Role Reversal on a Another World

@ChaoticThinker

[Chirp, Chirp, Chirp, Chirp]

There sure are a lot of birds today aren't there? Such a thing comes to mind as I hear the ruckus going on with the birds so early on the morning. It's all I can think at the moment as I feel my lungs expand a bit more than usual as the fresh chili of the air fills my lungs to capacity in one go. the incessant chirping doesn't stop all around me stopping any attempt to go back to sleep and although pleasant I have to get up and report back to my family. I can't be lazing around in a public park in the morning like a homeless person.

Mother won't let me hear the end of that one.

"Nng"

I stretch my limbs to their limit as I can feel my blood slowly but surely make it throughout my body. In doing so I begin to feel around me as one would when on a bed when something quite strange happened.

[rustle, rustle, rustle]

there is a yellow like hue making it to my eye lids as I lay there on the ground, I continue to stretch a little bit. then I involuntarily move my face away from the light as it directly hits my eyes only to move around some more and feel...dirt, lots of dirt, leaves and some stones. Hm, that's strange since I fell asleep at a bench yesterday. Right? Could I have fallen off the bench? but if I did I should be in the immediate vicinity of said bench and already touched the legs at least I had truly fallen off.

Why am I on the ground then? shouldn't there be short grass here as well? I can feel my pulse quickened as a small bit of worry is quickly and steadily expanding in my chest.

"Nnn, where am I?" I mumble as I keep feeling around my surroundings with a increase in vigor as all i can touch is small pieces of wood, stone and more leaves once again. there is no bench nor any form of manmade construct which one would normally use to support itself.

[rustle, rustle, rustle]

"!"

I open my eyes and immediately sit up: I'm greeted by a forest of leaves as far as the eye can see with few streaks of light coming through the gaps of the trees in different locations all around me. There is a yellowish tint that still lingers slightly turning into the normal hue of blue the sky always projects and which I've always seen since growing up. It's quite the familiar sight and honestly, it's nice to be greeted by the morning chill and hear the birds going crazy as they're greeted by the morning sun. The chill isn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be in the morning but it's enough to cause some shivers here and there.

I get up and once again feel the dirt once again and confirm that the ground is somehow different from what I am familiar with, this isn't the average well-groomed forest sporadically here and there in my local park and the grass isn't as uniform and well cut as it should be in the surroundings inside the park, It isn't what I'm used to seeing daily on my routines at playing a few games of hoops a couple of times a week.

Birds keep on chirping all around me undisturbed of my presence as I, Richard Monroe take a couple of seconds to clear some of the blurriness that lingers in my vision since I had just woken up. I am indeed somewhere in a forest: I'm standing up perplexed and still confused since i had just woken up. This is strange situation to be in, I shouldn't be in a forest though, and I don't recall walking into one.

"Okay, Calm down Richard. There should be a perfectly reasonable explanation to this occurrence." I give myself a pep talk to avoid panic from setting in but it's hardly working. turns out it's a bit difficult to fool oneself in complicated situations.

This is a very strange and dire situation. I come to my senses and take a deep breath and think back in a attempt to retrace my steps which lead to this outcome, Let's see, there is a memory that wants to come back right now but it's a bit foggy, I seem to vaguely recall last night's memories and a altercation with my twin older sister, I remember having a heated argument with said older twin sister over something mundane now that I think about it, looking back on it was totally random and she was the wrong person to take my bottled-up frustrations on, but things always snowball into bigger things when you're in a bad mood and our little argument somehow ended up discussing gender roles or biases in modern society and how such roles regardless of time period benefitted women more than men ever did.

I know that's out of left field and honestly, I repeat, I know I shouldn't take out my frustrations on family, especially on a twin sibling whom I've been so close to all of my life. She just has a way to get in my nerve though and I couldn't pretend to be some kind of egalitarian nutjob that doesn't question kiddy gloves when any situation arises. be it past or present, men are just held to a different standard than men are and at the time it came out when my sister was rubbing her victory all over my face.

