The last thing I remembered about Earth was that I was late.
Again.
The pedestrian light was flashing red, my phone was vibrating in my hand, and my best friend had just sent me her fourth message in ten minutes.
Maya: If you're not here in fifteen minutes, I'm eating your dessert.
Maya: This is not a threat.
Maya: This is a promise.
I laughed as I typed a reply.
Me: Touch my cheesecake and we're no longer friends.
A car horn blared.
Bright headlights flooded my vision.
Someone shouted.
Then everything went dark.
No pain.
No dramatic flashbacks.
No heavenly choir.
Nothing.
Just darkness.
An endless, silent void.
I don't know how long I stayed there.
Minutes.
Years.
Centuries.
Time didn't seem to exist.
At first I panicked.
Then I screamed.
Then I cried.
Eventually, I just... waited.
Maybe this was death.
Maybe this was all there was after the end.
The thought should have terrified me.
Instead, it made me tired.
So very tired.
Then a voice echoed through the darkness.
Mechanical.
Emotionless.
Cold.
[ERROR.]
I blinked.
A faint blue light flickered somewhere in the void.
[Searching for compatible host...]
"What?"
My own voice sounded distant.
Small.
The blue light flickered again.
[Compatibility Found.]
[Initializing Second-Life Protocol.]
"Wait, what does that mean?"
No answer.
The light exploded.
And the world returned.
I woke up choking.
Air slammed into my lungs so violently that it felt like inhaling shards of glass.
I sat upright with a gasp.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
My vision blurred.
For several terrifying seconds, I couldn't tell where I was.
Silk sheets tangled around my legs.
Golden curtains billowed in the wind.
Moonlight spilled across polished marble floors.
Nothing looked familiar.
Nothing.
I froze.
Slowly, carefully, I touched my chest.
Heartbeat.
Breathing.
Warm skin.
Alive.
I was alive.
But that didn't make any sense.
The last thing I remembered was—
The car.
The impact.
The darkness.
A chill crawled down my spine.
"Hello?"
My voice sounded wrong.
Too soft.
Too melodic.
Definitely not mine.
I jumped out of bed.
My legs nearly gave out beneath me.
The body felt unfamiliar.
Lighter.
Different.
As if I were wearing someone else's skin.
Panic surged through me.
There was a mirror across the room.
I stumbled toward it.
Then stopped.
A stranger stared back.
Long chestnut hair.
Pale skin.
Sharp blue eyes.
A face beautiful enough to belong on a fantasy novel cover.
For a moment, my brain refused to process what I was seeing.
I touched my cheek.
The stranger copied me.
"No."
I stepped back.
"No, no, no."
That wasn't me.
I wasn't her.
I was Ella Hart.
Twenty-four years old.
Marketing assistant.
Coffee addict.
Professional procrastinator.
And definitely not whatever princess-looking woman was staring back at me.
The room suddenly spun.
A flood of memories crashed into my head.
A throne room.
A crown.
Political meetings.
Endless paperwork.
Loneliness.
Pain.
So much pain.
I screamed.
The memories vanished instantly.
Leaving me shaking.
Sweating.
Terrified.
Then something appeared in front of me.
Floating in midair.
A translucent blue screen.
Like a video game menu.
I stared.
The screen stared back.
[Welcome, Karina Goldbrace.]
Silence.
I blinked.
The screen remained.
"...what?"
[Welcome, Karina Goldbrace.]
[Empress of Avugon.]
[Host successfully restored.]
My mouth opened.
Then closed.
Then opened again.
I pointed at myself.
"Karina?"
[Affirmative.]
"I'm Ella."
The screen flickered violently.
Static crackled across its surface.
[ERROR.]
[Host Identity Conflict Detected.]
[Recalculating...]
The text disappeared.
Reappeared.
Vanished again.
[Current Host: Ella Hart.]
[Current Body: Karina Goldbrace.]
[Status: Complicated.]
I stared.
Then I laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the alternative was having a complete mental breakdown.
"Complicated?"
[Affirmative.]
"That's your official diagnosis?"
[Affirmative.]
I rubbed my face.
"Fantastic."
The screen flickered again.
[Second-Life System Activated.]
[Primary Objective: Prevent the Collapse of the Kingdom of Avugon.]
I froze.
"What collapse?"
The screen hesitated.
Actually hesitated.
As if it were thinking.
Then:
[Loading...]
[Loading...]
[Loading...]
[ERROR.]
[Please Try Again Later.]
I stared at it.
The screen stared at me.
"You're kidding."
No response.
The screen vanished.
