When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a leaky roof. That was not what I wanted to see after waking up, but after the memories of what happened with that dangerous man came back, I was glad to see something, even if it was a leaky roof. How I was still alive I didn't know, but I planned to find out. Or maybe this is the afterlife? I felt my heart beating in my chest. The heart that man ripped out of me. So no afterlife. I slowly sat up waiting for some pain or something but nothing came. Then I looked around the room in which I woke up and found that it was a small room with a bed, a small wardrobe, a table and a chair and a small window on the left side. The room was unfamiliar to me. I have never seen this room in my life. Directly in front of me was a door that looked like it would fall apart at any moment.
Instead of panicking and doing something stupid that I would later regret, I stood up and went to examine what was on the table and in the small wardrobe.
There were several papers on the table in a language I didn't know, but I understood. On the left side was an almost burned out candle and next to it some two books. I took the books, each in one hand, and read the titles.
'Simple element control.'
'Magic spells for beginners.'
'Huh?' I frowned slightly and read the names again to be sure, but nothing changed. Magic? Spells? Controlling the elements? This sounds like a classic novel about the reincarnation of normal people into the world of magic.
-...-
Don't tell me that's what happened to me! But instead of being angry or feeling sad, I just sighed. If that was true, nothing can be done. Even if there was a way to get back to my world, I died in my world and my body was probably six feet under the ground in no time. I sighed once more but then continued to explore the small closet. The more information I had, the easier I can adapt to situations. I just hoped that if my assumption, that I reincarnated, or in this case transmigrate, then this body has no family. It would be difficult to explain the change in character. And if unfortunately yes, then I planned to pretend that I lost my memories.
I left the books on the table and moved to explore the small wardrobe. It was slim and not taller than me. I opened the door and looked inside. Despite how shabby it looked from the outside, it was clean and tidy inside. On the top shelf was a box that I decided to examine later. Apart from that mysterious box on the top shelf, there was nothing interesting in the wardrobe. There were two outfits, two shoes, and a small dagger was placed on the bottom shelf. So I took the box out of the closet, closed the door and moved to the bed with the box.
After opening the box, I took out three things. An old book that appeared to be sealed, steel earrings and a steel bracelet. Or at least I think the jewelry was made of steel. I reached my hand to my ear and tried to feel the hole where the earrings should go. I found them almost immediately and then put steel earrings in them. I stopped and waited to see if something would happen, but when I didn't feel any change, I concluded that the earrings were just ordinary earrings. I attached a bracelet to my left wrist and as with the earrings, nothing changed or happened. Then I started trying to open the book. But no matter how hard I tried, the book wouldn't open. After about an hour I gave up and told myself that I would come back to it later.
After inspecting the room, I dressed in one of the outfits I found in the closet and hid the small dagger in my sleeve. It took me a while to adjust it so that it was not visible, that it did not look like me and that it did not hurt me. The clothes I was wearing reminded me of ancient Chinese times. The clothes were all black, but there were flashes of turquoise and other shades of blue and green.
Anyway, after a few minutes of agonizing, I was done and planned to explore the area. And to find out if this person, a boy as I managed to find out while changing clothes, has any relatives.
"Hyung?" I heard a weak and crying voice when I came out of the room I was in a little over an hour after I woke up. Slowly, so as not to frighten the person who addressed me, I turned my head to follow the voice. I saw a little boy, no older than five years old, sitting on the ground and watching me with his big dark eyes that were swollen from crying. 'Who is this?' I thought but I didn't ask the question out loud. But the boy was smarter than I thought, and a frightened look appeared on his face. He must have read from my expression, which I didn't quite manage to hide, that I was confused.
"Don't you remember what happened, hyung?" he asked me in a shaky voice and it looked like he was going to cry at any moment. "...You know... you know who I am, right hyung...?" the boy then added in an even shakier voice than before with tears on his face. I really didn't want to make the boy cry, but it was more convenient for me to pretend that I lost my memory. And so I shook my head, to which the boy started crying and started shouting 'Shijie, shijie!', which if I remember correct, means older sister. I just stood in front of the door of the room and looked uncomfortably at the crying child. I hated it when people cried. I have never known how to comfort them.
