The battle had been going on so well, at first. You, Arjuna, led the charge after Bima got the troll’s attention. With your legendary sword, Asi, you slashed at the back of the monster’s knees and heels, but its skin proved thicker than you thought, and that’s how this slog had come to be. Your wizard-in-training, Nakula, had cast buffs early in the fight, as well as flinging rocks, ice, and the occasional lightning every now and then, but the boy only had so much to offer.

You dodge one crushing blow from the troll and find yourself face-to-face with a monkey. It offered you a stamina potion as well as some berries, which you accepted graciously. Before much more could be exchanged, the monkey leapt back to its place amongst the party supplies a bit behind Nakula, no doubt rummaging around for something else that the party could use to gain an edge.

You relished in the berry’s sour taste as it helped you to keep the bitter-tasting stamina potion down on its way to your stomach. Its effects were immediate as you found the strength to once more launch an attack upon the troll’s indomitable hide. You locked eyes with Bima, and he understood, launching his bulk upon one of the troll’s legs to unbalance the foe. Nakula, sensing your intent, bolstered your legs and bid the wind to hasten your ascent. With a mighty roar, you climbed up the falling Troll’s bulk to where its eyes awaited. You pushed away one of the troll’s hands and made a dive for a strike that would pierce the monster’s skull through and through.

Except, again your luck failed you. Your footing proved more precarious than you thought, and your surefire death strike simply impaled your sword through one of the troll’s eyes, blinding it in one eye, but leaving it otherwise unharmed and greatly enraged. You consider leaving your sword as it proved too difficult to loosen with just one hand, but before you could do anything, a spear came out of the blue and pierced the troll’s other eye. You turned your head and saw its owner, your self-proclaimed rival, Krisna.

“Getting sloppy there, Arjuna.” The spearman smirked before returning back to his serious face. He started off with a running start, culminating in him being launched into the air with Bima’s help. Time seemed to slow down as you stopped trying to pry your sword loose and instead now did your best to cause as much damage as possible within the ruined remains of the troll’s eye. The beast roared and even scored a couple of hits against your body, but you persevered. Finally, the spearman arrived at his spear and used his momentum to drive the final couple of inches deep into the troll’s brain.

The troll’s body twitched once before it crashed into the land, lifeless. With that, you glanced around at everybody. They were short of breath.  “Well done.” Bima gave you a thumbs up, while Nakula gave a weary smile. Nakula’s pet, Hanuman, simply tilted its head, while Krisna simply locked eyes with you for a moment before rolling his eyes and looking somewhere else. 

After cleaning everything up, you and your party went back to town to collect on your bounty and celebrate a little before going home. A few tense moments came and went when Krisna demanded he be given a bigger share of the bounty, only to shut up once you pointed out that he only showed up right at the end of the troll hunt. You and your party left the guild satisfied, but not before Krisna announced that he was going to hunt a troll all by himself now and ‘show you losers what real skill looks like’, or something to that effect.

With the sun setting soon, you part ways with your party and head to the town’s teleportation station. After what you’ve been through, paying a little extra to sleep in your own bed seems a no-brainer. Unfortunately, most of the town’s wizards were at capacity, and you were left with a nervous, shaky apprentice barely older than you. Doubts about his ability went away for a bit as he started the familiar chant of a teleportation spell, and in the span of a breath, you were gone.  

Immediately, you figured something was wrong.

Rather than standing on your own front door, you found yourself under the warmth of something fluffy. It reminded you of when your old neighbor’s pet warg had almost smothered you under its bulk when you were nearly at table height. The fur coat that you felt this time, however, was less prickly and weighed considerably less.

I must have fallen asleep, you concluded without much fuss, but stirrings on the other side of the bed alarmed you. A head rested on a pillow that wasn’t there before, and you took a peek under the covers to confirm---with great relief---that it was connected to a body. The skin was blue like a bright summer day, with darker hues here and there like when one looked deep into the sky and wondered if darkness claimed where the sky ended.

“Mmm, Arjuna, where did you go?” A woman’s voice called out your name and a blue hand groped around where you once were. You tentatively let your hand meet hers and a pleased sigh came from the woman before your hands entwined and she pulled you in to hug her from behind.  All questions that came fell silent as your body felt hers. Ten minutes passed before you even thought of breaking free from this stranger in your bed what they were doing, but to you, it might as well have been an hour.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” You asked with high expectations of being answered, but the sound that came next came instead from a thin, cut slab of rock that rested on the nightstand of your side of the bed. A thin white tendril extended out of it from one of its sides, which you found out was a separate piece as you gently lifted the slab from the nightstand. A pleasant melody came out of the said slab. You shook the slab, thinking a whole band was inside.

