...
In the confines of a small convenience store stood two opposing individuals.
One sat across a counter, holding a scanner. The other placed a plastic-covered boxed meal atop the counter.
"Will this be all?" The man behind the counter asked; picking up the item by the handle he scanned it.
"Ah, yes." Replied the shorter, younger woman. From the looks of it, she was in her early-to-mid twenties.
"Would you like to round up your total to donate to a local charity supporting cancer research?"
"...Uhm... I suppose. Sure."
"That brings your total to... 600 yen."
The worker in the store placed a smile on his face, holding out a small receptacle to place her currency in.
The long-haired woman dug into her left pocket, pulling out a small lion-print coin purse.
She rummaged around in it for a few moments, eventually pulling out and placing two coins within the receptacle.
Taking the coins, the staff printed out a receipt to hand the girl.
Bowing over, he smiled once again and spoke out as he had been trained:
"Thank you for your patronage, please come again."
The woman nodded, grabbing her boxed lunch off the counter as she turned towards the door-- walking out.
Now in the open streets, the young woman took out her phone and unlocked it, scrolling onto her most recent text messages:
"I can't be around and do everything for you, you know. You're an adult now, act like it." - Mom, 3 Hours Ago.
...
As she stared at the small rectangular device, letting blue light infiltrate her eyes in comparison to the ever growing darker sky, she let out a sigh.
"I'm doing my best here, damn it."
Her voice was soft as she mumbled it under her breath, shoving the phone back into her coat-pocket.
This girl, tired and stressed, put a hand up to the bridge of her nose-- clamping onto it as if to try and minimize the effects of a headache.
"Come on Ais..."
Her hand gripped tightly onto her boxed meal, swaying slightly as she continued to walk.
It was already her junior year in university, and here she was barely getting by.
"What do you expect me to do anyway, I mean... really,--"
The sound of a horn, just a little bit away, stole Ais's attention.
The horn continued to blare, unrelenting and growing louder by the second.
Looking up ahead, Ais took notice of a small girl crossing the nearby crosswalk.
She had something rather bulky atop her head, appearing to be heavy headphones.
Perhaps they were the reason she didn't even bat an eye at the sound– one beyond Ais.
Feeling something was wrong, Ais focused her attention to the truck– noting that it was still barrelling down the street at full speed.
“Isn’t this bad?"
At this rate, it seemed as though an incident would soon occur.
"Oh shit..."
Mind beginning to race, Ais took a step forward.
Since she was young, Ais always believed that she wouldn’t “hero up” in the event of an emergency… though it seemed she was wrong.
Without bothering to even think, the university student sprinted up ahead.
Screaming at the top of her lungs, she yelled: "Out of the way, dumbass!"
No reaction.
How in the hell could she not notice after all of that?
"Wa--"
Throwing herself into the girl, she successfully threw her forward and out of harm's way.
The girl was lucky, had Ais not acted when she did– her life would have become forfeit.
It was a shame for Ais, however, as she took the child’s place.
The truck, fast and heavy, slammed itself into her.
Ais’s head struck the grill of the vehicle, rebounding with a concussion and fractured skull.
That wasn't all, either, as the remaining force thrust her body backward– throwing her up into the air.
Receiving the blunt of all that fast-moving energy, her ribs all cracked; followed by a plethora of other grueling injuries.
Ais’s legs and arms were thrown in a variety of ways, twisting and turning farther than they ever should.
Her ligaments tore, displacing themselves.
Worse of all, to Ais, a splitting headache quickly took over.
She felt an intense urge to vomit, heavy migraines, and a sense of utter dread kicking in.
She was certainly in a bad way, wasn’t she?
As all things go up, eventually the pull of gravity will bring them back down– Ais included.
Slapping against the ground in an instant, blood and miscellaneous parts splattered up against the asphalt road below.
Fortunately, it was an immediate death– one which otherwise would have been hell and back.
...
...
