1 Back From the Other Realm

"We're losing him!" Joseph heard the panicked voices of the doctors and nurses as alarms rang from the machines attached to him.

He knew he was dying, so why were they even trying to save him? What was the point? It wasn't like anyone was going to miss him.

Joseph closed his eyes as he felt the darkness take him. It was cold, but oddly enough, it felt like an old friend that had finally come to embrace him and to guide him home.

Loneliness was a feeling that Joseph was familiar with. It had been his companion all his life. Both in this world and on his own.

As he felt all his senses go one by one, Joseph thought of how he died.

Joseph was no one special. He was your ordinary office worker who spent 8am to 5pm sitting behind a desk, typing away to make a rich man richer.

The highlight of his week, like everyone else in the office, was when the clock struck 5pm on Friday night and they were free of their cushy office prisons.

It was on one of those nights that he decided to drop by a gas station on his way home when a bomb went off, killing everyone but him.

By some miracle he had survived, but not by much. He knew he was gone as soon as he felt that tug pulling him from life to death.

There was nothing but darkness all around him. It was nothing but a black void with an endless path that led to nowhere. Looking to where it led made him feel like it was a path he was destined to take for all eternity until the end of days.

Was this what all souls went through? Was there truly no heaven or hell?

At this point he knew he was dead and that it was time for him to move on to the land of the dead. To walk through the darkness to God knows where.

Was there even a god?

He never cared about these things, but now that he was gone, it seemed to matter.

Although it was not like he could change anything, he couldn't come back to life. This wasn't like some reincarnation web novel he stumbled into, right?

Just as he was accepting his fate, that's when he heard it.

The sweetest voice that could possibly exist, calling out to him.

It was a woman and her voice sounded like a goddess summoning his soul, his every being, demanding his attention.

"Nicholas. . ." The voice called out.

Joseph was confused, that was not his name and yet he felt drawn to the voice. The name also felt so familiar to his ears that he could not ignore it. He felt it fit him better than his own name.

"Nicholas. . ." The woman called out again as Joseph looked around.

There was still nothing, just darkness and the never ending path ahead.

"Nicholas." The woman's voice said once more in a more firm and decisive tone.

A bright light suddenly shined in front of him. It began as a tiny speck that grew and slowly took form. Joseph didn't know how long he had been staring at it, in the land of the dead he had no sense of time.

The light soon resembled the form of a woman, drawing Joseph even closer to it.

A part of him screamed that it could be dangerous, yet his curiosity won him over.

"Prince Nicholas, it's time you can finally come back." The light in the shape of a woman said.

Joseph wondered why he seemed to respond to the name she called him or why he was even inclined to follow her.

He glanced at the dark path ahead of him, he was sure that he didn't want to go down that path. Something told him that going down that path would seal his fate, making his death definite and final.

After years of living his boring and ordinary life he wanted something different, and this felt like a change.

"Come." He heard the woman call out as the light seeming to offering her hand to him. Nicholas reached out and took it.

Suddenly, the darkness was gone. He was no longer standing, instead he was now lying on a soft bed.

"He's awake." He heard the sweet voice from his dreams say to someone else in the room.

Wait, was it really just a dream? Did he really die? But, he didn't know who this woman was and yet she kept calling out to him in his dreams and she was with him in his room.

Joseph slowly opened his eyes, and to his surprise, he was greeted by the most luxurious ceiling he had ever seen in his entire life.

It was so high up that he felt like he was in some cathedral of some sort. It had a mural of wizards and animals painted so delicately it looked like it came from the renaissance.

Surely he was still dreaming.

"Let me help you up." The female voice said as he felt her soft hand gently reach for his wrist while the other went to his back, helping him sit up.

This was the first time he was seeing the woman. She was like light, or at least to him, the physical manifestation of light.

Her skin was like fine china, smooth and without blemish. She had long white hair that was currently braided behind her back. Her eyes were a vibrant amber, making it look like she had captured the sun.

"Prince Nicholas?" She asked, pulling Joseph back. It seemed that he had been staring at her for so long that it did not go unnoticed by her and her companion.

"He seems lost." Another woman said her voice sounded less melodic. It was beautiful, but she sounded sad and like she was still suffering from a great pain.

Joseph's eyes shifted across the room to find the woman who had spoken. He found her seated on a chair to the side of the room. It was one of those antique, dark hardwood chairs with red cushions on the arms.

But it wasn't the fancy room that caught Joseph's attention, it was the other woman with them that seemed to draw his attention.

Her skin was darker than the fair woman. It was a very light shade of brown that went well with her raven dark hair. Even her eyes were the darkest shade of black that Joseph had ever seen. Something about her simply screamed death and darkness.

"Give it time. He will remember." The fair woman said as she patted his hand.

"Do you know who you are?" The other woman asked him in a demanding tone as her eyes seemed to glisten against the candlelight.

Wait, candle light? Joseph asked himself as he looked around the room.

True enough, there were no lights, there was no TV, nothing that resembled his life. It was as if he had suddenly found himself in the middle ages. Even the clothing the two women wore looked ancient to him.

"Who am I?" Joseph asked out loud as he looked at the fair woman. "Who are you?" He dared to question them.

"Take deep breaths, close your eyes, try to remember us." The woman seated on his bed said as she continued to gently stroke his hand.

Slowly Joseph began to remember. As a matter of fact, Joseph was not his real name.

He was Prince Nicholas, fourth son of the King of Merlen, weakest of the king's sons. No, he wasn't the weakest. He was simply thought to be the weakest because he knew to play his cards right.

He was a mage from the Royal House of Cruor. He was a Corporali Mage, a healing mage, but he had been keeping the extent of his powers a secret from his siblings.

But why? He couldn't remember why he had to hide it.

"Do you remember who you are now, brother?" The woman who seemed like darkness followed her asked.

"I do, I think." Joseph, no his name was Nicholas, said with a slow nod. "My mind seems to be trying to catch up." He said as he sorted his identity out in his head.

"Well, you better hurry up, Nic, cause our brothers will soon find out that they failed to send you to another world and when they do, they will be after your head." His sister said as she looked directly into his eyes, warning him..

He knew in his heart that she was right. They wanted him dead, what he couldn't quite remember was why.