CHAPTER 4

THE FOURTH ENTRY IN THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MASON COURBIS

"The Explanation"

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  When I awoke, I found myself lying in bed. I almost took it for granted and let myself fall back asleep, but memories of what had just happened to me began flooding back into my mind. I opened my eyes wide and gasped deeply as I sat up in order to take in my surroundings. Far from the hospital scene I was expecting, I found myself in a strange room with stone walls and wooden flooring. There was a single window to my left with curtains drawn over them; the curtains seemed a little too fancy to belong to any sort of hospital. They were even embroidered. I looked to my right and found even less that made sense to me. A night stand with an oil lamp. Quaint. I looked over the side of my bed to see a bedpan upon the floor. A grimace took up residence upon my face. Not so quaint. I resigned to sit back onto the bed rest in order to take in everything one item at a time.

  First, from the look of things, I seemed to be inside a castle, or some similar structure. I had never been inside of a castle before, but I was fairly familiar with the concept. I looked around the ceiling for evidence of lights and found, to my dismay, a chandelier, similarly adorned with an oil-based lamp. There were no wires in sight. I looked to the walls and scanned for a full minute. Not a single switch to be found. To the floors then, and the baseboards around them. Full hardwood, a few rugs... and absolutely no outlets. A room devoid of electricity in all forms. A pit began to form in my stomach at the revelation that I was, perhaps, somewhere far, far away from home. And probably Kansas as well.

  "I need to find out where I am, quickly," I thought as I swung my legs over the left side of my finely-quilted bed. As I was about to stand, however, the pit in my stomach began to sink lower. Looking at my bare legs hanging over the side of the bed, I could tell something was deeply wrong; the legs attached to my body weren't my legs at all. They were human, sure, but they belonged to the body of some other human, not me. I pushed the thought out of my mind, and instead pushed myself to my feet. Actually, in this case, I suppose they were someone else's feet. I noticed the same problem regarding my arms, abdomen, and I assumed head to match. I had never piloted any other body aside from my own before, but the horrifying realization that I must be wearing someone else's flesh was quite clear in my mind. I didn't stop to marvel at my vessel outside of assessing it for injuries; thankfully, my new body was completely unharmed. I didn't want to waste time looking over the changes. I couldn’t afford to have this fresh existential crisis at the forefront of my mind.

  "I need to stay focused," I kept mentally telling myself. "Survival comes first. Everything else is secondary." Quietly, I made my way to the bedroom door and swiftly moved to lock it... until I found that such a thing would be impossible without a key. The locking mechanism seemed old, perhaps even antique. One might go so far as to say "Primitive," but I certainly wouldn't. In a slight panic I scanned the room for something like a chair to prop up against the door in order to keep it from opening; to my dismay, I wasn't able to find anything. I contemplated barricading the door with a nightstand, but figured it would do no good, given they were essentially short lightweight tables. With all my options exhausted, I simply made my way over towards the sole window in the room, and peeked around the curtain.

  I immediately squinted when my eyes were assaulted by bright, near-blinding light. As they began to adjust, however, I felt the overly heavy pit that had been resting deep inside my stomach nearly threaten to fall right out of my ass.

  The first thing I noticed were the mountains in the distance. Considering I had previously been standing in the middle of Midwest America as far as I could remember, realistically I shouldn't be anywhere near mountains. As my gaze continued downward, however, it became very clear to me that I was nowhere close to Midwest America, or even perhaps the entire continent of North America. The building I was inside of was quite a few stories tall, and sat within what appeared to be a medieval European-style city, or something close to it. The streets were lined with tall multiple-story buildings, and the roads followed rings and winding paths in a pattern that seemed to orbit the general location of the building I was inside of. I could see cobbled streets, tiled roofs, and even a few beasts of burden shambling along pulling carts or carrying heavy-looking loads. What I couldn't see, however, was even a single speck of asphalt. There were no parking lots, traffic lights, or cars whatsoever. There were no trains, or even trolleys. Even in the most remote places on Earth, there generally existed some allusion to the modern world. Even the most dedicated of re-enactments of older times carried with them the ease and convenience of modern technology. There couldn't possibly be any city of this size that exists on Earth which still exhibits a quality of life straight out of the Middle Ages. I let the curtain fall from my fingertips, and stepped backwards away from the window.

"... I must have been hit by that car a little harder than I thought..."