...
Without warning, Ais jolted up-- breathing heavily and covered in sweat.
"Night...mare...?"
She glanced down at her hands, grabbing tightly onto the white shirt she wore by its collar.
"That's right-- I died, didn't I?"
Slowly looking up, Ais noticed a somewhat familiar individual sitting near her.
From the looks of it, the two of them were riding inside of a moving cart.
Even better, she was placed atop some old blankets in the cart's interior.
"Seems like you're finally up..."
A familiar stranger spoke in a deep, groggy tone.
Upon further inspection, the stranger was a woman-- one Ais could have sworn she had seen before.
Though she only took a quick glance, keeping her head down, Ais noticed deep, heavy bags under the stranger's eyes.
"You thrashed around quite a bit while under, y'know."
Ais's grip on her shirt intensified, squeezing hard enough to render her fist white.
Glancing a little bit more upward to the stranger, Ais tried to make sense of her current situation.
"She's one of the people I saw earlier... so they did end up helping."
A sense of relief washed over the young other-worlder, helping her relax a bit.
Releasing her hand from her shirt, returning blood flow in her hand to normal, she placed her hands neatly into her lap.
"Where am I...?" she questioned weakly.
"My name is Ophelia. I'm an adventurer with the guild. My party spotted you slumped over at our camp-- so we picked you up."
"As for where... somewhere within five kilometers of Sceles City?"
The young woman called Ophelia stretched out her legs, letting a yawn leave her lips.
"You've been out for quite a bit... felt no choice but to take you along with us to the nearest town."
"Well, that aside, what's your name?"
Glancing over to Ais, Ophelia leaned back against the cart's canopy.
"Ais..."
Though her reply was meek, Ophelia didn't seem to mind.
"Well, Ais, what's your story? Get lost? Separated from friends?"
Looking perplexed, Ais simply tilted her head-- keeping her eyes down to her lap.
"I guess that can come later."
Ophelia continued...
"Is it dyed, your hair?"
She paused, pointing at Ais's head.
"... What?"
"Natural, huh?"
Taking a moment to think, she seemed to reach some sort of conclusion in her own head.
"Half-elf, half-human or something, then?"
"... What is this person saying?"
Elf? Well, she supposed it was another world
"I don't quite understand...?"
Ais lifted her head, glancing into Ophelia's eyes-- illiciting an unexpected response.
"Mismatched eyes... black hair... pointy ears. Strange."
"S-Strange...?"
What the hell was this girl talking about?
"... Ah, sorry. Forgive my rudeness. I've just never seen someone like you before, that's all."
Placing a short smile on her face, Ophelia leaned closer to her.
Ais was notably confused, which Ophelia picked up on.
For some reason or other, she decided to take out an obsidian mirror from a bag rested against her hip.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Ophelia took it in her hands, holding it towards the 'half-elf, half-human' girl.
"Not that there's anything wrong with being... y'know... half-raced and weird-eyed--"
Pausing her words, she chuckled lightly.
Ais grabbed the mirror hesitantly, looking at the reflection of herself it presented.
"Who is that?" Ais pondered, bringing it closer to her face.
The one in the mirror... Ais didn't recognize her at all. It certainly didn't look like her, or at least what she remembered looking like.
It seemed her body had changed, rather wildly.
Perhaps that was related to her 'reincarnation' into this world?
Everything about her was different...
Her skin was abnormally clear-- snowy pale with a soft texture. Her ears were extended, somewhat pointy at their ends.
Hell, not even her hair had gone unchanged. The thickness, color, and texture had all been rewritten into something anew.
It was as though she had become some foreign model-- in her eyes, anyway.
Reaching atop her head, Ais brushed her fingers through the silky head of hair she had.
Placing it into her view, it was revealed to be a jet-black, unlike the coffee-brown locks she once bore.
Despite being rather interesting, Ais honestly felt sick to her stomach.
How had she gone so long without noticing anything being different?
