David’s eyes opened, slowly. The last thing he remembered was leaning down to pick up a bra. He could still feel that bra in his hand, the rough elastic band entwined with his fingers. So he’d definitely just done that. Yet he was now lying down in the dirt? Dirt which had strange symbols drawn into it, he realized. and those symbols were bisected by a circle, which had been drawn about him. 

“Heroine?” A voice spoke, above David. A figure was standing at David’s feet, her own boots toeing the circle, not quite breaking the line. She had bright orange hair, standing in stark contrast to her dark skin. The hair had been drawn into two frizzy buns on either side of her scalp. He was wondering if she’d dyed it, to get that unnatural orange color, when he noticed the girl’s yellow eyes. Eyes that were focused solely on David.

This woman was talking to him, then? She’d said something about… Heroine? “Who…? Are you? he meant to ask. He couldn’t force any more words to leave his throat, though. Not because the first word had come out high pitched. That had barely registered, as of yet. It was only that, as David had been forced to look up in order to meet the redhead’s eyes, he had happened to notice the moon, behind her shoulders.

The moon had a ring.

The circle. The strange symbols, he didn’t recognize. The girl’s bright yellow eyes, like nothing he’d ever seen before. Like nothing on earth. Because this wasn’t earth.

“Heroine?” the girl repeated, her voice soft, and excited.

David’s mind was spinning, his personal beliefs about the world around him collapsing as he tried to understand what was going on. He’d been in his dormitory. He’d been in the basement. On earth. And now he was - where? How? He couldn’t process, or understand, what the girl was saying. It almost seemed like she was calling out to him, but if so then the word surely couldn’t mean what it sounded like..

It was too much. It was too much information, with too little context, being jammed into his brain all at once. David did the only thing he could think of, to calm down, nevermind the fact that there was someone watching. He wrapped some hair around his fingers, and tried to tug until it hurt.

Which was how David realized that his hair was longer.

Screaming, he slammed his hands against the ground to prop himself upright. In doing so, David noticed two things. First of all, his formerly lanky arms had grown a layer of proper muscle, and were capable of lifting his suddenly heavier body upright. Second of all, he couldn’t help but notice the shifting of weight on his chest, as he got up.  He looked down…

He had breasts.

Ah. I’ve finally become the daughter mom always said she wanted...  was the first, ridiculous thought that popped into David’s mind. ...But no. It’s not like gender can be decided by my looks. I’m still me in here, after all. So I guess I’m just a guy in a girl’s body? That explained, at least, what the “heroine” comment had been about. He was being mistaken for a girl, because he had a feminine body. 

“Heroine?” the redhead was frowning, now. “Is everything alright? Did we catch you at a bad time?”

We? 

David looked about, but didn’t see anyone except the cloaked women, and a strange, clay statue that had been built to look like a simplified representation of a man. The statue was decorated in golden anklets, and a red loincloth. Its shoulders looked to be made of rock, carved into round joints. Perhaps the statue could move?

It moved, as David watched, turning its head about to look at him. Where the construct’s eyes should be were glowing red dots, that narrowed and focused upon the hapless college student. “What’s the hold up, Lonna?” the creature asked. He spoke with a deep, gravely voice, quite appropriate to his shape.

“I don’t know, Talith. The heroine looks a little sick.”

“Transportation sickness?” Talith asked, turning more fully toward David, and stepping forward. 

Unable to help himself, David let out another shocked cry in response, before trying to stumble backwards.

“Is she… Afraid of me?” whispered the construct. The way his stone monobrow moved seemed to be expressing doubt.

“W-Who wouldn’t freak out after seeing a statue move!?” David called out in response. Now, with the circle standing between him and the statue, the brunette began to climb to his feet. As he did so, he could not help but notice that the ground had seemed a lot closer the last time he stood. Had he grown taller? 

Actually, hadn’t he noticed it with his arms, too? That he had gotten much, much stronger? He didn’t have a mirror, but just looking down - it had been laundry day, so all he was really wearing was a pink tee shirt with a stain, and a pair of grey sweatpants. Those were the clothes he’d been wearing when he left earth, and they were, unfortunately, the clothes he was stuck with, now. Yet he was definitely filling the clothes out a lot better than when he’d been on earth. He was taller, which was causing the sweats to ride up his body. He was more muscular, too, and broader in the shoulders. 

“What the hell…” he whispered, looking down at his muscled, feminine form. “I’m ripped.”

