Ed was hard at work in the hangar, tinkering with the latest agricultural robot prototype. The robot was designed to pick fruit from trees, and Ed was making final adjustments to its programming before its scheduled field tests.

"Hey, Eddie, how's it going?" asked his colleague John, who had just entered the hangar. "You've been working on that thing all morning."

"Hey, John," Ed replied, looking up from his work. "Yeah, just putting the finishing touches on the programming. It's a little tricky, but I think I've got it working now."

"That's great. Hey, I was thinking we could grab some lunch. You want to come?"

"I'll pass, thanks. I just have a little more work to do on this thing, and then I'm heading out," Ed said.

"Suit yourself. See you later," John said as he headed for the exit.

As soon as John was gone, Ed turned his attention back to the robot. He was almost finished when something strange happened. The robot suddenly began to move on its own, its arms flailing wildly. Ed tried to shut it down, but before he could, the robot's arm hit a thick cable on the floor. The robot toppled over and fell on top of him, crushing him under its metal frame.

Pain seared through Ed's body as he lost consciousness, his vision fading to black. The sound of his own ragged breathing was the last thing he heard before he succumbed to the darkness.

***

Ed barely opened his eyes, his head throbbing with a dull pain. He saw an unfamiliar white ceiling with dark wooden beams. Ed was confused and disoriented, wondering where he was and how he got there. His body wouldn't listen, and he had trouble moving his arms and toes. "Am I paralyzed?" he thought in panic. But he gradually realized that he could move, and he began to take stock of his surroundings.

As he looked around, Ed realized that he was lying in a large canopy bed in a room that was luxuriously furnished in an antique style. The walls were decorated with paintings and the windows were covered with heavy velvet curtains. The silence in the room was disturbing, broken only by the gentle rustling of leaves outside and the distant chirping of birds.

Ed frowned. He didn't think his company insurance would cover such an expensive clinic.

The man struggled to sit up and was startled by a sharp pain in his head. He grimaced, grabbed the back of his skull with his hand, and felt a large, painful lump.

Ed looked down and saw that he was wearing a nightgown instead of his usual clothes. "What happened to me?" Ed muttered to himself, his thoughts confused and unclear. The last thing he remembered was being in the hangar, working on a prototype agricultural robot. And then the accident happened.

This was no ordinary hospital room, that was for sure. And the lack of medical equipment only added to the confusion. "Maybe I was in a coma?" he thought. But comatose patients are usually hooked up to medical equipment, so that theory didn't quite make sense.

Ed looked for his phone, but there was none. He tried to get out of bed, but his legs were too weak. He wondered how long he had been lying here, alone and unattended.

He went to the window and pulled back the curtains, revealing a view of the overgrown garden. Beyond the stone wall stretched the hills, and in the distance was a sparkling lake. Farther out were the forested mountains. The scenery was breathtaking, but it only added to his confusion.

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"Where am I?" Ed muttered to himself. His voice sounded weak and hoarse, as if he hadn't used it in a while. The man's mind raced with questions, but there was no one around to answer them.

Ed continued to explore the room, taking in every detail. The room was filled with antiques, from the ornate chandeliers to the intricately carved wooden furniture. The walls were decorated with repeated crests of griffins, crosses, and roses. The carpet was so thick it was like walking on a cloud. The room exuded wealth and opulence.

There were large double doors and several smaller ones. He opened one of the smaller doors and discovered what appeared to be a dressing room, complete with a large full-length mirror and clothes hanging on the walls. Behind the next door he found a low wooden table with a large bowl and a strange cistern hanging above it, with a lid and a stem under the bottom. He lifted the lid and found clear water. "Manual washstand?" Ed finished in surprise. "How primitive."

In the corner of this small room was another door. Ed opened it curiously and found a primitive toilet and cast-iron pipes. "Well, at least there is a sewer," he said with relief.

The man began to suspect the most improbable thing, that he was in the past or in another world. "Doesn't quantum physics allow for parallel worlds?"

"Ahem," came a rather loud cough.

Ed jumped and looked around, but found no one.

"Haaah, I'm here," came a man's voice.

Ed retreated to the nearest wall and began to turn his head.

"I'm in the head," the voice sighed.

They both fell silent. Finally Ed spoke up, "Uh... System?"

"I don't know who Mr. System is, and I actually own the body you so rudely occupied," the voice sounded cold.

"Wha-what?"

"Allow me to introduce myself, Edward Rosenkreutz, only son and heir of Duke Rosenkreutz… Oh! Not heir, but already Duke."

Again there was an uncomfortable silence.

"You mean I took over your body?" swallowed Ed.

"Yes."

Ed already thought that the situation he was in was extraordinary. But the appearance of the voice and its explanation still stunned him. The man waddled to the dressing room, to the mirror. The dark-haired, gray-eyed young man in the mirror wasn't really him. He looked a little like him, but with thinner, more aristocratic features, a little younger and more handsome. Ed rubbed his  two-day stubble and frowned.

"Are you sure there isn't a System?" he clarified.

"You can look for Mr. System all you want, but please leave my body first, Mr. Demon," the voice said primly.

"Why am I a demon?" resented Ed.

"If not a demon, then a ghost?"

"I'm an ordinary human, I work as an engineer!" the man protested.

"Is that some kind of rare magic?"

"No, I make robots..." Ed realized that there were hardly any robots in the world he was in. "They're the kind of mechanisms that move by themselves. A bit like clockwork puppets."

"So you are a magician," the voice concluded after listening to the confused explanation.

"No, I'm an inventor, a craftsman. Like a blacksmith... Yes, a blacksmith is probably the closest."

"Hmmm..." the young Duke in his head was skeptical. "In any case, I would prefer that you leave me. It doesn't matter if you are a wizard, a blacksmith or something else. Just get out of my body and go on your way," the voice was full of irritation.

"I can't, because I don't know how I got here." Ed sank down on the banquette in the corner of the dressing room.

The voice in the head sighed. "We could try an exorcism."

"Don't you think it's strange to ask for an exorcism on yourself?"

"An aristocrat can come up with all sorts of nonsense. Servants have seen worse."

Frankly, Ed wouldn't want to try an exorcism. It might work, but it wouldn't guarantee that Ed himself would return to his world and time. He might be thrown into another body, or he might hang around this world as a disembodied ghost.

"We can try that, but later," the man suggested tactfully. "Right now I'd rather get dressed and eat."

"I agree that's a good idea," the voice in his head became prim again. "As long as you're using my body, you have to take care of it."

"By the way, what happened to you?" Ed recalled the large, painful lump on his head.

"Let's just say getting on a horse after a glass of wine wasn't the best idea."

Judging by the headache, it wasn't one glass, it was many more than that.

The owner of the body seemed to Ed to be a flighty person, but not an evil one; the man decided to build a good relationship with him. After all, he had no one else to rely on in this world.

Ed looked around the dressing room; there must have been several hundred outfits and three dozen pairs of shoes.

"This world is new to me, and I'm hoping for your help. Could you tell me what I can wear now?"

"Just call the servants, they'll do everything."

"Servants?"

"Of course. Or are you suggesting that you dress yourself?" the Duke snorted.

Ed felt the headache worsen.

"Just tell me what to wear. Please."