Considering my clothes and the room I’d woken up in, this body’s owner had to be rich. With the way I’d been addressed, probably nobility or royalty. I tried to keep my eyes open for any further clues, but the new sensations were a bit overwhelming.

The hallway we walked down looked perfectly ordinary, with little to indicate whether it belonged in a castle or palace. Although the illumination still came from stones affixed to the ceiling that I sensed contained this new energy. Mana, maybe? Qi or ki or whatever? So far, this really put me in mind of Eastern-style fantasy, what with the core of energy in my guts.

Anyway, the hallway was paneled in wood, but without any other decorations. The ceiling was a uniform white that would have been at home in any modern building. We didn’t meet any other people, although there were other doors, spaced pretty far apart.

After maybe fifty meters, we made a turn down a spiraling staircase, that had stone steps but still managed to look delicate, with handrails of a crystalline substance that shimmered in many colors. I ran my hand over one part, and it was cool to the touch. But I didn’t linger. By now, I could hear muffled sounds that had to come from other parts of the building, but nothing identifiable, just general bustle. After going down two floors, the blue-robed man led me into another hallway, this one a little broader and with elaborate designs carved into the wood paneling. I’d visited a few castles, but this didn’t look like anything I’d seen before.

Finally, he stopped before a door. Nothing differentiated it from the rest, but I could sense the presences gathered behind it. Without knocking, the man opened the door and entered.

When I followed him in, I paused at the sight. The room looked like a smallish sitting room from a movie set in the Victorian era. There was a table with chairs to the side, and in the middle something between an armchair and a sofa facing a few other cushioned chairs. Half a dozen people lined the walls in obvious bodyguard positions. They all wore dark-colored robes with the same brooch, and all of them felt about as strong as my guide. That one was now on his knees near the entrance.

But my attention was immediately drawn to the woman in the main seat. I couldn’t tell her strength. It felt like a cloud covered the sun, letting only hints of its brilliance through. But my mouth went dry before I consciously registered her presence. She has to be more powerful than me and maybe even the guards.

Her skin was a touch darker than that of not-my hand. Her dark hair fell to her shoulders, her gray eyes piercing into mine. She was beautiful. While she looked like thirty at most, something about her bearing and her eyes belied that impression. In a magic world, for all I knew, she could be centuries old. She, too, felt familiar.

Then she smiled, and just like that, my anxiety eased. “It’s good to see you,” she said. “Come, sit down. Let’s talk.”

Hesitantly, I came closer and sat on the plush chair facing the woman. I noticed she wore a black-and-white gown that looked like it had taken a master tailor years to make by hand, and was embroidered with gold and silver in intricate patterns, but her hands hid in its wide sleeves.

“I have a lot of questions,” I finally said.

“I would imagine so. However, it would be best if I asked a few questions first to determine where to begin explaining.”

I was getting impatient, but controlled myself. “Of course.”

“I’ve been told you didn’t remember the room you woke up in,” she started, and I wondered if the first woman had gone to tell her. “Do you remember anything about this place, or anyone you met?”

I’d already decided honesty was the best policy. “Not really. You feel familiar, but I couldn’t say why.”

Her face tightened just a bit at that answer, but it smoothed out quickly. “I see. What is your name?”

I paused just a bit. “Tori.” That was a nickname, but I was hesitant to reveal my identity in case this was somehow an elaborate set-up and these people turned out to have bad intentions.

She nodded again, but the way she raised an eyebrow slightly made me think she’d caught that. “’Tori’, I’m sorry to tell you that the life you knew is over.”

She paused at that. I took a deep breath. This was probably the logical conclusion given everything, but somehow the thought didn’t feel real. The idea that I would never finish university or see if the world managed to deal with climate change just seemed absurd.

“You just completed what we call a ‘soul journey’,” the woman explained. “You originally come from this world. Your soul detached from your body and was taken to another world, or another universe. The details of the how and why are very speculative, I’m afraid. In this other world, you were reincarnated, reborn without your memories. Now that you … departed that life, your soul has returned to its home. For us, only nine days passed, and your body was in a coma during that time.”

I blinked at that. I’d sort of expected reincarnation, but this was backwards! I was supposed to originally come from here? That didn’t really make sense. I’d read a few stories about transmigration, and in them a newly dead soul was taken to inhabit the body of a person who died in the cultivation world, taking their place. Maybe they just thought I was the same person? Hell, do souls even exist? This is all completely crazy.