Chapter Text
1
Rosie Parker flinched as yet another piece of wire was threaded through the cut on her forehead. Rosie had never received stitches before as her previous lifestyle had never injured her enough to warrant them. As the wire was pulled through, Rosie twitched again and slight squealing sounds escaped from her in pain.
"Stop whining like that, I've done this to children who squealed less than you," the woman said as she began threading the wire through Rosie's skin again.
"It hurts though…" Rosie didn't know what else to say, she thought that it was best just to let the woman get on with her job of stitching up her wound.
"Ok, go from the beginning," the woman began, breaking the awkward silence.
"The beginning of what?"
"Your story, why are you here? Why were you so desperate for a job from me and perhaps most importantly, who you even are? Who you really are?" Rosie smiled. Recounting her story up to now would be a welcomed distraction from the pain so Rosie gathered her thoughts and began to retell her tale.
"Ok then… it starts in a strange place though,"
"Oh really?" Rosie could hear the scepticism in the woman's voice.
"What? You're not expecting a decent story from me?"
"Oh no, I'm expecting the best, so go on… How strange a place does it start?" Rosie smiled again.
"Strange as it might sound, it actually starts in another world."
2
“I think you’re lying to yourself,”
“Well you’ve not seen it through my eyes.” The car sped through the night. Trees passing by in a flash, occasional lights from nearby houses quickly disappearing into the darkness a mere moment after first being seen.
“Do you really think that you’re so second rate Rosie?” She didn’t speak. “Exactly, that’s ‘cause it’s a lie.”
“Well how would you know?”
“I did college, I did university as well, all of it and it was a hell of a time too.” The car sped on. “What do you want Rosie? Really? Do you want to be seen? Heard? Do you want to be popular?”
“I already messed this one up.” Rosie spoke.
“What do you mean?”
“This life!” The thought crept into Rosie’s head again. The same thought that had plagued her so many times before. A want, a desire. As she clenched her eyes shut, she spoke,
“I think I’ll just leave. That’s what I really want. To start again somewhere else” At that moment, the realisation of what she had just said shot through her like a bolt of lightning. She could see the yellow strike pass her eyes and at that sight she opened her eyes immediately and took a look at her new surroundings. She no longer felt the car seat belt wrapped around her waist and she saw that she was no longer in a car seat at all, she wasn’t even in a car.
Rosie looked around and she saw a train, the walls were made of dark wood and the seats were all coated with a fine green velvet, the softest she had ever felt. The windows were dark, she couldn’t tell if it was night outside or if she was in a tunnel. The train was clearly expensive and upper class. The seats were tall and Rosie couldn’t see over them so she had to stand to get a look at the rest of the train carriage. There were no people in the train car aside from a man of a similar age to Rosie sat at the opposite corner of the train car reading a newspaper. He was dressed in a simple black suit and despite his young appearance, he gave off a sense of authority and knowledge. A look of tranquillity plastered over his peaceful smile as he brushed his dark, black fringe out of his eyes to get a better look at his newspaper. Rosie began walking, slowly towards the man who continued to read his newspaper until she was right in front of him when he finally lowered the pages. Rosie was worried that he might be unwelcoming considering the class of the train he was in and how she was dressed, a simple shirt, hoodie and skirt combo, her shoes weren’t all that fancy either, just a simple pair of trainers picked for comfort and manoeuvrability over fashion. However, the man smiled and spoke first,
“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was here, I thought I had the whole car to myself. Were my ramblings bothering you?” The man was polite, he smiled and Rosie could tell that it was genuine. Despite her usual social awkwardness, she felt no discomfort in speaking to this man so she just began to talk,
“No… It’s alright…” Her confidence didn’t last long as an awkward silence followed in part due to Rosie not knowing what to say but also due to her confusion at her current situation.
“So can I do anything for you?” The man asked, Rosie thought he was trying to put her at ease which she appreciated,
“I don’t want to be a bother but…” She still didn’t know what to say without sounding mad.
“Here, sit down, I've got an empty seat, in fact I've got a whole train car,” as the man gestured towards the fine green velvet seat next to him and then to the rest of the train.
“Uh, thanks.” Rosie sat and felt the velvet against her legs, the same soft delight as before. “I was just wondering if you could tell me where I am right now?” Rosie finally said it and the man looked at her with the same look of confusion that she had expected.
“I mean… It’s a train… That’s about as detailed an answer I can give you, the whole point of trains is that they don’t stay in the same place for long.” The man’s response made a baffling amount of sense which immediately embarrassed Rosie, she should’ve asked a better question. As she could feel the warmth in her face building up, she distracted herself with another question before the blush came into full form.
