It was funny, to be honest. So funny.

A lifetime of wishing to live happily with my family, and I part ways like this.

A lifetime of wishing to die, and I still lived.

Neither of us succeeded, and here we are now. Bound to live with two sets of contrasting memories forever.

I felt immense depression at the thought. Wishing to drown myself once again, as another attempt surfaced in my mind, but then I felt ridiculous at the thought.

I did not wish to die, I wished for my family, to live. Live long and happy, painting the world as I travel. I have yet to see my newborn daughter utter her first word. Walk her first walk. Go to school. Play with her, and see her laugh.

There was so much, but yet a part of me just couldn’t for some godforsaken reason get happy at the thought of family.

The other me, the one I’m a part of now, wouldn’t let me. I can see it in my memories, the loneliness and indifference of my family.

The only bright side of this incident was our matching likes and dislikes. It was frightening, but I failed to find a hint of dissonance regarding our tastes.

We, despite being born in different timelines, had a very similar palate. Our tastes in food, clothes, women, and many other frivolities were almost identical.

So at least living like this won’t be too much of a struggle.

I wonder if that's the reason he was chosen for me to transmigrate into.

“Huuuu,” Taking a deep breath, I failed to feel much better, as I spoke out loud “Let’s just get out of here first, Carl? Conor? Ugh, I’ll just call myself Conor, do not wanna make people too suspicious if they find me talking to myself weirdly.

“Anyway this bathroom just feels much weirder every second. Somehow I almost feel embarrassed. I did not fail to die, how the fuck was I supposed to predict an Artist reviving me like this!?

“Was it really an Artist though? Can they even do it? I don’t think I’ve heard of it ever, but oh well, I’ll figure it out later.”

And so standing up, I balanced myself on my feet. Hands out, legs spread in a V, and knees a little buckled.

I still felt weak and starving, not to mention a little cold, but it was much better than a while ago.

Wobbling myself to the gate, I remembered my overcoat. I couldn’t leave it here like this, it’d send wrong signals to people.

And so groaning internally, I walked over to the full-body mirror where the overcoat lay. “Ughh…” grunting, I barely bent over and picked it up. As I stood up I stole a quick glance at the mirror.

“Name: ??”

“WHAT THE FUCK!!?” I shouted instinctively, shocked as I read these words, written over my chest, staring at me from the mirror.

Words written in yellow, blue, and red circled this one grey name on my heart like sand across a snake, and it stuck out.

‘There are so many words!! What the-’

I looked closely this time, more intrigued than scared now. These words filled my body, every single inch of it including my eyes was filled with it like sand.

The scary part? They seemed to be written over my clothes, but as I lifted my shirt, the words shifted bizarrely to cover the skin beneath it.

I moved, jumped, and stripped bare; which turned out to be harder than I expected (despite my compunction towards the cold I was feeling); but the words stayed on me.

And so quickly dressing up again, before I really caught a cold, I focused on the texts. Honestly, they were just so small and numerous that it was hard to focus on one thing properly before.

I held out my palm towards the mirror and focused. It was the one with the lowest yellow, being only one of them, which when concentrated at expanded in an ethereal display of sand-work as it read “[Softened Skin: Sub Optimal, Recovering]”

“Oh wow! It really is soft!!” I cried in joy as I touched my palm with the other hand and then realized how dumb it sounded.

‘Of course, it’s soft dammit! I was in the water since who knows when.’

Stashing my embarrassment away in the Late-night-thoughts-stash, I perked up and tried to read more of this esoteric medical display.

This time focusing on the head, which seems to have a really scary amount of red ones, I focused and the words yet again dissolved in a flurry of sand before magnifying before my eyes.

It read “[Hypoxia: Critical, Recovering], [Swelling: Critical, Recovering], [Intracranial Pressure: Critical, Recovering Swiftly]….” and tons of medical jargon, just reading the names of which horrified me to no end.

“How am I even thinking!!? How am I even alive, gosh!” I exclaimed merrily. It was such a scary thought, yet relieving at the same thought as the one part of me screamed happy at the thought of dying yet the other receded in its corner due to fear.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

And so I stood there for a few minutes, maniacally staring at the air, growing increasingly sad yet relieved at the fact I still wasn’t dead, nor was my condition deteriorating.

The initial red had turned a pale yellow, reading as [Hypoxia: Very Sub Optimal, Recovering] and so on.

So I guess I was healing somehow. Very quickly at that too. As I noticed later, a lot of yellow or red across my body was now replaced by a pale blue and I was looking more and more like a glowing Disney princess.

“Must be the one who bought me here. Who even cares at this point.” I remarked, and truly, I couldn’t care less for the plans of a sure-to-be maniac right now.

I was still hungry and it showed on my medical display over my abdomen.

But… before going, there was one little intriguing thing, hanging over my head like a crescent dart over Ryuans.

‘Huh,’ I exclaimed, surprised at the analogy I came up with ‘Interesting species…’

And with that, I concentrated, above my head, on the shimmering yet blurring cascade of geometry as space was folded in ways I couldn’t comprehend.

