A pair of hazel eyes snapped open, a shuddering gasp escaping the lips of their owner as she surged to a seated position. Breathing heavily, Aurora took in her surroundings with wide eyes. The last thing that she remembered was leaving her bathroom after changing to see her computer acting up, followed by a flash of light. Now… now her surroundings were completely different.

  Rather than the illumination of her bedroom, she was in a room only illuminated by the natural light flowing through the window. Calling the simple opening in the nearby wall a window would probably be generous. The light was enough to allow her to see that the room she found herself in was not her own. Rather than off white paint, plain wooden walls greeted her. The room was far larger as well, and she wasn’t the only one in the room.

  There were ten other people, girls judging by the faces of those closest to her. While their hair was all darker colors, the faces were plain. They, much like herself, were not resting on beds though. Instead, they were on the ground and inside of what looked to be a rather thick sleeping bag made of a patchwork of leathers. Despite her sudden awakening, soft breathing was the only noise that joined her heavily thumping heart.

  Okay, breathe, breathe. Breathe, focus, and relax. There has to be an explanation for all of this… right? It could be a dream, I guess. I was pretty excited for the alpha of Chronicle of Souls. And it’s not like I haven’t seen any isekai before. So, dreaming that I have been isekai’d into it isn’t that impossible. But… I don’t remember going to sleep. And then there was whatever was going on with my computer as well… But there’s no way… right?

  It was logical to assume that this was anything but a dream. After all, things like being transported to another world—or being stuck in a video game—were things of fiction. But something about this all felt a bit off. She could hear the gentle breathing of the other girls. The air, while smelling slightly foul, was fresh. The most unusual thing was the sensations her body felt.

  Being a firefighter, Aurora kept herself in shape. As such, she had an instinctive understanding of how her body felt and moved. Even just sitting there, her lower body still covered by the warmth of this bedroll she was in, certain things felt off. Her limbs were longer, torso taller, and her chest had an extra weight that was impossible to ignore. But the real changes, were something deeper. Just from lifting an arm, she felt how much denser it was. Her skin was still soft and slightly toned, but there was more power in her arms than before. Despite feeling stronger, her joints felt stiffer than usual. While it could be because she had just woken up, that line of thought didn’t feel right.

  Any further musings were interrupted as the other girls in the room began to yawn and stretch as they awoke. With them awake, she looked at one of the girls closer to her. Tired brown eyes blinked for a moment, before her gaze locked onto Aurora’s. Having apparently appeared out of nowhere, the wary look was expected. Several others looked her way as well, before the first girl spoke up.

  “Oh, hello there. It’s been a couple of years since a new girl has appeared. And on Awakening Day too. I’m sorry for your loss. Oh, but where are my manners. My name is Sue it is nice to meet you.”

  Sitting there silently, unease bubbles in Aurora’s stomach. The way the girl, Sue, spoke had been clear enough. But the tone and inflection didn’t matched to anyone she had met before. The awkward silence began to stretch, a worried look growing on Sue’s face.

  “Hi there. My name is Aur-a.”

  Her voice catches in her throat, stopping her short from saying her full name. Whether by coincidence or something else, the name she had given her character came out instead. Just thinking of trying to correct herself had a chill run down her spine. That worried look turned to concern after choking out her words. So, after clearing her throat, she continued.

  “My name is… Aura. It is nice to meet you, Sue. I, um, I apologize but I don’t know what you are talking about. Where… where am I? And what is Awakening Day?”

  For a moment, a flicker of some unknown emotion entered Sue’s eyes. The emotion passed too quickly for Aura to identify it. The worried look on Sue’s face turning sympathetic.

  “I see, I suppose any other settlements out there do not have the same traditions as ours does. Again, I am sorry for the loss of your old home. You do not need to talk about it if you do not want to. To answer your questions though, we are in Fortress. As for Awakening Day, it is as it sounds like. This is the day that the last of our generation finally turns eighteen and can begin working in the settlement. I do not know how you did it in your old home, but here things are done in a certain way.

