Blair thought maybe it was a dream. She had always had vivid dreams, vivid enough to be concerning. And just as Blair could feel the speed pick up in her chest, a face popped out in front of her, nose to nose.
“Hi!” The woman said brightly.
To her credit, Blair did not scream.
She did, however, let out an undignified, “UH-GUH,” as she fell onto her side in her effort to scuttle back from the sudden face.
“You scared her, Mina,” a voice from behind the girl, Mina, stated with flat annoyance, “do you have to do this every time?”
Mina rolled her eyes with a smirk, “are you still mad because you screamed like a girl?”
“I WAS A GIRL!” The man shrieked, making Blair wince and Mina laugh.
Another girl stepped forward, her dyed blonde hair that didn’t suit her was slicked back into an almost painful looking high-pony that swung when she took a step. She had well tanned skin, and bright blue eyes shaped like almonds that stared down at Blair.
She looked intense and Blair thought she was about to start yelling, but instead she just said, “sorry, you’re probably really confused. What’s your name?” She had a nice accent.
Blair flicked her eyes around the room before settling them awkwardly at the high-pony girl’s shoulder. “Blair McCanon,” she said awkwardly, was her voice always that low?
“Blair is a nice name! Sorry if Seung-Eun called you a girl when you’re a boy, he should know better,” Mina said with a wide grin. It seemed less like an apology and more like she wanted to tease the man, Seung-Eun, again.
Mina seemed nice but for now Blair just wanted her to back up a little. “I’m a girl,” Blair stated before anyone else could interject.
Seung-Eun stepped forward, pulling Mina back by the collar in a comical fashion. He looked like he was in his mid forties, with neat, graying, slicked back hair, and a face that looked like he had just worked enough overtime to have his beard start growing back before he went home. Nothing like Mina, who looked young, maybe only nineteen, with big brown eyes framed by thick lashes, long wavy black hair held back in a sloppy ponytail, and youthful looking brown skin.
“Why don’t you understand personal space?” He asked Mina as he set her upright.
“Why are you so old?” Mina shot back.
Seung-Eun opened his mouth, probably to yell, when the blonde girl spoke, “my name is Cleo Fortuna,” she smiled softly, “the two over there are Mina Nayar and Seung-Eun Park.”
“Okay…” Blair said tentatively.
Seung-Eun sat down in the chair next to the bed, “what do you remember?”
“Uh…” Blair paused.”
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Cleo interjected, “but can you tell us what happened to you first?”
Cleo was very commanding, but in a soft sort of way. Like a teacher you really respected and didn’t want to disappoint.
“I got shot.”
“Oh,” Mina whispered airily.
“I was protecting my client, I…” Blair bit her lip. “The cop… My client…” Panic began to rise in Blair’s chest.
She stomped it down.
“I was helping my client through psychosis when a cop came. He… was new… he pulled his gun and it just made everything worse. My client was scared and he started running. When I heard the safety click on the gun I just dove for him.” Blair stiffened and then settled quickly. “I’m dead, aren’t I.”
It wasn’t a question. She knew she was dead. There was no way she had even made it to a hospital before her body became cold.
She wished she could sue that fucking cop.
“I’m sorry,” Cleo offered. It felt sincere.
Blair shook her head, “it’s fine,” she said as Mina shot a concerned look in Cleo’s direction. “What exactly happened to me?”
Mina walked back over to the bed, “well, it’s like those stories you know! Like isekai or reincarnation comics or novels or anime!” She said excitedly.
“Wh– I’m in a story?” Blair said, baffled, “what story?”
Mina let out an exasperated sigh, “I’ve been trying to figure it out! I read so many that they’re hard to keep straight. It may not even be one I’ve read or it could be that this isn’t from any story and is just another universe–”
“We don’t know,” Seung-Eun cut her off.
Blair grimaced. She had only read a few comics like that, but none were set in whatever this era was. “This place is real?”
“Unfortunately,” Seung-Eun sighed.
“Who are you guys then?”
“We all used to be in control of that body, but we didn’t manage to finish the mission so we’re stuck here,” Mina explained.
“Wait, so who–!” Blair flung back as a bright blue pop-up shot up in front of her face, hitting her head against the bed frame.
Blair groaned as Mina laughed, causing Seung-Eun to smack her lightly across the back of the head.
“What the f…?” Blair murmured to herself.
The screen shone back at her, displaying a message.
Welcome to Ahera of Atalus
You have been called here in place of the previous possessor, Cleo Fortuna, who has failed to complete the mission within the five year limit.
You will be given five years to find my Missing Piece before you will be replaced and become a guide for the next possessor.
My first son stole away the Piece to wreak havoc within Atalus. With half of my remaining power I managed to force my first born into the cycle of reincarnation.
Do not let the Piece fall into his hands.
-Aher
“Aher? Who is Aher?”
Cleo stepped forward, “Aher is the God of Ahera, the northern continent of Atalus.”
