We left the room and found ourselves in a wide, yet not very long, hallway. The maids gestured for me to follow them down the corridor and began walking calmly ahead of me. I followed them, observing everything around me. There was a strange touch to that house: the masonry walls were covered with expensive-looking red and black wallpaper, the hallway was decorated with paintings of what looked like historical figures—all dressed as if they were in the 13th century—and even full suits of armor mounted on mannequins. There were no lamps; the lighting came from strange luminous stones arranged in chandeliers attached to the walls on both sides.

  At the end of the hallway were the only two other doors besides the one to the room I was in, one opposite the other. One of them—the larger one—seemed to lead to another part of the house, while the other appeared to lead to a small room, a storeroom perhaps? Between the two doors was a glass window with a view outside the house. The maids stopped in front of the large door, and I paused to take a look through the window. It was dawn—around 3:00 AM, I'd say—and there wasn't much light because of the clouds in the night sky, so I couldn't see much, but what I did see was enough to leave me speechless.

  I was on the second floor of a mansion made of masonry—a medieval construction larger than I could have imagined—surrounded by a low defensive wall. There was a large garden and a few smaller buildings scattered across the grounds. From what I could judge, we were on some kind of hill or something, as I could clearly see a light forest and a small river further beyond the wall.

  “What is this?” I said quietly to no one in particular.

  “My lord, these are the lands of Marnov,” Helena said animatedly. “Lord Guiner Marnov is the one who controls these lands under the command of His Majesty, of course.”

  “Lord Marnov?” I repeated and walked to the larger door with the maids.

  “Yes, my Lord! You are in the mansion of the Marquess Marnov, in the easternmost lands of the kingdom,” Helena added, then proceeded to open the large door with the older maid.

  The door led to the mansion's entrance hall, more specifically to a mezzanine above the entrance hall. The low lighting made the place more frightening than I would have liked. The only thing I was sure of was that the place was spacious and that if I lost sight of the maids, I would get lost in there. Helena took one of the candelabras from the wall to light the way and continued walking with the older maid. I followed them closely to a door on our right side.

  “The lords await you in the next room,” the older maid said, stopping in front of the door.

  I took a deep breath and stepped forward, ready to open the door and enter the room, but before I could touch the door, the maids opened it for me, revealing the new room.

  The room was large, bigger than any living room you'd be used to in the 21st century. The wallpaper shared the space with polished wooden panels where images of flames and dragons had been carved. I was surprised to see excellent furniture in the place. Considering everything I had seen so far, I was expecting chairs carved from solid wood or something similar, but instead, the room had beautiful velvet upholstery, worthy of a celebrity's home. The ceiling was made of wood and was magnificent; honestly, I had never seen such a well-done carving job in my entire life. A large dragon with its enormous wings spread seemed to be flying toward us with its mouth open. Right in its open mouth, a huge chandelier of red stones descended from the ceiling, illuminating the room. The strangest thing was that there were no candles or any type of light source in the chandelier; the stones seemed to glow on their own to light the place.

  “Mr. Martins,” the diplomat said, getting up from the red velvet armchair. “Please, have a seat.”

  “It’s… a beautiful room,” I said, looking around as I went to the nearest armchair and sat down. “Honestly, I don't think I've ever been in such a luxurious place.”

  “I'm glad you liked my humble home, my lord,” said a young adult standing next to Larry.

  “Allow me to formally introduce him, Mr. Martins, this is Jhones Marnov, the firstborn of the House of Marnov.” Larry said, extending his hand to point to him.

  Jhones bowed respectfully in some kind of greeting, his red hair falling lightly over his face. When he returned to an upright posture, I could get a good look at his eyes. They were the color of caramel, slightly light, and there were light bags of fatigue in them, as if he hadn't had a good night's sleep in a few days.

  “It is an honor for the Marnov family to be the first to host your person. Normally, my father would be here to formally receive you, but unfortunately, he is busy on the borders with the Beltrorn kingdom.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about, so I did the most natural thing that occurred to me at that moment.

  “It's all good,” I replied, still looking around the room with a certain nervousness. “So… does anyone care to explain what’s going on?”

  “Certainly! I believe you want to know the nature of your presence here, but before we proceed to these more… technical details, would you mind answering some of our questions?” Larry responded promptly, leaning toward me. “Such as, how are you feeling? Any pain? Perhaps a certain fatigue? Is there anything you wish for at the moment? Something to eat, perhaps?”

