Here goes a very different style of story for me. This is meant to be more lighthearted than what I've written in a while, closer to Faery Heroes or What Happens in Vegas than the Black Queen saga.

Chapter 1
New Game

The bowl-shaped utsuro-bune raced over the waves to a lonely isle, the twelve boys inside waiting impatiently for their arrival at Ryuudou Island. Students of Mahoutokoro all, they were traveling together for simple, united purpose.

"Suzuki, Watanabe!" Satō shouted from the 'front' of the boat. "Keep the spells going, you worthless bastards!"

Not that anyone watching would have been able to see any obvious unity.

The hollow boat eventually reached the island and knocked gently against the shore, and that was the signal for the dozen young men to jump out and either start wading to shore or simply appreciate the fact that they were once again on solid ground. Their relief was short-lived, however, and in the predawn light they moved towards the old and abandoned Shinto shrine at the middle of the island. They did not have much time to set up the ritual before someone noticed they were missing from the school.

As was often the case with young men, the motivation for their early rise was entertainment. A Low-Born friend of theirs had come back to school after the end of winter vacation and would not stop talking about a game of some kind that had come out in the Commoner's World, through from the way he was talking it was not a game like go or shogi. No, Eternal Fantasy was a game that Commoners played on their overlarge picture frames, one where the player could choose from several different characters and go around fighting monsters with weapons or – and here was the important part – magic.

Between the allure of seeing just what laughable ideas Commoners had about magic and the fact that their friend would not shut up about the game, Satō and the other boys had decided to feed their curiosity. Buying one of these 'consoles' was not an option, though. They were students of Mahoutokoro, the greatest school of magic in the world! They could do it better. Instead of simply watching this game, they would immerse themselves into it.

They were going to bring it to life here on this island.

"This is your show, Zhang," Satō said once they stood in the middle of the shrine.

Zhang Wei did not shake his head or scowl, but that was not to say he did not want to do so. Satō and his gang of miscreants had made it clear they thought they were doing him a favor by inviting him along for this project of theirs. He knew that was not really the case. They had no interest in him personally, the lone Chinese student attending Japan's foremost school of magic. The only reason – the only reason – they asked him to join them was because he was the best of the sixth-years in the onmyouji class, and they would need his knowledge and expertise in the sealing script to get this off the ground.

Pulling a binder from his bag, Wei flipped through it to the design he had spent the last three nights working on, giving up on sleep so he could finish it and still have time for the rest of his homework. He wanted this to work as much as the other boys did, though not for the same reason. They wanted to experiment with their friends' new toy, but ultimately they would get bored and move on to something else. He, on the other hand, had read about the story within this game, and once the others had gotten bored he would have it all to himself.

A world where he was the hero who saved the world? That was appealing beyond words considering how these Japanese devils treated him. Especially since he had added details to the ritual absent from the game itself that would let him reap the rewards of being said hero.

"Here," he said, giving Satō and Tanaka the sheets of paper he had duplicated for them. "These need to be painted on the walls at thirty degree increments. I'll work on the floor portion. That's the most important part, and the part that cannot have any mistakes. Don't bother me," he said with a glare at Tanaka, who had never before passed up an opportunity to do just that.

It took an hour for the walls and floor to be cleared of debris, scoured, and have the ring and spokes of script painted on them, and the sun was cresting over the horizon when they were finished. "Hurry it up, Zhang," Satō ordered.

Did the Japanese not teach their children patience? He held out his hand in silent command, and with not a little grumbling Satō dropped the grey plastic box onto his palm. Stepping lightly into the middle of the circle, he set it down and moved out of the way.

"You're sure this is going to work?" asked Suzuki, looking around nervously.

"It will work," Wei said, the questioning of his abilities stinging his pride. "Three dragon lines intersect at this temple. Earth itself will provide the energy to keep it running. All we have to do is give it the first bit of magic to start everything. Furthermore, the way Commoners made this is similar to how we use sealing script. The two will synergize with each other, reinforcing the effect and stabilizing the new world."

"And it won't leak out?"

