From Real to Realm

The rhythmic thunking of the train filled Christina’s ears as she stared out the window. The landscape of the city around her flew by as nothing more than a blur.

After a long, stressful day at work, she started to dissociate. The rocking of the train car only seemed to coax her into said dissociation more. It wasn’t the work that wore her down—it was the nightmare that haunted her every night.

It was always the same.

As sleep would claim her it always took a moment for the nightmare to start the same. She’d slowly open her eyes in a foreign room. After attempting to move she’d notice just how weak she was, her energy utterly drained. Before she could dwell on those issues, the soft sobbing of a woman would catch her attention. Beside her bed sat a woman in a flowing dress, begging her to wake up between sobs.

However, before Christina could attempt to speak, she’d be jarred awake, sitting up panting. Each morning left her more frustrated—no matter how hard she tried, the dream’s details slipped away.

What frustrated her more was the recurrence of said dream, every night, for the past week and a half. Christina wasn’t the superstitious type, but it was getting to her. The knot in her stomach only tightened after each subsequent dream, giving her a sense of unease.

Her first fear was someone she held dear was in trouble or hurt. After calling around though, that fear was unfounded. It made her feel better, but didn’t get rid of the nagging feeling left behind.

Christina was startled from her dissociation by the slight lurch of the train. Outside the sound of metal shrieking against the tracks was getting louder. The train was beginning to slow down in preparation for the final stop of the night.

With a practiced motion she grabbed her things, ready to depart when able. While waiting she shivered, the same unease from earlier overshadowing her exhaustion. Sleep sounded heavenly right now, but that dream could rear its head again.

I wonder if it’ll be any different tonight?

The loudspeakers crackled to life. “Last Stop, now arriving at Beasel Station Northwest.”

In anticipation of the final lurch of the train coming to a full stop she reached forward to brace herself. After allowing a few people to exit first she made her way through the open doors of the train car. With a soft step down onto the concrete she took a deep breath.

A crisp autumn night greeted her on the other side. She made her way to the staircase nearby, descending to ground level. As Christina walked the crunch of leaves were a welcome chorus to break up her thoughts. This time of year was her favorite, one of the few bright spots in the past week.

The walk from the train station to her apartment building wasn’t particularly long. It was enough to get a breath of fresh air before reaching the lobby of her building.

She waved at a neighbor, quickly checked her mailbox, and made her way up to her apartment. The keys jingled in her hand as she unlocked the door.

Walking inside, she happily dropped her things on the kitchen counter. Sleep was calling her right now, but a shower was also needed. A hot shower followed by a hot meal sounded perfect to end her day.

A trail of clothes was left behind as she stripped on her way to the bathroom. Once inside she got the water to the perfect temperature before climbing under it.

She placed her forehead against the cold tile, hoping the hot water would wash away her stress. A hot shower was usually a great way to wash away stress for her, at least physical stress. However, the kind of stress she was experiencing wasn’t physical, but mental.

What the hell is going on with me? Why can’t I shake this dream?

It was infuriating how strong of a hold it had on her. Refusing to dwell on it anymore she began lathering her body, focusing on the warmth of the water and sweet smell of her body wash.

Half an hour later she shut the water off. She grabbed a towel as she stepped out onto the tile flooring. The air felt thick around her, the steam making it heavier than usual.

After the week she’d had, it was hard to tell if it was the humidity dragging her down, or her mental anguish. After taking time to dry off as best she could, she wrapped the towel around her body before entering her bedroom.

While looking for something to wear for the night she sighed heavily. She pressed her head against the surface of her dresser.

Please… just one night of good sleep… no stupid dream.

With what felt like a prayer finished, she started getting dressed. After she was decent, she made her way to the kitchen, eager to eat something.

Ramen was a comfort food for her, so given her current frustration, it was an obvious choice. Since it was a simple dish that doesn’t require much attention, she brought her phone out. There was a MMO without an announced release date she wanted to read about.

Anything was a welcome distraction from her thoughts right now.

A sudden ding snapped her attention away from her phone, reminding her of the meal waiting for her. With a sigh, she set her phone down and made her way to the stove to finish preparing it.

