"D-D-Demon! Get the hell away from me!"
I cocked my head at the man. He's dressed in a brown outfit that looks like something a medieval peasant would wear. Not the romantic fantasy peasant, but literal Black Death, shit in the streets, 20 children, god-fearing peasant.
But demon? As far as I could tell, my face still looks the same, my legs and arms still look the same, I even have grime and resin is under my fingernails I wasn't able to clean off before I woke up here.
Speaking of the fact, I'm pretty sure I died in the shower, what an embarrassing way to go!
I remember in my EMT class how a common way older people died in the shower was when they'd notice copious amounts of blood in the toilet, or vomit a strange substance on themselves that smells like feces and iron, they'd immediately take a shower, or worse, a bath before telling anyone. The internal bleeding would lead to them passing out in the shower for them to hit their head on the floor, or drown in the bathtub, surrounded by partially digested fecal matter and blood from major internal bleeding in the intestines.
As thankful as I am to a higher power for not going out that way, and I mean extremely thankful, unfortunately, I slipped on dog shampoo from washing my dog the night before, and I'm pretty sure I hit my head on the ceramic towel rack behind me, and if I didn't die on impact, I definitely drowned in the shower.
I live alone with my dog, who
I can assume is waiting patiently for the shower to stop running. My corpse is probably bloated by the water, and I'll have to leave my mom and grandparents with the second closed casket funeral this year.
Damn. If I had one last wish I could have, it would be to make sure my dog has the most fulfilling life possible without me.
I didn't care much for finding a boyfriend or being rich, I found love in my dog and closest friends, and my love was based around making sure the people I cared about were as happy as I could make them.
God I'm gonna miss that dog, cause wherever I am now, isn't the earth I know.
I know I'm in a verdant forest right now but that's not that interesting. The sky and atmosphere above this forest however, it's like something out of a science fiction novel, breathtaking shades of blue and green overlap in the sky. Clouds swirl around the thousands of stars all across the sky. Maybe this is what those medieval peasants saw before light pollution became widespread.
But the most beautiful thing in the sky Isn't the stars. Right above the pauper screaming at me, there's something staring through me. Is it a planet, a moon? It's close enough for me to make out every shade of color on the surface, from the horizontal stripes of orange, to the pale yellows on both poles, and every color of red in between. The clouds at both sides make it seem like it's traveling on air, an entity worthy of being escorted through the sky by the sky itself.
It's so close it seems like I could jump and make a beeline straight for the atmosphere.
If only I could reach out and touch it-
"A-Ah! D-don't!"
The man is visibly shaking, even from this distance I can see the worn pouch at his side bounce off his leg. He reaches down and starts fumbling with the dull buckle.
Uh oh. This might not end well.
Finally he's able to pull out something...crystalline. It has jagged edges with faint smoke trails rising off of each point. It's opaque and very light in color, shining a faint blue. If I didn't know better, I would think it was a large chunk of ice.
All of a sudden, he holds it up with both his hands and it floats off his palm. The crystal begins emitting streams of light from a circular core before shattering into pieces.
The crystals don't fall, instead they spiral over the man in a perfect coil.
An insignia forms at both ends of the man and with a panic-stricken look, he vanished, not leaving a single trace.
I am wearing a strange set of robes, maybe that's why the man assumed my...race?
Jet black robes that hang off of my arms, and with my estimate, billowy enough to hide a cat or small animal in each sleeve. Cherry red stripes accent each sleeve with a dark maroon belt around my waist. I'm also in strange shoes, now while I'm not the most stylish person in existence, these coal black old maiden flats are something my grandmother wouldn't even buy. (My granny's a style icon, don't hate)
Without pause, a large bird revealed itself from one of the tallest trees nearby.
"Scraw!"
Without a chance to react, the creature darted straight for my forehead. The same insignia that the crystals summoned earlier formed slightly in front of the bird's forehead, too small for me to make out a design. The insignia glowed with a light blue hue before fading off in a string of smoke.
The bird was face to face with me, and if I had to describe it with an animal from earth, it would be 'crow-like'.
It's at least three times the size of a regular crow yet it's head and body still looked exactly like a crow. It's eyes met with mine. Is it analyzing me in the same way? Shining brilliant eyes, the color of soft amber, stared back in response.
It's beak is obviously well taken care of, beautifully golden and reflecting the sun. I could only muster one word.
"Elegance."
"Is that your name for me master?" A male voice responded. High and clear, a voice more childlike than the graceful exterior of the bird.
He landed on the ground, staring at me with his head still tilted.
I squatted down and scratched under his chin, quietly laughing to myself.
"I don't think I'm your master little fella."
Maneuvering his head to the the side, he dug harder into my fingers, clearly enjoying the moment.
"Yes you are master, I've already made the pact with you, see!"
Waddling a couple steps back, the insignia reappears in front of his forehead, and I'm finally able to make out the details.
It's a simple design, the center being a crescent moon, lines branch out from it like a root system, symmetrical on both sides. At the ends of each line, while some are short and don't make it halfway to the end compared to the lines at the top, bottom, left, and right, each line ends in a simple leaf.
"Elegance, what's this symbol?"
"Master's a Summoner yet he doesn't know Mir's blessing?"
There's a lot going through my head after everything that's happened to me today, and I can't answer for almost any of it, but whether I ever return to earth or remain here, I know for a fact that the words that I hear next, will stay with me for the rest of my life.
"Found ya."