I opened my eyes and froze. I felt strange, difficult to describe. Everything around me was elevated, light, magical, but I felt separate. It was as if a bad artist had inserted an unnecessary object into a beautiful painting. I also noticed that I wasn't fully perceiving what I saw. I saw a forest. I blinked, and now I saw the forest and insects flying around. I didn't seem to notice them before. I blinked again, and light appeared beautifully piercing through the treetops. I blinked once more and noticed something new. It was as if someone was turning on layers in my brain, like in a well-known computer program. After a few minutes, this effect ended.

I was sitting under the crown of a large tree on a bright, picturesque meadow. Everything around me was magical, like in a beautiful advertisement. It was a lovely summer day, butterflies were flying, and the grass was an incredibly vibrant shade of green. Light was shining through the treetops in long, golden beams. Tranquility and peace were everywhere, but it made me uneasy. The scene was too magical and unreal for me, and such beautiful place don't exist in our area. I know because I've been to many places.

It was not immediate, but I noticed something amazing. Strange creatures were flying, jumping, and crawling around. They had different shapes, colors, and sizes. Many of them looked like bacteria from a biology textbook. Some looked like little humans. The sizes of the creatures varied from tiny, the size of a thumbnail, to large, the size of an adult's palm. There were few large ones. Mostly, there were small creatures, about three or four centimeters in size. They all had in common that they were semi-transparent and as if they didn't exist in this world. They were separate, somewhere there, and the physical world was separate. The grass and leaves on the trees did not move, and the delicate moss on the stones did not bend from their touches. The creatures lightly touched physical objects, without any contact. They passed through and floated away.

A few of these amazing creatures swam in front of my face, paying no attention to me. I raised my hand and tried to touch them, but my hand passed through them. I felt nothing. The creature didn't react to my attempts and continued on its way. Maybe they were spirits?

For some time, I sat and looked at this mess. I struggled to catch the fleeting thought that was eluding me, and it was starting to frustrate me. Eventually, I was able to grasp it, and understanding dawned on me. This is the astral plane! What else could it be? I saw spirits living in the astral layer between worlds. That's what the books said, and that's what it turned out to be! I finally did it! It took thousands of attempts, ten years of failures, but I finally managed to leave my physical body. I'm in the astral plane, and I'm aware of myself here. It's difficult, but I'm managing. If I recall the stories of experienced people, this is not just a lucid dream, but the real astral plane. I think it's the upper one.

I lowered my eyes. I was ready to see a transparent body and a golden thread that should connect my subtle body with the physical one. Experienced people described their experiences in books like that. But I saw ordinary clothes. They seemed strange. The clothes were handmade. The shirt had rough gray fabric. The pants were of an indiscernible swampy color. It seemed that the clothes were made of natural fabric, no synthetics. Leather moccasins or something similar were on the feet, also handmade. All of this was of small, childlike size. Why? I am an adult man.

My attention was also drawn to a rope tied to my leg. The other end disappears into the grass, but the rope stretches towards a tree. Does it mean I am tied to a thick trunk? Why? The riddles did not end there. In front of me, a knife is stuck in the ground. It is a sturdy, worn, homemade knife. I wonder if someone wanted me to cut the rope and run away? The surroundings do not seem like the astral world, but they also do not resemble my life. Where am I? Who am I?

Suddenly, something strange started happening with my memory. Foreign memories appeared. I remembered that this knife belonged to my father. I felt grateful to him. I also noticed a tight knot of pain, resentment, despair, and longing in my chest. Did I suddenly remember? Realize? Understand? How do I describe it? That my relatives and neighbors in the village left me here as a sacrifice. My father was also among those who brought me here and tied me up. And yet, I am his son. Father left his knife to give me a chance. What chance? Knowledge appeared in my mind of why I am here. For whom I was left here. If it's true, the knife won't help. I'm a dead man. How could my father do this? I am his son! And what could he do? Break all traditions? Fight against all the villagers, relatives, and neighbors? Kill? Risk the whole big family because of one son? Gods, don't let me get into such a situation. What will I choose? Will I silently sacrifice one child for the sake of the family? For the sake of relatives? Of the village? Definitely not.

