I Beautiful

Sera lifted her head as she looked around. This wasn't the bed she was sleeping in before. Looking down, she screamed and quickly covered herself. She was completely naked, no pajamas at all!

It was daytime and she was surrounded by people. She shouted and tried to find a corner to hide, but they passed her as if they couldn't even see her. “Hello?” She tried to speak, but once again, nothing registered with anyone.

Some of the people looked like humans while others had tails and big ears. Some had horns, or resembled animals closer than a human. There were even large worms and insects there. She swore she had even saw a Pegasus strolling beside her.

No one could see her. Feeling more confident in that fact, she removed her hands and tried to figure out where she had been at. This was nowhere near her home. Sera had gone to her old home for a vacation to see her family before she headed back to college. She had been sleeping in the same room with her sister, when she fell.

She walked down the road, passing others as she walked. Around her on the sides of the road were holes that seemed to have strange colors whirling through them. No one paid any attention to the holes. Trying to wrap her mind around what was happening, she accidentally felt a bump across someone.

If he hadn't been paying attention, it wouldn't have mattered much. The man wore a long white beard down to his waist, and he wore clothes resembling that of a wizard.

Sera covered herself up as she felt him probing her now. He knew she was there.

He muttered something and laughed as he grabbed her wrist. He moved his grip down toward her hand. He yanked her away off the road and past the holes on the ground. She didn't know how to break free of his grasp, and at the same time, didn't know if she should. He was the only one who might be able to help her.

A small distance away, she saw a small two story cottage. He opened the door to it and scooted her inside.

Sera did not know to do as he forced her to take a seat. He placed a medallion around her neck.

“Oh. Breathtaking.” He cleared his throat. “What species are you?”

“Human,” Sera said. She looked down at herself and was shocked. The ground of the cottage was upon her. It was like a dress of her surroundings. She got off the seat and moved around. Every time she moved, the colors of the ground moved with her in the new dress.

“ A human is nothing, but this?” He gestured to her. “This will absolutely fetch a decent price.”

Sera scuttled away to a corner as she heard those words. “Price?”

“Humans are worth nothing alone. Paired with the magic this medallion has that their body cannot prevent, they are priceless.” He stepped toward her. “Magnificent.” He blinked his eyes. “I must remember you are actually a putrid human creature, not this adoring woman before me. My! I-I almost want to keep you instead of sell you. You're so gorgeous!”

Sera looked around herself. There was no way out of the tiny cottage. “I-I'm nothing valuable. I'm not even five foot four, there is someone better out there.”

“Of course there is but no human can pierce Lost and Found.” The wizard man wrapped his arm around her. “I don't see what you are talking about, I see the perfect woman. You are wearing the medallion of illusion. You will appear as the perfect female companion to anything not female. Beast or man, insect or crustacean, it doesn't matter! You are the perfect illusion. With nothing being seen of you to counteract it in this world, you are the perfect specimen. You will even hear and speak the same language, it's absolutely perfect. I can retire off of selling you.” He grabbed her chin roughly. “Or, I could be happy having you all for myself. Oh, decisions.”

Sera didn't know what to do. Staying there or being sold, neither one were options she liked. She needed to get back home! At least the medallion made her visible. Maybe she could find her way back now that she could ask others? If she could get away, then she might have a chance.

“Wizard Eldron!” A shout came from the front door. “You are late on your payment!”

One second of distraction, it was what she needed. As the door opened, she escaped the wizard and headed to it.

“By the hole of Flora, who are you?” The strange creature resembling a giant worm said as she ran past him. There was no time to chat, she needed to find a way out.

“Get her, that's my property!” She heard the wizard yell as she ran.

This time when she ran into the crowds, a great sum of people stopped and stared at her. All of them had glazed over looks, like she had been the woman of their dreams.

Illusion. She wasn't what any of them were seeing, they saw their version of the perfect woman. “Can anyone help me find home?”

“I shall assist!” A large insect resembling a coachroach said to her. He towered over her, twenty feet high. “How could I not help such a large bellied female? It would be wrong.”

“She isn't large bellied, she has the perfect belly,” another creature said as he approached her. He reminded her more of a short hobgoblin. “Round on bottom, short on top.” He giggled. “Fancy meeting a goblin like you in a place like this.”

“No, I will help her.”

“No, me.”

“No, me!”

Sera watched as the men started fighting over her. Had the power of being a perfect woman made her so perfect they were willing to fight over taking her home? Somehow she doubted that. Each of them wanted more than that.

Hearing a couple shouts of pain and disagreement, she saw something like an elf leap off someone's head and land safely near her.

“Name's Dean, Lovely.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I will gladly help you back to your home.” He scooted to the other side of her. “I don't recommend a woman such as you go with these men. They are more than likely sizing you up for dinner.”

Worms. Insects. An elf that had jumped on people's heads to make his way over to her. His eyes shined back at her the same way everyone else's did.

The elf was the safest option. He was about her size, and surely if the illusion faded, he wouldn't decide to eat her. Elves wouldn't eat humans, right? They almost appeared human except for some pointed ears on the top. “Okay.”

Groans and disappointment were heard all around her. The elf took off the small green cap he wore. He bowed before placing it back on. “I know these travel holes better than anyone. Which quadrant are you wanting to go to?”

“I don't know.”

“Dimension coordinates?”

“I don't know.”

“Well, that's a bit odd.” The elf winked at her. “Not many women such as you travel in Lost and Found. Your world's name?”

“Earth. In the Milky Way Galaxy,” Sera answered. “That's all I know.”

“Earth?” He scratched the top of his cap. “That's a planet, not a dimension. Okay, hmm. Anything in particular to select the right Earth?”

There was more than one Earth? “A sun revolves around it and it has a moon. The other planets are Jupiter, Neptune, and Mars? Does that help?”

“Not really. How did you even find your way to Lost and Found when you can't properly find the dimension you want to travel to?” He shook his head a moment, but then smiled back. “Well, I'll help you figure out which one. Come with me.” He held his hand out to her. “Holes close to Earth will be around quadrant four which require a few days trek.”

A few days were better than no way out. Sera took his hand and followed him closely. She felt so many eyes hounding her body as they moved. No one could stop looking at her. She was never anything next to model gorgeous, and she certainly didn't have the body for it. Yet while she felt what beautiful woman must have felt when men wanted them, she wished it hadn't been like that.

It was all an illusion and from the looks of some of their eyes, she now wondered if any of them would try and fight the elf for her.

As for the elf, she didn't know his intentions either, but she had to start somewhere.