Where am I? I was just being jumped by those men, did they kill me? Am I dead? No, that can’t be right, if I was dead I wouldn’t be able to think right now! Or feel! Wait a moment, I can feel stuff! I'm alive! And not in much pain! The residual pain from my period of torment still remained dully. Was that a dream or a hallucination? I don’t feel as bad as I would have expected, and I’m not lying on pavement. I attempt to move my arms in order to pick myself up, but only seem to reach through air. What am I lying on? I can reach my arms through it, and I can’t see it, but it’s definitely there, I can’t lie on nothing. But lying on nothing I seemed to be. I moved my hand below where I felt my chest to be, finding nothing, and then placing my hands on my chest, or at least trying to, but my hand seemed to find nothing, even if I moved them through my body. And then my perception started to awake.

I do not exist. I am not here. Or at least my body isn’t. My senses have returned, I can see, hear, feel, taste, and smell with the same acuity as I could before, at least I would if there was anything to sense. Even my own body was not present, the hands and arms I was moving before merely a delusion borne from being accustomed to my human form. Guess they did kill me after all. And with a little mental laugh, my consciousness slipped away.

-

Grass? I reach around the prickly, uneven surface. I'm lying on a field, face down. I must have been dreaming and someone must have moved me then. I place my hands against the ground, and with an effort that would make every ant and beetle in existence laugh themselves halfway to death, slowly try to lift myself up. Red? I use the little bit of strength I have to throw myself onto my back. I still need some time for my body to recover. Maybe it would be nice to just lie here. While I lay on my back I close my eyes and take a moment to take in the sounds of my surroundings. It’s quiet, the only sound is the whistle of wind in the grass and leaves. Not even a car. They must have thought they killed me and dumped me in a valley somewhere. Wait! What is that?

As I open my eyes I see an astounding sight. The sky is a vibrant orangey yellow, somewhere in between the pictures of the sun taken by satellites and what it looks like when you look up at the sky. Or at least normally, because right now it is clearly a deep violet. How hard did I hit my head? It doesn’t hurt. I move my hand to my head and brush back my hair. Huh, that felt weird. I pull a lock of hair in front of my face and play with it in my fingers. It isn’t right. It is very, very wrong. My hair, and hand, have changed into something almost ethereal and iridescent in appearance, energetically shifting between swirls and vortexes of blues, greens, reds, and every other color imaginable, plus some unimaginable. I took a moment to inspect the rest of my arms and body. The miraculous mesh of color seemed to coat my whole body, like it was my own skin. Wait a minute! I give myself a few pokes along different parts of my body, the colors seem to move with my insubstantial flesh. That is my skin. I’m naked, I hope I don’t run into anyone soon. Although maybe running into someone would be a good thing. That way I could get an explanation of where I am!

After taking a few minutes to rest, I get up and take a look around. And what I see is absurd and absurdly beautiful. I’m standing in a field of deep crimson grass, dotted by a few trees with leaves of a slighter lighter shade, and wood of a bold navy blue. After what appears to be a few hundred meters, the valley recedes into a forest in all directions. So it’s a glade, not a valley. Above the trees is the orangey-yellow sky, acting as a cheery backdrop to the leaning lily like suns, a larger deep violet star, partially blocking out the light green star appearing akin to a stem.

So I stared. 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes. Time ran in circles as I took in and processed this ludicrous environment I seemed to have found myself in. I stood still, entranced, immersed and bewildered by my surroundings. Dazed by this new land, that is until I heard a voice.

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“Hello there lass.” I turned around to find a short man, younger in age, with dark gray skin decorated with crimson and orange streaks, glowing yellow eyes with bright red irises and forest green pupils. His hair a blazing red, edged with glowing gold, shoulder length and wavy. Is that a human? We stared at each other for a few moments before he spoke again. “I might look a bit different then you’re used to, but I’m not some kind of gorgon. And anyway, take a look at yourself, I’ve never seen anyone as colorful as you.”

I look down at my flesh of swirling chromatic chaos and come to two conclusions. He’s right, I am colorful. Naked as well. And with that realization I rush to cover my more sensitive areas with my arms and hands. The man just laughs and quips “don’t worry rainbow, you’re far from the first girl I’ve seen naked. I can turn around while you get dressed if you want though.” I nod and he turns around and throws out a large maroon bundle behind him. As I pick it up a blue cord falls out from the bundle. A tunic, how interesting.

I turn back to the man in his black suit and ask “do you happen to have underwear?”

“No, of course not. I had no way to know that you were going to be a girl ahead of time. And I have absolutely no reason to carry female underwear on me normally.”

“Okay, that makes sense.” Wait, know ahead of time? “Did you know I was going to be here?” I inquire as I finish fastening the cord around my waist.

“Oh of course, the wisps of your arrival could be seen for leagues.” he turns around and starts slowly walking back and forth. wisps? “I must say, those clothes don’t go very well with your coloring, although I suspect nothing really does.” he looks me over, “you look like a toddler got their hands on magical shifting paints of nigh to every color possible and painted all over your body randomly while you were spinning in circles.” well that’s blunt. “Oh don’t give me that look, I didn’t mean it to be insulting, it’s actually quite fascinating to look at, and from one who has seen as much as myself, that is high praise.”

“Well thank you, I guess.” I turn away from his grinning form, looking up towards the glowing sky. What the hell is going on? “I have a few questions if you wouldn’t mind answering them.”

“Go ahead, I don’t mind at all. One at a time though.”

“First, I don’t mean to sound crazy or delirious, but am I dead?”

The mystery man looks at me for a moment, his grin momentarily sifting into a showing of bemusement, before breaking out laughing. Huh? “What kind of question is that?” he roars. Oh good, so I am alive. “Of course you’re dead. Don’t you remember dying?” or not alive. It seems my memories do not deceive or mislead me.

“Actually I do, now for the next question. Who are you?”

“My name is Alexander, Alexander of Macedon. And what shall I call you?”

Hm, not a full answer, but good enough. As for his question, “You can call me Io.”

“Just Io, no surname? I heard surnames are very common in your era.” my era?

“They are, but I’m Just Io. Now then, where am I?”

“Well that miss, is something I have been trying to figure out for the past 2 millenium.” Alexander turns back towards the woods and starts talking “I’ll explain some more once we get back to civilization.”

And with that he walks off into the forest, and I quickly follow behind him. Civilization, eh.