I sat up with a moan, my head pounding. It felt like I had a freakin' hangover. You do.
"Hey, who sa-" I began, but stopped when I heard my voice. Something was wrong with it. It was slightly too high pitched, and didn't sound right. There was the sound of someone knocking on metal. I turned to look over at them, and blonde hair fell across my eyes and over my shoulders. "What the hell?" I muttered to myself. The person at the door looked like a picture of Zues that I'd once seen. Ignoring him for the moment, I looked myself over. All of my findings could be put into one sentence. I was a girl.
"And I believe that I could explain that." The man said. I looked back over at him, and realized something else. I wasn't wearing much. I grabbed the sheets, and covered myself with them. "Don't worry, it's not like I haven't seen it all before." The man told me.
"Who are you, where am I, and why am I girl?" I asked him.
"Me? I'm simply the Greek god, Zues. As to where you are, and why you're a girl, you're in another dimension." He replied.
"Wait, what did you say? You're Zues, and I'm in another dimension?" I asked incredulously. He nodded. I shook my head in disbelief. "I don't believe it. I refuse to believe it." I muttered.
"Whether or not you believe it, it's real. And your only ticket out of here is to destroy a small black crystal. Of course that will only bring you to the next dimension where you have to do it all over again." The man replied.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked.
"Well, we made a mistake. And we can't fix it ourselves, so we enlisted the help of a mortal, you." The man replied. For some reason, that story didn't set right with me.
"Whatever. Are you going to be watching me the entire time?" I asked.
"No, I actually have to leave now." He replied, suddenly disappearing. I blinked in surprise but shook it off. I finally took a good look at the room I was in. It wasn't exceptionally big. It had a desk in one corner, the small bed in another, and a rack of clothes in the one by the foot of the bed with a mirror on the wall. There was also a bathrobe on the foot of the bed, as though it had been left there the previous day. I quickly debated in my head as to whether or not to take a shower with my new body. I decided against it. I wasn't quite ready for that yet. I got up off the bed, and stretched. I looked at myself in the mirror. Looking back at me was a sixteen year old girl with blue eyes, blonde hair, and soft features. Her face was almost ethereal, and her figure was above average. I actually found her attractive, but in this body it didn't evoke much of a response. I noticed that on my right shoulder there was some Japanese writing. If I read it correctly, it said something about darkness and power. I brushed a few strands of hair out of my eyes, and noticed some folded clothes on the desk with a picture and a note on top. The picture was one of my current self and a man with red hair. I assumed he was my 'father'. I picked the note up, and quickly read it.
"Dear Lana, hope you're feeling better this morning. If you're feeling up to it, come on down to the lab.
"The lab? I don't even know where I am, let alone where the lab is." I muttered to my self. I picked up the clothes, which were still in their packaging. They were labeled as nonflammable protective wear for use in labs. I opened them up, and pulled them out. They were made of a strange, white, leather like material. I pulled the pants on, and then picked up the shirt and pulled that on. The pants were basically normal pants and the shirt was just a long sleeved shirt. Nothing fancy. I grabbed the pair of shoes on the floor, and put them on. I briefly wondered how I'd get to the lab, but I'd figure it out as I went along. I turned to leave the room, and instinctively punched a number into the keypad by the door. I blinked, trying to think of where the combination had come from. I was jarred out of my thoughts as the door hissed open. I stepped out into the hall, and noticed that there were arrows on the walls telling where they led. Almost like a hospital or military base, or something. I made my way through the halls, meeting a few people along the way. Some of the people greeted me, but I didn't have a clue as to who they were. I eventually found myself in front of a door labeled 'Lab'. Two guards were standing in front of it, casually talking. One of them noticed me.
"Oh, hi Lana." He said.
"Hi Ruska." I replied, the name just floating into my head.
"What're you doing here instead of in class?" Ruska asked.
"My dad asked me to come see him as soon as I was up." I told him. He cocked an eyebrow questioningly.
"This isn't another attempt to sneak into the lab, is it?" He asked. The other guard was busy talking into his radio.
"No. He actually asked for me to come here." I replied.
"She's telling the truth. We're to let her through." The other guard told Ruska.
"Alright." Ruska replied, punching a combination into a keypad. The door hissed, and slid out of the way. I nervously stepped into the lab, looking around in awe. All around me were various computer terminals. I didn't take any notice as the door slid shut behind me.
"Lana! You're finally here!" A voice said. I looked in the direction it had come from. My 'father' was walking towards me in a lab coat.
"Hi Dad. What did you want to see me for?" I asked him.