  As soon as the words had finished leaving my lips, I heard the door to the room opening. I'd been so caught up in my anxiety attack that I had failed to notice the footsteps making their way closer from the hallway outside. I swiftly turned and instinctively put up my hands to defend myself, knowing that it would likely, ultimately, do me no good. There in the doorway stood a rather peculiar-looking woman. She wore a long, flowing dress, or perhaps it was a coat, that left her right thigh exposed; underneath, she appeared to be wearing thigh-length black leather boots which sported perhaps a four-inch heel, along with some sort of cream-colored trousers. She wore various belts and shawls which attached to her bodice and hips at strange, slanting angles... though it all came together in a way I found to be oddly fashionable. Her outfit was perhaps close to what Earth might think of when imagining an adventuring mage. The most noticeable thing about her, however, was the pair of smooth, pointed horns which jutted out upwards from her forehead. I stared her down for a moment, squinting, and relaxed somewhat as it seemed she had no intent on bringing harm to me, that I could tell at least. I decided to try speaking with her.

  "Who are you?" I called out. "Where am I?" The woman smiled for a moment, and began speaking softly under her breath. I tensed up once more at this. After a moment, I felt a presence within my mind.

  Having never felt such a thing before, I would have to describe it as a near-physical sensation; it's as if someone had opened a window in your skull, and were pushing at a stretchy membrane between the air and your brain. Like a headache, but one caused by an appendage inside your cranium, and you can almost hear it pushing around. Like the sensation you get where you touch or scratch something in just the wrong way, and you can feel a chill in your spine and pain in your teeth as a result.

So I'm sure you can imagine just how much this startled me.

  I immediately jumped back against the wall behind me, and pressed my hand into the curtain covering the window. Frantically, I attempted to pull the curtain aside and find some way to open the window up; I felt that my chances of survival would likely be higher scaling a who-knows-how-many story building in a pair of briefs than inside a room with this person. Just when I thought my hands had found a latch, I heard a voice inside of my head. When it spoke, I didn't exactly understand what it said as words, but I comprehended the intent.

  "Stop, please. I do not mean to harm you."

  I paused at this, and slowly turned to face the woman once more. She had not moved. Warily, I brought a shaky finger up to point at her, and raised a brow. She smiled, and nodded her head. I just squinted.

  "... Why have you invaded my mind?" My voice was even, and though I was afraid, my tone did not reflect it. I was almost impressed with myself. The woman sighed at that, seemingly relieved, and folded her hands neatly in front of her.

  "In order to communicate with you in a way you can comprehend," said the voice in my head. "I am sorry if I frightened you."

  "But... you can understand me, can't you?"

  "I can, yes. I had cast a spell upon myself that allows me to comprehend languages. I can also understand the intent behind your thoughts."

  My brows furrowed at this. Spells? Magic? Horns? There was no level of rational thinking that could prepare me for this situation. I had no choice but to approach it with acceptance. I let my hands fall to my sides and I let out a small breath of air.

  "... Would you cast that spell on me as well, please?" The woman smiled at this, and offered a deep nod, which almost seemed like a bow.

  "Of course. But, perhaps I should leave you to clothe yourself first. I will have a servant bring in some clean vestiniments for you." I nodded once at this; she then turned to leave, and called down the hall in a tongue I couldn't understand.

  "Acceptance," I told myself. "Just accept what’s happening. Answers will come in time. Or... Maybe I'll just die. Who knows. I guess it wouldn't be the first time."

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  I eventually found myself sitting down at a small table in a well-lit library-esque room. There were comfortable-looking couches with wooden backs and soft cushions, little tea sets, shelves upon shelves of books, and large, towering windows which let in the light from the afternoon sun. I was holding a small flower-shaped teacup and sipping something I'd never tasted before called, to my knowledge, "Tea of the Sage's Tranquility." This is, at least, the closest translation into English that I could manage, so I've resigned to just calling it, "Tranquili-tea." I peeked over the petal-tips of my teacup in order to meet the eyes of the horned woman I'd met earlier. She had pale reddish skin, bright golden cat-like eyes, and sharp, over-pronounced canines similar to that of a Vampire's. She, in turn, looked at me over the rim of her own teacup, and sipped quietly. I caught her gaze for a moment before I looked down to my lap. I took a moment to look over my new garments again; I had a decent-fitting beige laced-up v-neck shirt, and a pair of brown draw-string trousers. The tunic seemed to be made of something akin to silk, and the trousers were perhaps wool. It was hard to tell. I knew, however, that I couldn't keep stalling for time like this. I set down my teacup and looked back up to the woman in front of me.

  "... Please cast the spell upon me."

