Dragged Into Another World Because of My Otaku Friend

I was drifting, eyes closed, lost in a void between dreams and nothingness. It felt like I had been asleep for a very long time. A strange calmness wrapped around me, soft and warm, like a blanket I never wanted to let go of.

My hands and feet lay still, weightless, unbound by pain or struggle. There were no burdens here, no regrets, no expectations. Just silence. Just stillness.

And in that moment, I didn't want to wake up. I could stay like this... forever.

My body gently descended, settling onto a soft, unseen surface. My arms and legs followed, touching down like falling feathers. A faint irritation stirred in me, annoyance that my perfect slumber had been disturbed.

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes.

And the first thing I saw... was a shooting star streaking across the vast sky above me, its trail burning like a silver flame across the heavens.

I immediately sat up, my heart suddenly restless. Around me stretched an endless expanse of night sky, so pure and untouched, it felt sacred. There was no trace of light pollution, only a canvas of stars twinkling endlessly, like a sea of distant souls watching in silence. Shooting stars streaked across the darkness in every direction, their trails vanishing into the void.

Far beyond, at the edge of the horizon, a soft crimson glow painted the sky, neither dusk nor dawn, but something in between. A world caught between endings and beginnings.

I stood slowly, brushing off nothing but air. No ground, no wind, no scent. Just the sky. Endless, beautiful sky that wrapped around me like a dream. I turned in every direction, but the view remained the same, a perfect sphere of starlit serenity.

"Is this... the afterlife?" I murmured, the words barely leaving my lips.

Then came the memories crashing over me like waves.