The Day I Died
The woman groggily opened her eyes, the darkness of the early morning hours still lingering.
Squinting at the unfamiliar shining ceiling she pawed at the bed looking for her phone.
Instead, her hand touched naked skin.
This immediately chased the last silver of sleepiness from her mind.
Did her sister slip into her bed drunk again?
Wait.
There was the party, yes. However her sister didn't attend with it being a business meeting and all.
Trying to remember getting into her car, forcing herself to think despite the pounding headache.
What happened after that? The accident!
A truck ran a red light before hitting her car driver's side head on. That clearly must have killed her on impact.
So how was she alive and here now?
At least from what she could see at the moment. Sitting up a little more panicked now. Everything hitting her at once.
This definitely didn't feel like the afterlife.
First, she was supposed to be dead. Not that she was complaining about being alive, but this shouldn't be possible.
Second, she was in a strange room she didn't recognize. Third, and probably most pressing—
She was in bed with an unknown man. That wouldn't be as stressful if they weren't clearly both naked. The implications clear.
Looking around trying to maybe identify the room as one of the hotel rooms she sometimes hosted clients in.
It surely looked luxurious enough. The furniture outrageous and the decoration expensive. Or at least looked like it.
Getting out of bed she picked up whatever could be her clothes from the floor.
She walked down a hall which looked just as luxurious as the room she had just walked out of.
As she stood debating whether to turn right or left at a fork in the hallway, an older woman, probably in her forties, approached.
The newcomer tilted her head making the younger do the same. "Who are you?" She finally decided to ask when it became clear the other wouldn't speak first.
This weirdly made the woman smile happily looking almost victorious.
"Come with me I will explain everything!"
Not really having a choice in the matter seeing as she didn't even know where she was. She quietly followed the woman to a room which served as an office.
"Well, my name is Idalhia Bauier. I'm your assistant. Or should I say the assistant of the previous you?" She wondered out loud.
"What are you going on about right now?"
Did she maybe survive her accident and got sent to a luxurious mental hospital or something. Maybe this woman was a patient who suffered from delusions.
The older woman as if knowing what she was thinking shook her head to reassure her.
"I know it would seem hard to believe. However it's true. Me and a few others of your vassals called your soul here."
"And I'm just supposed to believe this absurd story, because?" The younger asked still extremely skeptical.
"Your name is Vianca Deschelle right?" The older asked. "That doesn't mean anything you could have seen my file!" She shrugged.
So the older woman explained something so absurd it sounded fake no matter the angle.
"Basically you were living with a demon. And called me over from another world to clean her s**t up. Because you couldn't deal with it anymore." She summarized to which Idalhia clapped her hands.
"Yes ! I'm glad you understood so quickly, the gods must have helped us during the ritual!" She boasted happily not getting he hint that Vianca was not sharing her happiness.
Despite how convinced the woman sounded, she still hadn't provided a single piece of proof.
"You still haven't provided me with a single proof for anything you just said." Idalhia clapped her hands again seeming to remember something.
Picking up some old looking books from the floor and setting them on the desk. Proudly showing them off.
"These are the books we used on how to perform the ritual we used. It will probably answer your questions better than I can. This is your office so use it as you wish."
Finally having something to do to make this situation easier Vianca sat down.
Almost reaching for the first book when her brain caught up with the onslaught of information she had just been given.
One sentence in particular flashing neon in her mind.
"You said one of my husbands?" She asked the older woman who stopped while on her way to the door.
"Oh well yes, this universe is a matriarchal society. You are the Vianca Deschelle duchess of the South. And given your status, you have four husbands. And as of now, three of them are pregnant."
Idalhia announced a petrified Vianca whose face was now slowly draining of color. Again, it was too much information for her brain to process at once.
What did she mean, four?
And more importantly—what did she mean pregnant?!