Fight. Level. Survive.

In the early days of the Kingdom of Theyna, a man named Alric lived a simple life as a farmer in the countryside. One morning, Alric woke up to find something was not quite right. His body felt different as if it had been stretched and contorted in ways that it had never been before.

As Alric looked down at himself, he realised he had been changed into a woman overnight. His once muscular arms and broad chest were now slender and soft, and his face had taken on a more delicate and feminine appearance. He tried to cry out in shock and confusion, but his voice came out as a high-pitched squeal that he didn't recognise.

Over the coming days and weeks, Alric struggled to come to terms with his new body and identity. He found that his thoughts and feelings had also shifted, and he began to see the world differently. Some of his friends and neighbours were supportive, while others were suspicious or outright hostile.

Despite the challenges, Alric resolved to continue living his life as best he could. As he adapted to his new form and began to explore the possibilities of womanhood, he discovered a newfound sense of freedom and empowerment that he had never experienced before. And though he would always remember his old life as a man, he knew he could never return to it.

- Excerpt from 'The ACT Diaries', Chapter 14

Chapter 24 - Mayry

It had been two days since she had been taken.

She had been watching Mason leave, trying to sort out her feelings for him. Deep in thought, she hadn’t noticed when someone approached her from behind.

She felt a hand grab her shoulder. One moment she was standing outside in the street; the next, she was standing in what she recognised as Masons Inn Room. A wave of dizziness hit her, so she sat on the bed she had materialised next to.

She looked around the room, expecting to see Mason smirking, ready to brag to her about the newest ability he had somehow gained in the 30 seconds he had been out of her sight.

Instead, she saw a man sitting in a chair near the window. His face had a stern expression, and his gaze was fixed on her. She didn't recognise him, but something about him made her uneasy.

"Who are you?" she demanded, trying to hide her fear. She held an arm toward him, intending to summon a fireball as a warning. Nothing happened.

Her eyes widened. This had never happened to her before; abilities that affected other abilities were ridiculously rare.

The man didn't answer her question but spoke in a low, intimidating voice. “That isn’t going to work here.” He smiled condescendingly, “Don’t worry, you’re safe. For now. Tell me, What do you know about Mason's abilities?"

She hesitated for a moment, thinking. She answered truthfully, “He has an energy blast attack and a storage power.” Mayry didn’t consider this a breach of trust, as anyone at the Basilisk fight could have told him as much.

The man leaned forward, his eyes narrowed. “What else?"

Mayry took a deep breath, feeling a sense of unease wash over her. She wasn't sure who Mason could have pissed off, but she knew she wasn’t about to reveal everything she knew about him. "That's all I know," she said firmly.

The man raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing her. "You expect me to believe that?" he said with a sneer. “No matter, he can tell us himself. You will leave him a note telling him to meet you at the windmill outside of town.”

Having had quite enough of being told what to do, she stood unsheathing a knife she always kept at her side. Before she took a single step, the man twitched a finger in her direction. Her knife was wrenched out of her hand and was held against her throat by an invisible force.

“Tut tut tut,” wagging a finger at her, he said. ”If this were Ganehfrel, I’d have already killed you,” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, ”but here, there are rules we must follow.”

Mayry felt a shiver run down her spine hearing the word Ganehfrel. “Other…” she whispered, instantly far more wary of the man. She took a step back, wondering just how fucked she was.

His face turned to a scowl, “Ugh, I have always hated that you people call us that. It sounds so dull.”

The dizziness overwhelmed her, and she fell back onto the bed. "What did you do to me?" she demanded, feeling a sense of panic rising in her chest.

“Write the note. Now.”

She found herself doing just that. There was a piece of paper and a pencil on the table beside the bed, It was as if she had already been planning on writing the note, and the man’s order had simply reminded her. She had enough presence of mind to control what she wrote, so she had left a coded warning even Mason could break.

“Good. Now, shall we? You were to meet with him in two days, right?”

Whatever effect he had over her was still working, so she just nodded.

