"Let me guess, you're going to tell me to 'be not afraid'?" She asked, looking up at the impossibly vast kaleidoscope of colors before her, many of whom should not have been visible by human eyes.

"Funny." Was the response she got, the colors shifting in amusement, growing slightly brighter. "Should I do so? Are you afraid?"

She looked down at herself- Or at least, at what remained, which wasn't all that much considering she appeared to be a floating ball of dim, almost black light. "What is there to be afraid of after death?"

"Many things, mortal. Many, many things." The being responded with a hum, its voice like twinkling crystals. "Things that make even those such as myself shudder in horror."

She blinked her metaphorical eyes. "That's... Ominous." She said slowly, a smidgen of worry growing inside of her.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Luckily for you, you indeed should not be afraid." A sound like shattering glass entered her ears as the colors around her abruptly switched, green becoming red becoming blue becoming rainbow. "But enough about that. Tell me, mortal... What do you wish most of all?"

"What do I wish?" She murmured, voice growing thick at the sudden flood of emotions those words brought. "I wish for many things. I wish I could say goodbye to my disabled mom who I left behind. I wish I could kiss my boyfriend one last time. I wish I could skydive at least once more. I wish I could dance in the moonlight, free from everything and everyone."

She looked at the colors surrounding her. "But wishes have never meant much before, have they?" She chuckled derisively, the undertone of despair and sadness clear in her voice.

"They usually don't." The being mercilessly confirmed. "Those who dream are often also the ones to suffer the most, for what else is more painful than an unfulfilled dream?"

"Just so." She sighed, slumping in on herself as she watched a small piece of her soul-self detach from her and drift away, and all of a sudden, she could no longer remember the name or breed of her old dog. "Why do you ask me this?" She questioned tiredly.

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"I believe you already know the answer to that but do not wish to accept it, lest it turn out false and cause yet more pain." The being chuckled, the noise akin to a thousand birds singing together in harmony.

Hope flared in her chest, but she ruthlessly suppressed it. "Is that so?" She asked. "Then... Will you grant me my wish?"

"Was that not what our conversation implied?" It shot back, a slight trace of sarcasm in its otherworldly voice, and for a moment, the woman went cross-eyed at the idea of a sassy eldritch being.

Still... "Truly?" She questioned again, her nonexistent heart beating ever faster in her equally nonexistent chest, both phantom sensations of a life now lost.

"Truly." It confirmed patiently, sending a jolt down her spine.

She wanted to ask why it was doing this, why it would grant her such a favor, or even just the how of all this was possible, but she held off, her thoughts hyper-fixating on a single idea.

"Can you... Give me another chance?" She asked quietly, voice barely audible. "I... I died too early. I know it's probably a very common thought, but... I just can't help it. There was so much more I wanted to do, so much that I was never able to achieve."

"You are correct. That is indeed a very common thought amongst deceased mortals." It hummed. "But that does not mean I cannot grant it."

Another piece of herself broke off, and her favorite game was lost with it. "Then please." She hurriedly begged, her voice growing slightly fearful as she felt the rate of her disappearance grow faster. "I do not understand why you would help me such, but please do so quickly."

"Of course, of course." It chuckled. "Just to make sure, you wish for another chance, yes?"

"Yes! Yes, I do!" She gasped as the largest piece yet left her, taking with it the name and memories of her high school sweetheart. "Please, I want to have another chance. A chance to be happy, to be important, to matter."

"Very well, then." Suddenly, the colors around her grew so bright that they seemed to eclipse reality itself. "I shall grant your wish, mortal. May we meet again sooner rather than later."

The woman, however, barely heard those words as the growing brightness reached its apex, growing so bright that the woman's metaphysical eyes felt like they were being seared alive.

And then, all of a sudden, it stopped.

"Farewell."

Nine months later, in a world nothing like the one she had once lived in, a screaming child left the womb of a young and dying mother, even as a frantic man with supernaturally long and pointed ears tried to keep her alive.

"Alferia..." She barely managed to choke out, holding the weeping babe close to her as her own tears joined in. "She's... Alferia..."

And as her new mother drew her final breath, the newly reborn Alferia cried. She cried out of instinct. She cried out of relief. She cried because it is what babies do.

But most of all, she cried for the mother who she would never get to know and love.