Kazuki's eyes opened to an endless sky that made him feel impossibly small. He sat up and looked around.

  There was no ground. Or rather, he was sitting on something that wasn't exactly ground.

  It had color but also didn't, like his brain couldn't figure out what he was actually looking at.

  Around him, lights moved through the air. Colors he'd never seen before, colors that seemed to exist in the spaces between normal ones.

  They rippled slowly, like auroras in slow motion.

  There was no ground. No up or down. He floated in space like he was suspended in water, weightless.

  He tried to breathe. He could, somehow, though the air didn't feel quite like air.

  ( Okay. Okay. Think. )

  Even his thoughts sounded small and far away. What happened? The vortex pulled me in, and now I'm... where?

  He tried to remember, but it was already getting fuzzy.

  The more he tried to remember, the faster the details slipped away.

  Gravity didn't work right here. When he tried to move in one direction, his body moved slowly, like the space around him was pushing back.

  Sounds were muffled—his own heartbeat echoed in his ears like he was listening to it from underwater.

  Light bent around him in strange ways, casting shadows that didn't make sense.

  “I'm dead,” he thought.

  Weirdly, the idea didn't scare him as much as it should have.

  Then, suddenly. The light moved.

  Small points of light started gathering together, like fireflies drawn to the same spot.

  Then they moved faster, swirling together, forming something that looked almost human.

  The glow got brighter until Kazuki had to squint.

  When it faded, a figure was there. She wasn't what he expected.

  The figure was a woman.

  Though "Woman" seemed inadequate, floated with the same weightless ease he did, but where he flailed and drifted awkwardly, she seemed perfectly at home.

  Her robes were dark fabric covered in patterns that moved. Stars and constellations shifted across the cloth like she was wearing the night sky.

  Small golden rings floated around her body, spinning slowly around her shoulders, wrists, and waist like tiny satellites.

  Instead of wings or a halo, she had a tail made of stardust that trailed behind her like a comet, leaving faint sparkles that faded after a few seconds.

  Her face looked young. She had large eyes that seemed to see too much. She tilted her head and studied him with an expression somewhere between curious and confused.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "Huh?" She blinked slowly. "A traveler? I wasn't expecting anyone this century..."

  Her voice was soft but clear, with a dreamy quality like someone half-asleep. She drifted closer, leaning in to look at him.

  "Um." Kazuki's voice came out rough. He cleared his throat.

  "Where... where am I?"

  "Mm?" She straightened up. One of the golden rings shifted to circle her head.

  "Oh, right. Explanations. I'm supposed to give those." She tapped her chin.

  "You're in a Transit Expanse. Think of it as a rest stop for souls that got knocked off their normal path. A waiting room between existences, I guess?"

  That didn't help at all.

  "Souls?" Kazuki's stomach dropped. "So I am dead.”

  "What? No, no—well, not exactly." She waved her hand, and the motion sent ripples through the lights around them.

  "You're not dead, you're just displaced. You slipped between existences. Fell through a crack in reality.

  Happens more often than you'd think, though usually to smaller things.

  Paperclips. Single socks. Your species calls it 'losing things,' but really they just went elsewhere."

  Kazuki tried to process this. But Failed miserably.

  "Can I go back?"

  Her expression softened. "No. I'm sorry. The pathways collapse after someone falls through. There's no return route."

  The words hit him hard. No going back.

  "But there has to be a way. Some kind of exception, or—"

  "There isn't." She floated closer. Despite being smaller than him, her presence felt heavier. "I'm sorry. If there was a way, I would tell you. But once you've slipped through, that thread is cut."

  Kazuki felt his throat tighten.

  "They'll think I ran away," he whispered.

  "Or that something horrible happened. They'll never know..."

  Exhaustion hit him. "So what happens now?"

  Her expression brightened. "Now you go somewhere new! That's the exciting part. Well, exciting and terrifying, but still."

  She spread her arms, and the lights swirled faster. "I'm a Custodian of Drifting Souls. My job is to guide misplaced beings like you to a world that can stabilize you."

  "Stabilize?"

  "You can't exist here forever. Your essence would fade like mist. So I help you find a world with compatible reality laws."

  She gestured, nearly tangling herself in her stardust tail.

  "The world I'm sending you to has natural forces that manifest as living spirits—fire, water, wind. They're conscious and can form contracts with people. The species there evolved under different conditions, so you'll see some interesting things..."

  Despite everything, Kazuki felt a spark of curiosity. "It sounds like a fantasy novel."

  "It's not like your world," she agreed. "But it's not hostile to humans. Usually. Well, no more hostile than your own world was.

  You'll adapt!"

  "Will I still be me? Physically?"

  Her expression turned apologetic. "Your physical form dissolved during the transition. I'll need to weave you a new vessel suited to that world."

  Panic shot through his chest. "What does that mean? Am I going to be reborn as a baby? Or turned into some kind of monster?"

  "Neither! Probably." She tilted her head.

  "The Expanse reacts to the strongest aspect of your soul and shapes your form around it. I don't control the specifics. Sometimes it's very similar to your original body. Sometimes it gets creative."

  "That's not reassuring."

  "Would you prefer I lie?"

  "...No."

  "Then accept that uncertainty is part of it." Her smile was gentle. "For what it's worth, I think you'll be fine. Your essence feels sturdy. Adaptable. Which is great…"

  The lights around them began to pulse, and he felt a pulling sensation in his chest, different from the vortex's violent yank.

  "It's starting," the Woman said softly.

  "Wait—" Kazuki reached out. "Will I see you again?"

  She smiled the first fully warm expression he'd seen from her. "If you reach a Rank high enough, You can summon me. Focus on my true name and call out. I'll answer when I can, though my job keeps me busy."

  "What's your name?"

  She leaned close and whispered it, a sound like wind through distant stars, syllables that didn't fit in his mouth but stuck in his memory anyway.

  "Thank you," he said quietly. For honesty. For not leaving him completely adrift.

  "Good luck, Kazuki." She stepped back, the stardust tail wrapping around her.

  "You're braver than you think."

  The pulling got stronger.

  Light collapsed inward, spiraling down to a single point.

  Kazuki felt himself being drawn along, his body accelerating through impossible space.

  The last thing he saw was the woman waving, her golden rings spinning faster as she faded.

  Then, sensation.

  A heartbeat pounded in his ears. It felt wrong.

  Warmth spread through his body. His limbs felt heavier. They didn't move the way they should.

  Voices echoed somewhere far away.

  Then closer.

  He didn't recognize the language, but he could feel what they meant.

  The emotion behind the sounds, even if the actual words made no sense.

  Everything started closing in.

  Then—

  Darkness.