Transmigrated Teri is an ongoing isekai/portal fantasy series about Teri Graves, an embittered middle-age GenX office lady who gets into a massive car accident and wakes up in the world of the fantasy series she loves to hate, The Allisar Fireborn Chronicles. She knows the characters, she knows the plot, and she knows that its all a massive coma dream…except for how nothing is as it should be. Worse? She woke up in the body of the doomed evil stepmother! She escaped a pandemic for this?
Previously: Teri tried to convince everyone she’s legit…
Gervyn vaulted onto his horse with a fierce urgency, his determined gaze fixed on the horizon. The muscles in his arms flexed as he seized the reins, his dark blond hair whipping with the sudden movement. A shadow lingered in his eyes, a flicker of anger that had become familiar to all who knew him. The horse shifted, sensing the crackling energy that surrounded its rider, a blend of tension and restrained power. Gervyn’s jaw was set, his posture predatory, embodying the young warrior he had become—who had already seen too much and yet was driven by the forces of revenge that flowed through him like blood. As the horse snorted and pawed the ground, Gervyn leaned forward, urging it into motion, as though the very earth needed to be conquered to match the tumult within him. His sisters were in danger, and he had to save them.
~ Allisar Fireborn Chronicles, Book 3: Blazing Heart
“What is going on here?” Doctor Dourwin shouted over the mayhem, which had quickly grown to include his three minions, the castle guards, and even Lady Elisandar, who was tugging on a small child’s leg trying to drag them out of the mess. Everyone was too busy knocking into furniture to pay attention to him.
:PLAY TIME!: Theo stood up and then hurtled off the bed, landing on the back of one of the guards who screeched in terror. Then everyone was trying to extricate themselves, avoid getting kicked, and staying as far away from Theo as possible all at the same time.
Except the kids, who ignored everyone else and kept wrestling each other like their lives depended on it.
Teri watched them in fascination. These were not the Allisar children, at least not all of them, as they were the wrong ages. Maybe the eldest was Gervyn? But technically, he was the youngest of the four, so who were the other three?
Theo was bouncing around, barking and having the time of his life. One of the kids made a break to scramble for the door but got nabbed by a guard, who went down with a loud shriek when she kneed him in the balls.
A good, classic defensive move that Teri approved of on principle, but she figured the Keystone Cops routine had gone on long enough.
“STOP!” She hollered, sitting up in the bed as best she could.
Gratifyingly, everyone stopped immediately. Less gratifyingly, they all looked at her with undisguised terror.
Right. She was Lady Bonarae Greyrage, the Venomous Whip of Luttiron. A few of them (all of them?) probably thought they were going to be flogged to death at any second.
(It had happened a few times in the book series, before Lady Greyrage herself was murdered to loud fandom acclaim.)
She cleared her throat.
“Everyone please stand up like civilized people,” she said, trying to sound…haughty? Arrogant? Maybe like her old boss, the one who had been a micromanaging, self-righteous jackass. She kind of hated how easy it was.
They all sorted themselves out, and one of the kids at least helped Lady Elisandar back into her chair.
“Guards, step aside. Doctor Dourwin, make some room.” She flapped a hand at his minions, who quickly shuffled to stand by the wall.
She finally turned to the children, who had lined up, more or less, by height. Three boys and a girl, she reckoned by their clothes, with the eldest boy in his mid-teens, the middle boy and girl maybe ten or so, and the youngest probably around eight.
If she was at the start of the book series as she suspected, Gervyn was the fifteen-year-old and also a seething morass of rage. He was not one to believe that his evil stepmother suddenly got a personality improvement.
With a sigh, she looked at him, trying to keep her face blank. “What is going on?”
He bowed very low. “I am sorry, Milady, I take full responsibility—”
“It’s my fault!” The youngest boy yelled and leapt forward to bow down on his knees, forehead pressing into the floor. The other three grabbed for him, all talking over each other.
“Gervyn Allisar! Get up!” Lady Elisandar said, the words snapping with sharp displeasure as she wrestled herself back out of her upholstered chair.
The youngest glanced over at her. “Uhm.”
She hobbled over and grabbed the back of his coat, pulling him up. “I said, get up!” She shook him with more arm strength than Teri had expected, but the boy seemed unsurprised as he flopped a little in her hold.
But the eldest, the one whom Teri thought was Gervyn, did not respond.
