Emmanuel Salvador Papa

17 - Doubt

The gates of the Celestia Academy closed behind them, the sound of iron and magic-infused steel sliding shut ringing faintly in the afternoon air.

For Anna, it was like the end of one storm and the start of another—relief, anticipation, and just a touch of dread curling together in her chest.

Beside her, Luna walked with a bounce i...

16 - Adopted

The snow was still falling. Fragments of ice clung to the battlefield like the remnants of a dream that had not yet faded.

Professors, students, and attendants alike stood frozen on the sidelines, their faces painted with awe, confusion, or outright disbelief.

The vice principal of the Celestial Academy—William Terra, the stalwart ...

15 - Spar

The field between them stretched wide and empty, a natural arena carved out by fate.

Sunlight poured down, gilding the grass in gold, though the air between Luna and William Terra thrummed with tension that eclipsed the warmth of the day.

Luna stared across at him, her bright blue eyes narrowing as she weighed the man before her.

14 - Slipping Out

The examination room had fallen into a steady rhythm, quills scratching parchment, pages turning, the faint cough of a nervous student.

The supervising professor sat at his desk near the front, a book open before him but unread. His senses were elsewhere, stretched thin across the room like the roots of a tree probing the soil.

It wa...

13 - Admission Test

The carriage ride that morning should have been filled with laughter and chatter—at least, that was how Luna pictured it. Instead, the air inside was taut with silence, broken only by the rhythm of hooves striking stone.

Anna Crimson sat opposite of Luna, her hands clasped so tightly in her lap that her knuckles had turned pale. The nobl...

12 - Celestia

The road to Celestia curved past wide fields and tidy villages, each more lively than the last. Smoke curled from chimneys, the air carried the scent of baked bread, and merchants called out their wares with practiced voices.

Luna didn’t walk so much as bounce. Her hood slipped back with every step, revealing eyes that darted at everythi...

11 - Softening

The morning air was crisp, carrying the faint smell of dew-soaked grass and damp earth.

Birds trilled overhead, weaving a chorus that filled the spaces between the creak of wagon wheels and the steady clop of horses’ hooves. The caravan pressed forward along the road, dust trailing faintly behind them.

Luna sat cross-legged inside ...

10 - Anna Crimson

The days blurred together after Luna’s hasty departure from the city.

She had fled with her coin purse heavy, her arms stuffed with sweets, and her heart light with the thought that she had finally outwitted the oppressive spotlight of fame.

Ahead stretched nothing but the open road, her boots tapping a steady rhythm against dirt p...

9 - Leaving Town

The adventurers’ guild was still buzzing with whispers when Luna leaned back in her chair, waiting for the receptionist to finish her paperwork. Her grin had faded, replaced by a thoughtful frown.

She had been basking in the spotlight earlier—smug, proud, thrilled at the awe in everyone’s eyes when she froze the vase solid with a fli...

8 - Adventurers Guild

Luna woke to softness.

Her body sank into the mattress, limbs cocooned by warm blankets.

For the first time since she had been dropped into this world, she hadn’t slept against cold stone, rough bark, or hard-packed dirt.

Instead, she was wrapped in the kind of comfort that reminded her of lazy weekends back in her old life�...

7 - City

The forest path stretched long and uneven, but Luna walked it with a bounce in her step and a smirk tugging at her lips.

The weight of the sack hanging at her side rattled with each stride, jewels and trinkets clinking against one another, reminding her with every sound of her victory over the bandit outpost.

For once, she wasn’t s...

6 - Bandits

The fog rolled thick across the outpost like a tide swallowing the night. At first, the bandits barely noticed. They laughed, argued, and drank around their fires, thinking little of the haze that clung to the ground.

“Just night air,” one muttered, tossing a bone into the flames.

“Mountain mist,” another agreed, tugging a cl...

5 - Goal

The wind whipped hard across the summit, carrying the scent of stone and frost, tugging at Luna’s cloak. She didn’t mind. She stood tall at the jagged peak, hands on her hips, her silver eyes wide as they traced the vast horizon.

Rolling plains, winding rivers, dense forests, and the faint shimmer of distant cities stretched endlessly ...

4 - Mountain

Time blurred inside the forest.

By Luna’s best estimate, several days had passed since she first stumbled out of the ruined church and into the woods.

Her inner sense of time was sharp enough—sleep, wake, hunger, fatigue—but without clocks or system notifications, the exact number of days escaped her. Three? Four? Maybe five. I...

3 - Forest

The church shrank behind her as Luna stepped off its crumbling stairway.

She half-expected the doors to slam shut on their own, trapping her inside forever like some haunted ruin. But they stayed open, yawning wide, as though mocking her with silence. The wind tugged at her hair as she walked down into the grassy field.

The field str...

2 - Altar

The first thing she noticed was the cold.

Not the artificial chill of a graphics engine simulating snow, not the sterile vibration of haptic feedback. This cold was sharp, biting, real. It licked across her skin and sank into her bones as though she had been lying on stone for hours.

When Luna’s eyes opened, the world around her wa...

1 - Tournament

The arena lights dimmed, and the crowd’s roar rose like an ocean tide. Thousands of voices merged into a single, thundering pulse that shook the virtual coliseum.

Screens floating high above the stage replayed highlights from the tournament, blazing spells, last-second dodges, calculated feints.

Every eye in the world was glued to ...