The sensation of falling came so quickly that I didn't even have the chance to cry out in alarm. The savannah grasslands gave way to rocky earth and as I plummeted rock and stone gave way to fiery clouds churning and blazing with multicolor flames. The fire licked my skin as I fell through them, but I felt no pain. Then the clouds gave way to what at first appeared to be endless nothingness. Slowly, an array of objects, colors and lights began to take shape. Before me was a large globe, roughly half of its surface was composed of varying shades of blue. Breaking up the azure expanse of its surface were jagged formations, patchworks of green, tan, yellow, brown, red and even black.

Orbiting around the planet were three moons, one was significantly larger than the other two, I saw that one of the smaller moons appeared broken; pieces of what I assumed had been part of the smaller moon now floated around it, forming a cloudy ring. The sight would have been breathtaking if my attention was not immediately taken by the oval-shaped holes in the surrounding void, through them I saw skies and horizons that ranged from indescribable beauty to unfathomably terrifying. Some of the ovals were surrounded by frost others by fire, a few even radiated strange energy I couldn't identify. I continued to feel myself fall further into this new space, this new world. Then suddenly my descent stopped and I felt something solid beneath my feet.

“Ahh, my child,” a voice echoed around me, feminine in nature and almost motherly but sharp and raspy giving it an edge that made me shiver, “What has Ignis done to you?” A figure appeared before me, though her voice sounded feminine I couldn't tell that by looking at the figure. She was clothed from head to toe in a black flowing satin chadri, every inch of her covered except for her hands. As she extended one out to me I saw her skin was almost as black as her clothes, thin and almost skeletal and her fingers were tipped with jagged black claws. I stared at the space where her eyes should have shown, but all that stared back at me were empty black sockets on top of her oddly shaped head. It looked almost triangular, with the point closest to me protruding the farthest. My trance-like state was broken when she spoke again.

“Come, I will heal your soul dear Nara.” She spoke sweetly but it was again undercut with her sharp rasp, like nails on a chalkboard. At the mention of that name my head started to pound so fiercely I squeezed my eyes shut, I felt as though my very being was slowly ripping apart. When I managed to open my eyes again I saw what appeared to be two flaming pyramids surrounding me. One faced upward, the other down, and their middles intersected. It was a Merkabah. I was lifted by an unseen force off the ground and into the center of the two pyramids, suspended in mid-air.

“Stubborn fool!” the strange creature spat, “We had a deal! Why is he making this so difficult?!” The figure screamed and a long wicker staff materialized in her hand. She struck the staff and scraped it toward herself three times, a figure appeared at each point of the Merkabah, chanting something in a language I couldn't recognize.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

‘It sounds like, Buddhist meditation hymns?’ I wondered before I paused at the thought, ‘Buddhist?’ The word sounded familiar but I couldn't place where I knew it from, ‘What is that-’

I screamed as I felt molten lava pour from my eyes and mouth, as each of the eight figures raised their hands. Their palms faced me and rays of light shot out of them, striking me with tremendous force. The beam knocked me back and forth, tossing me around the space I floated in, unable to do anything but try to withstand the assault. The press of the light increased on all sides till it pinned me in the dead center of the floating pyramids. Paralyzed. Glowing sigils and words flowed across the rays of light striking me, they seeped into my skin burning my flesh yet healing at the same time.

Tears flowed from my eyes as fragments of images, thoughts, and feelings began filling my mind. They were disjointed, scrambled like pieces of a puzzle or . . . memories of a past life? I came to a sinking realization. This was no dream, I was here now and this was not my soul.

“Good, now we can talk.” The shrouded figure tapped the staff thrice again and everything disappeared.

I felt exhausted like I had run three marathons and then gotten beaten within an inch of my life. There were emotions I couldn't put a name to flowing throughout my body. I felt as though there was nothing in this world that could make me feel in any way worse than I did at that moment. Then the twisted figure approached me.

“I am the Countess and you will now serve me. No, you don’t have a choice in the matter.” The Countess stated matter of factly.

“What is happening?” I asked, hoping for some kind of answer.

“You have questions, fine, but as I don’t have much time we will need to be brief. There are several others I need to speak to and unlike a certain red idiot I can't make a million copies of myself.” She replied with an even tone, sounding almost flippant.

“I borrowed your soul, you will be reborn here with a Vaettir soul and be what I like to call a Player Soul.” she began to speak quickly as if answering questions she had been asked a million times over, “Yes, you can die here, this is just as real as your former life. Yes, the Conductor of the Goddess works for me. No, I’m not a goddess. No, you may not ask any more questions. No, this is not your universe, dimension, or world. It is not even in the same plane of existence. Also, no you are not dead and your cats will be fine. Probably. Anyway, that's all the time I can spare for you. As you Earthers would say, Ciao!” she waved her hand, and before I could refute anything she said I was cast back down into the void.

“What the fuck do you mean ‘borrowing my soul’?!” I felt myself scream.

I felt myself fall further, plummeting toward the world below. Nothing I had felt since this ordeal started made me want to strangle that woman more than the stuck-up attitude she had. As if my life was nothing more than a toy for her to do whatever she wished with. I fucking mattered and one day I was going to shove her arrogant attitude up her-

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!”