Looking at it gave me a headache, and I could not for the love of me understand what it was.

It just hung there, moving, slithering, flowing slowly as it rolled upon itself to emerge from another point and then disappear in another point.

It was so weird and I wouldn’t lie when I say I feel scared of it. Like, how the fuck am I supposed to move around with literal folded space hanging above my head?

What happened to transmigrators getting a pet or a fat friend? What kinda crazy mixture is this!!?

It’s so absurd that I questioned how it was not the first thing I noticed. Was I really sane even? So I double-checked, and most of me looked blue, but who knows if psychological injuries show up?

‘This…. this is a nightmare! Maybe I should stick my hand into it?’

"No! Wait what?

‘Just a small tap, nothing more’

No! What if it tears away my hand?

‘What if then?’

“……”

‘Do it!’

‘Do it!!’

‘DO IT!!!’

And that’s what I did. Lifting my hand slowly, I raised it above my head, just away from the monstrosity, and hesitated no more.

Softly approaching it, I lifted my finger and tapped to where I assumed space was folded into a ribbon…

…. and felt my hand passing through it effortlessly!

For a second I was scared if I already lost my hand, but when no thudding sound of my fingers of hand dropping on the floor came, I verified my hand still belonged to me.

It was just that…. the space maybe didn’t belong there. A doubt germinating in my mind, yet becoming increasingly fertile as I waved my hands around like an idiot over it.

A part of me felt sad, which I was starting to ignore, as I once again stayed unharmed.

“Maybe I am crazy. The strange words on my body, and now a mini labyrinth of space above me, which happens to be untouchable too!! Ain’t this just the best day of my life.” I sighed as I thought of it.

My day seemed to keep getting outlandish by the second, and I did not know what to think of it anymore. All I wanted was to run away to my bedroom and sleep for a few hours.

And that’s what I would do. Fuck with the words and chimera of space, I’ll look into it once I’m not so miserable.

Walking away from the mirror, I made my way towards the wooden door with designs depicting a creek surrounded by gorges on both sides.

Opening the door, I walked out to be greeted by the sight of a long hallway. Murals on the walls depicting the wars of 1431 and 45’ on a canvas of red brick; a black carpet running along the length, hiding the drops of the dripping water off my clothes.

Servants walked around the place. Some in a hurry, while others looked more relaxed, just waiting for some work to come their way.

“Is everything okay Sir?” A maid greeted me with a bow as she questioned.

“Hmm. Get some food to my room, as quickly as you can.” I said as I walked away to my room. I did not wait to consider if I sounded rude, weird, or perfect. These questions would come, but now… I really can’t be bothered.

‘Interesting..’ I thought, as I gazed at the murals showing torches carried by slaves of extraordinary height and devotion, which lit up the entire hallway around me.

It wasn’t like they placed real torches there. No! It was as if the painting itself glowed through time and illuminated the hallway.

It was so fascinating, making me pause my steps for a bit as I just gazed at this casual display of fantasy before my eyes. Memories of the past me walking here daily would never match the real thing.

But stashing it for later, I walked ahead, despite every part of me wishing to sit there and take a chance at understanding this miracle. Half focusing on the correct route, and half drooling over these colors.

Eventually, I reached the end. A room at the far end of the west tower, I stood inside an extravagantly colorful room with wallpapers of red and orange; a ceiling depicting a lone passenger with a torch in hand sitting at the center of what looked to be a black storm.

The room was big, but not dragon-ly big, just human-big. It was a table, a mirror hanging above it, a bed, a bedside desk, another desk near an easel with an empty canvas on it, a wardrobe to my left in the corner, and a bookshelf opposite it.

Did I mention they all looked extravagantly expensive?

To my left was another door to the bathroom, and to my right was the balcony, currently closed.

Deciding I was sick of wet clothes and the growing rashes, I walked over to the wardrobe and finally peeked inside.

A satisfying hum escaped me as I gazed at the combination of blue, white, and black in the wardrobe. Why do you need more colors for clothes anyway?

Quickly changing into an appropriate set, I walked to the balcony gate. I am not gonna sit on that bed before eating. It looks way too comfy and I too tired to be resulting in anything else but me going unconscious.

Not to mention, if I’m not wrong, this scenery should be something else…

Walking over, I unlocked the gate and for a second just stood there, mouth wide open, gawking at the marvelous scene before me.

Before me stood a mass of pure metallic mountain, shaped like a reversed kite, floating maybe a few meters above the ground.

It looked so gigantic, so imposing. Even from my distance, I couldn’t help but feel small compared to it. The mountains in the backdrop, the sprawling city before it, the wide clouds atop it. Nothing could deter it.

Nothing could ever make it feel less important.

It looked, and felt, much more important than the sum totality of human history and nature.

And as I gazed at it I felt a stirring above me. For a moment I could swear I felt it. The twitching of space above me and the goosebumps on my neck proved the subtle danger I felt. And among this all, I couldn’t help but wonder…. maybe, maybe, it wouldn’t be so bad to enjoy this place for a while.