Astoria and the White Room

In a condo high above the sea level of Tera was a horribly dirty room. Cans of energy drinks and dozens of tubes of synthetic paste were commonplace, while if you looked closer, you could even see at least 20 different uncleaned silver utensils haphazardly tossed as if they were one-time use.

At the edge of this biohazard of a room, though, was a multi-level and top-tier Starlink setup.

Four monitors, each displaying different text swabs, two elevated textile machines, and two different Starlink machines were just the visible parts of his high-level setup.

A conservative cost estimate for this Starlink setup is Thirty-Five Thousand Alliance Coins. However, in the main seat of this amazing Starlink setup was a young, light blue-haired girl in baggy, loose clothes.

Other than her lazily worn outfit, though, the thing that a human would spot first if they looked at this blue-haired girl was her deep eye bags. It seemed like she hadn't slept in at least a week with how heavy her eyes looked.

And her voice showed just how annoyed she was about this fact.

"UGH!" the girl shouted, disgruntled and angry. Holding back the urge to punch the monitor that had cost her a whole month's pay, she put her palms to her heavy eyes and started thinking about her life.

Being a novel writer was hard, and being a contracted one was even more challenging.

It wasn't just collecting paychecks like a normal job. She had to work for every dime she earned. Deadlines were always hovering over her head like a sword of Damocles. She was constantly thinking about at least three projects and how she could advance their plots and character development. And those were only the direct problems.

Forget about the money she wasted on advertising her products all over Starlink and the hate raids she did to keep her competitors down.

'Almost five years of my youth are gone! Down the damn drain. Just because I took advice from one stupid language teacher!'

The girl continued to mope for another minute, but there was a deadline later today, ironically. She couldn't even complain about the damn thing in peace. 

So, as the blue-haired girl reached back to her textile machine and started clicking away, she thought, 'I'm gonna find that teacher one day and beat the brakes off her!'

Of course, there were also many good sides to the profession, but none of those mattered to Astoria, a high school dropout turned professional writer. All she wished to do was rip up that damned contract she signed and run off to the mountains, never to be seen again.

Sitting at a desk for almost 15 hours a day, theory crafting, fixing plot holes, and clacking away at her keyboard for two years had nearly turned her into the next Ted Kaczynski, and she was sick of it.

Sadly, with the threat of a lawsuit hovering over her neck, Astoria had little choice in this matter.

The only bright side was that she would be free of this slave contract in a few months, right before her 18th birthday.

Freedom! Something Astoria long dreamed of.

She purposely negotiated for her contract to end that day so she could truly start to enjoy her life.

Thankfully, though, it had to be said that Astoria was damn good at her job, and with the money she had made in these past two years, Astoria was more than able to live the unemployed man's dream for a few years.

Once her contract ended and she was finally allowed to be away from her desk, she planned to do what she had always wanted but had no time for—for example, touching grass.

However, until then, she was legally bound to her desk, forced to slave away like a child in the mines, making cultivation novels like her life depended on it.

Yes, Astoria was a web novel author who pretty much only made cultivation novels. It was the only genre she liked and, more importantly, the one she was best at.

To date, she had completed six novels, each to varying success, and was finishing up two more, which were technically sequels to her first and third novels. Those were the biggest money grabbers, and since she was already leaving the industry, Astoria thought of milking her dying IP for all it was worth before she did.

Writing novels was initially a hobby, but after two years, it exhausted her. While she enjoyed the hobby, turning it into a career extinguished most of her joy for the art. These final two stories would most likely be her last. 

—

The sun was rising in the skies above Astoria, and a new day was starting where, for most people, their day would also begin. But for Astoria, the Starlink goblin, her day hadn't ended yet. Actually, other than going to use the bathroom on various occasions, she hadn't even left her gaming chair since yesterday's sunrise.

It wasn't the healthiest decision for a growing girl like Astoria to make, but she had spent almost all of this week playing computer games and, as a result, forgot about the release date of her supposed latest volume.

Now, facing the consequences of her actions in the eyes, she had been trying to do the final revision necessary before she could upload the document. 

Funnily enough, it was scheduled to be uploaded almost an hour ago. Yet, even now, an hour past its original release time, Astoria was barely even halfway done sifting through the grammatical errors, let alone the plot holes.

Astoria wasn't a smart girl, nor was she a responsible one. Her high school dropout status could corroborate this, but even she knew that bitter seeds grew bitter fruits. And now, looking down the barrel of her manager's smoldering face, she could only placate him by saying she was almost done. Of course, this statement was a lie, but given the anger in his voice, it served as a good stopgap.

