I had one of the most blissful moments in months just talking with Isaac. If anyone got him started on his favorite games, they’d never hear the end of it, but I loved every moment of it. Seeing him happy like that was pure gold.

He had his own demons to deal with, and sometimes I’d come home and hear silent weeping, or see his eyes red. It burned my heart to ashes to know that no matter how much I tried to be there for him, I could never give him total happiness. I could only do as much as a sister could. But in times when he smiled like that, there was nothing that could hold him back. Sometimes I felt like he was an even greater beacon of strength than I was, despite his disability.

Dad walked in after a while, and he was super suspicious of me, mainly because he was overprotective of Isaac. I knew his guilt was eating him alive and more of him would be devoured every time he saw Isaac in a wheelchair. After all, he was the one who caused it. The raging wife-beater alcoholic was the reason why Isaac was subject to a damn wheelchair.

Sometimes, I’d sit and think about getting back at him, inflicting a similar injury or just finding some way to make him suffer, but that just wasn’t my nature. Besides, Isaac forgave him, so I couldn’t allow myself to bear a grudge, at least not publicly. And considering the reason he became a messed-up alcoholic, it didn’t feel right for me to pin all the blame on him.

“Hey buddy, sorry, we gotta go now,” Dad said to Isaac. He was a working man after all.

“Um,” I scratched my neck, “do you mind if I have a minute with Isaac?”

Dad eyed his son; I understood his suspicion of someone he never saw. Isaac nodded to let him know it was fine, so he stepped out the room. I got up and pushed his wheelchair towards the window, somewhat shielding him from Dad’s vision. “I wanna show you something.” I pointed to the window to direct his attention there, then cast Sopor on him. Sorry, won’t take long. I had a look around and made sure no one was peeping in, then cast Regrowth, the expert healing spell. With that, he wouldn’t be disabled anymore, but he’d still need to do some exercise to rebuild the muscles.

I released Sopor then woke him up. “You must’ve been tired, huh?” I giggled.

“I, fell asleep?” He woke up in a daze and yawned. “Oh! Dad’s waiting for me.”

I pushed him out and closed the door behind me. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Isaac.”

“I know right?” He boasted. “It was nice to meet you too. You should pass by again.”

“I work pretty far from here so I can’t promise, but I’ll try.” I waved them goodbye and returned to my hospital room after; visiting hours weren’t over yet. I stared at myself. How the fuck do I get back in there? I mean, technically, I could use Cadaver Possession, but I fucking can’t. I rocked my head back in annoyance. This world didn’t know necromancy existed, much less for actual magic. A corpse suddenly coming back to life was a no-go. Besides, I wasn’t willing to test the “forces” that Lich Kaya mentioned; they sounded like bad news.

So, I hightailed back to my castle in the other world once I found a secluded place to teleport. My spirits were high, but they were filled with an absurd amount of worry. Okay let’s backtrack a whole lot. What happened when I died? I sauntered up to my throne, deep in thought. Accident, soul get the fuck out, fly towards the light, and, wait… I sat down but something felt a bit odd about the throne. I never made it to the light, did I? What does that mean? I fidgeted a bit and brought out my grimoire. What ya got on souls or spirits when their body dies? The grimoire pulled up what I thought would be there. Souls go to an afterlife called ‘stasis’, in which they await being reborn.

Okay, but is that what happened to me? I closed the book and sighed, then leaned back on something really uncomfortable.

“Never had I imagined the day where a god is sat on.”

I jumped up and looked behind me. My eyes basically popped out. What, the fuck?! My eyes paced about the throne room. Now that I think about it… I found it rather weird that none of my knights stopped someone from sitting on my throne, and I found it even weirder that I saw no knights.

“W-who are you?” I asked the random lich sitting on my throne like he owned the damn thing. Maybe he did? I didn’t exactly build the castle so I couldn’t know for sure.

He floated upward gracefully; his robes dangled off his small frame. “I am the one who altered your path, Deidre.” He went down the stairs and glowing lines that looked like audio waves appeared on the ground. “I am your god.”