Between Worlds (WIP) - Chapter 2: Eternal Return

AN: Chapter 2, featuring the twist™

When Vinera came to again, she was greeted with a clear blue sky that held two moons she did not recognise. It also appeared that one of them was missing a piece — almost as if someone had tried to blow it up.

Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and blinked, trying to get the illusion she was obviously seeing to go away. Sadly, no matter how hard she tried, the world surrounding her did not change.

"The fuck is going on?" Vinera mumbled to herself as she patted herself down. If her trip to that weird shadow temple had not been a dream, how did she end up on a world with two moons?

Sure, there were planets with more than one moon out there, but Humanity had only reached one of those so far. And that one did not feature a breathable atmosphere, grass, or a blue sky. And also not a weird black abyss with a fucking temple to some Goddesses in it. Mars was… Mars. A planet-wide red desert that the brightest minds of Humanity were currently trying to terraform. This wasn't that. And neither was it Earth.

"Where am I?"

Her question, of course, went unanswered. Nobody was beside her on the field she now occupied. Whoever had made this happen obviously did not want to show themselves.

A rustling caused Vinera to whip her head around, her gaze stopping on a forest to her right. She could see some of the trees shaking slightly in a breeze she could not feel. Then she heard a roar, one that quite literally made her freeze her in place, and the thought that the wind had anything to do with the tree's movement abruptly left her mind.

No matter how hard she tried, her limbs did not obey her will, almost as if someone had frozen her in place. Latching on to that idea, Vinera focused as best she could on the only bit of magic she could actually use. The tiny speck of 'magic' that was all she could call her own flickered a little, and a moment later she had the answer to her question.

Your body cannot withstand the Guardian's might. You are paralyzed.

Fuck, she thought to herself as she tried to look towards the forest to see what this 'Guardian' was, but she couldn't spot anything aside from the swaying trees. A sharp sound that would have normally caused her to cover her ears rang out across the field and a moment later the world began to spin.

Vinera would have screamed or winced at the pain, but her body still did not obey her will. She could feel her skin cut open by the sticks and stones that lay hidden in the grass — could feel her blood flowing from the wounds — but there was nothing she could do.

When she finally came to stop, any inclination of reacting vanished from her mind. She had found the source of the roar and the being that kept her from being able to move: A giant humanoid that stood only a little taller than the trees it had just uprooted.

She had wanted to call it a skeleton, but only its head would fit that description. The skull was made from what looked to be grey and brown stone, while the rest of the Guardian's body was covered in greenery and dirt that made it hard to discern anything else. What was not hard to see, however, was why this creature was angry.

At its feet, Vinera could see people moving. They threw spells and arrows at the creature — if she interpreted the slight twang that echoed across the now-open field correctly — while a few shinier-looking ones slashed at its feet. If it were not for the feeling of blood seeping from her wounds, she would have thought that this was a scene from a movie. In what world did a giant tree-skeleton-thing fight people in what she assumed were robes and armour?

The question would go unanswered as the Guardian ripped another tree from the ground, obviously intending to use it like a club. That plan was unsuccessful, as red lightning hit its shoulder, causing it to roar in pain and stagger back. A moment later, Vinera saw one of the people jump onto the Guardian and deliver a punch to its face. There came a loud crack, perfectly audible from her position in the field, and a chunk of the stone-bone from the creature's skull fell to the ground.

What the fuck is going on?! She wasn't meant to be here, she could not fight whatever that thing actually was! She was supposed to be sitting in a waiting-room to have yet another doctor tell her what she already knew!

After another loud crack, Vinera felt the pressure keeping her immobile waning slightly and her hand moved to the most gruesome cut on her arm on its own. She winced as pain crawled up her limb and blood flowed between her fingers; it had not felt that bad before.

She risked a look, tearing her eyes from the group that still fought that Guardian. Two large gashes adorned her forearm, bleeding a lot heavier than she thought they should. The cuts were wide but not very deep — she could not see bone, at least — but they still hurt more than they normally would..

Another roar caused her to turn again — at least she tried to, but her body was once again frozen in place and Vinera could only watch helplessly as the giant figure of the Guardian tore out another tree and threw it. For one reason or another, the makeshift projectile went wide, heading directly towards Vinera. She tried again to move, but her body did not obey, not even letting her close her eyes.

Just before the tree hit her, the world went dark. Perhaps the universe did not want her to feel pain upon death, or maybe her body simply could not comprehend the pain she was in and had shut off despite the System adamantly telling her that she was paralyzed.

A moment later, Vinera dared to open her eyes again. There, in front of her, was her own front door — the one she had wanted to double check before all this strangeness had happened. She reached out to touch it but winced as a jolt of pain ran through her arm. A quick look confirmed that the cuts she had just gotten were still there, and very real.

"The fuck?"

Those words were probably not what the situation demanded, but it was the first thing that came to her mind. None of what had just transpired — and Vinera was sure that it had — made sense. She left her home, wanted to check that her door was closed, but instead ended up in a black abyss with a temple that had a statue, one that moved and magiced her into a field that just happened to be next to a giant skeleton-golem-monster-thing that threw a tree at her that by all rights should have killed her.

Another jolt of pain in her arm caused Vinera to rummage through her pocket for her keys. Luckily, they had not fallen out during the entire ordeal and it only took her a moment to wrangle them free of the too-tight pocket and open the door.

