Page 17 of Evil Hearts

Chapter Four

My eyes snap open. The suddenness of the shift is almost dizzying. I blink, trying to clear my eyes, waiting for my ceiling to come into focus. The air around me is thick with moisture. The scent of damp earth fills my nostrils, and I’m not looking forward to the price of getting a window fixed in a rental.

My body aches and I have no idea how I ended up on the floor. My mind is so fuzzy, it’s like I’ve been asleep for hours, but something feels off. More real than the dream-like haze one would expect.

The first thing I notice when my eyes decide to work is large, gnarled tree trunks shooting into the sky, their branches swaying lightly in the breeze. I run my fingers through the soft carpet of moss and leaves beneath me. The faint sound of birds is the only sound that breaks the silence. But it all seems so familiar, eerily familiar.

My heart skips a beat as I sit up, glancing around in confusion. How did I get here? The mythical forest seems to be bathed in an almost ethereal light. It shines off the leaves, casting dappled patterns of green, gold, and violet along the forest floor. I know this forest. It’s one I’ve been traipsing through a lot recently. The same one I’ve been playing in for hours, exploring, battling creatures. A world so unlike my own, searching for the missing Orc.

But… how?

My hands fly to my body, patting myself down in a frenzy. Armor covers my body where PJs had once been. A tunic of dark leather, worn boots, and a belt with pouches and small daggers strapped to each side. A short sword is strapped to my back, cold to the touch, and its weight feels familiar, despite my inexperience with such a weapon. My fingers dance over the fine details of my outfit, every rip and cut.

It’s a perfect match for a character I spent months perfecting. I feel the inner lining of my tunic, feeling the sharp press of metal against my fingertips. Hidden throwing stars. As a rogue, Aelia can’t cast elemental spells to aid in battle, I have to rely on her wits and weapon work. So, I made sure to take the quests that would allow me to trick her out the best. Even if that meant my outfit looks like a swimsuit of armor.

Games made by men… what can I say?

Aelia can’t cast any spells, but I can wield every weapon with deadly accuracy. I can wield every weapon? No. Right?

The feeling of wrongness swirls in my stomach as I stare at my body, Aelia’s body, unable to fully comprehend what is going on and how it happened. A glance at my hair confirms the changes, with two long braids hanging down past my ears and over my shoulders. Its lilac color shines brighter than my usual dull brown.

I turn my hands this way and that, looking at their tanned, and slightly purple skin tone. My nails are trimmed, and my fingers are calloused in a way that suggests a life of travel, battle, and adventure. Aelia’s life.

”No… no. This can’t be real,” I murmur aloud, shaking my head in disbelief. But my voice is steady, harder than I expected.

The storm I had been so absorbed in moments before, the lightning and the electricity, they feel like distant memories. Now, there is only the ancient forest that surrounds me, the cool air that brushes against my skin in the softest caress, and the sense that everything is… wrong. My brain can’t seem to register what is going on, it’s like I’m in a dream, but it’s too vivid. Too tactile.

I stand slowly, taking a few tentative steps in my new body. The movies always make it look easy, you body-switch and walk away like it’s normal. But I can’t seem to find my balance in the shorter stature, stumbling over roots and rocks. The crunching of the damp forest floor under my feet is the only sound around, and a strange sort of unease crawls up my spine.

Every small sound, every rustle in the trees, seems more intense, more alive than anything I’ve ever experienced before.

I swallow as my eyes skim over the forest. Am I still in my apartment? Maybe I hit my head and passed out? Maybe this is all a dream…

But if this is all just a dream, how do I wake myself up? And what do I do from here? I pinch myself, hard, to see if it would work like in the movies. I shout out in pain, the noise echoing through the forest around me. My hands fly to my mouth in shock and I want to smack myself. If I’m in the game, I’m sure the bandits are too. Way to bring all the bad guys to you, Katie.

In the game, I had gotten off the path, trying to find the quickest route forward, but I shouldn’t be too far away from it yet. The forest seems endless, stretching in all directions as far as the eye can see. There was no familiar landmark, no clear path because I had only been worried about finding the bandit camp.

“Okay. Okay. Just breathe, Katie.” I mutter to myself, trying to calm the rising panic. This isn’t quite what I had in mind when I was dreaming of adventure. I raise a hand to my chest, trying to calm my rising pulse, but the sword brushes against my side with the movement. My pulse quickens, but it’s not just fear. Something inside of me, something more primal, feels like it was just awakened. A flick of power, of purpose, courses through my veins.

I can do this.

I glance around, trying to decide what to do next. I exhale, steadying myself. The world may have completely changed around me, but if I’m truly here, maybe completing the quests will send me home. If that’s what I want… Here, I have the ability to do something more than the endless days of work. More than the quiet nights at home. This weirdly familiar forest could give me the escape I always wanted, but there’s a danger here as well. It lurks in the shadows, watching me.

Even so, I’m closer to the bandit camp than the quaint village that gave me the quest to begin with. It would take me hours to get back to the relative safety of the village. Besides, if I’m my character, I should be able to do the badassery my character can do. Right?

I rest my hands on my daggers, determination igniting in my chest as I step forward into the dense forest, ready to face whatever might come next.