"Not in the slightest. That is what the script on the walls is for. It will concentrate the power in this room and open a gateway of sorts to the world described in that box."

That appeared to mollify the worrying boy, and at Satō's direction they all spaced themselves out equally distant and standing perfectly in between the lines of script. "Three, two, one," Satō muttered, and they began the chant that would pour their magic into the ritual space. The characters glowed white, then red, and the air began to waver with ghostly images visible just beyond.

"How much longer?" Watanabe muttered, breaking off his chant for a second to complain.

"Just a little more," was Wei's reply, though he had to wonder. With twelve wizards, they should have already given the ritual more than enough magic to open the gateway. His calculations had indicated that if all of them contributed equally, they should still have enough strength left to power the charms on the utsuro-bune and return to the school. Instead, he was pushing his limits right now.

With a sizzling snap, the air in front of them ripped itself open, and they had their first glimpse into another world. A windy world, Wei had to concede, for a strong gust blew through the widening portal and was nearly pushing him backwards. Was it a byproduct of the pocket world forming? Or perhaps the winds would stay strong, maybe even create a constant gale around the island. It was a good thing that Ryuudou Island was invisible to Commoners, but that would not change the fact that the government would have very stern questions for them all about any new permanent storms.

Tanaka fell to the ground with a shout of surprise, and Wei along with everyone else glanced over. Tanaka tried to stand again, but the stones beneath his feet shifted and sent him tumbling over again.

Stones that had been solid when they arrived.

Wei looked around and stared when he saw that it was not just around Tanaka that this was happening. The entire floor was starting to crumble, dust being carried away by the winds, as were the walls and even the ceiling. "What did you do, Zhang?!" shouted Satō.

"I don't know! This shouldn't be happening!" He grabbed his binder again and had to turn his back to the portal to stop the intensifying wind from blowing away all his notes. There were pages and pages of calculations to go through, and any mistake could be the cause for something to go wrong.

"Opening the portal, manifesting the people inside, pulling from the dragon lines, shield effect to protect us from physical injuries, magic surrogates…" He flipped back and forth between the notes, ignoring another boy stumbling and falling next to him. "Wait, found it!"

"What is it?!" Satō shouted to be heard over he howling winds.

"I inverted this section of the script! I was recalculating things last night to make it more efficient, and I think I forgot to flip the page around when I was copying it down! It's…" Wei's eyes widened as he realized just where that mistake was located. "It's in boundary field."

"What?!"

"It's a problem with the boundary field! It's supposed to be contained in this room, but I inverted the sequence! This is all pointed outwards!" This was a good thing, though! There was no way they had given it enough power to cover that much area, so as soon as it burned away everything they gave it, it would collapse onto itself.

Satō grabbed his arm. "Didn't you say it was tied to the dragon lines?"

He had. Dragon lines covered the whole world. It was the lifeblood of the planet as a whole, the source of magic. It was why he tied the portal and the new realm behind to it, so they would be self-sustaining. It was supposed to pull magic from the dragon lines, but of the quick calculation he did in his head was right, what he had instead managed to do was introduce the code of the game into them. It would flow beneath the planet's crust like a poison, corrupting everything it touched.

"The portal is blowing outwards. It'll propagate through the dragon lines," he whispered in horror. "We're just the center of the effect."

With a great groan, the world tore itself apart.

Eli walked through the camp, nodding to himself at the short Kobolds huddling on their knees in the iron cages. This was what, eighteen? Twenty? A good haul for a quick smash and grab. He and his boys had needed all of ten minutes at most to break through the wooden gate to their little camp and grab everyone they could find before vanishing back into the morning mists. They would make a tidy profit at the mines within the South Dragon Ridge.

It was about the only thing Kobolds were good for. They could not be trusted to do any respectable work since they were liars and cheats, and they certainly would never win any beauty pageants. Green skins, long noses, pinched chins. The big eyes might have been so they could try to look innocent, but all it did was give them an even more evil appearance than they did already.