I normally have better self-control than that, but these things can't be unseen once you see them. As I recollect last night's memories, I smell a deep earthly smell and a thick scent of vegetation all around me and it's quite strong, there probably was some kind of fog here or something, this smell once comes out when there is moisture in the area. it's another detail that really hits home the fact that I'm nowhere near home right now. That much is clear due to the lack of streets and lamps in the vicinity, both of those things should be visible from where i was playing basketball. there are neither of those in my surroundings though, all directions lead to more and more trees. If I were at the park when I remember entering given how early in the morning it is, said lamps should still be lit at this hour and would lead me back to the street out of these mess but there is no such thing in sight.

Leaving the small bit of confusion aside, I can't tell right from left in this situation and it's especially bad for a city kid like me who doesn't have the know how regarding survival in general. Just why did I even fall asleep at that park anyway, sighs... I think I shouldn't have been so stubborn not as I was with sis and should have ended the discussion, I think but hindsight and all that you know.

Nah, I do remember feeling very agitated though at my folks though.

My muddled mind keeps going back and forth between my situation currently and what happened yesterday, so much so in fact that you'd think I was drunk or something, but I don't drink not because I'm underage but because alcohol isn't very good for you if you play sport or want to bulk up like I do. It's not like I have the money to burn anyway to spend it on booze or something.

I know that's beside the point where was I? Oh yes that.

Thinking back on it, it wasn't much of a discussion but a venting frustration at having failed at something my twin sibling succeeded at. I wanted to be alongside her, in the side of the winners that is but when obvious things happen you can't be dense and pretend you don't notice what is shown right in front of your very eyes. That scholarship was something only one of us could access so we both knew there would be a loser no matter the effort but that's not the problem.

but I really did want that scholarship. I let my bitterness and jealousy get the better of me on a bad moment and it led to a road that perhaps I mindlessly rushed recklessly untoward. This is probably what the older people mean with an impulsive moment of youth or something right? still part of me wanted my sister to know how i felt. she had to know why she was given preference over me right? part of my anger is that obliviousness. She is my twin, and we share several aspects with each other, so she should know there was no meritocracy in place in our competition's result, right?

I saw after all, how she was approached by one of those organizations of women in science and what not. You can't at all tell me that bunch had nothing to do with the outcome we landed on. It must be nice to be so nicely treated by society just because you're a woman huh.

No, I can't think that way. None of this has anything to do with her at all, she sought my praise and didn't meant insult me nor deride my efforts. I took it too far, maybe I should apologize to her.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have any bad feelings towards the opposite sex or anything. I didn't mean to harm my sister's feelings nor have her cry for mere personal pleasure, I'm not some psychopath. I do really love my older sister as we did everything together growing up and as twins, we share plenty of similarities when it comes to interests but sometimes it just bothers me when someone is being helped by a large degree by external sources and they believe they're competing fairly against other people.

Women in civilized society get promoted just for being women and we the men got to fight it out in the dirt amongst ourselves just to make a living. I know it isn't her fault and perhaps I should have not said what i did as harshly as i did. In retrospect perhaps I should have just congratulated her and move along with my day.

However, things didn't go that way and I finally snapped at her, why? This is of course due to her incessant bragging or what I took as bragging in landing a scholarship that we both were competing for since we are seeking the same career path and because we are twins so we both sought the same scholarship as we both wanted to pursue robotics since we grew up watching Transformers, Plus Gundam is our favorite anime among others. She and I always went on saying that we would truly develop a fully functioning robot or maybe perhaps an android that could be mistaken for a human one day like in Nier Automata. It sounds childish i know but we both grew up watching mecha anime and despite how hard the inner workings are, an engineering career for such a thing seemed the thing to pursue.

