Reverse Isekai Concept - First Chapter (2,885 Words)

Bright and untamed, life, as always, brought with it peace.

Safia had been in the flower garden all morning. The flowers, shining with color, bloomed as she passed. Her gait through the ferns was smooth, practiced. Her brown hair was tied into a pony tail. Her hands, clasped in front of her, started picking at the green dress that flowed down. The fabric clung to her skin and itched, bad. 

Safia’s mother had chosen it. She said, ‘a dress should show off your natural beauty, not hide it.’ Safia scoffed, she’d rather be in nature than presenting hers. A lavender lily blossomed next to her. Safia looked at the drooping, light purple flower. A bee, fuzzy and buzzing, landed on a daisy next to the lily. Smiling, Safia crouched to look closer at the bee. It turned to her. Then it started shaking, kicking up pollen around it. Safia let out a soft laugh.

“You’re so fun, Mr. Bee. Would you like to join me on my walk?” Safia asked, reaching a hand out with her palm up. The bee looked at her for a moment before flying onto her cupped hand. It walked up her palm then up a finger, perching on the tip to see. Safia picked the lily and stood, holding her hand out for Mr. Bee to move to the flower petals. The bee crawled over and stood on the healthy petal that grew brighter as Safia held it.

She continued down the dirt path, weaving between beds of flowers and leaves. A few trees were planted in specific locations, blocking views of the garden to force the attendants to move around and be present to view the full thing. They had large trunks and a canopy that casted shade onto benches sitting next to the tree near the path. Safia knew these trees well, she planted them. Well, planted isn’t entirely correct. She more so asked the earth to sprout a tree. The ground listened. It searched for a seed and brought it to the location to begin growing. Safia’s desire for the seed to grow gave it an eagerness to listen.

These oaks were planted a week before.

This is because she knew how to treat things of nature. Her free hand pet the tree and she felt a shiver run through the tree, a few leaves floated to the ground. She smiled up, removing her hand and reaching it out for a leaf to gently float right into her hand. Safia brought it close to her face.

“Thank you for providing for the earth and casting shade on those who need a rest.” She whispered to the leaf before blowing it out of her hand. A wind picked up where her breath faded, carrying the leaf off. She watched it leave. 

The bee looked back at her before also watching the leaf coast away. Safia turned to the bee with a smile. 

“You can go to. I know you have duties to attend to. Thank you for keeping me company, Mr. Bee.”

Mr. Bee looked up at her before flying up to her face to nuzzle her cheek. It’s soft body tickling Safia’s delicate skin. The bee flew back then flew away. Safia watched it go. Her smile remained but softened.

“Safia!” A voice yelled from deep within the garden.

Safia jumped. Who? Oh, Safia thought.

“Safia,” Remira, Safia’s older sister, said loudly as she approached, “what are you doing out here all alone?”

Safia crossed her arms, watching her sister step around a tree.

“You know why,” Safia responded.

“Please,” Remira started before rolling her eyes, “everyone knows about the little connection you have. But why isolate yourself instead of sharing your gift with the family? Besides, I’m sure there’s a few boys that’d love to see that dress.” Remira wiggled her brow.

Safia squinted at her sister. “My… gift isn’t a thing to share, Remira. It’s something to nurture. Something to heal.” Safia’s gaze fell, her head bowing shortly after. “And why would I want a boy to see me anyway?”

“Why wouldn’t they? I mean look at you Safia.” Remira gestured both her arms towards Safia.

Safia chuckled. “You don’t get it Remira,” she said softly, her eyes looked up to the tree canopy above them. “I’m here to protect… this. Not dance in a clean ballroom drinking something that makes me forget most of the night anyway.”

Remira scoffed. “Pfft, sure. And when you’re all wrinkly and old don’t come crying to me because you’re lonely. Sometimes playing the games of others is how you get what you want. I don’t get why you make it so hard for yourself.” Remira turned with a huff and walked back the way she came.

Safia scratched her temple as she watched Remira leave. Her older sister has always been an egotistical wannabe social star. Safia couldn’t really blame her, however. It came with the territory. Their father, an advisor to the king, was given essentially anything he asked for. Thus, the two of them, and their younger brother, grew up with everything they wanted. 

Safia was practically born in nature. From the earliest memory of hers she’s always had a fascination with anything not created by a mortal entity. The beauty of it, so meticulously chaotic yet arranged to balance perfectly. The only explanation, of course, was the spark. The spark was what all living things had, an aura that everything gently emit outwards, allowing Safia to connect hers to nature. The thing that gave them life.

