It’s remarkable, truly remarkable, how you can live in Shaman your entire life and it still surprises you. Even the most seasoned Shamanite can still encounter something that completely knocks them off their feet and shakes them to their core. This world wakes you from your sleep and settles you into a waking dream or a nightmare. This morning is no exception.

My hand moves to rub the back of my stiff neck as I lift my head from the large desk. I roll my shoulders back, trying to work out the kinks and knots that have found a home there. ”Ugh...” The unfamiliar sounding groan slips past my lips before I can stop it, but I wave it off due to my groggy state. Rubbing tired eyes, I gaze down at my resting place, taking in the large ornate desk that is covered in neat and meticulous stacks of papers and books. This is my first clue that I have found myself the subject of another round of Shaman’s surprises.

This desk is not mine and I have a sneaking suspicion that the place in which it resides is not mine as well. My eyes peer up from the desk and are immediately assailed by bright white walls and brilliant gold accents that are placed in a meticulously designed fashion (although it is quite over the top). This is rather....

...Interesting. The word bounces around the walls of my mind, causing me to turn too quickly in the large chair, falling to the floor in an ungrateful feat. ”Shit.” I mutter as I collect myself from the floor. I barely have time to register the fact that the voice is not mine, nor the attire I find myself in, when a knock at the door disrupts me.

”M-Ma’at-inety?” The voice holds the slightest waver of hesitation. Is everything alright? I have the drink you requested.”

My eyes roam around as I search for whoever it is she could be talking to. That epitaph seems familiar in a way, but truly the only ones who were deserving of such titles were the...Original Fairies? My gaze swings wildly now as it searches for an Original somewhere lurking amongst the ornate room. A slight hum plays in the back of my mind, but I push it away as I try and put the pieces together. I’m in an unknown home of an unknown original in unknown clothes with...unknown hands?

My eyes fall over the manicured hands, clenching and opening them as I peer over the soft lines of the palms. My hands had never been so smooth and polished, instead they were calloused and rough. What the....?

Another knock interrupts me, followed by someone clearing their throat. ”Ma’at-inety, I will leave it outside the door for you.”

The sounds of retreating footsteps is the only thing that breaks the silence as the pieces fall into place. Ma’at-inety was an epitaph that belonged to only one of the Originals, a fairy that brought fear into the hearts of most in Shaman nowadays.

”Gwythr...”
Gwythr!

It is the same voice that speaks the word, although one rattles within my mind while the other is said aloud. No. This can’t be possible.

I practically run across the room when my eyes catch the reflective glint of a mirror. I find myself in front of the large mirror framed in intricate hand carved designs interlaced with gold. Slowly, I lift a hand, running it through the distinguished gray hair, passing it over the hawklike nose and stern features of the face. Watery blue eyes stare back at my breath catches in my throat, heart fumbling to catch itself back up.

I am staring into the reflection of Shaman’s greatest villain, a reflection that should be my own. Glancing down at the business casual attire, I take a deep breath and try to sort out my thoughts. I had only heard rumors of this kind of thing happening before in our history. Omni was known to cause many things and it had been passed on for centuries that sometimes a simple fairy would find themselves inhabiting the body of an ORIGINAL. These borrowed hands begin to shake and I shove them down into the pant pockets.

Of all the originals I could have shared a body with, it had to be the one I hated the most. The man who had brought such devastation and hurt to people’s lives, the one who had caused fear and pain, the one who...

has all the power you could ever want just beneath his fingertips?

An involuntary shiver runs down my spine as his voice pricks at the edges of my mind.

”I think you mean a man who’s lust for power and recognition refuses to let anything in his way.” My words have a taste of hatred as I practically spit them out into the empty room.

It is not lust that drives me. It is a desire to have order within the world. A desire to make sure things properly stay in their place.

Blue eyes narrow in the mirror. “What you mean to say is that you will do anything to fulfill your ‘righteous’ beliefs, no matter how demented and twisted they are.”

You judge me so harshly when all I want is to save my people. I have to save the pure and original line. Is there not someone you would do anything to save? As long as the end justifies the means, does it truly matter how you go about saving that which you love?

As soon as he speaks, images of Key flash through my mind. I find myself standing at an odd crossroads. I’m talking to one of the most hated beings in all of shaman, but I didn’t expect his words to sound so...logical.