The Prince of Prophecy and the Bladeless Sword

3. Another Dimension

“Leon!”

His footsteps stopped again when someone called his name as he was about to turn from the direction of the 3rd-grade high school building towards building 2. Leon turned and found a girl running towards him.

Of course, Leon remembered that face. The face of a girl who was sobbing while being beaten by Jono. A moment before Leon lost consciousness, the girl's face appeared.

“Viona?” Leon greeted while calling the name of the girl who stopped two steps in front of them.

Viona's breath was short, her face confused but happy at the same time when she saw Leon.

“Are you okay?” Leon asked realizing the girl's presence even though the one who should have been asked was Leon himself because his face was still bruised.

“Yes, I'm fine. But this…” Viona didn't continue her sentence because she was sure Leon and the others understood what she meant.

“I know. Is it just you?” Leon asked.

“Yes. Just me. My friends and the others didn't move at all. What's wrong?” Viona asked.

“I don't know either. Come on, follow me,” said Leon.

Viona just nodded.

Leon rushed towards a place where there was an orange light spot in the middle of the school grass field. Leon saw the light spot and was sure it was something that was intended for him. While walking towards the field, Leon occasionally checked whether there was still something moving among the human statues.

“You are indeed smart.” The voice was heard by Leon again. “Follow the light, but your time is limited, Leon. Only five minutes before it dims,” continued the mysterious voice.

Leon quickened his pace to reach the middle of the field.

“Come on, hurry up, follow me,” he said.

No one spoke, just following Leon from behind because the surrounding conditions were quite scary. How could humans suddenly become statues after the strange storm that came earlier? Ah, the storm has now subsided, there are no more strong winds and thunder, only the black sky still covering, becoming an umbrella for the Earth.

However, after five steps towards the light spot, the corner of Leon’s eye suddenly caught a movement that made him stop his steps which caused Gio to bump into him.

“What the heck, Le? You said to follow, but you braked without warning,” Gio protested.

Because Leon’s defence was strong enough that they didn’t fall onto the grass of the field even though Leon had to endure the pain in his arm.

“Hey, you!” Leon shouted to someone who seemed to be running aimlessly, confused.

Hearing Leon’s voice from the field, the figure turned around. The distance was far enough that they didn’t recognize who was running.

“Come here, quickly!” Leon shouted again, his voice quite clearly audible in the silence.

The figure was like a girl running as fast as she could towards him.

“You have three minutes, Leon. If you don’t follow that light, you won’t be able to turn back this frozen time, humans will become statues.” The voices echoed again, making Leon hiss in annoyance.

“What’s wrong, Leon?” asked Sean who was quite sensitive to Leon’s behavior. However, the boy didn’t care.

Leon suddenly looked at them one by one to make sure he recognized their faces.

“Count the time in two minutes, Se,” Leon said a little commandingly.

Sean was a little confused, but he obeyed glanced at the watch on his hand and started counting.

“You hold hands,” Leon said again.

Without asking much, they held hands, even Sean, although one of his hands was raised to see the movement of the clock hands, tightly held Viona’s right hand, and the other hand held Gio’s left hand which was holding Leon’s left hand.

“Hurry!” Leon snapped, but unfortunately, the girl fell in the middle of the road making Leon hiss again. “There’s no time,” he grumbled. “You stay here, hold hands, don’t let go,” Leon suggested.

“But, what about you?” Viona spoke up, worried and scared at the same time.

Leon said nothing more and let go of Gio’s hand and ran towards the girl again. Once he had succeeded in helping the girl with her sprained leg, Leon returned to where the others were waiting. His attention was focused on the light that was starting to dim.

“One more minute.” The voice reminded him.

Leon was confused, the distance was quite far. But then without warning the boy immediately grabbed the girl and carried her by force and ran as fast as he could with a mysterious voice that kept counting the time.

“Five, four, three –”

On the count of three, Leon managed to grab Gio's outstretched hand. The next second they felt a strong jolt. The ground where they were standing seemed to disappear, pulling them into a dark hallway. Only the sound of screaming could be heard from them. The hallway was like a water slide that continued to pull their bodies into the darkness, even making their heads dizzy.

Until.

The sound of a bang stopped the scream, turning into a loud groan.

Before they realized the strange place, something whizzed around them. A transparent round light surrounded their bodies, making them even more panicked.

"What is this?" Gio asked in fear.

"Welcome to the Thousand Appearances dimension." The voice was heard again but this time it was clear.

Something appeared in front of them in a transparent form. The others immediately stood behind Leon, especially Gio.

The figure was like a computer program with a beautiful face and a costume that resembled a party dress. Laughter was heard, from the transparent figure.

"Hello, my name is Maya. I am the system that will guide you while you are in the Thousand Appearances," the figure introduced herself.

Silence.

No one spoke as they were confused.

"System?" Sean was the first to speak, stepping forward, parallel to Leon.

"Yes, system. A secret program from the computer. Only certain people are chosen by the system. Congratulations, you are the chosen ones to adventure in the Thousand-Appearances Dimension," Maya said again, a system that looked a little eccentric but transparent, floating in front of them.

No one spoke as if they were digesting.

"So that's you?" Leon spoke while looking at Maya.

Maya laughed.

"You are indeed smart, Leon. You can recognize my voice easily and follow my advice," Maya said with a chuckle.

Leon's eyebrows furrowed in displeasure with Maya's response.

"Whatever." Maya snorted softly. "Alright. You are safe now. That circle is to detect and give you a system. How it works is easy, press your respective watches and the notification system will appear," Maya explained.

The five students looked at each other, they were still wearing their uniforms, and finally, they realized the last girl Leon had helped. All eyes were on the girl.

"Zenata?" Gio said in disbelief while shouting a little.

Zenata Aurora, Jono's girlfriend, was silent. How could she be there? Leon just realized that he was the one who helped Zenata because he was the one who was almost running out of time.

"What are you doing here?" Gio asked again.

"How should I know?" Zenata answered in a loud voice that surprised the others.

"Hey," Viona scolded. "You don't need to be angry," the girl continued.

"What do you mean? You're the one who accused me," Zenata answered in disbelief.

"Hey. Because of you, we can't go. A crazy girl like you shouldn't be here," Gio said, clearly not liking Zenata's presence.

"What?" Zenata shouted again.

"Can you explain something to us so we can understand?" Sean spoke up, asking Maya who was silent, watching the small argument.

"Ah. Wait a minute." Maya snapped her fingers. Suddenly a large screen appeared in front of them.

Leon and Sean's attention was focused on the screen, while the other three people still couldn't accept each other's presence. Viona and Gio were clearly disturbed by Zenata's presence, including Leon, but the man was silent.

“We are at the entry point of the Thousand-Appearances Dimensions.” Maya pointed at the red dot on the screen, the dot blinking.

“Then why are we here?” Leon asked.

“Good question.” Maya snapped her fingers again. The large screen disappeared, replaced by a red screen containing an AI face. “He is my spokesperson, Moe. So listen up,” Maya commanded.

“Hello, I am Moe. You have been chosen by the Thousand-Appearances system to carry out a mission. If your mission is successful, you will return and your home world will be as it was before,” Moe explained.

Not a single person spoke among the five teenagers. However, they wondered what Thousand-Appearances was. A city? A country or a village? What would they encounter on their journey?