It felt like I was in free fall.
Still, I wasn't afraid.
Where was I?
Hadn't I just been to the cemetery?
Oh yeah...I got knocked down. The two men had attacked me.
Was I... dead?
It felt strange. Like I'm floating in a river. As if a current pulls me with it.
The darkness that enveloped me gave way more and more to a glaring light.
I narrowed my eyes in fear.
I had no idea what just happened.
* * *
I carefully opened my eyes and blinked slightly as the light was still very bright.
At first I panicked because I couldn't really see anything. I saw everything very blurry and unclear.
After some time, however, the blurry fragments in front of my field of vision assembled into an image.
I found myself staring at a roughly plastered ceiling.
Wasn't I dead after all? Or was that the afterlife?
I was still completely confused.
Gradually, very dull voices reached me.
So I wasn't alone.
Had I been kidnapped?
I could now hear the voices more clearly. I turned my head slightly in the direction I assumed the conversation was coming from.
I was probably in some kind of hospital room right now. There was an older man in a smock talking to a younger man.
The younger one seemed quite nervous. I raised my eyebrows questioningly.
What had happened to me? Where was I here?
I tried to sit up, but I couldn't really make it because I suddenly had a bad headache and a strange feeling of nausea.
So I laid down and listened carefully to the conversation instead:
"Do you think he'll be fine?" I heard the younger man ask worriedly.
"He took a pretty hard hit on the head. We can only say what damage he really suffers from when he wakes up." The supposed doctor sighed pityingly.
I tried to sit up again slowly. This time I was a little more careful. That's probably why it worked better than before. With a slight groan, I sat up.
"Ah, he's awake!" said the younger one happily when he noticed me.
Thereupon both of them came to my bedside with a mild smile.
"How are you, young man?" The doctor asked kindly.
However, I was even more confused than before.
"Young man? I'm not-"
My eyes widened in shock when I saw my hand, which I had held in front of my face to shield the glaring light from the window next to me.
"W-why is my hand so big?!" I asked, completely surprised.
My hand was suddenly so big and bony. I've always had pretty small and dainty hands. Those long, calloused fingers came as a bit of a shock to me.
Were those actually my hands?
They looked so strange.
Thousands of questions rushed through my head.
What had happened to me? What was wrong with my body? Didn't I die? Or was that just a dream? Am I dreaming right now?
But it all felt way too real for that.
The pain felt way too real.
"What do you mean by that, Chris? You actually look pretty normal." The younger man said, knitting his eyebrows together questioningly.
"What ...?"
I jumped out of bed in one go, fought the dizziness and nausea that suddenly accompanied me again, and then staggered hastily to the nearest mirror.
"Chris, wait! You shouldn't..." The young, blond man wanted to stop me, but I brushed him off with a small gesture.
"Yeah I know. I just need to look at my-"
I choked on words as I looked at my reflection.
Suddenly a confused but quite attractive boy stared at me in the mirror.
The dark brown hair was cropped short and the light brown eyes looked open and friendly. Jaws and cheekbones were well defined and made the face look like that of a model. My mouth hung open in confusion.
"What the ...? Is that... is that really me?!" I asked, trying in vain to suppress the burgeoning panic inside me.
"Chris, what are you talking about?"
"Calm down, Jon. This confused state is quite normal after such a severe blow to the head." The doctor tried to calm him down.
"What really? Will it get any better?"
"It's not really possible to say that right now. But it usually won't leave any lasting damage on most people, when they wake up again."
"Oh, what a relief."
The blond boy - Jon - I just found out, seemed really worried about me.
I had never seen him before in my entire life. I didn't know the people here, nor the room I was in right now.
But no one seemed hostile to me here. That was a relief.
Nevertheless, I should find my way around here somehow.
I should go home as soon as possible...
But... could I go home at all? I didn't look like my old self at all. Would my mother even recognize me?
I didn't even know where I was exactly. I didn't even know how to get home. If I could get home at all.
Maybe it was all just a dream?
Anyway ... I should first get an overview over my current situation.
"Tell me... Could... could you maybe tell me where I am?" I asked carefully, turning to the grey-haired doctor.
"You're in the hospital wing. At the Palace Guard Training Center." The doctor replied, adjusting his small, round glasses.
"And... what am I doing here?"
"During the entrance exams you injured your head pretty badly. You were unconscious for several hours." The supposed doctor informed me.
"Oh really?"
"Yes. You... you pushed me out of the way when another applicant tried to hit me from behind. But then you got..." Jon paused and gave me a pitying look.
"I understand..."
"It's my fault you've been hurt so bad now and you lost your memory. I'm really sorry... If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, please tell me."
"Nonsense. You don't need that. Besides, you might have been hurt a lot worse or could even be killed. So it's okay the way it is."
"But-"
"Everything is good. Really." I said soothingly, still slightly dazed, walking towards what I thought was the exit.
Only then did I realize that I wasn't wearing any shoes. But that was secondary at first. A pair of shoes would surely be found somewhere.
"Wait! Where are you going?"
"I'll get an overview first, I think."
Since I was probably kicked out anyway as a result of the past incident, I had to be able to get by on my own as quickly as possible from here on out.
It would be bad if I made myself dependent on others I had barely known for a few minutes.
"That's out of the question, young man. You are resting here for at least two days now. Then you can start your training with the others."
Surprised, my gaze slid to the doctor.
"What? I wasn't kicked out?" I asked, almost in disbelief.
Even though I had interfered in another fight? Wasn't that a rule violation or something?
"What do you think? With your deed you have shown true chivalry. The instructors were very impressed. You won your previous practice match too. It would be foolish to deny training to such a good potential knight." The doctor assured me with a benevolent smile.
"Ah-oh..."
And I had already thought that I would be out of this whole training thing now.
That would have been too nice.
I sighed once dignified.
I really didn't feel like having to do a strenuous workout.
I tried not to let my disappointment show.
This Chris probably wanted something along these lines. Otherwise, he certainly would not have volunteered to become a palace guard. At least I should respect his last wish.
* * *
I was now lying in the hospital wing with some other injured people and was left alone with my thoughts.
I was put on strict bed rest, so there was always a little riot from the nurses whenever I tried to get up.
They seemed to have me in particular on their radar.
I wondered if it was because this body was really good looking. It was probably because of that. I sighed in agony and stared at the ceiling again.
If I had at least had my cell phone as a distraction, the long time would certainly have been a little more bearable.
But there probably wasn't even electricity here.
Presumably this place was still in a medieval time.
I only became aware of this afterwards, when my thoughts were reasonably clear again.
This whole posturing about knights and palace guards struck me as a bit strange from the start.
The linen shirt I was wearing and the brown slacks just seemed to scream medieval. Also, in my opinion, the hospital room looked very spartan as well.
They certainly didn't even have running water or flush toilets. Inwardly, I longed to be back in my old world.
I closed my eyes and hoped fervently that it was all just a weird dream.
But when I opened my eyes again, I was still in this stupid hospital wing. In this strange body.
I was really a boy now.
I could hardly believe it.
Back then I had always wondered if David would love me if I were a boy.
Now I was a boy... Only now I was in a completely different universe. He had suddenly become even more inaccessible to me.
I laughed dryly once. Fate was really an asshole.