Rebirth in the Divine Realms

On a day like any other, I woke up, and anything after was completely unexpected.

I mumbled, my brain not okay with being awake. I stretched my hand, aiming for the glass of water that would normally be on a nightstand, but I found neither the water nor the nightstand, something I wouldn't fail to do even when I was staying in a hotel, like I should have been right now.

Nor was I on my bed; actually, the one I was laying on felt much worse than the one I had been sleeping on, as if it were filled with normal feathers instead of my fantastic memory foam bed. Once you try that, there is no going back.

"Ah, little Che! You... You woke up!" I heard a girl gasp in apparent surprise.

I was anything but small, and what was a che?

The weirdness of the situation woke me up—just a bit, but more than enough to understand that there was a stranger in my hotel room, that what should be my room wasn't my room, and that it was filled with light.

I hated the light in the morning, but I had bigger concerns right now.

Why is there a teenager in my room? What in the bloody hell did I do yesterday?

"Who are you?" I asked panickedly while still trying to maintain whatever dignity a just-woken person could possibly have.

The girl's happy expression morphed back into worry. "You can't recognize me, little Che?" She stretched her hand to my forehead, but I evaded it instinctually, quickly jumping to my feet.

"Little Che, you should rest. I'll go tell your grandpa that you're awake; today is your day! He'll tell you everything; I'm sure you'll remember everything soon enough." She said this before escaping in a rush, but not before pushing me on the bed with unexpected strength.

I closed my eyes, opened them again, and closed them again, hoping that when I opened them again the next time, this whole situation would reveal itself to be just a dream.

But it wasn't.

Was this one of those "Isekai" thingies?

I knew I shouldn't have followed my girlfriend's idea to go to the land of the rising sun; now it was her fault that I was transported to a world filled with weird people who didn't care that I apparently had lost memories.

I stood up and went to the mirror that was sitting in the room, and the sight I saw confirmed my guess: I became Chinese.

I looked into my pants, and to my horror, what lay there was less than satisfactory.

The ground was closer to me than it had been in years. I looked back into the mirror and was mostly unable to guess whether I was a young-looking adult or a normal-looking teen. I hoped for the second because it would mean I would still have time to grow.

Nothing a healthy dose of milk and physical activity couldn't fix.

Then I remembered that most pure Chinese people had lactose intolerance, and I despaired.

I analyzed my body; there was a pretty weird circular tattoo on the palm of my left hand. It was a weird thing to tattoo, but I had something weirder, so it didn't matter; it only bothered me that I would have to get new ones.

There was no way I would keep my skin uncustomized, no matter which body I was in.

I was taking it far too well, and when that realization set in, it was no longer the case.

Was the Chinese owner of this body my normal body?

Was he with my girlfriend?

I narrowed my eyes in rage. Was the Chinese maybe-teen whose body I was currently inhabiting having a nice steamy morning with my girlfriend?

Right at that moment, the green circle on my hand glowed, causing me a bit of nausea. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was in a world of green.

"Wha…"

Then the world of green was gone, as suddenly as it had appeared. I looked at the green circle in my hand and finally had a realization.

This was a bloody magical world after death, and I probably was in whatever afterlife there was or a different universe.

After all, in the Japanese manga, or whatever they were called, the protagonist was usually hit by a truck, or something. How did a truck even reach me?

I was on the twelfth floor!

I didn't like them, but my girlfriend did, and I liked listening to her talk about her passions; that was enough to pick up some things.

I sat on the couch, taking in the existential crisis that had just hit me: was this a different universe, or a different world in my universe where the living beings had hallucinations, or did this body just have a mental illness?

Or maybe I had a mental illness and this was a hallucination in my original body.

Did this mean that souls existed?

That had to be the weirdest realization.

Why was I in a red dress?

The door opened again, and the teenager came back in the room. Right behind her was an old man, the person I assumed to be my grandfather. "Oh, Che'er, you finally woke up."

What was a cheer?

Behind the old man, apparently this body's grandfather, there was another old man.

Why were there so many old people just coming into my room without asking? The girl was the same.

"It's good that you have woken up and you do not look ill anymore, but let Doctor Situ examine you. Today is your wedding day, and we cannot have the slightest error. Doctor Situ, please go ahead." The old man stepped aside, letting the other old man walk in.

What a bloody wedding! I was too young!

In both this and my old body, I was barely thirty; forget about marrying; I just finished being a student!

But I kept my mouth shut; the fewer suspects I elicited in these people, the more details I might be able to get.

The doctor put down a weird chest on the table that was a bit further away than I would have liked, then checked my pulse.

"Doctor Situ, how is Xiao Che's condition? Is it serious?" Asked the teenage girl.

What would he know from checking my pulse? That my heart was beating?

If checking the pulse of someone was enough to make any diagnosis other than whether they were alive or dead, then I had wasted over ten years of medical studies.

