"I'm fucked."
No, really. That wasn't just a metaphor. I was currently crouched on the toilet in a completely different world, trying to process the fact that I'd transmigrated into a goddamn novel. A novel I'd read and hated.
I'm thoroughly fucked by God.
A novel where the character I now inhabited—Sneha Snowheart—was basically doomed.
I'm not even being dramatic. You know how in stories, characters say something like that and the next thing you know they're training with a legendary beast or unlocking some god-tier skill?
And now I was constipated from the shock. Or maybe not. Something was happening. Oh, it was happening all right.
"What should I do…?" I thought with a grimace. "I need to stay away from the toxic couple and… oh god… I don't remember much…"
I tried to think hard about what precautions I should take, or steps I should plan ahead. But it's been so long since I removed that damn novel from my library…
Fuck.
THUMP!THUMP!THUMP!
"Fatsooo! Are you done? You've been in there for twenty minutes!" Garry's voice rang from outside the bathroom door, pure exasperation in a ten-year-old package. Banging the door.
"DO YOU WANT ME TO EXPLODE?!" I shouted back, clenching every muscle in my body.
"But I need to pee!"
"Use a bottle!"
"I DID! MOM SCREAMED!"
Okay. That's enough encouragement for my colon.
After a rather dramatic bowel movement and what I'd like to call "emotional toilet therapy," I finally emerged, feeling three grams lighter but mentally six tons heavier.
I returned back to the living room and saw Madam Trina ready wither bag to leave but waiting for me to say goodbye.
Madam Trina gave me a kind, lingering look, but didn't pry. She just said gently, "If you ever need to talk, my door is always open. Drink some water and go to bed. Good night." She brushed her hair like a graceful swan and politely excused herself.
Her words sat with me longer than I expected. Maybe because it had been a long time since someone offered me kindness without expecting anything in return.
"Good night ma'am. Safe journey home." I softly closed the door after I couldn't see her walking any further.
That left me with Silvia.
"Oh, by the way," Silvia beamed at my mom, "I'm sleeping over!"
Just like that. No question mark. No "Can I?" or "May I?"—just a decree straight from Princess Bubbly herself.
And Mom? She just smiled and said, "Of course! I'll prepare an extra blanket."
Was this a fever dream? Or had I always been surrounded by women who decided my life for me?
Silvia and I headed upstairs. She tossed a spare mattress on the floor like she owned the place, plopped onto it with a dramatic sigh, and grinned at me as I lay on the bed, emotionally bruised, mentally limping, and physically post-poop drained.
We turned off the main light, letting the moonlight pour in through the window. Outside, stars twinkled over this world's sky—clear, clean, and unsullied by the neon haze and smoke of my past world.
I pressed my forehead to the glass and stared at those stars, remembering a little about how the original Sneha Snowheart from the novel had chosen her path.
Elf Taming Master.
The same path that led to her death.
Why did she pick that path? Did she want the thrill? Or was she just... foolish?
Silvia suddenly asked, "Sneha, have you thought about your path yet?"
I turned, blinking. "You mean between Elf Taming Master and Elf Research Master?"
She nodded. "We'll be choosing our stream in a few weeks, remember?"
Oh right. Plot stuff. I forgot school still existed in this fantasy hellscape.
"I haven't thought about it properly," I lied. "What about you?"
(Well… it wasn't entirely a lie. I didn't know how the power levels or class rankings even worked here. I needed to hit the library tomorrow.)
Silvia sat up, hugging her knees, her expression softening into something far more serious than I'd ever seen on her face before. "I want to become an Elf Research Master." [It's been only 6 hours since I've been with her…. But still.]
I blinked. "Why?"
She looked up at the ceiling, her voice growing quieter. "My father used to be a researcher. He wasn't very well-known, but he loved discovering new elf behaviors. He told me once that elves aren't just companions—they're mysteries. Each one is a story waiting to be told."
There was a pause. Then she continued, "He had a bonded elf named Luma. A tiny winged rabbit with fur like yellow starlight. It was so cute. But… Luma died trying to protect Dad during an accident in the lab. Toxic fumes leaked from an experiment. Luma absorbed every toxin. Dad… survived.But Luma didn't."
My throat tightened.
Silvia's voice cracked a little as she smiled up at the dark ceiling. "Dad never bonded with another elf. Said no other bond would ever feel right. But before he passed, he made me promise to understand elves in ways no one ever had before. To make sure no one lost their bonded partner just because people didn't know enough. I want to keep that promise."
Her voice trailed off.
"I want to experience the power of that bond too… and prove something through it. I don't know what exactly. But what I do know is, my path is already a given."
I stared at her, eyes wide. I hadn't expected that. Not from chipper, nosy Silvia who always had peanut butter on her sleeve and shouted answers in class like she was on a game show.
I looked back out the window.
In my old world, I never had a dream. I had obligations. Deadlines. Rent. Court papers. Lost family. Pain.
Now, I had a chance. A real one.
I turned slightly, my fingers brushing the cold glass. I used to wake up dreading each day. There was never time to ask myself what I wanted. Just survival. Always survival.
But now…
Sneha Snowheart—the original—chose the Elf Taming path not because she was stupid.
She chose it because she loved her elf.
She wanted to explore, battle, bond, and live with that creature by her side.
And maybe I'm an idiot for following a path I know ends in death… but I think I get it now. I want that kind of bond too. I want to feel alive. I want the wind, the adventure, the thrill of fighting alongside someone I trust, heart and soul.
Even if death is waiting at the end of the road, at least I'd be running toward it—with open arms—and not sitting at a desk, waiting for the clock to tick away what's left of me.
I turned to Silvia and whispered, "I'll become an Elf Taming Master."
She looked up. "Really?"
"Yeah," I smiled softly. "I want to fight alongside my elf. Travel with them. Grow with them. I don't want to just study from afar. I want to live."
She grinned. "Then I'll be your number one support!"
We both laughed. For the first time since I woke up in this insane world, I felt… light.
No… it's the second time.
Maybe….I'll smile more in this world, right?
The stars were still twinkling when we turned off the last lamp. Curtains fluttered a little as the night wind passed through a crack in the window.
"Good night, Silvia," I murmured, sinking into the softness of the bed.
"Good night, Sneha," she replied, already half-asleep.
There was a beat of silence.
Then—
"Hey, Sneha…"
"Hmm?"
"Did you do the homework?"
I froze.
"…There was homework?!"