It was strange. After the pain subsided, I slowly felt normal again. Well, as normal as can be expected after what just happened. I no longer had this weird feeling that made me question everything I knew until my head hurt and nothing made any sense. The world was normal again yet somehow changed.

Slowly, I regained some feeling in my body, though I was still unable to move at all. I knew I was lying on something soft, maybe a bed? I could also hear some muffled voices, from time to time, yet I was unable to understand what they were saying. Not because they spoke in a language that I didn’t understand, but the words simply slipped through my mind before I could understand what they meant.

This weird state of being awake but somehow also not continued for what felt like days. Whether or not I was actually in this state for so long… I don’t know.

At some point that I couldn’t quite point out, I also started to feel something that was somehow outside of my body. There was a part of me that was not connected to me, physically, but still me. It was like… there was something around me, everywhere, that I always knew that it was there yet… I was unable to understand it so I simply tuned its existence out. At least, until now. And I felt euphoric.

Now, now I was able to feel it. And looking back, every moment that I spent without being able to feel it just seemed hollow. Every memory that I once enjoyed reminiscing simply lost all their appeal, all their colour. The veil that had been cast over me from the moment I was born until now had been lifted and now I no longer saw any value in anything that has happened while it was still over me.

This euphoria slowly subsided after I git used to the new feeling, but my memories still seemed a bit more grey. After that, I started to notice the slightly smaller differences in this... energy. The varying concentrations of it or the way it felt. From burning hot fire to a calm and gentle breeze in the morning. From the cold hard stone to the relaxing flow of water. Everything felt different. And the one feeling that I enjoyed the most was the feeling of the harsh and cold yet welcoming darkness. It felt like a strict mother yet so, so gentle.

Most of the time that I spent in this semi-conscious state, I spent on exploring my new ability to sense the world around me. I had this slight feeling that I could somehow control or manipulate this energy so I tried moving it around. However after many tries to get even a slight response, I noticed that the only energy that listened to me was the energy that felt like darkness. I was able to move it about, but from what I could tell that was it. I played around with it since there was nothing else that I could do to stave off my boredom.

And then finally, my body actually started to feel like it was my own again. I was able to move again! After spending so much time in total darkness, I desperately wanted to see something again. Opening my eyes was slightly difficult, however. Not only was my body still sluggish but it also seemed that something had dried in my eyes and had glued them shut. After some more tries, that problem was solved, however.

The first images that I saw after so long were quite blurry. I had to wait for a moment and blink several times before my eyes could properly focus on the bare stone ceiling. The stone was slightly rough, not perfectly even and the shadows that this unevenness threw, aided by the torches, danced around in a weird yet mesmerizing dance.

Then I tried to move my body and immediately I noticed something weird. My body was light. Very light. Too light. There was literally no strain at all when moving. I didn’t feel the usual pull of gravity that made you require an ever so small amount of effort when moving.

However, I tried to remain calm. After everything that has happened, this wasn’t all that strange or unusual. At least not strange enough to flip out over.

I tried to sit up, however, my first attempt failed after I felt something that was keeping my hands restrained.

I flexed my arms, trying to free them but had no luck. I gave a tired sigh, I am trapped yet again. Then I heard a door being opened. I turned my head. I didn’t notice until now but I was at the end of a room that was, for the most part, empty. There was the bed that I was lying on, a small table with 2 chairs, 2 torches near the door and that was it. Said door was now wide open and 2 people entered. One was a woman, she looked to be in her mid-20s, had blonde hair that was tied in a ponytail behind her head and reached her shoulders. She had blue-green eyes and a slightly stern face. I wasn’t really good with guessing distances or heights but I’d say that she was somewhere between 1.60m and 1.70m. She wore a mostly white uniform that reminded me of a secretary. The other was a man who I recognised from somewhere. He had short black hair, black eyes and a gentle yet hard look. He wore a formal piece of light armour that reminded me of some medieval movies. It was a dull silver with black clothes beneath it. He seemed to be nearly 1.90m tall.

Both of them gave me a look that seemed to contain pity, curiosity and some wariness. My gaze only held curiosity.

We looked at each other for a while before the woman decided to speak up.

“It seems that you are finally awake. It is understandable that after what happened you would sleep for some time but you sleeping for nearly 5 days had us quite worried. How do you feel, does anything hurt or feel strange?”

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

I shook my head as best as I could, given my current position and then answered. “I don’t hurt anywhere, but I feel strange everywhere.” It took a moment before I noticed what it was that rang so many alarms in my head. My voice, it… it was strange. Extremely so.

It sounded weirdly layered like there were at least 2 voices speaking at once and there was a strange echo accompanying it. Also, it sounded quite feminine. While I was still trying to piece together what just came out of my mouth, they just looked at each other with a knowing gaze. Then she spoke up again.

