Chapter 2: Chapter 1: A Fever Dream

Larry felt like he was lucid dreaming, stuck in a vast formless void where everything was intangible, shifting, and changing. Strangely enough, in this seemingly infinite darkness, he felt no fear. Rather, it was as if he could not feel anything at all. His hands and feet didn’t touch anything, and didn’t feel anything except the absence of feeling.

He soon realized he couldn’t even feel the presence of his hands and feet -they hadn’t seemed to respond to his thoughts at all. It was as if every nerve, every impulse of connective tissue and muscle in his body, became numb to all things. Turning his head to examine his body, Larry was relieved to see that it was at least still intact from the outside. He felt calm, even though he should have been panicking  under these dire circumstances. As he continued to ponder this curious state of existence, a disembodied and androgynous voice resounded in the void. 

 

Your resolve has been acknowledged.

In accordance with your wishes, the Heroine Creation System has been chosen to merge with you. 

 

...The what?

 

Currently undergoing the melding process with individual Larry Chrysler’s astral body. Incorporation into soul 80%… 99%... 99.5%... 99.9%... 100% complete. 

Beginning transfer protocol. Constructing soul corridor. Initializing soul corridor root destination. Proceeding.

Soul transfer unable to complete. Beginning troubleshooting protocol… Diagnosis found. Assimilation required. Requesting assimilation… assimilation sequence approved.

Beginning assimilation sequence. Assimilation with individual Christiana Lapis Lorien’s astral body currently underway. Assimilation 20%... 35%... 40% complete. 

ERROR. Unable to further assimilate with individual Christiana Lapis Lorien’s astral body. Requesting override… override sequence denied. 

Reinitiating troubleshooting protocol...

 

Quickly, Larry began to feel whatever emotion approached confusion in this state. 

What’s going on? He thought. But the explicit mention of a certain name overrode the limitations on his emotions. For a moment, his face displayed genuine shock. 

Heroine Creation System? Assimilation with Christiana Lapis Lorien? What the hell is this fever dream? Did the shock of a character dying send me into a coma or something? His thoughts quickly turned towards a worst-case scenario, although such a case wouldn’t have been surprising in light of his earlier tirade.

All of his thoughts were swept away in the next moment when the surrounding darkness began to peel away like old wallpaper, as if the very fabric of reality was torn apart. Suddenly, he found himself in a completely different environment: A cliff on the side of an endless expanse of ocean beneath a sky covered in clouds of various shapes and sizes. The sun revealed itself from its hiding spot in the clouds, glaring off the shimmering grass below, which rustled about in a calm and gentle manner from a lazy wind. He thought he could almost smell the salty scent of sea spray, or maybe it was a part of his imagination. 

“You’re here.” A smooth, silky voice reminiscent of softly trickling streams rang out from behind him. In alarm at this intruder, Larry turned his head to face her, and for a second time in this out-of-sorts lucid dream, his expression twisted into pure disbelief. 

He was greeted by long locks of blue hair, a soft and gentle smile, and aquamarine eyes which gleamed with the life of all the world’s waters. Dressed in garments that showed off her youth while retaining an aura of innocence, the girl before him created the picture of purity, more pristine than the glistening blue ocean behind him. 

That was Christiana, the Light of Lorien, the female lead of The Guardian Knight’s Saga, someone who inherited otherworldly beauty from the blood of merfolk flowing in the veins of Lorien’s royal family. A character he used to admire from within novel illustrations was now talking to him within a dream. Larry could not help but give a mental thumbs up to whatever part of his brain conjured this masterpiece. 

However, even while looking at the object of his worship as a devout reader, he could only feel an emotion that bordered regret. To think that such a girl would be so cruelly killed off by the author before any others of the main cast -could there be any development more tragic? 

Seeing the increasingly pensive look on Larry’s face, Christiana tilted her head and let out a giggle. 

“You don’t have to look so worried, you know? It looks like we’re out of time now, but when we meet again, I’ll explain everything to you.”

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Larry, who was too focused on lamenting the fate of the heroine before him, barely registered the implications behind her words.

“Say what?”

“Although you probably won’t look the same next time I see you. I’ll be looking forward to it!” 

“Hold on, what are you-”

 

Route secured. Reinitiating soul corridor.

 

He felt a sudden inexplicable pain throughout his entire being, as if long dead nerve cells suddenly screamed in a sudden hellish chorus. Just as quickly as it appeared, the pain vanished as if it had never occurred to begin with. A feeling of vertigo engulfed him as his surroundings began to warp and twist in unnatural ways. Which way was up and which way was down? Was his face approaching the floor or was the floor approaching him? He pondered several of these pointless questions as a way to prevent panic from taking root in his mind. Just when he was about to black out from sensory overload in his own dream he saw Christiana beaming a wide smile at him.

Ah.

“Have a good time! Let’s meet again!”

She’s pretty.

 

Soul transfer is successful. 

Good luck.

 

Larry awoke with a start. He felt sticky with sweat all over, as if he had gone to sleep with an enormous fever. Groaning with exertion as he dragged his unusually light body out of unfamiliar silk blankets, he let loose a loud yawn. His posture and demeanor at this moment resembled those of a college age man waking up in the afternoon after a night of marathoning video games and anime. Which he arguably was. Was being the key word here.

His brain finally rebooted mid-yawn, and he froze -attempting to process information that defied all logic. 

“Aah?” His voice came out in a high pitched soprano, and his remaining fatigue flew away. Incredulous, he looked down, his thoughts quickly being clouded in growing horror. Still uncomprehending, he reached down. 

His hands didn’t feel anything except the absence of feeling.

“AAAAAAHHHHH?!” A shrill scream rang out. 

 

 

A/N: Hopefully story looks good so far. I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. I'm new to using Scribblehub so for now author notes are going to be at the end of each chapter. I would appreciate any comments or criticisms, however small or large. 

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