A few minutes later she had a steaming bowl of ramen, complimented by an egg and pork, sitting in front of her. With a greedy mouthful of ramen she resumed what she was reading.

When she was finished with dinner she made her way to bed. Even with the dread hanging over her it was impossible to fight off the drowsiness. The coziness under the covers mirrored the warmth of her meal.

In an attempt to avoid falling asleep, she brought her phone back out. Internally, she knew exactly what she was doing—anything to avoid the nightmare that awaited her.

However, with how comfortable she found herself it was only a matter of time.

At first, it wasn’t obvious, but soon she noticed the pull of sleep. Her eyes would close for what she thought was a few seconds, but were actually minutes. After rubbing her eyes she would try and focus on the video playing. Then she’d open her eyes again, not realizing she nodded off again.

She never noticed the exact moment sleep took hold. What should’ve been peaceful was suddenly—wrong.

With a start, Christina sat up in bed, not because she was awake, but because she was in a white abyss. In all directions for as far as she could tell, the white abyss continued to stretch on. It was a welcome change from the normal nightmare she had been experiencing.

“What the… where the hell am I?”

With a slow, hesitant movement, she swiveled her legs to hang off the bed.

“What kind of dream is this?”

The lack of details was a stark contrast, even compared to her normal nightmare from before.

“I don’t appreciate that kind of language,” came a voice.

Christina whipped around expecting someone to be directly behind her. However, all that remained there was the expanse of white abyss. The voice appeared right next to her ear in a hushed whisper.

Have I finally lost it? My mind has to be fucking with me, or I’ve gone insane… great.

“Hello? Is someone there? Anyone?”

Eerie silence answered her as she looked on, looking for any detail.

What caught her attention however, was additional weight on the bed. Christina’s heart started racing. This new dream had her on edge, so who knew what she was about to see.

With a hesitant turn of her body she finally saw who had spoken—a beautiful woman casting a soft radiant glow.

Christina’s thoughts were temporarily overrun with her beauty. There were models who couldn’t hold a candle to her radiance. Christina stared, slack jawed and wide eyed.

Only after being asked a second time did she realize the woman was talking to her.

“I—I’m sorry… what was that?”

A familiar giggle echoed slightly around them before the mystery woman spoke up.

“I asked if you felt any discomfort?”

Discomfort? Why would she be asking about that?

Christina looked over her body. Nothing felt out of place, she wasn’t missing anything, no lingering pain either.

“Not that I can tell. I feel fine.” Christina sighed in relief, then chuckled. “Man, am I glad to have a beautiful woman in my dream this time. I was so sick of that nightmare.”

Christina’s shoulders sagged as she chuckled. She was beginning to realize the iron grip her nightmare had on her. Not only had it ruined her sleep for over a week, it had ruined every waking moment. The amount of stress she carried with her—mentally and physically—was finally melting away.

“This isn’t a dream, sweetheart.”

With a tilt of her head Christina furrowed her brows looking the woman in the face. Her expression was somber, almost apologetic. However, she didn’t look away or falter under Christina’s gaze.

“What do you mean this isn’t a dream?”

Christina tried to repeat what she heard in her head.

“This feels like a dream. A fucking vivid one.”

“Language,” the woman tutted before continuing, “this is one of many realms between the living and the dead. A buffer of sorts between the two, meant to keep them separate.”

She took a deep breath.

“You died. I stopped your soul from passing over to give you an offer. One you can refuse, should it not appeal to you.”

I died?

Christina looked down at her hands again. She wasn’t translucent like a ghost, she felt real, physical. Here. But where was here exactly?

She looked up in a panic. In every direction that white abyss stretched on. The urge to flee was strong, just take off in any direction. Find the edge, break through.

It was the soft placement of a hand on her shoulder that grounded her. It felt too real.

“How?” She asked, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I—I had my whole life… My family? My friends? I didn’t get to say goodbye…”

Without another word the woman pulled Christina into a soft embrace. The quiet surroundings were soon filled with muffled sobs.

It took everything in her to not scream in rage, to demand her life back. But there is no second chance, when you die, that’s it.

