“His aura’s stable, and I see no further injuries, Lady Mercer, Lord Mercer. When he wakes, I advise a recovery potion and spirit coin; past that, there is no further need for me here, I shall take my leave.” The Healer priest clasped his hands together as he turned from the young man's body.

  It wasn’t the first time he’d consulted the family, and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last.

  “A donation for your trouble, and of course…” Beaufort said, handing a small pouch to the priest.

  “My discretion, " the priest replied with a courteous smile, tucking the payment into his sleeve, where it disappeared without a trace.

  Thalia nodded to the priest of the healer as he left and then glanced at her son lying in bed, his eyes peacefully shut. It reminded her of when he’d been younger, in easier days. She lightly brushed away the hair on his face, noting the new edge of gold.

  “We should find him new teammates,” Beaufort said, his tone devoid of any discernible emotion.

  “I’m not sure he would have returned so intact without Neil’s healing and Dustin carrying him. It could have been a much bigger spectacle.”

  “Well, they shouldn’t have brought him there in the first place.”

  “We both know they didn’t bring him there,” Thalia said bluntly.

  She’d only been away a few years, and while it benefited Cassandra, she sometimes questioned if she shouldn’t have brought Thadwick with her. But he hadn’t been old enough for essences then, and Beaufort had insisted on instructing him.

  That notion left within a year of Thalia and Cassandra’s departure.

  “Whatever you say, love,” Beaufort said, placing a small peck on his wife’s cheek, before turning away from her.

  “Leaving?”

  “The healer’s done, and there's business to attend. You've obligations as well, if I remember correctly.” Beaufort said, opening and holding the door. Thalia reluctantly nodded but glanced back at Thadwick.

  While the priest said his aura was intact, something still felt off. But then Neil had mentioned he’d seen Thadwick go through a racial evolution, which was odd, but the boy wasn't one to lie about such things.

  Thalia glanced at Thadwick's hair one more time, pulled an iron spirit coin from the air, and placed it beside a small recovery potion on a beautifully carved but unused desk.

  “Walk with me?” Thalia asked, striding past her husband out into the hall, the door shutting behind them.

  *Thwack*

  Thad’s head smacked against the desk, waking him up as he looked around, panicked from the sudden jolt, rubbing his forehead. There was a steady hum of commotion in the back pod of the ER, and an alarm was dinging from some far-off room.

  “Thad, you good man?”

  Thad looked up to see his work wife, Ash, leaning onto the nursing station beside him, transferring vitals she’d written on a paper towel to a code sheet.

  “I think so. I can’t believe I fell asleep like, there was this…When did I, what time is it?” he said, glancing around, his thoughts sluggish.

  “You know, I was surprised when you came in on your day off,” Ash said, writing the final time on the sheet, placing the pen down.

  “Didn’t realize it was you at first.”

  “Don’t remember coming in,” Thad said, standing up, the chair rolling away from him as he looked down at his smart watch, its face shiny and dark.

  “Well, it was certainly memorable for me. You couldn’t have pulled that little hero stunt closer to the south side?”

  The department fell silent.

  Thad’s head shot up, catching Ash’s gaze. She looked distraught in that stoic way people did after a bad code.

  “Ash,” Thad took a couple of steps forward, each step taking him further away from her. Tears started silently pouring down her cheeks as Thad watched her slump to the floor. He started running, but the world faded further into darkness until he was consumed with an angry yell.

  -Penalty Timer for [Unconscious] Complete-

  “Ash!”

  Thad sat up in a ludicrously plush bed, gasping for breath. His hand reached out, closing on empty air. His eyes searched the room, as his hand fell to the bed.

  He was alone.

  All alone.

  He didn't recognize the location, trying to remember where he had been before he had fallen unconscious.

  -Location available via Memory Bank-

  -Memory Bank is currently unavailable-

  Thad looked at the screen in front of him, which slowly faded out of view. The gravity of the situation starting to weigh on him.

  “I’m…”

  What was he, dead?

  His mind pictured Ash's tear-filled face.

  Just because he'd transmigrated didn’t mean he was entirely dead. Right? He could be in a coma. Where had the original Thadwick gone?

  Thad’s breathing picked up as he wrestled with his thoughts.

  He didn’t regret saving that kid, but, he still had things he had needed to do.

  Thad thought of his dog, Pretzel, waiting for him at home. Who would get her? Frustrated tears started to prick at the corner of his eyes.

  He would never see his friends again.

