"Eliza." A name once forgotten, now half-remembered. Caught in the web of his dreams, the name spilled from Gray's lips unbidden.

It was an unintended action. Her name and her image had long ago faded from his mind. Not only that, but she had disappeared from his life long ago, just like all those he left behind in the past. Calling out her name was something he did while believing he was still in those distant days. In reality, no one should have answered.

But-

"Yes?"

-Someone did.

It was a soft female voice, light and melodic.

Gray's bleary eyes snapped open.

A beautiful woman was looking down at him. Silver hair and enchanting crimson eyes that glittered like rubies... it was an appearance like an ethereal fairy that could leave a person breathless. But those weren't her only distinctive features. There, directly in front of Gray's eyes were two round mounds.

"...Well, this is awkward. Not unpleasant, but really awkward."

The woman smiled in response and said, "I am glad you are enjoying it."

Seeing that the woman was completely unfazed, Gray decided to get up and pretend nothing had happened. The woman seemed all too happy to oblige... or rather, she remained smiling without a care in the world.

Right. So... what's going on here?

Gray took a look around to get his bearings. Waist-high grass in every direction, with a hilly terrain. A tiny ruined building in the distance... and that was about it.

It was an unfamiliar scenery. Or rather, it would have been for him earlier in the day.

Gray let out a long sigh. Looks like it wasn't a dream.

To double-check, he pulled out his phone from his pocket... which, in hindsight, was surprisingly undamaged. He would have thought that it would at least have a few scratches from all the times he had been sent flying recently, but it looked like his tech-loving instincts had protected it from damage.

In any case, the display on his phone said it was 10 AM. Monday.

The date was the same as this morning, and it looked like only a few hours had passed since he left for class.

After confirming that not much time had passed, he did the rational thing and made a phone call towards the local authorities... which immediately caused his phone to freeze.

Another try. Reboot phone, open phone app, call 911... and it froze. Change of tactics then.

Gray tried texting a few of his friends to tell him what was going on. And to take notes for him in the remaining classes, of course. Always have to prioritize school work. But, like with making a call, his phone froze.

That's weird. Gray frowned and tried email. Same result. Just to make sure it wasn't just his phone acting up, he rebooted it again and tried using some other apps. Camera worked. Photo gallery worked. File manager worked. Even the browser app he had on the phone worked... except for when he tried posting things on forums or social media.

Gray ran his left hand through his hair and said, "Just what the hell is going on here?"

His phone worked perfectly fine except for when he tried sending out a message. Was it the kidnappers fault? Maybe they had hacked the nearby signal towers and were blocking him somehow? ...No. More likely, they had a device that intercepted broadcasting signals and instantly froze the device attempting them. But then why allow him to use the internet?

Gray sighed and turned his phone off, placing it back in his pocket. It had already been low on battery when he ended up here, and his tests had only further drained its battery. With the remaining percentage, he might only be able to use it for a few more minutes at the lowest brightness.

A soft voice called out to him. "You seem troubled."

Gray jumped and quickly remembered that he wasn't alone. He turned back to the woman.

She was staring at him like always, but her expression seemed... softer? It was hard to put into words, but it looked like she had somehow gotten past the trauma of recent events. That, or she was momentarily suppressing it.

Good tactic, that was. He used it quite a lot in his day to day life. It was the best way to focus, just narrowing your vision to the current task and forgetting about everything else... Ah. Right. The woman was asking him something.

"A little. You wouldn't happen to know where we are right now, do you?"

The woman frowned. "Where we are?"

Gray suddenly remembered that he had found her blindfolded and gagged. Idiot. What made you think she would know where we are? He shook his head and said, "That was stupid of me. Ignore what-"

"...I believe that we are ten miles away from the border of Newark and Harmonia. The nearest human habitation is called... Rorin village, it seems. That is approximately five miles away from our current location."

A thorough and informative answer. An answer that was more than anything Gray could have expected from a person he found blindfolded and tied up. Also an answer that only gave him more questions.

Gray blinked. "...Right. I won't really ask how you know that... but do you know how far away we are from ********?"

The woman stared at Gray. Her gaze was blank, and for a moment it seemed like her lucid behavior was just an illusion... but then she shook her head. "I... do not know. Rorin village is the nearest... the only human habitation within a ten mile radius. Beyond that, I have no idea."

Gray frowned. That's weird. How can she not know where ******** is- Wait.

A sudden realization. One that caused an ominous chill to go through Gray's body. His eyes widened, not daring to believe what he was thinking. Even so, he had to confirm it.

My name is Gray Smith.

He remembered his name. So far so good.

I have a younger brother who's studying in university, a father who is the manager of a startup company, and a mother who runs another company.

Gray nodded. Basic biography, check.

My current plans are to finish my studies at ********* university and then find a job working for *********.

-And there it was. The discrepancy Gray had noticed, and the one that caused his stomach to drop.

Maybe it's just in my head? Right. There was that possibility. So he should make sure. After all, maybe it was just fatigue getting to him. Right. The fatigue. He had just woken up from sleeping in a strange place after all and suffered a shock waking up to a beauty staring him in the face. Maybe this was just the aftermath of that.

Gray looked back at the white-haired woman and said, "I have another question for you, if you don't mind answering."

She smiled. "Feel free to ask me anything. It is the least I can do."

Gray nodded. "Then, have you ever heard of ********?"

