My name is Fin.
I'm twenty seven years old, and I've been working the same job ever since I dropped out of school.
I don't have a last name.
There are a few reasons for that. I was an orphan, left in an uncaring orphanage. I had no papers so technically I wasn't even in the orphanage records. So no family even thought to adopt me so I didn't get a last name. Though just Fin was enough for me.
I've lived a pretty bad life, if I'm being honest. Bad enough that I tried to put an end to my story.
My parents left me when I was one.
All they left behind was a book, something I didn't read until much later. It was a fiction story, about a child of god and a dragon. Magicians, swordsmen, royalty. Other worlds. It became my favorite kind of story, the kind that let me escape this one.
Anyway.
Back to the main point.
I died. Or at least, I tried to.
Right as it was about to happen, everything stopped. The world froze, then shattered into rose and gold light. Before I could even think, I was pulled away.
Now I was here.
A forest washed in soft pink and warm gold, like sunset trapped between the trees. Leaves the color of autumn shimmered above me, and roses bloomed everywhere, perfect and untouched. The air felt gentle, almost warm, carrying a faint sweetness I couldn't place.
It was beautiful.
'Yeah, it's pretty,' I thought.
'But where am I?'
'I swear I just died.'
As I stood there, trying to make sense of it, something caught my eye.
A note rested on the ground in front of me.
Come find me. I'm a little deeper in.
The words were handwritten.
My chest tightened.
The handwriting looked familiar. Too familiar. Like my childhood friend's.
That wasn't possible.
She was dead.
I folded the note and looked around again. The forest was still beautiful, but the feeling had changed. It felt wrong, like the trees were leaning in, like something unseen was watching my every step.
Then a pure white lizard hopped out of the bushes and landed between my legs.
I yelped and tried to jump away, immediately tripping over myself and falling face first onto the ground.
'Pathetic.' I thought to myself.
The lizard even didn't attack.
It just stared at me.
Then it seemed to laughed.
'Slimy little shit,' I thought. 'Just wait until I catch you.'
As if it sensed the thought, the lizard glared at me, then calmly turned and started walking down a narrow path through the roses.
It stopped after a few steps and looked back at me.
Waiting.
'Well,' I thought, pushing myself up, 'I was already planning to end it so it shouldn't matter if I get a little sidetracked I could always do it later.'
'Doesn't really matter what happens now.'
I followed it.
As we walked, the forest slowly opened up, and in the distance I noticed something massive rising above the trees.
A giant tree.
No, gigantic didn't even begin to cover it.
'Is that… where we're going?'
Time blurred as we walked. Eventually the light shifted overhead, and I realized it was noon. Just like I suspected, the tree was our destination.
At its base stood an enormous door, tall enough to fit giants, wrapped tightly in blooming roses. The wood looked ancient, smooth with age, and strangely untouched by decay.
It was beautiful.
We reached the door, and the lizard suddenly hopped into a small nest near the roots.
"Do I need to go in?" I asked.
The lizard tilted its head toward the door.
As If Saying
"Just go in already."
'This little shit.'
I was nervous. My hands were shaking. But deep down, I didn't care anymore. I'd already accepted that my life was over.
As that thought crossed my mind, the doors swung open.
They looked slow, heavy, impossibly large, yet the force behind them was violent. Wind exploded outward, slamming into me. My hair flew back, and I nearly lost my footing.
The feeling of being watched intensified, sharp and invasive, like something was staring straight into my soul.
Then I saw it.
Pink hair.
It flowed through the air like silk caught in a storm.
I had no time to react.
Something slammed into me, hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. The world went black for a split second.
I woke to a voice I never thought I'd hear again.
"Fiiinnnn."
My heart skipped.
I looked up.
She stood there, framed by rose and gold light.
It was Aurelia.