‘Holy Hell.’ I thought as I continued to stare. I was wearing clothes that looked medieval. A loose gray shirt made of roughly stitched cotton, a pair of brown leggings, and no shoes. Either I was dirt poor or I had a strange obsession with getting calloused feet. The woman who owned the stand- an older woman with a rather heavy build- impatiently said, “You buying somethin’ kid?”

“Um...erm… no?” I said.

“Then beat it!” She snapped. Old hag. I quickly walked away from the stand with a million questions running through my mind. Where was I? Why was I a child? What drugs had I taken the previous night to set off this kind of hallucination? Forget that. I’d never done drugs. Was any of this real? Was I in Heaven? Scrap that. I was gay. Or was God more lenient than my Aunt Susan led me to believe? 

I slammed face first into the rear end of an old woman who had been standing in the middle of dirt road. She was unlike the other people bustling around like ants at a picnic. She wore a red dress that looked like it had seen better days and a pair of beaten sandals. She turned to me with a look of surprise. “Oh my! Are you quite alright little boy?” She asked, kneeling next to me. It was nice to know that my gender confusion had transcended my death. That’s it, I decided, I am growing out my hair. 

“I’m a girl.” I corrected the woman. Although I’d have to give my leggings a quick check later as I wasn’t entirely certain about that. “And I’m fine.” I add, “I’m sorry for bumping into you.” 

The old woman waves it off with a grin that adds more wrinkles to the corners of her eyes. “Think nothing of it! Are you lost?”

‘Yes, but you’ll never know to what degree.’ I think before nodding. 

“Are your parents nearby?” She asked. Did I have parents? Had I unknowingly possessed the body of some little girl and separated her from her family?! As if I needed any more reason to look like a bad person. I settle on a shrug.

“Well, perhaps we can call for them! Just tell me your name and I’ll look into getting the other shop keepers to circulate it!”

Oh no. What was my name? I only knew my old name. What if the little girl had a different name? Greta Slatshinger wasn’t exactly a common name. What if her family never found her? Why do I keep asking questions I clearly have no answer to?!I look at the ground nervously and consider just running away to figure this out on my own.

“My dear, would you look at me?” She asks. I look up and she’s now centimeters from my face.

“Woman!” I shout as I stumble backwards with surprise.

The old woman nods as though she’s made up her mind about something. “I recognize you! Come along. I know exactly where your family is!” She says. She begins to walk through the crowd at a speed faster than her age would suggest she was capable of. The way she looked at me… she didn’t seem like a pedophile. Do pedophiles have outlying features, though? She led me into a tavern- not where I would expect for a little girl to find her family. She leads me to a homey backroom full of trinkets and furs. The furniture is mostly made of wood and flowers are everywhere there can be flowers.

I’m automatically on my guard. Who knows what atrocities she committed in this room. Murder? Torture? Crossword puzzles? She puts down the flowers and settles into a large leather chair. “You have no idea where you are, do you?” She asks.

“I thought our earlier conversation implied that-” I begin.

“No! You aren’t really a child are you? I can see it in your eyes. You’re out of place. Out of time. You probably woke up in the middle of some woods an hour ago, right?” She asks.  

I narrowed my gaze at her. “How do you know?”

“There are others like you. I’ve met them. Seen them all over the course of my lifetime. Strangers in a strange new world. I used to work with a man who-” She stopped. “But you must be famished.” She says. My stomach snarled like a ravenous dog. “Let's get you some food. We can speak more about your current situation after.” She climbs to her feet and ducks into a kitchen. “My name is Prudence!” She calls. Prudence, huh? I’d heard stranger. My own name included.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I wander around the small… house? It looked like a back room in some tavern but it’s equipped with a staircase, closets, coat racks, it even seems to get slightly bigger as I blink. Prudence has a lot of stuff. Clothing, trinkets I’d never seen before, there’s even a small mechanical mouse that pokes its head out of a hole in the wall for a fraction of a second before vanishing again. It was like a fairy tale. Except I had no idea what fairy tale began quite the way mine did.

“Just chicken?” I ask. There’s a sound like a police siren and Prudence walks out carrying a plate larger than my body. It’s full of meat, vegetables, fruits, and some weird paste that I would stay away from at all costs. 

“Eat up! You’ll need your energy!”

“For what?” I asked as I began stuffing my face with chicken. 

“We’re going to do a little shopping. I doubt you have a family so I will be taking care of you until you can go to School!” 

I groaned inwardly. I’d already experienced puberty once. It seemed a cruel punishment to have to endure it again. I also felt a twinge of confusion. I’d been on my own for some years. The thought of another human being taking care of me again was… unsettling. I didn’t know this world and Prudence seemed nice… maybe it was for the best that I just stuck with her until I had a better grasp on things.

“Okay. Will you tell me about the man from before?” I asked.

“Ah, yes! He was in an order of Magicians that specialized in the misplacement of souls on the journey to the great beyond!” 

“That’s oddly specific.”

“Yes… it wasn’t particularly popular. There were only fourteen members at its height and then the Institution cut funds and- but I’m getting ahead of myself. There were anomalies where people or children would appear at random, completely unaware of this world but very aware of another life. Though because of the strange placement and unpredictable timing of the anomaly it was very hard to track.”

“And these guys were Magicians? Like ‘untie yourself from a straight jacket’ kind of Magicians or ‘You’re a hairy, Wizard?’” 

Prudence thought for a moment and said, “Magic is very real my dear. It is everywhere and many can tap into it. A select few may be very good at it. A magic wielder may choose to do any number of things. Why there’s Beast Binding, Stealth Magic, Strengthening and Blacksmith, I even know a little bit of Necromancy!” 

I slowly chewed my food and tried not to think about it too much. “How many others are there, like me?”

“Enough that a school has been started to teach you about this world. Currently there are only a handful of students.” Prudence smiles. “But never you mind. Finish your food and we’ll talk more about this later.” Prudence tells me about the town of Vivid and all it has to offer. Which amounts to nothing. This town was only busy because this day was one of the only two times a year merchants passed through. She takes me out and buys me a few pairs of clothes, some toys- which I scowled at- and an axe. 

“Why the axe? Am I going to be helping with your Necromancy?” I ask it as a joke but there may be a very real possibility that’s what she wants.

She throws her head back with a laugh that lightens the mood. “Of course not! I assure you my dear… oh. You didn’t mention your name.” No way in Hell was I going to be called Greta Slatshinger again. I tell her this and she replies, “Very well. I’ll call you Nelia, then. I assure you that if I needed anything done as far as Necromancy I could accomplish it on my own! No, the axe is for later. All things in good time.” What was I getting myself into?