004: The Illusion Realm

CHAPTER FOUR

“No,” I whisper, feeling my blood draining from my veins as dread rises in me. “No.”

I never knew how much I never wanted to die until this moment. I’m not ready for my life to end just yet. I was just two months away from graduating. Two months away from my dream career. I can’t let it all go to waste.

So, I resort to the next best thing, begging. “Give me a second chance. I promise I won’t fail again, please.”

My plea goes to deaf ears as thunder and lightning begin erupting from the clouds, and they draw closer to me. 

My heart beats fast. I stagger back, shaking my head frantically. “No!” The word is a hoarse, desperate cry. “Please, no! I don’t want to die.”

The clouds draw even nearer, stopping only when they’re right in front of me. 

I try moving backward again, looking for an escape, only to realize there’s nowhere left to go. 

The clouds grow thicker – heavier – and then they begin rumbling. 

Helpless and hopeless, I stare wide-eyed, awaiting my inevitable death.

Instead, two red, smoky figures emerge from behind the clouds, their black eyes solely trained on me. They advance toward me, and I brace myself, preparing to be killed by them. 

But once more, I’m surprised when the pain I was expecting doesn’t come. 

“Wraiths,” the voice that only seems to appear when I’m close to death, says. “They won’t kill you... Not yet.”

I slowly pull my arms away from my face, my heart rate slowly returning to normal. I’d unintentionally curled my body when the figures started approaching.

“If they aren’t going to kill me, then why are they here?... What do they want?” My voice still trembles with my fear. 

“You failed the first test,” he states plainly. 

I’m fully aware.

“Wraiths are your ticking bomb. Your punishment for failing. They’ll linger around until you've passed every test. And peradventure you fail anyone, they will kill you.”

I glance at possibly the scariest things I’ve ever seen. “You–you mean these things are going to keep following me around?”

“At a distance,” he answers. “Every mistake you make draws them closer. And until you find the light in this realm, they will keep advancing. Don't make mistakes." He turns, but glances back at me. “Also, do not summon me until you are truly at the verge of death.”

I didn’t even know I could summon him.

“Wait–” 

Before I can finish my question, he vanishes. 

“What do I do next?” I whisper the question to the air, feeling resigned. 

“Figure it out,” Comes his echo from somewhere in the room. 

I fall to the ground, burying my face in my hands, the weight of the realization and everything I've been through today, crashing down on me. 

I am so going to die. 

I’m going to die, and I never even got to say goodbye to Allison. I never got to say goodbye to my boyfriend. Or my mom and step-dad, or my first sibling after twenty-four years as an only child.

“The more time you spend wallowing, the higher your chances of death get, soul 113.”

I look up at the ceiling, my vision blurred with tears. “What am I supposed to do?” I ask, my throat clogged with tears. “I don’t even remember how I supposedly ended up in a coma. I found myself in a place that basically doesn’t exist, no one I know is here, and then the one person who’s supposed to help me out keeps sabotaging me, so I actually die. So, tell me, what am I supposed to do?!” By the time I finish my rant, I’m shouting, and tears are streaming down my cheeks. 

I let them fall freely for a while, until I realize that I hadn’t gotten a response from the voice.

Taking a deep, grounding breath, I ask, “You still there?”

“Yes, Soul 113.”

I smile a little. “You can’t call me by my real name?”

“That would be against the laws governing this dimension.”

I wipe my face with the back of my hand, staring down at the ground. “I don’t even know his name.”

“Some connections with guides take time – especially with souls like you, and spirits like him,” he replies. “He will reveal his name to you only when he’s ready.”

I purse my lips for a moment. “Can you make him a bit nicer, at least? He didn’t even tell me what to do next.”

“I have no control over his ways of dealing with you, Soul 113,” he says. “gods do not interfere with the guides' relationship with souls. But I will leave you with this: only a soul with a true will to live defeats death. You do not need a spirit or their guidance. Let your will to survive be your guide.”

After his voice fades, I sit in silence, thinking over what he’d said. 

I don’t want to die, I know I don’t. But I’m starting to wonder if the knowledge alone is enough to keep me.

I look at the wraiths, they’re just floating in the air, their essence surrounded by a thick reddish-black smoke as they watch me, probably waiting for me to make a mistake. 

“You have to retake that test.” My spirit guide appears beside me. “You will remain stuck in this realm until you finish.”

I almost tell him to go away, but I decide against it, raising an eyebrow instead. “Isn’t that better, though?” 

In my opinion, it sounds a lot better than dying. 

“Your mortal body will remain stuck in a coma for as long as it takes for you to transition. If you don’t, your body will eventually be unplugged from life support. And not only will you not have a body to return to, this realm will slowly eat at your soul until your existence in every world, realm or dimension is completely erased.”

With each word that leaves his mouth, I feel the blood drain more and more away from my face. 

A simple "no" would've sufficed. 

Satisfied with taking away the comfort I managed to find, he makes for the door. “Come.”

Shaken, it takes me a moment to stand. But he doesn’t care, moving ahead of me to the door. I shake my head to get rid of the panic, following him quietly. He opens the door and steps out, disappearing through the white light. 

I begin to walk through, but then I remember something, looking backward. I look at where the wraiths were to find that they’re no longer there.

My brows knit.

Where did they– 

I’m yanked through the door by a strong force before I can complete my thought.

Nothing could’ve prepared me for the dull, intense ache that rises in the sides of my head as I land on the other side. 

“Ahhh!” I squeeze my eyes shut and clutch my head, writhing in pain as the sensation spreads through my skull. 

“Quit being dramatic,” my spirit guide says, “Open your eyes.”

How the hell am I supposed to do that in this much pain? 

Even when my eyes are closed, it feels like there’s a swirling of colors behind them, and my head feels like a whole parade is going on in it. 

I feel him in front of me. “Open your eyes, Nova.”

I do, reluctantly, slowly opening one at a time. 

The world swims into focus as my eyelids flicker open, and surprisingly, the ache subsides. When my eyes are fully adjusted, I look around. The world around me is spinning – literally – and… sideways? 

Are we in the sideways realm now?

“Stand.”

“What?”

He exhales tiredly. “Stand, Nova.”

“Aren’t I already–” I look down at my feet. They’re also sideways, and I realize that I’m crouched on the ground. Well, air. 

Oh.

I stand up. The spinning stops, everything goes back to normal, and I find myself in front of my professor’s office. 

Unlike before, I know this is just an illusion, and I calmly turn to my guide. 

“Why are we here?”

“You have to take the test.”

My stomach drops. I know I failed the test in the real world, and I doubt I’m going to do any better now, even though it's just an illusion. 

I need to think of a way out. 

“How? He took my papers. He’s not going to give them back.”

“Then you have to beg for them.”

“Beg?” I chuckle in disbelief. “No way I’m going to beg a man. And definitely not one who isn’t even real.”

He watches me for a beat. “Suit yourself.”

He begins walking away. 

I bite my lips, debating, as my eyes go from the door to him and back. The next time I look at him, I find the wraiths hovering a distance away. 

I don’t even need to be told what to do. “Wait!” I shout. 

He stops, but doesn’t turn.

I let out a heavy breath. “I-I’ll beg him. Just...” I let out a huff of air, “Just give me some time.”

In the blink of an eye, he’s right in front of me. “Time.”

It’s not a question, but I answer anyway. “Yes.” 

“Time is something you do not have, Nova. Every second you waste in this dimension, the more everything becomes a threat to your life.”

My lips tug downward. “What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” The office door opens with a creaking sound. “Go.”