Symphony of Magic

Feeling weightless and suspended, Richard Grey shot his eyes open and found himself standing afloat in the wide expanse of space.

The stars, planets and other celestial bodies were so distant from him, that they looked like dots from his perspective. Albeit, he could feel himself connected to everything, to the entirety of the universe.

Puzzled and stupefied, he tried to make sense of where he was or how he even got there. But at that very moment, space grumbled, dilating and contracting like a distorted piece of fabric.

Two red fiery eyes that seemed to hold clusters of galaxies within them, emerged before Richard, and the latter felt his entire being get consumed by the celestial gaze.

But then again, before Richard could put his thoughts in order, a malefic voice boomed across the never ending space. Richard was no doubt overwhelmed by this, but what it said completely took him off guard.

"Richard, wake up! You're late already!"

"Huh?" He blinked twice, watching as the space around him shattered like glass. He was immediately drowned in a rush of darkness.

...

Richard groaned softly as he woke up. His right hand instinctively went for his head and he rubbed his glabella. His head throbbed and wouldn't stop. It felt as though he had a second heart implanted in his skull.

And just when he thought he couldn't feel worse, that same voice that woke him up, reverberated across his head like a tidal wave.

"Seriously? Do you want me to call mother?" the feminine voice half yelled.

"Ugh," he let out a weary groan and managed to sit up. Then he opened his eyes and turned his head in the direction of the voice.

Standing next to his bed was a young girl that looked to be in her early twenties. Her long wavy hair was deep blue, complementing her sea-blue eyes. She was clad in a brown night dress, that seemed to have been made from light wool, which Richard found odd, yet intriguing.

Frustrated by his stagnant stare on her body, she face palmed and exhaled heavily, "You had another nightmare, didn't you? Well, not that I care, since you wouldn't even tell anyone what happens in the dream. Just freshen up and let's get to the Academy before you're suspended."

"Sure," Richard answered with a nod, while staring at her listlessly.

She let out another disgruntled sigh before exiting the room.

Richard remained seated on the bed for almost three minutes, staring at the door blankly.

Then he muttered internally, 'Who was that?'

'Where am I?' he asked himself again, turning his head as he looked around the strange room. 'This isn't my room. And why does it look so...' he took a slight pause as he tried to find the right word. 'So archaic?'

The walls of the room were roughly plastered with brown cement. The floor had cracks running around it with no end, making it mirror a cobble stone ground. It had no rug or carpet spread on it for safety.

Richard raised his brows as he took note of the two wooden windows at each side of the room. There was also no celling, only a wooden roof intertwined with thick straws.

The only structure that Richard could familiarise himself with was the wooden wardrobe at his left side, situated against the wall right next to his bed.

He didn't even bother to complain about the small size of the bed, or the rough feeling of his blanket. He stood up from the bed and trotted towards the mirror at the right side of the bed.

He stood before the full body mirror and let out a soft sigh of relief. His appearance was still very much the same. His deep black hair that was neatly shaved at the sides, his deep grey eyes and his moderately pointed nose. The only noticeable difference was his buffed physique. He was a very lazy person and always avoided stressing his body.

It wasn't that he was formally lean or thin. No. The body he saw in the mirror simply mirrored that of an average Olympic athlete that never stopped visiting the gym. He wasn't extravagantly buff though. His muscular structure was moderate, fitting his tall stature.

'This must be a dream, right?' he quizzed internally, still puzzled by what was going on.

One moment he went to sleep in his room after graduating high school, the next moment he had that absurd dream of being in space, and now he woke up in a room that seemed to be from the 1600s?

It boggled him.

At that moment, a heavy migraine struck him and he dropped to his knees instantly, pressing his hands against his temples as his head felt like a ticking bomb that would explode in no time.

His mind was speedily filled with an influx of information. The information of a particular lad that looked just like him. They were memories.

"Ahh!" he groaned in pain as his head got overloaded.

