My mind went blank for a second as this person held his hand out me, the smile never leaving his face. I ignored him for a bit to take a look around the room I was in. It was about the size of a regular living room with while marble walls and torches hanging from the ceiling. I was on a platform with what looked like a magic circle that you could see in an anime carved into the surface. Placing my fingers on the lines, I could feeling something warm and pulsing against my skin. Not knowing what else to do, I looked up at the guy and asked him the one question invading my mind.

"What the hell?" He ended up laughing at me.

"I can see that you're not like most Rift Walkers."

"Rift Walkers? What do you mean? I was in my bedroom a second ago and now I'm here. Are we even on Earth anymore?" 

"I'm surprised you're not freaking out more over this. Lets go to another room and I'll explain everything to you." Once more, he held out his hand to me and waited for me to grab hold. His smile was starting to get on my nerves for some reason. Helping me up, we walked towards a door hidden in the wall behind me and into a smaller room with two couches, a coffee table, and lit fireplace. It was nicely decorated with dark, polished wood walls and a navy carpet.

"Now, I'll start with what a Rift Walker is." He said as we sat down on opposite sides. "There are many dimensions in the universe surrounding us. Not many worlds know about them or, if they do, know how to even access them. It was about 10,000 years ago that the first Rift Walker appeared in this world and, wanting to go back, he spent his life searching for the right magic formula to do so. However, he was only able to create that magic circle that you saw out there. This circle is able to safely bring a person who walked into a rift in dimensions, whether by accident or not, here. Even now there are people researching for a way to send these travelers back if they so wish, but there is little to show for their efforts. You seem to one of the ones that accidentally walked into a rift and landed in our world, which is called Gaia."

"Gaia, I know that word! Back on Earth there were different meanings to it. Some used it as another name for our planet, others believe that Gaia is the Earth's spirit, kinda like Mother Nature. For me, I mainly know it from a game that I used to play....Wait, you said 'walked into' a rift. I was laying on my bed when I closed my eyes and then I was here a second later."

"I did that you walked into a rift, but you can go through a rift at anytime, so you don't necessarily have to walk through one to get here."

"Great, so I can't go home. Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Never fear! Even though a Rift Walker isn't common, they're not exactly rare either, so the country has a system that helps your kind get sorted into living here. First things first, we need to get your status checked."

"How are you supposed to do that? I guessed magic exist here from the circle, but how is it used?" The guy reached into the sleeve of his robe-looking clothing and pulled out a clear glass plate that he set on my side of the coffee table. 

"Just place your hand on the crystal plate and the energy inside it will do the rest. Once it's complete, you can call it up at any time to check out your stats." Not even thinking it could be something bad, I placed my hand on the surface and felt that same warm pulsing that came from the magic circle. It swirled around my hand for a moment before I felt it shoot up into the air. I jumped as a screen appeared before me with information similar to a video game status menu on it.

⌈Name: Kia Lyger

Age: 17

Occupation: N/A

Skills: Elemental Manipulation, Language Mastery, Animal Attraction

Titles: Rift Walker⌋

".....Excuse me, Mister Random Guy,"

"My name is Gui."

"Right, Gui, there seems to be a mistake on the status." Curious, Gui looked at the screen to try and find it. "I don't know if you can fix it, but I'm actually 28 years old, not 17."

"No, there's no mistake. Time works differently here than on your Earth. Records say that your planet has 365 says in a year, 12 months, 7 days in a week, 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute, correct?"

"Yeeeah, so?"

"Here on Gaia, we also have a year that has 12 months in it, but our months have 60 days in each of them and time flow differently for us. Seeing as you're here, your body has already adapted to this flow and your age is reverted to what it really is here."

"How differently are we talking here? Cause humans can live, at most, up to a hundred years on Earth."

"Wow, such short lives humans on Earth have. On Gaia we are expected to live, at least, up to 500 years. There are even a few who have broken through to 1000. Also, you are not considered an adult until you are 20 years old, so we need to find you a guardian."

"What do you mean I'm still considered a child? I'M 28 YEARS OLD!"

"Not in this world you're not!" He reminded me cheerily. "If your status had said 20 or older we could have taken you to the Grand Church to have your Coming-of-Age ceremony, but at last, it was not meant to be!" He dramatically put the back of his hand over his eyes and flopped down on the couch. I really wanted to hit him.

"What does a coming of age ceremony even do? Do the people working there register others as adults and citizens or something?"

"Goodness no, the ceremony allows you to be blessed by the Goddess as you receive your mark of adulthood. See here?" He pulled his bangs away from his face to reveal a light green star with five dots around it. "Each person is given a mark that's unique to them and reveals their true form."

"Hah? True form?"

"Yes! See you look like this now, but when you come of age and get your mark, you will look different!"

"My true form? If that's your way to say that I'm too fat then shove off."

"Gah, guess I'm not explaining this right....okay! Your true form is basically bring who you are on the inside out. So if you're good then your form will look good, but if you're evil then, even if you look good, there will be something showing people that there is something twisted about you. For example, a guy would steal all the time for his own gain will have sticky fingers in his true form, or something similar."

".....You're giving me a headache, is there any place I can just sleep for the night?"

"Sure! Since you're still a minor, you can stay in one of temple's rooms for now."

"Shove off, I'm not a minor."

"But you are~" 

"Ugh."