In Another World

Sora woke up in a strangled gasp, bolting upright. He could hear his erratic heartbeat thumping loudly in his ears and he clutched his head harshly, tangling his fingers in his hair.

He felt dizzy. Nauseous, and the world around him was spinning. But after a few seconds the pain slowly lifted away, until Sora can properly open his eyes to the brightness, taking in his surroundings.

Where...?

He's on a huge fluffy bed with silken sheets, and the room around him was extremely spacious. In fact, it was so big that Sora thought it was more than twice the size of his tiny cheap apartment back in the city. It was decorated beautifully with white and gold decor, yet it was plain, lacking any personal objects.

Sora shuffled out of the bed, letting his feet kiss the cold marble floor, and slowly wandered around the room in curiosity. He found a doorway, and gently opened it to discover a huge glistening bathroom.

"Woah..."

The bathtub was massive! You could easily fit 5 people in there! Sora went closer, but as he did, he passed a mirror on the wall. He stood still, and turned back... gaze falling on his reflection.

When Sora looked into the mirror, he couldn't believe what he saw staring back at him.

Surprisingly, his face is exactly the same as his other body, but this one is younger, and much much healthier. The only differences was the colour of his hair and eyes.

Instead of dirty brown hair, he has luscious platinum curls that flopped over his forehead adorably, airbrushed jade-like skin, soft lips and radiant amethyst eyes, that look more like a pale fuchsia pink underneath the light.

His whole appearance was glowing with life, and his face was extremely cute and youthful that anyone who saw him wanted to pinch his cheeks just to see if they feel as soft and squishy as they look.

There is no trace of those once tired eyes. No dark circles and sunken features from the lack of sleep.

Sora gulped harshly, breath stuttering in his throat.

He felt light and airy on his feet. His mind wasn't fogged over with his work schedule, and for once he had perfect clarity.

He's never had this much energy before, so to be fully healthy and beaming with vitality for the first time is more than a little overwhelming and euphoric.

Not to mention this body... Sora's eyes trailed over his limbs. They were slim, but not enough to be called lanky. His body was on the smaller side, but it wasn't too childlike. Just petite.

It was nice, honestly. Really, really nice. He's always wanted a body like this in his previous life, but living off convenient store ready meals had damaged his health and negatively affected his weight.

The original owner of this body, a boy with the same name as him... Sora lowered his head slightly. The Gods told him that his soul had slowly dissipated over time, leaving behind an empty shell.

But before he travelled to the Gatekeeper, the Gods had talked to him... and he gave his permission for Sora to use his body. Allowed him to claim it as his own.

He didn't have to, but he did it anyway on his own violation, and Sora felt immensely grateful for that, if not being slightly bewildered. After all, someone who knows absolutely nothing about him just gave him free reign of their body.

Sora pressed his palms together for a brief moment and closed his eyes, paying his respect.

"Thank you... I promise I won't misuse your body. I hope you can rest peacefully now, Sora. I don't know who you were, what you were like, and what kind of life you've led before me... but I'd like to think that we would've made good friends. I'll never forget your kindness." He whispered.

After a minute of silence, Sora carefully stepped away, and went towards the glass doors, pushing the curtains to the side before walking outside onto the platform of an ivory sandstone balcony with 180 degree views.

Sora couldn't believe his eyes, nor could he stop the gasp that escaped him.

This place was utterly beautiful.

It was like something out of a dream, an ancient painting, a fantasy realm- the sky was painted in rich tones of orange and red, the sunrays of dawn streaking across the horizon.

Two massive moons overlooking the vast land could be seen from space, and strange looking birds- was that a dragon??- roamed high above the clouds, and Sora caught his first glimpse of what he assumes to be are... magical beasts.

Holy sh*t.

Sora realised that this palace-esc structure is built on sturdy foundations upon the side of a tall mountain top, in a gorgeous mountainous terrain, lush green trees, exotic fruits and flowers hanging down from high canopies and dense foliage covered the ground underneath him as he looked down from his high perch, extending all the way throughout the region in front of him, until Sora could see the briefest hint of a golden beach in the far horizon.

Sora's eyes trailed to a waterfall on his left, and oh, so that's where the sound of running water was coming from. The soft rays of early morning sunlight shined down on the clouds of mist surrounding the river, casting a beautiful iridescent rainbow. The stream twisted out into the vibrant forest and lead to the sea.

Above the waterfall was a bridge, leading to a large wooden gate, with a watchtower at each side. That must be the exit to this massive property. Massive is still an understatement, this place had its own waterfall and jungle for godsake!

But what made Sora lose his breath even more was the sight of a golden castle glistening in the distance. Surrounded by it seemed to be the enclosed inner city, with a local neighbouring village on the outside, farmlands and fields of flowers scattered far and wide across the land.

Flags raised proudly on poles rustled in the breeze, an emblem of white dragon curled up against a crescent silver moon embroidered onto royal blue fabric.

Sora had no words. This place was absolutely stunning.

And this was only the view from this balcony! Who knows how much more beautiful it would look up close?

A sudden tidal wave of emotions crashed over him. Sora has never been an emotional person, but not even he couldn't stop his eyes from watering a little. Whether it's the sight in front of him or the relief he feels from being finally free of his past life, he doesn't know.

But either way, he really is in another world. And he'll definitely cherish the gift of rebirth given to him by making the most of this life.

While Sora was basking in the warm air, he was unaware of the maid walking down the hall, making her way to his room.

She would always visit Sora's room for the daily cleaning, but when she opened the door she almost had the heart attack of her life when she saw a figure out on the balcony, the white semi transparent curtains fluttering in the wind, covering their identity.

At first Rosalina thought it was an intruder- but upon seeing the sight of an empty bed, Rosa dropped her feather duster and held her trembling hand up to her mouth.

Were her eyes deceiving her?

Or was Sora, the youngest son of the Regis family, who'd been under the illness of enchanted slumber, was casually standing up and staring out of the window when he should never be able to wake up again?

Enchanted slumber was an incredibly rare magical condition, where the victim would fall under a catatonic state, death like, however their body's conditions would never deteriorate over time, staying the exact same as the day they tragically befell over the disease. They were alive; but never needing to eat, to do anything, yet unable to wake up.

When she walked through the corridor this morning, that same feeling of melancholy washed over her. After all, she was told by the Sir and Madam to maintain the state of Sora's room. To never let a single speck of dust settle. To make it look like how it always did, when Sora was conscious back then.

The family never lost hope that their son would wake up one day. Out of all the dozen cases of enchanted slumber, only 1 had miraculously returned to the land of the living after 2 years of sleep; slowly rousing, body healthy, as if nothing had happened at all.

The Regis family prayed every day that their precious Sora would be the next one to wake up. To return to them.

"S-Sora…?" Rosa whispered, disbelieving.

The beautiful teenager turned around, his amethyst eyes glowing with life. The sun rays from the breaking dawn filtered through his white hair, creating a halo of gold light around his figure. He smiled softly, and Rosa's eyes immediately brimmed with tears.