Chapter 2:

Awakening in a new world

From the Day I Died to the Day I Lived

There was no pain. No cold. No fear.

Just complete silence.

Then a sound of birds chirping.

There was a warmth. Something so soft and gentle, like sunlight dazzling through water.

Sachi blinked slowly.

Light poured in pulling her in like a warm hug.

Her eyes met the sky. The sky that seemed way too close - vast and endless. The sky's blue was deeper, richer, and dyed at the edges with lavender. Large cotton clouds drifted lazily across the sky with a breeze that carried the scent of something floral and hopeful.

Sachi began to move. Confused as to why she could move.

She sat up, her fingers sinking into the soft, cool, and pliant grass. She looked around.

The trees were massive, stretching nearly to the sky itself. Trunks wide and smooth with leaves swaying ever so rhythmically.

Before her, an open field of flowers stretched in every direction, each blossom dyed in two disticnt colors - one half soft white and the other a striking red, or purple, or gold.

And little floating lights that danced around in the wind almost invitingly.

The scene before Sachi was beautiful. Too beautiful to be real. It was otherworldly.

She pushed herself to her feet. Her body shaky but working. Her body didn't ache. Her chest wasn't tight with anxiety. Her stomach was not sick with fear. She was breathing easily as if her lungs never had known worry.

"Why..." she whispered. "Why am I still alive?"

She had wanted peace. To be done with the weight of living.

But here she was. Standing. Breathing. Alive. In a world beyond her imagination.

As Sachi stood there bewildered she suddenly heard laughter. It wasn't the mocking laughter that used to put fear into her heart, it was playful laughter that somehow sounded like a beckoning call. She followed the sound. A village appeared just beyond the forest. On the outskirts of that village was the source of the laughter. Children chasing each other throwing what appeared to be balls of light at one another. Sachi stood watching behind an old tree.

It was so freeing to watch the children run around and laugh freely. How Sachi longed to have a fond memory to look back on, even one as simple as playing tag. But the only memories Sachi had to look back on were of being yelled at or being shoved around as a game.

One of the children threw a ball of light at another child but missed and it hit the tree Sachi was behind. Sachi felt the force from that ball. That was no ordinary ball.

"Hey be careful over there!" a man yelled.

"Sorry!" the children yelled in unison as they ran away from the man.

Curiosity took over Sachi. She walked towards the village. It was a small but vibrant village. Vendors sold colorful food and fragrant herbs under canvas canopies. Villagers talking amongst themselves about their day to day lives. Men starting fires from their bare hands. Women moving crates without even touching them. It appeared to be magic.

Above great birdlike creatures, larger than horses, soared confidently across the sky. Some were even casually resting in town.

Sachi stared, wide eyed.

"This can't be real" she whispered to herself.

But the longer she looked the more real it became.

Sachi gathered her courage. She had to find out if it all really was real. She walked slowly, keeping her distance, her eyes locked on the nearest bird creature. Its feathers sleek and shimmering of vibrant colors, wings folded neatly at its side, its sharp beak dipping into a water trough.

Sachi took a hesitant step forward. Then another.

The creature, however, noticed her and jerked its head up, flaring its wings, and crying out. Startling Sachi, her foot caught the edge of the stone road and she stumbled onto the ground.

A young man rushed over "Ah I'm sorry miss! Did my companion frighten you?"

He offered her his hand. She hesitated, then took it.

"No, I'm okay" she said quietly, brushing dirt from her skirt.

But the man froze. He stared into Sachi's eyes. His face grew pale.

"Y-your eyes..."

He took a shaky step back.

"Otherworlder"

"What?" she asked.

The young man didn't answer. Instead he turned and ran while shouting "Otherworlder!"

People froze. Eyes turned. Whispers formed. Doors slammed shut. The once bustling street emptied in a matter of seconds.

Sachi stood alone again.

She knew those eyes. Eyes of disgust.

Her chest tighten. Her ears began to ring. Her eyes threatening to release the tears.

Sachi ran back to the forest. Her breath hitched as she stumbled through the underbrush, leaves slapping her arms, tears finally falling.

She wasn't dreaming. She wasn't imagining. She wasn't even dead. Somehow she was in another world. And just like the last, she was already hated.

Before she realized she found herself in front of a crooked cabin hidden between the roots of two great trees.

The door creaked open.

An old woman stepped out.

"You've got sorrow in your eyes, child" she said simply.

Sachi averted her eyes.

"Come in, child" the old woman said as she return into her home.

Sachi hesitantly followed.

Inside was warm, filled with the scent of burning firewood and dried herbs.

The old woman poured tea and gestured for Sachi to join her at the table.

"You're the one they're making such a fuss about today" the old woman said. "The one from beyond our world"

Sachi didn't look up from her tea.

"They call your kind otherworlders" the old woman continued. "There's a prophecy in our world. One passed down for many generations. Though no one actually remembers the whole of it anymore"

Sachi swallowed hard "How does it go?"

The old woman's voice grew distant, reciting something worn by time:

"When a soul of another world steps through

The magical balance shall break.

The sky shall meet the earth

Forever changing what was known."

"The Great Collapse we call it" the old woman continued "It is believed that when the one from another world comes to our world, they will be the cause of destruction. People will fear you because they will believe you will cause it"

Sachi's throat tightened "But I didn't ask to be here."

"I'm sure you didn't dear" the old woman said softly "But prophecies and fate don't care about what we want. Only what we become"

The old woman gets up and retires to her room "You can stay here for as long as you like. But if I were you I wouldn't run away forever"

Sachi couldn't sleep that night.

The woman had offered her a bed, a warm meal, and a kindness she didn't feel worthy of. The guilt, grief, and fear sat deep within her chest weighing her down.

She was a burden.

She had always been a burden.

Not only did she bring down her family and classmates but now she was hurting an entire world just simply by existing.

It was too much.

Before dawn, she crept into the kitchen.

She found a knife. Small but sharp.

She left without a sound.

The sun was just about to rise but to Sachi the world was still dark.

Sachi walked until she could no longer see the cabin.

The same field that once felt so welcoming was all but cold and empty.

Her ears ringing and tears burning her face as they fell.

"I thought that maybe" she whispered. "Maybe I was given a chance and things would be different..."