The Dream

I don't think there's anything especially noteworthy about me. I served my time in the military, I'm reasonably fit, my looks aren't on the bad end of the spectrum, and despite my social anxiety I've got friends of my own. During my off time I enjoy reading, going to the gym, and giving dating the occasional shot. Sure all of my attempts at romance had ended in failure or eventual mutual apathy, causing me to say fuck it one day and get sucked into the world of Romance novels, but I would never in a million years think the final thoughts running through my head would be 'I wish I had gotten laid a few more times'.

I never saw the bullet or the person who fired it that night, I had simply been on my way home after work when it happened, it was a walk I had made countless times before and one I had thought I would make countless times more. I had been shot before of course, you didn't survive three tours without any kind of wounds, but a bullet to the spine has a way of causing much more damage than one to the arm or leg.

As the darkness finally closed in and the last vestiges of life left me I expected to be met with eternal darkness, or nothing at all, simply a cessation of my existence. Maybe even a trip to some mythical heaven or hell talked about by one of the world's many religions. What I did not expect to wake up to was a bed so comfortable it was fit for angels.

"Master, you're finally awake! The baron was so worried after you fainted in the drill yard!"

Ok a lot to unpack there. Not the least of which is the fact the person calling me master was from the looks of it some kind of a maid, a very, very beautiful maid. Like why the hell is she sparkling?

"Master, are you feeling, ok? You seem confused, do you need me to get you anything?" She was suddenly not only in my face but also way too close for comfort and her mouth seemed to be drifting way too close to my own for comfort.

Backing away slightly from the still sparkling maid, that now somehow had roses framing her face. I took a second to catch my breath while she watched on. 'Ok so either I've died and there is an afterlife or I'm dreaming. Because this cannot be real.'

"I'm sorry if this request may seem odd but can you please tell me where I am right now?"

"Oh! I'm so sorry master, I was so delighted to see you awake I didn't think about how confused you must be right now. You're currently in the estate of Elias Van Jakoban, lord of lesser Ellacuria. Honestly master Vahid, are you sure you're, ok?"

Whatever else the maid was saying was lost to me as I processed the names. Vahid, Elias Van Jakoban, Lesser Ellacuria. They were all names and places that I remembered very well considering they all appeared in the most recent Romance novel I had been reading. Elias Van Jakoban being the primary male lead who was in love with one Veressa Von Erstien, Princess of the Estinite Empire, the greatest Empire in the known world. Needless to say the book was all about how their relationship ping ponged back and forth due to not only their vast differences in rank, but also various misunderstandings and interventions by secondary characters.

One of which happened to be Vahid Von Gallick, the second son of a major lord in the Empire. The man who's body I seem to now be in possession of if my panicking thoughts are to be trusted.

"I'm fine, please leave."

"But master your unwell! I can't simply leave you unattended!"

"I said leave, please do not try my patience."

With a look of betrayal and hurt on her face the made left the room while small tears formed in her eyes. It was ridiculous and a major overreaction to being told to leave someone's room, but the novel always did love to exaggerate every minor thing, and it seems that's transferred into actual reality as well. If this was reality and not a strange dream that I was likely to wake up from as soon as I closed my eyes.

Unfortunately no matter how long I lay in bed with my eyes closed no sleep would come to me, instead it felt as if my body was a bundle of energy and nerves ready to be released every time I moved. 'Fuck this, I have to confirm it.'

With speed that wouldn't have been possible before I woke up here, just one clue among many, I was out of bed and across the room and in front of a mirror. The man in front of me was foreign and unfamiliar in every way. Nearly six and a half feet tall, muscular and yet somehow lean, handsome beyond reality with silky black hair and deep piercing blue eyes he was any woman's dream man. He was exactly how Vahid had been described in the books and he was not me.

The man in front of me wasn't me, and he never had been. Even the feeling of a knife cutting through my hand wasn't enough to wake me from this cruel nightmare.

