Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Oh, no.
If I was dead, did that mean the timeline was resetting again?
Wait.
Where did that thought come from?
“Ah.” I grabbed my head as a sharp pain shot through it. Images flashed through my mind in quick succession—a handsome ethereal man, Marilyn Monroe, a sign that said, ‘The Department of Reincarnation.’
What a strange bunch of memories that was.
But… they were mine. From before I became Alicia Vermillion.
Or were they? Something about that statement didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Ah. I was so confused.
Who was that person? And why did they turn into Marilyn Monroe?
Hmm.
It took me a few tries thanks to the soft, dry sand, but I made it to my feet and brushed the sand off from my dress. I was still wearing the dress I’d worn to the hunting competition, and a thorough check of it showed no sign of bloodstains or tearing. Unless that was a hinky afterlife trick, was it possible I was alive?
Afterlife.
Were those memories from a time between my lives?
Yes. That felt right.
I pulled off my shoes and socks and gathered my skirt so I could walk onto the wet sand. Would I be able to feel the ocean here? Was the water wet?
I stepped into the foam of a wave that was just creeping back out and smiled.
The water was, in fact, wet.
Small wins.
Hmm. None of this answered my questions though.
“Am I dead?” I asked the ocean.
Sadly, it didn’t answer.
“Yeah, that was a long shot.” I sighed and looked down at my feet, taking slow steps so that my toes would sink into the wet sand.
At least it wasn’t hot, despite the sun being high in the sky. In fact, everything was perfectly pleasant and comfortable, perhaps the very weather conditions I’d describe as my ideal.
Yeah.
I was totally dead, wasn’t I?
“Well, the weird man in my memories said the world resets with my death, so am I in some kind of holding pattern?”
“Weird man in your memories? I take offense to that!”
I screamed and stepped backwards. My heel sank into the soggy sand, and before I could right myself, I fell backwards and was washed over by a wave.
“Hey!” I coughed out the salty water, glaring up at the man in a bright orange Hawaiian shirt. “Wait. I know you. You’re the—ow!” My head screamed in pain once again, and the flashing of memories I’d experience a moment ago rolled like a movie reel in my mind.
“Oh, dear. That’s not supposed to hurt.” He bent at the waist and looked down at me with narrowed golden eyes. “Maybe I came too soon.”
“You!” I pointed at him. “God!”
He brightened, and a beaming smile crossed his face. “Yes! You remember me.”
“I have a bone to pick with you! Why’d you take my memories like that?” I scrambled to my feet. “Wait, before that, dry my dress.”
“Do I look like your personal launderette?” God sniffed, but my dress instantly dried, along with the rest of me. “You seem angry, Allie.”
“I wonder why. I have soooo many things to bring up that you wouldn’t believe it,” I warned him, wiggling my finger at him. “But first—where the heck are we? Am I dead?”
God shook his head. “Not this time. And we’re… well, I guess we’re in a private space between life and death.”
“That’s not reassuring at all.”
“Don’t worry. Your time isn’t up yet, and you can’t be hurt here. This place is made of nothing but divine power.”
“Divine power,” I mumbled, looking down at my hands. It felt familiar. “Did I… use that?”
“Ah, yes. To be exact, you used too much divine power and mana and collapsed from depletion.” He waved for me to follow him, and we approached two sun loungers that I swear weren’t there when I woke up. “That’s exactly what brought you here—or rather, I brought you here to recover.”
“So, my body is fine?”
“Yes. To everyone in the real world, you’re merely sleeping.” God paused. “Although I hope you recover soon before that lover of yours goes on a rampage. He’s rather distressed.”
Ah.
Kalon did have a history of murderous rampages.
“Don’t worry. As long as I’m alive, he’ll be fine.” I paused. “Wait. I sounded way too certain just then.”
“Hmm.” God peered over at me with a hint of a smile on his face. “I wondered if you would begin to recover your memories when your powers awoke, and it seems as though I was right.”
“What does that mean?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Let me guess, it’s one of your stupid laws of the universe?”
“Yes.” He looked momentarily glum, a bit like a puppy being scolded. “You must figure this one out yourself, I’m afraid. Everything will make sense when you do, though.”
“Forgive me if I find trusting you a bit on the tough side. You did take my memories and make me believe I was living in a fictional world rather than another dimension. Do you have any idea how much knowing that would have helped me? Do you know the angst I’ve suffered because of you?”