Everyone’s spark was different as well. Some had weak sparks and generally lived simple lives, farming, construction, etc. Others, like Safia or Remira, have stronger sparks. Remira never really bothered to learn to use hers but it was even stronger than Safia’s, probably why she’s the popular one. Remira didn’t know this. Although with how strong her spark was she could be able to see Safia’s, she didn’t care to learn. Instead, her spark innately strengthened the aspects of Remira that she herself focused on, her beauty, her charisma, her status. The pool that Safia carries with her to distribute, Remira lets flow freely into her shape and figure.

Safia sighed.

She placed a hand back on the tree before whispering, “Watch over them. Send me word should anything unholy threaten the garden.”

Safia breathed out softly, warmth leaving her before she slowly backed away, looking up the tree. A squirrel stared back at her from a branch. It chittered and Safia chuckled. The squirrel squeaked then pushed something off the branch. Safia barely caught it. 

It was an acorn.

The acorn had a faint cracks across it that resembled webs. The cracks glowed a faint blue. Safia held it between two fingers then looked up at the squirrel.

“Thank you,” she said.

The squirrel squeaked twice more then ran further into the branches of the tree, disappearing. The acorn seemed to grow warmer as she held it. Safia looked down at it. It was a high concentration of spark in a single nut. Safia would need to be careful to nurture this properly, to grow it into its own spark tree, her first. She read about them. Supposedly there was a forest to the east filled with them. Tree’s that burned from the inside with spark. They glow at night and were apparently very potent fountains of spark. 

The things a person could do with that is… concerning.

So, the sister crown of Safia’s own had been the forest’s guardians for centuries. They never left. No one was allowed in. Safia had only known of its history from a story her Meema told her a few seasons ago when Safia was feeling ill. 

Safia was laying in her bed when the elder woman that is Meema waddled into her room. She had sat next to Safia’s bed.

“You know,” Meema had said, “illness often comes from a disconnection to your spark. Imagination has direct connection to the spark, as you know, and thus to the after life. Illness, a cloudy mind, is bringing you closer to the afterlife, the net that catches you when your spark is too weak to hold your soul to the mortal world and your soul returns to the realm of imagination. Forever to be swimming in and out of people’s dreams, and to live out the reality your soul imagines it should be in.”

The older woman put a hand on Safia’s weak arm. “You’re so strong, dear. Keep dreaming, please.”

Meema always knows what to say, Safia thought, broken from the memory. Safia looked up from the grass she’d been unconsciously analyzing. She took in a deep cleansing breath, releasing any cloud that would obscure her mind. Looking over the lush greens and vibrant colors of the garden, a smile naturally fell on her face. The early evening sun hanging high in the sky as a reminder that there are things to do. 

Safia enjoyed a long inhale.

Thank you… a warm wind whispered against her from behind. Safia turned into a gust as it brushed past her. Safia smiled as she twirled in the wind, leaves and dandelions kicked up around her up into a vortex. She looked up at the blue spot encircled by swirling green and white. 

The column burst bringing out a gasp from Safia. A path of leaves and floating dandelions following the wind’s guidance. Safia followed, skipping. With little care, she was led through the garden. A sudden shiver ran down Safia’s back as they approached the edge. The leaves stopped advancing and slowly floated to the ground. Safia slowed looking out, breathless.

A verdant grove of trees that crawled up the two large rolling hills encompassing it. The villa would be in there. A small smile creeped on her face as she looked down. She liked nature… no, loved nature but she does enjoy other people’s company. And, some of her friends will be there as well as, of course, her mother and sister who Safia could see disappearing into the tree line. She stared at the point her sister enter, her smile fading as she sighed. 

Safia took a step onto the downward slope but stopped immediately, looking up.

A brilliant blue point of light appeared above the grove. The light was beautiful. The color so perfect. It was… spark… pure spark and it flickered brighter. It expanded vertically. Safia’s heart began to race. The spark was blessing the grove.

Then returned to a point. Then it formed into a vertical line before shooting up into the sky. Safia tried to follow it up but it just kept going.

Then, as suddenly as it shot upward it slammed back together. A massive burst of energy that exploded out in a blinding flash. Safia turned away covering her eyes. The light retracted, allowing Safia to turn back to a valley of burnt embers and engulfed tree. The grove had been lit in a blue flames. A massive crack in space remained at the center, slowly pulsing. Safia stared at the sight, unable to process what she was looking at. 

“W-What the hells!” Safia finally screamed silently to her deaf ears.

Then it hit. A sharp ringing in her ear. Everyone was there. Tears began pouring from her face. Ringing. Her face contorted in pain as she collapsed onto the ground. The spark acorn fell from her pocket onto the ground. She paid it no mind as her face was buried in her palms. Safia slowly sat up. Her body lurched from the involuntary sobs catching in her throat. Her eyes went wide.

Power, so much of it. Coming from the… rift? And, screams.

