CHAPTER 2.

THE STRANGER AQUANTANCE

*

An old man dressed in a grey coat was walking along a white, seemingly endless hallway. His hair was grey, his beard, long and also grey, fluttered as he calmly took his steps. His eyes, gentle yet determined, was focused on someone in front of him – a youth, wearing sloppy clothes, standing still with his eyes half open. When the youth saw him approaching, he leaned forward and squinted, then made a bewildered face.

“...Kei? What are you doing in my room? I never told you my address, did I?”

The old man, upon hearing so, stopped and brushed his beard. “So, it is your sister, then. A surprise indeed, given how harshly you have ignored her thus far.” Said he, yet his calm tone suggested that he was not surprised at all.

“Reject… Well, I…” That single word took him aback, as though it had stabbed through his heart. But it was not long before he recovered, realizing that his sister was acting strange. “You’re not Kei. Who are you?” He immediately put on his guard, only now noticing that he was not in his room, but rather in an empty, infinite white void.

But the man just laughed – a laugh that did not by any means induce tension, but rather a calm, gentle one, that dissipated the stiff air instead. The young man, too, was unintentionally relaxing his muscles. He didn’t know why, but his instinct was telling him that the person facing him was not at all dangerous.

“Indeed, I am not your sister. It was quick of you to notice, did it not? That you keep telling yourself they don’t matter to you, it was a lie wasn’t it?” The old man said inquiringly, his kind smile remained on his face, now with a slight hint of cheekiness.

“Wha… What do you know about my family? Answer my questions! How did I get here and how the hell did you make yourself look like Kei?” He was irritated again. “And stop using my sister’s face to talk with that old man’s tone. It’s disgusting!”

“Oh, but this and that are out of my control. I simply know everything, be it in the past, present, or future. What you know is what I know. Whether you and I like it or not.” He shrugged his shoulder. “And the fact that you are seeing me as your sister, that is, because I always appear to people as those they hold the dearest. And in this case, your family.”

The old man paused for a bit to observe the youth. The latter, undoubtedly, was now thinking that the person before him was either a lunatic or a psychopath, had somehow kidnapped him and fed him some kind of hallucinogen which caused his brain to make the whole thing up. Or maybe it was the copious amount of coffee that did all this.

“Okayyy… so miss know-it-all, mind explaining to me who exactly are you, and where am I?” The old man’s otherworldly explanation was so ridiculous to him that his rage had vanished. So he switched tactics, intended to play along with this lunatic for now, so that they might slip up and give him the information needed to get the hell out, and make a beeline toward the nearest police station.

“Well, those are easy enough to answer. To put it simply, I am god, this is heaven, and you are here because you have died.” He nonchalantly dropped a bomb on the youth.

“…Huh?” The young man was bewildered. Come on, surely even a lunatic wouldn’t be so out of their mind to make such outlandish claims? Unless… wait, am I in a cult? Is this going to be one of their ludicrous sermons to trick people into joining them?

Seeing the confused face of the youth, the old man chuckled. “It is only natural that you don’t believe me. It’s okay. Just think of this as a dream. Though a very long one it will be.”

At this point the youth suddenly slapped his forehead. “Well of course it’s a dream! Why didn’t I realize it sooner? Only I can know about my relationship with my family, and my sister would never pull pranks like this in real life!” And then kept nodding to himself.

“All right. So um, “god”…pfff!” He couldn’t stop himself from laughing at this ridiculous scenario, even if he had perceived it as no more than a dream. “Uh, how exactly did I “die” then?”

“Ah yes, we haven’t touched that yet. Well, from exhaustion, of course.” The old man said.

“Exhaustion? How… wait a minute. Now that I think about it, I haven’t been taking care of myself much recently, have I?” The youth contemplated. Sure enough, he had been living solely on fast foods, energy drinks and coffee for the last four years, without minding his own body. That, and the fact that he kept pulling all-nighters days after days had undoubtedly contributed to his health’s downfall. Thus, he thought that this dream he was experiencing was a way for his brain to protest and warn against his self-destructive routine.

*Sighs* “If only you had noticed it sooner, then there wouldn’t have been a need to have this talk…” The unknown person using his sister’s face shook their head in disappointment, and only then did he see they act like her for once.

“But well, no use crying over spilt milk, and at least your death has provided me with quite a rare opportunity.” The old man continued after a quick pause. “I’m giving you an offer.”

“Oh. What is it?” The youth asked, suddenly interested in where the scenario his brain made up was going.

“First, an explanation, if I may.” The old man nodded. “You see, the world you are living in, is not the only one in existence. There exist an infinite amount more, all operating with their own laws and orders beyond your imagination. And in one of those”, He looked at the youth, “a war was raging on.

“In that world, which has been named Aethrya, humans and demons have been periodically at war for millennia, in an endless vicious cycle. The demons, under the reign of the demon king, invade the human world, and the humans fight back until one side falls. Every war was bloody and tragic, yet the humans had managed to win all of them so far, by…”

“Wait wait wait, let me guess. The human wins because of the heroes, isn’t it. Determined from a young age to save the world, the hero and his companions take up arms and venture far into the demon realm, to kill the demon king and free the people!” The youth spoke in an announcer’s tone as if he was narrating the story of a generic JRPG, and he was thinking the whole fiasco was exactly that as well. To be fair, he was getting into those old school 2D turn-based pieces of nostalgia lately, so the dream he was having might have been influenced by that - or so he thought.