I stood alone in the massive room.
Silence settled around me.
Then someone screamed outside.
Not a frightened scream.
An angry one.
A moment later, the doors burst open.
A maid rushed inside.
She stopped so suddenly she nearly tripped.
Her eyes widened.
"Your Majesty!"
I blinked.
Right.
Empress.
Apparently.
The maid looked seconds away from crying.
"You're awake!"
Before I could answer, she sprinted out of the room.
"Oh no."
That could not be good.
Footsteps thundered through the hallway.
More voices followed.
Within minutes, the room was packed.
Doctors.
Servants.
Guards.
Nobles.
Everyone talking over each other.
Everyone staring at me.
Everyone expecting me to know what was happening.
I wanted to crawl back into bed.
Instead, I smiled awkwardly.
"Hi?"
The room went silent.
Wonderful.
I was already embarrassing myself.
An elderly physician stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, how do you feel?"
"Alive."
Wrong answer.
Several people exchanged worried looks.
A woman dressed in elegant black narrowed her eyes.
A noble, probably.
Dangerous-looking.
The kind of woman who could destroy lives with a polite smile.
"We feared the worst."
I swallowed.
Apparently Karina had almost died.
That explained the panic.
It did not explain why I was here.
The crowd continued questioning me.
Most of the answers came from instinct.
Or maybe fragments of Karina's memories.
I couldn't tell.
Eventually everyone left.
Everyone except one guard.
Tall.
Broad shoulders.
Scar over one eyebrow.
He looked relieved.
But also suspicious.
"Your Majesty."
I nodded.
He hesitated.
Then asked quietly:
"Do you remember who I am?"
Oh no.
Absolutely not.
I smiled.
The universal smile of someone desperately improvising.
"Of course."
His expression didn't change.
"...good."
He didn't believe me.
Not even a little.
Wonderful.
This was going great.
The moment he left, I collapsed back into bed.
Then immediately sat upright again.
A second screen had appeared.
[Urgent Notification.]
[Kingdom Stability: Critical.]
[Treasury: Nearly Empty.]
[Food Reserves: Declining.]
[Military Strength: Insufficient.]
[Public Loyalty: Unstable.]
[Probability of National Collapse: 83%.]
I stared.
"Eighty-three percent?"
[Affirmative.]
"How do I fix it?"
[Loading...]
The screen flickered.
My eye twitched.
[ERROR.]
[Please Try Again Later.]
I buried my face in my hands.
Of course.
Of course the magical system was broken.
Why wouldn't it be?
The universe had already killed me once.
A little extra suffering was apparently free.
Hours later, I was escorted to the council chamber.
If the bedroom was intimidating, this place was worse.
Massive ceilings.
Stained-glass windows.
A table long enough to seat an army.
And around that table sat the people responsible for running an entire kingdom.
Every single one of them looked stressed.
The moment I entered, conversation stopped.
Great.
No pressure.
A silver-haired minister rose first.
"Your Majesty. We are grateful for your recovery."
I nodded.
"Thank you."
Another noble immediately spoke.
"The treasury cannot sustain current expenditures."
A third interrupted.
"The northern provinces demand assistance."
A fourth slammed documents onto the table.
"The army requires immediate funding."
My brain started melting.
Everyone talked at once.
Problems.
Taxes.
Famine.
Trade.
Border disputes.
War.
War?
I sat straighter.
"What war?"
The room fell silent.
Several ministers exchanged alarmed looks.
Oops.
One woman cleared her throat.
"The conflict with Mitira, Your Majesty."
Mitira.
Something stirred inside Karina's memories.
Snow-covered mountains.
Silver banners.
A black-haired man standing on a battlefield.
Dangerous eyes.
Annoying smile.
My heart skipped unexpectedly.
Then the memory vanished.
The minister continued.
"Emperor Damian Frostfeather has increased military activity along the border."
There it was again.
That strange reaction.
Like recognition.
Even though I had never met him.
Not really.
The room kept talking.
But I barely heard them.
Because for the first time since waking up, the system reappeared.
[New Threat Identified.]
I blinked.
Finally.
Useful information.
"Who?"
The screen flickered.
Static spread across the text.
[Potential Ally.]
The text glitched.
Changed.
[Potential Enemy.]
Changed again.
[Potential Romance Candidate.]
I choked.
The screen glitched harder.
[ERROR.]
[Classification Unavailable.]
Then it disappeared.
Leaving me staring at empty air.
And wondering why the fate of an entire kingdom apparently involved an emperor with a ridiculous last name.
Something told me my new life was about to become very complicated.
Again.