C1. A Trip to the Library and the Trucks Therin

I awoke in what I assumed to be a small forest.

At least, that's what I thought at first.

The area was green and luscious but had small footpaths strategically placed throughout. As well, I could see enormous buildings in every direction. Could this be someone's garden? Wasn't it a bit big for that?

I stood up to get a better look around. There also seemed to be benches and ponds. Could someone really have a garden this big? Even the king’s garden was barely half this size.

"This has to be where the energy absorbed by the Black Hole ends up... but where is it?" I try casting the most basic Photomancy Spell, "Light flash" and a flash of light erupts from my hand. "Okay, my magic still works here, that's a good sign." However, the flash seemed to have attracted the attention of someone nearby.

"Miss, what was that just now?" A man wearing an indigo outfit, complete with a matching hat, approached me.

"Ah, sorry. Is this your garden? I seem to have wandered in."

"Garden? This is a park. Look, Comic-Con isn't until next month. I have enough trouble dealing with the drunks until then."

"Comic...con?" I didn't really get what he was saying.

"Alright, I'm sure you've had a few yourself. But that's no reason to be setting off fireworks on city property."

"A-are you insinuating I'm drunk?"

"Not at all, all I know is there's some girl in a costume was lighting fireworks in the city park. Now you can leave now with a warning, or I can take you down to the station."

"I suppose I'll have to take my leave then."

Are all the townsfolk here that rude?

I began to walk towards where the strange vehicles were moving down the road. It seems that I may be in a different world than my own. Somehow it looks like we can speak the same language, so that shouldn't cause any problems. However, I'll need to gather information on where I am.

The rudeness of the townsfolk continued. I was walking down the street, minding my own business, but they kept staring at me! Sure, I may walk more like an adventurer than how a Royal Magician should walk, but does that warrant staring this much?

“Hey, uh, miss?” A strange looking man approached me. He was a human with a large frame. “Hey, uh, you might want this if you are out during the day.” The man took off his jacket and handed it to me. It was a red jacket with a strange logo on the back.

“What? I-” but by the time I looked back up from the jacket, the man had already vanished. I looked the jacket over to examine the logo on the back. It had a picture of one of those strange vehicles that were on the road with the words “Carlton Shipping” written beneath it.

Why would I wear this? What did ‘Carlton Shipping’ mean?”

“Wait, did he want me to wear it?” I stared at it for a second before looking around at the crowd staring at me. Begrudgingly, I put it on before continuing forward. After a few moments, the stares seemed to be less frequent. I guess that guy was right… but still! The audacity of these people! Don’t they know it’s rude to stare? Don’t they know who I am?

Well, if I'm in a different world then I guess not.

Regardless, I am in luck, it seems our written language is also the same. I'm lucky that I ended up in such a convenient world, but it's probably best not to think about it too much.

Before too much longer, I arrived at the Library. Hopefully there, I would be able to discover the information I needed about this world.

I approached the counter at the library. An older-looking bespectacled lady looked up from her...thing she was staring at to look at me. "May I hel-" Her eyes seemed to stare at me for a moment as if judging me. Was my attire really that strange? "Comics are on the second floor to the left."

"No! That's not what I'm interested in. Do you have any books on photology or different dimensions?"

"Ah," She said slowly, "you're one of those." One of what??? "Our physics section is downstairs in the fourth aisle. Please be aware that we are closing in four hours. Do you have a library card?"

"That won't be necessary, I shall come back again tomorrow should I need more research."

I followed her instructions to the section she indicated. Indeed, there were many books of very helpful information about this world! It seems that on a fundamental level, it worked identically to my own. However, a lot more detail was put into understanding the smaller parts of the world.

In my world, many people used elemental magic for everyday needs. Higher-level stuff would require contracts with spirits, but producing small flames to light fires, or producing water to fill a cup were considered easy enough tasks for most people. Science was considered mostly unnecessary when we discovered the power of Photomancy from the 'Prophet of Light.' This power allows control of electromagnetic energy via the manipulation of photons. No one is entirely sure about the source of the power, but the fact that it still works for me in this alternate world means the influence of gods is unlikely. It didn’t require fruits of a skill tree to learn abilities either, meaning that anyone could learn Photomancy spells regardless of social class or economic status. One only needed the ability to perceive light. It was even capable of restoring sight to those who were blind, so they were not an exception either.

In this world, however, science seemed to be one of the main focuses of advancement and understanding the world. They managed to find particles so small that they made up other particles, and they even discovered methods of flight and reaching other planets using machina. That was unheard of in my world, even using magic. There was no reason that we needed to do such things, but in this world asking questions about every little thing seems to be what has allowed it to progress.

Reaching other planets was in the realm of lost magics… but I guess I ended up reaching another planet anyway.

My sister, Alima, would certainly find this world interesting... she is always obsessed with machina and saying how it will one day change the way we view the world. Even something as simple as those vehicles on the streets would probably make her endlessly happy. I think they were called cars? Or were they trucks? I'm still not sure yet.

After days of coming to the library, I finally amassed enough information to decide on my next task.

What about food you ask? Easy! The low-tier Photomancy spell, "Photosynthesis." It allows me to use sunlight to make food for my body, though my hair turns green when I use it. And the library has a free water source.

Where did I sleep you ask? On the roof of the library. Sure, it was a bit uncomfortable, but I don't have any of this world's money yet. I made sure to use a combination of "Solid Light" and "Invis" to make sure that I was not seen or disturbed at night.

However, even though I gained much knowledge of this world, I still didn't find a way to return to my own. Perhaps, if Ond survived, our powers clashing might be able to send me back... but I'm sure I would have felt his presence by now if that were the case. One possibility would be to travel to this "Large Hadron Collider" as it seems to operate on principles similar to Photomancy.

I then decided to search through the tales and fables of this world; perhaps I could find some idea of getting home from myths and legend. Even if they were fictitious, there might have been some bit of truth; some hints to my return. There were not many about traveling to other worlds and the ones that were seemed to be in very specific ways: falling down a rabbit's hole, crawling through a wardrobe, being summoned to become a hero, all things that were a bit too unlikely for me to just come across.

It was then I noticed a certain theme in one section of books as I read.

Many of them featured protagonists who, thanks to the gods, were Reincarnated in alternate worlds. The main catalyst for many of these was death, which might mean that these were all some postmortem delusions or purgatories. However, the way many of them died had an eerily common factor. They were killed and sent to another world after being hit with a "Truck."

This truck vehicle... that was the closest thing to a lead I had to go on, even if they were just fantasy books. Trucks were the key to traveling to other worlds! I'm not sure if it meant the smaller ones or the bigger ones either.

Well, it's a theory anyway. Now I just need to get my hands on one to test the results.