“Heroine,” came a familiar voice. This time, David had to look down to see the tiny figure. She was maybe five feet tall. Her shoulders came up just about perfectly to David’s elbow. Or they did, when she was standing. The redhead dropped to one knee, as David watched, her green cloak flowing with her movements, so as to cover her body completely from the neck down. “My name is Lonna,” the woman whispered, bowing her head. “The laspi with me, is my brother: Talith. We have summoned you here, today, to ask for your help.”

The woman lifted her head up, here, and her yellow eyes shone with fever as they met David’s brown eyed gaze. “An evil woman, by the name of Sorissa, took the throne of this kingdom two hundred years ago. She calls herself the Matriarch of Resperan. She’s immortal, which is why we need your help to defeat her. Only a true heroine can stop her.” The girl smiled, at those words. “But I’m sure you’re used to killing all sorts of immortal despots, right? I’d be happy to pour you a drink, and you can tell me all about your exploits. Like what’s the fiercest foe you’ve ever faced? And did you just punch them out, or do you have - like - a hidden weapon, we can’t see right now?”

“Lonna…” Talith’s voice came out low, and slow. “There’s something else you need to tell her, too, isn’t there?”

The small woman flinched, glancing between David and Talith for a moment, before biting her lip. The way she nudged her foot into the ground made her look like a spoiled child, about to confess wrong doings to her parents. Before she spoke, though, there was something David desperately needed to say.

“Um…. Excuse me?” David smiled as he spoke, trying to ease the impact of his words. 

The girl smiled back, bright and wide, and full of hope. Which only made David’s smile feel fragile, and stupid, and wrong. He was panicking, a little, on the inside. He’d already accepted that he’d been taken to another world - and he’s started to realize that they’d made a mistake, grabbing him - but he had never, for a moment, thought that he’d be expected to save this world. That was just patently ridiculous. 

“I don’t know who you were trying to summon? But I’m not the heroine. I’m not even a girl. My name’s David…”

Silence covered the hilltop, following David’s pronouncement. Although the brunette himself was still shifting from foot to foot, Talith and Lonna had frozen in place.

Talith recovered first, crossing his arms, and lowering his stone eyebrow. “I told you that this was a bad idea, Lonna. Spells have never been your specialty.”

“W-What!?” Lonna, who had been standing stock still, mouth slightly ajar, snapped her jaw shut and turned to face her larger brother. “Don’t you dare pin this on my spellmanship! I followed the instructions perfectly. I mean, sure, there were a couple symbols I’d never seen before - but look!” She pointed towards one of the symbols, that looked sort of like a T that had done the splits. “That one’s the symbol for person. And that one…” She pointed to another symbol, a clockwise spiral. “That’s the symbol for need. And there’s also symbols for desire, fetching, and searching - among other things, but. This is definitely the heroine summoning spell!” She grabbed a scroll from the dirt as she spoke, unraveling it to reveal an inked copy of the circle that had been scratched into the dirt around David. “To summon the heroine in your heart - this is it! There’s no way I’d mistake the spell - and there’s no way I’d mistake the heroine!” 

She jabbed a finger at David, as she spoke. “The muscles. The height. She’s an ass-kicking machine, just like I imagined her! There’s no way in hell that she’s not the heroine I summoned!”

“But… I’m a guy…” David whispered, eyeing the finger like it might explode in her direction, or something. She still wasn’t sure what was going on, but from the way they’d been talking, it almost sounded like this girl could use magic? That would seem a ridiculous claim, under normal circumstances, but David was all but willing to accept the existence of magic at this point.

“You can’t be a guy!” the woman screeched, jabbing her finger again toward David. “You’re supposed to be the heroine of my heart. And the heroine of my heart is an ass kicking woman, who’s going to defeat Sorissa and save this land!”

“Lonna…” Talith’s voice was low, as usual, but a hint of anger had crept into his words. “If he says he’s a guy, he’s a guy. A person is always what they say they are, even if not who.”

“But…” Lonna’s eyes flicked back and forth between Talith and David, before finally coming to center on the confused and scared look in David’s eyes. “...Fine. If you say you’re a guy, you’re a guy,” she muttered, deciding to stare at the ground, instead. “But you’re still the heroine.”

“Lonna…” The anger was gone from Talith’s voice. Instead, the laspi sounded almost tired, for some reason. “Why would the heroine be called the heroine if she wasn’t a girl?”

“I don’t know! Maybe Sorissa misgendered her!” pointed to the circle that stood between herself and David. “All I know is, that spell was the heroine spell, and I cast it. So that means you are the heroine, Mister Avid, or whatever.”

“It’s… David, actually.” The brunette’s own voice was low, and uncertain. “But I’m not a heroine. Promise. I don’t even know how to fight. You’d be way better off just sending me home, and trying again.”

