Within the depths of an alleyway’s darkness, a girl lay on the floor. She wasn’t asleep, but she also wasn’t awake.

She was in a trance. A gross feeling no mortal had experienced.

Within the depths of a dark alleyway, a girl lay on the floor. She wasn’t asleep, but she also wasn’t awake.

Words couldn’t explain the state she was in, for words were made by mortals. And no mortal had experienced what she had.

“Where am I? Last thing I remember…” she whispered, struggling not to fall to the ground.

Blinding light cut through the darkness she had found herself in. Walking into it, she was met with a sight that her imagination could’ve never conjured.

“What… the… Fuck!”

Before her eyes, a street could be seen, with a town square found on the other side of the road. But what struck out most was the appearance of the people she could see all around her. Their clothes were, to put it bluntly, antiquated. Most men that passed by her were dressed in tunics, while long gowns were the usual sight for women, not a single pair of jeans in sight. The entire street’s buildings resembled medieval architecture, with most buildings made of basic stone and wood.

Awestruck, she decided to walk towards the plaza, stepping on the road, fully intent on crossing it. Unfortunately for the freshly-awakened maiden, her hearing was struck by a loud sound, accompanied by the screaming voice of a man, with words that could be identified as some sort of profanity.

Quickly turning her head to the right, she spotted a tall vehicle. If she had to use a single word to describe it, “carriage” would be it. And yet, an important element one would associate with a carriage, a horse or some other kind of animal to push it, was sorely missing. Regardless, it rushed toward her, at sufficient speed to send her flying.

Before she could even attempt to react to what her eyes were seeing, a loud scream assaulted her ears

“Watch out!”

The owner of the voice, without a hint of hesitation, leaped forward and shoved the girl, preventing her untimely demise. Both their bodies slid across the ground as they screamed, ending up one on top of the other. The uppermost body belonged to the heroine who had just saved the innocent bystander’s life, a young woman with golden locks and eyes, clad in a green tunic that left the left half of her torso exposed, who didn’t waste a second to exclaim:

“It seems your life continues, due to the effort of none other than I, a carrier of the Light of Justice!” Now please,” she continued, stretching out her arm, “allow me to hear your name.”

At this point, everyone in the general area was staring at the two women, who were causing quite the ruckus.

“Ma… Elena. No, actually, Maria. Maria Elena.” was the reply, her face red like a tomato. “I prefer Elena.”

“Maria, huh?” was the blonde maiden’s reply, disregarding Elena’s preference. She proceeded to perform three consecutive backflips, before carrying on speaking. “Not a name you often hear in these lands. But it matters not, for the Light of Justice does not concern itself over the frivolousness of names.”

“Why did you ask my name, then?” replied Elena, understandably confused, as she got up.

Her facial expression swiftly shifted, from confident to dumbfounded.

“We-Well, it was for no reason other than to satisfy my personal curiosity. But as I said, the Light of Justice cares not for names and last names. Hence, why I didn’t tell you that my name is Lucia. I simply prevented tragedy from occurring, for I am just fulfilling my duty as a noble bard!”

“So, Lucia the bard. Very well then.” Hearing Elena speak, Lucia realized her own words had betrayed her yet again, and let out a sigh. “You’re not gonna try to seduce me, are you? Because if so, you can skip the whole rolling part…” Elena stared down at the self-proclaimed bard’s left thigh; oddly, her pants covered one thigh and left the other one exposed.

“You heathen! To think this fair maiden risked her life to save such a dog in the shape of a person!” She Karate-chopped Elena on the shoulder. “Farewell, for my heroic abilities are required somewhere actually deserving of them!”

Not wasting a second, Lucia started sprinting in the direction Elena was facing. She ran for about fifteen meters, before coming to an abrupt stop. She rotated her body by 180 degrees, and began running again, this time the complete opposite way.

“It seems I have misjudged where the light guides me to. Farewell… again,” she hurriedly said as she passed Elena, her figure disappearing into the horizon.

To say Elena was perplexed at the events that just transpired in front of her would be the understatement of a lifetime. But not as confused as she was at the environment that currently surrounded her. Why did everyone look like a medieval peasant on the twenty-first century? Why was she almost run over by a carriage, instead of a car? The, admittedly low, possibility of there being some sort of medieval faire she hadn’t been aware of certainly existed, but that didn’t explain why she awoke in the middle of an alley.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

All of those questions weighed on her mind as she walked around the square, home to many peculiar sights. Flowers of many different colors were planted on the ground. Street vendors were found in vast quantities. Kids were playing and loving couples could be seen sitting on the ground, enjoying the warm evening. Most folks were gathered around a fountain, which could be found in the center, a statue of a woman serving as its decoration. Elena, who had been wandering aimlessly, decided to walk towards it. As she approached it, she found herself lost in thought.

