"Goddamn it." Rich said, looking at his band's newest post online. Barely any views, comments of people saying they sucked, and barely anyone hiring them for any gigs. He sighed, and tossed his phone aside. He laid back on his couch (if you could call a bean bag in a van a couch.) The other members of the band had basically the same reaction. "Hey, Jackson, gimme a smoke."
The bassist of the band sat down next to him, handing him a cigarette from a beaten pack he carried in his pocket, along with a lighter. "Stress smoking? It'll be fine, man, all bands start out this way." He stuck a cigarette into his own mouth, lighting it, taking a slow drag, then exhaling the smoke. "We just gotta get the right song, is all."
"Easy for you to say when you're not writing the lyrics, or singing, you asshole." Elizabeth said, sitting next to Rich, shooting Jackson a sharp look. Then, she sighed. "You know, I'm starting to think living in a van, relying on pay to come from gigs people aren't hiring us for, wasn't exactly the greatest idea." She picked up a bag of chips, and started eating them. "We're gonna go hungry. Maybe we should get a marketer."
The van hit a bump in the road, sending chips flying out of the bag, onto the floor. "Ah, shit- Hey! Nav! Drive carefully!" Rich shouted to the front of the car, where the drummer, Nav, was driving. "My bad!" Nav yelled back, before turning the music louder than it already was, and slowing down just a little bit.
"Damn asshole made a mess…" Rich got up, cigarette still in his mouth, and he got up to clean up the chips that fell on the floor. They already barely have enough money to eat, and he doesn't want rats in the van to make it even worse.
He'd met Nav back in elementary school, and they'd been friends ever since. Then, he met Elizabeth and Jackshon in high school, and that's when their band was first created. Much to their parents' displeasure. They somehow managed to make it into college even with their terrible grades, and started living out of a van. There were enough seats for all of them to sleep. They used the community showers at the college, and when they couldn't afford to eat, they stole candy from the gas station. It was pretty safe to say they were all pretty damn tired of having no money.
Rich sighed, and picked his phone up from the floor of the van, and opened it. He went to his dad's contact, and wondered if he should just swallow his pride and ask his dad for some money. He sat down on the bean bag again, and started typing out a message. "Um, hey dad…" Well. That was all he could type out before they had crashed into something.
Everything in the van went flying. The chips went everywhere. Jackson and Elizabeth both fell onto the floor of the fan. So did Rich. After everything stilled, Rich stood up. "Shit… Nav, you alright?" He said, climbing up to the driver's seat. Nav was sitting there, looking shaken, but not injured.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm good…"
Rich smacked him on the back of his head lightly. "I told you to drive carefully, you idiot. What the hell did you even hit, huh?"
Nav slowly got out of the van, and went to check the wheels. "I- I don't know…" Rich sighed, and got out of the car to go see as well. Jackson and Elizabeth did the same thing, coming to look at the wheels. It was strange, though. How was it that it was suddenly bright outside when the band knew that they had started driving at night?
Elizabeth looked around. Then, when she looked back, the van wasn't a van anymore, but a wagon made of wood, with a horse at the front. "... Huh? What the hell?" She reached out to touch the wagon, and froze as she realized the sleeve on her arm didn't match the shirt she was wearing in the van. She looked down at herself.
The other guys had a similar reaction. They soon realized that every single person looked different. Rich was taller, his hair shorter, and his face unrecognizable from the face he had before. He was wearing clothes that looked like they were ripped straight from a fantasy movie, wearing a black coat, black gloves, and pants and boots. Jackson had very dark blue hair, and light skin. A bit shorter than before too. He was wearing black robes, and a hat that resembled one of a witch. Nav had gotten taller, was wearing glasses, his usually messy blonde hair was now neatly combed over black hair. He was wearing a suit. And Elizabeth had changed into an elegant looking woman, wearing a green dress.
