She most definitely could not do this.

They’d been riding for half a day. It was early fall, maybe late August or early September if JiYeong had to guess, but the sun was high in the sky and blazing down on her. The amount of heat was ridiculous. Sweat was pouring down her back, her butt was hurting even worse, and she was surprisingly starving. They hadn’t stopped once since they started riding, and it didn’t look like stopping was going to happen any time soon. JiYeong didn’t know how much longer she could do this.

Turned out the answer was exactly five minutes.

“Hey!”

“Did you require something?” Silvvyr barely turned her head in JiYeong's direction.

She took a slow, deep breath. In through the nose, out the mouth. “I need to stop.”

“We do not have time to stop. It is important we get to Whitewall as quickly as possible.”

The calm she was fighting so hard to keep a hold of was slowly slipping away. Normally JiYeong was not hotheaded in any sense of the word. In fact, she liked to pride herself on her self control. You couldn’t work a minimum wage job like she did with a bad attitude. But what patience she did have was at its limit.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not a Hunter like you, and I don’t have wings. I need to stop.”

“I understand your discomfort, but—”

“I am stopping. Frankly I don’t care what you do, but I’m sure nobody will be happy if we get to Whitewall and I can’t walk because I’ve been stuck on a horse for three days.” JiYeong finally snapped. It was an exaggeration, of course. But it seemed to get her point across.

Silvvyr glared at JiYeong in response, and neither spoke until Iridia said, voice quiet, “Perhaps we should stop, Silvvyr. I am sure the Queen does not expect us to ride to Whitewall without stopping for sleeping or eating.”

“Fine.” Silvvyr sighed, turning her horse to go towards Kli’Oh River. “We will stop for one hour. Hopefully that is enough for you.”

One hour wasn’t nearly long enough considering they'd been riding all day, but JiYeong held her tongue, instead leading YeongGi to the River.

While he drank she leaned against a nearby tree, needing to stand. Sitting after being in a saddle for so long wasn’t the most appealing thing to her.

Her stomach growled, reminding JiYeing she hadn’t eaten in hours. Or maybe even days. At this point, she wasn't sure how much time had passed between when she'd blacked out and woke up in Allumia.

Silvvyr and Iridia seemed to have the same idea, each eating some type of dried meat.

Curiously, JiYeong pulled the pack off her shoulder, digging around in it. She was not sure how Magick worked in this world. In the game her pack was capable of holding way more items than should have been physically possible. It didn’t matter what pack she carried either, the same exact items would still be there. Would it work the same now?

JiYeong tried to remember what food she’d had in her inventory before being Summoned. Her mind was drawing a blank though, so she instead imagined something simple.

A smile crossed her lips when she pulled out a small flask of water and a sweet bun. She ignored the dull headache forming.

The physics of this world made no sense, but she couldn’t ask Silvvyr or Iridia for answers. To them she'd lived here her whole life. Asking them anything would raise questions she didn’t have answers to.

“It is important we do not stop for too long. We must arrive at Whitewall as swiftly as possible.” Silvvyr called when JiYeing finally took a bite of her sweet bun.

“I know!” All annoyance she'd managed to hold in came flooding back. “I know you’re in a hurry but unfortunately for you, I’m only human and I need to rest every once in a while!”

“I know humans who would be able to make the trip faster than what we are doing. You are a Guardian you should be--”

“Then maybe they can be the ones who help you out.” Despite the fact that she hadn’t wanted to sit before, JiYeong knew that if she didn’t restrain herself she’d likely attack the Hunter. She also knew she was being a bit much, but holy crap. Customers at the grocery store were less infuriating than this.

Taking a drink of her water, JiYeong looked up to see Iridia coming toward her. She was by far the less annoying of the two, but JiYeong couldn’t help the bit of resentment she felt towards her, since the Summoner was the one who’d actually brought her here.

“Do you remember me?” The Faerie asked once she was within ear shot. She laced her fingers behind her back. “You helped me out just a few weeks ago, gathering items for me.”

