I spend more time inside my head than out of it.

It's not much of a surprise, after all, the imagination always has so much more interesting things to offer than the world ever could handle.

It wasn't that the world didn't have its appeal, after all, it was in this reality that I had my family and friends. It was here that I made my career in computer programming (The closest thing to "real" magic that could ever exist; programming is, literally, turning thoughts and concepts into action with the click of a button).

Today was, to me, like any other day. The sky was pleasantly cloudy, the smell of rain hung in the air, a gentle breeze had been keeping my head clear while I'd been making my way back to my flat.

It was going to rain soon, the thought sent a slight cheery thought through me as I'd already made my plans for the evening.

With the door to my home locked behind me, I removed my coat and took to the kitchen to make myself a cup of warm coco. Nothing really got my head going quite as effectively as that piece of liquid heaven.

Beverage in hand, I went to the study and sat on my comfy leather chair while the computer turned on. The chair had been an investment I'd never regret, as quite the amount of hours were spent in it be it while I read or wrote.

Rummaging through various sites to check for updates, news, and the little things one checks upon when free of time, I finally set down the cup as it was now half-empty and I couldn't bring myself to wait any longer.

The headphones were brought upon my head and the world became alive with music. It'd start with some heavy metal and drum-prominent music to ease out of the fugue from work, but I knew the playlist by heart, and eventually it would patter off into other less intense categories.

My fingers danced across the keyboard.

Letters turned to words turned to phrases turned to paragraphs turned to pages turned to chapters. One after the other after the other, with no end in sight and one keystroke at a time. My mind wandered through the *now* of the story, of the sensations, the words, the feelings, the purpose. Every relevant detail of every moment made eternal in the digital ink.

The more Lucas read the deeper the chill that settled in his bones, his eyes traversed the pages of the book but his mind refused to acknowledge what it was reading.

”Whatever it is you found, spit it out.” Blaire growled impatiently, flicking a short lock of golden hair behind her ear, the dwarf managing to look marginally nervous despite the scowl. “We have to move.”

”I…” Lucas’ fingers tightened on the book, he couldn’t form the words. He…

I frowned at the page, my fingers grinding to a halt.

He...

The frown deepened, the gears in my mind spinning without traction. A grimace crossed my face.

He shook his head in horror. “They were humans.” 

I backtracked, no, that didn’t feel right. Another alternative danced through my thoughts, and it was quickly vetoed before it made it to the page. It didn’t feel, it didn’t feel right. I had to lean back in my chair and ponder, to get into Lucas’ headspace.

Think… think…

Blank.

With a sigh, I went to the kitchen with the now empty cup of coco, as good an excuse to get out of my chair as any. My mind remained with that instance of narrative rebellion even as I listlessly prepared myself a second cup. Why was I having so much trouble figuring out how the main character of my story would react to the plot-twist?

Grumbling, my return to the chair was unceremonious, with the warmth of the beverage and the whirl of the computer fans the only company I had.

A ding warned me of an incoming chat message.

> Hello. I’m a big fan of your work. Wanted to use the characters/setting to do a story of my own >.> 

That got a raised eyebrow out of me. This was the first time someone asked me permission to do a spinoff of my story. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.

>Sure, so long as y ou give credit and send me the link when you’re done. Did you have an ything special in mind? 

The reply came a second afterwards

> Oh, it’s a sort of character insert >.< Already have a draft! 

A pastebin link popped up in the chat, my curiosity peaked, and I clicked it.

The screen flashed blinding white, so intense I had to cover my eyes, feeling as if it was engulfing everything around me.

Then, it all went dark and I was left falling.

Falling down down down.

Down into the void.

“Oof.” Cold stone hit me and pain shot through my lower back.

The rest of my body continued the fall and I was left crumpled on the stone floor. I groaned and tried to alleviate the pain but to no avail. Eyes fluttered under the sunlight leaving me half-blinded in its intensity. I had to blink and groan while partially blind and definitely stunned.

Dazed and in pain, I barely had the time to react when hands suddenly set out to besiege me. There were muttered hurried voices and instantly I felt how they were pulling at my clothes, violently yanking at them as if desperately trying to undress me.

