Now that I was outside, I could finally bear witness to, according to Lothair, the most advanced city in the entire world, Athenapolis. This grandiose place housed the most important people and technologies. It was the capital of the millennial empire of Neldaria. The history of this place was as old as the ascension of Chtonians and the awakening of humans, and that was because the founder of this empire was the first ever human awakened, Gilgamesh Neldaria.
Anyway, that was the content of one of Isaac's worldly class. Now back to the present, we had accepted our first job as mysthios. It was a universal myth, as it was called, which was basically a mission or task that anyone could take on and was always available. And since the mission was [Bronze] rank, just two ranks above [Stone], I believed that I could handle it pretty well by myself. However Lothair decided that he would still accompany me for this first job in case something happened. In other words, he didn't trust me.
Aah... but what could I say? I was simply that important, enough for the big boss of Arcane himself to keep an eye on me.
By the way, I would be staying with Isaac from now on, and with the new identity I was given, Isaac became my father. That seriously creeped me out. Just imagining that incarnation of the primordial zombie acting as my father... Ugh, it gave me goosebumps. At least he was a good teacher... like David was...
'He would have been better to act as my father...'
"Eliza."
"Hm..! Yes?"
Lothair's sudden call started me, but I quickly regained my composure.
"Would you like to stroll around the city to familiarize yourself with it before departing for the mission? Also, we should go to Isaac and get you to know where your new home is."
"Yes, that sounds great, and I do need to relax for a bit."
If I were offered a vacation, of course I would take them! Who could even refuse an offer to laze around?
"Then we should be starting now if we want to be back by tonight. This city is really amazing after all."
He smiled, I grinned. I was so excited! Though I would have never expected that my first date would be with such a mysterious man...
***
Gasp—!
A woman awoke in a dark, damp room. She was sitting on a chair right in front of a white desk, with on top a multitude of scrambled papers, unorganized and chaotic, stained with dried blood.
Stranded on the floor, was a glass bottle with an open lid and a few white pills that resembling medications seemed to have fallen from the container.
The woman suddenly stood up as intense pain struck her entirely. She felt weak and hollow, her brain was shaking, her stomach churning and her heart pounding strongly, pumping blood that wasn't there.
She supported herself on the desk, holding her head. She tried to regain her bearings as she staggered, trying to find out where she was, when she suddenly came across a person she didn't recognize. A gaunt and emaciated woman with a pale complexion, she looked haggard, with glaring dark circles under her eyes and what seemed to be blood oozing from her mouth and covered her chin. She had neatly cut ebony hair that reached her shoulders, tanned skin reminding of the Sahara desert, and clear blue eyes as deep as the sky.
'Who is she?'
Startled, she took a step back, and the woman across mimicked her, with the same surprised face. She then lifted her arm and brought her hand to her cheek, feeling the touch of her own skin... and the woman across replicated her gesture.
Her thin fingers slid through her hair and gently brushed them over her left ear.
And all her movements were synchronized with the cadaverous figure in front of her.
'That's... me?'
Her eyes widened as she stared at 'her' own reflexion.
Thereafter, she noticed that she was in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar furniture and unfamiliar 'scent'. Her appearance had changed and she had found herself in an unknown room.
She couldn't believe it. After all, she used to be a simple policewoman, and the last thing she could remember was being sent somewhere to investigate a suspicious gaming company that seemed to be involved in some sort of shady business. Unfortunately, she couldn't even remember anything about that company except that its name started with -Ar... something.
She wanted to find a way to return home, and to her own body, and that was when she heard a chime that rang inside her head with an uncanny echo, before a blue transparent panel materialized just before her eyes.
[Your soul has successfully been linked with another body in Satellite World: Nebula.]
---
[Game Status]
Race: Superior Human
Soul(s): Earthling
Current Identities: [Police officer A] / Adele Vias
Level: 9
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 3
Vitality: 4
Magic Power: 7
Mental Fortitude: 8
Gene(s): Nil~( )
---
'What the..?'
She staggered, taking a few steps back, and almost lost her balance. She was confused, shocked, even.
'Nebula..? I am in another world!? And is Adele Vias the former owner of this body? Then... what happened to her..? And what happened to me?'
Her mind was racing, trying to make sense of what was going on, then, her eyes lingered on the first shown identity, [Police Officer A]. Her anxiousness rose, dread creeped under her skin. She felt dizzy and overwhelmed by one horrifying fact that slowly settled inside her mind.
'What is my name..?'
No matter how hard she tried, she could not grasp the thin thread that linked her and herself. She could not remember who she was, her family, her friends...
Her knees gave out as despair slowly seeped in, like ants crawling inside her skin and turning her organs upside down.
Was she herself? Or was she in fact just Adele?
'What should I do?'
While her head was down, she noticed the small white pills resting next to the turned bottle.
Strangely, she felt goosebumps at the sight of those pure, white circular things. Or more like the 'previous her' was reminded of something dreadful when looking at those...
She then reached for one pill and grabbed it slowly, carefully...
Small beads of sweat rolled down her cheek before falling and wetting the white carpet on the ground.
'If I die, will I come back..?'
She felt like the more she though about her 'previous self', the more she was losing 'herself'. As if the last bit of her identity was being peeled away, gradually fading away into nothingness like it had never existed...
The woman closed her eyes, and the shaking hand that had taken the pill was delicately approaching her now slightly opened mouth.
Then, just as the hand was about to reach the tongue, the arm stopped, and a single word remained in the woman's mind.
'No.'
She clenched her fist, reducing the object of her previous death to white powder.
The eyes were opened and the legs put to work. The scrawny woman, Adele, was now standing on her two feet with a new gleam in her eyes, a new resolve.
She will regain her memories of 'herself' and return to Earth, but she will become her new self as well.
She will live as Adele Vias, to become her past self.
*
*
*