JiYeong didn’t respond right away, finishing off her sweet bun and taking a sip of water before lowering the flask. Even though she looked familiar she couldn’t place her face. She said JiYeong helped her. During a quest, maybe? The last time she was able to play Allumia Crossing seemed like ages ago.

Iridia continued, “I wasn’t sure if you were the person Queen Adaora wanted us to Summon, since you look different than you did when you helped me out, but you felt so familiar you must be the JiYeong we were sent to get.”

That piqued her interest. She looked different how? It wasn't as if there were mirrors around, so JiYeong didn't have a chance to see what she looked like.

Her first thought was that she had been transported into the body of character, since the character was what occupied Allumia. The character was made to resemble her, but it was not an exact replica. Close enough that they would recognize her.

But if Iridia thought she looked different, that must have meant JiYeong was physically there.

She jumped to her feet. There wasn't a mirror but there was water. The river was kept clean, showing her reflection clearly.

Her hand moved to her cheek, eyes wide. So she was really here. Somehow she'd been transported directly into Allumia. That all too familiar feeling of panic began building in JiYeong's chest and she forced another slow breath to chase it away.

JiYeong didn’t have a chance to reply to Iridia’s statement as Silvvyr spoke up from her place near the horses. “Iridia leave her alone. It is clear she does not wish to make friends with you.”

While that wasn’t completely true, JiYeong said nothing as Iridia reluctantly went back to join Silvvyr.

Iridia was friendly enough, and were it any other circumstances, JiYeong was sure they would friends already. But she was still trying to absorb everything around her. This world. It's Magick. She was both in and not in familiar territory at the same time and there was a new question burning the back of her mind.

They were able to summon her to Allumia, but would it be possible to send her back home?

She hadn’t been able to think about that in the flurry of everything that’d been happening since arriving but now that she was able to pause for a moment, she was unsure.

There was no way of getting in contact with Zaos or Lilia. JiYeong had no idea if she’d been gone from Earth for the same amount of time as she’d been in Allumia. If the two were worried about her, she wouldn’t be able to know that either.

“It is time we start heading out.” Silvvyr said just a few minutes later. “It is imperative we make it to Whitewall as swiftly as possible.”

JiYeong let out a low sigh of annoyance but turned back towards the two anyway. The pack was back on her shoulder and she took one step towards YeongGi when suddenly there was an arm around her neck. The assailant yanked her backwards, cutting off her scream.

White spots danced across JiYeong's eyes as her gaze darted to where Iridia and Silvvyr were after hearing Iridia gasp her name. Silvvyr had her bow in hand already, pointing it in JiYeong's direction. This only served to remind her she was completely defenseless, no armor or weapon on hand.

“Shoot and I kill her.” The man hissed toward Silvvyr. His arm tightened even more. JiYeong could feel the panic once again bubbling in her throat. Air was unable to escape and she could feel herself getting light headed. She was going to black out.

“So you’re the Queen’s Champion huh? Can’t have that.”

He's going to kill me. JiYeong's hands flew to his arm, scratching at him in a desperate attempt to escape.

“Silvvyr! Do something!” Iridia cried.

“I won’t be able to hit him without risking hitting her.” Silvvyr cursed. She hadn’t lowered her bow.

Her vision was going dark. This was not how she wanted to die, snatched from her home to an unfamiliar world, strangled by some unknown man for reasons she didn’t know or understand.

Through all the confusion and anger JiYeong felt a surge of strength. Iridia was holding her staff in her hands and was glowing. A calm washed over JiYeong, and before she could fully comprehend what she was doing she steadied her feet, gripped his arm in her hands and flipped the man over her shoulder. He landed with a thud and, still moving on autopilot, JiYeong put a foot on his chest, keeping a grip on his twisted arm.

The movement caused the man’s hood to fall off, revealing markings on his face and slightly pointed ears. Iridia gasped. “A Faerie?” She was no longer glowing and instead was running toward JiYeong. Silvvyr was right behind her.

“A Scout. A bad one at that.”

