Aegis_Of_The_Void

I will be removing the system aspect of this book. If you want a system book go to my other ones, "Those Who Fall" and "The Ashen Phoenix". Either that or wait for me to release my WIP.

I awoke and instantly started coughing out sand and water.

I halted and stared at the sun-tanned sand of the beach.

"Am I... alive?"

I questioned myself. I was speechless. Even if I am a... no, even the best of our clan cannot survive that, we are not warriors after all.

'Why am I alive then?'

I stood. I fell. I coughed out sand again.

My body was different. 

Why?

A rumbling sound echoed.

I knocked myself on my head with my fist.

"Well, thinking right now won't do anything for me since I'm hungry. I should get back to my house first of all."

I stood again and prepared to walk when a breeze past by and I was made aware of a fact I overlooked.

I was naked.

"Well fuck."

My brain then started working.

"And I'm a girl now. Double fuck."

'Should I look for my dead body and take its clothes? Maybe. Maybe not. Would it matter? They probably wouldn't fit anymore. Scratch that, does my body even exist anymore?'

I sighed.

"Let's see, Fred can't help me since he's a dog, neither can my students. Sebastian probably could but that'd be a bad idea with the kids still there. Which means the options are James or... 'Him'. But if I go to James, I'll probably have to knock him out once or twice to make him listen to me and I'm not really excited about the notion of testing my techniques in this body. Who knows what it'll do to this body after all."

I furrowed my brows.

"Do I even have any of my abilities anymore? Would my techniques work? No, gender doesn't matter for my techniques, that damned artefact proved that a while back."

I rubbed my temple as my brain's gears began to creak with stress.

"But if I go to 'Him', he'll just give me another Aphrodisiac or some other thing."

'Fuck.'

"Bad options either way huh? Well, what's new."

[Me.]

'...'

"Now I'm hallucinating. Just great."

[I wish you were but you aren't.]

"And who the fuck are you?"

[Janice. You?]

"Tiramisu."

[You're named after a food?]

"No I'm just thinking about what I should eat. Food is more important than hallucinating or voices in my head."

[I'm not a voice in your head.]

"That's exactly what a voice in my head would say."

[...trust issues?]

I sighed.

"Too many."

I looked around once more, making sure there was no-one near. Before I decided to ignore my stomach for a moment.

"So, any idea what the fuck is happening? Or why it's happening?"

[You died.]

"No shit sherlock."

I turned to the water and looked out at the ocean.

"Surprised I'm not a little afraid of the water after dying to it."

[You got pierced by a rock though.]

"Hard to believe when there's no hole in my chest."

I looked down and my skin was clean without any dissonance between its milky color.

[That's because this isn't your body.]

"Mind saying something other than the obvious?"

[Before that, look to your right for fuck's sake. Are you blind?]

I look to my right and see myself. Dead, with a jagged hole through my chest and a giant rock sticking out of it.

"That's disconcerting."

[Just disconcerting?]

"I've seen worse. You'd be surprised."

[I bet, given you aren't freaked out by your own body lying there dead.]

"So why am I in this body?"

[Fuck if I know.]

"Great, so you're effectively useless."

[Oh fuck off. Like you're any better.]

"I am."

[Narcissist.]

"Arrogance, not narcissism. I will never become a narcissist. Never."

[Is arrogance supposed to be better?]

"It's better than narcissism."

[Fine, that's fair.]

I looked back at my body and wondered.

"Will the illusion be undone... I did try to make it so that it lasts even in death but that isn't guaranteed."

[What the hell are you talking about.]

"Hmm... I might as well think on what I should do while I wait."

[Maybe explain?]

"Nah, I'll leave you in the dark. Does this body have any abilities or powers."

[I'll leave you in the dark.]

"Yeah that won't do. Unless you're fine with me just dying."

[Yeah, that's fine.]

"How cold. Well, I can't talk though."

[No, you really can't.]

"Hmm. Wanna play chess?"

[You have a chess board on you?]

"No, but I can grab my spatial bracelet."

[You have a Spatial Ring? Isn't that rare?]

"When considering that only around 27% of the mapped universe's population has one, yes. When considering the number associated with that, no. Also it's a bracelet."

[Huh.]

"Huh indeed, I guess you are or were in a high place since you aren't surprised."

[Yeah, I used to be.]

I stood in front of my old body and took off the chain from my neck. Attached to said chain was an unassuming blue bracelet.

[Is that...]

"Hmm? You recognise it?"

[That's, where did you get that.]

