Epitome of a Hero

Tricia

I opened my eyes and the pain at the back of my head stings. Where am I? There were white clear sheets enclosing me by the bed and the light escaping from the open window glass was so overwhelming but--- beautiful… I watched the cloth sway as the wind from the open window blew calmly on it, it almost made all my forlorn disappear for a minute.

“What is this place…?” I whispered.

“You’re in the clinic.” Clinic!? A woman’s voice popped out as she peeked from the blinds. She had brown hair tied behind her back and her brown hazelnut eyes were glowing as she looked at me. She looked older than me, her expression looked like the painting of my mother…

“Mother…?” I murmured as I propped my elbow so I could sit down and I saw her eyes widen a bit before laughing.

“No, silly… I am the clinic’s nurse, Mary.” She sat down beside me and lifted up my hands and I saw my black sleeves then my knuckles which were purpled due to a bruise. I am still in this unknown body… In this world… I breathe out and fell mute as I watched the lady treating my wounds with a warming pad and the liquid called alcohol.

“I didn’t know you had such a boiling point, Triz… But I’d like to advise you not to do that again…” she murmured before looking at me. Triz… Tricia…? Is that this girl’s name?

“Mary, can I tell you something odd…?” I pulled my hand away and held it and her eyes widened once again. I need to tell someone the truth or else I’ll go insane.

“My name is not Tricia or Triz or anything else, I am Damian Hope. I am a swordsman from another world but I was killed—beheaded by the rebels which I think was also my father’s plan… I suddenly had my eyes opened and then I was here, in this place, in this body, and I don’t know what to do… Can you please help me?”

I told her everything important, even though my words were fast I knew she could understand. She just stared at me and her eyes were serious and concerned and I stared back.

Mary smiled at me and giggled and I already knew she didn’t believe.

“You’re writing those stories again! That plot is actually amazing… You can have me read it once the chapters are done!” She held my hands in between hers, filled with glee as she continued going on about the ‘plot’ she was saying that I wrote. Despite her glee, I, on the other hand, felt hopeless.

After a while, my hands were already bandaged and it was kind of sore. Why is this body so frail? I snarked at myself, feeling so vexed about what is happening.

I don’t even have a clue of what is happening…

I sat down by the bunk at the clinic, staring outside of the window where the sky was bluer and the green color of nature bloomed without the tinge of smoke, without the scent of blood all around. The people walking outside were also clean and wore decent clothes—but quite different from the clothes in my world. They are wearing the same cloth as mine, uniform. We all wore uniforms in this place, and this suit is called a uniform since we all wear the same thing in this university. It’s odd speaking their words…

I think I know some words because of this mind I have but still, I have no idea what is going on.

“Triz, your dad is here!”

Dad?

I looked behind me and saw an older man with a concerned look in his eyes. His hair was black and his eyes were dark brown.

“Hey kid, what happened?” he lets out a cheery sound that sounded too lonely to be real. Does this have to do with the call earlier? I hopped off the bunk and I felt too small… In my real body, I may be taller and muscular than these people.

“I…” I stopped, I don’t know what to say. I grabbed the rucksack or the backpack as what this mind recalled and put it on my back. As we walked outside the clinic, there were no other students around, and Dad right here just kept glancing at me, seeming to have a lot of questions in mind, so am I.

Why am I even in this body? What even is a high school student?

I am definitely older than this young girl…

We rode in a car on our way home and I found myself thinking in this present mind where I almost know everything about this current world except this young girl whose body I inhabited. I just stared outside the window, watching how diverse this world is and how different the infrastructures were from my recent world. It looked so dreamy…

“You did a good job back there, kid… I’m glad you learned how to fend off for yourself.” The old man huffed and chuckled but ended up coughing when I just stared at him. He doesn’t look like the king, he was younger and he looked kind---jolly even.

“My apologies, father. I need a space to figure things out for a while.”

I looked away and he just went silent after that. There were no words until we got off the car and the house looked very familiar to me so I went upstairs to where this body was leading me and locked the door behind as soon as I entered my domain.

When I reached the room, it didn’t look like my room.

The walls weren’t brick, instead, it was painted smooth concrete. The large portrait of my mother also wasn’t there. It’s a different world… A different life… But why me? Where is this body’s owner?

I looked around the room and it was kind of messy. There were papers scattered everywhere, the blankets weren’t even fixed. I looked at the papers pinned on a huge corkboard and they were all scribbles. Some drawings are good but then the others were scribbled and dark.

I traced the lines and they looked deep, like it came from a heavy finger who had anger issues against the paper. The window of the room was also closed and the room was dark.

“There’s light here somewhere…” I murmured and I saw a switch near the door. I flicked it on and the bright light came from the ceiling, it was the light bulb. I huffed.

I saw a mirror near the small cabinet and I threw the bag by the bed and headed for it.

My brows furrowed when I saw the reflection of the body by the mirror. It was clearer, it was vivid. Too real to be a dream or nightmare in any manner. This is definitely not me. It was smaller and thinner than my original body.

Her hair was black and messy. Her eyes were hazelnut brown and it looked tired, I suddenly remembered my dispirited gray eyes before the war. The dark circles appeared under her eyes and her lips were dry. She looked lifeless…

“You’re so young…”

I held the reflection by the mirror and tears drooped down my eyes.

“What kind of life did we even have… and what has it done to us…?