But I remained silent and waited for the doctor to do whatever other studies he could do outside of a laboratory or without heavy machinery, but he didn't do anything more; he just smiled back to the girl and replied, "Elder Xiao, you do not need to worry; your grandson's physical condition is excellent. He has no major ailments or even the slightest cold. Perhaps your grandson fainted because he was so nervous and excited that his blood rushed to his head. After all, your grandson is marrying the Xia Clan's daughter, the number one beauty in Floating Cloud City. Hohoho."

Okay, this person talks a lot, and I didn't like his tone, as if he were mocking me, but at least he was useful for getting information. It turns out I should have married some rich dude's daughter; I was probably rich myself as the old man could call a doctor home.

Finally, I learned that this doctor was a joke. How could he possibly know if I had any viruses by feeling my pulse?

The rest of the conversation went way over my head—something about my daughter-in-law something.

I didn't care; what I did care about was finding a way to get away from whatever this marriage was.

I didn't know the way these people did things or if arranged marriages or young marriages, or whatever this was, were common, but frankly, I did not care.

I was not going to marry someone I didn't know, period.

The fake doctor left, the teenager escorting him, leaving only the old man, the teenager, and me behind.

"Che'er, are you really alright? Do you feel unwell anywhere?" He asked, and looking at me should have been enough to tell him that no, I was not alright.

I lacked a lot of meat under my skin, and there was a pain somewhere that I had the stinking suspicion was some form of chronic pain.

"Yes, unfortunately, it seems that my memories are a bit jammed; could you answer some questions?" I asked.

I felt slightly bad seeing the man's expression morph into one of worry, but that was all it was—slightly bad.

"Yes, grandson, what is it?" He asked with an expression of pain and worry.

"I'm getting married today, right? Is it an arranged marriage?"

I had no idea how strange it seemed, but I had apparently dropped unconscious; a little memory loss seemed normal to me.

"Yes, and it's to the fairest and most talented young woman in centuries of our city's history, but are you really alright? How much do you not remember?" He asked apprehensively, his understanding of the situation growing with the concern he felt for his supposed grandson.

That was good news; it meant that the girl most probably wasn't in love with the original person in this body, whose name might be Che Xiao. Xiao Che?

I could feel no guilt knowing that the girl probably didn't want this either.

Some weird Chinese names

How did I understand Chinese, or whatever language I had been talking in?

Meh, I needed to find something to drink to handle this situation. I thought better while drunk.

"I don't remember almost anything; when should this marriage happen?" I asked.

"Right now, the hour is nigh; I should be arranging the marriage team right now. Would you prefer riding horseback or sitting in the carriage?"

Ok, I had less time to escape than I suspected.

"I'll sit in the carriage, grandfather," I replied with as amiable of a smile as I could muster, "but I would like to talk to my bride-to-be before the wedding, privately. Can this be arranged? It doesn't need to be for long; a few minutes can suffice. I'd like for our intentions to be clear before anything happens."

"Good," the man broke into a gentle smile, "I'll try to arrange it to happen; don't worry." He then left right there, no doubt going to arrange for my request.

The teenage girl stood in front of me as soon as the old man left the room, her lips into an unhappy smirk. "So you really are excited for this marriage, getting all mature and wanting to discuss your future," she said, completely misunderstanding my intentions. "You obviously have not met Xia Qingyue that many times, but you are already fond of her... Oh right, she is our Floating Cloud City's number one beauty, huh!"

"I just want to talk to her." I replied with finality.

There was only one reason I actually wanted to meet the girl with the weird, unpronounceable name that I had already mostly forgotten, Xia something, and that was because I guessed that if there was something worse than having an arranged marriage, it was being stood up at the altar without an explanation.

Moreover, I didn't want this body's family to be in a bad spot with the probably powerful family behind the Xia girl, who knew if they had been friends for years, and I just came and ruined it for them even after having taken this guy's body.

That was not my style; I didn't want other people to get in trouble because of me, especially not now that I was in an unfamiliar body in an unfamiliar land with an alien culture.

The teenager broke into a sweet smile and giggled with a gentle voice, "Hehe. I just feel like this day came so quickly. Little Che is already about to be married."

Surely not if I had any say in this whole situation.

I heard knocking on the door, interrupting the girl's words, following which came an old voice: "Young master, it is almost time to go and meet your bride."

"Good." I nodded; it seemed like the old man had managed to get my meeting.

"Ah… already?" Muttered the teenager; she seemed somewhat weird, but she definitely really loved this body's owner.

Not that it mattered to me.

She walked in front of me and began to tidy my weird scarlet-red clothes. "Your clothes are in a mess because of the events earlier. Stand still. I will finish this right away."

What a good girl, I thought, and I waited for her to finish.

Soon after, I got out of the room and made my way for the carriage the old man had prepared for me. I would have rather gone by horse, but I had no idea how to mount one, unfortunately.

But before I managed to do so, a voice stopped me in my tracks: "Looks like I came just at the right time."