“And they want me to find this… Missing Piece? What exactly is it?”
Mina hummed, “from what we could find, some kind of rock that holds Aher’s power? It was hard for me to really do any research,” she finished, staring pointedly at the other two.
Seung-Eun threw his hands up with a huff, annoyed by whatever implication she was making. Had he not been looking as well? What about Cleo? The two of them both seemed quite responsible so Blair couldn't imagine what would have prevented them from looking for the Piece.
Blair’s mouth was dry, “whose body is this?”
“Ours,” Mina laughed, as if it were obvious.
“No, I mean…” Blair tried to swallow, it went down like a stone.
“Dame Cordelia Klein,” Cleo started.
“Cory,” Seung-Eun interrupted.
Mina rolled her eyes as Cleo continued, “She’s twenty, her mother is Amenna Klein, a seamstress, her father is Oliver Klein, he makes jewelry and used to be a noble, and then there’s her siblings, Olivia, who helps Amenna, and Laurence, who’s a mercenary.” Cleo put emphasis on the last bit about Laurence, as if she was displeased with it.
“Cleo got us knighted!” Mina added, “we work for Count Wirst in his first order of knights,” Mina beamed at Cleo, “isn’t she awesome!?”
Cleo shifted her weight awkwardly, clearly pleased but not wanting to let it show. “I was a champion fencer, you know, it’s normal.”
This new information made Blair nervous, “I don’t know how to sword fight.”
Cleo hummed, “it’s fine,” she said, “you’ll have all our memories in a few days from when you dream.”
Blair had so many questions for them. Why was she stuck in bed like a patient? Who had been in Cordelia’s body before any of them got there? Why had each of them been chosen for this? Why had Mina, Seung-Eun, and Cleo failed? Could other people see them? Would they be around all the time? What would happen if Blair found the Piece? Did they have plumbing here? Was James okay? Had the police told her mom what happened?
Seung-Eun inched forward, “you should eat something,” he said softly as he rested a hand on Blair’s knee. She couldn’t feel it at all.
Blair sucked in a sharp breath, “I have more questions…” She looked up tentatively at the other three, who stayed silent. She exhaled. “Will you all be around all the time?”
“Not really?” Mina said, “we can only come on our own, like, once a week? But you can call for us whenever,” she shrugged.
“Where do you go?”
Seung-Eun hummed, “it’s like being asleep.”
Blair released her white-knuckle grip on her sheets. She hadn’t realized how tightly she had been holding them until she stretched her fingers out in relief. “Why am I in bed…? Like, as a patient.”
“Ah,” Cleo sounded embarrassed, “I was saving Duke Bell from some monsters, I had just finished when I fainted.”
“You didn’t faint, you forgot your five years were up,” Seung-Eun corrected, “if you had become monster food I would’ve killed you myself!”
Cleo flushed, “it wasn’t that bad.”
Blair felt her heart stop, “monsters?” She asked, eyes wide.
“Right?!” Mina shouted with newfound excitement, “this world is so cool! There’s monsters and magic! It really is just like a fantasy novel!”
“At least there’s proper plumbing,” Seung-Eun grumbled.
Blair put her head in her hands and sighed, thank god there was plumbing. Without lifting her head, she said, “so there’s monsters… and magic… and I’m a knight now… Will I have to hurt other people?”
Cleo pulled a wary face before she said, “yes.”
Blair wanted to cry, but something wouldn’t let her. “I don’t– I can’t do that,” she choked out. “I could never even imagine…”
“I hate it too,” Mina confessed.
Blair didn’t want to think about it any more. If she had to, it wouldn’t end well for anyone. She needed something tangible to focus on. “Do you know anything about where the Piece is?”
“Somewhere in Ahera, probably in Leal or near it, but getting there is a nightmare,” Seung-Eun answered. “They have pretty complicated entry procedures.”
“So I need a passport or something?”
Seung-Eun Leaned back in the chair, if his body had any real weight it would have creaked, and shook his head, “You need either the title of Marquess or the sponsorship of a Royal, if it’s sponsorship you also need a title but any rank is fine, you also need to pay a pretty big fee of ten thousand gold. But before you can even pay the fee you and your sponsor need to have your identity verified with a background check, which then needs to get approved by Leal’s parliament.” Seung-Eun pressed a hand to the back of his neck and tilted his head back with a frustrated look.
“That seems… excessive…”
“It’s because Leal’s king hates ours for some stupid reason,” Mina said, exasperated.
“Our king stole his wife and then imposed tariffs against Leal and wouldn’t even let them use the Duchy’s port to sell what goods didn’t have tariffs to us,” Seung-Eun explained. “You need to eat though.”
Blair nodded solemnly but didn’t move, “yeah,” she agreed. She was starting to feel the empty pit in her stomach claw at her desperately.
“We’ll be here if you call for us,” Cleo assured her.
Blair looked down at her hands, avoiding Cleo’s concerned expression, “yeah.”
When she looked back up, her new companions were gone.
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