“...No way.” Lonna looked up into David’s eyes with a glower. “No. No way. This is a hero summoning spell, not a hero banishing spell, you know! I couldn’t send you back if I wanted to!”

“Wait. You can’t send me back home?” David was distantly aware that the expression on his face might be a funny one. His eyes were wide, his mouth was agape enough to catch passing flies. He couldn’t seem to stop making the expression, though, as his mind kept trying and failing to process the new information.

Realizing he’d been taken to another world had been so ridiculous, when compared to his former experiences, that it had nearly broken him. Realizing that he was never going to get back to his old world, however, was a far harder hit.

“What about a message?” he stepped closer to Lonna as he spoke, but she stepped back in turn. The expression on her face was almost afraid, but David didn’t have time to feel guilty about that. “Can we send a message out?” He tried to grab her by the shoulders as he spoke, but she ducked beneath his grasp and took another step back.

“I could maybe manage to send a letter…” the spry woman admitted. She was standing on one foot, now, using the other to rub against the back of her ankle. “I might even be able to send you back home, too. But that would require finding the right spell…”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Lonna.” Talith stepped forward as he spoke, coming up next to Lonna herself. “You’ve already stolen the poor guy from his home. If you can’t send him home, you should at least give him some tips for living in the new world, and send him on his way, so that we can get to thinking about what to do next.”

“Send me… On my way?” David whispered the words back, caught off guard.

The laspi turned his head to David, and gave a small nod. “Sorry, I’ve got my hands full taking care of this one. We can’t afford another mouth to feed; especially not a useless one. If you’re not the heroine, then-”

“I’m not useless, though!” David protested, suddenly desperate. “And don’t you think you have a little bit of responsibility toward me!? You dragged me into this world! If there’s not a way back-”

“There’s one way back.” Lonna was smiling, again, as she spoke.

“Hold on a second,” Talith warned, lifting up a single, thick, clay finger. “I don’t know what my sister has in mind, but I can promise you that it hasn’t been thought out. You’d be a lot safer just making your own way, from here -”

“I want to know how I can get back.” David was surprised by the certainty in his own voice. Perhaps it had something to do with his new, brawny, body, but he was willing to risk a little danger if it meant getting back home. “If Lonna knows a way-”

“It’s not that I know a way,” Lonna interrupted, smiling. “But I know where the way is. The Matriarch happens to keep an impressive library of spells; including the hero summoning spell, as it happens. Now, I didn’t have all the time in the world to peruse that library, what with her being alive, but if she was… less alive…? We could probably find a spell that would send you back home.” The redhead grinned, showing off a pair of sharp canines, but David only shuddered at the suggestion.

“I’m not killing anyone. Especially not without knowing the situation. Maybe if I go talk to the queen-”

“She’ll take your head off.” Talith spoke the words without inflection. “Lonna’s plan is stupid, and crazy, and you’re obviously not a killer. But if she even finds out about your existence, she’ll take your head off a minute later. For the last time, I’m telling you - your best bet is to go find a nice farmer, or whatever, get married, and start popping out kids. Live a nice, peaceful life.”

“...Kids?” At Talith’s words, David looked down at his own body. They’d been accepting him as a guy, so he’d almost forgotten, but… “I… My body is… This isn’t how I’m supposed to look. I was - I was smaller, and I was - I had a…” He blushed, faintly, not sure how to ask the question on his mind. Not willing to let it go, though, he eventually forced himself to met Talith’s quizzical stare and ask “How do I get my dick back?”

Both Talith, and Lonna, stared at him for a long moment. Eventually, the laspi said “Oh.”

Then Lonna tilted her head back to the sky, and just started to laugh. “Of course. Of course you don’t normally look like this. Why would you? You said you were a guy in your old world, right? Well, even if we can’t get you back, I know there’s some body changing spells in that library. Come with me, and you might actually get to have a dick again, one day.”

“Or you might die.” Talith glowered at Lonna, as he spoke. “He’s not the heroine, Lonna; he isn’t even a girl. He said he can’t use a weapon, either.”

“Then you’ll teach him,” was Lonna’s blithe response, patting Talith on the chest as she stepped towards David. “You say you don’t want to kill someone - but I’m betting you’ll change your mind after you’ve seen some of what Sorissa’s done to this place.

“For now - why don’t you come with us? We’ll give you a place to stay, keep your existence secret from the queen, and help you figure out what you want to do next. Not a bad deal, right?” Lonna grinned as she spoke, but there was no amusement in her eyes as she looked David up and down. The adoration, from earlier, was gone as well. All David could sense from the girl was determination. He didn’t think he had much choice about following her.

“...Alright…” he muttered, looking away. “I’ll go with you.”