  Larry seemed anxious for my answers, his hands were clasped in front of his face as he stared at me. Jhones seemed restless by his side, like a new employee working with his boss. It was almost as if they were fawning over me, as if they wanted to please me at all costs.

  “Um… I feel a little… disoriented? Almost as if I were drugged or something, a slight headache too, I'd say, but other than that… I think I'm fine,” I replied calmly as I momentarily closed my eyes to get past the dizziness. Suddenly, that armchair seemed even more comfortable as I snuggled into it.

  “I understand… I believe it's understandable, considering you slept for almost three whole days. Perhaps… a cup of tea can calm your mind a little,” Larry commented, and immediately Jhones looked at the older maid. She promptly gave a slight bow and left the room.

  “Wait a minute, three days?” I replied with wide eyes.

  “Two and a half days to be more precise,” Larry continued. “We believe a lot of your energy was spent bringing you here.”

  “How did I even get here? I don't even know exactly where I am, you keep talking about countries and people I've never heard of even in stories, what is this, some kind of LARP? Why am I here? I should be at my college!”

  Larry and Jhones exchanged glances for a brief moment, looking somewhat confused by my behavior, almost as if they didn't understand what I had just said. After a brief moment of silence, Larry spoke again.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Well… We summoned you according to the contract ritual. We… don't know exactly how it works so we can't explain exactly how you arrived in our world.”

  The more he said, the less I understood. It seemed like they were evading my questions, giving me vague answers. I was starting to get annoyed. Larry continued to talk nonsense, but I was no longer paying attention. The maid had returned with a tray and placed it on the coffee table. On the tray was a teapot and a cup, as well as some cookies. She served me a cup and I sipped the tea while thinking to myself.

  The tea was delicious, sugar-free chamomile, just the way I liked it. It even calmed me down a bit. Letting out a sigh, I tried to recall everything I already knew. First of all, I wasn't sleeping, the sensations were too vivid and the details were too sharp for a dream, and secondly, I wasn't anywhere near my home. I think I would remember if there was a building like this in Massachusetts. That is, I was in a strange place with unknown people without any idea how or why I was there, but at least the people were friendly. If all the craziness they said so far was true, then I was in another world and they were the ones who had brought me here. I think my best option is to hear what they want, after all, if they were the ones who brought me here, they probably know how to send me back.

  I then faced Larry who was saying something about the king and a curse. Honestly, I couldn't care less about that so I decided to interrupt him and get straight to the point. I put my teacup back on the saucer on the table, catching the diplomat's attention, and began to speak.

  “Larry, let's get straight to the point, shall we? If I understood correctly, you ‘summoned’ me here against my will, without even knowing exactly how this so-called summoning magic works.” Larry seemed to tense up a bit at my words; Jhones looked away. “To be honest, I just want to go home, so how about we get on with it? What do you want from me? Why did you ‘summon’ me?”

  “I understand that you are… upset, but I believe this matter should be dealt with directly with His Majesty. Understand, I was merely sent to escort you to the royal capital and, along the way, to update you on our world, as well as to attend to your needs,” Larry replied in a… professional manner? We can say that?

  He seemed a little anxious, as if he was afraid of annoying me even more. Honestly, I can't understand why a supposed duke would be afraid of a fifteen-year-old teenager.

  “And why exactly didn't you summon me directly to the royal capital?” I asked, crossing my arms.

  “Well, as I said before, we weren't sure how the ritual worked, so… we couldn't pinpoint the exact coordinates for the royal capital,” the diplomat replied.

  Honestly, that answer didn't please me at all, but whatever; the important thing was to find out how to get back, not how I got here.

  “Right, right. And how far are we from the capital?”

  “We are in the easternmost point of the kingdom, my lord. If we leave today and do not take unnecessary breaks along the way, I believe we will reach the royal capital in up to ten days.”

  “Ten days?” I asked, in disbelief, but on second thought… we would probably be traveling in carriages and horses, so I shouldn't have been so surprised.

  I sighed for the millionth time, feeling tremendous fatigue. Things really weren't going my way.

  “I'm going to sleep,” I said calmly and got up from the armchair to return to my room. “My head is very confused right now and I'm very tired. When I wake up again, we can go to the capital and discuss these matters further, okay?” Without waiting for a response, I started walking back to my room.

  “Certainly! We will prepare everything for the departure,” Larry replied, also getting up. “Make yourself at home, Helena and Maria will be at your disposal.”

