Felix tried to go back to sleep. With muddled thoughts, he fought off the tendrils of wakefulness.

It is the goddamn weekend and I am not going to waste this fucking morning by not sleeping in.

He pulled at his blanket which felt surprisingly coarse.

Must have been one of my shirts, I really need to stop going out so late. FUCK. I can already feel the headache coming on.

He rolled over and received a stab for his troubles. Confused, he reached over and pulled at the object sticking out of his bed.

This almost feels like a piece of straw. Why would there be a straw in my bed?

In confusion, he opened his eyes. Fear crawled along his spine when he began to see the vague outline of an unfamiliar room. A sharp pain shot through his head, and he cradled it in his hands. The quick motion sent a wave of nausea through him. All the movements of his body felt wrong. Laying there in the dark, Felix tried to control his breathing and fight back against the rising discomfort. Eventually, Felix regained sufficient control of his body to focus on other things.

Alright, let’s think about this logically. What is the last thing I can remember? I was out late with my friends from... high school, yes high school. We went over what we had been up to for the past year and then I Ubered home. Yes, I am sure that’s what happened. That Uber driver even talked up a storm at me and I remember being dropped off and stumbling into bed. But then what the fuck is going on! Was I kidnapped?

He realized he was hyperventilating and the nausea was coming back. Felix closed his eyes again and stemmed that train of thought. He tried to focus on his body instead. No injuries stood out to him but something felt wrong. It was an odd feeling as if his body just wasn't the right size. After he pulled his hands away from his face, he opened and closed them.

This feeling of offness is more obvious when I move. Did I take something last night? My entire kinesthesia is all wrong. Maybe I am ill.

He glanced around again at the still impenetrable gloom. As he breathed in and out, his body began to feel better.

Well, I am at least healthy.

A third shock of pain lanced through his mind. Felix chuckled derisively and mumbled, "Talk about jinxing yourself."

He stumbled out of bed, determined to understand the situation he found himself in. To his chagrin, he was naked except for some crude underwear. Methodically, he turned and shuffled across the floor. Unable to see, he reached out until he found a wall. He followed the rough textured wall until he discovered a door. Though lacking a handle, he was able to push it open.

What greeted him was a vast slope of some hill or mountain with buildings peppered along a wide path. Yet what took his breath away was the sky. Moonless, the sky was alight with the glory of stars he had never seen. They twinkled and danced, with brilliant shooting stars setting the night sky ablaze.

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Even that trip I took to the middle of nowhere with… with my relatives. Yay, my relatives. That trip was nothing like this. There are so many!

The difficulty in remembering though was quickly drowned out as a realization hit him. The sky was completely unfamiliar, there was not a constellation in the sky he recognized.

I must be imagining it. I was never very good at astronomy.

Shakily he turned around and rushed back into the room. The starlight from the open door now revealed the silhouettes of various furniture. Upon a now discernable shelf, he found a beautifully intricate lantern of brass and glass. With hands trembling, he pulled it from the shelf to find a switch. He turned the switch and heard a scraping sound. A shower of sparks lit the inside of the lantern resulting in a flickering flame lighting up the room.

Still unsure of how he got here, Felix decided to barricade the door for his peace of mind. Huddling in a corner, he pulled the lantern close and tried to think through the situation.

Alright, I woke up in a completely foreign place under a sky without a single familiar star. How is this possible? It isn't just the other hemisphere. I have seen that before. Where… Where am I? Wait, my body felt all wrong.

He slowly brought his hands in front of his face.

These aren't mine.

My hands are larger, worn, and lighter.

No, I mean these are too large, worn, and darker.

A fourth jolt of pain in his head had him reeling.

Focus, these hands aren't mine.

He tried to come up with a rational explanation but even the convoluted scenario didn't fit.

Am I mad? Is this some government conspiracy or some god damn simulation? But I am not important enough for that. Perhaps that's why I am here. Someone needed a guinea pig and I was the perfect specimen. Just the victim of some sick experiment.

Round and round his thought went. Going through his memory, he tried to figure out what instigated this.

My memories are all wrong! They feel right but these memories can't possibly be from the same person. I can remember Earth and my crappy apartment. I have three little sisters. No, wait, I am of a family of all boys. Aaah damn it, it doesn't match.

In frustration, he pulled his short hair. In the flood, the lifetimes rushed through his head. As he began to comb through them however, he quickly realized that all of them are fragmented.

Alexander Chen, Sophia, Ethan, Chen, Li, Zhang, Wang, Liu.

He cradled his head at the fifth lance of pain.

No, she was from my small town on the coast not my hometown on earth. Wait, what?

Faster and faster his mind raced. In a flood, lifetimes rushed through his head. Piece by piece he combed through them even as they sought to drag him under. They were unwieldy, the deeper he searched the more evident their fragmented nature became.

Even my memories of a life on earth are a patchwork affair. I can remember my dad named Bao- wait no, that is from the memory of a when I was a street urchin. No my dad from the Earth memories was Stan. That bastard left me and my mother when we were young. Oh my god. My mother. I can't remember her name yet I can remember Stan.

With an effort of will, he set down that mental baggage and continued separating the non-Earth memories. Their completeness was even worse. Different lives and different parents, yet they all felt like his own.

What could explain this situation? How could I have these memories? If it is a simulation, then I am already doomed. What else could it be?

Then a crazy thought occurred to him and the absurdity of it made Felix giggle.

Isekai. I got god damned Isekai.

He thought of the strange body, the unfamiliar night, and the conflicting memories. With his arms wrapped around his legs, he sat there and shook back and forth, trying to control his hysteria. After hours of his mind going in circles, sleep finally took him.