Prologue - "What the **** is going on"?

My cell phone alarm clock goes off in a loud and annoying noise, and I, still sleepy, stick my hand out of the blanket and finally turn it off.

I look at the cell phone screen and see it is 8 A.M on a Monday. I slowly get out of bed as I need to prepare for work.

"Ugh...one more time at that shitty restaurant..."

I work as a waitress in a restaurant near where I live, full of annoying customers, asshole co-workers, and a disgusting boss who is constantly hitting on me.

Well, I need this job. Besides being the only place that accepted me as an employee, I earn a decent salary to supply my needs and buy my anime stuff.

Before washing my face, I look at myself in the bathroom mirror and notice my long black hair completely messed up and the dark circles under my eyes, possibly caused by the fact that I played the newest Otome Game that I bought until four in the morning.

But what could I do? I love these games, and I had to finish the tsundere character route. He was quite cute, not gonna lie.

These games are the only place where an awkward, introverted girl like me can have a love life with handsome and kind men, totally different than the disgusting and pervert dudes who hit on me every time (like... my boss).

In high school, I thought I could make some friends and have a beautiful love story like in the romance animes I used to watch. But last year I graduated, and today I only have frustrations and bills to pay.

"*sniff* He doesn't have to be perfect...someone cute and who treats me decently is fine...I guess I'll be an old maid forever...*sniff*" I whine to myself, looking in the mirror after washing my face.

But no more crying here, I have to move on. So I eat my breakfast, brush my teeth, take a shower, change my clothes, comb my hair and put on some basic makeup to hide the dark circles under my eyes.

Before I leave, I notice a new message on my cell phone. It was from my father...again. He still insists on talking to me even after all he has done. But now I live alone and independently, so I don't need to speak anything with him anymore.

Ready for another day, I leave my apartment and walk to my workplace, about twenty minutes from where I live. It was an ordinary spring day, sunny and calm, with many people going to study or work.

I arrive at the restaurant, and just like on a normal day, I prepare myself to tidy up before the customers arrive for lunch, where the work would be really stressful.

However... a strong smell of gas starts to appear, which is so intense it makes me kinda dizzy. Just as I was about to complain and ask someone to check it, in the blink of an eye, I hear a big noise and I am thrown backwards by a huge force.

I feel my face and stomach burning, my body completely in pain. Dizzy and almost unconscious, I hear screams and cries for help, while I see only a large cloud of gray dust in my blurred vision.

After a few seconds, I realize what had happened; a gas leak, which eventually resulted in an explosion in which I was caught in the act.

And so... my vision is getting darker and darker... I can hardly see anything anymore... and I am getting weaker. Am I ... dying?

I am scared, I don't wanna die, my life wasn't so good but I hoped it could change, that's why I always moved on, and dying now would end it all. I wanted to show my father that I could make a life for myself without depending on him.

Why? Why should I die now? Some god was playing with my life, got tired and did something to throw me away? This is the twisted logic I try to create for myself, trying to find some reason for my death, or maybe for my life.

But that's it...as time goes by...I have come to accept my senses fading, the perception of my body disappearing, and a sense of relaxation. I think that at least I won't have to work or listen to my father's complaints anymore... but I wanted to finish that game before I left to be honest...

...

...

Wait... am I still alive? But I don't feel my body. I can't see, breathe, hear... but I am still conscious... have I really died? Where am I?

As more and more questions came into my mind, a faint light began to appear in the dark void I'm in right now. I regain my body awareness again, and I begin to feel as if something is hugging me.

My heart felt warm, I was relaxed, I still couldn't move, I didn't know where I was, but everything was peaceful. If the afterlife is anything like this, I don't think I would mind staying like this forever.

"Sorry to oblige you to do it for us..." a delicate and melancholic female voice comes out of nowhere, apparently speaking to me almost in a whisper.

"But it is necessary... please... we need you... there is no more time..." another voice, now masculine and strong but at the same time gentle and kind, also speaks to me apparently.

Do what? Do they need me? For what?

The light then begins to dim, and darkness begins to take over again. I feel tired, so tired. Then, just as I am about to sleep, the silence is again interrupted.

"Have a good rest...you need to..." says the unknown female voice.

"Your future won't be easy...but remember, we will be together with you...sleep well" the male voice replies in a parting tone.

...

Suddenly I wake up with the sunlight bathing my face. Then, slowly, I wake up and realize where I am. I feel the smell and softness of damp grass, a light breeze hitting my face, and birds humming.

I get up, and, still sleepy, I see where I am, somewhere full of trees with very green leaves, near a lake with crystal clear water, and sitting on the grass as soft as the most luxurious bed.

"This... is it a dream? But it feels too real..." I say to myself with a low-energy voice as I scratch my right eye slightly. As I say this sentence, I notice something different: my voice.

It was higher and softer than before... am I having a throat problem? Out of reflex, I touched my neck with my hand to see if I felt anything wrong, but at that moment, I realized that it wasn't only this that was different.

I begin to notice that I am wearing an outfit I have never worn before. A sleeveless shirt and shorts made of the same thick scarlet fabric. My feet are touching the grass directly since I wear no shoes.

My hands are smaller and more feminine, and my skin is silkier and softer, in a pale white tone. In addition, my thighs are softer and thicker, completely different from how it was before.

"What... is going on?"

Still confused, I walk to the lake to see my reflection in the water. When I looked at myself through the crystal clear water, I got surprised and flinched, I thought I saw things, but I look at myself again and see that what I saw was very real.

My hair now is short and dark brown, completely straight and much shinier. My face is as white as snow, my eyes are red and very round, my nose is thinner, and my lips are plumper and pinker.

However, the strangest thing is the one on my forehead, above my left eye. A small, thin horn with the same tone as my skin. A little apprehensive, I try to touch it.

I feel how hard and resistant it is when I touch it with my right hand, but at the same time, I also feel how smooth it is. The tip was very sharp, like a good kitchen knife. Isn't that kind of dangerous to have something so sharp on your forehead?

Also, my teeth are shiny, and the canines are sharper and longer, like vampire fangs that you would see in some movie or anime out there.

Extremely confused about my body, I start to look around me more clearly. Hadn't I died in an explosion? Why am I in the woods now? Where is my house? Is there a bank nearby where I can get money for a cab? Wait, where exactly is this place?

"Can someone tell me...WHAT THE **** IS GOING ON?!" I scream as loud as I can as a way to vent about the total insanity of my day, which was supposed to be normal, and also to see if someone would listen and answer me.

In the direction I shouted, the trees that were there start to fall, as if a strong wind had blown them down, this region get flooded by the lake water, and little birds fall dead from the sky on what was once grass but is now just damp soil.

The noise that is generated by all this chaos startles me and causes me to run back and hide instinctively in the first tree I see. After everything calms down, I stare wide-eyed at the scenery of the wasteland on the other side, stretching out in a straight line.

"Did I do that? Ugh...can I be sued for an environmental crime for that? How can I pay for this damage? Then would I be arrested for it? Ohhhh boy…"

"It doesn't even matter! How do I even get home in the middle of this place I don't even know where I am?! My feet are covered with dirt here! Just tell me where is the way out of this forest please?! SOMEBODY!?"

"Sigh... I'll have to find a way out then... alone as usual... I guess..."