  She nodded once at that, and leaned forward. "Please present your hand to me," said the voice in my mind. I swiftly complied. She reached out, placed her hand upon mine, and began chanting softly under her breath. I could see that her other hand seemed to be making a variety of motions as well, perhaps as if her fingers were creating symbols in the air. After a few seconds, however, I felt something familiar wash over me: magic. As the intent of her spell began to flow through my body, I felt a clarity begin to shine within my mind that hadn't been there before. Somehow, instinctively, I knew that the spell had taken effect.

  "... I should be able to understand you now," I say, slowly pulling my hand back to my lap. I seemed relaxed now, but in reality it was taking everything I had within me to maintain my composure. Every shred of survival instinct inside of me was screaming at me to run, but I silenced them. Running would afford me no answers.

  After I spoke, the woman nodded once more and sat back. The foreign presence in my mind began to recede until it had fully disappeared. "Yes, correct." She spoke this time, and I did indeed understand her. It was rather refreshing, honestly. "I am sure you have questions; I shall do my best to answer them for you."

  It was my turn to nod, as I certainly had many questions. I brought my hand up to my chin and held it thoughtfully as I tried to sort out what was most important in my mind.

  "... Did I die?"

  "Yes, indeed," said the woman. "Somehow, in your world, you met an untimely end and perished."

  I furrowed my brows at this, but managed to continue. "... Who's body is this?"

  The woman's eyebrows shot up at that, and she smiled a bit. "Your body belonged to a man known as Kinn Stoneskin. He was a brave, if reckless warrior who recently lost his life as well. The moment he died, your soul entered his body."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I brought my hand up to my forehead and cradled it as if a migraine were coming on. "... Right. Why did that happen? Why did my soul enter his body?"

  The woman shifted her legs for a moment, and folded one over the other as she took a sip of tea. I hadn’t realized it until then, but somehow the tea actually did seem to be calming my nerves. I reached down to take up my cup once more.

  "We approached Kinn some time ago and he agreed to become a vessel for you, on the condition that he were to be allowed to die in battle. We then gave him an infusion of blood that belonged to the great Archmage Astophillium Courbis and performed a ritual that the Archmage had taught my family centuries ago; the ritual bound Kinn's body to Archmage Courbis's bloodline, allowing his body to become a vessel for one of the Archmage's descendants to reincarnate into, should they meet an untimely demise."

  She brought her teacup to her lips for another sip after that. I was left at a complete loss for words, so I resigned to do the same. Eventually, somehow, I managed to press on.

"... So... Do you know who I am, then?"

  The woman smiled at this, and shook her head. "I know that you are a descendant of the Archmage, but I do not know your name." She then paused and tipped her head to the side as she finished her thought. "What is your name, if you do not mind my asking?"

  I set down my teacup at that, and folded my hands neatly upon my lap. "Mason Courbis. And your name is?"

  "Serin of Outcast House Xirai'Kuur." The woman once again shifted her legs and folded one atop the other. "I come from a noble family that abandoned the ways of our people many generations ago, thus we were branded as 'Outcast' forevermore."

  I blinked once at that and furrowed my brows in mild concern. "I see. I'm sorry to hear that." The woman waved off my apology almost immediately.

  "Oh, don't bother. As fate would have it, those same people who cast my family out are the reason that we had you reincarnated into our world. They are known as the Autarchy of Xoul, and they have chosen to invade the very continent we live upon, known as Hsura. Mason Courbis, it is our hope that you will help us to defend Hsura from Xoul, and to liberate those he has subjugated."

  As she went on with her explanation, a frown grew upon my face. I wasn't exactly thrilled about what I was hearing.

  "... So this is an Isekai, then. I died, and I've been reincarnated into another world so that I can be it's hero, because my great-great-great uncle or somesuch was an Archmage. Is that it?"

  The woman smiled again at that and nodded twice. "Yes, essentially. I am surprised, however, I did not realize your tongue had a single word for such a phenomenon."

  "Stories like these are very popular in my world as fiction," I explained. "There's so many that the common media's nearly oversaturated with them. Though I guess, given my circumstances, maybe they have a bit more inspiration than I thought they did. I wonder how many random schmucks have stuff like this happen to them... and how often they manage to make their way back."

  "I see," said Serin. "Interesting to be sure. I cannot say on the matter of interplanar travel, however; only the Autarchy's leader, Xoul, and the great Archmage understand such things, and the Archmage disappeared centuries ago."

  I let out a sigh and nodded a few times. "... I hope you don't mind, but... I still have a lot of questions I want to ask. It might take a long time to go through all of them." I frowned a bit as I said this, and I began to worry just how much pressure had suddenly been thrust upon me. Serin just smiled.

