“Isabella!” Klein screamed at the top of his lungs seeing the woman of his dreams being snapped in half by the giant plant-eating monster.

Klein pulled his sword out of the plant monster’s abdomen, his eyes full of tears as he slashed away at the vines that attempted to constrict around him like thorns. One of the vines grabbed his legs.

The plant monster let out a roar that made the foliage in the trees shake. Birds screeched as they ran from the scene. Klein was hyperventilating, the sweat blanketed his body as he swung at the vine that wanted to pull him out from his feet. A shower of blood flowed down on Klein, he looked up and heard a splacht, Isabella’s head falling to the ground in a mangled mess.

Klein’s eyes shrunk and his breath contracted. He fell to his knees in shock as he picked her head up and held it close to his chest.

“I can still feel the warmth in your body...don’t leave me Isabella. Don’t leave me here. Alone. I came to this world and you were the only one who understood me.”

He cried, “Please don’t lea--”

His head was snapped to the side, as one of the vines broke Klein’s neck. Klein’s body dropped to the ground, clutching his love’s head as their warmth faded away from this terrible, terrible nightmare.

~ - ~ - ~

“So that’s how the story ends?!” A man shouted from his bench, making several heads turn as they walked by.

A serenading bell chimed throughout the university grounds, signifying that the clock had struck noon. A few leaves fell from their positions on a lofty tree branch standing at the center of a brick-masoned pathway. Situated underneath the wide expansive oak was a black metal bench with one resident. His legs were spread out on the bench, wearing standard boot-cut blue jeans and a simple white t-shirt. His hair was brown and it crawled down his face.

“Man, this book was good. I wish I could forget it and read it again.” He clasped the book and laid it parallel on his chest. Holding the book to his body, his eyes gravitated to the leaves of the oak tree. The sun hid behind the foliage, mocking him for not being as clandestine. He flipped the golden key around in his left hand, wondering what it had been doing, slotted in a fantasy book with no recognition to its name. Something about the book made Mitch frown, and he couldn’t figure out why it was making his ear itch.

The story that had been told felt undeniably grounded in reality, absurdly detailed where it shouldn’t be. Taken frame by frame as if the author had been there themselves. He sighed in admiration of the author’s talent. “Roses...how can an author be so unknown with such a book? This Roses person is definitely worth meeting.”

A hunger pang ran through Mitch’s belly as a small earthquake shook on the surface of his stomach. He lifted himself from the bench and threw his hair back out of his eyes. A few college students were drifting along the pathways, some talking and others staring deeply into their cellphones. Mitch was living in a world separate from them. He existed where they did not, and on that level of philosophy, he felt superior.

“Guess I better go return this book and key to the library before I get lunch.” He spoke softly to himself.

Mitch traveled for about a half-mile when he arrived at the entrance to the university library. It was three stories tall, with large tinted windows and a golden circular emblem bannered high and central. This was Ace University, a recently established school that offered education to the top one percent of the nation. All of the professors were well known nationally for their pioneering research or academic achievements. It was a true “super-school” and their facilities matched to suit.

Mitch, wasn’t a part of this elite one percent. He didn’t care to be. He took advantage of the university’s prime location to his house to rent out books without having to order them online. It had saved him a fair amount of money in the past few years.

He walked into the library, the doors sliding open for him automatically. At the front desk was a female attendant with dark brown hair tied back into a ponytail.

“Hey Alyssa, how’s it hangin’? The professors aren’t killing you with midterms are they?” Mitch said.

Alyssa, smiled as she adjusted her ponytail and glanced at him before rolling her eyes, “I genuinely don’t have time for their bullshit, I’m working two jobs for god’s sake!” She said, half-grinning.

“Damn that fucking sucks.” He pauses for a minute, awkwardly.

Mitch laughed, “Anyways, could I return this book? I also found a key that must belong to somebody in this book. I figure you should take it in case they come back for it.”

She looked at the key and smiled before placing it down on the counter, “People these days. Who at this university even has time to read fiction this unknown? You must have too much free time on your hands, Mitch.”

“Heh, yeah maybe so.”

“That’s weird. In our systems, it says you’re the first one to check this book out in the three years it’s been listed here.”

“Oh, yeah that is strange. Still, you guys should probably keep the key in case it somehow got left there.”

“I would keep it but maybe you should make sure it didn’t fall off your keychain?” She said, not being able to contain her smile.

Mitch grinned back at her, “Yeah, you’re probably right. I guess even a guy with as many keys as me could forget one or two.”

He pulled out a jumbled ball of keys from his jean pocket and started flipping through. Awkwardly, he fumbled through the set before sighing. “Just give it here. I’ll go check all my locks to be sure it doesn’t belong to me. If it doesn’t, I’ll bring it right back here. If someone comes asking for a key, you’ve got my number.”

Mitch smiled, taking the key back from Alyssa and stuffing it down his pocket with the rest of his keys.

“You’ve got it, boss.” She said, bending down to put the book in a box to be shelved.

Mitch slotted his hands in his pockets as he walked past the counter and down a corridor into the men’s bathroom.

He went to the urinal at the back, unzipped his pants, and unleashed the dam. His eyes were drawn open as he reveled in his last moments of urination before his sights were set on a keyhole that was on the piping of the urinal.

