After the meeting, the young man Avilia pointed out to be a reincarnation wanted to talk to us two alone for some reason. This lead to Karine taking us three to another smaller room right across the hallway. She, of course, left to attend to the rest of the guests.

The room is nowhere near as cozy as the rooms in Karine’s shop, but it’s functional. A table and a few chairs is all you really need. It’s illuminated by a couple of wall sconces and a candle in the middle of the table. Mood lighting.

“Please, sit,” he says as he chooses one of the seats for himself and sits down. We do much the same.

I haven’t gotten to say a word to Karine yet. She really crossed some major boundaries here! I can’t believe she’d claim I’m a summoned hero of some sort when we’ve definitely come to the conclusion that I’m not. What is she playing at?

I look at him.

He sure looks young. Too young to be revolting against a kingdom. But if he’s a reincarnation, his looks are probably deceptive. Whoever’s inside there is likely older than I am, when all his years are put together.

Even if he’s had to go through two childhoods.

An interesting thought, for sure. A bit creepy, too, now that I think about it.

“I think introductions are in order,” he says. “I’m Vaqelin d'Elforis. The third son of a baron from the capital. My family used to hold dominion over the forest here, but that was when it hadn’t been filled with monsters.”

Sounds like a solid reason to work against the kingdom, doesn’t it?

“I’m Irene Durant, and this is Avilia Belamy. We’re travelers, is what I’d like to say. But anyway, what did you want to talk about?”

“Um,” he starts, “This may sound a bit strange. But. What year was it when you left?”

Ah. Right. He wouldn’t know we know he’s a reincarnation. But he hasn’t exactly given us much reason to trust him a whole lot yet. Who knows what he’s up to?

I frown a little. “Shouldn’t you tell us the year you left, first?”

The surprise is obvious on his face. He didn’t expect that response, I see.

“W… What do you mean?”

Avilia sighs. “You are a reincarnation, are you not?”

He gasps. I mean, it’s understandable. It’s a secret he’s held onto for years, right? And now there are two people who just happen to know his secret, as if we’ve always known it.

“… Alright. I’ll go first, then. It was probably 2021 when I died. I don’t know how long it took me to be reincarnated in this world, but that’s the last year I remember.” He stares at the candle in the middle of the table. “It was like a dream. I was fading, until suddenly something pulled me away. Something calling itself a god spoke to me and said it’d bless me. And then I was thrown into the body of a newborn babe. With most of my memories intact.”

Wow. I never thought I’d see someone from the times before the collapse, let alone talk to them! And he even met one of the gods. He’s closer to a summoned hero than I am! He should’ve been the one to be called out for this whole thing. Jeez!

He turns back to us two. “But no one here believes in the existence of reincarnations. I may be magically gifted and have had a ‘keen intellect’ for a child, but mentioning anything about being from another world… Isn’t a great idea. It’s agonizing.”

He shakes his head. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because I ever did it. I figured it’d be safer if no one knew, especially since I wanted to live as normally as I could. But I’ve read stories. Heard stories. They tend to end badly.”

Oh. So deflecting by saying he’s more of a summoned hero than I am when Karine made her proclamation wouldn’t have yielded the results I would’ve liked anyway. Figures.

He looks at me. “Would you be willing to tell me the year you’re from now?”

“Well,“ I say, looking at the candle for a moment, ”I guess I can repay you by telling you. You might not believe me, but I’m from 2141.”

“… What?”

I look right into his eyes. “I’m separated from you by 120 years. Or I should be. Yet here we are, talking to each other.”

He seems to fall deep into thought.

“Also, Karine went way ahead of herself.” I sigh. “I never met a god when I came here. When I’ve spoken to her about all this, we both came to the conclusion that I’m no summoned hero.”

“What’d make you think that?”

“There are plenty of reasons. My mana’s only average, while you’re obviously brimming with the stuff. I had to learn how to speak the language, how to read and write and how to cast spells, which apparently isn’t normal for summoned heroes. Yeah. A lot of reasons. I’m pretty sure I’m here because of a freak accident with a transporter, not for some grand purpose.”

