The World
Sara’s first memory of Seln were two voices. One smooth and calm; one sharp and eager.
“You think she’s dead?”
“Do not be crude, Fang.”
“I’m not being crude, Ishikawa. I’m asking a practical question. Those clothes aren’t local.”
“That is an Izuno academy uniform. You might know this if you had attended a day of schooling in your life.”
Where was she? The air smelled sweet, and she lay in a shallow crater. She tried to remember, but her head throbbed like she had just been hit by a truck!
Sara groaned.
“Not dead.” The one called Fang answered his own question.
The other kneeled down beside her. “Careful now. You have taken quite a spill.”
Her eyes fluttered open to spy her rescuers.
Closest, a stern young man with burn scars across his shoulders, wearing a red gi with a black sash. The hand he reached for her glimmered with black scales across the knuckles.
Next, staring down from the edge of the crater, a whiplash thin, rugged young man with a loose shirt, leather pants, and a feral grin. His long, white tail and wolf ears twitched with interest, devouring her every move like a rabbit.
“W-where am I?” she asked. “What’s going on?”
Fang smirked, flashing his sharp teeth. “Just full of questions, aren’t you?”
Ishikawa helped her sit up. “Easy now. You seem a bit touched. Have you had a run-in with some foul spirit?”
“Spirit…?”
Fang sniffed. “Her scent is strange. Foreign.”
Ishikawa extended a hand and helped Sara to her feet. Once standing, the girl beheld vast prairie, the grass fresh green with spring.
There wasn’t a building in sight – much less a car!
“I…where are we?” Why couldn’t she remember?
“Please do not fear. Harmony will provide. I too know what it is like to awake to find everything changed.”
“You gonna try to induct her into the Ashen Scales, Ishikawa? Don’t make me laugh.”
Sara fumbled, belatedly reaching for her backpack. Though she wore her school uniform, her bag was nowhere to be seen! “Where even is this?!”
“The plains of Rhin, a day’s walk east of the Wehran capital. I’m afraid this is dangerous place for an unaccompanied lady. The centauri have been restless this season; hence why my companion and I came to lend our skills to the fight.”
Rhin? Wehran? Centauri? None of the words made any sense!
“Whoever you pissed off did a real number on you,” Fang laughed. “Well, since you’re scrambled as a Seedling, let me be the first to welcome you to Seln!”
Thus began Sara’s second life.