For some time, I remembered and tried to comprehend. What did I achieve? This is not my body. I am an accidental traveler! How did it happen? Is it possible? Now, I am a boy, twelve years old. I live in the wilderness, on the edge of some empire. Now, my name is Evan. My village is quite small, with about thirty houses. I have no education, and I don't know anything, except for household chores. I have a big family: a mother, father, two brothers, and a younger sister.

In my village, there is a terrible tradition. Once every ten years, they choose a child and offer them as a sacrifice to the forest spirit, so that it becomes kind to the locals. The elders say it works. The forest spirit becomes a helper for the village for the next ten years. If they don't offer a sacrifice, there will be a lot of trouble. Being a sacrifice is an honorable thing. The dead ones offered to the spirit are highly respected and mourned for a long time. They are considered protectors of the village.

What do I know? My village is located near the forest. Various monsters have been living in forest for a long time. Yes! In this world, monsters are a reality. It's quite common to see a living skeleton in the forest. The elders told stories that the forest used to belong to the elves. A long time ago, three hundred years ago, there was a war between humans and elves. The humans won and expelled the elves. Since then, the forest has become a very dangerous place. People are scared to go there, but they have to. The forest is a rich place. Berries, mushrooms, firewood, how can the locals survive the winter without these things? Others come from afar, looking to earn money, searching for rare herbs, ancient artifacts, and treasures. Everyone has their own reasons. Bad people have found refuge in the forest. The cowardly do not visit this scary place.

What should I do now? This isn't astral, I've gotten myself into trouble.  I need to figure out how this happened and if it's possible to go back. The boy's memory holds some knowledge about magic and monsters. I am in a terrifying world. My father offered me as a sacrifice to the forest spirit. It's a crazy reality. Where is the way out?

The boy and I have merged memories and knowledge. I tried to remember everything I knew about the forest spirit. In my world, it's called Leshy or the Grand Duke of the Forest Yenar. I was able to define it by digging into my knowledge. It's an unkind, harmful, unpleasant spirit. In my world, the forest prince was also called a demon. But in my world, there were legends, fairy tales, scary stories, and horror films about demons. My world is not magical, there is no place for spirits and monsters. Or it's difficult for them to manifest themselves, so only vague rumors go around about them. It's not the same here. Leshy is very powerful. Running away from the ruler of the forest is a foolish idea. I think Leshy has already eaten the boy's soul. Somehow, I took his place. Will Leshy let me go? I doubt it.

***

My interest in everything mystical began in childhood. At the age of ten, I first encountered something inexplicable. A house spirit attacked me, but that's another story. After that event, I spent my whole life gathering information about practices, rituals, and other occult knowledge. I didn't delve deep into magical arts, fearing to lose my mind and distance myself from society. Such cases were not uncommon. Several of my acquaintances who shared my hobby ended up in insane asylums. I knew and tried many things, but always exercised great caution. For many years, I studied energy work and yoga. There were many unsuccessful attempts with astral projection for some reason. My friends called me a psychic, but I disagreed with them. I considered myself knowledgeable, but not psychic and certainly not a magician.

I first met the Leshy when I participated in a search for a family with a child who had gotten lost in the forest. A friend called and asked me to come and help with the search. The forest seemed small and not too dense, but they had been searching for the family for several days already. They had almost given up hope of finding them alive. I knew the missing family a little, which is why I agreed to help. I also had some experience traveling through forests and enjoyed wandering alone in wild places. I even had a YouTube channel about bushcraft. Over two hundred rescuers and volunteers participated in the search, and a helicopter was flying overhead all the time, but it wasn't helping. In this small forest, they couldn't find the three missing people, and they couldn't even find their tracks. That's when I realized that we were dealing with something supernatural.

