'Huh'
It took a moment for Arthur to realize he hadn't been engulfed in the sludge of the sea, but was instead laying on something soft.
Tensed Arthur continued to lay, completely still, for maybe he would soon feel the viscous sludge of the sea surrounding him, but no such change came.
Weary Arthur slowly opened his eyes.
"Ch-Christ!" And he was instantly blinded, by a strikingly white light.
It was bright, almost too bright, but after a moment, some strain, and a little bit of rubbing, his eyes acclimated and he took a look around.
And as he did a typhoon of thoughts ran through Arthurs mind, but he only voiced one.
"Where am I?"
Arthur truly had no idea where he was, he had never a place quite like it in person.
It was a room akin to those mentioned in records from nearly 2 millenniums ago. The walls covered by a white wallpaper, intricate blue patterns embeded within it.
The floor was wood, and there were multiple windows letting in light, with navy blue curtains pulled to their sides.
Dressers and nightstands intricately carved out of some kind of white wood, adorned the. room.
The bed he was laying in, was made out of some form of cloth and foam, not of silicone or rubber.
A pleasant smell, perhaps lilac, engulfed the room, an uncommon occurrence..
"Im present, young master Sebastian?" an effeminate voice came from his left, a slight hint of confusion and annoyance mixed within it.
Arthurs blood ran cold, he hadn't felt the presence of whoever just talked in any regard.
He was rightfully surprised and probably overstimulated but to him but being unaware was a grave sin he could not commit.
He had trained since he was young to always sense the presence of others and be aware of them regardless of where they were in relation to him, so it was concerning that he hadn't known she was there in any way.
Taking in a deep breath, Arthur slowly turned to look at the woman.
She had long blonde hair, green eyes, and was wearing what looked like a maids uniform, prehistoric by Arthur's standards.
Looking into her eyes Arthur asked "Who's Sebastian?"
She quickly gave a perplexed look "Your Sebastian, young master" her voice further laced with confusion and annoyance.
Arthur was stunned, his fame certainly preceded him, so how could one not recognize him as Arthur "I'm Sebastian?"
The woman squinted at Arthur and nodded her head "Yes!?"
"N-"
Arthur decided to not say anything more just yet, her motives were unknown and she wasn't being openly hostile there was no need to give her a reason to do so.
This momentary reprieve was enough to allow his mind to process what had just happened in the last few moments and the insanity of it all.
One didn't just appear in an entirely new location amidst plummeting to their death.
'There's obviously something wrong with this situation, maybe it's a hallucination?'
Arthur sucked his teeth and gripped the sheets below him.
He felt it all in full, the suction on his teeth as the air passed through the gaps and the way the sheets crumpled under his fingertips, soft and silky.
'No it's too real!'
He glanced at the woman from the corner of his eye, she still had a look of confusion on her face.
Had he passed out upon impact and moved to a different location by someone?
He bit his lip 'No if that was the case, this woman would be calling me Arthur not Sebastian.'
He took another look around the room 'And if I had been recaptured i wouldn't have been put in a room like this, I would have just been a more secure cell, certainly not another shipping container.'
It just made no sense, no matter how he thought about it.
He clenched his fist 'Maybe I should just- '
His thought process was interrupted, by the woman suddenly picking him up by the shoulders and placing him in her arms.
She began to walk still holding Arthur in her arm. "Well anyway" she let out a sigh "It's time for your bath Young master, after all it's an important day after all."
Arthurs mind went blank as he tried to comprehend what just happened.
'Wait, how did she pick me up? She looks shorter than me!'
'No the real question is, how is she carrying me, she's soo scrawny!'
'I'm definitely tall-' Arthur froze.
He took a good look at his body for the first time since he had appeared in this strange place.
'WHAT'
He was short, very short, his body was small and scrawny with no muscle to speak of, and he was wearing similarly small blue pajamas to match.
Arthur clenched and unclenched his hands 'Why am I so- Whoa!?' an intense cold washed over the soles of his feet.
The woman had set him down onto a cold marbled floor.
She had carried Arthur to another room, and he had not noticed whilst consumed by his thoughts.
Taking a frantic look around Arthur realized he was in some sort of bathroom.
There was a toilet, sink, what looked like some kind of bathtub, and the entirety of the walls were covered in bluish white tiles, all of it porcelain.
'Odd' it was strangely modern compared to how the, what he presumed to be, bedroom he had appeared in looked.
Suddenly he felt a hand touching his chest.
The woman was squatting down and beginning to unbutton the shirt he was wearing.
"W-what are you doing!"
Arthur was flustered, this whole situation was bizarre and now some random woman was beginning to undress him.
The woman stopped for a moment and looked into Arthur's eyes, a slight hint of disgust in hers "I'm undressing you to prepare for your bath, despite the fa-."
She bit her tongue, seemingly deciding that what she was about to say wasn't worth it, and continued to undress him.