“Hello? Is someone there?” You decided to ask the slab. But it kept on humming, unbothered by your perplexed voice. "What kind of magic is this?"

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“Dear, what’s wrong?” The woman beside you moved closer, yawning cutely as she opened her eyes. Only now could you see her face in its entirety, and what you saw shocked you to your core. It’s Krisna! You yelled inwardly. And indeed the woman’s face bore a striking resemblance to the gung-ho self-proclaimed rival of yours that only a few hours ago were up in arms for a petty matter.

The woman extended her hand, grabbing the slab from you. “It’s just Bima. Pick it up. This might be important.” She touched the surface with her slender index finger, tap, gave it to you, then got out of the bed. She yawned again, stretched her body, and fixed her hair. You, on the other hand, just sat there admiring the view.

“Arjuna? Are you there, man?” Bima’s voice snapped you out of your reverie.

“Bima?”

“Finally, I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“Are you inside of this thing? Or is this some kind of new magic transmission device?” Your voice held worries. Although you could not stand his dad-jokes sometimes, Bima was Bima. He was your precious tanker. Thus, when you heard his voice beeping out of the strange object, you could not help but worry.

“What are you talking about? Wake up already. I am calling to let you know that I need help to pick all the new cameras. Let’s meet up at the warehouse. And one more thing, there will be a sudden meeting this afternoon. The director wants to see the initial designs of the game characters. You hear me?”

“Yes?” You heard him fine, but you had no idea what he meant.

Camera? What warehouse? Director who? Initial what? You felt a sudden urge to hit your head, but you were too stunned to do anything.

“I’ll see you there at 9 then.”

Beep.

“You heard the man, dear. Get your lazy bum off the bed and hit the showers already.” She-Krisna made a small show of pulling you out of bed, tossing you a towel while giggling all the while. You looked at her, then at the slab, then at the door where the ‘showers’ lay waiting. Taking a deep breath, you put the towel on your shoulder and prayed to all the gods that were listening that the day would start to make sense soon.

Your body was on autopilot as you moved towards the door. On the other hand, your brain screamed for some logic. You got inside the bathroom. Already, you felt out of place. Inside was nothing like your usual bathroom. You saw clean white tiles, some greenery at the corners, a big mirror, bottles of product resting on a platform, and other foreign things.

“What are you doing, standing like that?” You were so busy being baffled that you didn’t realize She-Krisna had gotten inside the bathroom as well.

“Hurry up before your son wakes up. It’s your turn to change his diapers. Remember?” She-Krisna walked past you but not before her warm hand stroked your stiff shoulder. 

My son?

She then stopped before the big mirror. Your heart almost jumped out of your chest as you saw her undressing.

“Wait! What are you doing?”

“What do you mean, dear? I need to get ready too. We can wash up together.” She frowned.

“Why?”

“Why not? I’m your wife.” She gave you a confused smile before she undressed herself and got inside the shower’s curtain.

You froze, unable to process the reality you were in. The Krisna you know was a pain in the ass. But, honestly speaking, you never truly hated him. He was just a big-mouthed, rough and unkempt guy. Someone who was the very opposite of you. That was why you could not imagine him as a woman. It was never a topic to begin with. Yet this She-Krisna was gorgeous. And she was cute too. She was basically your ideal woman, which made it even weirder that she looked uncannily like Krisna..

You heard the sound of water followed by Krisna's soft voice from behind the curtain, “What are you waiting for?” 

I guess this is it. You didn’t realize it, but the sides of your lips lifted, giving you a faint smile. 

“Sir!” But a hand halted your movement. You spin your head and see the young wizard from before. 

“My apologies. I sent you to the wrong world.” His eyes trembled as they met yours, suggesting how sorry he was.

“No! Wait!” You tried to stop the wizard, but the spell had been cast again. 

Then, as if your beautiful nightmare had never happened, you and the wizard stood right before your usual front door. You sighed at the view. 

“At least send me back after I showered.” The disappointment was clear in your tone. 

“Yes?” 

Your words confused the young wizard. You didn’t say anything back. Instead, you walked away and opened the door.

“I am sorry, sir. You don’t have to pay me. Here. I am giving your money back.” The wizard dug his sling bag for your money. 

“Keep it.” You said in a low voice, barely audible. 

“Eh? But-”

Despite the wizard’s whining, you stepped inside, closed the door, and glanced around. The cold and silent house welcomed you. Again. It was the first time you realized how lonely this house actually was. 

“Marriage, huh?” You mumbled to yourself. “I wonder what that's like.”