After being unconscious for god knows how long, I woke up.
I struggled to stand, more or less walk, I felt indescribably weak, both physically and mentally, I felt like I could pass out again.
Having no choice, I started crawling, slowly towards the stairs.
It took me almost one painstaking hour to reach the stairs, and probably might take longer to climb it.
And it did.
After climbing for what felt like an eternity, I laid on the floor at the entrance of a small hall with only three rooms.
Two rooms stood opposite each other, and the last further down the hall.
The room to my left was the room I came out from, and the other was....
"My head!" I muttered softly.
I struggled to open the room on the right.
But I had to, I felt there would answers to what was happening to me there.
After struggling to open it for a while it eventually opened, and I crawled in.
This room was more larger than the one I slept in, also more elegantly decorated.
Halfway into the room, my head suddenly felt like was going to explode from pain.
"Ahhhhh!!!, my head!!!, my head!!!" I screamed, rolling and crying in agony.
Memories were painfully ingrained in my brain, both mine and my shadow's.
I convulsed uncontrollably, shook violently, but strangely I couldn't pass out.
I was forced to go through the pain.
After hours of excruciating pain, the pain died down.
I laid there, on the floor, unmoving, just staring at the ceiling.
After more hours go by, I could finally think.
"What the hell is going on?" I muttered, with my cracked and dry voice.
I had information now, not just information but memories, but not only that i got the experiences of both my lifes.
My entire being was made anew, from both my human self, and my shadow self.
I was a new entity. My soul was complete, bringing me to the pinnacle of two races.
Though I felt a bit confused, as my consciousness was from both my lifes, who had different experiences.
One considered everything happening, one big paranormal event.
The other, planned for this, worked his entire life, to make this work, and when he saw an opportunity he took it.
I felt an unknown joy, felt like being given back something that was taken away from you, without you even knowing what it was.
I resumed crawling, and soon reached the bed.
I climbed, and slept.
~~
~~
~~
How long I slept was unknown to me, but when I woke up, I felt better, reenergized.
I rubbed my groggy eyes, as I walked towards the mirror, subconsciously.
I stood before the mirror, awestruck.
My appearance slightly above average in both my lifes, in my opinion.
Was now nothing but, perfect.
With well chiseled jawline, perfectly shaped nose, paled skin, jet black hair and eyes.
My body was in its peak as well, with perfectly chiseled abs, broad shoulders, though not too broad.
One could say I was a well built mesomorph.
And even my height was elevated, from 6'4, to about, 6'7.
"Haa", a small chuckle escaped my mouth, when I saw, even my nether part had go through changes.
'From an anaconda to a dragon, haa, this is just great!!'
Finally looking around the room, one could see the effort applied into it's design
From the king sized bed, to the giant wardrobe by the corner, to beautiful paintings hung around the room, to the elegantly carved desk.
A strange yet beautifully designed carpet laid on the perfectly polished wooden floor
And just before it, was a disgusting mess, made during my earlier agony.
It was truly shameful of me to leave such a mess, just because I was in pain.
Though that pain wasn't ordinary, if human were to undergo such pain, he/she would die, same goes for shadows as well, regardless of their cultivation stage, as the pain is mainly directed to the brain.
'I should clean that up', I thought.
"And also get cleaned myself", I said softly, looking at my naked self in the mirror.
I did a few poses in the mirror, before chuckling and proceeding to clean.
~~
~~
I cleaned the floor and went to take a bath.
I slowly deeped into the water, expecting the freezing cold, but it never came.
The water didn't feel as cold as in my previous bath, though it was still considerably cold.
I finished my bath, and entered back into the room, this room had its own bathroom, which was what I used.
Standing naked in the room, my brain momentarily blank, looking around, my eyes fell on the bed spread.
It was ruined with messy stains, from me laying on it, without cleaning up.
Sigh~
I removed the bed spread and took it to the bathroom for washing.
I came back to the room and decided to wear some clothes.
Opening the wardrobe, one could see the variety of clothes that filled the wardrobe, from mediaeval fantasy clothes, to eastern looking clothes, with some clothes sharing resemblance to the 70's fashion.
"Hmm"
I decided to take something blend, a plain white shirt on a grey coloured trousers.
I exited the room and went downstairs.
In the living room, a small pile of clothes laid on the floor.
I rolled my eyes at the sight, and hesitantly cleaned it up.
~Phew~
Getting bored, I decided to take a stroll around the house.
This house was pretty okay, in human standards, it has one large living room, two bedrooms, a study, and a normal sized kitchen.
This house was all alone at the edge of the cliff, and outis my shadow, owned the entire hill. Which was a luxury most shadows didn't have.
Well the truth is, this house was a gift from a friend, he helped said friend become a noble, and thus after becoming a noble, he sponsored Outis.
I decided to make some food and then visit the town.
Just below the hill, was a massive town, peaceful and striving, a stark constract to many towns and cities in the Donn empire.
The main produce of this town were books, they made books, writing equipments, and sold written works.
This town is a paradise to scholars, hence making this town one of 74th major towns and cities.
After making and eating a simple yet delicious meal, I made my way back upstairs to change.
I changed the grey pants to black and added a black coat adoned with sliver patterns around it, and a fitting black shoes.
I made my way to the stable, and what I saw in there wasn't a horse, though I wasn't really surprised, as it was all in my memory.
A two legged dark green ferocious looking beast, stared at me with familiarity, it was a dinosaur in human term.
Getting rid of my human fear, I slowly approached it, my left hand were stretched out trying to touch it like they do in, how to train your dragon.
My palm met it's rough skin, as I rubbed between it's eyes, it made some loud purring sounds, seeming to be enjoying my touch.
The more I rubbed it, the more comfortable I felt with it.