Resolve, and a lot of it flooded into Safia as she stood. Mourning is for those you can’t save but not before saving those you can. A saying her Aunt, the Earth Speaker of that generation, used to say to Safia whenever she came across a dead animal in the wild. Safia’s steps hastened and steadied. She caught in the corner of her eyes figures cresting the hill to her right, but that doesn’t matter now.

Safia approached the flames. The heat was blistering, but the power was… enticing. Safia set her eyes forward and held a strong stance before thrusting her hands forward and slowly separating them.

“Part you damned flames,” Safia said, strained as she focused her personal pool of spark into commanding the flames. Then a break. Agonizingly slow, the flames parted as sweat forced Safia to blink as it got in her eyes. It burned. She had to keep blinking as the flames would dry out her eyes too quick. The power flowing through her arms into commanding caused great strain on her arms. The rift was breaking very… slowly. Come on! Safia yelled in her head.

“Hey!” A deep voice boomed from behind her.

The surprise broke her focus, losing her grip on command. The flames returned to normal. Safia turned to see a torso covered in plating looking back at her. Her head craned back to look up a handsome man who shakes his blonde flowing hair as he removes his angelic helmet. Safia had to really concentrate to focus as a blush crept onto her face. Then she felt it. He’s strong.

“I hear that there are those who need saving!” The knight said proudly. “I, Sir Delano Erledenil, will save you!”

Sir Delano removed a longsword from its sheathe on his hip with a SCHWING, pointing it towards the fire. With his arm outstretched he swung the sword down then upwards. A pulse of energy pushes from the blade, temporarily dazing Safia, completely extinguishing the fire in a line matching his swing then outward. It only got two trees but it was enough to push in, and so Safia did, quickly. Sir Delano followed in behind her.

Fire was all around them. Dozens of blue pyres glowing as the sun made its final stretch beneath the horizon. Then they got to the stone pathways and lamps guiding deeper in.

“SAFIA!” A younger voice screamed, Hal, Safia’s younger brother.

Safia took off in a bolt in the direction of the voice. Racing down the path she got to the village house. The roof was on fire, blackening the stone walls holding them. A beautiful estate reduced to ash and ruin. Loud thuds beat against doors. Safia’s eyes looked wildly for the source of the noise before finally landing on a teal door being blocked by flaming roof shingles. More beats from the door.

“Safia!” Hal yelled again, strained.

Safia stepped up before a gauntleted hand stopped her. Sir Delano stepped in front of her, reaching down with his metal gloves to pick up and throw the flaming rubble away. Once cleared, Safia rushed ahead of Sir Delano to the door, swinging it open to see Hal, who is maybe eight, and Meema, an elderly woman hunched over with a cane. 

“Oh dear,” Meema said before stepping and embracing Safia, “Thank you, Safia.”

Safia couldn’t speak, so she instead nodded and smiled. Her grip tightened around Meema then she gets Hal to pull him into a group hug. Finally, the broke.

“You should…” Safia coughed into her hand, soot. She cleared her throat. “You should get out of here. Come on.” Safia took Hal’s hand with her other around Meema and began walking them out of the grove. 

“ARGCKKKK!”

Safia turned around back towards the house from where the sound came. She sighed before releasing Meema and Hal. 

“Alright, Hal, I need to be able to trust that you take Meema out of the grove, okay? Just go that way and make sure to hold her tight… or I’ll know,” Safia said, dropping her tone to spook Hal before chuckling and walking away while messing up his hair. Safia turned to the building once more.

“AHH!” The high pitched voice yelled again. Is that? Safia thought before she sighed and walked up to the building. In the entryway, exiting, a figure silhouetted from the blue flames that had claimed the inside of the home. The figure’s limbs were long and lanky. Their posture was hunched but they were tall. The elongated head sharply turned to Safia, causing her to stumble back.

The… creature walked out of the building towards Safia. It was Remira. Her body was contorted, stretched and exaggerated, she was pissed. And she’s looking at you idiot, Safia thought.

“WHERE WERE YOU!” Remira bellowed in a banshee screech. Safia covered her ears and closed her eyes in pain.

Quiet, too quiet.

Safia slowly opened her eyes. Remira was looking around. Where, she thought as she looked around, is the fire? A laugh, coming from inside the building. It was extinguished? Safia looked around quickly. Everything was extinguished?

“AHAHAHAHA,” laughed a boy from inside the building. Then, a giant cold ice blue beam of light shot out of the roof of the house and struck the rift above. It expanded with the power. “WITNESS MY POWER!” The rift swelled then burst, blinding Safia. She tried to cover her eyes but it was no use. Safia felt cold. A screech, but melodic, like a metal bird flying by her head. 

Then laughter, and glasses clinking. 

Silence.