"How much longer until you're finished?" a man in his thirties asked Astoria over their voice call. After not receiving an answer for almost 30 seconds, he felt his anger bubbling and his blood pressure rising again. 

It was good that he didn't know which monitor he was on or that she had left the video call screen on a minimized tab on her least-used monitor. If he did, who knew how high his blood pressure would rise?

Maybe he would even faint?

Astoria started to think about whether or not she should tell him.

She chose not to, though, and responded, albeit annoyed, instead.

"I can finish quicker if you'd shut up and let me type, but since you love screaming so much, I can only type slowly." Astoria snorted as she finished typing out her thoughts. He had asked a question while she was spewing out nonsense in one of the chapters to fill the word quota and nearly distracted her, so it was only right for her to be slightly angry.

On the other hand, the manager, stunned at the fact that Astoria, the perpetrator and guilty party in all of this, was attempting to spin this onto him!

He almost fainted right then and there, but thanks to his years of experience handling this idiot, he took a few deep breaths and sent some well-needed oxygen to his brain.

But since he could tell that his presence wasn't doing much, he ended the call by saying, "Call me when you're done with the final revision." 

Astoria simply nodded in response to the man's words, not even bothering to close out the now empty video call tab, and allowed it to take up space on her fourth monitor as she continued scanning the other three chapters her other three monitors were showing to make sure there weren't any glaring major mistakes. each chapter they were showing, eyeing any mistakes.

However, just as she leaned forward to reach for her mouse, planning to advance to the next chapter, Astoria felt her vision turn black for a second.

Thinking it was her low iron deficiency again, Astoria cursed inwardly. She stopped moving and let herself catch a breath, but things suddenly took a drastic turn.

Just as the dizziness set in, a huge burst of exhaustion came for the kill. Her stretched-out body, half on her chair and the rest between her desk collapsed in on itself.

Astoria's chin hit the desk with a sickening, crunching sound, and without pause, the rest of her body followed, turning her into a folded tortilla.

She didn't even have time to curse before her vision turned dark and her mind blanked.

'What the fuck am I in, a Final Destination movie?!'

——

Astoria didn't stay in the eternal darkness for long as her eyes flashed open in what only felt like milliseconds.

Stunned and thrilled that the Final Destination-esque accident didn't kill her, Astoria quickly sprung up from her resting position, forgetting that this idiotic movement caused the incident in the first place. But her once-excited eyes sank into confusion before she could even remember that.

"Huh? Where the f*ck am I?" 

Astoria opened her eyes, bracing for two possibilities—one that wasn't great and another that was even less appealing. The first was the thought of waking up in a tangled mess beneath her desk, while the other was the unwelcoming idea of being in a hospital bed.

Astoria was a shut-in by every metric, and because of this, she spent a rather embarrassingly large amount of time playing games. And as a young woman full of energy, it wouldn't be a lie to say she was, um, enthusiastic when it came to gaming.

Unfortunately, Astoria's excitement was not well-received by her neighbors, who frequently shouted for her to quiet down. In fact, if she remained silent for even a day or two, those nearby would become concerned and check on her.

So, Astoria thought that her neighbors would break down her door in a panic to take her to the hospital after seeing her condition, but for some reason, neither of her guesses came to fruition. 

What unfolded was a puzzling situation, and young Astoria's mind raced to grasp its meaning.

For some mystical and fantastical reason, Astoria was currently, rather than in a hospital room or her own room, in an all-white room, if you can even call it that. She could only use the word "room" because there was no better way to describe it.

'Maybe expanse would be better, actually?' Astoria's thoughts were in the wrong place.

It was unwarranted, but her intrusive thoughts were right. It wasn't much of a room. There were no walls, no ceiling, nothing—just a white floor that went on for seemingly forever.

'Maybe this is purgatory or something, and I died?' Astoria thought somberly.

She wasn't religious by any stretch of the word. But if this wasn't what purgatory described, then what did?

However, for her to be in purgatory, Astoria would've had to have died beforehand. The thought made Astoria think about her life.

Astoria didn't have a bad life. If anything, she had the best one possible, given the hand she was dealt.

Extremely early in her life, Astoria was forced out of her home and onto the streets. Before she was even 16, she was in dire straits, and she struggled hard just to survive. But thanks to her optimism and good relationship-building skills, she made a few friends who ended up saving her life.

One of the friends that Astoria managed to make had a father who was a landlord.

With the connection and a large amount of pity, she was given a small condo at an extremely low rent.