She stumbled inside, taking the first turn left into the kitchen. Her keys landed on the countertop, briefly filling the room with their noisy rattle before being quickly drowned out by the sound of flowing water and a mumbled curse from Vinera. Her wound would need to be bound — and more importantly — explained. Telling her parents, or even the doctor to whose appointment she would now be late, that she found herself thrown from this world into another and then yet another before arriving back at home would see her admitted into a mental ward.

"I fell while rushing to the appointment because I overslept," Vinera told herself, repeating the sentence two more times before she nodded. "Better than nothing."

She shut off the water, as most of the dirt and grass that had clung to her skin was now removed. While holding her wounded arm up, Vinera lowered herself and opened the cabinet below the sink, grabbing the first aid kit her mother kept there.

Maybe this won't raise that many questions, Vinera thought to herself as she took one of the disinfecting wipes and rubbed it over her arm. She gritted her teeth as the cuts burned and her skin reddened slightly. It was unpleasant, sure, but the little wipes worked wonders. Whoever had figured out how to put magic into medical products like these deserved more than they had already gotten. Doubly so because even I can use them.

A small, fluffy piece of fabric was quickly placed on the largest cuts and fixed in place with a bandage. Wrapping her arms had become second nature, her adventures in boxing coming in handy at least once in her life.

With a sigh, Vinera sank to the floor. Her arm still hurt, but whatever magic was in the fluffy fabric was already doing wonders to soothe the pain. For a moment she simply sat there, taking deep, measured breaths as she tried to make sense of what happened to her. Did she spontaneously hallucinate? Was the System trying to give her a Class but her lack of mana caused it to show her something else and hurt her?

She shook her head in an effort to clear her mind. Her initial assumption that some mage that liked to fashion themselves a God had played a trick on her was still the best option; the most likely option. Not that that was good. It meant that someone strong enough to give her vivid hallucinations and injure her without being nearby was ignoring the wards of her home and targeting her for some reason.

"Ridiculous," Vinera mumbled to herself. "Why would-"

Her question was cut off by the ringing of her phone. Retrieving it from her pocket — and wincing slightly at the large crack in its screen — she looked at the caller. Her phone happily informed her that it was the office of Doctor Sharesch. With a sigh, she answered the call. Time to get told that my parents wasted their money…

"Miss Soletti?" the voice of a man asked, one that continued after Vinera answered in the affirmative. "Assistant Kirmon is my name. I am calling on behalf of Doctor Sharesch. He noticed that you missed your appointment earlier today, would you like to reschedule?"

The question made her blink. "I can?" she asked, not quite sure how that was possible when Sharesch was the man when it came to mana theory.

"Of course!" the man replied with a slight chuckle. "Doctor Sharesch might be a busy man, but your case has piqued his interest. Would today at three work for you?"

A look at the clock told Vinera that it was currently 12:30; enough time to clean herself up and cancel everything else she had planned for the day. "That… would be wonderful."

Why her case was interesting was no mystery to Vinera, but she still had not thought that it would be enough to get her another appointment on the same day. Especially when she considered the fact that they had had to wait three months to get the first one. Did he…?

"Marvelous," the man said, his smile audible through the phone. "Do you require a pickup to be arranged? Finding our office can be a challenge sometimes."

Vinera remained quiet for a moment, her mind not quite able to process the current interaction on top of what she had been through just moments before. None of it made sense.

"Miss Soletti?" the man inquired, shaking Vinera out of her stupor.

"Ah, yes, that would be nice," she managed to say, the memory of what she was agreeing to already foggy. "Thank you."

"It is our pleasure! Do you have any other questions?"

So many, she thought to herself but shook her head. "No." She hesitated for a moment. "I apologize for missing my appointment."

"Pay it no mind," the man replied. "Sometimes, we only have one patient per day, and today that is you. Like I said before, your condition has piqued Doctor Sharesch’s interest."

Vinera blinked at the words. Just how much does this cost? She wanted to ask, but thought better of it. The man would likely not tell her, and she would have to ask her parents later. Whenever later is…

Both of her parents were busy people, not having much time for their daughter. Especially if that daughter cannot use magic. "No," Vinera mumbled to herself. "That's wrong."

"Pardon?" the voice of the doctor's assistant asked.

"Nothing, just talking to myself," Vinera said. She shook her head again and adjusted her seating. "Thank you again, Mister Kirmon."

"It is my pleasure," he replied. "If you have no questions, I bid you farewell."

"I can't think of any you could answer," Vinera said with a sigh. "Goodbye."

The line disconnected, the quiet beeping of her phone lingering in her ear for a moment before she lowered it. Why would a doctor take an entire day to see her? Someone who did not have mana, a curiosity that countless others could not resolve… To have such attention focused on her was suspicious, to say the least. Still, the man was held in high regards by not only her own parents but most anyone who knew of him.

"What to do, what to do…" Calling her parents was on the list of options, but she did not really want to tell them what had happened. It was so surreal that if her arm was not currently wrapped in bandages as a memento of having being thrown across a field by a giant monster who had not even been aiming for her, she would not believe it herself.

She rested her head against the cabinet behind her and checked her phone. In roughly two hours she would be taken to visit Doctor Sharesch, and in the meanwhile she had other appointments she needed to cancel.  And eat something, she added in her mind as her stomach rumbled. Perhaps breakfast would help her make sense of what had happened.