Author's Lil' Comment: Thank you for all the support even though I haven't been updating. I mainly wanted to say thanks to Gisela_Putri, Mineral_Fox and Axel17 for the constant powerstones that despite one of you not leaving comments the powerstones were a reminder you liked the work. Which helped me keep going even though I didn't have much inspiration currently (now I do, but I was kinda down trying to rewrite it)
... If you just did it to have fast passes for other works and didn't particularly care about the work just don't tell me and let me be like the mc naive and happy about it... :) blissfully naive...
I also love the comments, thank ya'll for them too
___________________________
Theo's POV
The first thing that hit him was the smell.
Fresh grass filled his nostrils. Clean air rushed into his lungs. The kind of crisp, natural scent that made his chest expand automatically, like his body was trying to drink in something precious. His eyelids felt heavy as he blinked slowly, sunlight filtering through what felt like the most comfortable haze he'd ever experienced.
Soft earth pressed against his back. Rolling hills stretched in every direction he could see, covered in emerald grass that brushed against his skin as the wind moved through it. Above him, blue sky spread wide and endless, dotted with lazy white clouds that drifted without any hurry.
Theo pushed himself up carefully, running fingers through his dark hair. His body felt... weird honestly. Call it intuition but something just felt off.
"Okay," he said, his voice carrying across the empty grassland. "So this is definitely not my apartment."
The last thing he remembered was gripping his steering wheel. Rain drumming on the windshield. Headlights blazing toward him way too fast. That awful moment when he realized the other car wasn't stopping, wasn't turning either, yet was heading straight for—
His stomach twisted into knots. The memory felt distant, foggy, but fear still shot through him sharp enough to make his hands shake.
"Did I... have a car accident?" he murmured, pressing his palms against his chest and stomach, expecting to find anything. Where he expected pain, broken ribs, something. Nothing. Air moved easily through his lungs. His heart beat steady and calm. He flexed his fingers, rolled his shoulders, stretched his legs. Everything worked perfectly. Might as well test this properly. He even tried to do a flip, then remembered he was never able to do any and faceplanted into the ground.
Well, at least grass cushioned his fall. Since, strangely, it didn't hurt. When he ran his palm over the blades, each one felt unique against his skin.
So I must be in a coma. That has to be it.
People in comas dream, right? Even if its surreal stuff that just feels vivid? He'd read about it somewhere during those late-night internet rabbit holes. If he remembered correctly there was this show about a boy and his dog made entirely from the murmurs of a boy in coma.
"So this is what a coma dream looks like," he said, pushing himself to his feet and brushing grass off his black pants. He still had that same white sweater he loved and kinda overused. "Huh. I always thought it would be weirder."
Rolling hills spread out around him like someone had designed the perfect wallpaper and made it three-dimensional. Wildflowers dotted the landscape here and there, adding splashes of yellow and purple to all the green.
"Pretty standard fantasy setting too," he mused. My subconscious isn't very original, apparently. Though I guess it makes sense. All those JRPGs and fantasy movies had to go somewhere.
A thought sparked in his mind, and excitement bubbled up despite everything. If this really was a coma dream, if his mind was creating this entire world...
He closed his eyes and focused, picturing a comfortable chair. Something simple. Just a basic wooden chair where he could sit and figure out what to do next.
When he opened his eyes, there it was. A perfectly ordinary wooden chair sitting in the grass about three feet away.
Laughter burst out of him, the sound echoing across the empty field. "Okay, now, thats actually pretty cool... Scratch that, its awesome."
The chair felt completely solid when he sat down, sturdy and well-made. Warm wood pressed against his palms from the sunlight.
"If I'm stuck in here while my body recovers, might as well make the best of it," he said with a wide grin, looking out over the peaceful landscape. Though I should probably try to figure out the rules first. Can't go creating random stuff without understanding how this dream world works.
Home flashed through his thoughts. His tiny apartment with its gaming setup and movie collection. Loneliness hit him like a weight in his chest. Even in a dream, even in a beautiful place like this, being completely alone felt hollow.
"I wonder how long comas last," he said softly. I wonder if anyone's sitting next to my hospital bed right now, waiting for me to wake up.
Wind picked up around him, rustling through the grass with a sound like gentle whispers. Somehow it felt comforting, almost like the grassland itself was responding to his sadness.
No point getting depressed about it. Theo shook his head and stood up again, leaving the chair behind. "If this is my new reality until I wake up, I should explore. Maybe my subconscious has some interesting surprises planned."
He picked a direction at random and started walking, grass soft and silent under his feet. The landscape seemed to stretch forever, but that made sense for a dream. Dreams didn't have to follow normal geography.
As he walked, the tension melted out of his shoulders. The sun warmed his back, while the breeze cooled his skin.
"You know what?" he said to the empty sky, spreading his arms wide as he walked. "If I have to be in a coma, at least my brain picked a nice place to wait it out. Could've been zombies or high school math tests." The thought of having to study calculus back again and probably relearn it since he must've already forgotten the formulas sent a shiver down his spine.
Yet as he was dazed thinking, a butterfly landed on his shoulder, its wings shimmering with colors that seemed to shift as he watched. It sat there for a moment, completely unafraid, before fluttering away towards some flowers he hadn't noticed before.
This place keeps surprising me. Theo smiled and kept walking, ready to see what other wonders his subconscious mind had prepared for him.
______________________________________
Author's Note: Heyo! Sorry for all the delays, its a short start but honestly I haven't been that inspired lately and this is one of those forced writings, yet I liked how it was going at the end so I hope you like it too. Also for those who may know me from other works must know I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I've been planning the whole thing for a while now, had to redo this many times before I felt comfortable with it.
About updates: I can't guarantee a specific day or chapter per weeks but I'm gonna be working on this one only pretty much (aside from maybe others I don't share... since I need to stick to my word...)
until I can get this one and the others clear I won't be uploading new ffs or novels I believe. (UNLESS YOU GOT A REALLY COOL IDEA. IF SO LET ME KNOW...!!! O_O)
* * * Past this is a spoiler, read at your own risk * * *
Originally the ff was meant to be kind of like a I'm really not the demon gods lackey type where characters visit the "shop" this case being the abyss but I kinda felt bad honestly, a bit of a lame excuse to always use "the abyss crack this, it dragged that" etc. excuse... Also since there wasn't much for them to do I quickly jumped into games and feelings but that just felt rushed out for me so I had to redo it, and my response? I've been recently been reading 2 fanfics of frieren, and in particular I loved the idea to send them on a journey! So yeah. spoiled... :)