The Kingdom's Summoned

"You're... not here to kill us?"

Rowan's mouth formulated into a gaping 'O' as his eyes widened, instinctively stepping back as the person spoke, or rather, whispered their inquiry.

The purple-haired gal whom Rowan had been holding onto stepped forward, letting go of his hand as her chest pumped forward, the previous shaking he'd felt in her limbs dissipating in a near-instant.

"I mean, the way you projected your killing intent, it seemed as if you would attack us at a moment's notice."

Her too, huh? What is it with everyone having this strange attentiveness to 'intent'?

Even when the man first walked forward to present himself, it never felt for a moment that he had any intentions of harming them, although Rowan too could feel a strange warmness overcome him at the man's mere presence.

Perhaps these guys are just more acutely aware than he is.

"Oh, I can assure you I had no intention of harming you, although you might've mistaken my residual arcana as killing intent, proofs of the worthy esteem you heroes hold!"

"What do you mean?"

Again, spoke the black-haired teen, his limbs spasming, fighting gravity with all of his being, just barely losing as his arm slipped after mere moments, his body following suit to making a resounding 'thud'.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't meant to go so hard, but your onslaught was just so sudden."

Following the conclusion of his apology by mere moments was an instantaneous shift in atmosphere, Rowan's skin lighting up to a luminescent green.

As soon as the corridor was lit up with green, his limbs began to bulge with life, veins popping out along his forearm as a deep red ran along different columns of his muscle and skin.

Rowan looked down at his palms, feeling the warmth and comfort engulf his entire body as minor aches in his joints attenuated and eventually disappeared, every fiber of his being pulsing with vigor.

"What is this..." he muttered under his breath, his eyebrows contorting closer to each other with his eyelids half-closed as his puzzlement expressed through his face.

"This is Kido, a Way that I'm sure you'll get acclimated to once you've settled into this world, but for now, let us make haste to the king."

"Wait, you still haven't answered my question!"

The black-haired teen, now yelling, took his stand before his yellow-haired companion.

He knuckled his fists, veins protruding out from his skin with such great volume that the skin had to stretch itself thin.

"What exactly is this world? Why do I keep having this weird sensation when I'm standing next to you!"

His words tumbled out so fast that Rowan's head buzzed, his ears beginning to ring as each phrase slammed into his brain faster than he could process.

"Uh... I understand how restless you heroes must be, but I assure you, your questions will be answered in due time. But for now, I ask that you follow me."

The man's eyes were now closed, his palms open in front of him in a swaying back-and-forth motion. His mouth had a small smile etched into the crevices of his cheeks, invoking a warm, fuzzy feeling in Rowan's chest.

The teen relaxed his palms, the bulging veins returning to their normal state as the diffused red coloration in his wrists retreated.

"Al... alright."

All five of the summoned roughly formed into a line as they stood behind the man, a couple adopting neutral facial expressions while the rest of them--Rowan included--had creases in their temples, their eyebrows shot up, eyes narrowing in silent questioning.

The man quickly turned around, raising his arm up and gesturing his pointer finger forward.

As they all made their silent pursuit, Rowan's foot stretched before him as the tiles stretched, each heartbeat feeling twice as long. As this continued, an involuntary tightening of his chest formed.

"How long is this damn corridor?"

"I don't know, but I think it's in our best interests to comply with whatever this man says."

The two speaking were the redhead and the black-haired kid, the sound of grinding teeth pulsating from the girl's mouth.

He was right. Considering how easily this man was able to beat them down, even if they wanted, there was no way they could escape with their lives--although Rowan didn't like the prospect of his fate being victim to the passing whim of another.

Rowan looked a bit to his left, the feeling of blind curiosity overwhelming his being.

There stood the purple-haired girl, her eyes closed and her mouth forming a smile.

After what felt like mere moments, she opened her eyes, turning her head directly towards Rowan and looking straight into his eyes.

Rowan jolted his head back, quickly circumventing her eye contact and looking elsewhere in the opposite direction.

"You know, I never thanked you."

"Hm?"

The tension in Rowan's muscles dispelled as the first words came out of her mouth, his raised shoulders and straightened back relaxing into a more natural position.

"For saving me. I was frozen back there, yet you were able to grab my hand and escort me away from danger."

Her face was drooping, her eyes again closed.

Looking upon her resolute smile, a light, hopeful hand touched upon Rowan and welled a happiness in him, remembrances of early life with his mother bubbling up in extremities of the soul he hadn't even known he possessed.

"Truthfully, I didn't do it for you. I simply thought that if I were able to drag you away to safety, I would've had better chances at survival than being by myself."

"Even so, I thank you. I've never had someone stick out their neck for me like that, and especially with such resolve."

Woah!

She stuck both her hands out, pulling in Rowan's own and softly embraced it.

Rowan quickly retracted his arm, the resultant inertia causing it to dash past the right side of his body.

"Y-Y-yeah, no problem..."

Grabbing his wrist with his right hand, Rowan looked down on where her hands contacted his own.

I'll never wash this hand again.

"Sire, I have brought the prophesized heroes before you now."

"Good, good, leave us Corien, and go tend to the fallen mages."

"Yes, my liege."

What lay in front of them was a large throne, a hulking, powerful man rested on it.

