It had been a while since Vanessa had a dream. Well, it was just a sign of good-quality sleep, something she needed now more than ever. She had been awake for a few days, running from her former colleagues. They had turned on her all of a sudden, saying something about being "possessed". They didn't manage to catch her, though.
'I'm the only one of us who's good at finding people, so what did they expect!?'
And so, she survived. She concealed herself, ran for a week straight, and eventually fell asleep in an abandoned shed in the middle of nowhere. Dreaming meant she was alive, as well.
'Seriously, ever since I killed that damn kid...'
Her engravings had kept her safe, but having her entire face caved in by a dirty boot was still not a fun experience.
'I'm back in control— Huh? What the hell is with this dream?'
In her dream, she had no idea what she looked like, since the person she was dreaming of being was concealed. Only once she saw a bright light in the sky did she realize who she was.
'Am I dreaming of that kid? Goddamnit, has a single person ever caused me this much trouble before?'
She endured the agony of her colleague's attacks from the boy's point of view, planned her escape, then decided to sacrifice herself. All along the way, she kept having weird thoughts like 'This person killed me?' or 'I look wrong'. There had to have been something bizarre going on in that kid's head.
While she was experiencing being on the giving end of crushing faces, she saw her disembodied head make a smile.
'Hell yeah! Get him!'
This was her strongest attack. An incredibly short-range teleport, and the contents...
'Shit.'
Were that which removed all flesh from the target. It ended up right in the target's head, destroying their brain instantly. Her dream ended there, but she remembered the effect of her magic. From her own memories, she managed to see the boy's eyes defocus, and his body fall lifelessly to the ground. It was her victory, and her loss.
---
'Ah, hell, why was that dream so detailed?'
She woke up from where she was sprawled on the wooden floor, and sorted herself out. The damage to her face wasn't healed properly, so fixing that was her first priority. Knowing this, she formed a quick blade of ice and got to work.
'Mirror, I need a mirror...'
She searched for a moment before propping a dusty mirror on one of the walls. Staring at herself, she recoiled a little.
'This is what I— the person who killed me— I should be a boy with— What the hell?'
Vanessa frowned a little. She held the blade up to her face, and started cutting.
'I'm in control now. No, who is—'
Involuntarily, her hand plunged the knife straight underneath her eye. It must have severed something important, because blood started flowing out of her nose. She let out a stifled shriek.
'My... memories... why are they...'
Something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong with her. Her flesh shouldn't have been pierced through that easily. While covering her bleeding face, she checked her Manaheart.
'What!? Where, no, what— Jane—'
Her soul core was completely different from what she remembered. And though it was covered in innumerable engravings, there wasn't a bit of physical reinforcement.
'Scars... I—'
Again, her hand lashed out. All across her body, her robe was torn along with her garments underneath. The blade of ice left dozens of lashes on her once-smooth skin.
"Ahh— W-what..."
'What's with this body? Wait, stop—'
Realizing what he was doing was strange, he stopped his arm, and began healing his wounds. His work was quick and efficient, but it left ugly scars. For some reason, this irked him. From what he remembered, he didn't care about these kinds of things.
'Memories? Ah, this is the person who killed... Stop... me.'
He glanced at the mirror, before raising his fist and punching straight through it. His wrist hurt, and shards of glass had shredded skin all over his arm. Now that he thought about it, his body was slimmer than he remembered. In some places, at least.
'Why do I have so much fat? Wait, wait, let me backtrack... Please... Oh, the person who killed me was a woman. Is this her body? Hmm, there's a little pushback.'
"Eee, Ahh."
He tested out his voice, and found it to be completely different. It was a lot higher and smoother than his original, and there was a certain tenseness within every syllable.
'Let's see. My name was Vanessa... No, not that. Van— Seriously, no. It was Jane.'
"My name is Jane. I died while traveling to the city, along with my brother and teacher. Yup, sounds right. Then, these other memories are..."
'Oh, so it worked. What... worked... You—'
Jane was not much one for dying, so he made plans to prevent it.
'I see... Yes, I see.'
He laid a trap. Within his memories, there were countless traps, leading their successor to reawaken Jane's psyche.
'Go to sleep.'
Jane sighed a little, feeling relieved. Once his thoughts were completely his own again, he stretched a little and sorted out the mess.
He was back.
(End of Book 1: Incubation)