Author's note
Hey, quick heads up before we dive in!
To keep things clear while you're reading:
[ Vale's inner thought] - Vale's private thoughts
' Lyas's voice' - Lyas speaking inside her mind
(Extra notes) - small bits of background info from me, the author.
This story has some darker elements, blood, fighting, and themes of control or slavery. So just a fair warning.
That's all. Now let's get into story, enjoy!
Chapter 1
BOOM....BOOM....
Two explosions rip the air. My ears rings, but I can still hear the chaos- shouting, gunfire, the wet sound of pain. I'm lying on my back, staring at the night sky. The stars look so sharp, so distant, like diamonds scattered on velvet.
I try to move...nothing. My legs are gone to me. Even lifting a finger feels impossible. Somewhere, men scream and die. My rifle is nowhere in reach. My body's done fighting, it's given up before my mind has.
My vision blurs, but I keep my eyes locked on the stars. They shine harder than the moon, and for a moment I think I see something flicker between them...moving, shifting. Then the darkness starts pulling me under.
Before the black takes me completely, one star changes...no, becomes something brighter, blinding in its light.
Then I hear a voice, warm but amused:
"Impressive"
And everything disappears.
...
[ It's gone? The pain...the noise.]
.....
[ So why do I still hear my own voice? Am I dead...or not?]
When I open my eyes again, there's no battlefield. No smoke. No blood.
I push myself up on an elbow and feel a breeze brush over me...cool, gentle, and carrying the faint scent of something sweet. Flowers.
All around me stretches an endless field of them...every color, rippling like a rainbow caught in the wind. No gunfire. No screaming. No pounding in my skull. Only silence.
"...So this is what heaven look like?" I mutter. My voice sounds strange to my own ears...too calm, almost foreign. I look down to myself. No wounds. No pain. My body feels...whole again.
I stand slowly, scanning the horizon. When I turn, I see...someone. or maybe something. Their shape is human, but white as bone, without shadow. Their hair is alive...burning like the sun, strands twisting between yellow and orange flames. I can't even tell if it's long or short, the light keeps shifting, bending the edges away.
"You fought well," the figure says, their voice calm but heavy. "I liked watching you."
"...Are you a god?" I ask, my tone wary.
"A god. A man. The maker of humans. Call me what you wish. Let's skip the introductions...you have three choices for what happens to your soul."
I almost laugh, but his voice leaves no room for jokes.
"Your soul," he repeats, pointing at me.
I glance down and freeze. Something is floating inside me, faintly glowing sky-blue. Small. Weak. Faded.
"It's fragile," he says. "You're not dead yet, so it's barely holding together."
He lifts a hand, counting off each choice.
"One: return to your world alive but broken. You'll never walk into battle again.
Two: be reborn in the same world with no memories...start from nothing.
Three..." his tone shifts, almost casual. "I have a dying Vampire Queen in another world. I want you to...assist her. In whatever she needs."
The first option is easy to toss aside. I'm not built to rot in a chair while others fight. The second...no. I've seen enough of this world. Who's to say I wouldn't land in something worse?
But the third...a vampire queen in another world? That sounds like a story I want to read...except I'd living it.
"So, if I pick the third...I'm basically her babysitter?"
His face revealed nothing, yet the air itself seemed to bend...warm, sly carrying the shape of a smile I couldn't see.
"Something like that. Well?" he says.
I don't trust him but my guts say yes anyway. I shrug, "alright, third option."
He claps once. "Thank you. Be patient with her."
I open my mouth to ask what that means, but he snaps his fingers---
The flowers vanish. The sky, the ground, the light...all gone. I'm falling into darkness.
....
Drip...drip....drip...
My eyes open to the sound.
Metal bars. Damp air. Above me, a ceiling of steel with cracks that show bare rock beyond.
I sit up slowly and a curtain of silver hair slips over my shoulders. My hands...pale. Thin. Fingers long and perfect, nails smooth as glass.
This isn't my body.
My chest is fuller than before, my legs shorter, my frame fragile in a way that feels wrong. And I'm wearing a dress.
Then---
'Well, someone finally woke up.'
The voice is inside my head.
I scan the room, a rusted toilet in one corner, a table and chair, and...a mirror. I swing my legs to the floor...stone, freezing against bare feet. My bed is nothing but a frame, one pillow, a single blanket. No mattress.
I push myself to stand, but my knees buckle.
'Careful with my body, human.'
My breath catches. Her body?
I stagger to the mirror.
Pale skin. Silver hair falling to my knees. One eye like ice, the other a deep unnatural purple...glowing fainty now.
The voice returns, sharper this time:
'Wait...those aren't my eyes. What did you do to me?'
And the truth slams into me.
I'm not here to help the Queen. I'm inside her.
Why? How is this supposed to help her...or me?
Then...footsteps.
Slow, soft, growing closer. I glance back at the door. Its frame is curled in an intricate, almost floral pattern, the kind you'd expect on...a birdcage.
Thump...thump...thump...
"Someone's coming?" I whisper.
'Yes. A guard. Guess it's time to feed the bird.'
A guard. A cage. The Vampire Queen. And me, Vale.
This isn't freedom.
A god didn't send me to save anyone. He sent me straight into a prison.