Chapter 1: Endings and Beginnings

The pull and push of what can only be described as reality and death started affecting her being, no, her body, somehow she realized that was gone, but feelings of something trying to move her essences was something she grasped onto, the feeling of whatever these otherworldly forces felt like thread, no they were thicker, like rope. There were only three, one warm and comforting, she could tell that was some kind of ending, where those who were done living flowed. Another felt cold, distant, but not bitter, the best she could understand that rope to be was simply an end, nothing beyond it, because following that rope would lead to an eternity of following the rope into the endless void. The last one, the last one had a feeling of familiarity and newness, the same feeling as when you go home but the city had added in more buildings and expanded slightly, she feel that this one didn’t exactly pull her in, nor did it push her away, like her in this moment, it was simply existing in non-existence. 

She wasn’t finished, she wanted to live the life she was living, aiming to have a calm day here and there, be with the animals that created a peace of mind in her heart and soul, if any path could lead her to that, the third one seemed most likely. The choice was made even before she realized it herself, like her essence didn’t need confirmation from a brain that didn’t exist anymore; the choice was instinctive and final, the feeling of the space around her moving at a slow, consistent pace before quickly speeding up. The telltale light at the end of the dark tunnel began to glimmer in the space ahead of her, even if she was now aware of the fact that she didn’t have eyes to see, her essence processed what was happening, and connected it to her experiences. As the light grew brighter and brighter, something strange happened: a voice, disconnected from all things not only around her but even in her memories, echoed out.
 
  “Error, Error,” The voice quickly became disconnected from continuity, and she could only catch parts of it suddenly. “Multiple…” “Soul R-…” “Failed…” “Error…” “Adjustments…” “Failure…” She tried to focus on the voice, the disconnected words, trying to find out what was happening, but between the ever- growing light and the fact that she didn’t have a body to push beyond the limits, there was no way for her to find out what was really going on. The light continued to grow, quickly overpowering all her other senses, before silence, and calm, and a new voice muffled but nearby, one filled with worry, and concern. Then, with reality slowly fluttering back into her field of view, the blurry shapes, the gentle touch and the warmth of another person touching her body, the voice calmly spoke;

“There we go… a beautiful girl, with such pretty eyes.” The voice chuckled warmly as she felt herself being handled with ease and care, slowly swaddled in a towel, soft yet a bit itchy. The young woman’s skin was extremely sensitive all of a sudden, and things were still only beginning to clear up; however, a warm voice that she felt an instant connection to whispered into her ear as she felt herself being held by some unknown being.

“Hello, my little angel… my little Seraphine.” The warm voice seemed to connect to the girl, turned child, no, turned baby. The voice of her mother, a warmth and connection that she had all but forgotten because of her previous choice to seek happiness instead of social acceptance. It felt… nice. 

Prologue: Everything Ends

 Warmth, something so simple that nearly any person who doesn’t experience the cold or extreme heat on a regular basis takes it for granted. In a world of increasingly hot temperatures and stale air, a moment where a cool breeze created by an open window of a moving car, combined with the sunlight trickling in through the windshield, felt relaxing after being dragged around a park by powerful creatures now holding their heads out of that very car’s window. It had taken some time for the driver to train the animals correctly, correcting bad behavior and introducing them to people in a slow, controlled manner so they didn’t scare the life out of people. They weren’t bad animals, by any measure, but they were protective. The two beasts, large dogs, a subtly brindle-patterned mastiff, and a fluffy white furred husky mix had, had a simple life, and before the dynamic change of their owners' relationship, had two people they cared for every day. The training was slow, coming from a desire to move on, the driver, a young transwoman, with brown skin the same color of coffee with a splash of creamer in it, with long black braids, didn’t want to push the dogs to the point of mistrusting all other people. 

 Looking up, the driver locked her green-blue eyes onto the green traffic light, and pressed her foot onto the gas, just as she lifted her other foot off the clutch, the movement practiced and fluid, allowing the car to move forward with ease. She remembered the feeling of the warm air on her arms and chest, just as she could hear the sound of wheels and brakes slamming into each other, the high screech, the smell of rubber burning. Her attention seemed to speed up, or maybe time itself slowed to a standstill. Her eyes were able to move; she could see things for what they were. The massive semi truck was moments from colliding with the car. There was a moment where her mind began to form the images of her life, as if she was preparing to die, as so many others have claimed to happen before a near-death experience. For the young woman, however, she didn’t want to relive the life she wanted to protect her precious animals, the creatures who had kept her from breaking down every night when the strongest thread of security snapped, leaving her alone, as if she were floating alone in a lake. 

 With an unnatural strength and speed, her body moved, in the breath of a moment that her mind had somehow created in her perception of events, the woman turned, her body diving through the two seats, a crack sounding out as she slammed her shoulder through the head rest of the passenger seat as she clutched onto the bodies of the final anchors she had to this world. The final sounds that echoed in the air, glass breaking, metal bending and breaking, then with the final moments her vision remained, she locked eyes with the two beasts, as the image faded into nothingness, the warmth of their bodies lingering before it all went dark. 

Chapter 1

<<Gosh, she is so annoying!>> Marissa thought to herself, as she listened to the voice of the order taker, Sandra, do her annoying ritual, it was the same every damn time. She was sure the only reason other people didn’t get annoyed was that she wasn’t useful for anything else. 
 