Recalling my senses, I led it to my carriage, and hooked it up.
This carriage was a bit different from the usual carriage in the human world.
Though it took inspiration from the 21st century vehicles, by having the coachman area completely removed, and allowing you to control your ride from the comfort of the passengers seat.
It still carried it's mediaeval elegance of course, with it's smooth black coloured exterior, and golden brown interior, and thin dark tilted crystals as window glasses.
I stepped in, and nodded admiring the beautiful craftmanship, I took hold of the reins as I relaxed back on my seat, and gave the signal to move.
~~
~~
At first the speed was annoyingly slow, but slowly the speed grew, and now, I watched as my carriage speedily drove into town.
'Argh'
"Damn this road is really bumpy"
~~
Arriving at town, I slowed down the carriage with familiar ease.
A giant full moon stood at it's peak in the middle of a pitch black sky, devoid of stars or clouds.
The full moon radiated an ethereal white glow over everything beneath it.
Noises came from the street stalls around town, different types of carriages moved around the road, shaking a few times from the uneven road.
People moved about, with their lifes, purchasing different merchandise.
It's truly a lively town.
"Sir!"
"Sir!"
"Sir!"
A small and youthful voice called for my attention, it sounded familiar, causing a series of memories about the young girl to resurface.
"Ah!, Amaya!", I replied softly, and stepped out my carriage.
I locked the doors, ensuring it's safety, and walked towards the girl, leaving my carriage by the road side.
"Hello there, Amaya", I greeted with a warm smile.
The little girl looked at me, surprised.
"Is that you, sir Outis?", she asked taking a step back.
"Ah, yes it's me, how are you and your mother?" I asked, a smile still on my face.
The girl no older than twelve, nodded, she seemed to have realised that it really was me.
"Mother is doing fine" she paused, then continued "may I ask what you are shopping for today sir Outis?"
"Nothing specific, Hmm, I should buy some needed books", I pondered a bit before replying.
"Great!!, I'll lead to the stall!"Amaya spoke flashing a warm smile.
"Go ahead" I gestured.
~~
We walked passed different stalls, some shabby, some decent, some well crafted. And each of them depicted the financial state of the stall owners.
We walked for about thirty minutes before reaching a stall deep within the market, it was larger than most, but it's shabby appearance made it forgettable.
There were no customers in sight, afterall someone could get robbed this deep into the market.
At our arrival, a middle aged woman, who sat behind the counter, whistling a tone in boredom, could be seen, her attention snapped towards us, and for a moment she froze.
She ran towards me and dove at my feet, bowing.
"I'm sorry my Lord!!!, I'm sorry my daughter brought you to this dump!!!"
For a moment I was shocked, even Amaya was left agape, from her mother's reaction.
I squatted down and touched her shoulder, her muscles tensed under my touch, "rise mrs Charna, it is me, Outis"
"Outis?", she questioned looking up slowly.
I stood back up and gestured for her to do the same.
"Sir Outis!!, how do you look so, different?" She asked, looking genuinely puzzled.
"Well, you could say, it's the results of an experiment" I replied giving a warm smile.
"Ah!, the things you scholars do" Mrs Charna replied with a sigh, then asked.
"So what do you need, sir Outis?"
"Hmm, Hmm, you have any information on that book I've been looking for?", I pondered before asking.
"I'm sorry but nothing yet", Mrs charna replied, seeming disappointed.
"I see, well, give me some book on "Souls", all entry level"
"Alright" Mrs charna replied already moving.
She pulled out books from shelves, stacking them on the counter.
"Ah!, Mrs Charna!, six is enough!", I spoke quickly, seeing as she kept stacking them.
"Oh!, okay", she replied with a smile, and returned some books.
She then picked up a cleaning cloth and clean the dust off the books.
"So, how much will it be?, Mrs Charna", I asked deeping my hand into my pocket.
"Just ten Donn night steel, sir" she answered with smile.
"Alright" I said, brought out my pouch, counted out ten Donn night steel, and handed it to her.
Amaya carried the books and followed me back to my carriage.
After unlocking my carriage I took the books from her, and placed them on the seat, then I got in.
I stared blankly through my wind screen, lost in thoughts.
'Smiling sure is stressful'
'I didn't think I would buy a book today'
'But I had to, as to my actions not be seen as weird'
'But still acting casually, brought up an, unnecessary conversation'
Sigh!
'The book, we are looking for is supposed to be the second volume of "The Merging". It's a book that wrote about how to merge one's soul with another, in the form of a story. The second volume which was promised to carry a more refined method than the one I used, went completely silent for twelve years, up on to recently. A gossip suddenly went around the scholars faction, that volume 2 was already out, but was hidden by someone'
'For someone to be able to hide such a book, he/she must been of high social status, be it noble or scholar'
~~
Half an hour later, I arrived back home.
I went to the study immediately to drop my newly acquired books.
THUD!
With a dull thud, I dropped the books on the desk and admired my good sense of taste in luxury.
The study held several shelves and bookcases, all made from the same dark wooden material as everything wooden in this house, but what made all of them beautiful, was their unique design.
The study was used like a lab by my shadow, but unlike the usual fantasy trope, of, a messy study room, this was organised, to perfection.
Sigh.
I stared at the room blankly, subtle feeling of curiosity kept gnawing at me, my human self felt ignorant, and since I have time, I will oblige it.
~~
~~
Days blew by, and I was still in the study, devouring information to satisfy this primal curiosity.
Started with simple things, like basic history.
There are only three continents known to shadows.
The Donn continent, Holden continent, and Eldjàrn continent, and all these continents are double the size of a continent on earth, well I speculate that they are a combination of one.
And these continents are ruled by their respective empires, Donn, Holden, and Eldjàrn
These behemoths empires keep the balance of this struggling world.