Too busy trying to figure out where she was, perhaps?
"Can I even say this is my body, at this point?"
A strong question placed itself in her mind, though she was aware no answer would come to solve it anytime soon.
Weirdest of all, beyond any of the other changes, were her eyes. They were certainly befitting to be called unique.
Like a cat in her previous life, her eyes were two very different colors.
Her left was a lime-like shade of green, shiny and beautiful.
The right eye was a much darker crimson-red, topped with a strange pattern that seemed to be carved into the iris itself.
"Odd..." she thought-- curious by the beauty that were in her eyes.
Ais spent a few minutes inspecting her face at various angles, fascinated.
"You really are weird..." Ophelia whispered.
Ais carried a plethora of questions in her arsenal, but she figured there wasn't much point in shooting them just yet.
What would the stranger before her be able to answer about her situation?
Hell, even should she ask, how would she know that Ophelia, in absolute terms, was someone she could trust?
It was a common theme in the "other-world" books she read: a person is brought to another world and either revered as a hero or discriminated against as some villain.
Well, that or being used in some sort of big scheme-- like fighting against a demon king or something.
If that were to happen, what would she do then? Hope they have answers and let herself be used? Run away?
It was a bit unfortunate, since nobody likes to be left in the dark, but she didn't wish to risk anything like that.
Rather, she'd like to take it easy and ease into her new life.
Though it was a bit scary, anxiety-inducing, and depressing knowing she wasn't where she was before, Ais did feel a bit of joy with her current situation.
She simply just needed to not think of the past... if she could manage that she would be okay.
Thinking in a positive light, Ais had always dreamt of being the main character of such a fantastical story.
Her inner child was overjoyed, honestly.
Not to mention her new appearance was... rather pretty.
Admittedly, It was a bit uncomfortable seeing a different face in the mirror... but it wasn't all bad.
After all, she seemed to be quite a looker this life around-- regardless of the apparent oddities that came with it.
"Why did you call me a half... elf?"
Ais loosened her grip on the mirror, handing it back to Ophelia.
"What else could you be? Pureblooded elves have lightly colored hair-- yellow, white, silver, etc."
"Yours, in comparison, is too dark for that. Not for any elf that i'd know of."
Ophelia reached out and grabbed the mirror, placing it back into the confines of her hip-satchel.
"And there's no way you're a dark elf. Putting aside that they haven't been spotted in half a century, they have dark skin-- sort of like mine."
Her voice trailed off, awaiting a response from the half-raced woman.
"I see..."
Ais didn't quite know what to say-- so she was some half-human, half-elf existence?
Did that have some explanation for her eyes? Were they the result of genetics...?
Likely not. The pattern on her right eye was too distinct.
"Are people like me uncommon, then?"
Fiddling with her thumbs, Ais redirected her gaze from Ophelia back down to her hands.
"You don't know? Are you some sheltered princess?"
Ophelia sighed, nodding her head.
"Half-races aren't exactly looked the best upon, after all."
"Putting that aside, what were you doing in the Sephol Plains? Before you passed out."
The dark-skinned maiden closed her eyes, leaning her head against the canopy once again.
"I hardly know myself..."
Ais wasn't sure how to respond. Telling the truth was out of the question, and her mind was far too muddled to come up with a convincing lie.
Unable to speak the truth, and unable to come up with a believable lie, the long-eared girl simply stared down at her hands.
"I'm... not sure."
Forcing a smile, Ais kept her gaze down.
"Huh..."
Ophelia wasn't convinced, but at this point it didn't seem as though she'd pressure her for a response.
"I see. We can leave that there, I suppose."
A silence filled the interior of the cart, emphasizing the calmness of the horses trotting outside.
This silence seemed to get to Ophelia, causing her to close her eyes and take a short rest.
Unlike her, Ais wasn't feeling all too tired.
There was so much she needed to think through-- to process.