The woman didn’t move, she didn’t speak, she just held onto Christina while she let it out.

“H—how did I die?” Christina asked, wiping away tears. “What happened? I felt fine, for the most part.”

The woman shook her head. “I can’t tell you how you died. All I can do is either help you pass on, or you can take me up on my offer.”

Christina pulled away, glaring. “I don’t need your fucking offer, I want to go home.”

This time the woman didn’t scold Christina for using foul language. Christina didn’t like how she looked at her—with pity.

It hurt, all of it. This wasn’t physical pain, it was deep pain, at the bottom of her soul.

“I can reincarnate you on another world,” the woman said. “It’s a world I think you would enjoy based on your likes in your previous life.”

While it wasn’t the answer Christina was looking for, it did get her attention.

“Let me guess, you’re some Goddess who wants me to recruit people to fight off a demon lord or something? Anime have squeezed all they can out of that plot line.”

In a surprising change of tone, the Goddess giggled. It started small but quickly grew into an impossible-to-contain, full-body laugh.

Once she finally composed herself, she spoke shaking her head.

“No, no. Nothing like that at all. Everything is quite peaceful on the world right now. Minor conflicts still happen, but nothing as grandiose as fighting off a demon lord and his army.”

She tried wiping the smile from her face but couldn’t. “Before we continue, my name is Qhemeria.”

Christina didn’t know whether to shake this woman’s hand, punch her, or scream at her. It was all too raw right now. So the best thing she could do, was focus on something else.

“You said you have an offer for me? To get reincarnated on this new world, but not to fight?” Christina crossed her arms. “Then what’s the purpose? Goddesses don’t just grab random people like me and offer a new life without ulterior motive.”

The Goddess smirked with an approving look.

“You’re half right. I do have an ulterior motive, but it benefits everyone involved. On my world, there’s a girl around your age. Her soul is decaying at an accelerating pace and I have a way to save it.”

It felt like a bomb was dropped on Christina’s tough exterior. Unfortunately, she was all too familiar with dying now. It wasn’t a great experience. The thought of someone else dying upset her.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Well, you see. On this world as someone reaches maturity, their body is supposed to adapt to magic. Everyone has magic coursing through them. However, for reasons beyond even my understanding, her soul can’t handle it. As she’s getting older the magic is eating away at her soul. This has resulted in her being locked in an irreversible coma.

“I am in the unique position where I can remove her soul, saving it from the magical incompatibility that plagues it. At the same time I can implant another person’s soul in its place. The longer I wait to make a move, the more likely her soul will become too fragile for the swap.”

Magic?A world with magic, and it’s killing someone because their soul can’t handle it?

This was something never explored in modern media. Hell, it didn’t even occur to Christina that it was possible. Then again her society relied on technology, not magic.

“So your goal is to swap us? How do you know my soul can handle it when I’ve never been around magic?” Christina asked pointedly. “How do I know I won’t just share the same fucking fate?”

“Language,” the goddess tutted once again. “I can bolster your soul before making the swap, allowing you to naturally withstand it during recovery. By the time you’re healthy, my bolstering will have worn off, and you’ll be safe.”

“I don’t know.” Christina paused. “While I can’t prove your methods will work, that isn’t the problem. You’ll be inserting me into a family I know nothing about. I won’t be their daughter either. I don’t feel comfortable parading around as someone else, taking their place. It’s just… wrong.”

Qhemeria let out a long sigh before putting her hands on her hips.

“Listen, regardless of what you choose, she is going to die. Either I swap your souls, and she moves on naturally. Or her soul is slowly eaten by her magic, killing her, only for her parents to find her one morning.”

Gone was Qhemeria’s gentle and understanding mood. Now she was being to the point, not mincing words, being blunt.

I wonder who’s going to find my body?

The realization that someone would stumble upon Christina made her stomach churn.

How long will it take? How will my parents take it?

The room was beginning to spin now. It was the soft placement of a hand on her shoulder that grounded her again.

“Save one family the grief of losing their daughter. You can decide how to frame it to make the best of the situation.”

“Let me save not just this random girl you know nothing about. Let me give you a full life, something you weren’t given the first time.”

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