“*Groan*”

In an alleyway, in what seemed to be the slums, a young man awoke. He had dirty blond hair and a skinny body, he looked very malnourished. Opening his eyes that shone a pinkish-red colour, the young man groaned painfully. Quickly rolling away in confusion, he abruptly froze and hissed.

“*Hiss!* Ah! What the fuck!?”

Stopping and slowly perching himself up on the wall next to him, he stared at the sky in confusion.

‘Where the hell am I…?’

Questions kept on pilling up inside his head, as if this was a trigger, an incredibly painful headache assaulted his mind. Pupils dilating, the young man clutched his head for a moment. Memories that weren’t his rapidly flooded his mind, filling it with foreign feelings and experiences.

Dumbly staring at the crimson moon in the sky for a moment, Noah’s confusion cleared up, bit by bit.

‘Cheek, huh? Could’ve been worse…’

Gripping the wall to help himself up, he felt that the pain all over his body was fading. Sharply glancing at his arm, he noticed that the bruises and cuts that had previously covered it squirmed and knitted themselves back together.

Waiting for it to finish healing, he stood there admiring the stars in the night sky.

‘Come on Noah- No, I guess it’s Cheek now, huh?’

Cheek reached into his boot and took out what seemed to be a small gold coin.

“Guess it’s bread for dinner tonight, hope Elisia likes it.”

Unknown to him, a star-like mark drew itself on his forehead.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kingdom of David, in a run-down marketplace

Cheek walked towards a specific stall that was run by an old woman.

“Three loaves of bread.” He said flicking the gold coin marked ‘5’ towards the owner.

“Cheek…” She said, distaste obvious in her tone.

“Here! Now git!” She responded, throwing him what he had asked without even bothering to put them in a bag.

Accurately grabbing the bread out of the air, Cheek stuffed it into his half-torn coat, and without bothering to look back, he left.

Rapidly navigating alleys and roads, all while making a few sharp turns to make sure he wasn’t followed. Cheek stopped in front of a run-down building. Moving away the piece of cloth that served like a door, he stepped inside and turn left, wandering into Elisia’s room.

Elisia was Cheek’s sister, she was born with an incredibly weak physique, it only got worse because of malnutrition and age.

“Elisia? Are you awake?”

“Brother…?” A feeble sounding voice called out. “You’re back…? Elisia though you had abandoned her…!”

Crouching down on the side of the bed, Cheek gently held the hand of his sister. Looking at her  dishevelled blond hair and her face which was covered in tears, he spoke.

“Come on now, you know I would never do that. I’m not like our bastard parents.”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head.” He spoke, gently tapping her forehead.

Blinking her large emerald eyes, Elisia huffed and looked away with a pout.

“Stupid brother! Of course Elisa knows!”

Snorting, Cheek tried to muffle his laughter.

‘My little sister is too cute!’

Smiling warmly, he held out one of the loaves of bread he had just bought.

Moving with speed that should be impossible for someone as weak as her, Elisia snatched the bread and stuffed it into her mouth.

Taking out another, the brother of the duo split it in half and gave a part to his sister. Not waiting any longer, he directly bit into it, thinking of tomorrow.

‘I guess I’ll be “borrowing” some money tomorrow…’

They were in the slums, against the law or not, most of the people here had already broken it one way or another. It wasn’t easy to get a job here, the world Cheek had transmigrated into was only as advanced as the medieval era. No machines, no conveniences he was used to. It wasn’t like he had nothing, though. For one, he had an adorable little sister and as far as he knew, a “blessing”.

Apart from what the Yellow Light had said, he didn’t know what it would do or how to trigger it. For now, he should concentrate on upgrading their living conditions, even if it would never be up to his standards.

“What are you thinking about?” Elisia said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Nothing.” he responded, “At least nothing you should worry about. Big Brother can handle it.”

Nodding her head weakly, Elisia didn’t say anything. With her constitution she couldn’t do much even if she wanted to. At best, all she could do was be there for her brother. She wasn’t dumb, she could see how much she meant to her brother, it was stupid of her to think he had left her in the first place.

Cheek sighed, gently pulling her into a hug, he stayed silent, not knowing what to say. Neither Cheek nor Noah had been particularly good with people. On the account that Cheek never interacted with people much and the fact that Noah kept to himself certainly didn’t help. Their fusion changed nothing on that aspect.

‘Speaking of which, I should probably start practising taekwondo again. Build up that muscle memory.’

This not being Noah’s body it was natural that it didn’t have any muscle memory built up. More than that…

‘This body is too skinny!’

Cheek was malnourished in the first place! He knew some sleight of hand and a couple of tricks he’d gotten over the years by surviving in the slums, but he never had any true teacher. Within the basic knowledge, Noah had learned while in primary school. The only thing Cheek knew about math was basic addition and subtraction.

