1 Chapter 1: Betrayal and Regrets

The flickering of a thin shadow and reflection of light from the sun annoyed his eyes behind his eyelids, the sudden change in his environment made Killian blink several times to get used to the new light hitting him.

He could smell the air and greedily heaved it into his new lungs.

'Am I alive, did I escape that dark void?'.

It had only been seconds ago for him, since his conscience and feeling of 'self' had been enveloped in complete darkness, wandering in a dark place that had felt never-ending.

No light had ever penetrated that darkness and his mind had been repeating the memories of his death on earth for an innumerable amount of time.

'Where am I?'

His memories of the earth were becoming distorted as if an unknown force was pushing them out, replacing them with the memories of a young man with the same name as himself.

"Killian?" He whispered the word, savoring the feeling of being able to let out words after being stuck in an empty void of nothingness, unable to feel or speak, but aware the entire time.

The voice itself felt foreign and unknown to him, but it had a nice clear tone to it and sounded pleasant.

'Not bad,' he thought for a moment when then his other senses kicked in and the piercing pain from a wound on this new body made him open his mouth in a gasping silent scream.

He looked down, his movements sluggish and his mind confused at the situation.

'Did I not get reincarnated, I was promised...'.

The color red stained the, to him, foreign clothes he was wearing, and an open wound was constantly spilling more of his new precious blood.

He desperately covered the wound with his hands, the muscles weak and unable to apply the pressure needed, and all he could manage to feel other than the pain was the warmth of the liquid covering him.

'Did I not reincarnate? Why am I here, if not to live? I can't die again, I won't go back there'.

His mind was desperately trying to keep himself in this new place when he saw movement in front of him.

A male with gray eyes stared down at him with a mocking expression and hair that was just a tad bit too greasy, though Killian could not tell why he was so focused on that particular part at this moment.

'I must be going insane'.

The situation almost made him laugh out loud if only his new throat could manage the sound.

There was an indifferent stare directed at him, and Killian could feel the anger seethe inside as he laid eyes on the sword the man was holding, which was covered in blood and staining another part of the ground with his precious blood.

"F$%k, I just came back".

He spat out the words which intensified the pain, and he hunched over, instantly regretting it.

"Ughh... haaa." His eyes became blurry, and a snicker made its way to his ear.

A sword turned slightly in front of him, and the slick brown-haired man raised his foot and kicked Killian, holding down the body with the weight of the foot.

"Thank you for being loyal, young Duke, but your death is more useful for me now".

Killian wanted to curse at this idiotic human who dared to try and kill him as soon as he had escaped that never-ending void, but he knew nothing of what was going on and could think of nothing he could do to prevent it.

A sharp pain hit the already dying body he was in, and his gasps were now filled with blood. Even in this chaotic moment of his second death, he still valued the feeling of the blood tickling his lower lip as it slowly slid out of his mouth.

'F#$%, I can not let this crazy person kill me when I am finally alive".

Killian still didn't know who he was or where he was, the memories which had tried to invade his brain, were only a fraction of the pain he was feeling at this moment, and he was desperately trying to stay conscious.

"Blame your own incompetence." The man then turned, and Killian could see the silhouette disappear in the distance, leaving him on the ground to die alone.

The whole situation was bizarre, but there was nothing he could do but wait for death, again.

Seconds seemed to last forever and he closed his eyes, his body was weak, and there was no point in exerting himself to try to move.

Then something touched his cheek lightly, and he tried to open his eyes and focus.

"Who...no...help?"

He cried out in desperation, using his last strength, and rested his cheek against a palm cupping his face, the warmth from it slowly spreading in his body, calming his mind till it went dark... Like in the void.

"Not this time".

A low voice spoke calmly, and the palm moved down and helped to lift the body of the young man who had died.

"I will see you again, soon".

......

Warmth.

The feeling of a warm soft blanket enveloped him, and Killian opened his eyes in shock. The world was not dark and cold anymore.

His hand quickly searched and traced the abdomen of the body he was in. It was intact, and there was no pain.

'Did I get reincarnated somewhere else?'

At least that is what he thought until a sudden headache felt like it was splitting his brain apart. The memories he had just experienced prior to dying again, were reinserting themselves into his mind. From the fragments he had gathered, he could tell they were similar or most likely the same as the ones that had invades his mind prior to his recent death.