  With that, the maids began to follow me to my room. To be very honest, this made me a little uncomfortable, but I decided not to argue. Hopefully, when I woke up again, everything would be back to normal, and I would have gotten out of this nightmare. Spoiler: I was wrong.

  When I woke up again, I was in the same room, which left me disappointed and a little attentive. It seems that in the end, I really wasn't just having a nightmare.

  “Good morning, my lord!” Helena said, approaching the bed. Apparently, she had stayed inside the room in a chair in the corner of the room. “Do you feel better?”

  I took a while to answer; I was still coming to terms with the fact that all of this was real and not just a delusion.

  “Uh… yes, a little better, I guess…,” I replied, rubbing my eyes to wake up properly. “Helena… no offense and all… but why are you here?”

  Helena blinked in confusion and stared at me for a few seconds as if she hadn't quite understood my question.

  “Well… I am your personal maid, my lord, it is my duty to be by your side to attend to your needs.”

  “You stayed here the whole time I was sleeping? That's a little… creepy.”

  “I-I don't know if I understand,” she replied, stepping back slightly, looking concerned.

  Before I could continue the conversation, Maria—the older maid—entered the room with a tray.

  “Oh, I see you're already awake!” said Maria. “Helena, help me with this tray, will you?”

  Helena promptly obeyed, going to her to bring me the tray. It seemed it was already lunchtime. On the tray was a ceramic bowl with what looked like tomato soup, next to it, thick slices of bread on a wooden platter. There was also a glass with a fruit salad to go with it. Helena carefully placed the tray in front of me while Maria closed the door.

  “We apologize for the simple meal, but since we weren't sure of your preferences and appetite, we thought it best to serve a meal more focused on helping you regain your strength, my lord,” said Maria, bowing her head slightly. Helena imitated her.

  “Oh! Don't worry about it,” I replied, picking up the silver spoon from the tray. “Actually, I love tomato soup.”

  Honestly, it wasn't the best soup I had ever had. Okay, it was acceptable, quite hearty, but it lacked seasoning. I would have added a little black pepper and a pinch more salt. The bread, on the other hand, was good, it had a harder consistency to eat with the soup and was pleasant, but honestly, having the two maids watching me as I ate was really very strange. When I finished lunch, Helena removed the tray so I could get up and Maria began to speak.

  “My lord, the Duke is outside preparing things for the trip and Lord Marnov is in his office. Lord Larry asked us to tell you to feel free to walk around the castle grounds while he is absent.”

  “Great! I really need to stretch my legs,” I replied, stretching.

  Since I had some time, I would take the opportunity to look around. I wanted to understand everything about the place I was in, I needed to distract my head somehow. I left the room and started walking through the mansion. Now with the daylight coming through the windows, I had a better view of the place, and I have to say, the place took my breath away.

  I know I said that about all the rooms in the mansion, but… the main courtyard was simply huge, it looked like a museum hall, full of details in black, gray, and red. Several suits of armor stood on the sides near the walls holding spears with standards with some heraldic symbol on them—a black illustration embroidered on a red cloth with golden borders, it looked like a dragon spitting fire or something. Several paintings of noble lords were on the walls, as well as beautiful weapons like swords and axes, all with red details.

  “Why is there so much red in this place?” I commented as I observed all the decorations, even the stone pillars that supported the ceiling impressed me.

  “The House of Marnov is known for its handling of the art of fire magic,” Maria replied, surprising me a little. To be honest, I wasn't expecting an answer, much less one that involved magic.

  “Fire magic? Like, shooting fireballs, things like that?”

  “I believe Lord Guiner Marnov uses a magic of that kind,” Maria replied in a simplistic way.

  We continued walking through the mansion while Maria explained how the Marnov family had been recognized for its achievements in wars and its knowledge of fire magic, being able to use it not only in daily tasks—which was apparently a common thing—but also offensively and in some cases even defensively. Helena even made a small flame ignite in her hand to demonstrate how fire magic worked. I was surprised to see that even a maid knew how to use magic, even at its most basic level.

  “In my world, magic doesn't exist,” I said, observing the flames with a child's curiosity. “This is incredible.”

  Helena smiled animatedly and undid the flames in her hands to open the doors to the mansion's garden. The view outside was incredible, there were almost no clouds in that clear blue sky, birds sang happily under the midday sun, and the wind gracefully swayed the trees and the garden, bringing some flower petals against my face.

  “My lord, welcome to Valorn.”