Astralyth Online

Chapter 5 – Waking up

Benjamin opened his eyes, the familiar dim light of the Full-Dive Pod surrounding him as the lid hummed open. He stared blankly at the inside of the pod, his mind spinning in a chaotic whirl as he tried to process everything that had just happened. It felt like he was caught between two worlds—reality, where he was Benjamin, and the strange, surreal experience he had just lived through in Astralyth Online.

The game... His thoughts raced back to the beginning, the moment he had entered the game, excited and ready for a new adventure. But everything had spiraled so quickly. He could still picture Genesis, her calm and ethereal presence during the character creation, followed by the unsettling glitches that had shattered the world around him. And the pain—his body burning from the inside out before he woke up in that forest, changed.

I was... a foxkin. A girl. His mind recoiled at the thought, but the feelings that came with it were much more complex. He wasn’t just unsettled by the transformation, though it had completely thrown him off. It was the way he had moved through that world, the way his body had felt—nimble, graceful, but most of all different. He couldn’t deny that there had been moments where it hadn’t felt entirely wrong, despite how much it should have.

He remembered his hand, small and delicate, hovering over the logout button. The way his tail had curled around him protectively when he was scared. The ease with which he had moved through the crowd in the village. And most confusing of all, the name Madelyn—the name he had given Garrick without much thinking.

Why had it felt... okay? Why didn’t he immediately correct himself? The questions swirled, unanswered, and the more he tried to sort through them, the more tangled his thoughts became.

He let out a shaky breath, feeling the weight of it all pressing down on him. This was supposed to be a game—a way to escape and have fun—but now he felt like he was escaping into something far more confusing than what he’d left behind. Lying there in the pod, Benjamin couldn’t shake the feeling that the game had stirred and changed something deep within him, something he wasn’t ready to confront.

Benjamin’s body felt heavy with exhaustion as he slowly pulled himself out of the Full-Dive Pod. His limbs were sluggish, every movement requiring more effort than it should. He didn’t even bother to process the familiar surroundings of his room, his mind still clouded by the lingering confusion from the game. All he wished for now was sleep, and stop his mind from overwhelming him.

He glanced at the clock on his desk, the glowing numbers confirming what he already knew—it was past midnight. The late hour didn’t surprise him, but it added to the weight pressing down on him. He trudged toward his bed, not caring about anything else. His body, drained and sore from hours in the pod, craved rest more than anything.

Without even bothering to change or pull back the covers, Benjamin let himself fall onto the bed. The mattress seemed to swallow him, and the moment his head hit the pillow, his eyes shut. He barely had time to register how exhausted he truly was before sleep overtook him, pulling him into oblivion...

Benjamin's eyes opened to a sight he recognized immediately. The same white, clinical walls stretched around him, stark and sterile, like the inside of a futuristic hospital. His breath hitched, and his heart began to race. He had been here before—in that strange dream where he’d seen the woman in the tank, suspended in the yellow liquid. That unsettling memory crashed into him with full force, making his chest tighten.

He glanced around, the cold, clinical atmosphere making his skin crawl. Every detail felt vivid, too vivid for a dream. The stillness of the space, the soft hum of machinery in the distance, the emptiness—it all brought back the haunting image of the woman, her face serene yet trapped. He remembered how wrong it had felt, the way her presence had stirred something deep inside him, something he still couldn’t fully understand.

His mind scrambled to make sense of what was happening. Why was he back here? Was this just another dream? The sterile environment felt oppressive, like it was watching him, waiting for something. The unease that settled over him last time returned, heavier than before, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to this place—more to this dream—than he could comprehend.

As he stood there, frozen, the memory of the woman flashed again in his mind, her amethyst eyes opening and locking onto his in that fleeting, chilling moment. He swallowed hard, fear gnawing at the edges of his consciousness. What is this place?

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Benjamin found himself moving without fully understanding why, his feet guiding him down the same cold, sterile hallway as before. Something deep inside tugged at him, pulling him toward the room he had seen in his last dream. I have to know, he thought, his heart pounding in his chest. He had to see her again, the woman suspended in that tank. Something about her had gripped him, and now, that feeling was stronger than ever.

The hallway stretched on, the walls smooth and clinical, the air unnaturally still. Not a single sound echoed through the building, no sign of life anywhere. It felt more like a memory than a place—familiar yet disconnected from reality. Benjamin’s footsteps seemed too loud in the silence, each one pulling him closer to something he both dreaded and needed to see.

As he approached the door, his pulse quickened. Like before, it stood slightly ajar, the only breach in the otherwise perfectly sealed structure. His breath hitched as he reached for the door, his fingers brushing the cool metal surface. Slowly, he pushed it open and stepped into the room.

There it was—the same dimly lit space, dominated by the large glass tube in the center. The yellowish liquid inside seemed to glow faintly, casting eerie reflections on the sterile walls. And there she was. The woman, floating in the liquid, her body motionless, tubes connecting her to the walls of the tank.