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As soon as I arrived at the search site and entered the forest, I immediately felt a foreign presence. Out of habit, I defocused my gaze and began to look around. I considered myself a strong practitioner, so I wasn't surprised when I was able to make out the silhouette of an old man with a staff among the trees. He stood there for a moment, furrowing his brows, and then disappeared. What did the Leshy want?

Most likely, the lost people offended him in some way. In my world, people behave improperly and disrespectfully towards the forest. They litter, light fires, shout, and show disrespect to the owner of the place. I had gifts prepared, knew where I was going and why. I ventured into the forest so that no one would see me. My world is not magical and people have different attitudes towards the occult. Some are interested, while others are aggressive. I bowed down and asked for the gifts to be accepted and the people to be released. I waited. After a few minutes, the wind picked up and pulled somewhere deep into the forest. I soon found the missing family. They were very scared and tired. They didn't immediately believe that it was over. The Leshy led them around his property, and fear caught up with them. I called for help on the radio, and they were taken away. The rescuers were amazed that the search teams couldn't find the missing people just one kilometer from the headquarters.

***

But that was there. In this world, the Leshy is scarier and more dangerous. I saw little spirits running away from the passage between two huge pines. A grandfather with a staff appeared between the trunks. He was very short, only up to my chest. His beard was green, maybe it was just grass instead of hair. The Leshy was wearing a long shirt that reached his knees and was belted with a strap. He had a hat on his head. He was simply dressed, not fancy.

The hand's brushes were disproportionately large, with scary black claws on the fingers. His legs were also big, but I couldn't see them in the grass in detail. His eyes were deeply set, small and prickly. He drills with them, and I physically feel the pressure. He freezes and looks. At first, he doesn't understand, then he evaluates. After all, the grandfather came for a new victim. We look into each other's eyes, and I don't like his gaze; there is something bad in it. Something needs to be done, or the Leshy will eat me.

I tried to sense the energy in the solar plexus. In my world, it is believed that the soul resides there. I was amazed at how easily I felt the flow. The energy responded, flowed through my hands into my palms. In my world, I had developed my energy through various available methods such as yoga, qigong, and occult practices. More than twenty years of training had given me decent results, considering it was not a magical world. At home, I had achieved the ability to move light objects with my energy. I often demonstrated this to my friends by placing a piece of cotton on a table and covering it with a jar. Then, I would use my energy to move the cotton from its place. They thought it was some kind of trick and begged me to reveal the secret. The secret was simple - twenty years of training. Recently, I had showed a new trick that was just as impressive. I managed to make my energy sharp enough to puncture paper, creating a small hole. It was very challenging, but the show was impressive.

Now I understand that my past accomplishments are a shadow of my current potential in this magical world. I feel a lot of energy, my own strength, in my palms. But will I be able to fight such an opponent? It is a very strong magical creature that has existed for millennia. But what should I do? I don't have a choice.

I unfocused my gaze and gave control of my body to my subconscious. In my world, it is believed that it knows the best way out of any situation. My left hand filled with energy and darted towards a small creature that looked like an infusoria and was very close. This time, my fingers did not pass through the spirit, but firmly grasped it. In my right palm, a small vortex of energy formed. I raised my hand and at the same time pulled the captured spirit with my left hand. The vortex elongated and pierced the spirit. Its remains scattered in all directions, slowly fading away. I lowered my hands onto my knees. I imagined a barrier around myself that repeated every contour of my body and filled it with energy.

The forest spirit watched at first, then narrowed his eyes to small slits. He shifted his stance, ready to attack at any moment. After the barrier appeared around me, he frowned, turned around, and disappeared.

Did I succeed? Did he get scared? What should I do with the energy from the barrier? I tried to bring it back into myself, and it was easy. The energy obediently returned to the source at the solar plexus. Just great. My studies of energy work in my non-magical world had a wonderful result here. After my reincarnation in this new body, the amount of energy increased significantly. Controlling energy became much faster and easier. I wonder what the local mages are capable of?

