Opening his eyes, he found...comfort? Soft warm blankets swaddled him and a fluffy pillow embraces his head. This was nice, but odd.

As his eyes fluttered open, the room around him was an unknown one, large and with a canopy bed which had curtains opened. The bed was on a raised wooden floor around which was wardrobes, drawers, and even some old timey trunks which looked like treasure chests. A fireplace with a marble mantle dominated one wall, while another was dominated by a curtained window large enough to be doors to a balcony.

The entire room seemed more like a fairytale princess's bedroom or a movie set for a king's bedroom.

Moving brought forth a great dizziness, and pain.

“I'm alive, but I should have died.”

A cold sweat went through me. Is this some kind of hospital?

“I can't afford the hospital bills for recovering in a normal hospital! Who sent me here?! I'm going to go to jail for not being able to afford to save my life!”

He pulled the covers off, taking a second to suppress the illogical flight instinct. That's when he noted the 'comforter' was actually a giant fur pelt with fur on oneside and cured leather on the other.

“What the actual hell...” He had stopped forming theories anymore. He couldn't make sense of the strangeness, so to stop trying was the best bet.

When he looked down at his body he noticed something rather peculiar. “I'm...gray?!” He was now a pale greyish-blue color for some reason. “What's going on?!”

Rolling out of bed was easy, staying up was hard as he felt so weak. Wobbling over to the full-body mirror he gazed at his now alien reflection.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

He was beyond words. It was familiar, yet different. Him, yet something totally not him.

His face, frame, and general appearance still was him. Thin and lanky, with a slight belly. It was still him, and whether it was from the silhouette or the face, anyone who knew him would recognize him instantly. Just, younger by about 10 years to that of a boy at his later teenage years.

But his skin had changed, in more than just color. All the sun damage, acne scars, pimples, freckles, and moles had vanished leaving a consistent generally egg shell soft texture. Without crows-feet and large pores he marveled at how attractive he could have been.

His hair was different as well, being a silvery grey now, but a 4 inch growth of bone jutted out from his forehead. It sprouted from the center of his hairline and curved backwards. In shock the demonic visage in the mirror muttered “I only had about 3 hairstyles I liked and this ruins 2 of them! I'll be forced into swept back for the rest of my life.”

“...no, wait that isn't important is it?” inspecting his mirror image closely a realization dawned on him. “I'm a...”

Suddenly he saw a vision of himself which was not himself, but a crystal floating in an empty room. The stone block walls had flicks of ghostly streams of fireflies which seemed to be traced with dim yet pulsing veins. This was also...him.

He remembered 'being dead' yet now he lives again. His dying body appeared in front of a group of hooded figures, and a floating crystal.

“Qea Juu nah fepht!” One of the hooded figures said, in an unknown gibberish.

“...who, where am I?” the young man looked around deeply confused and a little frightened.

“Qela sen tioph!” Another robed figure said with disdain. This one was bigger, and under his robe he drew a dagger.

“--Felnoki!” squeaked a higher pitched voice, probably a young girl. A staff was pointed at the confused man and began to glow.

The big robe snorted and casually flicked his blade, casually 'nicking' the non-robed man's neck.

And so, that man died on this world. Having been summoned to a new world, the summoners killed him almost instantly, certainly before his confused mind could comprehend what had happened.

And yet...the next moment, no one was staring at him, but another man on the ground below him. That staff directed at him finally released its blast and struck the corpse.

“Dammit Herk, you're supposed to kill them after the soul-killer spell hits them!”