“Ah,” he says absentmindedly, “That does make sense. It’s not like summoned heroes get misplaced all that often for very long either way. You could very well be the first in your situation, ever.”

That isn’t very relieving, now is it?

He lowers his hand onto the table. “There are written chronicles of summoned heroes and mad children claiming they’re other people going back centuries. Often with descriptions of what they claim to have known before they got transported here. Based on all that, I’ve concluded that most outworlders tend to be within a few decades of each other at most when they come here. You’re a real anomaly. I honestly didn’t expect that.”

“But, right. In many of those accounts, there are strange discrepancies. Things that just don’t match up with how I remember things. It’s almost like everyone’s from different variant timelines or something. That’s the only way I could explain them.”

“That does make sense,” Avilia interjects, ”That way there would be a much lower likelihood that the various summoned heroes would know each other. They will have less qualms fighting each other if there is no risk of them recognizing each other.”

That’s a common enough thing to take it into consideration?

“Right,” he says. “It’d also probably cost more resources to keep trying to take people from one place instead of just from where ever, when ever. And it’s not cheap to begin with even after they changed the spell. Blood magic is… Nasty business.”

“Wait, blood magic?”

“Yes. It’s one of the worst kept national secrets. The original form of summoning was replaced by blood summons ages ago. I think it’s because it didn’t take as much preparation and… The royals have no qualms about sacrificing a few peasants ‘for the greater good.’ The only upside is that there seems to be some unexplained hard limit on how many heroes can be present at any given time.”

… What is blood magic?! It’s like he’s just assuming I know about it! Ugh. I’ll ask Avilia and Karine about it later. That is, if I choose to still be on speaking terms with Karine after what she did. She better have a damn good excuse lined up.

“None of that explains why the reincarnations would follow the same logic, though,” I say.

“True,” he responds, nodding, “But if we apply the same logic as with the summons, it’s likely there are just so many variant worlds that the chances of all of us being from the same one is very low to begin with. And reincarnations seem to just happen if they are to happen. That’s my experience at any rate.”

“So,” he continues, “What’s the world like in the future?”

I look at Avilia. Is it a good idea to tell someone from the past about the future? Not that I think he’s ever going back or anything.

“We scraped by. I’d never seen the sky before I came here. It’s been a huge adjustment.”

“What, why?”

“Climate change? The climate collapse changed everything.”

“See, that’s another thing that made me consider this whole alternate universe thing. I thought we were well on the path to averting disaster, yet so many heroes have left stories of impending doom. And you’re from a future where that’s come to pass?”

“Yes. As far as I know, it happened a hundred years ago. I lived all my life in a dome.”

“Huh. And that hair color of yours, it’s not dye, is it?”

“No. It’s my natural hair color. Why?”

“Just out of interest. It’s unusual to say the least.”

“I guess. My parents chose it for me. People keep calling me an elf thanks to it.”

Avilia frowns. Vaqelin doesn’t seem to notice.

“Oh yes,” he says, “It’s because there are these mythical people who live longer than regular humans and the main characteristic that sets them apart is their unusual hair color.”

“I’ve been told as much. Sorry to disappoint, though, but I’m just human.”

An augmented human, but a human nonetheless. He doesn’t need to know.

“I figured. I’ve never read about elves being transported to this place. It seems like they’re a… local phenomenon. Never read about beastfolk being summons, either, come to think of it.”

“But enough about me. What about you? What’d you remember of your life before you reincarnated?”

If he wants to pry more information out of me, he should be ready to give me something, too!

“… There’s nothing too interesting about it. I was a student in a university. I can’t quite remember what I majored in. The country I lived in was at peace. There was optimism in the air.”

He’s being vague. I should ask something more specific.

Let’s start with something simple.

“What was your name?”

“My name? Why?”

“No reason, just curious.”

He ponders. “What was it again? It’s been so long.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“No, I should be able to. It’s good to jog my memory.”

After a minute, something dawns on him. He looks pale. Sickened, even. But committed.

“I remember,” he whispers. “I remember who I was… And how I died. Oh, god. I remember.”