"Why are you doing this?" a voice asked, and Eli glanced down to find a young Kobold glaring up at him. Another little monster grabbed its shoulders and tried to shush it, but it continued, "We weren't doing anything to you. Why are you taking us?"

"That's just the way the world works, lassie."

The kid blinked, and its broad face twisted into something even uglier than it normally was. "I'm a boy."

Really? With a voice that high? He shrugged. "You all look alike. Anyway, they need bodies up at the mines to dig out silver and mythril, and you folks are the best choice they got."

"Then why don't you dig all that up if you want it so much?!"

"'Cause mines are dangerous. People die down there all the time. You lot aren't human, though, so no big loss if you bite it, you know?"

A yell came from the other side of one of the tall tents they had set up, and Eli walked around only to pull his head back when a chunk of wood flew past. He chanced another glance and cursed. "Adventurers. Great."

The burly blond who was invading their camp could be nothing else. Regular humans were nowhere near strong enough to shatter shields by throwing firewood at people.

Still, this was not a total loss. The axe the guy carried and the hodgepodge armor he wore was proof they were dealing with a Knight, and they were nice and slow. Eli pulled a bandana off his left forearm to reveal a twisted character fused into the skin just below his wrist. The Mark was dull, but a moment's effort had it brightening up, and he sighed as the speed of the Ninja coursed through his veins. He did not use his Mark often because in all honesty the strange power that had been revealed with the Transition that changed the whole world ten years ago felt alien at the best of times, but in situations like this it was too useful to ignore. All he had to do was sneak behind the Knight and slip his blades through the armor's gaps—

"Frost."

The word hit his mind a split second before the ground around him burst into inch-long shards of that went flying everywhere. He was already trying to get out of the way when the icicles buried into his shirt and pants. The impact and cold sapped strength from his Mark, and while he was not significantly injured it would not take many more blows like that before he was. He had to deal with the Sorcerer before that happened.

Footsteps fell loudly behind him, and he spun and dashed at the sound, both daggers at the ready. They should have buried themselves into soft flesh, but instead there was the ring of steel against steel when they met and were stopped by a slim sword.

Lightning danced along the blade, and he jumped back with a curse. Not a Sorcerer. A Fencer. They were even more annoying. At least Sorcerers and Clerics had the courtesy to suck at straight physical combat.

A dark-haired youth wearing glasses stepped back as well, the red coat Fencers flaunted flapping with the motion. The boy scowled. "You know, we almost didn't take this contract. We thought you were just bandits. That would have been bad enough. But no, you had to be slavers. Dud's never going to let me hear the end of this—"

Eli readied himself while the boy was nattering away, and then he struck. Fencers were fast, but not as fast as Ninjas; one of his daggers held the rapier back while the other scored a stab into the Fencer's gut. The boy grimaced but pushed back, and again electricity flared. This time it coursed up the knife in Eli's left hand, and his arm fell to his side. Once more Eli danced away, trying to shake some feeling into his numb hand, but the Fencer pursued. Glancing blows were all the boy landed, but that was all the spelled steel needed to make his muscles twitch and quiver. A luckily swipe at his legs sent Eli to the ground, and his skin tingled as his Mark's defense reached its breaking point.

The Fencer propped his sword against his shoulder, the lightning caressing him harmlessly. "I'd say don't feel bad for losing, but, you know, slaver. I don't care if you feel bad. Just don't be surprised. You won't be the last scum who falls to the Dursley Brothers."

The… "Who?"

A glare replaced the boy's smirk. Pulling his arm back, he slugged Eli in the face with the sword's elaborate guard, and darkness descended.

I hated writing that first scene, just so you know. It is one of those boring scenes that is vital to set up the story but otherwise exists in more or less a narrative vacuum.

Oh well. At least we got a first look at our real protagonists. More backstory (much more) will come in the next several chapters, but for now just know that there is a significant time skip between the two scenes.

Oh oh oh! Anyone who can guess what classic job Harry uses gets an internet cookie. A hint: it's my absolute favorite Final Fantasy job, but one that never gets implemented well.

Silently Watches out.