Benjamin’s heart thudded in his chest as he stepped closer. The same feeling washed over him—the deep sense of wrongness, of something unnatural about her presence here. But at the same time, there was a strange familiarity, a pull that he couldn’t explain. He stared at her face, her eyes closed, her features delicate and serene, as though she were in a deep sleep.

He swallowed hard, waiting, half-expecting her eyes to snap open like they had last time. His mind raced with questions, but he couldn't pull himself away. He had to know more, to understand why this woman felt so important, why she haunted his dreams.

Benjamin stood there, staring at the woman suspended in the tank. The longer his gaze lingered, the more that nagging sense of familiarity grew. Why does she feel so familiar? he thought, his mind racing. He was certain he had only seen her for the first time in his last dream, so why did her presence tug at something deeper within him? It was as though she held a key to something locked away, something just out of his reach.

He found himself slowly raising his hand, wanting to touch the glass, to feel the barrier that separated them. But just as his fingertips were about to make contact, he froze. His breath caught in his throat as he looked at his hand—it wasn’t the hand he expected. It was small, delicate, the same hand he had seen in Astralyth Online. Panic bubbled up inside him as he pulled his hand back, staring at it in disbelief.

No... He looked down, and his heart pounded in his chest. He was wearing the same dress, the soft fabric hugging his figure in a way that felt both alien and unsettlingly familiar. His body wasn’t his—it was hers, the one he had assumed in the game. He felt the swish of his fiery tail behind him now, brushing lightly against his legs. He turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of the bright red fur, confirming what he already knew.

What is this? Benjamin’s mind spiraled in confusion. He was supposed to be dreaming, so why was he trapped in the form of Madelyn, the foxkin girl from Astralyth Online. How was this even possible? He couldn’t remember ever looking different in his dreams, he was always himself.

The sterile room, the woman in the tank, and now his transformed body—it all felt like some twisted reflection of reality.

The familiar panic began to rise, but so did that inexplicable pull toward the woman. As terrifying as this situation was, something about being here in this form felt... right, like a piece of him was being brought to the surface, a piece he had long denied. But he didn’t understand why.

Benjamin’s gaze shifted back to the woman in the tank, his mind struggling to piece together the fractured logic of his situation. His thoughts clashed, each one louder than the last, trying to make sense of this dream, this form, the strange pull he felt toward the woman before him. It was overwhelming, his mind spinning in chaos.

And then, suddenly, he heard it—not with his ears, but in his head. A voice. A woman's voice.

Save me, it whispered, urgent but soft, like a plea wrapped in pain. They don’t know what they are messing with. The voice was serious, yet there was a gentle edge to it, as if she was trying to calm him even as she begged for help.

Benjamin’s heart raced, every fiber of his being tensing as the words echoed in his mind. Instinctively he knew, the voice was unmistakably hers—the woman in the tank. He could feel the weight of her desperation, her need for someone to understand. Someone to help.

Please save me, Ma...

But before the voice could finish, the world around Benjamin began to crumble. The sterile walls cracked and shattered like fragile glass, falling away into a swirling abyss. His vision blurred, the room breaking apart as if reality itself was collapsing. The voice faded, cut off mid-sentence, and the next thing Benjamin knew, the darkness swallowed everything whole.

He was falling, spiraling into nothingness, her plea still lingering in the back of his mind.

Benjamin jolted awake, his body drenched in sweat, his heart pounding in his chest. The sound of screaming pierced the air, sharp and panicked. A girl's voice. He shot upright in bed, looking around frantically. But then, realization hit him like a wave of ice—it was his voice. He had been the one screaming.

“What...?” He clamped a hand over his mouth, his whole body freezing in shock. His voice—high-pitched, unmistakably feminine—was still ringing in his ears. No, no, no, this can’t be real. His mind spun, racing back through the dream, the collapsing world, the voice of the woman, and now this.

Before he could gather his thoughts, he heard footsteps thudding on the stairs, his father’s familiar voice cursing under his breath. Panic surged through him for what felt the billionth time that day. Oh no, this can’t be happening.

He sat there, paralyzed, his breath coming in shallow, frantic bursts as the footsteps grew closer. His mind screamed at him to move, to do something, but his body refused to cooperate, still in shock from the scream that had torn from his own lips and his father making way to his room.

Benjamin sat frozen in his bed, unconsciously hugging his tail close to his chest, the soft fur pressed against him like a shield. His heart raced, every muscle in his body trembling as he waited for the inevitable—the moment his father would open the door. His mind was a storm of thoughts, crashing into each other, making it impossible to think straight.

What am I supposed to say? Panic gripped him tighter as the footsteps grew louder. What will he think? The fear of his father’s reaction settled deep into his chest. He had no explanation for what was happening, for the changes in his body, his voice—none of it made any sense.

He squeezed his tail tighter, trying to steady his breathing, but the trembling wouldn’t stop. His hands felt too small, too delicate. Everything felt wrong, out of control. The door was about to open, and he had no idea how to explain the unexplainable.