The Witch

Sophia Lopez had never been one to waste food, but on that particular afternoon, she had reached her limit. 

It had been a brutal week at university. Finals were coming up, and Sophia had been pulling all-nighters, trying to finish papers while navigating her relentless stream of assignments. She wasn't very social, so asking for help was hard for her. All of her team homework was done by herself even if it was harder that way, sometimes getting low notes because she misunderstood the assignments. All that stress had led her to a series of hasty decisions. Her budget was tight, and after a long day of lectures, she was left with no money to eat. "If i spend my remaining shiny coins i'll have to walk 4 hours to get here tomorrow." She was skinny and took her a lot to even get to her class by taking a bus, so, when she stumbled upon a half-eaten sandwich at the bottom of the university's trash can, she felt a little Sophia appear on her shoulder, taunting her. "No, i can't eat trash..." She casually looked both sides before approaching the sandwich.

"Jesucristo..." she muttered, peeling the sandwich wrapper. Plump brown wheat bread surrounded a well incorporated sandwich, it was like an ad for a fast food chain. Bright red tomato peeking out, the crispy greens that looked as fresh as a flowing river, on top of all, juicy chicken breast with grill marks, some powder that had brown and black specs all over its miraculous form.

Her stomach growled in hunger, desperate for anything to stave off the dizziness that had been creeping up on her all day. She took a deep breath and bit into the sandwich. The taste was alright, nothing crazy, but she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday in the morning, it felt as if she was sitting on a marble throne, wearing ancient, white carefully knitted garments with golden ornaments, being fed this sandwich by two topless androgynous gods that mildly resembled The David from Michelangelo.

Everything went well during the day, she even finished her last big project, ready to bring it tomorrow to her teacher. A 35 pages essay about the current mango mafia, a problem that had been taken the farmlands of the country. Her eyes were red and closing on their own, she dragged herself to bed and put on headphones, listening to boyfriend ASMR. Almost immediately she felt a weird sensation growing inside her, something churning and provoking a heavy pain in her stomach, she wrapped her arms on her tummy while clenching her blankets. "I have to endure it, if i had spent that money, my work would have been in vain." She took away her headphones and stumbled across her room to get to the bathroom, maybe that would help.

As she was walking, the corners of her field of vision went dark, she fell on the floor and could see her world tilted. Even if she didn't feel anything, she felt a little embarrassed. "Am i really going to die because of a sandwich?" With all of her remaining strength, she let out a stiffled groan. "Please... Delete my browser history." Nobody heard her, a single tear ran over her cheek. "Am i really gonna become the girl that died listening to boyfriend ASMR?" Everything went pitch black.

When she opened her eyes, the world around her wasn't the same.

Instead of the dull glow of fluorescent lights and the familiar gray walls of her university's dorm building, Sophia found herself lying in a field of tall grass, the air heavy with the scent of flowers and earth. The sky was unnaturally vibrant. Rich shades of purple and gold that seemed to shimmer and pulse in rhythm with her throbbing headache. It felt… otherworldly, as though she'd stepped into a dream.

"What the…?" She stumbled to her feet, heart racing. She looked around, her mind trying to process what was happening. Was she still dreaming? Was this some kind of weird hallucination?

She touched her face, wiping her ruffled hair off her nose. A quick glance down at her clothes revealed something else odd: she wasn't wearing her usual jeans and hoodie. Instead, she was dressed in a flowing tunic of white fabric, adorned with intricate patterns that seemed to shimmer like gold.

She spun around, trying to understand what was going on. The landscape stretched before her, a mixture of jagged cliffs, dark forests, and rolling hills. Off in the distance, towering stone structures loomed, covered in moss and vines. But the strangest part was the sky—this vast, colorful expanse that seemed like something out of a fantasy novel.

"Okay, okay, calm down," she muttered to herself. "This is just a weird dream, or maybe the sandwich had drugs in it that just kicked in."

But as she took a step forward, the ground beneath her feet felt too real. The cool breeze on her skin was too real. And the panic that was now building in her chest, the confusion, was very real.

"Where am I? How did I get here?" She spun in a circle, hoping to see something familiar, anything that would explain what was happening.

"Have i transmigrated? Hell yeah, now we're talkin'" She rested her hands on her hips with a smug face, looking around for a distant castle or village. "Where the boys at?"

Sophia walked towards a strange rock formation behind a treeline. "It looks like the top of a building, time to explore." She noticed she was barefoot, the odd feeling of stepping of nature sent a shiver down her spine. "Ugh, i hate this..." Before continuing, she thought about something. "Wait... Maybe this wasn't a coincidence. If all of this was premeditated and somebody sent me here with that sandwich... That person has to be some kind of god around here... But why even me?" She stroke her chin while walking down the treeline. 

Suddenly she came across a puddle. "Whoa there, almost got myself all muddy, this dress is new and free! I can't be so clueless..." She approached the puddle, looking down at her reflection, she looked very similar as her real appearance, just with some mild changes like sharp eyebrows where her big hairy eyebrows were, a slightly less skinny body, she almost thought she had become more athletic. "I look kinda average now... Maybe i could have a chance at getting a boyfriend... Nah, it's still me, not enough fantasy." 

Sophia was overtaken by fear and gasped, slapping her face with both hands in the process. "The finals. I have to go back." Leaving a red mark on her cheeks, she didn't know how to escape this world, she had done so much and received nothing "I need to resurrect, there should be death magic or something like that in this world, i need to get it." thought to herself.

Past the trees, she found a village with tons of wood and stone houses. "Bingo."

She carefully got down a slightly high slope, trying not to ruin her white dress until she got to a main street. The road was made of cobblestone but it was easy to walk it barefoot, there was no jagged rocks or awkward crevices. "Why is everyone wearing brown?" she noticed she grabbed everyone's attention by having that dress and quickened her pace to look for a tavern.

"I should get some quick money in a tavern, as the protagonist i hope my magic powers are broken."

Slithering through a thicket, Sophia hid from everyone to try something, she remembered every movie, comic or novel she had experienced, trying to channel magic through hand signs, using a stick and funny words, trying to summon a menu, trying to shoot psywaves clenching her neck and face until they became red and wrinkled. A kid that just walked by stood there for a while, Sophia made eye contact and the kid walked away as if he didn't saw anything.

She remembered when she was 9, she tried to become a witch by "powering up" behind the classroom and everybody bullied her for doing so. She was known as "Witch" during her childhood and was made fun by kids that weren't even from her school.

"Alright, i guess is time to become The witch the proper way."