“The fuck? When did they put locks on pipes?”

Mitch on a whim, pulled out the key and looked at it and the keyhole before slowly inserting it into the hole. He drafted it inside before turning it and hearing a click. It resonated inside of his eardrums, his heart skipped a beat and it felt like the breath had been knocked out of him when his vision began to darken. The last thing he remembered was the wet sensation that engulfed his face as his head went deep into the urinal water and splashed all down his clothes.

~ - ~ - ~

Darkness had consumed all things Mitch had previously known. His consciousness felt weakly linked to something else further out in the expansive cosmos. Then an explosion of color and loud chatter left Mitch dazed. Memories that felt foreign to him started flooding in, things that didn’t seem to make any sense started to stitch their way into his consciousness as he stared at the most intricately designed ceiling he had ever seen in his life.

It was similar to a cascading staircase that spiraled up, woven in were foreign designs that seemed architecturally improbable. Yet, here he was staring at them in awe and wonder. It was like discovering the stars as a caveman for the first time. Pearlescent blue hues of light made the expansive room glow with a calming light, although that didn’t seem to match the air. Mitch moved his arm and looked at his hand. It was bigger than before. More muscular and more manly than he had ever been. A bit of a kick to his confidence, but he had little inclination as to why things were how they are.

“Are you okay Sir Aldweck? You haven’t grown ill, have you?” A man in a white suit with white gloves reached his hand out to Mitch, offering him his help.

“N-No I’m fine. Must have been a fluke dizzy spell. I’ve been extra busy as of late.” Mitch said, coughing awkwardly as he took the hand of the suited man. A name struck from memory told Mitch that this was Duke Fourgon.

“That’s strange of you to say. You’ve been on this luxury cruise with us for several weeks now. Are you getting enough sleep at night?” He hammered his elbow into Mitch’s abdomen with a mischievous grin and a cocked eyebrow.

“Sorry Duke, but don’t take me for a manwhore. I don’t sleep around with just whoever,” Mitch forced a laugh, even though his heart was racing at the moment. This wasn’t his body and whoever he had become in this moment had a bunch of different memories flooding into his own. It was perplexing to Mitch, but he had managed so far. He gulped.

“Surely you jest, a man of your stature could by no means settle for monogamy! I wouldn’t allow for such squalor in your life.” Duke Fourgon spread his arms out and cupped a woman into his grasp on each side of him. They giggled and gave him a small kiss on the cheek before looking square at Mitch.

Mitch laughed, albeit fake. His mind was racing with the beat of his heart when his eyes struck the woman on Fourgon’s left. She was all too familiar. Mitch didn’t even need to “scan” his memories to understand that Aldweck had consummated with this woman last night.

“Oh, it seems you’ve gone and tempted the devil in those pants of yours Aldweck. You’re quite the joker aren’t you?” The woman said with a sly grin, bringing attention to Mitch’s uncontrollable response to a lewd and very recent memory. “Are you sure you’re not ill, your manner of speech is most unrefined?” She said,

Mitch’s heart jumped, his tongue twisted and his heart fluttered as he realized who this was and how she had made it a point that his dialect had changed. Mitch did his best to recollect himself and move forward.

Memories were real things. To have them, meant to have in some order experience them. In that line of thought, Mitch had already himself been with this woman and knew all the sensations and excitements that had occurred the night before. This riled him up uncontrollably, but it didn’t stop his cheeks from flushing red.

“Lady Monica, please show some decency. I’ve already attracted a scene in front of the parlor. We don’t need to draw the crowd to such a topic.” He smiled, hoping that was a good recovery.

“Well, if you insist.” She touched her bottom lip before glancing up at Duke Fourgon’s slender frame and imposing smile.

“It seems you two are ready for a wild night beyond proportions. Such is the bliss of the Glowing Mariot Cruise!”

The three of them disappeared into the crowd, the attention around Sir Aldweck had finally dissipated and Mitch was allowed to gather his thoughts. There were three things that were immediately apparent to Mitch.

One, he was now Aldweck Marshall, the national hero of Mariotta. Two, he had memories of his past while inhabiting the body of another. Three, even though the memories were there not all of them were clear immediately. Long-term memory is buggy like that. It only seems to pop up when it’s relevant. This made Mitch worry because he knew that if he acted differently or responded incorrectly it could end in disaster. He had to assess just how bad the situation was.

What he needed to do was pry into the people that were familiar to him and get to know himself better by recollecting the information stored deep within him, but that wasn’t so easy for someone who found themselves amidst a new world with something that felt dream-like. His head was spinning as he looked around at the crowd of people who were drinking and laughing. He was a fish out of water.

Mitch almost decided to pinch his skin to see if he was dreaming. Then he remembered that pinching never led to waking up in any form of entertainment media. Several scenarios went through his mind. The first being that he was in a comatose-like state after suffering from a serious illness that made him crumple to the ground. If that were the case then all of this was just a surreal dream, but he doubted the credibility of that theory due to the lack of his expertise in anything medical. Mitch pondered for several minutes.

He was starting to formulate a plan of action when another beautiful blonde walked by him with a bright gleaming smile.

Then it hit him like a brick wall, “Just how many...have I done?” His cheeks became bright red.

“And where the fuck is the bathroom so I can go back?”