Earth
Inside a small, modest house on the outskirts of the city, a boy was sleeping soundly in his bed, covers tangled around his legs from restless dreams.
Then his blue eyes snapped open abruptly.
Huff... Huff...
The moment consciousness returned, an intense stinging sensation assaulted his eyes, as if someone had poured acid directly onto them. But before he could raise his hands to cover them, his breath became short and labored. It felt like his lungs had simply given up, refusing to draw air no matter how hard he tried.
An intense burning sensation welled up from deep in his chest, traveling up through his throat like liquid fire, then spreading directly into his head.
His heart started to beat faster.
Faster.
Faster.
Panic set in as his cardiovascular system went into overdrive. His hand reached desperately for his phone on the nightstand, seeking help, seeking connection to the outside world—
Urgh!
Everything he'd eaten the previous night suddenly erupted from his throat uncontrollably. Vomit splattered across his bed and floor as his body convulsed. His limbs started to shake violently, muscles spasming without any input from his conscious mind.
Then, all at once, he lost every ounce of strength. His body went completely limp, collapsing back onto the soiled mattress.
Cold. Freezing cold, as if he'd been plunged into arctic waters.
Then hot—someone was burning him alive from the inside out.
Cold again. Then hot. The sensations alternated with nauseating speed.
Darkness crept in from all sides, swallowing his vision.
Ring... Ring...
The distant sound of his phone penetrated the haze of pain and confusion. Elric subconsciously reached for it, his hand groping at the usual spot on his nightstand.
Nothing.
He slowly forced his eyes open, though even that simple action required tremendous effort. His breath was still ragged and irregular, but the paralyzing sensation that had gripped him before losing consciousness had faded to a more manageable level of discomfort.
He tried to sit up. His entire body was sore, muscles aching as if he'd run a marathon while being beaten with clubs. He looked at his hand, which was still trembling intermittently, fingers twitching with involuntary spasms.
But even more than the physical pain, there was a palpable feeling of fear lodged deep in his chest—a primal terror that he couldn't quite identify or understand. He genuinely didn't know what he was afraid of, only that the fear was real and overwhelming.
What was that? he thought, his mind struggling to piece together what had happened.
A terrible possibility occurred to him. Did it happen because the clone died in the other world?
Is the clone dead? Is my ability already useless before I could even properly use it?
He quickly tried to activate his ability, reaching for that strange sense of dual existence that had become familiar over the past few days. But the moment he touched it, his heartbeat accelerated dangerously. That palpable feeling of dread reared up again, threatening to drag him back into unconsciousness.
He gritted his teeth and pushed through, suppressing the overwhelming sensation through sheer willpower.
Relief flooded through him as the connection solidified. With his ability active, he could clearly sense it—his clone in that other world was not dead. Injured, certainly. Unconscious, probably. But alive.
He could still transfer his consciousness right now if he wanted to.
But just thinking about it made that terrible feeling resurface. The memory of pain, of dying, of a knife sliding into his heart—it was too fresh, too visceral. His mind needed time to process what had happened, to build up the courage to go back.
Oh, right. My phone was ringing.
He looked around his room, which was currently in absolute chaos. Furniture had been knocked over during his convulsions. Clothes were scattered everywhere, torn from drawers and hangers. The lamp lay broken on the floor, its bulb shattered. His desk chair had somehow ended up on its side near the door.
After several minutes of searching through the mess, he finally found his phone buried under a pile of scattered clothes.
The screen showed multiple notifications for missed calls. The battery indicator blinked urgently: 1% remaining.
That was odd. He'd left it charging at 100% when he'd transferred to the other world.
He glanced at the time display: 10:00 AM. That seemed right—morning light was filtering through his curtains. But the date made him freeze.
March 4th.
That couldn't be right. He'd gone to the other world on the night of March 1st. According to his previous experience with the ability, no matter how much time he spent in that other world, he would wake up at approximately the same time he'd left. The time dilation was one-way—hours there translated to minutes here, at most.
Does that mean I slept for two whole days?
Before he could process this implication, the phone rang again, vibrating weakly in his hand as the battery struggled to maintain power.
He answered, bringing it to his ear.
"Hello..." His voice came out hoarse and abnormally deep, roughened by screaming and vomiting.
"You bastard, where are—" The angry voice on the other end cut off abruptly. "Wait. Elric? What happened? Are you okay? Where are you?"
"It's nothing much," Elric managed, trying to inject some normalcy into his ravaged voice. "I got a fever suddenly. I don't think I'll be coming in today."
"You careless brat!" Her concern immediately shifted to scolding mode. "Did you go to the hospital? Why didn't you call me? I've been trying to reach you for two hours!"
He'd been unconscious for forty-eight hours while his body dealt with... whatever that was. The feedback from nearly dying in the other world.
"It's not that serious," Elric lied, glancing at the vomit-stained sheets and the general disaster area his room had become. "I took some medicine. It'll be fine."
There was a long pause on the other end. She clearly didn't believe him, but knew better than to push when Elric used that particular tone.
"Okay," she finally said, though doubt colored her voice. "Take a rest today. But I'm coming by after work to check on you, and you'd better answer the door or I'm using my spare key."
"Yeah, okay. but No Thanks."
You brat.
Another pause. "Alright. Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."
The call ended, and Elric let the phone drop onto the bed beside him. The battery indicator showed 0% now—the device would shut down any moment.