1 Awakening

"Hoo!" "Hoo!"

Waking to a noise, I get bombarded by a wave of pain.

"Ow, why does my body ache so much" I feel a burning sensation over my entire body, as if I took a dip is boiling water. Sweat beading down my forehead, I attempt to sit up, but get hit with a wave of dizziness. I stop trying to move and close my eyes, shaking my head to try and relieve the dizzy feeling.

After a while I open them up again and survey my surroundings. Instantly I feel confused as I look around the room I'm in. 'Where am I?' I think to myself. Seeing as I don't recognize my surroundings, I start to speculate.

'Did I get drunk or kidnapped?' I wonder as I gaze at the small debilitated room I'm in. It looked similar to a crack house, dirty, unkept, and basically falling apart. The walls and and floor were made of wood, cracks and dust covered the wall.

'Ok, ok, let me just take a breath and calm down' I lay there for a few minutes trying to remember what I did yesterday to end up here as well as cause the pain on my body.

'I think I was in the library eating a ham sandwich, It was a slow day. Only a few people came by yesterday, so I got started on an early lunch when a figured stopped in front of the desk, and then... I don't remember..'

Disappointed I continue to think to myself as I experience what I assume fried chicken has to go through to get that crispy crunch. I glance down at my body, half expecting to see blackened skin, only to see... The embodiment of a tanned body building god.

'WHAT! WHERE'S ALL MY FAT!' I silently exclaim to my self, mouth popping open in shock.

All of a sudden, memories start hitting me like a brick, but not my memories. Rei Marvo, 22 years old, 6 feet 2 inches, long black hair that goes past his shoulders, piercing brown eyes that intimidate most people, tanned skin from doing hard labor in the sun, a mercenary. Also known as a moron.

Basically a hunk of muscle that does whatever he can to make a living, being someone's bodyguard, or just doing chores.

He grew up as a poor orphan and had to take care of himself his whole life. Having enough money only to feed himself, he couldn't afford an education. Because of that he can't read or understand complex problems.

He was looked down on and taken advantage of his whole life due to his low intellect, yet he never learned. He only knew enough words to get through a conversation, but just grunted most the time if he was responding to people.

The only upside was the immense strength he was born with, being able to lift even the thickest of people with but one arm, having the strength of 3 grown men.

"What the hell? Why do I have these crappy memories? My life wasn't great, but not THAT bad" I exclaimed as I lay in bed sifting through the depressing memories of Rei Marvo. The more I saw, the more shocked I became.

"Either I smoked some funny fumes, or I'm not in Kansas anymore" I muttered as memories of where I am appeared in my head.

Treva City, one of the major trading cities on the continent of Ceris, the second largest continent discovered. Anything you want can be found here at a price, whether you can afford the price it depends. That's basically all Rei knows about this place.

"Wow he really was an idiot, why would you go to a strange new place with no preparation?" I mumble as I continue to scan his memories, and stop when one catches my eye.

My eyes widened as I gaze at a certain memory. 'It's impossible for some of these to be real right?' I think to myself.

It was one of Rei's first bodyguarding jobs, It was supposed to be a simple job of protecting a ship from pirates with a few other meat for hire. That's when someone shouted in fear as he pointed at the water.

To everyone's disbelief, a woman was standing on the water as if it was solid ground, they could all hear soft singing coming from her as the boat got closer. To make it even creepier, a fog started to roll in, seemingly from nowhere. The helmsman started freaking out, stuttering about 'sea ghosts'. When Rei looked back at her, the fog had swallowed her up, and was heading for the vessel.

The captain then showed up, holding a stone like item. Raising the item over his head, he shouted a phrase no one could decipher. A bright glow shot from the stone, bathing the entire ship in its glow, suppressing the fog till they managed to escape. However some unlucky souls had already vanished before then to god knows where.