My mood was soured as a result, and I said that we had a similar GPA of 4.0 and that they gave her preference over me for simply being a girl. my older twin, Alison Monroe went red with rage as i said this and told me she hated me with upmost emotion and went on to cry to our parents who promptly told me off and ordered me to apologize but i won't bend so easily. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying she is a dumb person, she is most certainly smart however the fact that society bends itself over to women over men it is that plain and simple. in a society that preaches equality and whatnot women get the kid gloves every time without fail. I'm aware none of this is my sibling's fault but I already stormed out of the house, and it would look silly to go back so soon. So, in order to burn some time off my hands while my folks cool off, I head to the park I always head to whenever I want to be alone with my thoughts. There is nothing like being alone with your thoughts after all, to settle down your emotions.

One thing I've come to realize in growing up with a sister is that women are manipulative creatures who learn who to use their looks from a rather young age, growing up with a sister so close to me as would be a twin sibling really showcases puts an emphasis on the matter when there is a distinct treatment from not only family but society at large between us despite being brother and sister. the gender differences in our behavior and mental development despite liking more or less the same things such as robots and even rock bands in High School.

the way i think sometimes makes me feel that perhaps psychiatry would probably be better for me to pursue. I like analyzing individuals after all and i like separating myself from people to observe them but i won't go on since that's another can of worms i rather not get into right now. That is if i learn to control my temper, I can't fly off the handle with other people. That's something I've learn with my experience in this matter.

Having walked out of my house I decided to cool off at the nearby park that happened to have a basketball court since I'm somewhat a basketball enthusiast, I then decided to let some steam at the court for a while. I'm wearing basketball shorts in black and a jersey of my favorite teams, the Boston Celtics. I must have played for several hours on end, Last thing i remember is looking for a nearby bench and resting a little bit as the evening sun was setting down, the breeze after a good workout is just the best. anyway, I laid down at a nearby bench and to my surprise I lost consciousness from exhaustion right after calming down a little. surely, I must have fallen asleep at some point. despite my athleticism however I'm not as tall as a basketball player would be. I am at a decent 180cm tall and for some reason I cannot grow facial hair on my face despite always wanting a cool beard. maybe it could be a hit with the ladies, I do hear a lot of them liked a clean shaved man although not being able to grow facial hair is another can of worms altogether.

getting back to the situation at hand after a bit of reminiscence, I notice something quite peculiar. The nature of this place doesn't feel like home back in Santa Monica, I know I've already stated I'm not there but that's not what I mean, no matter how you look at it, this place doesn't even have a hint of resemblance of the park I clearly remember falling asleep at. I shouldn't be here and by here I don't mean the park I remember falling asleep at but wherever this place is, How the hell did I even end up here?

"This clearly isn't the park, I'm not even near a basketball court. Did I somehow fall asleep and was carried off somewhere?" I say with some confusion still lingering. there aren't many logical avenues where you can go when you find yourself in a different location without resorting to the probability of being kidnapped.

"That doesn't make any sense though, I don't feel under the influence of any narcotic, and I would have woken up if my body was even slightly disturbed. kidnaping also doesn't make sense since I'm not hog tied or anything, it would accomplish nothing to let me loose unless it is like those movies where a group of psychopath's hunt humans for sport.

suddenly the very thought sends several chills down my spine.

I take a good look at my surrounding looking for clues. I have gone camping with my father before, some nonsense of feeling nature and whatnot. despite this since my older twin sister has always been a crybaby and hates bugs, our camping was never too far away from our car or civilization for that matter. I adored her helpfulness since we are twins, I learned a thing or two about manipulation on my own and said i could be too far from my sister, so I never really went in deep. It always worked like a charm.

now I'm kind of regretting my actions. That kind of experience would be very helpful about now. Who would have thought a parent's "This will help you one day" would end up coming true, although i do want to protest the fact that whatever happened to make my situation this way is surely supernatural.

"I got to look for something resembling a trail, last thing I want to do is get agitated enough to lose my mind here. I most definitely don't want to attract a predator like a bear or worse a pack of wolves." I speak out loud to get rid of the eeriness of the forest sounds on the background. If I don't hear a human voice, I may lose my cool since I think I am very close to snapping.