"Now, may each of you present yourselves before me?"

A deafening silence echoed across the halls at the behest of the king's question, the five of them laying completely still.

"I'm sorry, perhaps you didn't hear me. May each of you present--"

"Who the hell are you to order us around," one of them remarked, their crude attitude vying with the king's regal, condescending tone, "you drag us into this new world without our consent, and then insist we introduce ourselves to you? Perhaps manners don't exist in this world."

The summoned soon revealed to be the black-haired teen cracked a smile, letting out a small 'ha' that prompted even Rowan to laugh a little bit.

A few of the king's guards surrounding the king tensed up at the remark, but the king raised his hand high for all to see, a silence returning to the throne room.

"Yes, where have my manners gone? I am Viral--Viral Henry XII, king of Laronia, and the man behind your summoning here."

The king's tone lacked the previous condescension, but his posture was still upright and his strength through prose was just as regal as it had been beforehand.

His cloak floated, three jeweled signet rings on each hand glinting in the light as the ends of his cheeks rose a little bit, a little bit of teeth poking through.

The aura emanating from Viral almost stole the air from Rowan's lungs, his limbs taut and his mouth forced shut.

Clearly, this man was a natural-born king.

"Now, if you may be so kind as to introduce yourselves, I would be more than humbly obliged. I wish to hear your names and purposes."

The first to step up was the black-haired teen, his arms crossed and his face still.

"My name is Lucien, although my friends call me Luci. I'm a high school student, and I wish to become a lawyer."

The king's brows burrowed into a knit of confusion, but he made no further inquiries, only giving a visible nod before gesturing his hand to the next person in line.

The next to speak was the red-haired girl, her eyes burning with a blazing storm of resolution and her fists balled up with such force that one could audibly hear the pressure in a 'skrrrrkkkttt' sound.

"My name is Kaia, but I'm feared by all as Kai! I used to be a college student, but I dropped out to pursue my all-time dream of becoming the demon queen, grahahahaha!"

She struck a pose like a Saturday morning anime villain, her intensity so bright that one could actually discern a blaze surrounding her.

Shortly, murmurs began to spread across the throne room, mentions of 'could it be' and 'there's no way' just barely heard in the scattered gossip.

Kaia's arms uncrossed, her legs slightly folding as she took a step back. Her hands went back to her sides behind her as the murmurs continued.

The king looked around the room, his mouth also hanging a little open while the hand he'd been using as a headrest shifted to the side a bit to accommodate his moving head.

"Well, uh... Kaia, I'm sure 'demon queen' has a different meaning from where you come from, but I would advise you to not use that term so lightly in this world. The position you mentioned is one so notorious that some countries would have you executed simply for mentioning it."

"U-understood..."

The fire surrounding Kaia dissipated, and her face fell to a droop as her arms flopped down to her sides, her vision aimed at the floor.

Looking at how fired up she was just a moment ago, Rowan kind of felt bad.

The king gesturing for the next in line, the yellow-haired guy rose up, his chest puffed out and his chin standing upright.

"My name is Elias, but my family call me Eli. I'm a college student, and I plan on becoming a firefighter someday."

The king gave an additional nod, the contorting of his eyebrows no longer prevalent as they once were at the mention of jobs and constructions in their original world.

"Then, if you may," the king added, looking down towards the girl next to Rowan.

Stepping forward, the girl tipped her shoulders down and forward into a bow, her eyes briefly closed for the motion.

"My name is Liora, and I am most excited to help service you and the kingdom."

Wow, how considerate.

"Alright, Lucien, Elias, Kaia, and Liora. Now that we've all introduced ourselves, I believe it is most important that we--"

"Hey, what about me!"

Fist raised in the air, Rowan stepped forward while gritting the words out through his teeth.

"Hm? Who might you be?"

The king's left eyebrow raised just slightly more than his right, his thumb caressing the meat of his cheek.

"Are you serious, I was summoned to this world by you!"

Booming echoes of escaped air thrashed Rowan's eardrums, his temple vibrating mere inches beneath his skin and bone.

All the guardsmen in the room donned different expressions, some having a banal darkness presiding in their face through the lowering of eyebrows and curling of their mouths into slight frowns, while others had a nearly opposite reaction, smirking with a silent disbelief.

The big gasp that'd just filled the room quickly shifted into a bellowing menagerie of gossips and new rumors, some remarks such as 'there's no way' making no effort in staying hidden.

"A fifth hero, huh?"

The only one who'd maintained their composure was the king, looking down upon Rowan with a soft, loosened stare. Giving his best guess, Rowan figured the king seemed to be perplexed but unwilling to offend.

"Alright, then, you may have the privilege of presenting yourself."

A little pissed off at the king's sudden shift from parity to condescension, Rowan stepped forward anyway, open palms waving into the air.

"My name is Rowan, a college student. Back in my world, I found purpose in making poems, and so it is with this that I wished to be a writer."

A cold sweat ran down along his face as the majorly scrutinizing crowd began to rile down, each utterance he made allowing the room to quiet even more.

Perhaps writers are something valued in this world?

"Okay then, Rowan. Thank you."

The king stood up, waving his hand and prompting the king's guard to all lay on the right knee.

"Now that we have properly introduced ourselves, I believe it is imperative that I explain to you the circumstances."