"This can't be real. I refuse to believe this is real, this is just some kind of bad dream." That was the only explanation that made sense. "It makes too much sense really, the beautiful people, the fantasy characters, the sparkles and framing roses. It's all my mind giving me a few moments of happiness while dying in the street."

I turned away from the mirror and went over to the terrace that jutted out of the side of the room and overlooked the wider estate. "Yes soon everything will go black and this world will vanish into nothing, taking me with it. I just have to wait."

'It's for the best really I don't even know what I would do as Vahid, as the second male lead its his destiny to die at the hands of an invading horde of barbarians while trying to defend Veressa, giving Elias the time he needs to get her to safety further strengthening their relationship. Before that point all Vahid did was pine for Veressa's attention and resent Elias every time he stopped one of Vahid's vapid plans to gain Veressa's love.'

I sat on the terrace for a long time waiting for the inevitable to come, the sun reached its peak and began its slow dip below the horizon while I waited, giving me a full and beautiful view of the world. The vast plains of the estate rolled languidly for miles around while the great river through rich trade and life flowed into the territory rushed with all the might one could expect of such a grand piece of geography.

It was beautiful in ways I could never fully describe in words, reality shouldn't be capable of producing such grand and awe inspiring scenery and yet there I sat as the night came and the sun set bringing with it new and wonderful sights. Most notably the moon which seemed to pulse with a strange and unnatural beauty, almost as if it were a living being.

"When your maid came to me Vahid I expected you to be laid out in bed waylaid with fever, instead I find you out here observing the moon and looking as if it's the first time you've ever seen anything beautiful in your life."

Elias, Vahids first friend and trusted confidant as well as the man who will one day sign his death sentence by neglecting to save him during the invasion. Leaving him to die to a man with the legions. He was handsome, with blonde hair flecked with whimsical silver and deep golden eyes he was what models wished they could be.

"You needn't worry about me, I'm simply reflecting on when this dream will end." He looked upon me with eyes full of questions, questions I was uninterested in answering.

"So the maid was right, you really are acting strangely, it seems the knock to your head and subsequent fever's impact aren't yet fully healed. I insist you return to bed before your condition worsens."

"Spare me the platitudes Elias, Soon enough none of this will matter, this dream will end and I will end with it. Honestly I don't even know why I'm speaking with you, the conjurations of a dying man's mind can't be trusted after all." The confused look turned concerned as the man whom this body would one day hate and envy looked me in the eyes and tried his best to get me on my feet and to bed.

I let him pick me up, what did it matter if I disappeared while looking out into the imaginary sky or I died while in an unreal bed made of my own happy thoughts and hopes? Either way I would be dead and gone soon enough.

What I didn't expect was for him to sit beside me on the bed and smile at me with a very visible blush on his face. "I'm sorry there isn't more I can do for you my friend, I am not a mage nor a doctor but I will be sure to have one come and see you as soon as I can. Until then please get some rest and… stay safe for me."

The smile on his face was so dazzling it literally hurt my eyes, especially as he drew closer to me, and with his lips literally only a hair away from mine stopped and pulled away. "I.. I'm sorry I need to go." The look of horror on his face was plain to see as he rushed out of the room while I tried to process what had just happened.

'Don't tell me fucking Vahid and Elias had some kind of BL relationship in my subconscious. That's the last thing I need to think about while I wait for my own death. More than that I refuse to fucking be apart of it! I am straight goddammit!'

While I wrestled with the fact that I may have subconscious homosexual thoughts and desires, the sweet release of sleep slowly started to reach the corners of my vision bringing with it the encroaching darkness. 'Ahh finally, I was wondering when this would happen. It sure took long enough, hopefully death is less stressful than this nightmare, and with less concerning implications for my sexuality.'

With my eyes growing ever heavier I released myself into the sweet and deceptive hold of sleep content with the knowledge I would never wake up again. Perhaps that's why I was so surprised when I opened my eyes once more to the sounds of running water while the sunlight poured through the currents.

"Master your awake once more! Are you feeling any better since yesterday?"

'FUCK.'