1 1. Welcome to this weird new world

Next time Skylar opened her eyes, she was naked and chained to a wall.

That wasn't exactly what she expected.

Actually, she expected to die – and she was supposed to die! Not like she wanted to, but she ended up in a situation where nothing else was possible. Skylar was a night nurse at the city hospital, not really the kind of work that would leave you cheerful in the morning. But this shift turned out to be especially exhausting: patients demanded her attention all the time, she didn't have a moment's rest.

So by the morning she was drained, barely able to stay awake. It was so obvious other doctors offered to call a taxi for her, but she denied. She told them she was fine. She was too embarrassed to say she simply didn't have the money for it. Her life became such a mess lately…

Well, at least she still had her old car. It was rusty, noisy and making more smoke on the go than a train. But hey – it worked! And her road home wasn't that long, Sky was sure she'd make it.

That was a mistake, naturally. She felt so sleepy she could barely focus on the road. Sky knew that the smartest thing right now would be to park somewhere and get rest. But she was in the middle of a highway, she couldn't possibly stop there!

And then she just blacked out, surrendering to exhaustion. She was woken up for a brief moment by deafening car signals and the screeching of breaks. She opened her eyes – to see a huge truck flying right at her, because when she fell asleep, she ended up on the other side of the road. Sky knew it was her fault, but it didn't make accepting her death any easier. And she had to die, it was already too late to change anything.

They say that right before your death your whole life flashes in front of your eyes. It turned out to be true, though Sky's life wasn't too entertaining to watch. She was born in a poor family, her parents died just before she turned ten. She spent most of her life in orphanages, no-one willing to adopt her. She wasn't one of those pretty kids everyone adores. Actually, Sky was unnoticeable, easy to lose in the crowd. She understood she could rely only on her own powers.

She couldn't get proper education, but she managed to attend medical college long enough to become a nurse. Ever since then she spent most of her days working hard to make two ends meet. She didn't have enough free time to make many friends. Men weren't interested in her, because she never became too attractive and she was painfully shy. In her final moments, Sky had to admit bitterly that nobody would really miss her.

So she closed her eyes, preparing for the eternal darkness to take her. And she did hear the crush that followed when two vehicles collided. But Sky didn't feel any pain, she just felt like she was falling into an abyss…

And then it stopped. She could feel she was alive, not even hurt, but very cold. That's when Sky opened her eyes – only to discover she was in a totally new world.

That world wasn't nice at all. She was in some dungeon with rough stone walls, cold and glistening with moisture. They appeared very old, with grayish moss covering some of them and rusty hooks sticking grimly here and there. There were no windows anywhere, so Sky couldn't tell if it was night or day outside.

Not like it really mattered! She had more urgent matters to attend to. She was trying to understand where she was – and couldn't, it was just too weird. She couldn't possibly survive that car crash! And even if she did, she should've been heavily wounded! And yet, she felt fine and she certainly wasn't in a hospital. The closest hospital to the place of the accident was the one she worked in, and that wasn't it, her hospital never looked like a medieval fortress!

That was her unpleasant discovery number one. The unpleasant discovery number two was her position. Sure, she was unharmed, but that's where good news ended. She was covered in so many thin chains she couldn't move. She just had to stay still, her arms and legs spread wide, her back pressed to the cold stones of the wall, scratching her tender skin mercilessly.

She could feel it all because she was naked – that was the unpleasant discovery number three. There was nothing left on her, her t-shirt and jeans gone, even her bra and panties nowhere to be seen. She probably blacked out during the accident, and someone kidnapped her, undressed her and chained her! In that position, Sky was totally open, she couldn't hide anything from her captors.

That was bad enough – three shocking discoveries in one day! But destiny had no mercy for Sky, because she was in for another surprise. The body she was seeing wasn't hers.

Sky had always been short and a bit child-like with her chest flat and her body skinny. But the body chained to the wall belonged to a totally different woman. She was obviously tall, with long legs, narrow waist and impressive breasts the original Sky could only dream about. Her skin was porcelain white, and there were long wavy locks of shiny black hair falling on her shoulders. Naturally, Sky couldn't see her own face, but it had to be beautiful – with a body like this!

It was a dream. What options are there? There was no other explanation to this! People just don't end up in someone else's body…

But if it was a dream, why did the cold feel so real? Why were the stones scratching her back so realistically? Why couldn't she move in those chains?

Sky was starting to panic, she didn't know what to do. Her fast shallow breaths echoed across the dungeon. She moved sharply, like a bird trying to break free. It got her nowhere, of course, but it caused the chains to rattle so loud the sound seemed deafening after the long silence. That new body of hers was strong, but not strong enough to break the chains. Sky felt fresh tears burning her eyes. Why was this happening to her? Was she actually in hell after dying in the car accident?!

She didn't have much time to dwell on it: she was distracted by footsteps approaching her. The dungeon was barely lit with torches, so she had to wait until her sudden visitors came closer. Sky knew she probably shouldn't be surprised by anything after what had already happened – but she was.

She expected to see some lone pervert who kidnapped her and performed some twisted plastic surgery on her. It seemed unlikely, but it still was a better explanation than dying and being reborn! But instead she saw a group of men dressed like monks approaching her.

At least, she thought they looked like monks. They were wearing long brown robes covering them from head to toe. In comparison to them, she looked especially naked – if that was even possible.

There were five of them. Three were holding torches, one was empty-handed, and the last one was directing a crossbow at her. A real crossbow! And that thing looked as dangerous as a pistol. One shot, and she'd be gone for good…

"You are finally awake, Aydelline," said the one whose hands were empty. Sky could tell he was using some strange language she'd never heard before, and yet she understood every word of it. "The time of your punishment has finally come."

"What's going on?" Sky dared to ask. Her voice sounded shaky and on the edge of tears. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"Are you trying to play with us?"

"No, I actually think it's all messed up!"

"Don't try to win our pity, Aydelline!" the monk raised his voice, while his companions seemed a bit confused. "You used to be a great warrior. So stay that way till the end and accept your death with honor!"

"I don't want to!" Sky replied gloomily. "One death for a day is already too much. And stop calling me Aydelline, that's not my name!"

"What kind of trick is this?" the man with the crossbow frowned. "She's never acted that way before!"

"Because she was hoping to escape," the one with the torch noted. "And now she's been sentenced to die and she's trying to act dumb!"

"But that's not like her!"

"Who cares? Even the great Aydelline is just a worthless whore in the end!"

"I don't know who Aydelline is!" Sky interrupted them. "My name is Skylar Fall! I'm a nurse! I don't know how I got here, but… You can check the documents in my purse, you'll see my name there! I'm not Aydelline, I swear!"

But her pleas fell on deaf eyes. For some reason it appeared those men hated her. Really hated, like she was their worst enemy! And she couldn't do anything to prove them wrong, couldn't even move. All Sky was left to do was to cry helplessly.

And the man standing mere five steps away from her aimed the crossbow at her chest, ready to deliver her death sentence…