"I made it. One of my best works in fact. Not sure if I'll be able to make more though since, well, I don't know if this body has any sort of energy that I could use to make them."

[...it does.]

"Which one."

[Haa, Kruna and Mana.]

"Kruna? That's new, and two energy sources? Impressive."

I thought about it and eliminated 7/8 of the universe's known races as the possible race of my new body.

[Really? Which ones do you even know?]

"Mana, Qi, Ki, Spirit, Spectrus, Lifeforce, Psychic Force, Divine Power, Aura. Kruna now too."

[That's quite a few.]

"Which ones do you know?"

[Just Kruna and Mana.]

"Most know three or more, why do you know only two?"

[Didn't bother.]

"Fair I guess. There are a lot of things I didn't bother with."

I focused on my bracelet, briefly glancing inside for the chess board and any spare clothes. While I found the chess board and my spare phone, I realised I carried no spare clothes.

"I should start carrying spares."

[Of what?]

"Clothes, food, everything."

[I highly doubt that's possible.]

"Hmm. It depends on the item but it is most certainly possible for most things."

[What, you're rich enough to carry spares of everything in the universe?]

"Not the whole universe but certainly a portion of it."

Janice went silent as I took out my spare phone and glanced at my contacts for a while.

"Hey, does this body have resistances to poisons?"

[Most.]

"What about aphrodisiacs?"

[Why?]

"I have a very annoying friend who could help me but has been trying to piss me off for ages. He believes the path to truly piss me off is by giving me some of them and embarrassing me."

[???]

"I don't know why either, point is he could help out with the situation."

[Which one.]

"The lack of clothes, so, resistance to aphrodisiacs?"

[Immunity.]

"Impressive, not many races with that kind of immunity. It's rather obscure after all, quite a lot of people want them rather than to be immune to them."

I inwardly eliminated around 350,000 races from my new body's possible race. Then I turned to my old body and put it in the bracelet.

[Why'd you do that?]

"I was quite strong, my bones could be used for potions and my blood could be used for more."

[What. The. Fuck.]

"I know, I'm weird."

[Weird is the least of it.]

"You know what a Void Race is?"

[Hmm? Why are you mentioning those lunatics.]

I eliminated another 5,700 races.

"Just felt like it. I've always been rather whimsical after all."

[I know your type. You're all usually really fucking annoying.]

"I know, we do it on purpose."

I thought over the remaining 300 races I could now possibly be. Then I shrugged.

'I'll deal with that later.'

I sighed and clicked the contact labelled 'Demon'. It rang three times before a husky voice answered.

{What's up 'Fox'? You calling me is rare.}

"I got body-swapped."

{...well. Damn. I can see why you called me now. What do you need?}

"Clothes and for you to call Sebastian and tell him to come over. He still owes you a favor so the kids will think nothing of it."

{Alright. So... how's your new poison resistance.}

"Immunity to aphrodisiacs fucker."

{Damnit.}

"Yep, no more annoyances from you."

{Gender?}

"Female, as far as I can see."

{Height? In centimeters. I'm terrible with the method the world you're in is using.}

"Eh, 186? 192? Around there."

{3 Sizes?}

"Don't know."

{Not even an estimate?}

"Nope."

{You're hopeless.}

"Sometimes."

{All the time.}

"Really? What about when-"

{Alright, alright, sometimes.}

I sighed.

"Drop them off at the underwater base."

{The one you built to study those old bones?}

"That's the one."

{Alrighty, I'll get on that. So, on a separate note, have you tr-}

"Bye now."

And I hung up. Although he was reliable, he was the horniest and creepiest person I had ever met.

[So... explanation please?]

"Later. Time to test whether I can swim."

[Psh, you can do more than that.]

"Oh? Nice to know."

Another 400 races went to the bin.

'It's surprising how many races can't swim...'

[Why do you need to go to that base anyway?]

"Because I have a few things I need to get from there anyway. I was going to go there after the view but I lost myself in it. Well, now that view is gone or changed. Stupid rainstorm. It just had to go and cause my favorite cliff to break."

I found myself sighing again. I guessed I'd be doing that a lot for a while.

Then I looked at the ocean. And I paused.

[What's the hold-up? What are you looking at, it's just a sunrise.]

It was. It was the sunrise, the golden light reflected off of the water, dying it an unusual orange. The rays warmed me even through the cold gusts travelling the coast.

I smiled.

"It's sights like these that I remember why I came here."

[Didn't you just die?]

A vein throbbed.

"I hate you already."