In truth, Sandra was actually one of the most skilled baristas in the store, not the best by any means, not the fastest drink maker, but she always said it was better to make a quality drink than a fast drink, and the higher-ups loved that, at least while they were in the store. Marissa always got the brunt of their complaints, and yet, they kept Sandra around. She was honestly the best at just being personable, and with the shared tips, Sandra did make up half the tip rate. Sadly, no one could compare to the sickly sweet gentle giant of a girl. It really did burn up Marissa, even after the two years at this new store, she wasn’t the top dog, she might have been a manager but she didn’t have pull like Sandra did. 

 Sandra for her part was aware of the disdain that Marissa had for her, she actually felt the same way, Marissa was a bit of a snake in the grass in Sandra’s mind, being well aware of all the times Marissa had made attempts to put Sandra in hot water, telling lies that ended up being proven false, spreading rumor that… ended up being proven wrong. Probably what really drove Marissa up the was about Sandra was the woman never stepped away from a challenge, something Marissa tended to do, or rather Marissa tended to avoid any challenge by changing the subject, or by claiming an aliment, it was no secret that the reason Marissa got promoted was because the Store Manager was too nice to say no, and ignoring the warning of others around her, Marissa was promoted. 

 “Okay, well, is that all today?” The chipper voice of Sandra returned Marissa to the world around her. 
 
  “Oh my yes, I really shouldn’t have let you talk me into getting that extra shot, honey,” the random customer replied to the screen.

 “It's Friday, we deserve to treat ourselves today. Anyway, I’ll see you up here. Thank a latte.” Sandra replied with a smile on her mocha-skinned face. The young woman rather tall for a lady, had long braided hair reaching just below her shoulder blades on a bit of a wider framed body; most people would mistake her for African American, when in reality she was a mix of many different races. What drew most people in were her two-toned eyes, most often they were made up of a ring of blue and a closer inner ring of green. The bright colors against the darkness of her skin made her a unique sight to most anyone in the desert of New Mexico. 
 
  Marissa suppressed an inward groan at hearing the annoying pun for the millionth time that morning. Even if it was cute, she wished Sandra would be a little less full of herself. Marissa peeked at her phone, making a quick scroll through the alerts and the notifications. Checking to see if there was any word on her transfer to a new store, she could only hope to get away from the sunshine and rainbows nerd that was Sandra. The customers quickly came and went, all with smiles on their faces, similar to the fake smile plastered on Marissa’s face. Marissa was rather short, standing around four feet ten inches; she was about a foot shorter than Sandra, with pale skin and brown, almost chestnut brown hair. Her thin frame made her wider hips and modest bust seem that more striking, of course ever since she had arrived at this coffee shop, she had been outshined in that department by Sandra’s enormous bust, it fit perfectly on her taller and stronger frame but it just urked Marissa that someone who basically talked to people as her job not only made as much as she did as a manager, but also had so much room for error compared to her. Not that Sandra made many mistakes, and not that she didn’t take moments to teach others the right way to do things or make drinks, it was just that Marissa didn’t understand how others couldn’t see how annoying she was. She was basically the baby of the store, like everyone felt she dressed so cute with the baby tee body suits she wore day in and day out. How could people not see that it was weird! She was dressed like a damn BABY! Marissa needed to calm down. Looking at the time, she realized it was perfect for her to give up the control of the floor and head to her lunch. She would be leaving soon and she wouldn’t have to worry about Sandra anymore. 

 Marissa flagged over another manager, Sadie, who gladly sent Marissa on her way. It wasn’t uncommon for other managers to jump at the chance to take control from Marissa; they all seemed to resent the young woman for whatever reason. Marissa was sure it was just jealousy; she was the best, and if everyone could just do things her way, they would see that. However, as Marissa gathered her items to head outside for a much-needed smoke of her e-cig and a scroll on her phone, she couldn’t help but hear the murmurs, 
 
  “Thank god,” one voice said, “She always has the floor so stressed out!”

 “Can’t she transfer sooner?” Another voice said.

 “I bet she is going out there to text John another novel.” The final voice faded into the background, but Marissa saw the staff trying to hide the snickers and giggle fits. So what if she texted her notes of the day to the District Manager instead of the Store Manager? She was making sure the store ran flawlessly, and he needed to know she was promotion material. They just didn’t understand her plan, or… then she had a moment to pause, was that Sandra’s voice she heard? It probably was! How could she even know? Only the other managers would know… and well, yeah, most of them were Sandra’s friends or at least at work, they knew better than to talk about things like that. Didn’t they? 
 
  The anger in Marissa’s head began to bubble over. Of course, those snakes told their precious baby all the manager stuff. They make sure she is always in the loop, they need to take care of her, even the new store manager Chad had been won over by Sandra, they acted so buddy buddy all the time, she couldn’t even get his attention for ideas she had for the store, it was like he just ignored her all together unless Sandra agreed with the idea upon overhearing it. Marissa was shaking at this point, as she pulled out her e-cig, then her cell phone. 

As she puffed on the hard plastic of the e-cig, Marissa’s attention was caught by a strange-looking app on her phone that hadn’t been there before. Her thumb hovered over the strange app, Change GPT. The logo looked kinda like that Chat GPT logo, but there was like a recycling symbol mixed in. Marissa’s thumb kept its spot until some unknown part of her felt compelled to open the app.

 “Hi! And welcome new users to Change GPT, your premier source for Changes to your reality aided by the wonders of A.I., it may sound strange, but it sure is true. Just type in a prompt and watch as we work to make the change happen using the cutting-edge reality warping algorithm!” The words appeared in a small chat bubble on the grey screen with a simple type interface just below it.