I was jolted awake by an unbearable migraine, a vice tightening around my skull as a shrill, relentless ringing filled my ears. And to make it even worse a blindly light was surrounding the area even with my eyes clamped shut, a searing white light stabbed through my eyelids, flooding my vision in blinding agony.
And just as suddenly as it had struck, the maddening, skull-splitting migraine vanished, leaving behind a hollow stillness. The blinding light that had scorched my vision faded with it, like a light bulb being turned off leaving only darkness to consume the remaining light.
I stumbled forward without direction until I found myself beneath the shade of a tree, panting hard. Gradually, the fog in my head began to lift. Then, through my ragged breathing, I caught other breaths—first one, then two, then three, four, five… until I counted forty-seven in total. Twenty-three were boys, the rest girls. To my surprise, I recognized a few of their faces—Marcus, Claire, Elias, Amelia, and Nathan—each wearing the same look of confusion and fear that churned inside me.
We seemed to have fully regained our strength. I was the first to push myself to my feet, brushing dirt and leaves from my clothes as I took in our surroundings. It felt as if we had been… transported. Towering trees enclosed us on every side, their canopies weaving a ceiling of green that let only slivers of sunlight through. When I glanced downslope, I spotted a narrow path winding through the undergrowth.
Following it with my eyes, I froze. At the far end stood what looked like a massive stone doorway, its frame glowing with a steady, ominous red light while the doorway itself shimmered faintly, almost like rippling water. The stone supports seemed carved into the side of a looming mountain, its jagged peak disappearing into mist.
Behind me, the others began to rise, though a few remained seated, staring blankly into the forest as if trying to process the absurdity of it all. It wasn't exactly the kind of thing that happened every day—one moment you're somewhere familiar, and the next you're standing in the wilderness before… whatever that was.
We had been in our classroom just moments ago—or at least, I thought we had. Then a light, eerily similar to the one from earlier, had swallowed the entire room whole. Magic? The word slipped into my mind before I could stop it. Yeah, right. Magic. That sounded ridiculous. Maybe we'd been kidnapped instead… but if that were the case, why were our school uniforms spotless, without a wrinkle or stain? No bruises, no restraints, nothing out of place. Still, the idea of magic felt absurd without any real proof.
I started thinking about theories that could explain our current position
Two possibilities took shape in my mind.
The first — no magic. Maybe someone had developed technology advanced enough to move an entire classroom in an instant. Teleporters, experimental matter transfer, something straight out of science fiction. It sounded wild, but at least it stayed within the boundaries of the possible… mostly.
The second — magic. A summoning. The blinding light, the instant relocation, the fact none of us had so much as a scratch — it all matched the sort of thing you'd read in fantasy novels.
I glanced again at the shimmering doorway in the mountain. If it was technology, where was the machinery? No cables, no generators, no heat shimmer from power sources. Just stone… and that unnatural glow.
The answer felt obvious.
Magic might sound absurd — but it fit too perfectly to ignore.
Marcus, ever the skeptic, crossed his arms. "Or maybe we were drugged. Knocked out in the classroom, moved while unconscious, and woken up here with some kind of light trick to mess with our senses."
"Possible," I said, "except you'd need forty-eight people moved without a single bruise or piece of dirt on them, and without any of us waking up mid-transport. Not to mention—" I gestured to the glowing stone frame in the mountain, "—drugging people doesn't create that."
Claire pushed her glasses up, frowning. "What if it's VR? We could be in some hyper-advanced simulation. That would explain the weird portal without it being magic."
I shook my head. "Then where are the headsets? No wires, no contact lenses, and no gaps in sensation. The breeze, the smell of moss, the heat from the sun — that level of detail's impossible without tech so invasive we'd know it."
Elias finally chimed in. "Fine, but if it's magic, why bring us here? Why not somewhere safe?"
"Same reason anyone's summoned in the stories," I replied. "We're here for a purpose. What purpose, I don't know yet. But the method? The signs are all there — light, instantaneous relocation, zero physical trace. It matches the pattern too well to be anything else."
The three exchanged glances, their expressions shifting from challenge to uncertainty. No one said it out loud, but I could tell — they were starting to think I might be right.
"Alright," I said, nodding toward the glowing frame in the mountainside, "I say we explore that door — or gate, or whatever it's supposed to be called."
Amelia immediately stepped forward, her voice sharp. "That's irrational. We don't know what's on the other side. For all we know, it could drop us into a pit, flood the room with poison gas, or have some kind of… monster waiting. We don't have weapons, food, or even a map. Charging in blind is how people get killed."
"True," I replied, meeting her gaze, "but staying here isn't exactly safe either. We don't know if there are wild animals in this forest, or if this place even has a day-night cycle. For all we know, we could be sitting in the middle of a predator's hunting ground."
I gestured toward the glowing structure.
"That gate? It's the only man-made thing we've seen. Which means whoever — or whatever — put it there might have answers. If we're going to survive, we need information, and that's the only lead we have. We can't afford to just sit and wait for something worse to find us."
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "So what, we just stroll in there and hope it's friendly?"
"Not hope," I said, "prepare. We move together, stay alert, and if anything feels wrong, we turn back."
The group exchanged uncertain glances until Nathan finally spoke up. "Alright… let's vote. All in favor of checking it out?"
Hands rose slowly at first, then more followed until over half the group agreed. A few still kept their arms crossed, their expressions wary, but the decision was made.
"Looks like we're going in," I said, a faint smirk tugging at my lips. "Stay close."
Moving in unison we made our way to the large gate or door. Or whatever it's supposed to be called.
Standing just before the door or perhaps gate. Whatever I'll just call it a door, looking back at the 47 other people I know.
I stepped closer but suddenly the ground started to shake and a bright light consumed us once more.
Turning back I noticed I saw a dead end with no way to get back inside suddenly an even brighter flash of light surged through again and with that my other classmates appeared just before me.