It all started with a...
Bang!
Science says that if a person is beheaded, they can remain conscious for two to seven seconds, staring at their body as blood gushes, spraying everywhere from their neck, while their head rolls on the damp earth.
At least that is how someone should feel before their consciousness fades into nothingness...
Yet, no one said that being shot in the head would feel like eternity...
Lidien stared at the back of his shooter, still in motion, before time seemed to stop, and only his consciousness was thinking, alive.
Unsure if it was called the subjectivity of time, he didn't care anymore... all that study, all that effort, gone to waste, just because of some mugger who wanted some quick cash. Well, sad for him... He didn't even have a penny in his bag.
Living his life in poverty, Lidien tried to escape it by becoming a working student, to get a job that pays well after graduation... that was his plan.
However, the outcome is sometimes different from what we plan.
Just because he was wearing something unusual in the slum, a suit and tie from a thrift shop near where he was staying, people looked at him like some rich man lost along the way, not knowing he was just like them, struggling daily to escape the life he was born into.
'God... if you really exist... make me remember my past if I am reincarnated... Well, being a child of rich parents would do, but if not... if you make me a poor bastard again, I'd rather be--'
It was Lidien's last thought before his consciousness faded into nothingness.
Yet something hooked it... a force like gravity, pulling him through cold, starless depths.
He felt nothing. No pain. Only the crushing weight of eternity…
Then, crash...
***
The torch's emerald flame continued its flickering, then slowly turned back to its normal color.
The woman lying on the ground suddenly moved; her body shook, convulsing, realigning every broken bone and regenerating her wounds, erasing all traces of scars.
And it stopped.
After a few minutes, she moved again... this time, she raised herself up and scanned her surroundings... She touched her body, searching for wounds, but found only damaged clothes.
"Lidien... Lidien!"
In the center of the dark room, Lidien lay flat on the ground.
The woman immediately knelt beside him, rolled him onto his back, and tapped his face. She frantically searched for wounds but found none.
"--come someone who takes from others..." Lidien mumbled in his sleep.
"Lidien! Wake up!" the woman screamed.
Lidien opened his eyes to an angelic face staring down worriedly.
'An angel?'
As he sat up, Lidien's head throbbed from a flood of information searing his mind and very being.
"Lidien... "
The woman raised her hand. It glowed golden before she pressed it to Lidien's head...
"Purify. Please, work!"
Yet the pain didn't stop.
Lidien shouted and cried, tears flowing uncontrollably, saliva scattering with every scream.
He couldn't speak; he only gritted his teeth against the physical and emotional agony.
"Lidien! Calm down!"
With his one last scream, Lidien smashed his head towards the ground to regain his sanity.
'What the hell was that?' Lidien held his head; his eyes turned crimson, fangs formed sticking out.
In just a few seconds, he relived the gruesome experience of the original owner of his new body.
The tragic life he lived, until he sacrificed his life for someone he genuinely loved.
Lidien stared at the woman in front of him.
'Lily... my adopted sister, and the one who truly cares for me... no, for the original owner of this body, also named the same as me.'
Lidien forced a smile. After calming himself, his crimson eyes turned back to normal, same with his fangs.
He looked around. Towards the deeper end of the room, there he saw a single table, with a box on top, more like a small chest.
He then turned to his left and saw a corpse, skeletal, wearing heavy armor... the guardian.
His head throbbed again, replaying the scene where the original body unlocked his new demonic transformation upon witnessing Lily die from the guardian of the Relic, then killed it.
Then he tried to put the cloth beside him on, and smiled when he realized it was full of holes, much worse than wearing nothing.
Ironically, with the old memories being implanted into Lidien, or more likely he became a parasite inhabiting the old owner's body including his fragmented memories after he stabbed his own chest and died...
Lidien still didn't know how to survive in this world full of monsters and unknown entities...
Last time he tried fighting he got shot in the head.
"Who are you?"
Lily's eyes widened.
Her gaze darted to the sacrificial dagger beside him, then down to his chest.
Her hand shook as she touched the spot where the wound should have been.
"You... stabbed your chest..." She muttered and covered her mouth with her trembling hands, then immediately hugged Lidien's head and pressed it against her chest, while her blonde hair cascaded to Lidien's back.
Lidien blushed and tried to push Lily away from him.
"Miss... I'm sorry... I'm too young for this... I also don't know you..."
Lily still hugged him, and embraced him fully.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... because of me... you lost your memory..."
Lily knew... she had died trying to protect Lidien, and with her final moments, she saw Lidien conduct a ritual before stabbing his own chest.
Seeing both of them were okay, except Lidien who she thought lost his memories, made her realize one thing... Lidien offered something of great value for her to live.
'It's better to act like I forgot the original owner's memories than to try escaping this hell... outside this place is much more chaotic!'
Lily helped Lidien stand and requested him to follow her, then they proceeded to the table where the Relic was placed.
Lily then opened the chest, not empty, but full of ashes.
"With this... Mother will give you a Title... solely for you..." Lily smiled, so captivating that it made Lidien glance away.
Lily then giggled, and stored the Relic in her ring.
Though Lidien wasn't new to fiction he read when he had free time in the Library, seeing a space ring personally was different.
Gulping.
He gripped his hands, eyes gleaming.
"May I ask something, Miss? What is that small chest you got?"
"Ohh... that? I don't know either, but Mother wants it for the clan... to establish our kingdom... And don't call me Miss... 'Sis' is enough..."
Lily held Lidien's hand. Though their age gap was large, he almost reached her ears in height.
"Shall we go, my little brother?"
As they exited the ruined temple, Lidien saw a familiar cave where the original owner and his grandfather had prayed. He tried recalling the prayers from fragmented memories but failed.
'Yeah... I forget past memories too. How much more with fragments?'
They followed the cave wall until morning light greeted them, rays reflecting off the dewy mouth.
As they exited the cave, what greeted them wasn't birds' tweets and beast howlings, but a war.
It was chaotic enough that dead bodies were scattered on the ground, in the trees, or just hanging dangling from the branches.
Lidien couldn't force himself to stop from retching, though he had prepared himself for this event.
Having seen its brutality from fragmented memories, still, experiencing it and seeing it with his own eyes betrayed his optimistic goal.