[Bzzzt]

"Huh"

I hear a buzzing followed by small crackles right behind me, they're the same noises you'd hear from a current of a electricity running on an exposed cable. I look back and then up then I see some sort of distortion occurring in midair. It shouldn't be possible. I clearly can somewhat see the Resplendor of the sunrise. However, it feels glassy like looking at smoked glass they use in churches and it's on midair no less. what the hell is that thing? It's giving some kind of energy, like what you would feel from old CRT screens that made your hairs feel touched and a kind of warmth run through your skin with just being close to it.

[Bzzzzzzzt]

The crackling is intensifying little by little, and it looks like something is about to blow up. I don't want to find out after i lose a limb so i better get the hell out of here.

"No way I'm going to get blown up into pieces in the middle of nowhere."

Startled by the phenomenon I begin running at full speed away from what my instincts are telling me is very dangerous when suddenly on the somewhat dark woods in front of me reflect a blue hue right before a huge blast of energy. The blast although carries no power, the same sensation on my hairs which makes them stand on end followed with warmth that envelop the body.

[BOOOM]

As I feel a warm wind blow past me as I run and look back, surprisingly there isn't much damage on the forest. It's like nothing ever happened. This is puzzling, I clearly felt danger from that thing, but nothing happened to the forest though.

"Haaah"

Damn it all, I've ran too far, and I can't remember the exact spot I landed. That thing had to be some sort of gateway; I've seen enough science fiction to know one of those could be my ticket back home. I hope I'm still on earth at the very least.

After recollecting himself Richard pants for a little bit before realizing he did what he shouldn't have done. it couldn't be helped after all; it would be better than to get caught in some unknown explosion.

He did not know he was being observed by multiple shadows that are currently heading his way from the top the trees as the shadows look on curiously seeking the origin of the noise they heard.

---A little while ago in another part of the forest.

"Raksha!"

"Raksha, Get up!"

A beautiful woman with an appearance of about at least 25yr old at the most wakes up a younger woman about 18yrs old from her sleep. Different from humans however they sport a furry silver tail and two wolve ears at the top of their head. The women's body is toned and honed by arduous exercise.

"Nnn, Leave me alone. It's not time to get up yet" says the younger woman sleepily as she lazily mumbles and turns on her bed comfortable in the warmth of her bed.

The young women were startled by a loud noise. The village is one of many villages. This area is populated with Beast Humans. They however don't always live in harmony, since they're openly discriminated against by the humans of the nearby kingdom. The beast people seclude themselves in dangerous forest overrun by monsters. They live of the bounty of the land and of course disputes are not rare since the amount of game they can hunt is limited by competing settlements and monsters alike, very few monsters themselves are edible.

"Shima!" said a voice from outside the room.

"Shima, did you hear that noise, better yet sense that? That was no ordinary explosion. my hair just stood on end like when I was caught nearby the area of a magical explosion. I don't know what that was, but it isn't the nearby villages. Could it be the humans?" continued the voice.

an older woman with similarly silver hair spoke to her daughter from outside the room. she seemed to be making her way from a different room towards the one Shima was currently residing on. She spoke to her daughter, who is massive, an astounding 200cm tall with bulging muscles. she appears to be a warrior of some sort as she carries a crude sword like machete whose size compared to the tall woman, it's the size of her leg.

"An attack, possibly?" continued the woman as she got closer to the room where both raksha and Shima both shared a room.

"Yes Mother" Shima replied. straightening her back at her mother's inquiry. Shima's mother was one of the current leaders of the village and a highly respected woman for her intellect and cunning. no one who tried to cross her ever lived long enough to brag about it.

"I also think it could be a incursion of the humans but something is wrong, if it were those women wouldn't they be rowdier? It's strange for things to go silent after such a loud noise. Surely, they know such noises won't escape our ear, right?" Shima added.