She quickly continued to unbutton his shirt, before Arthur tried and failed to push her hands away "Well stop!"
The woman's eyes widened at his words for a brief moment before they returned to a neutral state.
Her voice was cracky as she spoke "Then.. I will go get your towels and wait outside, young master."
She quickly then took her leave, closing the door behind her.
'What just happened?!'
Arthur glared at the door for a few seconds, making sure the woman wasn't going to come back in despite what she had said, before taking a step beckward, and promptly falling flat on his ass.
He wasn't accustomed to walking in such a small body, causing him to fall over.
'Ow' lifting himself up Arthur rubbed his jaw, which was now red.
'Okay, let's be careful this time' Arthur tried to take another step, slowly this time, he felt like he was going to fall over but he maintained balance.
He took another step, similarly slow and methodical.
Then another, and another getting faster with each step.
After about 20 or so steps he could walk semi-normally.
Arthur began to chew on his nails.
He had no idea of what to do from this point forward, the momentary distraction was gone and the insanity of his situation had begun to set in again.
It was totally illogical, one second you're falling into the sea and the next you're lying in a bed, half your normal size.
There was the possibility that he was in an entirely new body, but it was inherently implausible.
Consciousness transfer surgeries were a thing but Arthur touched his nape to find it smooth, the plug-in needed to perform the surgery was not present.
So how was he so small all of a sudden?!
Shaking his head Arthur began thinking of a solution to his predicament, stressing about things he didn't understand wouldn't help.
'Maybe I should just leave' his eyes turned towards the door and he promptly shook his head. 'No that woman, whoever she is, will probably stop me, and even if she doesn't there might be more who will.'
He glanced around the bathroom once again. 'No windows or vents to speak of, nor much to speak of in hiding spaces.'
His thoughts drifted back to the woman 'Though the woman did treat me with some level of respect, she was calling me young master after all. Does that mean I have some level of authority around here?'
He chewed on his nails even more. 'No best not even try to be safe.'
He looked at the porcelain bathtub. "Should I just take a bath and go along with what they want?"
'I guess it's my only choice, not much else I can do right now without taking needless risks.'
Just to be sure he hadn't missed something Arthur took one last look around the bathroom, and something he had missed did, in fact, catch his attention.
It was the mirror above the sink, or more accurately the reflection inside of it.
"The hell?"
It wasn't him, though the reflection did mirror his movements, it looked nothing like him.
He truly had somehow, had his consciousness transferred into a new body, but how was this possible?
The person in the mirror had deep navy blue hair and misty eyes of a matching color.
Their skin was pale, unnervingly so, even to Arthur who possessed skin as pale as snow.
It was so unmistakably foreign... Yet something about it seemed familiar, he just couldn't put his finger on it.
"What is it, What is it?" He started biting his nails again, fingers slowly twitching.
He looked back over his reflection, and thought back to the past half hour over and over again.
'First I escape my cell, then I run outside get shot in the leg, fall down onto the ground and jump into the ocean'
'Then I'm suddenly in this place, with h some random chick calling me Sebastian, in an entirely different body'
His thoughts circled a few keywords 'Sebastian, navy hair, different body, maid, 1600's'
'Sebastian, navy hair, small body, maid, 1600's!!'
He could tell he was just on the cusp of him getting it but his answer was stuck on the tip of his tongue.
Rubbing his temples Arthur tried to think, but it was still just stuck on the tip of his tongue.
'God, what is it!' It was annoying him so much he was beginning to get a headache.
"Ugh!" Dejected Arthur looked back at his reflection, and he noticed something he hadn't before.
A light of similar brightness to the one that had blinded him earlier, was shining right above him in the reflection.
Just on the ceiling was a half glass dome about the size of a baseball, with an almost mystical light leaking from a small hole it surrounded.
Suddenly it clicked in his head, and Arthur started jittering like a madman.
It was insane.
"There's no way that's possible right, right!"
The thought of it made a grin cross his face.
He slicked back his, new, navy blue hair out of his eyes.
"I guess there's only one way to find out!" His voice despite being squeaky had a hint insanity laced within it.
"System!" Arthur almost yelled it.
For a moment nothing happened, and Arthur sighed the jittering and his smile quickly dissipating.
"I guess it wa-"
His words were suddenly interrupted by an electronic noise.
And there it was a blue screen, like one that came off of a data pad, floating in the air right in front of his face.
The jittering and his smile returned with a fiery intensity.
"Hahahaha!!"
He had been reincarnated?, transmigrated? into his favorite novel, [The Hero's Path].
Despite the generic name and generic plot of the main character Ronan and his journey across the world in his pursuit to gain the power to saly the fragment of the king of the monsters that resided on earth whilst gaining many new friends and lovers along the way, the heros path was a deeply interesting novel.
But that was besides the point, what was however was the fact that Arthur had been placed inside of the body of the most hated character Sebastian Krùos.