“Perfect, you’ll be staying with us until then.”

Breaking out of her stupor, she looked at him, considering whether she should even attempt to make a break for it.

“Don’t worry,” he continued, seeing her glance at the open window. “you won’t be harmed.” He approached her, and she flinched back. He reached out an arm and took hold of her wrist. “If you don’t fight it, the teleportation is far less unpleasant.

Mayry tried to pull away, but his grip was too tight. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the sensation of being transported. When she opened them again, she stood in a dimly lit room that looked like a prison cell. There was a narrow bed in one corner and a small table and chair in another. The room had one large thick wooden door.

The man pushed her toward the bed. “We have no more use for you, so stay here and be quiet.”

Mayry glared at him, feeling a mix of fear and anger. "Who are you?" she demanded again.

He gave her a smirk. "You can call me Aiden.”

With that, he left the room, closing the door behind him. Mayry sat down on the bed, feeling trapped and helpless. She didn't know where she was or what Aiden was going to do with her, but she knew she had to find a way out.

She examined the room, looking for anything she could use to escape. The window was too high to reach, and the door was solid wood and seemed to be locked from the outside. She tried using her abilities, but same as before, they didn't work.

After checking every nook and cranny of the room, she sat on the bed and wondered what Mason was doing.

Over the next two days, she heard Aiden arguing with a woman named Gael. She only heard snippets, but from what she could piece together, they had only come to this world recently, putting to bed the idea that the ‘Others’ were people who came here hundreds of years ago. They mentioned ‘levels’ and ‘stats’, which led her to believe that they got more powerful, the same way Mason did.

The most intriguing information she gleaned was that there were 12 pairs of people like them, all from different worlds. They were all here for something called the ‘Trial’, though she couldn’t figure out what that was.

In her time as their captive, she had tried escaping three times. The first time, she had tried to body tackle the woman Gael when she had brought her food. The attempt did not go well. The woman was a brick wall that Mayry bounced right off. She did not eat that night.

The second time she had waited until Aiden was alone in the room with her and tried to seduce him, but he had looked disgusted and the very idea of seeing her with fewer clothes on. She had to admit that one had stung a bit.

The two days passed, and Mayry was getting worried that Mason wasn’t going to turn up. Her father would be getting worried by now, and he tended to overreact to the small things, so his daughter going missing would probably prompt him to hunt down whoever saw her last. Unfortunately, that happened to be Mason.

She had heard them talking about going to town themselves and ripping the place apart until they found him. Overhearing this prompted her to do something stupid. Mason-level stupid.

Over the past two and a half days, she had been pushing her Family Magic harder and harder, trying to force something out. That morning she had managed to create the tiniest of sparks. She had been disappointed at the amount of energy and concentration it had taken to create the small spark, but she had done it. Her final escape plan was to wait for the two of them to leave. Use the spark she could create to set fire to the inside of her pillow, use that to spread the fire to the chair and table finally, use that fire to weaken the wooden door enough for her to break through it.

It was a shit plan all in all, but she had gotten sick of being stuck in the same cramped room.

She started the fire and managed to get all the way to setting the door on fire. The wood was thick, and she could only bear the smoke for so long. She waited as long as she could and then started slamming herself against the door, only really managing to hurt her shoulder and burn herself.

She choked on the smoke, collapsing onto the floor. Just before she passed out, she heard footsteps.

She jerked awake as the door was thrown off of its hinges. He looked like he had recently been in a fight with a demon. He was bruised all over and covered in blood, but it was Mason.

In his current state, it took great effort, but he managed to pick her up and carry her outside. It appeared that she had been in the cellar of the farmhouse next to the old windmill. Once they were both out, Mason dropped Mayry a bit too unceremoniously, but she didn’t blame him as he collapsed to the floor next to her moments later. He handed her a health potion, she drank it, and she felt her shoulder and her burns heal almost immediately. Why hadn’t he taken one? She looked at him to ask but saw he had passed out.

She sighed and started to carry him back to town. Again.