“Yes. It is as you say.” The old man agreed. “Every time a demon king appears, a hero is also born with the power and mission to defeat it. Yet they could never end the cycle, as the demons come from a different realm, where humans cannot reach. And whenever a demon king dies, another one takes reign, restarting the vicious loop. Fortunately, the heroes always win, saving the world and keeping the lands at peace, at least for a while.

“However”, the old man raised his voice, “the cycle is at risk of being broken, and not in a good way.”

“How so?”

“In every cycle, the hero is always accompanied by three companions who aid him in battle. And it is due to their valuable support that he can defeat the demon king. In the current cycle, however, one of them had unexpectedly passed away, before the hero even had the chance to meet them. Without them, the chance for the hero to succeed is close to zero.”

“So… you’re telling me to become his companion instead?” The youth assumed.

“Yes. Well, kind of. If you or that companion had died earlier… *ahem* I didn’t mean to put it that way. If I had anticipated this situation – is what I meant, I could’ve made it so that you are reborn as a baby into Aethrya, then wait till you grow up – the standard procedure. Unfortunately, that would be too late in this case. So instead, I’ll move your soul into the companion’s body. It will take awhile for you to get used to it - since the body is not yours to begin with, but this will have to do. We don’t have much time to spare.”

“Is that… even possible? Won’t my soul be rejected? And I don’t think the owner of that body would be content with it being possessed by some unknown guy.”

“Worry not, it is very possible. Luckily, You both died at the exact same time and your builds are quite similar, so you won’t have much difficulty adjusting yourself. As for consent… well, the body’s owner didn’t terribly love it much, so it should be fine.”

“…Uh, sure then.” The youth felt something peculiar with the old man’s last sentence, but he didn’t bother asking. In a few minutes, he’d wake up in his apartment and spend the day as usual. “If I were to accept your offer, then what’s in it for me?” He asked.

The old man nodded. “If you are able to aid the hero and help him defeat the demon king, your reward will be… resurrection, and… a wish.”

“As in, you will bring me back to life?”

“Indeed.”

“That so... I don’t need it.” The youth said decisively.

“Why not?” The old man asked, but his tone did not let out a speck of surprise.

“… During these four years, I’ve been saving up. Streaming, part time jobs, got me quite a sum, you see. I calculated it should be more than enough to cover my sister’s college fee, whichever one she decides to aim for. As for my parents… Kei has been the one taking care of the house, so it should be fine to leave them to her.”

He smiled bitterly. “I know, I know, not something a son and a brother should say… but even after all this time, I still can’t find myself accepting them, and even more what they did. And as for me, I don’t love this world to the point of willing to do everything so that I can stay in it.” 

The old man listened silently. “Not an unexpected answer. If that is what you think, I won’t waste your time trying to convince you otherwise. But I didn’t say that you have to resurrect back on your world, did I?”

“You mean…”

“If you are to succeed, then I will bring you to any world you want. Magical, Sci-fi, Cyberpunk,… you name it. There are also worlds where superheroes exist, if you prefer them. I could even make you a superhero, too.”

“You sound like a door-to-door salesman, you know that.” The youth chuckled.

The old man also laughed with him. “Well, I guess I am. Furthermore, you get a wish. Fame, fortune, power, or… bringing a loved one back to life, for example. Whatever it is, I shall grant it to you.” He suggested.

The youth contemplated. “Well, that does sound tempting. But what if I fail?”

“Then you will simply be reborn naturally, like everybody else. There’s no repercussion otherwise.”

“Oh…” The youth was now fully committed to see where his dream would lead. “Then I guess I have no choice but to accept, right?” He extended his hand.

The old man smiled. “I am glad.” He took his hand, but held it instead of shaking it as the youth had intended. “Then let’s not waste any more time. We shall begin.”

The old man twisted the youth’s hand, turning his palm up. From there, a small black ball formed. Then the ball exploded into a night sky full of star, dyeing the white space around them. Within that starry night, one shone the brightest. That star gradually became bigger and brighter as it came closer and closer. 

“Two things you must remember'', the old man spoke, “First. I am known as Aethryus. When you come to Aethrya, find a church and pray to my name. That will allow me to communicate with you and give you advices.

"And secondly", his tone became serious, "you must both succeed, and survive until the end. The fact that I can talk to you here is because I pulled you out of the Soul Well - a place where the souls of the dead reside before they are reincarnated. That had put a large toll on yours, and cannot be done again or it would break. If you were to die a second time, you would be put back into the Well, which means I would no longer be able to bring you here and resurrect you where you please, with your memory intact - that would render your efforts wasted.” And before the youth could say anything in return, he was suddenly sucked into the bright star.

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In a dark, open space. On the steps near the entrance of a large, crumbling stone building resembling a temple, lied a girl with her eyes closed, seemingly sleeping. Young, about 18 years old, she was the definition of beauty. Pale, smooth white skin without a single blemish, small but full lips adorned with a natural, glossy shade of pink and long eyelids sheltered her closed eyes. Her hair was straight, of shoulder length, black and smooth as silk. Her bang was straight but sloped, the left side only met her brow, but the other side completely covered her right eye. Her sleeping figure was so picturesque, any passerby would no doubt think: “Why would an angel be resting within this ruin?” Next to her, there was a crystal ball of unknown origin. It was as big as a tennis ball, and within its perfectly rounded and clear sphere were waves of colorful smokes moving and clashing. 

“Ugrh…” The angel groaned, sluggishly pushed her arm on the ground to force herself up. Slowly opening her droopy eyes, she observed the surrounding scenery. Then, seemingly surprised and confused, she turned her head left and right, up and down with her eyes wide.

“…Huh?” She uttered, speechless toward the alien scene before her.

*