Dying... waking up in that forest... walking for hours... passing out and walking up in a cart.
Her appearance was different, common sense essentially thrown out the window.
It was a lot to handle, frankly.
Sitting, alone with her thoughts, Ais brought her knees up to her chest.
The bouncing of the cart was hypnotizing-- easing her of the anxiety that riddled her chest.
Though she didn't fall asleep, Ais felt herself drift into a daydream of sorts.
Her mind was able to relax, completely, for the first time in a good while.
As time passed, eventually the girl was brought out of her trance.
The sound of a whistle took her attention-- followed by the slowing of the cart.
It came to a complete stop within a few minutes, footsteps approaching the entry.
With a few knocks at the cloth doorway, a brown-haired fellow peeked in.
"Ophe?"
Hearing no response, he let himself in.
"Ophelia?"
His gaze met with Ais, quickly brushing her off. He looked around, presumably for the dark-skinned adventurer with 'the guild'.
"She's sleeping."
Ais let out a soft voice, her head still tucked against her legs.
"So I can see, long ears."
Responding in a somewhat snarky tone, the muscular guy approached Ophelia.
He tapped on her shoulder a few times, quickly taking a step back after doing so.
Ophelia jolted awake, brandishing a knife in the blink of an eye-- aiming it towards the man.
"Oh... it's just you, Whil."
Groggily placing the knife back in her bag, Ophelia rubbed her eyes.
Ais found it impressive how alert she made herself despite snoozing like a log just moments ago.
"We're setting up for the night, don't sleep in here."
Whil kept his words short, turning back to the entrance.
Ophelia stretched out wide, exhaling deeply.
Glancing at the other-worlder, she signaled to the door.
"Let's go help, Ais."
With a rustle and step, the two followed suit of Whil-- leaving the wagon.
Outside, a large campfire burned brightly.
The sky was dark, brightened up only by the moon and the vast majority of stars that sat above.
Nearby, the party had already begun their nightly jobs.
Whil, the muscular man clad in light blue armor, had already begun assembling a cloth tent nearby.
He seemed to be struggling, growing upset by the lack of help from his comrade.
This comrade, tall by nature-- but not quite taller than Whil-- was knelt down next to the tent the pair was currently working on.
Though it was too dark to make out too much detail, Ais figured he had medium-length red hair; something she hadn't seen in her past life, either.
Clad in much heavier, darker armor, this individual circled the tent.
"Cyril for Lady Eirhenjer's sake... you don't place the metal poles there."
A loud sigh followed Whil's words. He shooed Cyril away, resuming his work on the tent alone.
Ophelia took notice, quickly rushing to Whil's aide in replacement of the now discouraged Cyril.
It didn't take the two of them very long to get the tent setup, quickly moving from one to another.
To Ais, it looked like a pretty easy job overall-- so she wondered how Cyril struggled so hard with it.
The one named Cyril moved to the fire that Ais and the bald farmer stood at, taking out some tools.
It seemed he was going to be in charge of cooking.
The older-man with a bald head went to the cart, pulling out a crate of vegetables from within.
He brought it over to Cyril, insisting he use it to cook dinner for tonight.
Ais guessed that he was a client for the group. After all, Ophelia had mentioned she and her party were of a guild of sorts.
Perhaps they were adventurers on some sort of escorting quest?
"How nice..." she figured.
Sitting idly without anything assigned for her, Ais sat down and looked up to the stars.
It was unlike anything she had ever seen-- so many stars all at once.
Light pollution had gotten in the way of them, last she tried to see.
It was refreshing, seeing such a rare and awe-inducing sight.
Even more beautiful, Ais saw three moons in the sky.
One reflected a light, olive-green of sorts.
Another was reminiscent of the moon she knew.
The last one was dark, barely visible with the naked eye.
"This really is another world... isn't it?"
The reality of her scenario was only heightened by such an interesting sight.
"Miss...?"