Shima was a huntress and a scout for the village of Heim an adequate distance of 80km south away from the nearby Nosfalt Kingdom who appear to hate demi humans for unknown reasons. the humans pursued demi humans like pests being chased out of a property. the reason was not known, since the demi humans had never attacked a human kingdom, at least to the recollection of the collection of villages of the beast people. The humans however rarely venture into demi human territory despite their negative feelings towards them. This makes things much more baffling to Shima who at the age of 25 was already the top hunter and scout of the village to keep it safe from invaders be it human or otherwise. that said, age meant little for the demi humans age at half the speed of ordinary humans who don't possess magic. the aging is halved once the come of age at 16. the body matures and remains at its prime longer.

"Rhea, are you going to check it out?"

The village leader asked another woman who emerged from within the wooden house, it's structure somewhat like a cabin you'd see on camping section but with more details and flair, the house spotted white logs in between one another symbolizing the leadership of the village.

The village chief was quite a bit younger than the one called Rhea who appeared to be on her early forties at least by appearance's sake. She came into view as she asked the village chief a question.

"Pam, you're awake?" asked Rhea.

"Yes, I came here to discuss the situation with our daughters. As the leaders of this village, we must set their worries at ease. it is our duty." said Pam in a calm and matter of fact tone.

"I see," said Rhea.

"I also don't think this is something we can leave alone, specially not I the top warrior of the village. I'm going to make those humans squeal like pigs under my blade." commented Rhea with a belligerent smile and ferocious glint in her eyes.

"I don't suppose you'd complain with my approach Pam?" continued Rhea.

"No, of course not. Even if I wanted to get on your way, I can see that this time your course of actions merits the initiative on our behalf. Do try to keep things to a minimum though. The village can't handle an all-out war with our village in the line. specially since humans have magic users." Pam added in resignation but firm tone.

Pam was a woman who appeared to be in her mid 30's who in contrast to Rhea, had jet silver hair and gray eyes in contrast to Rhea who had fierce yellow eyes and jet-black fur.

"Nnnh, could you people shut up! I'm trying to sleep here! it's the crack of dawn for crying out loud." complained Raksha who sleepily got up from her bed which lay next to her older sisters called Shima. they shared a room together.

"Yawn!"

voiced Raksha as she sat upright at the edge of the bed and the bed squeaked a little on under her weight. despite being only 18 she had a curvy body and large breasts. She was around 175cm tall. her hair was whiter than silver in contrast to her sister, but she also had yellow eyes like Rhea did. She truly embodied different aspects of both women Pam and Rhea

"Raksha! Clean yourself up! You're going with your sister and with Rhea" said pam in a firm tone to Raksha who immediately felt her drowsiness go away from the seriousness of the tone.

"You may one day be the future Chief of this village and as such you're to ensure that the villagers worries are assuaged and put to rest." declared pam.

"You must earn their respect through actions. It's bad enough how sloppy and lazy you're on your day-to-day basis. it's depressing." continued pam almost as if venting.

"The Villagers are already outside the house wondering what's going on, they're heading this way. you have 30 seconds, now Go!" said pam as she headed out the door to talk to the residents of the Heim's village.

"Oh yeah! It's time to get the blood pumping right mother Rhea. Those pests are going to wish they never set foot near our village" asked Shima with a ferocious look on hear eyes as her tail moved from left to right on a erratic manner containing anticipation on it's behavior.

"You Betcha! I'm going to tear them to shreds" answered Rhea just as excited as her oldest daughter was.

"Oh great, I'm stuck with the muscle heads now. Becoming Chief of this village it's looking more like a chore the more i think about it..." muttered Raksha as she jumped out the bed and headed outside after cleaning herself with the indoor water, they had on container filled to the brim with the nearby well's water.

Raksha had to get to the noise first since the muscle heads would slaughter whatever that was. Raksha has always been curious about the humans, they have fancy clothes, and their cities look so much better than the village. she doesn't want to become village chief since it would be a death sentence, she wanted to meet people and see the world.