It took me a while to get my bearings when I woke up. After all, I had just experienced three completely different situations in what felt to me like twenty seconds. More than enough to get your brain all jumbled up.

One moment I was walking along with my family, being teased by my older sister who was taking a break from her research to celebrate the holidays with us, and the next I'm being pushed down by my brother who still hasn't changed out of his fatigues as all the sound in the entire world simply vanished. Imagine going from that to having your heart cut out by a ninja in what looked like a 12th-century castle's great room. Oh, and falling out of the window of said castle.

And then you wake up in the back of a carriage, the afternoon sun shining through the white curtains that are blowing peacefully in a gentle jungle breeze. You can, I'm sure, understand why I'm just laying here, enjoying the feeling of the sun, right? Don't worry, I already checked my heart and it is still in my chest. At least, that is what I assume, since the gaping hole disappeared and I can feel my pulse.

Still, I'm currently limiting as much information as I can while I adjust to the fact that I'm not in my own body. The proportions are all wrong, and my hands were not nearly this well taken care of. Whoever this body belonged to obviously did not have a nail-biting habit. They also have a lot more muscle. Not that I'm complaining about that, mind you. After all, what 14-year-old boy doesn't dream of waking up with a six-pack.

Despite my best efforts to keep my mind empty the brief moment of blood and pain and darkness won't stop trying to worm its way in.

Ugh. I guess I better get up.

As I begin to sit up the door to the carriage opens and a pretty young lady stealthily pops her head in, as if she is afraid someone is going to catch her. For a moment we stare at each other blankly. Well, I stare at her blankly. Her eyes get really wide and she begins to blush. Once our staring contest is over she slams the door shut and runs off, yelling.

"He's alive! The gorgeous dead guy is alive!

Yeah, we're just going to ignore that.

Despite my strange experience, I couldn't find anything actually wrong with my body so I swung my feet off the bed and examined my surroundings. The carriage was much larger inside than the typical medieval carriage, spanning nearly twelve feet. Twice as long as it is wide, it looks more like a small room than a carriage. Only the slight bobbing as it moves along and the terrain passing by convinces me that I'm not in someone's house.

It really does look like a one-room house, complete with a sitting area, a screened area for changing with a wooden tub, and a great big bed. The walls are decorated with pictures of animals and a battle scene and a small pile of weapons lies in the corner, their handles well worn from use. Sounds from outside alert me to more visitors and I find myself naturally picking up a dagger that was sitting on a dresser, skillfully concealing it with a twist of my hand so it could not be seen from the front. I was so surprised by the instinctive action that my body just performed that I missed the door opening.

"Glad to see you are up." A hearty voice sounded from the door, pulling my attention away from the dagger I'd hidden.

Standing in front of me was a young man who looked to be around 20 years old. He had a handsome face and a tall, slim build, but what surprised me the most what the fact that I was actually looking slightly down at him. As a young man, I had always been tall for my age, one of the advantages of my parent's genes I guess. But now that I had someone to compare myself to, I realized I was at least six foot one, possibly even taller.

His clothing was a strange mixture of eastern and western garb and gave off a faintly middle eastern vibe, with pants and boots and a loose, blousy top wrapped with an intricately tied sash. The long robe-like coat that hung from his shoulders had a distinctively eastern cut. A long, thin sword hung at his side and for some reason, I knew that he carried a knife in his boot and another blade hidden in his wide sash. I had no idea where that piece of information came from, but I knew it was true.

"My name is Patel Sarro, Crown Prince of Leria. We were traveling and found your body, uh, found you by the river. How are you feeling?"

Before I could answer I felt a slight tingle in the back of my head and my eyes fixed on the armored man who stood next to the prince. One look was all that it took to realize that he was a dangerous customer. He had the look of blood about him, the same look that my brother's squad mates carried. My body instinctively shifted, adjusting my stance subtly to prepare for the optimal engagement if he were to attack.

"I...I'm feeling..." I paused. My voice was gone and in its place was a deep, slightly husky sound that an entertainer would kill for. I still didn't know what happened to me, but I sure lucked out with my new body.

"I'm feeling fine, thank you."

"Glad to hear that." Prince Patel began to step forward when the armored man next to him stopped him with a hand. "Captain, I'm sure it's fine."

"Your highness, we must be cautious." The captain's eyes carefully covered me from head to toe and back again. I could tell that I was setting him on edge. "Sir, can you please tell us your name?"

"My name?" I froze for a second, my eyes searching around wildly. I had no idea whose body this was and I wasn't about to let on that a new person had taken it over. Wait, they said that they found me by the river, right? "Ah, my name. Truthfully, I don't remember. I was hoping you could tell me."

"You don't remember? Could it be amnesia? Can you tell us anything about yourself? Where you are from? How old you are?"

Prince, you might be my new best friend.

It took some effort, but I kept my massive grin hidden behind an impassive face. I had been hoping that wherever on earth I was they would know about amnesia. After all, what better excuse could you have for not knowing the first thing about local customs? Carefully schooling my face into a frown I pretended to be stunned as looked down at my perfect hand. My other hand still hung by my side, the dagger I had picked up hidden from view.

"I..."

"Brother, what is amnesia?"

A head peeked out from behind Prince Patel and suddenly my feigned stupor was no longer feigned.

Perfection. Every curve, every line. Absolute perfection. Deep golden eyes that sucked my soul right out of my body, burying me in their amber depths, freezing me in place. Arched eyebrows set on a perfectly sized forehead. Skin without blemish, highlighting her cheekbones and the beautiful angle of her jaw.

