I paced between the desks from one side of the room to the other, watching every movement of my students' hands and heads. Once I completed the circuit, I walked back to the front of the classroom. "Thirty minutes left," I said as I tapped the chalkboard for emphasis. Pencils scratched faster and a grumbled murmur spread throughout the class. Then I noticed Billy. One moment he was struggling through an exam I knew he didn't study for. The next moment he was tossing his pencil, notebook, and exam into his backpack, tugged on his jacket, stood up, and just vanished.
I cocked my head quizzically at the situation. The other students that might've noticed put their heads back down and carried on with their exams. A moment later, Billy reappeared drenched in blood, some of it dripping onto the floor. Besides the blood, a few tears in his school uniform, and the patchy stubble growing on his face, he didn't appear much different than when he disappeared. He gave me a brief, sheepish grin, pulled the exam and a pencil from his bag, and started again on his test.
"Wait a moment," I said as I rapped my knuckles on the wooden desk, "You know the drill." An unintelligible grumble swept the class as well as a few sighs of relief. "Don't get too comfortable. You will complete your tests right after we finish." A large binder came out of the locked drawer at the bottom of my desk.
"Aww, come on Mr. S," Billy said with his pencil still in hand. "I really want to finish the test."
I nodded along, skeptical. "I'm sure you do," I said, making a mental note to check that no dwarves or elves helped him on his chemistry exam, "but you know we do this every time one of you is transported to a fantastical world."
"Any fantasy world," Anna said, glowing blue runes lining her face and arms.
"Or historical past," said Kevin, a long sword leaning against the side of his desk.
"Or a technological dystopia," said Jasmine, her cybernetic eye gazing back at me.
"Or the far future," Xander said as he attempted to again hide the boxed AI that he used to cheat on tests.
Billy just groaned and dropped his pencil on to his desk. "Fine, I was summoned by the Kingdom of Latmier to help them vanquish the Demon King."
At the word "Latmier" I pointed to Keisha on the other side of the classroom. "Latmier," she said, "is one of the kingdoms on the continent of Abaloth in the land of Cenkorham, bordering the Kingdom of Hessia."
"Got to visit Hessia for a minute before marching on the Demon King's army with the remainder of Latmier's famed heavy cavalry," said Billy with awe in his voice, "They've got a giant statue of you in the center of the kingdom. They say you held off a thousand goblins alone at that spot." Keisha turned away, blushing in embarrassment.
I let out a cough. "Okay, and how long since Keisha helped Hessia hold off The Scourge?" I asked, attempting to track Cenkorham's history in my binder.
Billy looked away, as if the answer might be written on the ceiling somewhere. Based on his last history exam though, I didn't have much hope he'd remember any dates, but surprisingly a minute later, he responded. "About 300 years or so, give or take a decade."
I jotted down his response, making note that even after 300 years it appeared that life in Cenkorham hadn't changed much. "Also, why are you still covered in blood? Did they send you back right after the battle?" I asked as I put the binder away.
"Ummm," Billy said, tugging at his blood-soaked collar, "I didn't actually stay until the very end of the war. After our assault, we were searching the castle. I found this portal-thing and just thought, you know, that since all of our forces were inside the castle that they didn't need me anymore. So I just left, stepped through the portal and ended up back here."
"You moron," said Xander as several other students snickered, "You can't just leave a quest. We're chosen ones. You gotta stay until the end."
"Xander," I said, glaring at the student until he slouched back into his seat, "Language." Then I stared at Billy for a moment. "I guess if you made it back safely then there shouldn't be any harm. As your classmate pointed out, it is unusual." Before I could instruct the class back to their exams, a red circle appeared on the floor beneath another student's feet. Maria looked at me and simply shrugged as a flash of red light blinded the room. "Oh, come on. Two students in one day. I had this exam planned out for weeks," I said pounding a fist on my desk in frustration.
Once my vision cleared I found myself staring at something that may have crawled out of a nightmare. It stood roughly seven feet tall in bulky black armor that contrasted with its ashen-pale skin. Red runes covered almost every inch of the man's exposed flesh while something dark and eel-like seemed to swim just below the surface. Red horns, each about six inches long, formed a crown around his head. He stared back at me with eyes that burned like lava pits. Around him, the air felt charged, like a brewing storm. "So, who are you? And will Maria be back in time to finish the exam?" I asked.
The creature replied in a monstrous voice, its breath stinking of rotted flesh and buzzing like a thousand flies even from the other side of the room. I am Melkinzor, the Demon King, Bringer of Ruin, Landwaster, Burner of the Tellsalla Forests, Collapser of the Bilkasian Caves, Pillager of the Grand Hall -"
A textbook slammed onto my desk with a Boom! that echoed in the classroom and silenced our unwanted guest. "Sorry, did you say 'Demon King'?" I asked, turning my glare to Billy, who shrunk back in his desk. "I've a pretty good guess about why you're here, but if you wouldn't mind returning Maria, we do have a chemistry exam to complete today. We can send Billy back to defeat you tomorrow."
"Foolish mortal. I care not for your wants or requests. Denied my prize of Abaloth, I shall conquer your world instead starting with you swine that insult me with your presence!" The Demon King made a gesture with his hands that hurt my eyes to watch, and spoke a string of words that felt like they would cause bleeding in my ears. The air in the classroom charged with electricity, cracks forming in anything made of glass, and a bolt of red lightning snaked a path toward me.
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