Things clicked into place as she looked at the kids more carefully. The eldest boy had dark blond hair, was thin and lanky, and not fully grown into his height but promising to be very tall. The two middle kids were both curly-haired brunettes with dark brown eyes, and they looked alike. Too much alike. Despite their different outfits, and the one dressed like a boy wearing her hair braided back, it was clear they looked exactly alike. So that was Robern and the twins Vycette (in a dress) and Aurguth (in breeches). Which meant the youngest was…
“Gervyn Allisar! I’m talking to you!” Lady Elisandar shook him again.
He was too young. Too young. At the start of the series, he was a disgruntled teenager with too much power and not enough control, a great mage on the cusp of meeting his destiny or die trying.
Technically, he was not an adult when the series started, but he definitely wasn’t a tiny little child.
“Oh no,” Teri said with a gasp as the truth slammed into her. Her damn brain had thrown her into some kind of bizarre canon divergence, but all she knew was the actual canon. The only fanfics she had ever read that started with the kids that young also usually featured an extra-early, extra-grisly death for Bonarae Greyrage. Fans hated her that much.
Then she noticed that everyone had stopped again, and were staring at her with various ranges of fear.
Except for Gervyn, of course, who was looking around but not, surprisingly, trying to escape Lady Elisandar’s hold. He was a kid, but Lady Elisandar couldn’t have that much strength, Teri thought. Surely he could twist right out of her hands if he wanted to.
After a moment of everyone holding their breath, waiting for Lady Greyrage’s legendary temper, Gervyn stepped forward, which meant he dragged Lady Elisandar along because she was not letting go. Teri had to respect that.
But in another surprise, he was not making for the door.
“Lady Greyrage, it’s my fault! Don’t listen to Robern!”
Robern went pale but still managed to slap his brother’s shoulder. “Gervyn! Shut up!”
“Everyone shut up.” Teri spoke softly as she slowly twisted to sit on the edge of the bed. It was not a great idea for her right leg, which immediately began throbbing. Doctor Dourwin tutted at her but at least dragged over a heavy foot stool and helped her prop her leg up. Everyone watched with morbid fascination, although on the kids and the minions it was spiced up with wary apprehension. Teri realized that this was probably the first time anyone in Luttiron had ever seen Lady Greyrage injured.
When her leg was settled and pain dropped back down a bit, she rolled her shoulders and tried to sit up straight and proper like her parents had beat into her for church. It had some effect, as the minions all sorted themselves out by age and Lady Elisandar shifted into a submissive posture. Although she did not let go of Gervyn, Teri noticed.
“Why would I blame Robern for a void howler attack?” She asked, looking at Gervyn.
“Oh. Uhmmmm…you wouldn’t?” He said hopefully. She narrowed her eyes and everyone but Gervyn and Aurguth stepped back nervously.
“Do you not remember what happened?” Robern asked diffidently.
Doctor Dourwin opened his mouth but Teri spoke up quickly, and loudly. “No, I do not. It is not uncommon for people to not remember traumatic accidents if they were badly injured, as I was.”
She noticed the doctor studying her carefully as she spoke, and realized too late that she was acting way too smart for being Lady Greyrage.
:She was not that dumb.:
:How do you know?: She asked Theo while Robern and his siblings all carried on a silent conversation via eyebrows and shoulder shrugs.
:You listened to the audiobooks all the time in the car,: Theo said with a resigned and slightly judgmental air.
:I can’t believe my dog is judging my commuting cope. Get back on the bed, you are making the minions nervous.:
He barked, making everyone even more nervous, before jumping up on the bed, spinning around three times, and flopping down next to her, radiating annoyance.
Well, everyone except Gervyn and Aurguth, of course. She sighed and waved her hand around.
“I will never remember what happened, so someone needs to speak up.”
Gervyn opened his mouth but Robern not-so-subtly kicked him in the ankle, making the younger boy yelp and stumble, although Lady Elisandar still refused to let go of his tunic. Teri was impressed.
Robern stepped forward, and Teri noticed that he strategically placed himself between her and his siblings. It was the bravest thing she could ever remember him doing before his tragic life was cut short at the start of book one.
“It’s all my fault, Lady Greyrage,” he said, bowing low.
“Is it, now?” She glanced at Gervyn, who at least was smart enough to keep his face turned down, eyes focused on the carpet. Vycette and Aurguth mirrored his pose, hands clasped demurely in front of them. They all looked humble and contrite, and Teri wasn’t buying that on BOGO.
