Natalie awoke to find herself again in a new location. She was lying in a stiff, unfamiliar twin-sized bed with a heavy quilt on top of her. The down pillow was nearly flat and a few of the feathers poked her sore cheeks. Well-crafted wooden furniture filled the room, but most of the pieces had nicks and dings in them. The square room was tiny, perhaps only about twelve feet wide. There was only one window right above the bed. In a beaten up rocking chair to her right a young man about her age slept.
His blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail that hung just below his shoulder blades. The hair that framed his face was shorter and fell gently in bangs, hanging low enough to cover his left eye. His face was soft, angled, and a touch feminine, but even as he slept his face had a stern scowl. Both of his ears were pierced with tiny blue hoops through each hole. The outer rim of his ears seemed longer than normal, and they came to distinct points at the top edge.
He wore a form-fitting, white, long-sleeve shirt with a chainmail vest. Over top of the vest was a loose red tunic, the low v-neck line left open with the unused string tied in a lazy bow. The waist of the tunic was held taught by a large leather belt; a money pouch hanging from his left hip and a utility pouch off the back of his right hip. His leather gloves had a green decoration embroidered in to them, and the laced-up cuffs reached half way up his forearms providing bracer-like protection. Aside from the ill-fitting tunic, the only other article of clothing he had that looked remotely comfortable to wear was his white pants. They were tight enough to not get in the way in a fight, but still lose enough to be comfortable and unrestrictive of his movements. Covering the lower half of his pants were red leather knee-high boots. Their embroidered design matched the gloves perfectly. The toe of the boots were covered in a steal plate, and an ornate metal knee-pad topped off the boot. Laced up between the heel and the knee-pad were four buckles.
His sword and bow were both leaned against the side of the chair, ready for him to pull if the need arose. His quiver of arrows hung buckled to the chair arm.
Startled, Natalie attempted to climb unnoticed out of the bed. Her back was burning in pain and her muscles screamed at her as she tried to arch her spine. Her whimper stirred the young man, "Oh, good. You're finally awake. I was beginning to worry about you." His voice was gentle and caring with an Irish accent that seemed familiar to her somehow. She was both scared and comforted with the idea of being alone with him.
"Who- Who are you?" she squeaked, "Where am I? What do you want?"
The man cocked his head with a look of bewilderment, "Well, I'm the man who saved you from the bandits, you're in Oakvale's inn, and I wanted to make sure you were alright."
"Bandits? Oakvale? What on Earth is going on? What's with the accent? Am I in the UK or something?"
"I'm not sure what you mean by my accent when you're the one who speaks funny, and I'm also not sure what 'the UK' or 'on Earth is going on' mean."
Natalie huddled under her blanket, holing it to her chin like a shield, "Don't start teasing me about my accent, mister. I just want to know if I'm in the United Kingdom. The UK. Britain, Whales, Scotland, Ireland. Do any of those countries ring any bells?"
The man's questioning look grew, "I'm afraid I haven't heard of any of those countries, but then again I don't really know any other countries on Gyateara besides Albion. I guess I can assume there's more to this world than this one country. Are you from one of those places? From the UK?" He used air quotes while asking his last question.
"Gyateara? Is that some sort of subcontinent or something? I've never heard of it."
"Gyateara? Truthfully? You've never heard this world referred to as Gyateara before? Where did you think you lived this whole time?"
"Oh, I dunno, maybe a little planet called Earth?" she snarkily shot back.
"Earth? Is that what Gyateara is called in that UK of yours?"
"Dude, what are you talking about? First of all, I'm not from the UK. Can you not recognize an American accent when you hear one? Secondly, you're the only one I know that has ever called Earth this Gyateara thing. What's up with that?"
The man stood up and sat on the edge of Natalie's bed, reaching out to her.
"Hey! What are you doing there, buster?" She pulled the sheets tighter around her, ignoring the pain in her back as she shifted on the mattress.
"Perhaps you hit your head at some point before I got to you. Who knows what those bandits did. You were covered in enough blood."
"Blood?" She slowly remembered standing on that stone platform just outside her grandparents' estate, the blue glow around her, the world completely transforming, and being attacked by those bandits before the man sitting on her bed killed them all. She remembered the sticky warmth of the wave of blood that hit her after one of her captors was decapitated. She choked down some vomit.
"You don't really remember anything, do you?" Natalie didn't move away as the man reached his hand out to feel her forehead.
"What's today's date?" Natalie reached up and grabbed his tunic.
"Poor thing," he shook his head, "you really are confused, aren't you?"
"What is today's date?" Natalie demanded.
"The Twelfth of Autium."
"Autium?"
"Yeah. You know, Freestily, Whentia, Transineum, Blumery, Wrensera, Somerry, Kulser, and then Autium."
"Oh god, now what are you talking about?"
"The months of the year? You asked about the date."
"Holy crap."
The man placed his hands on Natalie's shoulders and slowly lowered her back down to the bed. "Perhaps I should get a doctor. Seems you've been injured more than I figured."
"January, February, March, April, May, June."
"What are you doing?"
Natalie's eyes glazed over as she frantically scanned the ceiling, "July, August, September, October, November, December."
The man opened his large green eyes as wide as he could, "It's alright, miss. I'll get the doctor and we'll figure this out." He slowly stood up and walked towards the door.
"No, wait!" Natalie again bolted upright, a burning pain shooting up her spine.
"It will be fine. I'll be right back. You're safe here."
"Tell me about that stone structure you rescued me by."
The man stopped short, "The Ancient Cullis Gate? Why?"
"Yeah, I think that's what they called it. That large circular stone platform with the blue gemstones, right?"
"Yeah?" The man slowly walked back to her bed, "But what do you want to know about it?"
"What does it do? Is it a time travel device or something?"
"Well, no one really knows. It hasn't worked in at least a thousand years. We just assume it's another cullis gate because it looks like one. That and that's what everyone calls it."
"Alright, then what are the cullis gates?"
"You have to be kidding me."
"Please, tell me. What are the cullis gates? What do they do?"
"They're simple transportation points. You use them as summoning beacons when you use a teleportation shield."
Natalie sank back under the covers. "Teleportation? As in moving from one location to another a great distance away in just a matter of seconds?"
"Well, sure." The man's eyes scanned Natalie from head to toe, "You seem very shaken up by this news. Is there something wrong?"
"Are you sure it doesn't have you travel through time?" Natalie's eyes were wild, not focusing on anything as her mind attempted to compute the information.
The man laughed, "No one can travel through time. What a preposterous idea!" Natalie's wild eyes continued darting around the room and she began to shake. "Let me go get that doctor for you. He can help you."
"A teleportation device. Gyateara. Autium. Albion. There's no way," she muttered to herself, "There's just no way."
The man gathered his sword and headed towards the door of the small room. As his hand touched the knob Natalie again called out for him to stop. He turned, his concern for her evident.
"You never heard of England, or Scotland, or Ireland, or Whales, or the United States of America?" The man sadly shook his head. "And you don't know Africa or Europe or Asia or Antartica?" He silently shook his head again. "And this planet is called Gyateara and not Earth?" Slowly, the man nodded, his eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out what she was doing. "And the months are not January, February, March, April?"
"What is with all of these questions? How did you think of all those weird names?"
"Those cullis gates just allow people to travel through space and not time, correct?"
"We just went over-"
Natalie cut him off, "And no one knows what that ancient one does because it hasn't worked in a millennia?"
"I'm getting the doctor now." The man turned the handle and yanked the door open.
As he placed a foot outside the door Natalie cried out, "I think I'm from a different planet."