I fought, swatting as the four? Six? Hands sought to empty my pockets and rip my clothes off. “Hey!” Kicking and screaming, the hands scattered as quickly as they’d appeared, I barely caught sight of four children running away and turning at the first corner, vanishing into the darkness of the alleyways. I’d been a split second away from starting to chase them down but froze as my brain finally decided to kick in.

Where was this place? This wasn’t my house.

Shock, fear, my head swivelled, I was in an alleyway, the floor was made of cold cobblestones, the houses at either side were wood and orange bricks, the sky was clear and the sun was blazing down on me. There was a horrid scent lingering in the air that was making me feel nauseous, and the sound of tumultuous people wasn’t very far away.

I flinched when naked feet touched the cobblestone floor, my eyes widened. Those fuckers had taken my shoes! It wasn’t just that, it was also my belt, glasses, wristwatch…! I instantly understood what had happened, those kids had robbed me!

Eyes flying towards the alley they’d disappeared into, I stopped myself from trying to chase them down before the instinct grew too much. I wasn’t fast and they undoubtedly knew this place… wherever it was. Any chance I could’ve had to catch up to them was close to nill at this point. I growled, trying to make sense of what was going on.

I probably should find the police? I turned towards the sound of the crowd to follow it, ignoring the smell that hung in the air and really not wanting to find out what it was in greater detail.

Reaching the main street was a simple manner, it was but a handful of steps away. And yet, when the narrow streets opened into the bustling main-street, an electric shot ran through my spine. I watched the crowd and realized something was not right. The clothes, the strange looks, the way they moved, the carts, the stands, the… the…

The lizard-man with a metal chain around its neck pulling a wood cart loaded with what seemed to be crates.

Agitation began to seed itself into my chest, my eyes darted all over the place faster and more desperately as more and more strange details began to assault me. This wasn’t true, this couldn’t be, it couldn’t be real.

Eyes wide, it wasn’t until I turned towards the end of the main road that my heart froze.

There was a castle, surrounded by a sandy brown wall littered with dark black spikes through its upper edges. The itself castle was massive and built with lime green stones, surrounded with a dozen imposing black pillars that rose into the sky and doubled the castle’s height. Each a perfectly cylindrical tower, each a spear that pierced the heavens.

My eyes weren’t on the towers, they were on the gate of the walls. Atop these gates was a coat of arms adorning the pinnacle of the archway. It was a relatively simple design, three black snakes being shredded by the claws of a horned golden chimera on top of a white and red grid background.

But I knew that coat of arms, seen it over and over and over again within my own head. I had spent weeks upon weeks drawing it and drawing it again as the image had been so clear in my mind but so blotched in its implementation when transformed to paper.

It was the Goldfield royal family’s coat of arms. Which was impossible because there was no such thing as a royal family called Goldfield. It didn’t exist, it couldn’t.

And yet… and yet I couldn’t deny it. I knew all too well.

I’d written so much about this place, how could I not? I felt my heart skip a beat and flutter inside my chest with a mixed sense of panic, confusion, and… something else. Something exciting. My mouth opened and closed, and in an instant I managed to consolidate the whole of the chaos in my head into two words.

“The fuck?”

I was in my story.

It was impossible, but nothing else could explain it. The words rebounded inside my head over and over as I walked in a daze.

Tap Tap Tap

Each of my steps slowly took me down the street, my eyes wide as my brain tried to take in everything that was happening around me. There was just so much drawing my attention, screaming for me to take a closer look. The items being sold on the stalls, the strangely colored fruit, the floating tower on the eastern side of the castle, the faces, God! The faces!

There was just so much! Every person, every single one, the crowd was mostly humans but! BUT...!

My heart kept skipping every other beat, jumping in shock every time I saw a “person” that wasn’t human. The pointy eared elves, the short stocky dwarves, the scaled kobolds, the beast-kin, the… the… My jaw may or may not have been unhinged this entire time as I walked at the side of the road so as to not block the flow of people and carts and carriages and horses and… everything else! There were so many new things!

Fingers remained slowly caressing the smooth stone walls of houses and the rough worn wood of stalls and door frames, my feet felt the rough heated cobblestone, my sense of touch constantly reminding me this was real. Real as the ringing in my ears as hundreds of voices and noises bounced inside my head and a thousand scents assaulted my nose. The very vibrations against the soles of my feet were adding to the sensory overload.