As I took the knife and cut the rope, I stood up and looked around. The beautiful meadow was still surrounding me, with a large oak tree in the middle where I had been sitting. I decided to take my father's knife with me, maybe I would return it someday. I held it in my left hand, the blade pointing towards my forearm. I couldn't wear it on my belt since I had no sheath for it, and I couldn't risk cutting my only pair of pants. I also made sure to keep the rope, as it might come in handy.

"Sorry, forest master, but I am not a tasty meal," I shouted in the direction where the leshy had disappeared. "Don't be angry with me."

The sound of my voice was unusual. I am a grown man, forty years old. I remember myself having a mature voice. But now my voice is childlike. The language is also strange, both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It's a strange feeling that caused me great discomfort. I turned around and went in the first direction I saw.

I walked further away from the clearing and thought. Why did he let me go? Maybe the Leshy is leading me into a trap? But soon I realized that there was no point in thinking about it. In my world, the Leshy has been known for several thousand years. Many tales, legends, and myths have come down to us from ancient times. The prince exists in this place. I saw him. Does he know how to travel between worlds? I cannot stand against such an opponent. All that's left is to trust my luck and simply move forward.

I looked around and didn't see any magical glade. It was a coniferous forest with rare deciduous trees. No matter how hard I looked, I didn't notice anything standing out. The forest looked ordinary. The huge oak tree on the magical glade was far behind. My thoughts again turned to the speculations of "what happened?" and "what to do now?"

"If my soul is here, then I died there," I reasoned out loud. "I went to sleep as usual, and I died. Will my wife wake up next to my corpse? How amusing. She'll maim me! No! She'll kill me! But it doesn't matter to me anymore, in my world. And here? No... forgive me, my dear. I feel so sorry for the children. My younger son is still so little, he won't understand. And my older one... how will he cope with losing his dad? How could this happen? Fool! Why did I venture into the astral plane? Idiot!"

I stopped and squatted down. I held my head in my hands as tears streamed down my cheeks. I was remembering my past life - the happy moments with my family, playing with my children, and our joyful trips. The place and time were not suitable, so I pulled myself together and calmed down. I stood up and continued walking, still thinking out loud.

"I need to survive. Figure out what I am capable of. Understand what I can count on. Learn about the world I've ended up in. Who lives here? In Evan's memory, there are only humans. There were once elves long ago, but no more. They were defeated. Good. What can I count on? Perhaps everyone here is a great mage and I'm nobody. In the boy's village, there were no mages, just regular people. What does that mean? Can I become a mage? I am capable of something. Wait... " I waved my hand. "I'm just dreaming. Maybe my place is in the field, planting wheat and feeling the whip on my back. Evan knew that there was no slavery in the empire. Simply wonderful."

I was walking through a normal forest. The path was unfolding under my feet. And my thoughts were racing like skittish squirrels up the trees.

"I need to get a job, figure out what kind of magic they have here. Maybe they can travel between worlds? Evan knows tales of the departed elves who went to other worlds after they lost the war. Maybe the local mages possess such a spell. Then what? Will I return home? Why not? Imagine how great it would be to hug my children. I understand that I died in that world, and here I have a new body. But can't we get used to it somehow? We are a family," I even stopped, liking this idea so much. "Idiot. I don't know anything. Where? Where is my world? That means I have to finish the magic academy, the local Hogwarts. Become an archmage and personally open a portal home. To tell my kids, 'I'm daddy who died many years ago, but I came back. Forgive me.' The most important thing is a pitiful look. And if they don't believe me, lightning to the ass.. Fool, you're talking nonsense."

I was wandering through the forest, muttering nonsense to myself, until I came across the ruins of a tower. It used to be a normal stone tower, about ten meters in diameter. Two floors have been preserved completely. The third one partially. Someone struck the tower with something very powerful a long time ago. The stone melted and dripped down in drops. What could do something like this? Plasma? The area around the tower is covered in stone. This battle happened a long time ago. The entrance inside is open, there is no door. Little spirits fly around the structure. Everything appears calm and peaceful. Good a place for rest and realization of the mess where I ended up in!