I woke up, and I was… standing?

Who sleeps standing…

My eyes opened to the lights, and I was having trouble adjusting to the brightness of my surroundings. The murmur of people came from every direction, pushing me into a state of confusion.

When my eyes finally began to settle, the first thing I perceived was the color purple.

Purple huh.

My room is not purple.

I had just been at my desk, reading long into the night, now where was I? A perfectly elaborate dream?

I scanned the buildings around me. Houses of creamy whites and shades of brown and beige sculpted into traditional houses I couldn’t directly name. The place I stood was large, the ground below me tiled spiral in a sort of square, and large roads deviated from the square into their own streets.

The grass between the stones varied between healthy hues of green to alien purple colors. Grass is never purple.

My gaze trailed up from the ground below me to the people about. Freakishly decorated people were walking about, in pairs, groups, or alone.

The first thing I noted was that these people did not appear to be human.

Wings spouted from the sides of people's heads, others had horns, and another one I spotted was a gargantuan lizard guy!

“-eon!”

Subconsciously, I reached to pinch myself. My ears rang and my mind was in disarray. I had done all those observations in less than a second, I was hyper-aware.

At that moment I felt like I could hear everything in the world. The birds in the distance singing, the music resonating from a stall, and the happy chatter of children in the corner of the square. I could hear everything but the incoming figure coming full-throttle at me.

“Leon!”

Before I could react, I was already being barrelled into by something that already escaped my field of vision. Hurling backward and onto my arse as I let out a ‘oof.’

“Leon! Are you alright?” Someone entered my blurred vision and called out to me as I lay on the floor.

A boy about my age reached for my hand, pulling me up even when I didn’t say a word. Tufts of feather and fur stuck out the side of his head which complemented his dark purple coils, he shot me a familiar grin.

…Who the hell is this guy?

“Leon! How could you not see that dragonfly coming for you!” He worryingly spouted, his face shifting from a grin to worry as I blinked one eye before the other.

Dragonfly? Why was a dragonfly strong enough to knock the wind out of me?

I questioned what had happened as the boy closed the distance between us.

This boy was small, he appeared to be about fourteen years old. His skin is a dark shade of brown speckled with white marks across his joints. Hair rests at his shoulders in tight purple coils, and on either side of his head rests two feathery-furred flaps. This stranger must know me.

I teetered for a moment, the pain of falling hard on my butt was a wake-up call alright, so much more painful than a pinch.

“Did you break anything? That dragonfly was going pretty fast and I thought you were going to dodge– We should see your mom-!” The boy began rambling, baring a strange resemblance to Blake, only if Blake wasn’t such a meathead.

I smiled as if I knew everything about this boy.

Sweat began to form on my cheek and back as I slowly came to a realization that this was real, and it was not Texas.

This mysterious boy whom I assigned the name ‘Tatertot’ in my mind took me by the hand and started dragging me across the square. Twisting past the people with some ‘Excuse me!’ and ‘Pardon!’ here and there before eventually curving into a smaller alley.

“Miss Hym!!! Leon is hurt!” Tatertot spouted as he came to a stop inside of a home. I peered around the place that appeared to be a very humble cottage, homey in vibes and quiet.

A woman mysteriously stood up from behind a counter, catching me off guard by her appearance.

She looked just like my mom!!!! But a little bit younger!!!

“Leon, come here.” The woman whom I presumed to be my mother, cooed as I subconsciously stepped forward into her embrace. My small hands tugged at the smooth silky fabric of her dress whilst she whispered something about me playing in the central street.

I was too concerned about why my mom was here with me, and what was going on, that I didn’t see the ears mounted on my head and my mothers from the mirror conventionally placed behind her, allowing me to stare at myself clinging to her figure from a bit away.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

My hairstyle remained the same, wavy bits of a bright blonde messily piled on top of each other.

I noticed that my eyes were a deeper shade of blue than they used to be, a cool-sapphire color replacing the former light blues.

My gaze settled on the foreign shapes resting on the sides of my head that replaced what would’ve been my ears.

A pair of slim, short, fluffy ears on my head.

“My sweet baby, are you alright? Any abnormalities?” My face was suddenly yanked from her side and into her hands. My mother cupped my face and rolled my cheeks between her palms.

It felt like she was just trying to feel my face as she fondly spoke.

“I’m fine ma,”

I mumbled between the pulls and pushes against my face. Tatertot on the side was giggling.

“I’m okay, I just fell a little.” I reinstated, prying her hands off me as she stared at me with a gummy-like expression. I backed away ever so slowly.

My mother gazed at me with a loving expression, ‘My sweet son is so big!’, I turned away.

“Yeah yeah…. I’m going to go to my room…”

As I finished speaking, I crept toward the back of the home where the stairs led upstairs. A slow stroll turned into a bolt as Tatertot began yelling at me and following me.

I don’t know what compelled me to run, or how I knew my room was upstairs in a specific room, but I ran into one of the rooms and slammed the door. I pressed my full weight on the door as Tatertot yelled to be let in.

