The moon was bright and full. It looked larger than normal as it lit up the night sky. A cool breeze blew calmly and the air was as clean as could be. The night was young and it was beautiful until the loud blaring of horns sounded and broke the serenity. I groaned and hesitated to tear my gaze from the sky. It was so beautiful, but someone, no, something had brought me back to reality against my will. Memories that weren't mine had somehow worked their way into my brain. It felt so real and yet I knew it wasn't. I was intrigued and yet something kept me from wanting to know more. Besides, this was the real world. The ability to see someone else's memories? That just wasn't logical.
Or maybe logic couldn't solve that one.
Nights like these were only entertained by my overwhelming thoughts. Sometimes they even dared to be on the underwhelming side, and that was when I remembered where I was: a boring cityscape. I had spent the entire day on my game and scrolling through the next best streaming service for anime, which was the norm for someone like me. Hence why, the night was still young. So on nights like these with a semi-clear headspace, I would occasionally take peeks at the life below me. Distant conversation among the sidewalks and tires screeching in the streets. Those people were terrible drivers, but who was I to tell them that? I hardly found myself driving unless absolutely necessary. With that, I mentally threw another unwarranted opinion in the discard pile. It took up a lot of space in my brain because surprisingly, none of my opinions ever seemed warranted in any situation.
I leaned against the balcony and heaved a sigh as a cool evening breeze whipped my unruly auburn hair around wildly. It was much too late for me to be thinking so in-depth about things that probably held no significance in the first place, just like everything else. Life was dull, but it had its moments. Nights like these were ones to truly live for, otherwise, there was hardly anything left to get me going. I heard a soft ding that was followed by a familiar vibrating sensation. My eyes widened a bit and I didn't hesitate to whip the phone out of my hoodie pocket. The screen of my phone was just turning off when I caught a glimpse of a couple notifications. I was one of those sticks in the mud that always had their phone on Do Not Disturb 24/7 for no reason whatsoever, but there was this one person I tended to make exceptions for.
I checked the app and noticed the usual blue square, meaning she had sent me a message and nothing more. I opened it and couldn't help the grin that crept up on my lips. 'Saw this and thought of you :0,' the text read and I read the goofy meme. My eyes widened and my face grew a slightly red color before I cleared my throat and responded to the text. 'How does this remind you of me? Where do you even find these cursed things anyway?' I responded before putting my phone away. There wasn't much of a point in waiting for her reply, seeing as she only really responded a couple of times an hour.
I wonder… I bit the inside of my cheek and buried my face in the sleeves of my hoodie while still leaning on the railing of the balcony, my gaze making its way back up to the moon.
"No, things are better this way…" I trailed off, my resolve clearly weak as I let out a long, drawn-out sigh and closed my eyes while continuing to push my weight onto the creaking rail, "Definitely better." I concluded and was about to get up to go inside when I felt my body lean a little too much.
My eyes shot open and it took a couple of seconds to process what was happening. I was falling, and everything was happening all too suddenly. My mouth was open but I couldn't feel any movement coming from my vocal cords. I blinked and could feel the rushing air stinging my eyes unforgivingly, forcing tears that I didn't know were building up to fall.
Was I going to die?
What a pitiful way to die in my opinion.
However, the feeling of just falling… free falling, brought a sense of comfort to me. Something about the cool nighttime air whipping at my face and blasting through my messy hair brought me a level of serenity I had never felt before. I embraced the feeling even, as it was probably the last thing I would ever feel. For once, my problems seemed to just fly right past me like the wind and so did everything else that was weighing me down. What was even better though, was that I felt this way for what felt like an eternity even though in reality, it had only been a few seconds and my body was already slammed into the cold pavement. This was another reality check. One screaming that I was meant to be dead at long last.
Was this karma?
What had I done?