  Shortly after all of us have woken up, we will be led to the center of the settlement, along with the boys. Once there, we are to declare a few things. What we intend to do to help the settlement prosper. What our innate skill is that can help us do that. And what our status distribution is. After all of that is said, our leader Fortress and his trusted retainers will decide if our intentions are justified. They will either approve what we desire or assign us something more appropriate. And that is Awakening Day, Aura.”

  Despite having her initial questions answered, and more, more questions filled Aura’s mind. Everything she had been told sounded like something out of the tutorial of a video game. A player would make their character, be given a class of some sort, and then be given the freedom to do what they wanted. Only, from the sounds of it, freedom wasn’t going to be kept in mind here. This Fortress, the fact that the name of the leader and the city was the same setting off red flags in her mind, seemed to have the final say on what people would do.

  More than that, a sinking feeling was starting to fill her that this wasn’t a dream. Sue spoke too smoothly, and she was using concepts of things that Aura hadn’t even considered before. While the human brain was capable of quite a few things, and being quite imaginative, this went above what was normal. Then there was that brief flash of emotions she could have sworn had passed through the other girls’ eyes before she answered. That was not something that would be expected to occur in a dream.

  “Thank you for telling me this Sue. If you don’t mi—.”

  Before she could start to ask more questions, a loud scream cuts her off. Coming from another room it was muffled, but it still was easy to hear. The scream wakes the couple of still sleeping girls, and those that were awake turned to the door to the room in wonder and concern. Aura’s instincts as a firefighter kicked in, the thick covering of her bedroll tossed aside as she quickly made her way to the door.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  What the? Am I… slower?

  Only, as she came to realize, it was not as quick as she was used to. While her muscles felt quite strong, they were also stiff. Rather than a full-out sprint to the doorway, a light jog was the best she could manage. Reaching the door in good time, it opened to reveal a hallway. A glowing white stone inlaid in the ceiling provided illumination. Two other doors were open, with other girls peeking out and looking towards a fourth, still closed door. Wasting no time talking, she quickly made her way to the closed door, the source of the scream, and went inside.

  The scene was much like what she had woken up to, at least initially. Rows of bedrolls were on the ground, with various girls sitting up inside of them. Unlike in her room though they were clearly awake and looking towards the source of the screams. The source was a girl that did not match the rest of them in appearances. While a bit rude to compare, the screaming girl was far more beautiful than the others. Her face looked like that of a model, hair long and blue in color, with eyes a vibrant purple shade. Her face was familiar, as if she had seen it before on the internet or something. Shaking that thought off, she made her way over to the screaming girl as quickly as possible.

  “Hey, hey! Calm down. You need to breathe, or you are going to pass out. Come on, deep breath in. Deep breath out.”

  Kneeling in front of the girl, getting her attention was easy. Those wide purple eyes had a look of panic in them as they locked onto her own, but Aura was determined to help the girl calm down. Calling on her training, she got to work. It was slow going, but gradually the screaming settled down. With how focused the two of them had been, neither realized that the room had emptied out. The other girls having had no idea what was going on and leaving the two of them be. In their place, another girl had entered.

  “Is she okay?”

  While calm, the voice was sudden and startled Aura and the formerly screaming girl. Turning to look at the source, she took in her appearance. While her body was more lithe than the other girls, strength was clear to see based on the definition in her arms. Messy, short black hair topped her head and framed an androgynous face. Her face still had some feminine features, helping her to stand out. With a look of concern on her face, she stared down at the two of them, seeming to wait for an answer.

  “I… I… This is real, isn’t it?”

  Finally, the screaming girl would speak. Her voice was soft, vulnerable, and had a melodic quality to it. Lifting her trembling hands slightly, she stared at them with a look of despair. This look, along with the way the other two girls looked so well sculpted, seemed to cement it all for Aura. Somehow, someway, she and others had been taken to a different world. Questions bubbled in her head, and despair welled in her heart. As her hands began to shake, she took a deep breath to calm herself. Glancing around the room and confirming that the three of them were the only ones inside, there was no better time to address the subject.

