??? POV

This human was dead. His heart has stopped, and his body is broken. But his cells are still alive. I can make it. I can fix him. I just need to take him. And then he can lay me to rest.

I just need to reach out.

A bit further.

Almost

Got him.

I pull the corpse closer to me. I drag him to the ground with me, and I take him, breaking through this material reality as we leave the land of the living and into the nightmare I created.

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She spent a century wandering the frozen wasteland until she concluded there was no way to leave. At least, she thinks a century has passed. Time holds no meaning in a place like this. After a century, there seems to be no way in, either. Her little sister once told her of a tactic to calm herself and stay steadfast when everything feels out of control. Focus on what you can be certain of - the facts. Recite the certainties. What could she be certain of at this moment?

She is here. That’s a fact. What are some others? The icecape is cold and endless. Fact. She has trapped herself here. Another fact. She is alone. Fact. She knows who she is. Right?

“I… am Selene Lyseraphina, first princess of Solaria… Eldest sister to Zephyra, Amaryllis, Celestine and Sunny. Weak and pathetic. Unworthy.” She says with certainty. The icy breeze carries her words into the void. The sky above is a cold jet black. It's the colour of her mother’s hair. It used to be the colour of her hair, too, but this limbo has long since turned it a stark white. The iridescent ice below her bare, pale feet shimmers with a blueish-green hue. There is no sun, moon or stars, yet everything is moonlit.

Decades pass. Centuries pass. Maybe even millennia. Every ‘day’, she takes note of and clings to what she knows is certain. She is here. Fact. She is alone. Fact. There is no way out. Fact. She deserves this. Fact. She knows exactly who and what she is.

“I am Selene Lyseraphina, first Princess of Solaria. Eldest sister to Zephyra, Amaryllis, Celestine and Sunny. Weak, pathetic and unworthy.”

Every day, there are fewer certainties. Every day, doubt piles upon doubt. Every day, she grows colder and paler. She is tired. But at least things were simple. Despite being the eldest of her sisters, she was always the one lacking. Despite being royalty, she was incompetent. She was never brilliant, clever, strong or charismatic the way royalty was expected to be. Even when compared to the standards of common folk, she was a simpleton. Slow. Dull.

She begins to like the fact that there are fewer facts. She didn’t need to think as much. Thinking was never her forte - nor was anything, really. She remembers yearning for a simple life, and now she has it. There is simplicity and peace here, in the frigid breeze and boundless ice. She is here. She is alone. She was running somewhere but never made it. She was with someone who was no longer by her side. Her sister Sunny, in likelihood. Whatever she was running from - a rebellion, was it? A war? Whatever it was, it was all over by this point. All out of her hands. It’s a great relief not to have to worry about being found or taking care of her little sister.

No. She remembers. Selene didn’t remember much, but this event forced itself to the forefront of her mind. She was found. She was caught in Sunny’s place while she just hid. It was her fault! She would never’ve had to endure the turncoat's brutality if it weren't for her. She never would have had to leave her home if Sunny ran to anyone else for help. Why would Sunny run to her in the first place? All Selene ever did was screw up. Why would Sunny expect anything different from her in times of crisis?

Sunny’s dependency was killing her. She would never admit it to anyone. She wanted to leave her. To sacrifice her so she would be let go freely. All she wanted to do was to go home and forget it all. No responsibilities. No burdens. No sisters. Just solitude. Just isolation. Just her alone in her cold room. That’s all. All she had to do was sacrifice Sunny. To get rid of that parasitic pest - that festering blight!

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Just give up.

“I am Selene Lyseraphina, eldest sister to Zephyra, Amaryllis, Celestine and Sunny,” says Selene Lyseraphina.

Give. Up.

“I am Selene Lyseraphina, loving sister to Sunny Lyseraphina,” says Selene Lyseraphina, continuing to walk along the otherworldly ice.

You were never that. Just give up. Abandon it. Renounce it. Sacrifice it.

“I am… Selene,” says Selene.

You’re not even that. Don’t think. That’s all you ever wanted, isn’t it? To abandon everything? To be unbothered by anyone and anything? The opportunity lies before you here in the endless winter. Just. Give. Up.