The old farmer had approached Ais, calling out for her a few times.
"Ah... what?"
"Since you're not busy with anything, do you think you could go ahead and get the extra firewood from the wagon?"
"Oh, uhm, yes..."
Stumbling onto her feet, Ais awkwardly bowed her head a few times.
"I am Garrett, so you know. Just bring the wood over here."
"Ais... that's my name."
Turning to the cart, she grabbed the firefood from it's interior.
The wood was a bit heavy, but overall the task given to her wasn't all that difficult.
"Mr. Garrett, how long have you been traveling with Ophelia and them?"
Curiously placing the wood down, she turned her attention to the farmer.
He sat down by the fire, pleased by how swiftly she got the wood.
"Oh, about... four months now? It is a long way from the Veeran Kingdom to the Losenthes Empire, after all."
Spouting names she had never heard, Ais figured she'd return to her spot before.
"The Veeran Kingdom?"
"Ah, it's a small trade country down south. I suppose a lady like you hasn't been there?"
Ais nodded.
"I haven't really been anywhere..."
Her voice was quiet-- she didn't quite know what to say.
"Is that so? Truly a shame. There is far more to the world than our origins, after all."
Garrett spoke enthusiastically, smiling.
Interrupted by a loud banging located near Cyril and the campfire, the pair's conversation had been cut short.
Cyril had prepared an array of barbecued vegetables-- sprinkled occasionally with some pork.
The scent of the dish was strong enough to induce salivation in anyone nearby.
Ais was a victim of such-- her stomach growling loudly as she sat just a few meters away.
Seeing as she had been helped time and time again by the group, Ais figured it was better for her to wait before asking.
From her few interactions with everyone, it seemed like Whil and them were definitely being hindered by her.
And first hand she knew that if anyone was going to become upset over something, it would be food.
Placing her knees up against her chest as she had done earlier, Ais peered into the flame's unending dance.
...
"Halfie, your portion."
A soft, reserved voice spoke out just above Ais.
It seemed that she had become entranced in the fire's dance, so much so that she didn't notice Cyril walk over with a plate for her.
"... Thank you."
Taking the plate, she stretched out her leg, placing the plate onto her lap.
"What am I supposed to eat this with?" she questioned herself.
Placing a confused, feigned smile on her face, Ais grabbed one of the barbequed vegetables and placed it in her mouth.
Her fingers burned a bit from the cooked veggie's radiating heat, though it wasn't hot enough to elicit a response from her.
"...Do you use your hands for everything?"
Cyril positioned himself next to her, sitting down with a perplexed expression on his face.
Did... did she just eat without even trying to find a utensil to eat with? Embarrassing, she thought.
"No-- I just... I was hungry, I guess."
Her face and ears grew red, hinting at her regret for being so bashful.
"My name is Ais... by the way."
"Gotcha."
Cyril was quick to dig in, taking out a small metal fork from a leather pouch at his side.
"Awkward..."
Both Cyril and Ais were quiet, keeping to themselves as they ate.
Half an hour eventually passed, leaving the group full and tired.
"We'll split up as usual. Tonight is... me and Whil."
Ophelia carried a small notebook in her hands-- perhaps documenting the group's schedule.
"Now that we've got that decided... go rest."
Waving off her comrades, Ophelia approached Ais.
"You can stay in my tent tonight. It's the small one nearest to the tree."
Waving, she went off to do her night-watch.
Ais nodded, waving as she walked away.
To be honest, she wasn't feeling all that tired.
Perhaps a big part of it was that she had already slept a good portion of the day away-- according to Ophelia and them anyhow.
Another big part was simply fear of what she'd see if she fell asleep.
Another recollection of her past, specifically the gruesome parts?
That bothered her, and so she kept herself positioned beside the fire.
Fortunately, even without the fire, it was a pleasantly warm temperature outside.
Eventually, soothed by the campfire’s aesthetic popping, Ais dozed off.