"Uh… You guys see him too, right?" The new Jackson had said, pointing at air beside himself. They all looked, and saw nobody standing beside him. Jackson, however, was seeing another person. Someone sharing the same body as his, looking perfectly identical to him.
"Where the hell are we?" Nav looked around. They were standing in a grassy field. The sky was blue, there was a forest nearby, and the wagon was on a dirt path.
"Hey, look here." Rich held up a faded, almost yellow piece of paper. "I think it's a map." They group collectively got around him, and read the title of the map. "Okay, seems we're in the Country of… Greenseal? Uh… Any of you know where that is?"
"Well, shit, I don't exactly remember seeing it in geography class." Elizabeth said, her language contrasting heavily with her more elegant appearance. She took the map, taking a look at it herself. "Uh…" She looked around for a signpost. "Aha. Found one. So we're… Here." She pointed to a spot on the map. It was close to a small village.
"Okay… So, you think we can start there?"
It had taken them a while to figure out where they were going, and they headed off to the village that was named on the map. Strangely enough, though… Almost all of them learned new identities. The body Rich inhabited was the body of a man named Grey. He had no last name. He hadn't been told this name, it just pieced together in his mind that the role he had to play, was Grey. Jackson, however, found his new identity in a different manner.
"What on Redseal do you think you're doing with my body, you buffoon?" Said the figure that only Jackson could see or hear.
"I… Stole your body? Wait, who are you, exactly?"
The figure scoffed indignantly, and sat back on the wagon, looking like he believed he was too good to be in this situation. "Caid Thornfeld. Tenth year student at the Greenseal Academy for Magic. And you, you goddess-damned thief, will return my body!"
While it may have looked like Jackson was going insane talking to himself, nobody was really paying attention, as they were focused on trying to orient themselves in this new body. Nav learned that his new identity was that of a man named Dorian Wright. And unlike Rich, he was given the purpose of this identity. Dorian Wright, was a bounty hunter. A contract killer.
And lastly, for Elizabeth… She didn't learn a single thing about her new identity. No new name, no personality, nothing to go off of besides her appearance, and clothes, which appeared to be of royal tastes. 'Maybe this woman is a noble?' she thought to herself.
After a while, they arrived at the village. They decided to walk into a tavern. Maybe ask around.
"So, uh… I think we should split up." Jackson said. Everyone in the group looked at him incredulously.
"The hell are you talking about?" Nav asked.
"I think everyone has to go somewhere based on their identity… I got the identity of a student at a Magic Academy, so I think I have to go there…" Jackson said, looking down at his robes.
"Magic Academy?" Rich realized. "There's magic in this world?"
"But… Where do we go then?" Elizabeth asked the other two. Nav and Rich looked at each other, wondering.
"Well… Maybe I could explore the kingdom that's a bit close to this village? See if the king knows of any sorcery that can bring people to and from other worlds?" Rich proposed, wondering if that was a good idea. "Something definitely brought us here. It shouldn't hurt to maybe find out what it was."
"That's… Not a bad idea." Nav looked down at himself for a while. "Mm… Dorian Wright is a bounty hunter. And, Elizabeth here, the only one without a complete identity… Seems to be a royal. Maybe I may have been protecting her? Maybe against an assassin, or something similar? But even if this were so, where would we go?" Nav looked at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth thought for a while. Then, she had an idea. "Well… What if it isn't in this country? This place is called Greenseal, right…? So… What if where we are meant to go is Redseal?"
Rich thought for a while. It certainly wasn't out of the question, but things were all completely unknown. They had no idea the nature of either of these countries, and whether they'd be able to make it back alive or not. But, they had no other choice if they wanted to go back home. It was better to explore all of their options. He nodded slowly.
"We have to make a plan. So… One year? And then we'll meet back at this place, see if any of us found a way to get back home?" He proposed, looking on the rest of the group. "We'll play these roles for a year, then come back here and share what we've learned."
The group collectively nodded. "One year, then…" Elizabeth mumbled.
Six Months Before the Death of Alice the Great.