Christopher snapped upward immediately as he awoke, his eyes wide, clouded. His breathing was quick and shallow as he looked around at the faces that surrounded him. Those eyes were prying, scrutinizing, watching his every move.

‘Wait, what?’ He thought as he processed the information. As it stood, he last recalled collapsing in agony, unable to control his muscles at all. However, he felt lighter than a feather, and he was able to lift himself.

There were 9 people in the room, all staring at him. Two stood out from the rest – most all of them were wearing simple garments that extended from shoulders to a long V-shaped opening down the chest and down to the feet. Each one was blue off-white with a different accenting trim, and they looked expensive for how deceptively simple they were.

On top of that, all 7 of them were female. Among them was one with a particularly dignified air about her, one who had silver hair that draped over her shoulders. She was also closest too him, and though her expression betrayed no emotions, her eyes were warm. Rather than cold, she seemed cool.

The exceptions were the remaining two. One had flashy golden hair and amber eyes that stared at him wide-eyed. She stood next to a man who was likely two feet taller than her. That man seemed heavily built, especially for his size, and a well-maintained goatee accented his chin. His short, disheveled hair seemed as though it didn’t belong on his head at all, and his eyebrows angled downward in a stern expression.

All of them, however, had the same anomaly – on each of their heads were what Christopher interpreted as ears – two triangular shapes on each one’s head topped with the color of their hair.

One common anomaly that Christopher noticed among them all was that none of them stared directly at him. They all were gawking slightly… below…

“?!” He raised his voice in an incomprehensible interjection as he looked down. He was exposed to quite a sight as he found that two gargantuan orbs blocked his sight. They hung out unkempt and felt exponentially colder as he realized he had nothing to wear. The voice he let out was of a pitch indiscernible to himself as he was too busy being in shock to notice, but his voice had risen multiple octaves since he last heard it. And his body’s structure had changed to the point of holding no semblance to his old body beyond his radiant golden hair and electric blue eyes.

And, of course, there was nothing to cover him(?) up from the spectators.

His eyes widened further in his bewilderment as he looked at his hands… well, hand. He let out a defeated sigh as he saw that his arm was still gone. This was definitely his body.

The female with silver-white hair finally raised her voice after the long, piercing silence that sent cold air into Christopher’s lungs. “Well, for now, we shall-“

However, she stopped. Cold sweat dripped from her brow as she looked into Christopher’s eyes, shocked. Christopher’s thin eyebrows lowered on narrow, threatening eyes that stared daggers into her. His small fist was gripped so tightly that his knuckles were ghostly white, and flawless white teeth clenched tightly. “What… did you do… to me?” He spat his words quietly in a deep growl almost as low as his old normal voice.

She sighed, looking down and closing her eyes. “I don’t know.” She spoke, turning away and continuing immediately. “For now, get her some clothes and food. Arthas, I think you can explain what we think happened best.” She stepped out of the room, everyone else in tow. Only the titan of a man remained.

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The man sighed and leaned up against the wall, his stubble and overall rugged look not fitting into the flawless decoration of the room. He put a hand up to his forehead, his sorry appearance giving the impression that he was dealing with a splitting headache.

“Nice to meet you… I suppose.” The man spoke in his gravelly, deep voice. “I am called Arthas, leader of this settlement. You are…?”

“Christopher.” Christopher responded, his voice flat. He had lost the motivation to respond any further.

“I’ll ask Ilya to help you with that later. Anyway, ah… Right! I was going to tell you what happened. See, the Temple of Healing is built with all of its angles, curves, and measurements calculated to the Vasaat constant, providing a point which has a negative net diffusion of energy in its purest forms, resulting in high concentrations of mana which can be called upon at any given time. Of course, these reserves are not bottomless, and will empty quickly when used to directly affect any living being. Due to this, most of the ambient mana in the area was used to reconstruct your body. Sometimes, an odd mutation will take place due to the effects of prolonged exposure to concentrated energy. However, this usually just goes as far as changing eye color or musculature. Not once has such a huge change as… this occurred.”

“Wait, what the hell do you mean by ‘help me with’ my name?!” Christopher shouted after Arthas finally finished.

“...” Arthas sighed, bringing his hand up to his forehead. It was at this point that Caltha barged in, carrying two baskets. Each was a round, oblong, wide shape, the basket going quite deep. They were covered by thin, rough white cloth.

“I hath returned!” She exclaimed before laying the two down before Christopher. “Open them.”

Saying nothing, Christopher reached down, pulling open the lid on one basket. Seeing within it some cloth, he pulled it out. Looking back up, he found himself to be completely alone. He sighed and picked it up, finding it to be just a long cloth. “I’m sure I remember how to do this from Latin…” He mumbled to himself, tugging the gigantic robe under his shoulder and around his body. Though it did take his attention, he worked his hardest to avoid examining his own body.

Finished, he had draped it over his chest, giving some amount of coverage and warmth. Though dissatisfied with how low the neckline was, he shrugged it off. He immediately recognized this shrugging as a bad idea, however, as the cloth began to come lose, and he had to tug at it again to tighten it.

He opened the second basket and nearly cried of relief, mumbling drowned out by the growling of his stomach. Within it was a simple sandwich. Of what he did not know, but he immediately picked it up and bit into it.

It was a… surprising flavor, to say the least. The flat bread was stiff, with a practically impenetrable crust. Within it was some sort of thinly sliced meat he would most closely relate to venison and a cottage cheese-like substance.

However, it was food, and Christopher tore through it within moments.

“Now then…” He spoke between bites. “...What the fuck do I do now?”

Author’s Note:

So sorry this is late, and I wish I could add more substance! I’m not dead, I assure you, and I’ll have some actual content out later.