What could I have done differ--
I felt something cool brush against my skin before completely engulfing me and sending warmth through every orifice of my body. Everywhere around me felt cold, and yet my whole body was exploding with warmness it seemed. This was most likely that comforting feeling before crossing the river.
That is what I thought at first.
Strange noises started to surround me, and they sounded like nothing but gibberish. I listened closely and finally, actual voices could be heard. They all sounded like my voice though, and I only grew more and more confused by the second.
"Am I really important to you? I've never seen you before and yet you always say things like this. I'm no one special,"
"...even if I were, you still think too much of me. You're important to me, but even I'm not deserving of that. Stop worrying about me so much anyway,"
Every message I heard ended in the same way. Though I had never actually said this out loud, I said it to her through a text, which was just as bad. I was dead already, but maybe this was whoever showing me my deepest desires and regrets. I couldn't open my eyes still, but it wasn't as though I needed to. This was the end for me and I was ending with a heavy heart and what felt like the weight of the world still resting on my shoulders.
"...is a hero. I'm far from a hero. I'm so far in the background that no one would even notice if I was gone, would they? I'm not the main protagonist you want or need. I'm not who you think I am."
I was never the main protagonist.
Not in my story.
Not in her story.
No matter how badly I wanted to be.
The voices died down after all, ending on the one phrase 'I'm not who you think I am.' The warmth that had been coursing through my body suddenly became an overwhelming chill and I could feel the shivers coursing down my spine. I could finally open my eyes, however, and when they shot open, my worst suspicions had come to fruition. I was stuck in a dark void of nothingness. It was cold, lifeless, and reeked of solidarity. There was no way to get out, but I doubt I deserved to leave.
"You're up next, kid."
I whipped my head around as if it were on a swivel and furrowed my brow. It sounded as if a collective of voices all with different pitches had called out to me from all different directions. I opened my mouth to speak, but this time words actually couldn't come out. I placed a hand on my throat and attempted to talk again and still, there was silence.
"Don't panic. You can't talk right now, but you won't be here for long, kid," The voice seemed much clearer and up in my face this time, but was still heavily distorted in many ways. I turned to the one direction I could pinpoint it and my eyes shot open when I saw a floating skull that was glowing purple. "What? Never seen a talkin' skull, kid? Stop gawkin' it's rude!" The skull snapped before scoffing and spinning around my head.
"I'll make this short so you can get outta this place. You died, pretty obvious right," The chorus of voices started with its bony jaw slacking each time it spoke, "But ya died with regrets and desires, and I'm here to make sure those get knocked out so you can finally die happily and yada yada." I followed along to the nonsense it was spewing and just casually nodded to show that I was at least paying attention.
"Anyway, take this list and while ya lookin' over it, I'm gonna scrounge through your memories, don't mind me, and pluck out someone to help ya. Capiche?" The skull howled in laughter, but I didn't necessarily hear anything funny. A long and faded document appeared in front of me and I scanned over the words written on it. Some of these things I had barely given any thought to and others were constantly on my mind, but nonetheless, they were all things that I regret and desire.
"Annnnd we are finished here! I've already given ya the hero starter pack and I'm wishin' ya well! Go be that main protagonist and knock 'em outta the park, kiddo!" The skull chirped before howling with laughter once more.
I blinked unknowingly, still unable to talk as I held the faded parchment in my fists tightly. For a few seconds, I stood there silently, watching the skull spin around in the air while dying of laughter. I couldn't figure out why it found this situation so funny, but I wasn't given any more time to figure it out. The bit of solidity I had been feeling underneath my feet had vanished just like that, and once again I was back to falling.
I extended my arms and squeezed my eyes shut from the onslaught of air abusing them. My mouth was opened and this time, I felt the vibration of my vocal cords as I screamed in terror. I felt my body tossing and turning in the air and I had no idea how far away from the ground I was. I didn't necessarily want to know either. I wasn't afraid to admit that I was beyond terrified at this point.