-There it was again. A mental lapse where- no. It might just be in his head. To check, listen for her response and-

"I am sorry, but what are you asking about?" The woman tilted her head slightly.

Confused. She looked confused. Right, she was confused. But that didn't mean much. Maybe he just didn't say it clearly enough.

Gray tried again. "I asked if you have ever heard of *********? You know, *********? That city famous for its university back in *******?"

The woman's confusion grew. Her eyes narrowed in concentration, and she turned her head slightly, as if trying to hear her own thoughts. After a while though, she shook her head. "I am sorry," she said. "But... I cannot understand what you are trying to ask me. If it is about the city famous for its academy, that would be Eternia, the capital of Newark. I have heard that their Magic Academy is quite renowned?"

Gray froze. She didn't understand me. And... when I spoke, I didn't understand either. Wait. That's not right. I do understand, but...

-Imagine this. You know the name of a place. You know that you know the name of a place. After all, you remember the place. And since you remember it, you know that you can remember the name of that place. Of course, the name and the place are intermingled in memory, so remembering one is remembering the other.

Now imagine this. You can see that place in your head. At the same time, you can see its name in your head. It was a place you are familiar with, so that was only a matter of course. You can also hear its name in the back of your mind while not thinking about it. Yet, the moment that you try to speak it out loud or bring it to the front of your mind... the name vanishes.

When you speak the name, the words coming out from your mouth don't register in your ear, in your mind, in your memory. And yet, you know that the words you are saying are exactly what you intended, that the act is no different than the countless other times you'd done so in the past.

Except, this time it's as if you were speaking a foreign language.

That was what Gray experienced.

Was he losing himself? Was he suffering from amnesia?

-Impossible. Such a selective memory lapse only occurred in works of fiction.

...But he had hit his head quite a few times since arriving here. Maybe it had caused more severe damage than he expected? But he felt fine, and he could remember other things with an almost sickening clarity. For example, he could recite that source code he had miraculously written out for his custom phone driver from memory with ease. The same held true for the plot and development of over a dozen different Anime and video games.

Then... what was happening?

A voice called out to him. Soft and clear, a melodious sound that cut through his fog of panic and uncertainty. "Are you alright?"

Gray focused.

The woman was standing in front of him, close enough for him to feel her breath on his skin. It was also enough that he realized they were the same height, the perfect level to where their gazes naturally met when they stood before each other.

"I..." Gray was at a loss for words. And not because there was a beautiful woman directly in front of him, so close to where if he leaned forward just a bit, they would kiss. No... he was at a loss for words because of the implications of what had happened to him.

It wasn't memory loss. What was happening to him... he could still remember, and yet he could not. Because of that, it wasn't memory loss. But then... what was it? And why?

Was it only constrained to information about where he was from? ...No. A brief attempt at recalling names of other places and people brought up a blank. -Wait. Then how did I use my phone?

A contradiction... until he remembered that he hadn't actually looked at the names of who he was sending his messages to, but rather clicking familiar icons.

Panic. While he had remained calm through his life and death experiences and even when coming across the woman before him tied up and blindfolded, Gray was beginning to panic.

-Of course. He prided himself on his mind and knowledge, carefully and painstakingly honed in exchange for what others normally valued, such as time spent with friends and family.

Losing that, even if it was only the slightest chance of it at the moment...

-Dim. He noticed that his vision was getting dim. Black around the edges. Was it a blackout? Fainting? Gray didn't know, but at that point, he didn't have much he could do about it.

Then, he felt a soft hand placed on his forehead and a voice. "Be calm. Even if there is no one else, I am here for you."

Instantly, his fading vision returned. At the same time, he saw the woman standing in front of him withdraw her hand. A hand that was still shining with soft white light.

She smiled and said, "Is that better?"

"You...?"

Unnatural. Impossible. Humans didn't have glowing white hands. And a single touch from her, even as beautiful as she was, shouldn't have calmed him down so much.

Confused and with a mind unable to comprehend the situation, Gray said, "What was that?"

"Hm? Healing magic. Specifically, one to restore the mental state to its peak condition. It is quite popular among adventurers dealing with undead and spirits that can inflict fear or other mental status ailments."

Gray shook his head. "No. Hold on." He held up a hand. "Did you say... magic?"

That couldn't be. While it was true that sufficiently advanced technology was indistinguishable from magic-

Come to think of it, back in that ruined building... Gray had forgotten about it due to the other hectic events at the time, but didn't the woman do something just as incredible back then?

The woman nodded. "Of course. What else would I be talking about?"

"That... but magic isn't real." Gray frowned and then said, "It can't be real. ...Can it?"

An inkling in the back of his mind. That this setup, the events that had happened to him. Could it be that...? No. It's impossible. My phone worked, and I could see things being updated in realtime on social media.

Right. Because of that, while it was odd that he couldn't send messages out, it was still within the realm of possibility. Within reason.

But, as if to shatter that fragile reasoning of his-

"Can it be that you are from a backwaters village after all? ...Well, this much should be enough to convince you."

-The woman raised her hand and called down lightning from the skies, lacing it with fire and ice.

A breathtaking experience. Beneath the clear blue sky, a fairy-like woman stood amidst twirling elements of nature, bent to her will.

Watching her, a young man sunk to his knees with the realization that he was now worlds, if not dimensions away from home.