I opened my eyes to find myself in a strange white void. All around was a thick white fog, like I had been placed inside a massive cloud. When my eyes looked down, I saw more of the same fog, and no feet. Or legs. Did I have a body?

I must be dreaming, I thought to myself. Before I could do anything else, though, two lights began to shine in front of me. They started off dim, like two little fireflies, but quickly became so bright I couldn’t stand to look at them, despite my lack of real body or eyes. A few seconds later the lights dimmed and I turned to see two massive figures staring at me.

The pair of women were well over twenty feet tall, both looking vastly different yet oddly similar at the same time. The one on the left was a bright white, the edges of her form highlighted in light blue. Her long pale blue hair cascaded around her like waves. She had no clothes on, technically, but her body appeared to be…glitching? The areas that would normally be covered seemed to be endlessly rendering something new, or just stuck in a glitch form. Overall, it gave the woman a very ghostlike appearance. Her eyes had no pupils, just that odd blue white, and the way she stared made me feel like I was being scrutinized, judged.

The other woman was bathed in a golden glow. Her form seemed to be made up of that golden light, her skin radiating light like a sunrise. She wore a simple white dress that reminded me of Greek gods, flowy and plain. A crown adorned her head, shaped like the points of sunbeams, small orange gemstones embedded along the tips. Her eyes were closed, but she smiled benevolently and I felt safe, protected by her presence.

“Welcome,” the two said at the same time.

“We have been waiting for you,” the woman I mentally dubbed as Sunrise said. Well, her mouth didn’t move, so I don’t know if it was speaking persay, but it’s a dream, so I just roll with it.

“Why me?” I ask in reply, my not-voice echoing oddly.

“You have proven to have good survival skills,” the blue woman said, her voice flat and lacking affect. I was going to call her Ocean, but after hearing her voice, all I could think of was the System.

“You have shown bravery that marks the makings of a hero,” added Sunrise, her voice sounding like a proud mother’s.

“I’m not a hero,” I say, guilt rising in my chest. “I’m just…trying my best.”

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“You are not a hero yet,” Sunrise said gently. “But you will be.”

“You have an important job,” System interrupted. “You are needed.”

“Needed? What do you mean?” I ask. This dream is strange and confusing.

“This is no dream,” System says flatly, sending chills down my spine. Could they read my thoughts?

“We should explain first,” Sunrise tells System, who nods after a moment. Sunrise turns her large face back to me.

“We are not from your world, Maisy,” she begins. “But there was a mistake that has caused untold damage. You see, we are from the worlds beside yours.”

“Beside…mine?” I ask, confused. System lets out an impatient sigh.

“Wait,” Sunrise says sharply to her, surprising me with her tone. System stops and Sunrise continues.

“There are many, many worlds. The best way for you to understand is that they lay on top of each other, like pages in a book.” A golden book appears in the air in front of me, floating gently. “We are the pages above and below your page. Well, your world.” The book opened, showing three pages opened.

“Oookay,” I say slowly. “I understand so far, I think.”

“In my world, an incident happened between very strong beings. What your people might call ‘gods’. A demon king gained enough power to be considered a god and has created chaos portals. And it tore our page.”

One of the golden pages began to burn, a tiny hole in the middle forming.

“In my world,” System picked up the next part, “There was an error in one of the dungeons created. Much like a video game in your reality, my people are given skills, stats, and fight monsters in dungeons. But after the incident in Reality 88001-” System motioned to Sunrise with a nod, “A dungeon was opened to a different Reality. It is causing more disruptions and errors in the code. If the error is not resolved-”

A tear formed in the third page, light bleeding through onto the page between.

“Then our realities will begin to collapse,” Sunrise finished, her eyes downcast. “Our realities are bleeding into yours, causing yours to begin to collapse as well.”

The drastic truth began to sink in and my thoughts started to race. Is this what caused the portals, and the skills? But how could they save it? Was there anything that could be done?

“All is not forsaken yet,” Sunrise told her. “But the ‘solution’ must occur in your world. Our worlds are no longer stable. Our heroes might be able to fix things-”

“As could our Hunters,” adds System, “if your world stabilized enough.”

“But wait,” I try to interrupt but System and Sunrise shake their heads simultaneously; the action is uncanny.

“There is no time,” System says. “The link is beginning to fade; the update is taking place.”

“Four heroic relics fell from our world into yours,” Sunrise tells me quickly. “Find them and hold back the Cataclysm.”

“You must embrace the skills and tools you have been given,” System includes. “They are the only thing that can save you. Do your best and you will survive.”

“And remember,” Sunrise smiles at me, “We will send you help when you need it. You aren’t alone.”

Before I can ask anything else or reply, the world begins to disintegrate. The air dissolved into static with an earsplitting roar and my eyes snapped open.