Light fractured through the dark like a crack in sleep. Then came the pain—a muted, distant echo, too old and tired to truly hurt. I opened my eyes slowly. The ceiling above wasn't white or tiled; it pulsed, a soft, shifting tapestry of stained glass. This wasn't a hospital. Not any I remembered.
A soft beep echoed near my ear, and something warm and metallic clung to my wrist. A monitor?
"He's stabilizing," a calm, professional voice said. "Cognitive activity's high. Memory patterns... unusual."
I tried to move, but my limbs felt impossibly heavy. I didn't remember them being this heavy. Something was wrong. The last thing I recalled was falling. No, a gunshot. My mind was a jumbled mess. I blinked again, and the world felt doubled, as if I were half inside someone else's dream.
"Laziel?" another voice said, this one closer and gentle. "You're awake."
A girl leaned over me. She wore a robe-like uniform, her long brown hair framed a warm smile and hazel eyes. Earth. Why did I think that? What did it even mean?
"I—" My voice cracked. "Where am I?"
She hesitated. "The infirmary wing. Caelus Academy. You fell from the eastern spire stairwell a few hours ago. No fractures, just some minor cranial swelling."
"Do you know your name?" she asked gently.
"My name is Laziel."
"Remember my name? I am your classmate."
Classmate? A school? It had been twenty years since I'd graduated. My name was Tristan, wasn't it? I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I saw a flicker of concern in her eyes.
"It's alright," she said. "Memory gaps are normal. It will come back." She turned away to talk to the doctor about my departure once I was fully healed.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. So, this was interesting. I was in an unfamiliar place, with an unfamiliar name. Had I been transmigrated?
After the nurse guided me out, I found myself in a washroom.
For the first time, I looked at my new face: ruffled hair, slight eye bags, but with a defined jaw and pale skin. As I changed out of the hospital clothes, I tried to recall things. Bits and pieces of this new world came back, along with most of my old life. But the memories weren't enough to piece together an entire new life.
I held my head up high and walked out. This was a new start, after all. I would figure things out. Hopefully.
"Hey, slow down—wait for me!"
I turned at the sound of her voice. It was the girl from the infirmary, hurrying down the curved corridor. I paused, still a little unsteady, this place as foreign as a dream I couldn't quite wake from. She caught up to me, slightly out of breath.
"Everything must feel like a blur, huh?" she asked gently, falling into step beside me.
"Yeah," I admitted. "I don't feel so lost with you around." I meant it literally; without her, I wouldn't know where to go to reset and recall. I gave her a soft, almost innocent smile. It wasn't forced—it just felt right.
For a second, she blinked. Her cheeks turned a shade of pink, and she started fidgeting with a loose strand of her hair.
"You really don't remember anything, do you?" she said, glancing at me sidelong. "Your name, your class—anything?"
I hesitated, then shook my head slowly. "Bits and pieces. Faces I don't recognize. Places that feel familiar and wrong at the same time."
She nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I guess I'll just have to reintroduce myself, then," she said with a small grin. "I'm Elena. Your class rep. Tour guide. Occasional stalker. Depends on the day."
I chuckled. "Nice to meet you... again?"
She smiled back. "Let's call it a fresh start."
We walked in silence for a few steps, the hall pulsing gently with a faint arcane light. "And you're Laziel, by the way," she added, glancing at me again. "At least... that's the name on your student record. Not that there's much else on it."
"Laziel..." I said softly, testing the name on my tongue. It felt both familiar and not.
As she fell silent, I looked out at the surrounding city. The sun was about to set, and the wind teased my face. The gentle hum of the crowd was strangely calming, and the scent of baked bread threw me back to my childhood. This place felt like a country town I'd visited on summer vacation.
She stopped in front of a floating staircase and looked back at me. "Come on. Let's get you back to the hostel before anyone else thinks you're some mysterious transfer from another dimension."
I smiled again. If only she knew how close she was.
...
Elena left me in my room after a small chat. I would be spending the next four years here. It had a cozy couch by a small balcony with a good view. The bed near the study table looked comfortable. Even though the room was small, I knew I could get comfortable here. After all, I had lived in my share of big houses in my previous life.
As I explored the room, finding the storage below the bed and other facilities, my mind raced. "Elena said she would continue my tour tomorrow, and that school starts next week. What doesn't make sense is the fact that I'm in a school hostel right now, along with the school clinic..." I mumbled to myself, probably looking like a madman. "Strange, this world really works differently from ours."
I took a deep breath, followed by a complete exhale. "Let's get to work," I said. "From what I've managed to gather so far, Caelus is one of the few academies that teaches magic, and it's sort of like a college here."
"This new body of mine should be about seventeen."
"From what I observed on my way here, most of the rooms are empty. This means the academy allows students to stay in the hostel early for some reason. Perhaps it's so students don't have to rush to get settled in at the last minute."
I thought to myself, walking back and forth with my hand on my chin. "More interestingly, the floating spheres of light in the hallway signal the use of magic."
"A transmigration doesn't feel like one unless magic is involved!" I said excitedly, giving myself a double nod of affirmation. "Maybe I'll hit the library to gain some knowledge on the world."
I put on a comfortable blue and white striped pajama set that came from a large black leather bag already in the room, placed under my bed. "Seems lavish. Are all the students here rich or something?"
As I lay down on the new, slightly cramped bed, I couldn't help but think of all the things that needed to be sorted out. I guess I'll figure it out as I go.....