  He thought of his Ex, Marcus, finding out. They had just broken up two weeks ago. Would he care, would he cry? Would he take Pretzel?

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  He'd never get an apology from his family. Would they be at his funeral? A flash of anger went through him at the thought of his father trying to take over the ceremony.

  His hands tightened into fists.

  “Fuck.”

  Thad pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. His head rested against them as tears rolled down his cheeks.

  He was dead, and he was now trapped in the body of Thadwick, fucking, Mercer the most irredeemable character in the entire ‘He Who Fights With Monsters’ series, or at least the parts he had gotten to.

  He felt raw. He felt angry. He felt… his aura. It was fluctuating rapidly with his mood, lashing out and then retracting. What had now shocked him gave him a distraction.

  A moment with a clear head, testing the boundaries, feeling something so foreign but familiar.

  Thad took a shaky deep breath, blowing it slowly out, and glanced around the room.

  Mid-afternoon sun filtered through thick curtains into a room that subtly displayed wealth.

  Old money wealth.

  Beautifully carved furniture, such as a desk and a dark wood-decorated mirror, filled the room. The pieces shimmered, with small patterns shifting slowly around them, almost like dust motes catching in light. It was mesmerizing.

  It was magic.

  Thad looked down at the blanket wrapped around his knees. It had mending magic on it and a spell for temperature control. Knowing the spells surprised Thad, but it didn’t feel wrong. It was just so obvious.

  He looked over to the walls made of jade-colored marble, which Thad noted must be Greenstone. They also had spells, but they were much more complex, security magic. The greenstone kept the room cool, almost cold, unlike the hot air he had woken up in the first time, and Thad felt goose bumps appear on his arms.

  His arms… Thad looked down and only then noticed that he was completely unclothed, other than underwear.

  It hadn’t been the first time he had woken up in an unknown place, at an unknown time, with minimal clothing. But it frustrated him that it had not been because of a fun night.

  It had been, in fact, a miserable day.

  Thad wiped the tears from his face with his palms, taking another slow, deep breath, feeling more centered. He could feel his aura relaxing, like a mellow hum under his skin.

  Ok. He needed to take stock of the situation. He looked over at the mirror in the corner of the room and tossed off the covers, putting his feet onto the floor. He didn’t feel nearly as drunk as he had before unconsciousness, so he stood, swaying a little, but kept his footing.

  His height, weight, and build were just wrong, and he took several small steps to test his new center of gravity.

  Slowly, he shuffled his way over to the mirror, the dark wood carved expertly to look like birds in flight, their wings barely escaping the frame.

  So, this was Thadwick Mercer.

  Thad had to admit that his mental image of the character had not been too far off.

  He’d remembered only two descriptions from the series, both unfortunate.

  The first being Thadwick’s greasy hair, but it could’ve been greasier, as Jason Asano put it.

  It didn’t look greasy at all. He wondered if he had been doused in crystal wash before being placed in bed.

  Yeah, if a drunk guy with a TBI had been brought into the bay, I would’ve probably cleaned him up after an assessment as well, if I had the time. And the Mercers would most definitely have the people and resources to do that.

  The more striking difference he had not expected was Thadwick’s hair and eye color. They appeared to be dark brown edged with dusky gold, almost bronze, the eyes an even more intense golden brown than the hair, nearly as if Thadwick had been a Celestine instead of a Human.

  He turned a bit to the left and then to the right. He ruffled his hair, feeling a small scar running across the scalp above his left ear. He looked back in the mirror, watching his hair fall back into place.

  The young man before him was a few years younger than Thad. He had a deeper olive complexion and some muscle, proportioned more like a model, making him several inches taller and much thinner than Thad had ever been. He would also bet he weighed less now despite the height difference. However, he knew that magic changed the body's composition, so he wasn’t entirely sure of that assessment.

  He lightly touched his chest, noticing that none of his original scars or tattoos had made their way to this new body. He understood the tattoos, but a complex feeling hit him as he lightly touched where his scars should have been. Had they not been soul scar worthy?

  He felt a twinge of identity crisis start to form, and he squashed it down. He couldn't handle another breakdown today.

  Now was not the time.

  Refocusing, he grimaced and touched his bicep in the mirror.

  He’d not been a professional athlete by any means, but he’d been an avid rock climber, and that progress, along with his calluses, was lost on this body. However, his core was still strong, which gave him some relief.