It was real.

The panic was very slowly turning to elation, the beating of in my chest was speeding up; I continued walking up the crowded street. I couldn’t believe it, I still couldn’t believe it. I had to just stop and lean against the wall to recover my breath, wide eyes taking in everything and anything. Awe shook my very core. I was left dumbstruck watching it all unfold in front of my eyes in a daze.

“Turhiuk?”

The word snapped me out of the stupor, my mouth clamped shut as I was abruptly made aware someone was talking to me. I looked down at the finely dressed dwarf. The man was about as tall as my waist and had a very shortly trimmed beard, coal black eyes staring at me with keen interest and sharp determination.

“Huh?” Was all I could manage to say. I hadn’t understood the word he’d spoken, I was very sure of it. This fact made me take another second to look at the non-human and the fine made silk blue robes he wore.

“Turhiuk tefdit?” He repeated, looking me up and down as if trying to solve a very interesting riddle.

“Oh, sorry, I don’t speak dwarvish.” I sheepishly scratched the back of my head.

That made him tilt his head slightly. “Frauhua? Kukclica?” The words felt like they were different in some fundamental way to the first ones; was he able to speak multiple languages? He clearly seemed intent in communicating with me.

Unfortunately I understood none of what he’d said, so I just shook my head. A sinking feeling settled in the back of my mind, more like a certainty. Now that my ears were more closely paying attention to the voices in the crowd, I was not picking a single word in English.

I mean, sure, in my story I’d described the various languages in this world such as the gruff clicking of the dwarvish language and the sing-song of the kobolds and goblins, but… a part of me had had this expectation that I would’ve understood at least human common.

The dwarf didn’t seem bothered, instead he appeared curious and more eager than a moment ago. He rubbed his chin and looked me over up and down once more. “Cu krittie.” He extended his hands towards me, showing both palms.

Wait, was he trying to introduce himself? I took a second to think over what I knew about the dwarves in the world I’d made. Their culture was introduced near the beginning of the original story, I had based it a little less in the generic “clan” mentality that they usually had in fantasy stories and instead had used Korean society from the epoch of nobility and the bone-rank system as a strong source of inspiration.

But for the life of me I couldn’t remember any customs relating to showing the palms of their hands. Maybe this was from some subset of dwarves that had developed a cultural variant?

Feeling slightly curious, I imitated the gesture. “Arwen.” I spoke my name, wondering where this would take me.

The dwarf immediately reached out and grasped my wrists, glancing at the palms closely for a moment before letting go with a vigorous nod.

What was that?

“Cu Krittie.” He repeated, this time pressing the palms of his hands against his chest.

“Arwen?” I reiterated, repeating the gesture.

The dwarf nodded. “Arwen.” He pointed at me, then gestured with a wave of his hand for me to follow. “Xeta.”

I remained where I was glancing at him curiously.

Cu stopped his steps and made a gesture towards his mouth, stopping and glancing at me again, the look in his face clearly showed he was trying to explain something to me. And me being completely unsure what that was, I tilted my head. At that, the dwarf touched his robes, then glanced around once he confirmed not to have what he’d been looking for. His gaze settled on a stand and his finger pointed at it. I saw the apples on it, then back at Cu. The dwarf made a motion as if grabbing an invisible apple and then biting on it. Immediately after he pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

Food.

Was he offering to buy me a meal? My stomach decided to growl, how long had I been walking in a daze? I didn’t know, but I was certainly sure I was hungry now. Cu let out a rumbling laugh at the sound patting his own belly.

“Uh… sure.” I nodded sheepishly and followed along, happy to have met someone friendly enough to offer someone friendly enough to offer me something to eat.

Even without my shoes, things didn't seem to be so bad.

The dwarf seemed quite smart, he'd caught caught my approval even through the language barrier and immediately began to lead the way, talking amicably with the clicking throaty language I was mostly sure was dwarvish. 

It was frankly music to my ears, I hadn’t the knowledge or experience creating languages and now that I was listening to it I was all too sure it didn't sound like anything I’d heard before. A sense of wonderment washed over me as my steps followed Cu, a whole world of details I hadn’t made were being arrayed before my eyes.