- Few months later -
"Bai Yu-Jin!!" I heard my older sister scream. I just rolled my eyes at that and didn't even move. It's been months since I woke up in this boy's body. It was chaotic at first. I knew nothing about this world and this boy's relative was not exactly a reliable source. An older sister who doesn't take care of her younger siblings and a younger sibling who you have to take care of yourself.
But over time I learned more about this world. The fact that there were four continents but only three of them were inhabited. They were called Vellyaris, a continent where spirits lived and a continent that became home to souls who had some unfulfilled task. Einsyuer, a continent where all beings who knew how to shapeshift lived. For example, cat tribe, tiger tribe, whale tribe, wolf tribe... live here. Narwyan, the largest continent that was divided into three parts by barrier. One of them was inhabited by humans, the second by elves, and the third by beings with dark attributes taht weren't humans, such as demons and vampires. The last continent was called Meyreiki, even though it was more of an island than a continent. I didn't learn much about Vellyaris and Einsyuer, but I knew more than enough about Narwyan and Meyreiki. I was most interested in the Meyreiki continent, or the nicknamed as a forbidden continent. No one knew exactly what was hidden on that continent, no one had returned alive after exploring it. But there were several theories. The Meyreiki continent was closer to our continent, Narwyan than to any other continents. Narwyan, as I said before, was divided by a barrier that divided it into three parts. No one knows exactly how the barrier was created, but from what I have read, it has been there since time immemorial. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't step into others territories. Either you can cross the ocean or pass the test that the barrier will give you to let you go on that territory. However, the tests were not easy and therefore most of the beings preferred sailing by sea.
There were also elements that could be controlled and with the help of which spells were created. Unlike my world, here there were more than just four. There were fire, water, earth, air, wood, lightning, ice, sound, light, darkness and soul. Most elves used water, air, ice and wood. Ghosts and Souls mostly used Air, Sound, Light and Soul. Beings that had the darkness attribute mostly used fire, lightning, sound and darkness. Shapeshifters mostly used fire, earth, lightning and air. And for humans, well, from what I've read, humans can use any of these elements.
The only thing that surprised me when I read about the elements was that we cannot control opposite elements. If someone already knows how to control fire, then he can no longer control water. It is also possible to control more than just one element, but in every book it is written that it is better to focus on controlling only one element.
Anyway, I liked this world. The only thing that irritated me beyond belief was racism. One of the biggest problems that mainly people had. And then there were the problems that the elves had against beings with the darkness attribute. It seemed that no matter what world I was in, racism was everywhere.
Another interesting thing was The Selection. It was held every year and all children, human or not, of age thirteen, had to attend it. It wasn't anything terrible. The only thing you had to do was place your hand on an orb and it would turn the color of the element that was most compatible with you. Bright red for fire, dark blue for water, brown for earth, light green for wind, light blue for ice, yellow for lightning, orange for wood, light purple for sound, silver for soul, white for light and black for darkness.
Bai Yu-Jin, the boy whose body I possessed was twelve a few months ago, which means that the selection is still waiting for me. I was honestly excited. I had no preferences as to which element I would like or which would be easier for me to control. Since there was no magic in my past world, I wasn't entirely sure how it worked in this world. Of course, I read many books, but each one had a different principle and rules regarding magic. I suppose I'll learn as I go.
"BAI YU-JIN!!!" someone shouted in my ear, which made me jump a few centimeters. I turned my head to my angry sister and raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Go buy bread and don't forget to fill the buckets with fresh water" she told me and left without waiting for my answer. I looked after her irritated. Can't she do it herself? All she does is cook, everything else (cleaning, chopping wood, fixing things, selling things, buying things/clothes, washing clothes and dishes...) is done by me. I couldn't wait for my selection. As long as you had the potential or anything that is eyes catching, you could be taken by one of the seven major sects as a disciple. It was a great honor. The Selection did not take place in Narwyan, but on an island south of it and several hundred kilometers away from the forbidden continent, Meyreiki.
In the end, however, I got up and went to do the things my older sister ordered me to do. Only a few months, I said to myself as I held several kilo buckets full of water in my hands.