Everything was distorted. A pair of hands grabbing him, a flash of purple light, darkness, flashes of swishing fabric, tall figures falling to the floor, bright purple lights etched into the floor beneath him, drawing out symbols, words, shapes, the hands of a child that rested on them. His mind was disordered, unsure of who he was, or what was going on, or where he was, or anything at all. All he was sure of was that one second he was outside of a restaurant, and the next, he was here. He remembered some annoying kid tugging at his robes and yelling at him, then tripping over his feet and falling onto the road and then… a pair of hooves. They descended on his head, and that was the last thing he saw before he woke up in the middle of the road, the kid still clinging onto him. 

He tried remembering what happened after that, a vague memory of something circular and purple appearing in front of him before a pair of hands grabbed him, but everything after that is a blur. What was his name again? His name…. Leon! He was Leon. Leon Regaard. But where was he now? His vision started focusing, and he observed his surroundings. There were some figures in long, hooded cloaks on the floor around him. Only one of them appeared to have remained standing, and the figure didn’t move. Leon frowned. The bright glow underneath him began to fade, until it was completely gone, revealing the dark stone floor. At the corner of the room was a huddle of figures that now began to approach him. They were wearing white robes, and happiness and relief shone on their faces. They approached him, and Leon, bewildered, tried to stand to get away, since they didn’t appear to be slowing down. When he tried to stand, however, something felt odd. His body felt too light, and his legs and arms too small. He looked down at himself and remembered the child’s hands he saw earlier. He had assumed they belonged to another child, but now he stared at his arms in shock upon realizing they were his own. 

His child-sized hands shook as Leon tried to understand what was happening. Nothing made sense, apart from the fact that magic was involved. What magic this was, he couldn’t begin to guess. He wasn’t a sorcerer, but he knew enough about the field to know that whatever this was, it wasn’t ordinary, or regulated. He began to wonder if this had to do with one of the ancient civilizations he remembered exploring many years ago, but then a pair of hands, big hands, grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look up. The hands belonged to an adult. One with tears running down his face. His short brown hair and bearded jaw and chin made Brenan’s face flash in his memory, on the day that was supposed to mark the end, but then the man in front of him asked him something, and his attention was diverted.

“You… What is your name?”

Leon frowned, his eyebrows furrowed. “My name is Leon Regaard, of course. Why are you—” He cut himself off just before he asked why he was asking something so obvious, but then, with a start, he remembered it wouldn’t be obvious, not with whatever happened to his body. He tried not to dwell on the rising panic and fear that he felt in his stomach, now that his mind was piecing everything together and processing it. 

The man in front of him started sobbing now, his body shaking as he released Leon and walked away, his face in his hands. Leon was glad he let go of him. It was uncomfortable and strange, being gripped and sobbed at by a grown man. He didn’t understand the reason for such an extreme reaction, but then a woman came over, wearing the same white robe, and kneeled before him. She took one of his hands in both of hers, her grip gentle, as she stared at him and asked, with a pleading voice, “Oh please, Great Ancestor, Sir Regaard, please tell us what to do. The Great Catastrophe is upon us once more, and we have no solution. We summoned you to our time, two thousand years after your own, because we knew you could tell us what to do. Please, we beg you, you are our only hope!”

All of the questions Leon was preparing to ask this woman, a woman who wore trousers (something he couldn’t understand; what woman wore trousers?), had disappeared the instance she finished saying hope. A cold chill crept up his spine. He couldn’t believe this was happening. This couldn’t have been a joke, could it? He knew he had people that didn’t like him, that suspected the truth, but surely none of them were capable of pulling off something like this? It’s as if this woman, all the other white-robed individuals sobbing in the corner and staring at him with wonder and hope, were playing a joke on him. Did they know the truth? But this woman’s gaze appeared far too earnest for it to be a lie. His panic, the one he’d been struggling to suppress, now grew even greater. He tried not to let it show on his face. 

He didn’t know what to do in this situation. He thought he’d die, and his lie would die with him, but here was, having to face its consequences, with the entire world at stake as well. He couldn’t believe it. He wondered, for a brief second, if he should just tell them the truth. That he didn’t know how to stop the catastrophe, that he never solved it at all, that everything he’d ever said was a lie, but he kept his mouth shut. He had no idea what country he was in, or what the current governmental and societal structure looked like, or what these people would do if they found out he was useless. A spell such as the one they performed would have surely had a steep price, considering it had dragged his soul across two millennium and deposited him into… whatever body he was in. Whatever was keeping him standing. He didn’t even know if he was in a human body, or something entirely different. 

Leon was used to being the person in the room that knew the most, that had the most expertise and experience. Right now, he knew nothing. Revealing the truth would be a terrible idea, even if he wanted to atone. Which he didn’t, not really. There was no time for it, not if the world was truly coming to an end, once again. 

So, he lied. The second biggest lie he’s ever told. “Alright. I can help you.” Cheers began resounding, along with a chorus of shouted gratitudes, but Leon yelled over them to get their attention.

They quieted down, and he spoke again, making up a lie that would hopefully allow him to stall for as much time as possible, at least until he figured out what to do. “However, the process is long and complicated. How long do you have until the catastrophe comes?”

The robed figures glanced at each other, anxiety now creasing their faces. “We have one month, oh Great Ancestor.”

Leon wasn’t sure whether he should feel anxiety or relief. One month was not nearly long enough to figure out how to stop the catastrophe, not when years of effort led him to failure once before, but it was a lot more time than he thought he’d have. Maybe he’d have enough time to come up with a solution for his situation, maybe to figure out how reverse the spell and send himself back to his own time. That plan wasn’t a very well thought-out one, however. Leon knew a lot, about a lot of things, but his knowledge on magic was limited, and also outdated by two thousand years, as was his knowledge on everything else. He had no idea how much the world had changed in two thousand years, but he knew it would be a lot. He could be in the same country he was born and raised in, but even if he was, he doubted he’d recognize it. Humanity never ceases to change and grow, after all. 

So Leon sighed, meeting their gazes one by one. “Get me something to write with. I need to make a list of instructions. They will only be the first steps, but it is vital we complete them as soon as possible.” 

The robed figures voiced their ascent and scurried out of the room, leaving only the woman that had previously spoken to him. The woman gestured toward the door, saying, “I will lead you to your rooms. Feel free to ask me any questions you like on the way there.”

Leon nodded, his face showing none of the trepidation, panic, and fear he felt, and walked ahead of her into the corridor. As he walked out of the room, he noticed the cloaked figure from earlier, likely a sorcerer that managed to survive the spell that brought him here, was no longer in the room. He briefly wondered when he had slipped out, but then his mind turned to the many questions he had to ask the woman, so he faced her and asked his first, most pressing question. “What did you do my body?”