“I'm Glad to hear you're interested. I was worried that I may have to try again. For lack of a better term, our worlds are somewhat close together, which made this trip pretty low cost mana wise. I don't know what would happen if I didn't have enough mana to send one of us back.”

With time ticking down, we quickly gave each other any last bits of information we could think of while getting undressed so we could switch clothing. We had nothing the other hadn't seen before, but it was still a little embarrassing.

I wondered if I should take anything with me. I didn't know if the magic would let me, or if that may cause something bad to happen.

There wasn't time to bring anything that I could've made much use of anyway. My phone would just lose power, and my printer didn't work, so printing any information was impossible. The only thing I had were my fantasy books on the shelf.

Well, at least I had my memories, they would do just fine if I needed some obscure knowledge. My other version's excited tone was getting annoying. His damn positivity was overcoming my pessimism. I wasn't a fan of it.

I knew there was a potential down side, and very likely I'd never get the chance to come back. But why worry about it now? This was a once in a life time chance. If I didn't take it, I'd probably regret it for the rest of my life.

I knew any objections, no matter how logical I could make, wouldn't be able to stop me from following through with it at this point.

The last thing I was told was that the name of the place I was going was called Highmar, and it's general political system. It seemed not unlike our middle ages, with a few welcomed differences. The ruled, like my other self and now me i guess, seemed to have at least some degree of freedom.

They worked and paid taxes to their lords, who paid the main houses, who paid the kingdom of Highmar. It sounded pretty straight forward and was a system I was familiar with.

With everything set to go, and seeing the other me have his mana drop to 21/50 there was no time left. Now or never. The same static electricity appeared and the black dot hung in the air. It sprung open to form a white lighted doorway.

The last thought I had was not of my family, or the comforts I was leaving behind. It was 'I wonder how Game of Thrones will end'? Without completely understanding the reason, I quickly grabbed the fantasy book on my bed and jumped through the door.

It felt like I was both falling and floating. It was pure white, than pure black. Then every color, then emptiness. It all happened in a blink, but it was a sight and feeling I'll never forget.

I fell on an old wooden floor, book still in hand. I got to my feet, and gave a quick look around at all the things in my new small room. In the corner, It had something like a wooden cot with hay and a sheet cover pulled over it

A small glassless window stood on the far end facing the woods. Not far from my bed was a tiny table that held a single candle along with something to light it. There wasn't much else in here.

I tried to remember everything I was told, so far it seemed to match.

“Status screen on”. I said aloud to no one. Nothing happened.

I remembered him telling me 'you have to concentrate, not say it'. I focused my mind and willed it into existence.

Name: William Taylor

Age: 16

Race: Human

Class: None

Sub Class: None

Skills: None

Level: 1

Experience: 00%

Constitution: 12

Dexterity 11

Intelligence: 17

Strength: 13

Wisdom 17

Charisma 12

Health 30/30

Mana 30/30

Stamina 15/15

Attribute Points: 0

Well, there it was. In all it's unimpressive glory. Not all my stats started at the same amount. At least my Wisdom and Intelligence weren't too bad. I guess it had to do with the differences in our education system, but I wasn't sure.

The door flew open, and in ran the girl I assumed must be my new sister.

My former 18 year old sister was tall, thin and kind of bitchy looking; but in the way some guys might like. Sadly her bitchy look extended to her personality.

But this cute as a button angel, with green eyes full of worry, dirty brown hair, a button nose and pale skin, seemed to be the type a big brother could easily dote on. I sincerely hope the personality matched in her case.

“I heard a tumble. Are you okay?” She really did look on the verge of crying, which tugged on my poor jaded heart strings.

“It's okay Armilda. I just fell out of bed”. I hope I remembered and pronounced her name correctly. I should have double checked that before I left.

Her eyes wondered to my status screen. She let out a sharp gasp, bringing up her tiny hands to cover her mouth. Crap, I forgot to close my status window.

“What happened? You're back at level 1! What did you do? Are you okay?”

Her face became even more of a worried mess. She kept going on about how father would be furious when he came home. He was out at a tavern right now, which probably fit him here just as much as in my world. Some things never change I guess.

“It will be fine Armilda. Don't worry about it.”

Remembering my conversation about the family situation really made me feel for Armilda.

Her mother died in childbirth. It caused a lot of the traditional motherly duties to fall on her. She put in so much work every day from a young age.

I honestly don't know how I felt about my mother in this world being dead.

She wasn't my real mother, but I did feel a mild sense of loss. My own practically never had a nice thing to say to me back in my world. I suppose I shouldn't care so much.

My sister collected herself and changed the topic.

“Well, I better start dinner now. Father will only be in a worse mood than usual tonight if he isn't fed a good meal.” Her tone told me she didn't think much of my new father.

I suppose it's nice something that feels like home can be here to give me a sense of normalcy. I just wish it wasn't him.

I decided to follow her out to the kitchen, as I didn't have anything else to do. I remembered to turn my status screen off this time.

She started to prepare all the food she was about to put into the stew, and we just began talking. Not about anything of importance. Just talking. It was kind of nice, I guess brothers and sisters can be like this sometimes too.

She went on about how hard it was to get good sweet potatoes today at the market, but she was determined to get them because she knew how much I liked them. I really did like them. I guess my other self and I have similar taste.