And then, just like that, the migraine stopped. The pain eloped him in quick succession.

He sat back on the floor, perspiring greatly and panting for breath.

Although it felt as though he was going to die from the sudden migraine, he couldn't help but feel grateful that it happened. Because with that pain and barrage of memories came enlightenment.

Ruffling his hair with a heavy sigh, he muttered, "I've been transmigrated."

He stood up and walked towards the bathroom, whilst going through every detail of the new information bestowed on him.

He was so lost in thoughts that he didn't notice the fact that there was no bathtub in the bathroom, only a small rectangular space situated at the end of the small bathroom.

He strolled out of the bathroom a few minutes later, clad in nothing but boxers.

As he pressed his towel on his wet hair to suck the moisture out, he took note of some important details internally, 'Apparently, the previous owner of this body was also named Richard Grey,' he paused. 'Well, Greylock. But it doesn't sound so different. He lives in this realm called Ostaria or something. Same age, but he's still in school. He lives in a family of five, and--'

A sudden yell of his name disrupted his thoughts and he sighed depressingly. Perhaps everyone in the Greylock family had no idea about inside voices.

Normally, the neighbours back at New Orleans would have called the cops on them for any little noise. It made Richard feel nostalgic and quite disturbed.

He didn't know how transmigration worked. Different books wrote about it in different ways. For some, the transmigrated could only be awoken in the body of a dead person. But it didn't look like the former Richard had died, or else that blue haired girl would have reacted differently.

'Or maybe he died in his sleep?' Richard pondered and he slipped his hands into his brown leather jacket, matching his trousers in terms of colour. He was wearing a black shirt within and his feet were clad in a decent pair of leather mules.

He smiled tersely. At least this era had a decent fashion sense.

In response to the body's muscle memory, he reached for a brown cross body bag hung beside the wardrobe.

"But of course, it's also made of leather," he scoffed as he felt the bag's texture, before slinging it across his shoulder.

"I just hope no one is looking for me back at home," he muttered softly as he opened the door and walked out of the room.

He then shook his head with a scoff as he walked down the corridor. Raised in different foster homes as an orphan, he never mingled with anyone enough to have a friend. The only thing that recently brought him joy was his graduation day. He had also turned 18 and would be free to live on his own, while collecting allowances from the government for six months straight.

But it seemed the universe had other plans for him.

He found his way to the living room and nodded in satisfaction. It was quite spacious and well furnished. The Greylocks probably weren't rich, but they had a good standard of living.

"Ugh, finally," said the blue haired girl.

She was seated by the dining table in the open kitchen. There was a ten year old boy seated next to her, and a middle aged woman seated opposite them.

Richard did a quick recap in his head as he inched closer to the dining table, 'Maya, Fineas and Claudia, my mom.'

He cringed at the thought of having a real mother, but he did well to mask it with a straight face.

His mother, from whom he took his deep grey eyes from, turned towards him with a solemn face, "Maya told me you had another nightmare. I would have asked to you share what happened, but you're running late already."

"It's not like he'd tell us in the first place," the blue haired Maya muttered under her breath.

The youngest of the house, Fineas, simply chuckled and continued his meal.

Before Richard could say anything, Maya sprang to her feet, grabbed her bag and marched towards the door, "Come on, let's go."

"Oh, okay," Richard simply followed her like a robot. He could remember from the former Richard's memories that he and Maya attended the same school for upcoming mages. She was a class higher than him though.

"Hold on, Maya. At least let him have his breakfast before leaving," Claudia said.

"There's no time for that. I don't want to get punished because of him," Maya replied hurriedly and walked out of the house.

"Yeah, what she said," Richard chuckled nervously as he took a glance at the dining, before turning and jogging after his elder sister.

A subtle flame of excitement ignited within him as he stepped out of the house, welcomed by the mild warmth of the two suns above.

'So, this is Ostaria,' he muttered inwardly, clinging to his bag.