  "It's not a problem at all," she said. "It wouldn't be fair to present you with what comes next unless you fully understood the situation." As she said this, I let out a sigh of relief, and continued on with my line of questions.

  "... What is the state of technological advancement in this society?"

  Serin tipped her head to the side at this and raised a brow. "I... apologize, I do not believe I understand what you mean by that."

  "For example," I began to explain, "do you have technology, or magic, to precisely keep track of time? Do you have tools to measure time in seconds, or smaller increments?"

  Serin nodded. "We do, yes."

  "Can you predict the next day's weather, for multiple regions, from a single location?"

Another nod. "Potentially."

  "Do you have indoor plumbing?"

  "Our house does, as do most public buildings within this city. Grandhaven also has public latrines which are connected to the sewer system for those who do not."

  "Grandhaven- is that the name of the city we're in?"

  "Yes, it is. Grandhaven is a small city-state located more or less near the center of Hsura, and has essentially acted as its capital for over two-hundred years."

  "Essentially acted?"

  "Hsura does not have any recognized form of central government, however, many of the local government figures operate on very similar values and codes; since Grandhaven acts as a major crossroads for many other pockets of civilization, it has grown into a sprawling mecca of trade, both for goods and culture alike. Thus, people tend to recognize Grandhaven as the approximate Capital of Hsura, since all practices and customs merge here to form one unified code."

  "What kind of continent is Hsura? It sounds as though the entire continent is one country."

  As I asked this, Serin snapped her fingers and uttered a soft incantation. A scroll was plucked off a nearby shelf, seemingly by the air itself. It then floated its way over, and descended into her hand. Serin set aside the tea set and various items upon the table, and then proceeded to spread out what turned out to be a map. As I looked down upon it, I was glad to see that it had all the essential bearings of a traditional map; the cardinal directions had different symbols representing them, and the number system looked a little more complicated than what I was used to, but it at least seemed correct. More importantly, Hsura itself was apparently a huge island-continent, comparable to Australia or Antarctica on Earth. I nodded a few times as I looked over the map with interest.

  "As you can see, Hsura is very large, but completely surrounded by sea. Hsura was discovered approximately three hundred seventy-five years ago, and many countries around the globe took advantage of its geographical nature and began to use it as, essentially, a prison. Ships carrying convicts sailed from many places to dump their unwanted criminals onto Hsura's shores, and left them there to rot. However, despite what they expected, many groups of convicts began working together, and over time began to build a civilization of their own."

  I furrowed my brows a bit as she concluded her story. "... I suppose it is a bit surprising to hear that criminals from around the world were able to not only avoid killing each other, but were able to build a functioning society."

  Serin let out a soft laugh at that, and shook her head. "When I say 'Criminals,' I do not necessarily mean to say they were all murderers or thieves. In fact, most murderers in other countries received capital punishments, and thus would have never been shipped to Hsura anyhow. Many of the branded 'criminals' were simply those who were not accepted in the societies they lived in; those who were of the 'incorrect' color, creed, race, religion, political mindset, sexuality, the list goes on."

  I blinked a few times as I took the information in. I hadn't been expecting that. "... Well. I suppose it makes a bit more sense now." I paused for a moment as I looked over the map a bit more. "... What exactly is the Autarchy, and where is it invading?" Serin leaned over and poked the map at various locations; each location she touched was left with a small red mark.

  "They currently control the coasts through massive fortresses they've erected, and they've cut off several major trade routes with strategically placed strongholds in their attempt to put our economy and information network into a vice." She tapped a portion of land that rests Northeast of Grandhaven, and left a rather large red mark there. "This is their capital city. It is approximately three times the size of Grandhaven, perhaps even larger, and it is incredibly well fortified."

  "... How did they manage to build these... massive cities and structures? Didn't anyone try to stop them?"

  Serin just sighed at that, and turned away. "... Xoul, the leader of the Autarchy, is able to utilize interplanar travel. The Autarchy itself exists on another plane of existence. There they created these great and terrible structures; Xoul simply willed the completed structures into our plane of existence, causing them to essentially manifest out of thin air. There was nothing we could do to stop them."

  I was visibly confused by this explanation. "... So if Xoul can just... teleport his castles onto any place he wants, why didn't he just... teleport them on top of already completed cities, and destroy them?" This question seemed to deepen Serin's depression.

  "... Xoul's aim is not the destruction of Hsura. His aim is the complete subjugation of Hsura. The Autarchy proclaimed this when it first began invading Hsura this last winter, five months ago. Since then, he has captured and enslaved an uncountable number of villages and cities, and constantly commands his armies to take as many prisoners as possible. He views people as a resource, essentially." She looked up at this, clearly disheartened to be speaking of such things. "... I can only imagine that his aim is to use the fully-subjugated Hsura as a platform to begin invading the rest of the world."