“Go away-!” I called in a half-singing and playful tone. Eventually, he went off, allowing me to sit in my own thoughts for the first time since I came here.

My lips pursed as I pulled myself up straight from the slouched position against the door. I dragged myself to the mirror positioned in the corner of the small yet cozy room.

The room appeared to be pretty normal. A twin-sized bed nestled in the corner and a dresser drawer made of a light brown wood holding trinkets shoved at the bedside. Some books and shells in neatly placed about the bed and drawer.

Focusing attention on myself, I took a good look at my appearance in the mirror.

My hair is a golden color of blonde in the beams of light coming through the window, my eyes a striking deep sapphire marked with traces of a lighter shade.

Dressed in a plain white cotton shirt– not in the sense of modern shirts, but this one has barely any sewing or threading. The hems were a bit frayed, but the shirt was in overall good condition. There was a bit of a slit at the collar formed into a V, but that was about it.

My pants appeared to be made of a slightly warmer material of a dark brown color. Over my knees wrapped some leather padding that molded to the boots I wore.

Curving my body to the side, I could see and feel the little tail sticking out from behind me.

It appears that I was some sort of beast, though I was unsure of which kind.

‘Beasts were to not be confused with animals,’ I recalled from the book. Beasts were magic-wielding species with intelligence similar to humans, compared to animals which usually did not have any magic or the sort of ego and intelligence we had. By definition, Beasts were essentially *Kemonomimi.

Treading backward, I fell onto my bed.

I ended up falling directly onto a seashell that impaled my arse once again as I yowled, digging it out from under me and tossing it across the room.

Laying in the comforts of my bed which was less soft than the one I used to have in Texas, many things were coming to me all at once.

“I ISEKAI’D–!?!?!?”

I shouted haphazardly as I sat up from the bed, shaking the room with the might of my voice. A hand flew over my mouth at my thoughts being voiced out loud.

I could only jump out of bed and pace. What year was it? How long until the timeline starts? Has it started?

A knock broke me from my trance as my Mother’s head poked into the room unannounced.

“Leon, are you alright? You were shouting.” She inquired, tilting her head ever so slightly.

“I-I’m fine. I just sat on something.” Making up a plausible excuse, Mother seemed content with that answer.

“Call me if you need anything, then!” dipping back behind the door, I found myself jumping at the chance to ask her something.

“Wait! Ma, I have a question-!”

I grabbed the door before she could shut it, sheepishly waiting as she turned back.

“What year is it?”

My mother stared at me with a look of confusion, like I already knew this. I donned a smile, suggesting I was asking for clarification.

Silence made itself known between us for a moment before she spoke,“It is the year 571 on the Continental Calendar.”

My face relaxed, and from that reaction, she seemed happy, “Is that all you needed?”

Nodding, I allowed her to leave. Striding back into my room and slowing to a halt.

My face trembled in nervousness.

It is the Era of Eudiamonia, year 571. Twelve years before the start of the main events in the first book.

It felt like my mind had separated from my body as a terrible thought settled into my head. My body acting faster and before I knew it, I was rampaging around the world like the pubescent boy I was, ransacking the room for any pieces of information I could acquire.

The room steadily became flipped inside out as covers were thrown, shells were scattered across the wooden floor, and books were discarded.

‘Please, please, please,’

I chanted to myself before I pulled back one of the drawers to the dresser, spotting a rather peculiar, small, leatherback book with the name LEON written on it in bold.

It's strange, because at first glance in the modern world, it would look like alien text. But for some reason, I could perfectly understand it. It wrote my name.

Lifting the book out from the drawer, I dusted off any dirt or crumbs that lingered before opening it up. The smell of freshly pressed papers and ink hit my nose as I flipped the pages,

This was Leon’s diary.

Was it my diary, or the Leon I replaced? The Leon here was exactly me, everything was the same down to the little birthmarks I had.

I took a breath and slowly started at the first page. It was dated to about three years ago, but something other than the entry caught my attention.

Leonardo Fiddlehym.

“...”

I rapidly blinked as my eyes settled over the runic letters over and over again, was this my name? Leonardo? Fiddlehym? I stared for a long time at how preposterous of a name it sounded, it was straight out of a British story.

Brushing off the fact I had a ridiculous name, I shut the book for a moment to recall the contents of the book.

Was I a side character who would assist the main character someday? Was I a merchant who would sell powerful goods? Or a noble with great influence over my people?

It felt like ages had passed with me trying to search through my jumbled memories, and I found nothing.

Nothing whatsoever.

There was no mention of a ‘Leonardo’ or even the family name, ‘Fiddlehym’ in the book. If nothing about me– or the boy I isekai’d as, was mentioned… Then….

“I’m… A side character…?”

Whispering as if it was a secret, I felt myself sink into despair. The book fell from my hands and clattered to the floor as I stared at the wall.

My life was so perfect….

And now that I have isekai’d into Evelyn, I was born as a useless side character irrelevant to the story!

I silently sucked my thumb and collapsed onto the bed, pulling at my hair.