Entry # 6 The Knight, by Gene Wolfe

(Tor, Jan 2004) A young man in his teens is transported from our world to a magical realm that contains seven levels of reality. Very quickly transformed by magic into a grown man, he takes the name Abel and sets out on a quest to find the sword that has been promised to him,
Gene Wolfe won the Nebula in 1981 for The Claw of the Conciliator . Wolfe has not won the Hugo.