“So where is this train going?” Again with the confused look,
“You got on it, shouldn’t you know?”
“Humour me,”
“Well this train is going to the greatest city in the world, my home, Winchley…” Rosie had no clue of the city he just named, “You don’t know it? It’s quite famous, look, we’re about to leave the tunnel, you should be able to see it.” The man pointed at the window where a strange light was now building up as the train neared the end of the tunnel. There was a flash as the train shot out of the tunnel and Rosie’s eyes had to adjust to the new light but as they did, her eyes did not disappoint.
Rosie saw a mountain range, higher than any mountains she had ever seen before, piercing the few clouds around them pointing calmly yet majestically in the clear blue sky. The sun was shining, the mountain range formed a valley and Rosie realised that the train track itself was running on one of these mountains, heading on a clear path towards the large city that lay in the centre of the valley. The city was more majestic than anything Rosie had ever seen before, it was built on a small hill, buildings increasing in size and quality as the ground rose up until the buildings at the top were akin to castles and cathedrals. Rosie couldn’t believe her eyes. The sun reflecting on each individual building reflected the rich library of colours and shapes into Rosie's eyes. Some buildings were simple houses and shops, others were like large concert halls, all arranged around each other in perfect precision to leave small buildings in rows of streets and large districts of halls and palace-like hotels.
"You're from here!?" Rosie said, unable to peel her eyes away from the view.
"Greatest city in the world." The man was proud of his answer, not in a smug way but a manor of genuine pride as to be from this fine city. "Why are you visiting? Almost everyone has heard of Winchley and you've clearly never seen it before… Makes me wonder why you'd get on a train and go there if you've never heard of it?" The man was clearly questioning Rosie's actions but she did not know the rules of this world that she now found herself in. It hadn’t taken Rosie long to figure out that she was not in her own world. How she ended up where she did was still a complete mystery and she had no clue if magic and world hopping were commonplace within this realm. If she told the man the truth he would probably think of her as insane, perhaps mention of such concepts was even prohibited. Rosie had often wondered about being transported to another world. The scenario had played in her head time and time again and each time she wondered, her one hope was that her new world would treat her well, she wouldn't be oppressed for who she was or what she believed or where she came from (in this case, another world entirely).
"This is not something I can tell you on account of the fact that I don't really know." Rosie chose to answer honestly.
"You don't know?" The man was confused, "you don't even remember getting on the train?"
"Nope, I blinked and suddenly, I was here," Rosie's fears were gone, the man seemed nice enough, she wasn't going to tell him the whole story but she didn't want to lie either. Rosie awaited his response.
"Interesting… I know lots of forms of magic but nothing quite like that." So there is magic in this world, sounds like it's common too. "I wonder what your magic type is?" Rosie was confused again now.
"Magic type?" She asked, now looking at the man as she had finally torn her eyes away from the view of the city, growing in size.
"Oh come on? You have to know about that, everyone knows their magic type, that's taught in nursery school." Rosie still didn't understand.
"Nope, I don't know about any 'magic types' but it's good to know that magic exists here…" The man was now beyond confused but at the same time intrigued.
"You're fascinating, you know that?"
"That is a new compliment. People usually tell me that I’m completely ordinary… Maybe I could make a name for myself here! Do you know any jobs going in the city?"
"Well um…" Rosie realised that she'd never actually introduced herself to the man, she'd just walked up and started talking.
"Oh! Uh, Rosie, Rosie Parker," as she held out her hand to shake,
"Jules Montague," the man smiled and took her hand in a firm grip and shook it, "I've not been home in a long time so I can't tell you of anything specific but the town hall at the top of the city will have some offers, there's always a job advert or something there. If there's any offers, I'd recommend the inn."
"The inn?" Rosie was intrigued, she'd always wanted to work in a hotel of some sort. She had no idea if she'd be any good at it but the idea has always pleased her
"Cloudridge Inn, it's on one of the mountains, the woman who runs it runs it all by herself with occasional help. Her daughter's about my age and by the looks of it, your age so you could probably help her out as well. It's the finest place I've ever stayed, sometimes I'd go there instead of staying in my house."
"You say you've not been home to this city in years, right?"
"Yes."
"So by extension, you've not been to this hotel in years, yes?"
"Correct."
"And you say that we're a similar age which is, in my case, seventeen, you?"
"Also seventeen, yes"
"So you were making trips to this hotel and by the sound of things, living by yourself at fourteen years old?"
"Thirteen years old." Rosie had no words, "do you have a problem with that?"