"Hey!" I heard a voice call out just as something tight wrapped around my waist and hugged it.
I peeked at whatever it was and noticed that it was a whole person clinging to me tightly. I squirmed amid our free fall and turned to face their direction, "Wh-Who are y-you?!" I called out, the rushing air making it hard to hear any type of response.
The person looked up at me with a somewhat annoyed expression. I looked at their features closely and my eyes only widened when I realized they were actually a girl. Not only that, but something seemed familiar about her face. The way her eyes squinted, the dark color orbs that matched mine, her skin tone that resembled a bar of rich milk chocolate, and above all, even though I hadn't heard it in a while, it was her voice.
"You big dummy! What do you mean who am I?! It's me, Kara! We've been friends for years; how could you not know who I am?!" She yelled at me and smacked my head repeatedly with her fists.
I blushed slightly from watching her pout but shook it off almost immediately and pointed at the weird landscape below. "I'll make it up to you when we touch down! Do you have any idea on how to get us down there without dying?!" I called back loud enough for her to hear and she looked away from me with a pout, as if she was reluctant to say anything.
"Please, Kara!!" I cried out as I could now see the ground a lot clearer and closer.
Kara glared at me before climbing onto my back and wrapping her arms around my neck while wrapping her legs around my waist. She squeezed my body and I clenched my teeth at the feeling but didn't question her actions any further. "Catalyst: first configuration!!" She called out just as I saw a nearby boulder standing tall and the ground just about a mile away.
I braced myself for another death by squeezing my eyes shut and tensing my body, but that death didn't come. I opened my eyes and blinked when I saw that we were encased in a giant translucent sphere. I quickly scrambled to my feet, Kara's weight having been lifted off of my back and looked around at the object we were in. It dissolved before I could ask about it and I heard a soft groan behind me.
"Kara? Did you do this? Well actually… I know you did this, so I guess my question is how did you do this?" I looked at her shorter body and furrowed my brow quizzically before my face lit up.
She stood up on her bare feet, her legs looking rather wobbly and her balance seemingly off. The kicker was what she was wearing though, and it was far from appropriate. Her chest was almost completely exposed by some strange white strappy top and a white and gold mini-vest. My eyes traveled down her body and my jaw dropped to the ground which was accompanied by a well-deserved nosebleed. Kara glared at me and formed her hand into a fist, shaking it menacingly at my face.
"You pervert!! Stop undressing me with your eyes or you won't have any!" She snapped at me and crossed her arms with a loud huff.
Sure she was fuming and reasonably so, but it couldn't be helped. She was dressed like a slutty mercenary and it was too hard not to look. The short miniskirt hid nothing, and seeing the garter stacked with knives on either side hugging her thighs tightly sold the look completely.
"Slutty mercenary." I quipped under my breath while looking away slyly, my hands shoved in the pocket of the hoodie I had died in. Her head whipped in my direction so fast and I saw the eyes of a person way past the point of anger.
"I'm gonna kill you!!" She yelled and ran after me, to which I took off running to escape her wrath and fury.
Being chased by someone who could kill me probably wasn't the best course of action, but dying wasn't either. While running, I took in the scenery around me… at least what was left of any scenery. The place looked completely dead with hardly any wildlife to be seen. There was a tree scattered every hundred acres or so and the ground we were stepping on was an ashen brown. I continued to run when I saw what looked to be a city on the horizon and headed towards it as fast as I could.
As I grew closer and closer to it, my legs slowed down before coming to a complete stop just a couple of yards away from what looked to be the city. It was anything but that. Merely the shell of a large city. It looked like a complete wasteland and even had some mysterious purple smog surrounding it.
"What happened here…?" I muttered mostly to myself as I heard a pair of footsteps come up behind me, "Kara… Do you know what's going on?" I asked and turned to face the girl who now stood beside me and was currently trying to catch her breath from having chased me down for so long.
"Depends on what you want to know, Perrin."