"Listen, Lana. You can't tell anyone what you see and hear here." My father said. I nodded. "Good. Now come with me." He said. I followed him through a maze of corridors, and we passed by another pair of guards. We rounded another corner, and I stopped at what I saw. Contained in a pair of holding cells were two Zerglings. Don't be so surprised. This dimension is more or less the same as your dimension's Starcraft game. For a moment, I just stood there. "Surprised, eh? We caught these two in the kitchen a few months ago. They'd been raiding the freezer for a while." My father said.
"What does this have to do with me?" I asked. One of the Zerglings stretched and walked up to the energy shield, watching me intently. Its forearm scythes were tucked back, and it was leaning forward on its forepaws.
"We've found out that they can pick up on our thoughts somewhat, and so we haven't been able to get near them. However, since you have no reason to harm them you should be able to interact safely with them." My father told me.
"That's a big should." I replied.
"That's why we're going to take some safety procedures." My father reassured me. The Zergling was no longer watching me, but was watching the shield flicker. Suddenly, it struck the shield with both of its scythes. It let out a pained yelp, and the shield flickered and died. It shook off the shock as my father and I stood there, stunned. The Zergling approached us, growling. Its attention was focused mainly on my father. We both tried to back away, but the Zergling leaped between me and the exit, and forced my father against the wall. It hissed menacingly at him before turning to me. It inspected me for a moment or two, and then forced me towards the keypad for the shield on the other cell. I tried to stop, but it pushed me forward with back of its scythes. It stopped when we were in front of the keypad. It let out several sharp barks. It kept looking from me to the keypad expactantly. My father started to get up, but the Zergling whirled around and snapped at him.
"Hey Dad, what's the combination for the locks?" I asked nervously.
"You can't be serious. If you do that, then-" My father began, but was cut off by the Zergling barking at him.
"I don't think we have much choice." I replied. The Zergling was still growling at my father.
"The keycode is 92380-36" My father said. I quickly punched it in, and the shield holding the second Zergling died. It cautiously stepped out. The first Zergling turned its back on my father. My father stood up and started to walk towards me, but both Zerglings got between me and him. One of them stayed directly in front of me, and the other one approached my father. It feinted a pounce, and swept a scythe across his legs, causing him to trip and fall. It leapt up onto him, hissing at him, rearing its scythes back to strike.
"Hey! Don't do that!" I exclaimed. The Zergling paused, and glanced back at me. It snapped its jaws in my father's face before backing off. It retreated until it stood next to the other Zergling, both of whom were watching my father warily. "Stay." I told the Zerglings. They growled unhappily, but didn't do anything. I walked between them towards my father, and they still didn't do anything. As I helped my father up, one of them began growling. "Cut that out!" I scolded it. It stopped growling. "So, um, was this supposed to happen?" I asked after a moment of silence.
"No, this is quite unexpected." My father replied. My headache was beginning to return. The Zerglings were a bit on edge, but were otherwise fairly placant. I thought for a minute about our situation.
"Both of you, come here." I told the Zerglings. They approached my father and I cautiously. My father was starting to get nervous. When they were about an arm's length away they started to growl at my father, trying to scare him off. I glared at them, and they stopped. "Is there a large cell we can put them in for now?" I asked.
"Yeah, so long as they keep listening to you." My father replied.
An hour and a half later I collapsed on my bed, exhausted. It had taken quite a while to get the two Zerglings to stay in the cell without me staying with them. And my headache from earlier in the morning was back, full force. I was about to drift off into sleep when a knock on the door startled me. "Come in." I said, sitting up on my bed. The door hissed open and a girl and boy my age came into the room.
"Why weren't you in class today? Get caught sneaking into the lab?" The girl asked.
"Actually, they asked me to come to the lab..." I replied.
"Really? What did you see?" The guy asked, his interest piqued up.
"Can't tell." I replied.
"Aw, c'mon Lana! Don't be such a tease!" The girl whined.
"She's not Lana." A familiar voice said. I looked past the boy at the same guy from this morning. Zues. The boy and girl turned around and saw him also.
"You're really starting to get on my nerves." I muttered. Zues just shrugged.
"Lana, who is he? How do you know him?" The girl asked.
"I'm not Lana. And he says he's Zues. One of the ancient Greek Gods. But personally I don't believe it. At least, not anymore than I believe in this world." I replied. The boy and girl looked at me funny.
"He's not actually from this dimension. Where he is from, is where Lana is. They're bodies have been switched by me." Zues explained.
"And that's why I don't believe him. I'm just having a really strange dream, or I'm crazy." I said.
"Yes, well that's beside the point. I need you to come with me and meet Lana who's in your body. We need to straighten a few things out." Zues said before turning to the boy and girl. "Ryan, Riley. If you two would be so kind as to cover for Zell here, he can explain everything when he gets back. We should only be gone for a few moments." Zues finished before we both winked out of existence.