JiYeong didn’t respond. There was a burning in her chest, throat sore as she tried to gulp in breaths. The pain seemed secondary as she focused on the Faerie beneath her. She was going to get answers while the adrenaline was still pumping. “Who are you? Why did you try to kill me?”

The Faerie didn’t say anything, gritting his teeth.

This only angered her more, and she twisted his arm until she heard a snap. He screamed. “Answer me!”

“Okay! Okay.”

He hesitated. JiYeong twisted his arm even more, eliciting another scream and a string of curses. “My Master knew you were in Allumia. He knows how powerful you are, so he sent me to find out more information, and to kill you if I found you. You being here is a development he didn’t expect and would set his plans back too far. He couldn’t let that happen.”

"Why should me being here matter?" And did that mean whoever this master was knew she wasn't from Allumia?

"He knows Adaora intends to name you Champion."

“What do you mean?” JiYeong looked up at Silvvyr. Champion wasn’t a class she’d heard of. And there was no speaking of it in the letter Adaora sent her.

Scout was familiar. Summoner and Hunter obviously classes she knew. But Champion sounded made up. “What does he mean? What does that mean?”

“We do not have time for this. We must get to Whitewall immediately, especially after—”

“No!”

The Scout screamed as JiYeong dropped his arm. Her foot stayed on his chest though, in case he decided to try something stupid. “You will tell me what is going on or I will not come with you. I’m done being kept in the dark!”

“Faeries are born with the ability to use Magick, unlike other races, who have to be taught. DoHyeon has been searching for something to boost his Magick. One of our own Scouts have reported back that the King is uncomfortably close to achieving this goal, of siphoning Allumia's Magick for himself, and there are rumors of war in the foreseeable future.” Silvvyr looked at the Scout cradling his arm. He was glaring at them, as if he wanted to protest but he kept his mouth closed. “Adaora came to the conclusion that since you have helped our Kingdom on numerous other occasions, you would have no problems being her Champion and helping to protect the Kingdom once again.”

JiYeong’s head was spinning. This was too much information to try and absorb at one time. She couldn’t sort out what to say first, so she blurted, “So you kidnap me and try to force me to fight for you?!” Despite knowing this isn’t the case.

“We did not kidnap you! You agreed to come and when you did not show after several days we Summoned you.” Iridia protested. She had her hands folded together in front of her chest. “We would never force—”

“You do not need to explain yourself to her. I have explained enough and if she does not wish to help that is not on us.” Silvvyr placed a hand on Iridia’s shoulder in an attempt to calm the girl. “We must get back to Whitewall. Even if JiYeong refuses to join us, Queen Adaora will wish to know about this attack. Iridia, go erase the assailant’s memory. There can be no risking him going back to Sylfelia and letting DoHyeon know he has failed in his mission.”

Iridia nodded. JiYeong took several steps back as she approached, allowing her to kneel in front of the Scout.

“Go to sleep.” She whispered, brushing her hand over his eyes. Iridia placed her hands on either side of the Scout’s temple, a pale gold glow surrounding her fingers. “Forget.”

She straightened, looking sadly at JiYeong for a moment before flying over to Silvvyr and their mounts.

As the two rode toward Whitewall JiYeong let out a cry, cursing and kicking at the ground angrily.

“This isn’t fair! They brought me here. They expected me to fight for them. I was the one who’d just been attacked.”

So why did she feel so bad?

“Ugh!” JiYeong ran a hand through her hair. It’d come loose from its braid during the attack. She put a hand on her hip, the other in her now tangled hair as she looked in the direction Silvvyr and Iridia rode off towards. Though she really didn’t want to, JiYeong knew she should at least go and hear what the Queen had to say. After all, they requested her specifically, and she’d technically accepted the quest, even if she didn’t know it would bring her here.

And it wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go. Being around when the Scout woke up wasn’t in her best interest either.

Besides, there was a higher chance of her figuring out if there was a way for her to get home in Whitewall than there was standing in the middle of nowhere.

With her mind made up, JiYeong walked over to YeongGi, placing a hand on his neck before climbing into the saddle. “C’mon YeongGi. Let’s go to Whitewall.”