“I…” the girl murmurs. She isn’t sure of anything anymore. All her memories and thoughts have frozen over. There is only ice. And that voice.

“I…” she says.

Renounce. Vow to renounce it all.

“I…”

Say it.

“Freeze…” the girl murmured. As the word escapes her small, pale blue lips, a howling blizzard engulfs all. It drowns at all the noise. It freezes the thoughts. It freezes the ugly hatred trying to invade her. But it’s in her mind now.

We’re all waiting for you. Just. Give. In.

“No…” she whimpers. She can still feel. She needs to freeze it all. She won’t ever allow herself to hate her sister. Her ice will grant her wish. The world grows colder and colder. Her voice. Her memories. Her feelings. If all she is going to do is curse and hate Sunny, she won’t hesitate to freeze herself forever. It just needs to be colder.

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Roy POV

Being dead is surprisingly comfy. I just feel like I’m rotting in a really cozy bed, but that bed is entirely made of mud. Actually, I think I am just lying in mud. I lazily sit up and rub my tired eyes with my one remaining hand. I wipe something mucky on my face. It was mud. Not ideal. I wipe the mud off my face with the back of my arm. Then I feel the nerves in my left arm get yanked, forcing my soul out of my body as I fall on my side with my mouth open in a silent scream. I clutch at my arm, expecting nothing, but I feel my hand land on flesh on a… what is that, a rock? Gemstone?

“Sorry!” An unfamiliar voice apologises in my head. It sounded like a child's voice. Boy or girl, I can’t tell which. After the burning pain wears off, I sit back up and glance down at my left arm. In place of my previous fleshy arm was a cool pearlescent diamond prosthetic from my shoulder down. It was also covered in mud because of the mud I was lying in, but it still looked shiny.

“I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t expect connecting to your nerves would hurt you so much,” the voice says again. “Also, while you were out, I kinda dug through your memories to learn a bit. Well, actually, I learned a lot. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh, uh, no, I don’t mind,” I say aloud.

“Thanks,” the voice breathes. “I tried fixing everything else that was wrong with you, but I don’t have enough of myself to give you a new eye without sacrificing something else. I figured you could live without one, and having an extra arm will help you here.”

“Aw, thank you! That’s so nice,” I tell the young arm, giving it my utmost gratitude. “So what are you?”

“Uh…” The voice hums and hahs in my mind as it tries to formulate an answer. “That’s a hard question to explain. I’m just your arm now - at least until you leave here. Or for as long as you live, which will be forever if you don’t leave here.”

“...Please explain in a way someone stupid can understand,” I beg the diamond arm.

“I don’t know how,” the voice said. “But to start with… You’re in a different world from the one you know.”

“Oh yeah, I know this,” I tell it.

“No, no,” it tells me. “A different, different world. This is a world I made. It’s different from the one I found you in.”

“Oh, so are you a god?”

“Yeah!” It tells me. “Well, no. But kind of. I was going to be a god, but- Wait!” I flinch as the voice screamed excitedly right into my brain. “I thought of a simple explanation.”

I gasp in awe and applaud. “Wow, well done!”

“Thank you, thank you. Okay, so, you’re not in a third different world. You’re in the other world's equivalent of Valhalla that I made, except instead of being joyous and pleasant, people mindlessly slaughter each other until the end of time, unable to die. If you want to leave, you have to kill what is basically my evil twin.”

“Question.”

“Yes, Roy?”

“Why am I naked?”

“Because I couldn’t bring your clothes into the afterlife. Don’t worry; you should be able to find clothes on all the corpses here.”

“Not ideal,” I murmur. “Wait, so am I dead?”

“No,” the voice answers. “You’re just on the edge of life and death. That’s why you can return to the other world you were summoned to when you kill my evil twin. Any more questions?”

“Just one. What do I call you? Do you have a name?”

The voice doesn’t answer. But then it does. “No, I don’t have a name,” it says as if only just realising. “Call me whatever you want.”

“Alright,” I smile. My grin grows wider as I fail to suppress a chuckle. “Your name is Viceroy now.”