My Fantasy World: Who? Me?

I was relieved when everybody stared at me like that. It almost felt something very nostalgic. So, this Australian guy told me he’ll buy my lunch. I never actually say ‘no’ to free lunch. And when the speaker ended his fun, we were all told to have a short break.

As the Aussie guy was approaching me from my back, the guy sitting beside me looked at me with fidgeting hands. He was taller than I am with high heels on. He had deep blue eyes, fluffy hair and had a 3 o’clock shadow. He stared at me and I stared back. I felt I was deeply being swallowed by those big blue eyes. It was roughly my first time seeing eyes like that.

“Klaus.”

He stopped shaking when the Aussie guy called him. He immediately gathered his composure and smiled.

“Nicolas Vign.” He said as he reached for my hand and kissed it.

I was shocked. Or more likely, stunned with that smile.

“Shut your mouth, luv. You’ll give people ideas. Especially in front of this rude guy, eh?”

Was I drooling? I mean, this guy is really stunning.

Nicolas chuckled and said, “can I join you for lunch?”

How could this guy be so CHARISMATIC. I snapped out of it and started acting professionally, as what I should have done moments ago.

“Of course you can if you don’t mind this guy coming along with us.” As I was referring to the Aussie guy at my back.

“Oh, you’re with Terry? I don’t mind if he doesn't ” and in that instant, his lovely smile turned into a mischievous smirk.

So his name is Terry, huh? I can feel the tension between the two. Maybe I stepped on a landmine over here.

“Klaus, you bloody bastard, you. Come on.” He said in disdain.

As we went outside, the two were talking just in front of me and all I could was the backs of two foreign looking gentlemen in quasi-formal attires. Judging from how they talk to each other, it was either they are very close or they just hated each other that much. I stopped observing the two and started to look around the view. Open fields, good architectural buildings, houses, dormitory towers. It’s kind of cool here.
The two stopped and when I looked in front of me, I saw a tall building, like a shopping mall and instantly, it reminded me of a shopping mall in Seoul. So there is a mall here.

The moment we set foot inside the “mall”, I started questioning where the hell I am. Outside, it looked like a regular mall. But inside, it looked like the entire Rizal Park on the first floor. It was filled with restaurants.
I looked at the directory and it has nothing but places to eat. Fast-food, fine-dining. It has it all. Nicholas held my arm and scrunched his neck as if he was about to sneeze and mumbled some words. In a blink of an eye, I found myself inside a fancy European Style restaurant. There weren't too many people around and there were no familiar faces, except for my two companies. We sat in a corner in a 3-seater sofa with curtains around. The ordered for me and the two just stared at me in silence as the curtains covered us.

“Niccola Carmen. That name’s not familiar?” As Klaus broke the silence.

“For me, no. I’m Leila Parker. What kind of place is this?”

“You don’t like dilly-dallying, eh?”

“No.” I said cutting him off.

“Alright, I’m Terry McGuffin. A professor here in the Academy. Klaus is a professor here, too.”

“Okay. So what do you guys teach in particular? And why am I here?”

“I teach transfiguration. I have no particular shape, actually.” Said Klaus.

That actually made me doubt as if that’s his real face. Wait. Transfiguration? “Are you talking about magic?”

“Luv, everything here is about magic. I teach dragon wielding and spells.”

I don’t get it. It was like I was in a harry potter movie. “W-w-why am I here?” I started stuttering. That explains the weird stuff here. MAGIC!

“Do you like stories? I’m going to tell you a good one.” Said Klaus.

I nodded and he continued.

“As I was still a student here in the Academy, Niccola was the best dragon wielder. Because the dragons choose you, she was chosen by the fiercest and most difficult dragon. She named it Sophie. It had three colors. White, brown and black. Such a beauty when you see those two fly by.”

“She was also one of the most powerful student here. In my class, I challenged her to a duel. The creativity in her is boundless. She would defeat me without hurting me. She’s a real gem.”

“So what happened to her?”

“She left. Fell in love as the rumors said. She left 10 years ago. She never came back. It felt as if we lost our treasure. We lost someone very dear. The whole academy felt sad. Some professors treated their students lowly. As if they will never be like her. They wanted her back. Sophie was in an uproar and we kept her locked up. When you leave the academy, your memory of it gradually disappears. And when we found you, well the council did, they thought you looked like her.”

“Who? ME?”

“Yes, luv. When you smile, you light up the room just like her. The resemblance is really uncanny. I see her in you so much. That’s why I immediately approached you the moment you set foot here.”

“See, I can’t be her. Really now. I don’t even know any magic.”

“Trust me honey, you won’t be able to set foot here if you can’t do any magic.”

“But-“ The food came and we started eating. Not mentioning anything about it.

“Let’s talk about it when we leave here.”