luci has started cracking his neck.

"Don't ask how I know, but…apparently the hand placement was too controversial. It is widely known that Mr. Sinclair dislikes being touched." Just stab me now.

And Rai, as if oblivious to his impending death adds, "Yeah! The girls in our squad kept on crying about that! Their issue was different though. They complained that Lucian's posture was too domineering like he was staking ownership of their goddess, Eliana." He wants to die, he really wants to die. I think to myself as I refrain from gouging his eye.

I glared at Rina, who was shaking, trying extremely hard to control herself from laughing.

"Continue" I urged the man to proceed before I started to inflict bodily harm.

"Fully deluded into thinking that their respective relationships were real, they could not accept what they thought of as cheating. It was so severe that someone even committed suicide." This was treated as a sacrifice to use the Eldritch Bells. The bells require hair strands to activate once a sacrifice has been offered, these they took from the various boyfriend sweaters that they allegedly got as gifts, fully believing in their hearts that those were yours."

I am unsure how to process everything that I'm hearing. Solandis has been under the constant threat of war, and their focus was romance!? I see that even the man thinks that all of this sounds terribly stupid as he pauses to wait for us to process.

"Thankfully they were insistent on believing that the strands were yours. It was that error that allowed us to bring you all here. The bells proceeded with the ritual because the caster had fully believed that they were cursing you, and not some other person, but the crucial items were from the real culprits." "But since it still got triggered, we still got whisked into inexistence?" I inquired.

"Yes, which was why you vanished from that realm entirely. It was really as if you never existed." Wow. I couldn't help but gasp at that.

"You mean that it was as if we've never been born?" I verify.

"Yes, sadly it is exactly that. No one would have memories of you five." The man said softly.

"But what about me?! I was totally unrelated! How come I'm here too?" Rai exclaimed.

"Apologies, as the bell covers an area, that was also why the people throwing were all doing it via the second-floor walkway." Rai deflated upon hearing it, and I understand, he really had done nothing wrong but eat at the wrong place and at the wrong time.

"What does this mean for us?" Idris questions the man. "Had the ritual fully succeeded, aside from death, you would have also lost the right to reincarnate. You would have just ceased to exist." Lucian pounds at the table, probably unable to accept how we all got here. "But that was not the case, so we were able to fish you out of the void."

"Is there a way for us to return and continue living?" Rina asks the question that I've been dreading to ask and the man seems to understand the weight of it. In a measured tone he says "Unfortunately no…" It felt like someone pulling the rug off from my feet. The weightlessness felt very uncomfortable.

"But we recognize that this is definitely unfair to the five of you and so we are here to offer alternatives." He was rather more cheerful when he said this but to my ears, it sounded like I was being mocked for having to settle when I was the one wronged. Rina and Rai looked rather hopeful but I can sense that Lucian and Idris would've strangled the man given a chance.

"Since it has come to this, we have to explain the existence of Empyreans." We look at him like he has sprouted a new head. Though honestly, after all the ridiculous things that happened today, I shouldn't be surprised anymore.