She apparently had to haggle with the only person who was selling them today on 3 separate occasions to get a decent price.

It wasn't until late in the day that the guy finally gave in, facing the prospect of going home with so many unsold vegetables. Clearly, she wanted me to praise her ability to be a crafty consumer. So that's exactly what I did.

It went on like that as we talked and shared some laughs for what I guessed was nearly 2 hours. She even laughed at my bad jokes, sadly most of my jokes were pretty bad.

It surprised me how full of life my new 12 year old sister was, given her situation. Even with this just being our first meeting, I found that I felt a connection to her. More so than I can remember feeling with anyone from my original family in a long time

My father burst through the door, with what no doubt were 2 of his typical drinking buddies. They stumbled towards the table and managed to plop down without falling over. But just barely.

My sister tried to look hard at work, never turning around no matter how loud and rowdy the men got, unless it was to give them a bowl of stew. This scene had obviously played out many times in the past, and she knew what was expected of her.

My father, with his face already flushed red, pointed at a cabinet in the kitchen. It was the only nice looking piece of furniture I'd seen in the entire house.

“William, bring us a bottle of red from the cabinet and pour us 3 cup fulls.”

Following my sister's lead I stayed silent and just followed his instructions. For now, it was better to go along and get along until I had more of this world sorted out.

I placed 3 glasses down and popped open the bottle. As I began to pour my father angrily pushed the neck of the bottle up.

“No, not like that you idiot. Use your Chef skill. It makes the wine taste better.” He grunted at me and shook his head towards his friends.

I was told people couldn't always tell when you were using certain skills or not. But in cases like these where people knew you, they could reliably notice the difference.

This isn't how I wanted to bring up the subject. I was thinking of waiting until he and I were alone and he was sober. That may be wishing for too much, with any version of my old man.

“Can we perhaps talk outside for a moment father?” I didn't know what his reaction would be, but judging from how surprised and sad my sister was, I was sure there'd be one.

“What the hell are you talking about? Just pour the fucking wine. Don't make my friends wait you useless sack of horse shit.” He picked up the wooden cup and hit the bottom against the table. It was a signal that this was the end of the discussion.

His friends were having a good laugh at this. They seemed more alike than not when it came to their opinions on getting amusement at the expense of others. Fine, have it your way then, you old bastard.

“I don't have it anymore. My chef skill that is.”

He looked at me dumbly. as if I said pigs were flying outside. They might be for all I knew, I didn't ask my other self about that.

“What the hell do you mean you don't have it?” His anger went from a general contempt to a seething stare. His friends on either side of him stopped laughing.

“I lost all my skills. I'm at level 1 again.” A long silence followed. I looked to my sister who gave me a quick glance and then looked back down to her cooking. She was shaking slightly. I brought my attention back to my father and his friends.

“I've heard of it happening, but I've never known anyone who-", one of my father's drinking buddies seemed to ponder, lost in his thoughts. A quick glance from my father cut him off mid sentence. He turned his attention back to me.

“I always knew you were nothing special, and wouldn't amount to much. But I never figured you'd be such a god damn failure and embarrassment. Get the hell out of my sight.”

I locked my eyes with his for a moment, but I decided against saying anything back. What use would it serve? I put the wine down on the table and went back to my cramped room.

I didn't hear much merry making from the kitchen after that. My other self clearly didn't stress what a big deal going back to level 1 might be. Did he perhaps not fully understand?

I tried to recall if I left out or didn't fully get the chance to explain anything on my side that would be as important as this seemed to be. Was it a breakdown in communication due to a time crunch, or was it outright deceit?

With that thought in mind, I checked my bed. There was a small bag with 20 gold coins hidden right where he said it would be. At least that was true. I should have checked it earlier, but too much happened right after getting here.

I had a simple plan. Continue to do the job my other self did. Save up, and then with that money, and the gold he stole, I could get some equipment and weapons. I would probably need to pay for some training too.

I've never been in a real fight in my life, and certainly never used a sword, ax or bow. I would likely need to learn a few magic spells on top of it and form a party. Going off half cocked into a dungeon was probably a good way to get myself killed.

I noticed the boots my other self gave me were a bit too big. I decided I'd make that the new hiding place of my gold.

I stuffed the small sack in the front of the boot that was slightly bigger than the other. Clearly these were not top of the line footwear, seeing as they weren't even the same size.

That was a good thing in this case, It barely managed fit inside my slightly bigger boot with my foot inside it. After checking I could still walk around okay with it like that, I took them off and left them in the corner, with the gold still in it.

It was late, so everything would be closed. For the first time, I heard the sound of a bell striking 9 times. It was far off in the distance but I should've noticed it before. It must be the way this town kept track of time, I’d have to be more observant of that.

In the morning I'd get up, and go to my job, and put tonight's bad episode behind me. After I was done, It was off to the local blacksmith. I needed to find out how much all my equipment would cost, and see about finding a proper teacher.

Overall, it was not the best first day. If anything, my father was a bigger asshole here, if that was possible. I was starting from the very bottom and aiming all the way to the top.

That would be a bit bothersome, but something about it made it sound even more fun. I took out my fantasy book and started reading it again until I fell asleep.

Looking back now, I realize how naive I was to think that it would be that easy.