The captain pretended nothing had happened afterward and and would forever whistle innocently when asked about if by the crew. One of the men protested and started yelling about wanting to leave, and tried getting others to band together and take the ship for themselves. However the captain wasn't having any of that and shanked the man in the back with his cutlass and threw him to the sea beasts. No one protested again after that.

As I was scanning Rei's memories I realized the pain was fading, so I tried slowly sitting up. When no further pain appeared I attempted to stand shakily, albeit slowly. Confident that I felt better I walked to the window, undid the latch and stuck my head out.

Then immediately crap myself (figuratively) as an owl the size of my arm stares me down an inch from my face.

"Hoo!" It says before giving me the stank eye for a second and flying off. I watch it, then look around.

Shock. One glance was enough to confirm what I saw in my head. The moon was way closer then on earth, There were no cars or tall buildings, everything looked old fashioned, Horses pulling carriages, traders hawking wares on the streets, food stalls on every corner. It was like going back in time, with a few added changes. I shook my head in disbelief as I stared at everything, absorbing it all in.

"I'm not dreaming am I? No, not possible, It's too real. But how did this happen? Did I go back in time?" I said as I closed the window. I caress my smooth chin and immediately shake my head.

No not time travel, history never mentioned anything in my memories. I looked down at my body. It was very fit, conditioned by a harsh life. Flexing my arm I saw muscles ripple under the skin. My mood instantly brightened when I saw that.

If this is real..

I rushed to one of the doors in the room, creaking it open and stubbing my toe in the process. A bathroom with a small mirror, sink, toilet, and a wooden tub stood inside. Walking to the sink I gazed at my reflection. A tall intimidating man was reflected back at me. I touched my face in awe. I looked just like Rei. A healthy 22 year old alpha male, albeit, a pretty slow one.

As I stared at my ripped body, my mind flashed to my past. I was double Rei's age, a hefty 42 years old. To be twenty years younger again was a dream for any person. As I thought back to my life on Earth I realized I had no one waiting for me, No one to wonder where I went, or to mourn my loss. I realized I never wanted to go back, nothing was waiting for me back there.

My name was Adrian Castor, I was a librarian. Reading and eating were the two things I did most in the world. Name a book, I probably read it more then once. Name a food, I probably had it hiding under my triple chin.

All that reading made me pretty smart though, I knew many things that most people thought to be useless. I was 'slightly' overweight at a 267 pounds no muscle, all fat and I was pretty short with my 5 foot 2. A stark contrast to Rei's all muscle, no fat, tall structure. As I gazed at my face I realized the chance I was given, I could use my knowledge from earth and make something of myself here. With Rei's brawn and my brain, nothing could stop me. NOTHING!

*cough* *cough* Ok I sound like a super villian when I word it like that.

"Rei's-" I paused "I guess I should say MY memories tell me a lot, but if I'm gonna learn more, I'm gonna have to do a lot of research"

As I was inspecting my new body, something on my hand caught my eye. It was a silver ring, inscribed with the silhouette of an owl, under the owl were three lines.

"Do the lines signify something" I thought absently. Something told me it wasn't just a random design.

Examining further didn't merit anything more, so I shrugged.

"Strange, Rei doesn't seem like the type who would wear jewelry." I scanned my memories trying to remember where the ring came from, but nothing came to mind. Where ever it came from, it looks very expensive, so maybe I shouldn't wear it in the open, plenty of people would kill for a chance to earn more money.

"Maybe I should sell it..? Hmm people might ask where I found it though. That could lead to unwanted trouble, and until I learn more about this world I should avoid that." I said to myself. I decided to keep the ring for now, but not wear it.

As I pulled the ring off, I felt immediate pain all over my body, worse then when I first woke up. It was as if my soul was being torn from my body.

Stifling a shout I fell to my knees. Now as a well educated person It was obvious that something was up with that ring, so I quickly put it on, and as expected the pain stopped. Gasping heavily I shakily got back to my feet.

Well I'm not taking that damn thing off again, that's for sure.