Thoughts of going back were pushed to the side, I was sure there was a way to get back, at least I was mostly certain. The protagonist of my story had been a teenager dragged from the modern world, and the whole narrative was meant to end with him getting back through some reverse-summoning magic that would put him right where he left without any time having transpired in “the real world”.

I’d never gotten that far in what I’d published, but there had been a myriad of dropped hints throughout the narrative showing it was a definite possibility. Though the characters themselves hadn’t been sure about it at the time.

This thought lead me to consider something else, if this was the world of my story, where in the narrative had I been dumped into it? Before the story? During? After? Or maybe whoever brought me here had altered the timeline from the start? Would there be no Hero protagonist at all?

In the main plot, the human lineage of Goldfield would fall into ruin due to a coup that came soon after the slave revolts left the kingdom in tatters... so the fact that the banners were still in the castle clearly meant I couldn’t have been brought to a point after the revolts... if they happened at all.

The train of thought came to an end when Cu opened a door to a… tavern?

“How cliché.” I thought to myself with a chuckle while noting we weren’t on the main road anymore. I took a second to glance around, it seemed we were closer to the city walls, there was only one alley wide enough for carriages and horses while the rest were more cramped, and there were a couple large wooden doors on the building adjacent to this one that probably lead to the stables for whatever travellers came about.

A wry chuckle escaped me at the sign atop the door, merely a symbol of a wooden mug, no words nor glyphs, a sign of the illiteracy of the vast majority of people in this world.

Stepping inside, I was greeted with the scent of stale ale, dirt, and sweat. The windows were open, but the lighting was still poor, there weren’t any candles nor a fireplace to give further sources of light, most likely because it was around summer… at least that was my guess considering the pleasant warm air from outside. It was devoid of patrons at this hours, but the slight scent of meat told me that we probably missed the normal lunch hour by not that much.

Cu didn’t wait for me as he went towards the bar, a large muscular man stood behind the bar. Half of the owner’s face was hidden under a layer of discolored burn-scars, the other half was settled into a stony glare.

Something tickled in the back of my mind as I looked at the balding man, at the short brown hair that covered only the back of his head, at the horns that grew from his temples, cut off, serrated so as to leave them no more than a handful of inches in length. There was certainly something about this person that rung a bell in me, had he been a background character for the protagonists of the story?

Pausing in thought, I rubbed my chin and frowned. Minotaur, cut horns, scarred face… the man was a beast-kin, but… no, the protagonists never slept in a tavern while in the capital. Perhaps he was a background character for one of the side-characters? I was starting to ruffle my hair when the sound of someone clearing his throat drew me back to reality.

Cu was waving at me from one of the tables, having already settled down with two mugs of ale.

Hiding the grimace at the thought of alcohol, I reminded myself that ale was the equivalent of water in these parts since drinking water inside most towns and cities was the equivalent of playing the disease-lottery. So I sat down and took a sip of my mug of the not-that-good-to-begin-with drink, the distaste was now not quite that easy to hide, and though Cu gave me an odd look, he just laughed and raised his own mug, drinking heartily from it.

“Wish we could understand each other.” I muttered under my breath, glancing back at the tavern bar-keeper without really drinking much more. The expressionless man wasn’t looking my way, instead seeming to be focused on going through the empty tables and cleaning them.

“Euk caip.” Cu drew my attention back to him with a rushed chuckle, bringing out something from his pocket. I glanced at it and frowned, wait, was that…?

My eyes widened as the crystal marble was placed on the table, it couldn’t be… could it? “Is this a mana tester?” I mumbled with a whisper. I know they had some other name, but they were what I’d called them in my head throughout the whole of the story.

They were exceedingly rare and very very expensive. The little fuckers were made by elves and fairies through evaporating mana-infused water, the mana would crystalize into tiny dust particulate, and then they would take this dust and melt it like one would glass to form these orbs.

Well, there were a shit-ton of other things the mana-dust was used for, hell, the dust itself could be used to test for magic, but it would be single use rather than the potential infinite reutilization the mana tester allowed for. I was quickly feeling quite giddy at the object as I restrained myself from just snatching it from the dwarf’s hands.