“I promised them a picnic, and made excuses to their tutors to get out of classes. I lied to them, claiming I had received your permission to do so. My siblings are blameless!”
The grumbling from Gervyn and Vycette was telling Teri otherwise, but she let Robern keep digging the hole deeper.
“I led them out into the woods. I didn’t know a void howler had been reported by the river, I swear it!”
Teri thought back to what she knew of void howler lore. They drank umbruus, the spiritual force closely associated with children because of how close they were to the line between birth and death. Not Robern, who was well into puberty, but the younger ones who had not crossed the adolescent line yet and were filled with umbruus would be a strong lure.
“You attracted the void howler, and I was tracking it. The fight did not go well,” she added with a sharp punctuation, motioning towards her leg. The twins and Robern all paled, which reminded Teri that the kids had been there to see their stepmother nearly die.
Or actually die, and get replaced with Teri.
If any of it was real, which it wasn’t, she reminded herself.
:No, it really happened! I was there!:
“Theo, please stop talking,” she groaned, rubbing her temples. When she looked up everyone was bowing low. “What?”
Robern cleared his throat. “The Most Honorable Familiar saved your life. We are indebted to you, Most Honorable Familiar.”
:Aaaiiii the puppies are so cute!: Theo got up and bounced on his feet, causing the bed to shake.
“Ow. Fine, get down, you’re hurting my leg!” She pointed at the floor. He jumped to the floor and pranced up to Robern, who looked awed to have a dog slobbering on him.
:Good boy! You are a good boy!: Theo said while yipping at Robern.
“He’s saying that you are a good boy, and you should scratch behind his ears,” Teri said with a sigh.
“Oh!” Robern smiled brightly and started petting Theo, who wiggled with excitement. That got a reaction from the other kids, but one of jealousy as they looked at Theo with their older brother.
Lady Elisandar tutted loudly. “You planned to sneak back and hope no one asked too many questions, didn’t you?” She said to no one in particular, but all the kids, including Robern, flinched. She rolled her eyes. “Your father will flog you for the harm your prank caused milady.”
“It was my idea!” Gervyn yelled, spooking Theo, who scuttled backwards. The flock of doctors kept to the side but also kept their eyes nervously on Theo. Gervyn looked a little wild-eyed himself as Robern told him to shut up and tried pushing him back behind their sisters.
Clearly, it had been Gervyn’s idea, and Robern was trying to protect his younger brother from a severe corporal punishment at the hands of their brutal father.
:It’s The Incident,: Teri thought with a flair of panic.
:The what?: Theo hopped back up on the bed.
:It’s part of Gervyn’ backstory! It’s when everything changed for Gervyn, because Robern was nearly killed during a punishment, and his health never recovered. It lead to his death in the first book. Something about a hunt going wrong…she was not severely injured, though. I could not stand up right now much less whip someone. So already I’ve changed things—:
“Your father will flog you until you can’t even walk!” Lady Elisandar shrilled.
:Or maybe not,: she added.
Fuckin’ Chad had never explained exactly what happened or what Robern was punished for, outside of the meager details that Teri had explained to Theo: a severe punishment gone awry due to Lady Greyrage’s cruelty and fury. Robern’s later ill health was blamed on the injuries he sustained, which had also shattered his magical abilities. The shining, beloved heir to Allisar was broken beyond repair and died horribly because he was not able to protect himself when the siblings went on the run.
More importantly, it was a turning point in young Gervyn’s life, the moment when his youthful innocence was crushed and he vowed revenge on his father and step-mother. It was a time he rarely talked about, even with his sisters. Fandom speculation was that Fuckin’ Chad kept the details about Robern’s punishment a bit mysterious on purpose, but Teri would lay money on the fact he just forgot about it as the story progressed.
The situation she was in might not be The Incident, but it lined up.
According to the plot, then, Teri would have to get up and whip a kid nearly to death. Or ask the vicious and cruel Lord Ferdiff Allisar to do it for her.
:NO!: Theo barked. :NO HURTING THE PUPPIES!: He growled, and Teri absently reached out to rub his head and calm him down while the doctor and Lady Elisandar took two careful steps back from her bedside.
:No,: she agreed. :No hurting the puppies.:
Her brain had concocted a perfect “fix-it” scenario, maybe as a way to keep her mentally engaged while comatose. That made as much sense as anything else, she thought, as she spun out ways to actually fix things without getting her character accused of being possessed by a demon or something.
Sometimes she hated her brain.
NEXT: Ota Enters the Chat
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