Chapter 8: The Flowers And The Bees

Arthur jumped awake from his dream.

His face was covered in a cold sweat and he gasped for air as if he was drowning a minute ago. He stood up from the bed and looked confused.

"What happened? Where am I?"

He grabbed his head which hurt him like it got split in two and his movements suddenly froze. He conjured a simple array and it quickly turned into an illusory mirror which reflected his pale face.

"Is this me?"

In disbelief Arthur(?) touched every corner of his face.

"The last thing I remember was that the elders killed me and then banished my soul. What was next?"

He tried hard to think of what happened after but all he could recall was the cold darkness.

"Is that darkness the so-called forgotten realm? I never knew of its existence till the day of my trial… How foolish I was. In an empty pursuit of knowledge I broke the law and used the dragon tongue…"

He lamented but quickly realised that now he was in an environment unknown to him. He looked around only to notice that all this while a figure was silently watching him from the shadows.

"Who are you? I can sense that you are clearly not Arthur"

The figure in the darkness questioned immediately when he was noticed.

"My name is Olgierd von Drachen and my guess is as best as yours"

"Is that so? My name is Amon and I happen to be a friend of the person whose body you stole"

Amon walked out of the shadow and with a slight smile walked up to Olgierd.

"This… I didn't do it intentionally. You probably heard what I said earlier that I was banished to the forgotten realm. I assure you that I am just as confused as you are"

Olgierd explained himself quickly in order to clear things up and not cause any unfortunate incidents from happening in this very weird situation.

"Really? But I am not confused at all. I know exactly what is happening"

Amon in a playful tone replied to Olgierd who was taken aback with this answer.

"You do? Then do you mind explaining?"

"Sure but…"

Olgierd had a premonition of danger when he heard him pausing mid sentence and sure enough Amon suddenly turned illusionary and disappeared.

'...not to you'

Amon finished his sentence but now it sounded out in Olgierd's head.

"An Illusion!? You are actually inside of…"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as his thoughts slowed down and one by one were being replaced by something or rather someone foreign to him until nothing was left and he fell asleep.

"What happened to me?"

'Goodmorning Arthur. Did you know you had some random guy replace you?'

"What?"

Arthur grabbed his head which hurt him a lot. He also seemed dizzy as he struggled a bit to simply sit down on the bed.

'Exactly what I said. Look I have a theory as to what happened to you but in order to confirm this we should reach the city first. What is the last thing you remember?'

"I-I remember falling asleep then I saw a blue light and I touched it. What happened to me? Wait, I think I…"

Arthur paused and looked to be trying to recall something and his face turned to pure disbelief after a short while.

"In my dream… I think I lived through the life of someone named Olgierd. What exactly happened to me? Were the things I saw real or not?"

'Well… The good news is that at the very least we don't have to wait any more since I am fairly confident with what is going on. The bad news? I am certain that this was caused because of the crude environment of your birth. You see, to create true life you need two basic things... A body and a soul. Creating a body is not that hard but creating a soul? That's the domain of the Gods and that of only a few. Normally a soul comes to existence with the help of the world's laws upon one's birth and slowly develops sentience with age but the snake guys clearly made you in a tube so no soul for you'

"Then how am I even alive? If I understood correctly without a soul a person shouldn't be able to live right? Is this related to what I saw?"

'Your guesses are not wrong. The issue is that you have a soul or rather multiple souls inside of you. The snake guys probably thought that since they can't create a soul they can use someone else's. What they probably didn't account for was the fact that they snatched multiple when they performed their magic. I have no idea how they managed to connect to the forgotten realm since their leader died before I learned anything related but that's not important. What matters is the fact that you my friend are in fact an unstable mix of different souls forming one and they are not happy with this. I suppressed Olgierd and you should have some peace for the time being but others might awaken sooner or later, one by one until there will be no Arthur left but them'

Arthur looked terrified. He liked being well… him and didn't want to die.

In his mind life has so much to offer and even though only one day has passed since his birth he got to see so many beautiful and intriguing things. He didn't want to lose the opportunity to discover and learn more.

'Don't look so down. Remember when I told you that people called me a mind and heart demon? My expertise extends slightly towards souls so at the very least the worst case scenario won't happen with me around and with some time I might even find you a permanent solution. Try to not worry too much'

"Thank you Amon"

Arthur seemed slightly better after hearing this and finally stood up.

He had to finally reach this city Amon was babbling about earlier and worrying about something he had little influence over was useless. He decided that even though his life might end earlier than others he still wanted to experience it fully and not fell to despair.

Yes, that's truly how he felt, no fear inside his heart, only hope. Definitely…