"Huh?"
Dhruv didn't understand what he meant, and before he could ask Jai, he saw him touching the gate with his finger as if he was looking for something, then he saw Jai smile as if a child got his favorite toy while he pressed on a small depression on the gate which could be missed if not looked carefully. Before he could ask what he was trying to do, to his and Aditya's surprise the gate swung wide open without making a sound.
As if sensing their shock Jai turned around, looked at them and smiled as he spoke, "Let's go back, we have a long talk ahead."
************
"Maybe you are Randy."
Without explaining what he meant, Jai moved towards the gate. As he was getting closer to the gate he felt as if the patterns and symbols contain some kind of power. He touched the gate with his finger, feeling its smooth surface trying to find the switch as he slid his finger across the middle of gate, when he found the depression, he smiled.
"Got it." he murmured in an inaudible voice as he pressed and felt something intangible leave his finger, then the gate which has not been opened for a long time, swung wide open. Behind it he saw it, an altar on a pedestal in a room as large as the hall.
"There is no mistaking it, we have arrived in the world of Terra Fantasy."
He turned around only to see a shocked expression on the faces of Dhruv and Aditiya, their eyes wide open, seeing which he smiled.
"Let's go back, there is a long talk ahead."
*************
While going back, when Jai's excitement died down a little, he began to feel the weight of the responsibility now he has.... and how to start the conversation about what he has discovered.
"How should I start...? 'I have something serious to discuss.' Nah..'You all, we need to talk.' No, not this."
While he was contemplating about how to start the conversation, they entered the hall. It was same as they have left, no change in environment, the same anxiety, the same hopelessness and the same people, a complete contrast to their feelings of renewed hope.
Jai along with Dhruv and Aditya, whose earlier shock have been subsided, went towards where their teachers were siting. They all bore a solemn expression with a hint of helplessness. As they approached them, they took notice of them and glanced towards them, when it became clear that they were coming for them, they sat upright and smiled, trying to show confidence and readied themselves to reassure the anxious teenagers that they will get out of the situation and not to be worried...what they couldn't prepare themselves for was what Jai said as soon as he stopped in front of them.
"I know how to open the gates." He said in a serious tone with a solemn expression.
They were hit with a wave of emotions, first there was shock then doubt, which seeing his expression and Dhruv's and Aditya's conforming nods was pushed back, and then came relief renewing their hope.
They knew that he would not lie in this situation, but they still wanted to conform as they asked almost simultaneously,
"""You are not lying, right?"""
"No, I am not."
As they heard this, they looked at each other as if communicating among them. After a brief silence, Mr. Mehra cleared his throat, a little skeptical, but still asked him,
"So.... how to open them? Have you opened one of them? How did you find a way to open them?" As he was asking, he was looking for any signs of falsehood.
"I will tell you, but first can you call rest of them. I have a lot more to tell than just how to open the gates. Please don't ask anything right now, first gather everyone else, its best if I tell everyone together because it is going to be long."
Although they were still a little skeptical about his claim, they still wanted to give him a chance, so they complied with his request.
**************
They were all siting on chairs, all facing Jai who was siting opposite to them, Aditya and Dhruv were among them. They were all thinking why they were called, has something happened, did they find a way to open the gates or something else, some of them were even about to ask when they heard Jai speak.
"Let's get straight to the point- we are, somehow, thrown in a fantasy game's world that I play, by that portal. And yes, I can prove it." Before they could ask anything, Jai picked up a stone and threw it towards them. The stone flew straight towards Riya and before she or anyone could react it stopped an inch from her face, as if caught by an invisible hand and fell on the floor with a thud after a second.
Everyone froze, looking at the fall stone in disbelief, some even rubbing their eyes to dispel the illusion they were trapped in. Did they really saw a stone freeze in air and drop? They cannot believe it. But they gradually calmed down, compared to a tear in space-time swallowing them and throwing them somewhere, this was relatively pretty tame.
*****
"Oh no! I was too hasty! I should have thrown it at Dhruv; he would have not been angry at this. But what could I have done, if I have not thrown it fast, they would have asked me questions, yelled at me and wasted a lot of time explaining, which I do not want to do."
Jai did not aim while throwing the stone, it was pure coincidence that the stone happened to be thrown at Riya. As he was bracing himself for yelling from Riya, he looked at everyone, watching their stunned expression he knew that everybody was too preoccupied to focus on the little offence he did. Sighing, he waited for them to calm down to continue.
****
After everyone was ready to listen further, Jai continued in an unusual serious tone,
"If some of you are still do not believe what I said, you can check the gate, its open and more than enough proof of my claim." He said while pointing in the direction from where they came.
"I do not know how or why we are here, but one thing that I do know is that this is a very dangerous world filled with unimaginable horrors. So, I am going to tell you all everything that I know about this world, to prepare you all for what we will face in this world and hopefully find a way home because despite its beauty it's a very perilous world."
"So, let's start with basic of the basics: name. This world or rather this planet is known... as Terra."
Jai described this new world to them, full of magic, fantasy creatures, God-like beings, and... bizarre and horrifying monsters. In this new world everyone can level up, learn skills and magic, and get stronger much like any game. People can use various methods to level up; practice their skills, train themselves, but easiest and fastest way to level up is... to kill. By killing monsters, people can level up and also eliminate the threat posed by them, killing two birds with one stone.
Humans are not the only sapient race on this planet, there are other sapient races, which are Elves, Dwarfs, Angles, Dragons, Dryads, Beastfolks, Mykes, Demons and Devils. Giants and Phoenixes existed as well, but they went extinct after their war with the Dragons.
"Woh! Wait a minute, so the dragons wiped two races from the face of this planet and none of the other races did anything about them. Why?" Dhruv asked in confusion, as he is the only one in state to ask questions, while others were still adjusting to their new reality.
" Good question!" Jai said, mimicking a teacher's tone and continued, " The Angels, Devils and the Demons were always in a war against each other, so they did not pay much attention to them. Each faction tried to recruit them though. Humans did not exist at that time as war happened a long time ago. Dwarfs and Beastfolks were primitive races back when the war took place. Dryads and Mykes did not care, as to completely eradicate them the Dragons have to wipe out any trace of plants and fungus from this planet, which is almost impossible, but even if they could do it, they would not as it would affect the entire ecosystem of this planet, and they do not want that. As for the Elves, despite being a fairly advanced race they still live in different tribes and are divided, part of which can be attributed to their racial ability. The only one they obey and respect among themselves are the High Elves. And since the High Elves did not order them to move, they too did not care about the eradication of two races."
After getting the answer to his question Dhruv nodded for Jai to continue.
"So, where was I, yes the planet. This planet, Terra, has 5 continents." Jai continued to broaden their knowledge about this mystical world. Because he had to, to increase even the slightest chance of survival in this world and to return home, he had to.