Placing that question on the back of her mind, she found herself right next to the fountain’s water. She stared at its surface with a curious gaze. The cleanliness of the water caught her attention immediately. She was used to such fountains containing the dirtiest water possible outside of sewers. Yet not only was the water crystal clear, it even appeared to be safe for consumption, as all around her kids and adults alike were drinking directly from it.

Realizing she was pretty thirsty herself, she thought to herself, Hmm, it wouldn’t hurt to take a sip, would it? I am feeling really thirsty— I mean, I am always thirsty, but in a different way than usual.

With a smug smile, she patted herself on the back for what she considered a clever joke. She couldn’t prevent her mind from flashing images of men and women she’d previously felt thirst towards—most of them fictional, but that’s besides the point.

No piece of fiction however could prepare her for what would appear before her eyes upon attempting to lower her lips for a sip.

““Is that… me?” she stated, as she stared, intensely, at her own reflection.

A reflection, a sight one is used to seeing as commonly as they see the sun, yet the face being displayed was that of a stranger to Elena. Her hair was brown, her eyes were piercing blue, and her skin was pale as snow.

It was a feeling hard to describe. To glance at one’s own reflection and see a face unlike one’s own… it was a situation few could claim to have experienced. Even fewer could claim to have the fortune of waking up and have their face be replaced by one of incredible beauty, with a cute tiny nose and without a hint of acne or any kind of red spot.

At this point, she took notice of her waist, which was noticeably thinner than the day before.

“Oh my gosh, I’m thin now!” she said excitedly, stroking her belly. All that fat that’d weighed down on her, both figuratively and literally, had vanished without a trace. She’d never been exactly a looker, so this sudden metamorphosis meant she got a supermodel body with none of the soul-draining dieting required.

Her excitement would be spoiled by the realization that people all around her were staring, at the weirdo who appeared confused by their own reflection. Trying to hide her shame at her weird actions, she decided to step away from there and ignore the awkwardness.

As she strolled away without a destination, her mind began to wander, far too many things happening for her to make sense of.

How did this happen? Last thing I remember, I was standing on that bridge and…”

Her brain hit the metaphorical pause button on that thought, her hands striking at her forehead as if to force herself into forgetting. How she’d arrived at this situation was not a matter worth pondering. That was a memory she’d rather keep foggy, for to think back to that day would just mean to poke at a wound.

It’s not like she had much to complain about, anyway. Her new body was a total improvement in her eyes. And the package it came in was no less appealing; she was wearing a classy long white dress, adorned with vertical stripes from top to bottom. The most eye-striking part was found right underneath her cleavage, where what appeared to be the black silhouettes of a crow and a cicada served as decoration.

Besides, there was no time to waste sulking. She needed the headspace to make sense of what was going on in the present.

She had acquired an entirely new body, one belonging to someone else. While she didn’t believe in reincarnation, it was certainly a possibility that needed to be considered. If that was the case, who did she reincarnate as, and where? It was a mystery that called to be solved. Considering her surroundings, odds were she’d traveled back in time.

“Where on Earth am I?” she thought out loud. Finishing saying that, she struck upon a Eureka moment. “Wait, Earth… am I even on Earth?”

Upon careful consideration, she arrived upon a more likely hypothesis. One whose truth she had a simple way to figure out.

She approached a man, sitting down alongside his wife and two daughters. She hunched down, poked his back, and asked, “E-Excuse me, sir, where… are we?”

Right as she finished uttering those words, she realized the absurdity of what she’d just asked. The man, unsurprisingly, only raised an eyebrow as a response, while his family exchanged confused glares.

So, in an attempt to save face, she tried to clarify. “I mean, like, what city is this, not like, this world, or something, you know?”

As previously mentioned, she attempted to save face. The attempt had failed miserably. Seeing the man’s blank stare, she let out a shy, awkward laugh.

Thankfully for her, the uncomfortable silence was ended by him, who after a quick laugh of his own, stated, “You’re a very strange young lady, to find yourself asking about the very place you’re standing on right now. But since you appear to need help, I’ll answer anyway: this is Catella, the capital city of Luzterna, the Kingdom of Everlasting Light.”

“Thank you so much for your time, good sir! She followed her excitement with a respectful bow, unsure of what the customs of this place even were. “And I’m sorry for… being all weird,” said Elena, while being weird.

She turned around, her back facing the family, and began strolling away, with little, excited hops taking the place of steps. She heard the man say, “No problem. Have a ni—”

The man cut off his speech, while his wife let out a screech. Elena was no longer paying them any attention, however, her mind turning somewhere else.

Catella, Luzterna, those were places she’d never heard of. She considered herself pretty bad at Geography and History, but there was no way even she was dumb enough to not remember a kingdom with that name.

Thus, the mystery was solved.

A place where everyone is stuck in the Middle Ages. Where Elena was an uncommon name. And with places not found in any map she knew.

There was only one conclusion that could be reached.

—She had been transported to another world.