“Tura cak ecururu mioca.” Cu spoke slowly, clearly trying to explain something to me. He held the orb between both hands and raised it to level eye with my face. Closing his eyes, the dwarf appeared to focus.

I gasped as I saw a brown speck appear inside the glass orb, growing in size and brilliance until it became a soft bluish sparkle that danced within the object with the brilliance of a candle’s flame. That meant Cu had an affinity for lightning magic, but not enough mana that he could be a mage. Probably the best he could do would be a parlor trick or two.

“Bubu ou.” The sparkle died and he extended his hands towards me, offering the orb.

I gulped as I looked at the object, this thing must have cost him a small fortune. “Are you sure?” I muttered worriedly, I really wanted to grasp it, but I also didn’t want to break it. I remembered quite clearly how I’d narrated that this item was worth enough to feed a family of seven for a couple of years… How had he gotten one to begin with was beyond me, but surely it was Cu’s most precious treasure.

“Bubu ou!” The dwarf nodded eagerly and shoved it closer to me.

Gingerly, I took the glass marble with both my hands, being very very careful not to drop it. The moment the sphere touched my fingers, the skin that was in contact with the object became numbed as if they’d been dunked under freezing water for a while, a clear sign this was mana-glass and not just some random normal marble.

I took a long moment to ponder what to do next, at the point of the story when the protagonist was tested, he’d been told that all he had to do was focus on the strongest feeling he was currently having and that his mana would immediately express itself into the orb.

Closing my eyes, I gulped and focused. What was my strongest emotion right now?

That was a simple answer. I focused on the wonderment that had been burning throughout my chest throughout this whole time. The exhilaration of being in the world I had spent countless hours creating. At the curiosity and joy and anticipation that burned from the pit of my stomach all the way to the center of my chest.

A strong tingling sensation spread from my fingertips to the whole of my hands, and I opened my eyes to then flinch at the dazzling multi coloured light that was blinding me. I flinched and unwittingly dropped the orb.

“Ah!” Cu screamed and dove for it even as the glow began to diminish. The diminutive man having managed to grab it before it shattered on the floor.

The both of us let out a sigh of relief, but I was left dazed and blinking while staring into the void while my brain began to process what had just happened.

I had magic.

I blinked and couldn’t stop the stupid grin from appearing on my lips.

I had magic.

“KAAAAAAAH!” Cu screamed at the top of his lungs, startling me, I saw the smile splitting his face as he leapt to his feet, mug raised in his hand and raucously laughing. He danced around his chair and as soon as he downed his mug circled the table towards my right side, lifted my mug, and offered it to me.

This time I couldn’t hold myself back, distaste alcohol or not, there was a burning joy in my chest at the revelation I had magic. I grinned from ear to ear and lifted it. “For magic!” I shouted, bringing it to my lips and drinking several long gulps.

Immediately the taste reduced me to a coughing fit, to which Cu patted my back to help me get my breathing back.

“Makic!” Cu said loudly, trying to imitate the word but clearly not knowing the meaning in English, placing the orb in his pocket.

*Clink.*

The feeling of something metallic closing around my left wrist startled me into turning to face away from Cu. My eyes met those of the bartender as he stepped back from me, drawing what was clearly a short war-hammer from his belt as he kept his distance.

I blinked and frowned at this, my eyes going down to my left wrist and finding a thin silver-metallic bracelet with a red stone on it, the closing mechanism needing a key for it to open. The cogs in my head began to spin as it took me a second to recognize what it was.

A magic sealing device.

My eyes turned towards Cu who was now several steps away from me. “Hey, what…?” I was about to stand up but felt woozy. My eyes were quite abruptly hard to focus on the dwarf or the hornless minotaur. The effort that took me to remain standing upright was becoming greater by the second, and as I stumbled back, glancing between Cu and the bartender, something clicked on the back of my mind.

Minotaurs that had had their horns cut off were those that had been exiled due to them having committed a crime within their lands. Things like dishonourable defeat, rebellion, murder, theft…

...or slave trading.

What little of my mind hadn’t become blurred felt startled, and I turned in an attempt to run for the door.

But my feet were too clumsy in this dizzied state and I fell.

I felt myself being restrained as I blacked out.