It was almost as painful as the open wound he had suffered, in what seemed like only moments ago to him.

'What is going on, who was that Fucker?' He was pissed, he had had a chance of being reborn, but had died instantly, so what kind of tricks was the universe doing to him.

'Am I even alive right now, and where am I?'

Killian looked around, finding himself in what seemed like a luxurious hotel room, adorned with golden and shiny decorations. The taste was a bit much, and it reminded him of the European-style houses he had seen in specific period movies.

A splitting headache was reminding him that his mind was now filled with new memories that were not his own. They were of a young man with the same name as his, Killian... However, that was the only similarity between his old life and this new body.

Even if he remembered some of his memories from his previous life, the time he had spent in the dark void had almost driven him mad. Or maybe he had gone mad, and this was his own illusion.

Still, he knew his name had been and was now again, Killian.

He sat up and got on his feet, feeling the cold floor panels under his soles.

He breathed out in relief, confirming with every inch of his feet on the floor was telling his sense she was alive, though it was hard to believe.

'Am I really alive finally, this better not be one of Their tricks'.

A large mirror was at the end of the room. Its large frame was taller and wider than himself, and his new body felt healthy as he walked across the floor to stand in front of it.

"Ughh" for a second he could not believe what he was seeing in the reflection. I was too absurd for his mind.

Golden eyes were staring back at him but it wasn't the weirdly overly saturated color of the eyes but the hair that stood out.

'Why do I look like a grandpa!'

The hair that hung down to his shoulder was almost completely white, not even a light blonde could explain it better. It was more like white-gray colored hair old people would get, though the texture appeared to be smooth and the light in the room made it almost shiny.

'Is this even earth, why do I have old man hair and golden eyes, this seems more like something from a novel.'

The face of a young man stared back at him from the mirror, and he was unsure how old the body was.

A memory popped into his mind, triggered by his thoughts.

"22."

He said it out loud and recognized the same pitch and tone as he had spoken with prior to his death.

The memory of the brown-haired man killing him popped up but was soon after followed by many memories that had that same man in them.

'Wait, that shithead was my friend?'

It slowly dawned on him after scavenging through memories containing his brown-haired killer.

'This Killian was set up to die…'

He let the thought sink in when realizing the original owner of the body he was in, had been friends with his killer since childhood. The many what seemed like happy memories of you g boys and a girl playing together was filling his mind.

'Was this guy just used the whole time?' He felt pity for the original owner of his body, but he could also not believe how someone could have let themselves get deceived like this.

More memories went through his mind. In the memories, it felt like Killian was seeing the situation as if the people in them were his friends. However for him, as a spectator watching it detached from what happened, Killian felt like his name brother had been thoroughly used for a long time.

'What a pitiful idiot.' He thought, from now on referring to the old Killian as simply, Idiot.

For some reason he did not know, he was now in the body of this other Killian, and even though he already held a grudge for being murdered brutally after waking up the first time, the memories he was going through showed how the old Killian had lived a life as something similar to a bread shuttle.

Used repeatedly to run errands and do all sorts of menial tasks, which over time had accumulated and increased in severity. There had been just enough small carrots to keep him hanging.

'Seriously, what a pitiful person.' Killian gritted his teeth, annoyed at the previous Idiot for being so blind. From what he could tell, this was not some sore sad story about being neglected or mistreated, or not having a loving family.

From the looks of it, the idiot had lived a flashy extravagant lifestyle and had never been in need of money or opportunities.

The previous Killian had simply been an asshole who had not cared about anyone but two people and had treated everyone else poorly while doing whatever he could to be accepted by his friends.

'He didn't know what he had, still, being betrayed and killed by your best friend is a new low.'

'Did his family not love him enough?'

A memory of a caring father and siblings trying to reach out and connect, but being denied and coldly ignored came to his mind. Even now he could tell that the mother was a stepmother, who had tried repeatedly to connect, and seemed to be kind and in no way scheming like the stepmothers of novels.

'This guy really had it all, but was aloof and blind, and had no one when he needed it'.

Killian's eyes lit up as the memory clarified some of the many questions he was already having about this place.

'I am a Duke's son?'