  I listened intently as she explained the situation, and when she finished, I let out a long, shocked whistle. Without really knowing how to respond, I reached up and rubbed at the back of my neck for a moment. "... And I suppose you've been unable to send for help to other countries of the world because the Autarchy controls the coasts, or...?" I was offered a hollow laugh in response as Serin shook her head.

  "No, during the early days of the invasion, we did send for help from other countries. Many of our ships did not return, I assume for various reasons, but from the ones that did, we learned that the other countries of the world still do not care for Hsura, for it is a country born of criminals, savages, and heathens. They did not believe our claims. Swiftly then, the Autarchy took control of the coasts, and any ships that did approach the continent thereafter were obliterated. It would be easy to assume, from an outside perspective, that such a thing would be the work of pirates, essentially par for the course for Hsuran politics from their perspective. So, we have received no aid."

  I promptly deposited my forehead into the palm of my hand. "Right. Of course that's the case." I let out a soft groan and began to massage my temples as the wheels in my head turned about frantically. "... All right. Fine. I don't know how helpful I'm going to be to you; I wasn't exactly a war hero in my last life..." At this, I look up in order to meet Serin's gaze. "... But you've convinced me. I'll help you. Realistically, if I'm going to be living here, I don't exactly have a choice. But I'd rather spend my time doing something than doing nothing at all. So." I pushed myself to my feet and looked down to Serin with a lopsided grin upon my face, and extended my hand.

"Here's hoping we can work well together."

  Serin smiled brightly at this, and stood up in turn. She grasped my outstretched hand, raised it up, and pulled it closer in order to link our arms in a way that could likely best be described as, "Nearly a Bro-Hug," in an Earth-equivalent term. It was a strong gesture, and though I wasn't expecting it, my grin grew a bit wider as it happened.

  "Certainly. Let us work well together." At that, she released my hand and stepped back to brush off her legs. "Well. With that out of the way, I suppose I should lead you to what comes next. Follow me, if you would."

  I nodded once more and began to follow her out of the small library room we had been sitting in. As we were just about to leave, however, a couple more questions suddenly hit me.

  "... Actually, there's one other thing I've been wondering about," I said as we stepped into a well-lit and greatly-windowed hallway. Serin turned to me as she walked and looked down to meet my gaze; only now did I notice that the woman stood at perhaps over six and a half feet tall.

  "What would that be, Mason Courbis?"

  "Well. The first thing I remember after dying, I believe, is hearing a man call out for Kinn, except I could understand what he was saying. Why is that?" I immediately heard a short sigh escape Serin as I asked this.

  "... I had placed an enchantment upon Kinn's body that was set to activate along with the effects of the reincarnation ritual. As soon as your soul had taken residence in Kinn's body, it was to cast the spell upon you that would allow you to comprehend languages, as well as heal you. The man you heard speaking to you was likely Boltred Chainbreaker, one of Kinn's companions; he essentially saved your life after Kinn perished. Unfortunately, however, Kinn had been killed by a fatal blow to the head, and presumably the residual concussive force caused you to lose consciousness shortly after you awoke in his body. Because of this, Boltred was unable to relay any relevant information to you."

  I frowned deeply at this and let out a horribly frustrated sigh. "Right. It certainly would've been nice to know what exactly was happening before I woke up in a strange place I didn't recognize." I shook my head a bit at that and continued. "Why the hell did you let this 'Kinn' die in battle, anyway? What if he lost an arm, or got decapitated?"

  Serin just raised a hand in a slow wave, and appeared as if she were slightly pained by the question. "We put together a large testing pool here in Grandhaven, along with several other villages and cities we still have access to, to see which among our warriors had the most promising martial and magical potential. Kinn, ultimately, had the highest potential in both categories, by a decent margin. He was hesitant to accept our proposal at first, but eventually agreed to sacrifice himself, obviously on the condition that he die a warrior's death against the enemy. We didn't have much of a choice, exactly." I just let out a sigh in response, and nodded. Acceptance, Mason.

  "... Well. It all sorta worked out in the end, so I suppose there's no reason to complain about it now."

  Serin smiled at this and nodded down at me. "Yes! I like your spirit, Mason. I hope you'll maintain that outlook when we approach our next hurdle."

"Right," I said, both somewhat hesitant as well as strangely excited.

"Show me this, 'Part Two' you've been talking about, Serin. I'm ready."