Feeling something hitting his back, Cheek release his little sister from his hold. Seems he was lost in thought.

“Finally!” She whisper-screamed, that stupid brother of hers was suffocating her without even noticing, humph!

“Sorry, I was lost in thought.”

Snapping out of her mental complaining. Elisia looked at her brother in concern.

“Are you sure you’re alright? You’re very distracted today.”

Nodding, Cheek assured her saying that he was fine, he merely had a… long day.

“Good night.” He finished, kissing her forehead, before climbing into his hammock, next to her bed.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Waking up in the middle of the night, Cheek felt an intense pain on his forehead.

Quickly getting up from his hammock, he slowly made his way outside the house, not wanting to disturb his sister’s sleep. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, he immediately crouched down in front of a puddle of water to observe his reflection.

Staring at his face inside the water, Cheek quickly realized the cause of his pain. It was a mark, the same symbol he had drawn onto his, admittedly, makeshift altar. Yet, the more he looked, the more he panicked.

‘Why is it glowing!? Glowing stuff is never good!’

He didn’t want his head to go “boom”! Anxiously waiting for something to happen, Cheek realized that the symbol was spreading! Once it had reached half his face, it abruptly stopped. Sighing in relief, he observed the mark slowly receding. In barely a minute, it had become what it was before, a small symbol on the corner of his forehead, hidden by his hair.

‘Thank good it’s over…’

He thought.

…

He thought too soon.

An incredible amount of knowledge flooded his mind, knocking him unconscious, slumped against the wall.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Cheek opened his eyes to the rays of dawn, peeking over the roofs of the buildings. Painting the sky a pink fading into orange, creating a picturesque scene.

Rubbing his temples to ease the strain his mind was feeling, he slowly stood up and walked straight towards the “kitchen”, which was only a poorly crafted tabled and a chair.

Slumping down on it, he closed his eyes and reviewed the content of the knowledge he had acquired from his “blessing”.

Firstly, it spoke of Beyonder Characteristics and what powers one could obtain by consuming them; yet it also spoke of the risk of losing control. Direct consumption was very dangerous and that it was recommended to refer to someone who knew more about that specific pathway.

Secondly, it spoke of rituals and how to do them properly and not to offend the entity you were praying to. There was also a specific ritual to “link-up” with the Yellow Light and update the knowledge contained within the blessing.

Finally, it spoke about how this blessing worked. More and more knowledge would “unlock” the stronger he became, essentially, it was to motivate him and to protect him from dangerous stuff he shouldn’t know.

‘Still… “updating” it is very tempting. Although I’ll refrain for now seeing the danger of rituals. I’ll only do so if I need to or when I’m certain I can handle whatever comes my way.’

With the knowledge of rituals clearly inside his mind, Cheek only now realized how dangerous him praying to an unknown existence was, he was lucky that it was Venithan and not some evil deity. He still wasn’t sure of the Yellow Light’s intentions, but he at least knew that this wasn’t the worst outcome.

Reopening his eyes, he stood up and made his way towards his sister to check if she was sleeping.

Arriving inside the room, Cheek saw that she was. He planted a kiss on her forehead and left. He had things to do and people to steal from.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Stopping in front of a hidden alley, Cheek made sure he wasn’t followed, before swiftly entering. Once inside, he immediately tapped the wall to find what he wanted.

Feeling a loose brick, he pulled it out and reached his hand into the hole behind it. Feeling something at the tip of his fingers, he grabbed onto it and pulled it out. It appeared to be some sort of bundle wrapped in a piece of cloth.

Unravelling it carefully, Cheek grinned seeing that what he had left here was intact. It was a keepsake from his “parents”, a pair of neat clothes. Enough to pass as a respectable citizen, the only problem would be his skinny appearance. Although with what he was attempting, that would work in his favour.

‘Time to take advantage of people’s kindness…’

Most people would hesitate to go through with such a plan, Cheek wouldn’t. Having been betrayed by people who, he thought as friends as Noah, and having lived in the slums most of his life as Cheek. He wasn’t the most moral person.

Besides, to be kind one needed to have things to spare. Else wishing for something good at the end of the road was nothing short of foolishness!

——————————————————————————————————————————

Stumbling out of an alley, a young man could be seen with a dishevelled appearance and blood running down his nose. He wore a white button-up shirt, as well as a nice pair of black pants.

A classy-looking woman looked at him in concern, she wasn’t the only one, they were in a middle-class district, the young man stood out very much.

Walking closer to him, a man in his fifties helped the young man up.

“Gratefully”, looking at the old man, Cheek spoke :

“Thank you, good sir. I’m sorry for disturbing you.” Grabbing the man’s hands to better express his “sincerity”. Cheek slipped the man’s ring off his finger.

If the man was uncomfortable with the act, he didn’t show it.

Thanking him once more, Cheek quickly left. Not knowing that someone had noticed his actions…