“We understand what you mean. We will explain what we can shortly but first, is there anything that you want? Maybe water or some food?”

I answered, trying to keep the anxiety that I had after hearing my voice out of my voice. “Just, can you untie me?"

While I tried to remain calm on the outside, on the inside I was slowly starting to panic. Whatever is going on with my voice is probably only one part of what has happened to me. The way they look at me and the way my body feels like tells me at least that much.

The woman contemplated for a moment and then nodded to the man, who just snapped with his fingers. Immediately, whatever was restraining me vanished and I was free to move.

Slowly, I sat up, trying to piece together all the strange signals that my body was sending me now that it was moving. There was the already known lack of any weight on my part. Then it felt like I was slightly shorter then I used to be. And something seemed to be tickling my back.

The moment I sat properly I already saw several things that were extremely wrong with myself. The skin that was exposed was black. Not the ‘black’ that people from Africa have, that dark brown, but an actual black. Black like the night sky without stars. When I slightly shook my head, I felt how something touched my face. It was a strand of what seemed to be black hair. Just as black as my skin and just slightly transparent. It reminded me of a veil, a thick veil where you can barely see through but still just. Probing around with my hands, I noticed that this weird veil-like hair extended at least to my butt. The bangs were cut perfectly even, just a bit above my eyes. I could also feel an object on top of my head. I couldn’t see or remove it but its shape reminded me of a small crown or a diadem. Having finished that part, I removed my hands and inspected them. The only remarkable things about them, aside from the black skin, were the identical white marks on their back. These marks looked like a pentagram inside of 2 crescent moons touching each other with their tips. My nails were somehow even blacker than my skin and they were longer than I’ve ever had them.

At this point my hands, no my whole body was trembling like a leaf in the wind and I was breathing in rapid, shallow breaths. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths trying to calm myself.

Before I could do much else I heard a polite cough from the woman. “I understand that the situation that you are currently in must be quite… perplexing and I will do my best to answer all your questions but we don’t have an unlimited amount of time. You can inspect yourself later properly but I think it would be better for you to get some answers first, no?”

Somewhat hesitantly I nodded. She was right I could inspect myself later.

“Judging by your reaction it is likely that you are in shock and I don’t blame you, anyone would be in your situation, so I will try to keep this as short as possible. From what we could find in the hideout of the necromancer Usteir Norgwan, we suspect that you have been summoned from another world for his experiments. Is that correct?” I nodded. “Okay, that’s one thing. You’d probably like to know what has happened to you, so I’ll be blunt. Judging by the offerings and the other preparations, we think that he tried to summon a high-rank dark elemental. However, and we can only speculate here, the summoning failed and instead you were transformed. Transformed into what, we don’t exactly know. We think you have been turned into some kind of pseudo elemental or into something entirely new.”

I tried-I tried to wrap my head around that, around this whole thing and I failed miserably. It was just so much. So much that should have been impossible and so much bullshit packed together and thrown at me that I just gave up trying to comprehend it. It simply wasn’t something that I could comprehend at the moment. So I just nodded. “What will happen now, to me I mean.” My voice was weak, barely more than a whisper but the weird properties of it still mad it easily understandable.

This time the man decided to speak. “That’s what I am here for. Thanks to what you currently are your options are quite limited. Whether or not you are some kind of pseudo elemental or something else doesn’t matter to our king and his ministers. Beings like you are usually put into 3 categories and you’ll have to choose which one of the 3 you want to be. Please understand that there aren’t any alternatives. All nations and kingdoms have signed a treaty that regulates how elementals are to be handled. And since by some classifications you currently are one you also fall under this treaty. Category 1 would be to stay away from any town, village or city. Elementals that don’t want to to make a contract with anyone are, with just their presence, a threat to normal people and as such have to stay away from them. If they don’t do that they fall under category 2. Category 2 are elementals who have to either be removed by sealing them away or forcibly establishing a contract with them. This is because elemental who draw on mana from their surroundings, an not from their contracted partner, slowly change the mana to their attribute. Once the concentration of one attribute gets too high it will have harmful effects on people in the vicinity. I don’t think that you will choose the 2nd option but I still have to inform you. Category 3 would be to willingly enter a contract with a suitable individual. This way an elemental can stay in towns and not harm anyone. Of course, as the contracted partner of a mage, it is expected of you to help that mage. Which one you choose is up to you and you do have some time to do so, but don't take too long.” With that, he turned around and left the room. The woman glared at him, obviously discontent with the way he spoke with me. She threw me an apologetic look and then left as well.

Meanwhile, my head was in total chaos. The situation that I was in, the options given to me, everything just made no sense. My whole life, from the moment that this Usteir Norgwan summoned me, made no sense.

That night I cried myself to sleep.