Reverse Chronicles

The Kealyn Domain

After that blinding flash in the library, I feel a little bit queasy. I try to open my eyes, but it could still remember that flash that forced it to close abruptly. I hear birds chirping and the serene sound of a creek. Strange enough, I feel grass behind my neck as I lay supine on the ground. I must be getting crazy. Does sudden flashes of light trigger the brain to go haywire?

Wait, I’m on the ground?

I forcibly open my eyes. The scene shocks me. I am in the middle of a sea of grass, with creeks that veined throughout and across the meadow. There are flowers on the fields that I cannot recognize and mountains on the horizon that are separately equidistant from each other. They touched the clouds, as the wind blew against my back to those mountains.

There are bars in front of me. Wherever I looked, the bars are still present. A green bar and a blue bar.

This must be a dream! Where am I?

“You there!” a man’s voice calls out from behind. The footman of a horse-drawn carriage calls me. “Move aside, you’re blocking the road.”

I quickly run away from the scene until another man calls me.

“Wait, stop!” another man from inside the carriage shouts. He gets out of the carriage and approaches me. He had long brown hair that hang until his armpits. He wore red armor with strange black motifs. His hazelnut eyes say that he went through a lot, but his voice is deep and soothing. He carries a strange weapon that I don’t know how to discern it. “What’s your name, lad?”

Lad? Wait, lad? Why did he call me lad? I’m a lady! If this is a joke, then it’s not funny.

“I’m Alyssa and I don’t know much about your language, but it’s lady!”

“Lady?” the man laughs. “Are you a mage from Mysinda? I don’t recognize your clothes.”

Mage? Mysinda? What is this man talking about?

“Wait, where am I?” I began to panic and look around. “Is this Germany? Perhaps, the meadows of France?”

“Act with courtesy, lad!” the footman reproaches me. “You are in the presence of General Wisterion van Kealyn, the leader of the five dragon generals of the Sarcen empire, and the Myt…”

“That’s enough, Roger.” The footman stops and sits in attention. “I apologize you had to hear that. Now, why don’t you tell me more about yourself?”

I hesitate whether I should trust this man or not, but I am completely clueless of where I am and what I should do. It is best to lay down my pride in this situation. The man waves his hand and a table set up beside us. We sit and I begin telling him where I should be. His eyes light up as I tell him every piece of information.

“Fascinating!” he cries. “So you are from a world called Earth, where you are female, but you have been transported here when a mysteriously light blinded you and you came to as a boy.”

“Do you have a mirror?” I break silence which descended since he uttered his last sentence.

“A mirror? Of course!” the footman brings out a mirror. He faces it to me, but I close my eyes. I slowly open them revealing my face. “I’m Josh!” I shout as loud as I could.

How could this happen? Wait, Josh, that’s right! He touched the…that book. We must have switched bodies. Now that I look at it, I am wearing his uniform!

“Is something the matter, Lady Alyssa?” the footman asks.

“It’s Alan,” I reply. “From now on, my name is Alan.”

I should change my name for now. I have to blend in. Where is Josh, anyway? Could he be in this world, too?

“What do you plan to do now, Alan?” Wisterion asks.

“I don’t know,” I reply. “I have to find a way to return to my world.”

“I have an idea,” he points out his index finger. “Train as my Squire. If you do, I will help you gain position in the imperial army. Once you are there you can start searching for a way back home.”

“But, general…” the footman protests but Wisterion halts him.

“Do you accept?” he asks.

What should I do?

My thoughts are in a tumultuous rampage. There is this feeling inside my stomach comparable to dysmenorrhea. I hug myself and take a deep breath.

“I accept,” I finally got the words out of my mouth.

Better to learn more about this world, than wander around blindly.

“I knew, you would accept,” Wisterion smiles. “My name is Wisterion van Kealyn. Roger has said all the titles after my name.”

“I’m Aly…I’m Alan, Alan H. Lancaste” I answer.

For now, I’m Alan, but I will always be Alyssa H. Lancaste.

Wisterion welcomes me into carriage. It is a carriage that I could only see in movies and perhaps in posh countries like the United Kingdom. He offers me the seat across him.

“We should be arriving soon,” he says.

As the carriage continues, my senses begin to numb as I let out a yawn. I feel tired from all of this. This nightmare of being transported here. I can hear my mother giving me a long lecture when I get home. My father would scold me for not coming home before eight thirty. My eyes slowly close. I made myself comfortable leaning my head against the soft cushion behind me.

Will all if this go away when I fall asleep?

“Alan. Alan. Alan!” Roger violently wakes me up. “We’ve arrived in the Kealyn mansion. The master ordered me to escort you to your room. Come!”

I get out of the carriage to see a grand mansion many times bigger than my school. In front of it is a beautiful garden. The entire mansion and the garden is enclosed by a wall that is many times taller than me, but it was miniscule compared to the mansion.

Roger leads me through the front door, where servants, butlers, and maids moved around. The main concourse is lit by a giant chandelier that hang from the ceiling. I see no candles on it, but it emitted light throughout the entire room.

“Roger, what is on that chandelier?” I ask him as he walks.

“On the chandelier? Perhaps, you mean the Sunshine Spheres. Master Zenneif, Master Wisterion’s younger brother created that spell. It replaced the use of candles inside this mansion. The brothers are so talented, they are the envy of the empire, no the entire world!”

Roger leads me to a room on the east wing of the mansion. It is a spacious room that had all of the necessities.

“Master Wisterion had all of this arranged while you slumbered. Weapons and armor are inside chest beside the bed. Master Wisterion will train you tomorrow with various weapons. As his Squire, he expects you to have basic knowledge about those weapons, so I suggest reading about them on the weapons manual, the book on top of the chest,” Roger spoke strictly, but I can feel his sense of determination to serve Wisterion. “Dinner will be brought to you shortly. This room has its own bathroom so you don’t have to wander around the mansion. One more thing,” he stops as he was about to leave, “the master and mistress of this mansion don’t know you are here, so please refrain from wandering around the mansion.”

Roger leaves closing the door behind him. I jump on the bed and wanted to take a short nap, but nothing just beats a hot bath after a long tiring day. When I went in the bathroom, I could not believe my eyes. The entire bathroom is something that only royal families could have. I take advantage of it and take a hot bath to take away my worries.

I skimmed through the weapons manual. The weapons inside the chest are truly strange. There is a bow, a sword, and a short spear which are recognizable, but there are strange ones like a spool of thread and a curvy dagger.

My dinner arrived. A maid delivered it. I thank her and feasted on a meal that tasted like it was cooked by a three Michelin star restaurant. It was enough to fill me with energy and I spent all night learning all about the different weapons.