"Not even slightly, my mum was still driving me to school every day when I was thirteen." Was independence on this level common in this world? It couldn’t be, Jules had just said that the daughter of the innkeeper was living with her mother when he last stayed there. “Are you proud of that?” Rosie decided to test Jules to see if living alone at that age was common.
“Of course. Most people that age don’t live alone, I was… Well I don’t have time to get into it.”
“Are you sure? I won’t lie, I’m interested,”
“And I’d be happy to tell you but…” The man gestured towards the window and it was then that Rosie realised that the train had come to a complete stop in the station. The steam venting from underneath the wheels and rising into the air through the window.
“Oh… This is where we get off?”
“Correct,” as the man stood and retrieved his bag from above his seat. As he placed the large suitcase on the floor, Rosie also stood, not really knowing what to do next. She planned to check the town hall for jobs but first she planned to explore. She had no idea when she might be returning home, she had no idea if she even could. Rosie being the sort of person she was (a shut-in) she had watched and read a lot of anime and light novels which told stories similar to the situation she now found herself in. At that moment, Rosie realised that there was every chance that this was her new life. Was that a problem for her? She didn’t know, she hadn’t become acquainted with this new world but to Rosie, there was no time like the present. She walked through the train carriage, towards the door with Jules keeping behind her rolling his suitcase along the floor. Rosie walked through the small door and down onto the platform where Jules arrived next to her. “The exit’s this way,” as he started walking towards the exit of the train station. The train station was a large building and appeared a lot cleaner and tidier than any train station Rosie had visited in her own world. Everything was neatly placed, benches lining the walls and various types of people waiting for trains. Most the people were dressed in one of two types of clothing, one of which resembled the more classic type of fantasy world, fantasy tunics made of simple materials, and others were wearing suits similar to what Jules was wearing, the sort of thing people would commonly be wearing about a hundred years prior in Rosie’s world. There were a few exceptions, people dressed in more extravagant outfits that Rosie did not expect to see in her own world or anyone else's. Jules led Rosie to the exit which was not a long walk. For such a large station there was surprisingly little to do, only four platforms and Rosie was already at the one closest to the exit.
When Rosie stepped out of the train station and down the few steps which led from the door, she was met with an incredible sight. Rows of buildings, teeming with colour and life, begging to be explored. Rosie stepped onto the cobblestone path and admired the tall buildings around her. She saw fountains, shops, houses, and a small park which Rosie was dying to explore. Before she began on her way, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Rosie turned to see Jules’ friendly face looking back at her.
“You are interesting Rosie Parker,” he began, “and as much as I’d like to continue our discussion, I have places to be so this is where I must leave you. Before I go however, I want to give you this.” Jules pulled out a small piece of neatly folded paper out of his pocket and handed it to Rosie.
“What’s this?”
“A map of Winchley.” Rosie unfolded the paper and saw four concentric circles, each smaller and inside the last. “The city is split into four main districts, the town hall is that big building in the centre.” Jules pointed and sure enough, there was a large building in the centre of the city. “Do you have any money?” Rosie wondered that herself. She fiddled about in her hoodie’s pocket and pulled out a few loose pound coins then held them up for the man to see.
“Is this money?” The man was puzzled as to what sort of coin Rosie was showing him and his face showed this. “I’ll take that as a no,” as Rosie placed the coins back into her pocket.
“You won’t be able to get any transport then so you’ll have to walk. It’s really not as far as it looks.” The city was very large, Rosie suspected that it was in fact as far as it looked. “My advice would be to find a job and see if you can find one that comes with accommodation. If you can’t then see if your new boss is willing to let you have some early pay which I honestly think is doubtful but you might have to try. You could try to stay at Cloudridge but I’d recommend one of the cheaper hotels in the city for your first few nights until you’re on your feet.” Jules’ advice made sense and was very helpful for Rosie who hadn’t the faintest idea of where to begin. “There’s not much more I can do for you so I hope what little I’ve done has helped.” The man was modest!
“You’ve done more than I ever could’ve asked! Thank you!”
“Ha ha! It’s my pleasure, I hope we meet again soon. Good luck Rosie,” and with that, Jules walked away, his suitcase trailing behind him. Rosie was on her own. She looked up and around at the crowds of people filling the streets and surrounding the buildings. Some people were shopping and trading various items, others were simply in groups talking. There were couples who looked to be on romantic dates and some people who found peace in solitude, reading a book by the fountain or simply walking the streets alone. Either way, Rosie took a deep breath and smiled, staring deep into the city where her new life was about to begin. Then, she took one step forward, towards one of the bustling streets and in doing so, took the first step into her new life in another world.