whooosh… shhhhhh… gurgle… splish…
chirp-chirp, tweet-tweet, cheep-cheep
A man woke up to the sound of a river.
That was the first thing. The gentle, rushing water. The second was the chirping of birds. He opened his eyes, and the world came into focus: a bright blue sky, seen through a frame of green leaves.
He pushed himself up, propping his weight on his elbows. A hand went to his head, a gesture of habit, expecting the familiar throb of a headache or the grogginess of a long sleep.
But there was nothing.
He didn't feel tired or sore. In fact, he felt… perfect.
Unnaturally so. It was a clean, crisp feeling, like his body was a brand-new machine.
The feeling was so strange that it was unsettling.
"What is going on here?" he said to the empty forest. His voice was calm and steady, which felt wrong, because inside, a quiet panic was starting to brew.
He didn't know where he was. He didn't know how he got here.
And as he tried to grasp for a memory, any memory, he came up against a cold, smooth wall of nothing. He didn't know who he was.
As he stood up, his hand brushed against something at his side. He looked down and saw a sword in a plain white scabbard. It was a big, heavy-looking sword, a real knight's weapon.
He instinctively put his hand on the hilt. It felt right. It felt familiar.
Which was crazy, because nothing else did.
He walked the few steps to the riverbank and peered into the clear, moving water.
The face that stared back at him was a stranger's. Red hair, so bright it was almost unreal. Sharp, handsome features.
And blue eyes that held a deep, tired sort of sadness.
And yet, as he looked at the stranger's face, a name surfaced from the void in his mind.
"Reinhard Van Astrea," he muttered.
The name felt like a key turning in a lock. Suddenly, his head was full. Not with his own memories, but with two sets of information that slammed into him at once.
One set was a life. Reinhard's life. A lonely childhood, the crushing weight of being the "Sword Saint," the duties, the fights, the quiet moments of despair. He felt it all, saw it all, like a movie playing directly in his brain.
The other set was… bizarre. They were memories of watching that same life on a screen. He remembered an anime called Re:Zero. He remembered thinking this Reinhard character was cool but also kind of tragic.
He stumbled back from the river, his head in his hands. "What the hell is going on?"
He had Reinhard's entire life story, from birth until… well, until now, he guessed. He also had a bunch of random knowledge about movies and shows from a world he couldn't picture anymore.
But about himself?
The person who had supposedly watched that anime?
There was nothing.
Not a name, not a face, not a friend.
…
..
.
Just a complete blank.
He was in the body of a fictional character. He had the character's memories, plus some leftover trivia from his old life. But the person he used to be was gone.
He looked at his reflection in the water again. His vision seemed sharper now, every detail of the face crystal clear. The face wasn't his. The name wasn't his. The life story in his head wasn't his.
A monster? The thought slid into his mind, an echo from Reinhard's own feelings of being something other than human.
It felt right. He wasn't Reinhard. And he wasn't the guy who used to exist. He was just… a uhh something. A hollowed-out person, standing alone in a forest with a borrowed face and a borrowed life.
….
…
..
.
30 Minutes of Pondering later:-
So, what did this all mean?
He sat there by the river, trying to make sense of it. He didn't know who he was, that much was clear.
The memories in his head were a confusing mess.
On one hand, he had flashes of a life, Reinhard's life, but they were foggy, like watching scenes from a movie he'd seen a long time ago.
He knew facts about the Sword Saint, but he didn't feel like him.
On the other hand, he had these other memories, the ones about an anime called Re:Zero. Real Reinhard wouldn't know what an anime or a movie was.
But he did.
Did that mean he wasn't Reinhard?
Or was he Reinhard, but with a broken mind and a bunch of strange, new information cluttering it up?
He couldn't tell.
He let out a long sigh. He could sit here and have an identity crisis all day, or he could do something.
Standing up, he picked the sword off the ground. It felt heavy, but balanced. He clipped the scabbard to his belt, where it felt like it was supposed to be.
First things first, he needed to figure out where he was. He was in a forest, obviously, but that didn't help much. He needed to find a road, a town, anything.
But before that… he was thirsty. He knelt by the river again, cupped his hands together, and scooped up some of the cool, clear water.
He drank deeply, then splashed some on his face to freshen up. It helped a little, grounding him in the here and now.
Okay. Time to go.
He looked around, then just picked a direction and started walking. There was no path to follow, so one way was as good as any. He just hoped it would lead him out of these woods eventually.
After walking for about five minutes, he spotted a tree with reddish fruits hanging from its high branches.
The tree was too tall to climb easily, and the fruit was well out of reach. He wasn't exactly hungry, his body still felt strangely self-sufficient, but he found himself craving something. Anything to taste.
He spotted a smooth, fist-sized rock on the ground and picked it up. The plan was simple: just knock a fruit down. He said to himself, "Alright, close one eye, line up the target, and… throw."
He aimed for the branch holding a small cluster of fruit and threw the rock.
It didn't just fly; it shot forward like a bullet. There was a loud crack as the rock didn't just hit the branch, it shattered it.
A shower of leaves, twigs, and four red fruits fell to the ground. He stared at his hand, then at the broken tree. He hadn't even tried to throw it that hard.
Shaking his head, he walked over and picked up the fruits. He wiped the dirt off on his pants and took a bite. It was sweet and a little tart. He ate all four of them quickly, then continued his walk.
He walked for another twenty minutes, the silence of the forest broken only by his footsteps.
Then he heard it. A new sound. A loud, screeching noise, like wheels grinding against a rough road, mixed with the rumbling of something heavy.
It was coming from somewhere up ahead.
Civilization. Or at least, a road. He started walking faster.
….
A/N: What did you think of the concept and the story? I know there is only 1 chapter now but i will be uploading 1 chapter daily till sunder and on sunday there will be mass release of this fic.