A gentle nose hovered above perfectly curved lips, full but not plump. Brown hair crowned her head, piled high with a golden ornament that complemented her eyes perfectly. Her swept-up hair accentuated her long, slim neck, giving her a graceful, regal air that was perfectly balanced by the kind and curious look in her eyes.

"I..."

Once again the words froze in my throat, though this time I was not pretending. You must understand, I grew up with a supermodel for a mom. I had been surrounded by beautiful people for my life. But nothing I had ever seen, no one I had ever met, could hold a candle to the vision that I beheld at that moment. Have you ever seen a picture or a view that simply struck a spiritual chord in your soul? There was something about her eyes, something about the combination of lively curiosity, graceful kindness, and regal serenity that pulled at my very being.

For a moment I felt as if I had been separated from my body. It was a strange feeling to find my thoughts and my body reacting independently. While my mind was entranced, all my physical body did was subtly adjust its stance to factor her in as a threat. I had never experienced such a strange sensation of having a nearly spiritual level of attraction to someone while, at the same time, feeling an instinctive physical aversion. Abruptly the pull in two different directions ceased and I snapped back together.

Feeling a blush beginning to climb my neck I quickly spun around, bracing myself on the back wall as I took deep breaths, trying to collect myself. My heart was beating so fast I thought for a moment that it was going to jump out of my chest. Then I remembered the bloody scene I experienced right before arriving here and a cold feeling washed over me. The abrupt shift in my body's state caused me to sag for a second and just as I was about to fall I felt two soft, perfect hands grasped my arm and side, holding me up.

The young woman had run over and held on to me, which should have made me happy, yet at that moment I experienced what might have been the most horrifying feeling of my life. An overwhelming physical urge to attack with the dagger I had concealed ran through me and my hand began moving before I had even registered the desire. From the corner of my eye, I could see the profile of the young woman who had been behind Prince Patel, yet I could not stop the stabbing blade.

The world slowed to a crawl as I desperately tried to keep this strange body that I inhabited from harming the young woman. Try as I might, I could not seem to control the attack after it has been started. As far as attacks go, it was perfection. Screaming in my head, I focused everything I could on changing the knife's trajectory My mental effort seems to burst something in my chest, causing a burning heat to boil to life in my heart.

Without any other option, I took a mental breath and willed my body into motion, twisting out of the perfect hands that held me up, and putting my own body between my knife and her chest.

*squelch*

The sound of the blade sliding into my side was loud in the quiet room, shocking the captain into action as the perfect young lady screamed. Somehow I had managed to shift the trajectory of the attack by wrenching my body to the side but the cost was the burning feeling of the blade sliding into my side. As my energy bled out of the deep cut along my ribs, I used the last of my energy to pull the knife out of the gash and slide it out of sight under the dresser. The widening pool of blood under my body distracted everyone enough that my twitch passed unnoticed.

Oh no, oh no!

As the young lady continued screaming I could feel strong hands pressing on my chest, trying to stem the flow of blood. The horror I felt in my heart must have made it onto my face because when I looked up at the young woman who was trying to save me I could see it reflected in her eyes.

And then the darkness returned.

This time, however, the darkness was not complete. There was a tiny point of light in the darkness, beckoning me toward it. Shuddering, my mind swam through the darkness toward the light, which grew larger and larger. On some level, I understood that I was not actually looking at the light with my eyes, but feeling it with a completely different sense. The point of light grew in my sense until it was the size of a door, a roughly shaped ball hovering quietly in front of me.

With a whoosh, my sense entered the light and when my vision cleared I found myself standing in the doorway of a small stone building, facing a wooden door with an oiled bronze handle. A plaque stared at me at eye height but before I could register what it said, my body doubled over and I began to heave as the aftermath of the violence I had just experienced hit me.

There was nothing in my stomach to throw up, though it might have been better if there had been as it would have at least given me some relief. As it was, it took me a few minutes to stop gagging and when I finally was able to straighten and check my body I was stunned to find that the wound in my side had disappeared. Unable to figure out what was going on, the plaque caught my eye.

"The Palace of the Past."

Frowning, I looked at the building again. What I could see of the building was made of uniform shabby gray stone. It looked nothing like a palace. Still shaken from my brush with death, I shook my head and took a deep breath, trying to clear my head. With nothing but darkness spreading in every other direction, I placed my hand on the door handle and pushed it open, revealing a small hallway lined with rich wooden panels that reminded me of my mom's office.

A thick carpet covered the floor and bookshelves stood along the walls, broken by four more wooden doors. As soon as I entered my eyes were drawn to a moving image projected on the flat mirror on the wall opposite the doorway. The scene was of the interior of the carriage I had just been in. I watched as the captain and Prince Patel, moving in slow motion, turned my body over and began administering first aid, while the perfect young lady fluttered worriedly nearby.

But what really captured my attention was when the captain took out a white disk with a jewel set in the cneter. He placed it on my chest and, closing his eyes, held his hands above it. A faint glowing mist seeped from his palms, floating down toward the gem which lit up with brilliant color. Slowly the disk began to spin, a wave of warmth flowing into my chest. Under my astonished gaze, I could both see and feel the cut on my side healing as the mist was sucked into the disk.

*Sigh* I guess that seals it. Wherever I am, it sure isn't earth.