  Thad paused and looked down further from his abs at what constituted underwear in this world. Similar to compression shorts, Thad lightly touched the side of the dark green garment, noticing the magic interwoven masterfully. It was beautiful, even if it was just underwear. He could have stared for hours, but on a mission, he lightly pulled at the band and glanced down.

  “Nothing crazy, but I’ll take it,” Thad murmured, relieved that the second thing he knew about Thadwick's appearance seemed more based on self-perceived inadequacy than fact.

  Thad glanced back at the mirror, lifted his hand to his face, and lightly rubbed his jawline as he leaned forward.

  You know what, He was handsome, in a Playboy sort of way. Not his type, but it was something. He flashed himself a confident grin before staring at the stranger before him and lightly murmuring.

  “What the hell am I doing?”

  Thad had never considered himself unattractive but knew he was not conventionally handsome. One of the many reasons he had gotten into the outdoors was to lean more into his rugged aesthetic. And now he looked like he couldn’t last a day in the wild.

  But then Thadwick didn’t really need to rely on physical abilities to make his way in this world.

  Thad moved his hands before him and watched electricity crackle over his fingertips and palms. A stupid grin spread across his face as he felt the power coursing through him, ready to be unleashed.

  Forget the strangeness, forget the character.

  He had Magic.

  It felt so perfect, so easy. The power was intoxicating, but also wild and dangerous. This is what it meant when Jason Asano called magic addictive.

  Lightning, Potent, Wind, and Storm.

  “I’m a freakin X-MAN!” Thad giggled manically to himself, making dumb superhero poses.

  “To Me, my X-Men!” he said, laughing, before stopping out of embarrassment as he caught his reflection in the mirror.

  The stranger went from giddy to severe, closing his hands into a fist, causing the power to cease.

  Thad stood there, just staring at himself for a while.

  This was insane. Maybe he wasn’t dead, perhaps he was having his first break with reality. It tended to happen in the early twenties, though he was past that point age-wise… though not with this body. His body.

  “Damn, I’m really him.”

  -Congratulations! You have marked Task List [Accept Reality] complete and now have access to the help desk and memory bank. -

  The little paper clip appeared and swayed in a happy little dance before jumping up and disappearing into a poof of smoke and confetti.

  Thad grimaced at his outworlder ability.

  So instead of video game logic, I get Windows 98. Perfect.

  Thad tentatively tried to access the system and was relieved when the paperclip didn’t reappear.

  - [Help Desk]: Power Toggle, Task Map, System Settings. -

  - [Memory Bank]: Information Data Sheet, Gallery, Training Videos-

  Thad looked at the manila files floating in front of him. He was happy to see that, like magic, he had an innate feel for the filing system and opened the information data sheet file.

  - [Information Data Sheet]: Thadwick Mercer, Family, Enemies, Servants, Locations, Abilities. -

  Thad grimaced, realizing there was no Friend file, noting that Dustin and Neil had been filed away in Servants.

  What a little jerk.

  Thad quickly added a Friends file and shifted Dustin and Neil to it.

  The Enemies file was properly big, with a singular red file instead of the usual Manila reading Jason Asano.

  Okay, so Thadwick and Jason had already met then.

  Unfortunate.

  Thad had hoped to meet the main character with a fresh slate, but apparently, that was asking the universe too much.

  The magical paperclip appeared.

  - It looks like you want to question the Great Astral Beings. Do you want me to place a work order request with the Great Astral Beings? -

  “That’s even an option?”

  - The Great Astral Beings may not directly read your work order request. Trying to coordinate assistance may bring direct observation from the Great Astral Beings. Your soul does not have the fortitude to withstand observation. Proceed at your own risk. Answers will appear within three to five business days. -

  Thad closed the work order request immediately.

  “Absolutely not!”

  Well, if he already knew Jason, and Thadwick still had Neil and Dustin following him around, that must mean that this was before the end of book one.

  Before the events in the Astral Space.

  Thad broke into a cold sweat.

  The Astral Space, The Builder, Star Seeds.

  Shit!

  He needed to, under no uncertain terms, figure out how to avoid that future at all costs.

  -A new task list has been assigned [Foil the Builder]. Once the task is marked completed, the User will gain access to [Redacted]. –

  -A new sub-task list has been assigned for [Foil the Builder], subtask [Enemy of my Enemy] (Meet Jason Asano). Once the task is marked completed, the User will gain access to [Widgets]. -

  Still going to be slowly uploading the other chapters till I catch up to what I have on , so stay tuned.

  fanart I created that led me to writing this fanfiction in the first place.