When I opened my eyes, I expected fire.
The afterlife, the pits, the endless void — anything but this.
But instead, I saw a cracked white ceiling… and a small brown gecko staring down at me like it was judging my life choices.
I shot up from the bed, heart pounding.
“Where… where am I?” I gasped.
The air smelled strange — clean, perfumed. The bed beneath me was soft like clouds. I looked around and found no chains, no guards, no swords… only smooth walls, odd glowing boxes, and clothes hanging from a chair.
My head throbbed.
I stumbled to the mirror on the wall — and froze.
The face staring back wasn’t mine.
Gone were the scars, the beard, the hardened eyes.
Instead, a young man — no, a boy — about seventeen, with smooth skin and messy hair, blinked back at me.
“What sorcery is this?” I whispered, touching my cheek. “Is this… the afterlife?”
The walls felt like they were closing in. I rushed to the door, flung it open, and stumbled outside.
The light stabbed at my eyes — bright and golden. The air was warm, filled with sounds I couldn’t understand: engines roaring, people laughing, music drifting from somewhere.
I stumbled into the street, heart racing. Cars flew past like metal beasts, and towering buildings loomed around me.
“This isn’t the king’s land,” I muttered. “This isn’t any land I know.”
My pulse hammered. My instincts screamed danger. I turned to the nearest person — a young girl in a school uniform, holding a strange glowing rectangle in her hand.
Without thinking, I grabbed her shoulder.
“Tse’kani! Ulimuti pano!? Ndi dziko lanji ili!?” I shouted in my old tongue. “What realm is this!?”
She froze. Eyes wide. Then confusion turned to terror.
“I—I don’t understand you!” she yelled.
“Tell me, girl!” I insisted, gripping her arms.
“Let go of me!” she cried — then, SLAP!
The sound cracked through the air like thunder.
I stumbled back, stunned. My cheek stung.
A girl had just struck me.
I blinked at her in disbelief. Did this small creature just challenge me?
“How dare you!” I barked — but she had already turned and bolted.
“Come back here!” I shouted, chasing her, fury boiling inside me.
People stared as I ran down the sidewalk after her, yelling words they couldn’t understand. She dashed through a school gate, clutching her bag, and slipped inside just as the glass door slid shut between us.
I stopped, panting — and there, in the reflection of the glass, I saw him.
The boy. The stranger. Me.
My hand lifted slowly. The reflection did the same. I turned it over, marveling at how soft and unscarred it looked. My chest rose and fell.
“This must be witchcraft,” I whispered.
Behind the gate, the girl found her friends.
“Guys! I just met some creep!” she gasped. “He grabbed me and started shouting some weird language! Total psycho!”
“Where?!” one of them said.
“There!” she pointed.
They turned — and saw me on the other side of the glass, waving my arms, moving my head left and right, inspecting my new face with deep concentration.
“Is he… waving at us?” one girl asked.
“No, he’s insane!” the first one said, half hiding behind her friend.
Meanwhile, I frowned at my reflection. “Either the gods have cursed me… or I’ve been reborn into madness itself.”
And as the glass door slid shut completely, sealing me out, I realized something horrifying.
I had survived battlefields and betrayals…
but I wasn’t ready for whatever this world was.
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