  “I think so, yes. Just to check though, did the two of you sign up for the alpha test for Chronicles of Souls? And did you wait until the end of the submission period to see if servers or something would go live right afterwards?”

  Her words caused the screaming girl to let out a choked sob, all but confirming her suspicions. The androgynous girl let out a held breath, raising a hand and running it through her hair before nodding and speaking.

  “So, I’m guessing that you saw that weird golden light huh? Fuck, I thought it was just something I ate that caused me to see things or something…”

  Both Aura and the screaming girl nodded at the mention of the golden light, further cementing that this all actually happened. The three of them sat there for a moment, before Aura broke the silence.

  “I… I don’t know what is going on here, but there must be an explanation. For the time being though, I think we have let this all play out. See where it goes you know.”

  That drew a wince from the androgynous girl, while the screaming girl pales somewhat. To the slight bewilderment of the other two, she reaches into her bedroll as if feeling for something, only to let out a weak sob.

  “Oh god no, it’s not there! I… Why did I pick a girl character to go with here?!”

  And like that, a fresh round of sobbing starts to flow, understanding filled Aura and the other girl. She had figured some guys would make female avatars just to look at, and it seemed that in this messed up situation she had found one such guy who had done so. And while she was feeling some disorientation due to her body proportions being different, it was probably nothing compared to becoming the opposite gender. Unsure of how to really handle this situation, she reached out to the crying girl and wrapped her arms around her. The androgynous girl got on the ground as well and joined in, trying to offer some level of comfort.

  The three of them sat like that for a while, until at last the tears started to dry. During all that time Aura did her best to keep her own fears and worries contained, not wanting things to spiral right now. When the tears finally stopped, she knew another difficult topic needed to be brought up. More tears may fall, not just from the boy-turned-girl. But it was better to do so now rather than let them find out by accident.

  “I…My name is Aura. And while I say that is my name, it is not the name I was actually born with. I don’t know how or why, but I can’t seem to say my actual name.”

  That got the other two to stiffen slightly. Close as they were, she could hear them both attempting to introduce themselves as something, only for their voice to catch in their throats. A muffled curse from the androgynous girl, and a fresh sob from the screaming one followed. But them being huddled up like this kept things calm enough that the androgynous girl spoke up next.

  “My… name I guess, is Jackie. Fuck dude, I knew this was bad. But to take our names from us…”

  The now identified Jackie gave Aura a nod of acknowledgement. There was some discomfort in her gaze at having to go by this name, likely different from her own, but she was trying to not let it show. Not with the more vulnerable girl still in their embrace. It took a few minutes before once more that melodic voice sounded out.

  “V-Violet is my name. Oh god that sounds so wrong to say. Why did this happen to us?”

  “I don’t know. I wish I did, but I doubt any of us here have any answers to those questions. This is like something out of a weird anime or video game. And, the thing is, it’s probably only going to get weirder.”

  After offering her assurances, Aura leaned away from the embrace enough to catch the eyes of both Jackie and Violet. Her gaze, while serious, still tried to convey some level of comfort. And then, she started to speak. While she had not gotten much information out of Sue, any information was valuable at this point. She also shared her own observations on the matter as well, namely in her worry about the whole ‘assigned’ intentions if they did not pick one suited for their stats. As well as the concerns for the fact that the leader of this settlement was named the same as the settlement as well.

  While the conversation didn’t take that long, by the time she had finished comforting Violet and explaining what she knew, the light outside was shining brightly through the opening in the wall. The sounds of people outside started to be heard as they presumably got to work. It was at that point, that the door to the room opened again. Three sets of heads turned to look at it, and Sue was standing in the doorway. Looking towards Aura, she gave an understanding nod. She never cleared up the misunderstanding of her origin being from a settlement that was lost, whatever that meant, so she probably guessed that the three of them were all from it.

  “I know this may be difficult, but it is about time to rise. The matron will be by to collect us soon and take us to the center of Fortress for Awakening Day.”