At first, Astoria wouldn't accept such a huge favor, but her friend's dad would also say that this apartment was bad, wouldn't sell, and all sorts of other nonsense would lessen her guilt. However, she had matured long ago and wasn't fooled by that.

But, without anything to her name, she could only pretend that she was fooled, mark down the favor in her heart, and hope to repay it down the line.

Sadly, it seemed that this goal would remain a dream.

But even with that weighing down her consciousness, Astoria didn't feel much. Death didn't scare her much.

Maybe it was slightly psychotic or insane, but she wasn't afraid of it. Her life was far too monotone and bland to make her scared of its sudden and permanent end.

And now, standing in this white expanse, she didn't feel much other than a bit of curiosity.

So, acting on her desires, Astoria stood up and took a step forward, braving the unknown!

THUMP!

Astoria stepped forward four times before running into a foam-like material that sent her flying backward. The ricochet effect was so strong that she fell to the ground and rolled a few times before stopping.

Stunned and slightly embarrassed, Astoria lifted her head and got off the ground to investigate what she had just run into, but once again found nothing.

There was nothing in front of her. It was just the same endless white expanse.

Learning from her mistakes, instead of charging forward headfirst, like a blind man without his stick, Astoria stuck her hands out in front of her and walked forward. And this time, she was successful. She found what she had run into.

The white expanse wasn't what she thought it was. Rather than an endless white space, it was a small area filled with some thick and viscous gas. Yet oddly enough, although she figured this out, Astoria was still stuck. No matter how hard she pushed, Astoria couldn't push the gas anywhere.

It was a weird feeling. She could move it a little, but eventually, it would stop and ricochet back at her, pushing her back to her original position.

It was like trying to submerge a ball underwater only to have it rocket upward and uppercut her in the chin.

"What the hell kind of purgatory is this? If you're gonna kill me, do it right. Why all of this nonsense?" Astoria said as she sent a flurry of kicks and punches at the mist, trying to dissipate it. Which worked to some extent, but before she could even let her foot back on the ground, the tiny bit she kicked away returned.

"I'm stuck, aren't I?"

Astoria didn't have a strong will, so after a few more failed attempts, she simply lay down on the ground, wanting to take a nap. However, after lying down for almost 20 minutes without even feeling a bit of sleepiness, she realized that it was most likely impossible.

Only then did she decide to use her brain and try to escape this place.

Forcing herself through the mist didn't work, and neither did swatting it away, so with those two things in mind, she reached the only reasonable solution.

'It's a gas, right? Gases can be sucked in.' 

She had a point, and the idea made more sense than it didn't. Moreover, she was already dead. Could it possibly get any worse?

So, without any fear, she lunged forward at the gas, nose first.

HUFF! 

Using every bit of power she could from her lungs, Astoria stuck her face in the mist and took the largest breath she could.

Mist wasn't a gas, so it was more than possible to breathe it in. It was just that no one would make such an idiotic move. Mist wasn't just one entity but a huge area filled with millions, if not billions, of densely packed water particles.

Breathing in a dozen or so water drops wouldn't do anything to the billions that were still left.

However, without another option, Astoria chose to do this. And to her surprise, it worked!

The move was stupid and honestly just a shot in the dark for the girl, but after doing it, she was amazed.

When she breathed in, Astoria had been expecting to do nothing but breathe in a few drops of water, but when she opened her eyes, she realized just how wrong she was.

With one deep breath, a huge amount of the mist flew toward her like metal to a magnet. Moreover, it didn't just go into her mouth but instead into all seven orifices on her face.

Caught off guard, Astoria thought she was going to choke and quickly started to cough in hopes of stopping it, but the coughing never came. What did come was a huge sense of euphoria that swept across her body, making her legs weak and her knees buckle in euphoria.

It didn't feel like water but a mystical elixir that could evolve the human body!

Astoria wasn't too sure what happened to her, but she was sure of one thing: That mist wasn't normal at all.

"I'm already dead. What's the worst that could happen?" Letting the euphoria she felt get the better of her, Astoria threw caution to the wind and continued to absorb the mist.

Though she wasn't a religious person by any stretch, between her gruesome accident and her limbo-like surroundings, Astoria could guess that she had died and was stuck in some type of limbo. And with already one death to her name, what did another matter?

Repeating her actions once more, Astoria stuck her head in the most and started to absorb as much as she could, chasing the high of her life.

'This must be what junkies feel like!'

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Every little thing helps - https://ko-fi.com/slarbi123.

There is now a discord for this novel. However, be warned. It is rather bare bones. I suck at Discord. The link is in the synopsis.

Also, if you like this novel, you can check out my others!