Chapter 2 - Bleak futures due to circumstances

"How many countries are there in Aterio?" I asked Damian

"8 countries in total: Holy Theocracy Aetheus, Alyseoth Kingdom, Rimal Queendom, Daemonal Kingdom, Nihoa Empire, Republic of Vieza, Republic of Choros, and Republic of Heldae."

"Let's add one more, a country named Derahelt ruled by four families with their own branch families as nobles. Make the four families have Russian names and put them in the north. The main houses are Molizov, Kalashinov, Hendrikov and Ivangov. Molizov with the concept of Spartial Boundary, Hendrikov with the concept of Spartial Dimension, Kalashinov with the concept of Spartial Perception and Ivankov with the concept of Spartial Distortion" I said, and then Damian looked at me for a few seconds.

"Alright, sure."

...

I sat on my bed, and sitting on the chair in front of me was my fiancée, Alice Hendrikov, the youngest daughter of the Hendrikov house. I invited her into my room after she warped to my place. Since my room is soundproof. I also boosted the security function to maximum, which created a pocket dimension through our family's hereditary concept of Spartial Boundary which was passed down from the second Hero of Order, Dmitri Rurik, who was also the ancestor of the 4 houses of Derahelt nearly 700 years ago.

"Some of the things I'm about to say are absolutely not to be revealed to the world, and I'm only saying them because I trust you completely." I said with a serious face while looking at Alice, who was sipping the tea from her cup.

"I appreciate your feelings, but why do you trust me completely with knowledge that shouldn't be revealed to the world?"

"Good question. For unknown reasons, I feel like I would regret not telling you what I'm about to say," I said before continuing, "Just to confirm, your past life was on the planet named Earth in the 21st century, right?"

"Yes," Alice answered, not surprised by my question.

"It seems like this isn't the first time you've seen another with the same situation as us."

"Yes, Sylas, Viola, and my teacher are in the same situation as us, I knew because I asked them."

"Did your teacher, Damien, tell you anything?"

"Yes, he told me I have The Card of Fantasy, allowing me to cast fantasy-like spells that don't follow the rules of physics and logic. He also told me that Sylas and Viola have the Card of Love. Aside from that, he helped me with normal magic because he got the knowledge from the Card of Knowledge."

"Hmm, I'm uncertain, but were you killed in a bus accident?"

"I saw a bus with blood on the windshield speed toward me and run me over while I was outside trying to take a breather after spending hours playing video games."

"What day was it?"

"13th of January, 2023. I also asked them, and all of them said they were killed in a bus accident on the same day."

"Was your name similar to your past life?"

"In my past life, my name was Alicia."

"Now, I'm certain that Damien is my friend. By the way, has he told you the secret of this world yet?"

"No? What is it?"

"He seriously hasn't told you this world was made for a novel?"

"What?"

"That's right, this world was made for a novel. I'm one of the two authors of this world, Damien is the other. And I just got turned into the Hero of Order. I will be forcefully dragged to the Church of Order today to meet the protagonist, and with it, I have the chance to raise the protagonist to be as strong as possible."

"You're not afraid to change the plot?"

"This novel has no plot since we haven't written it yet. A two-edged blade that I can use for my advantage since I know the settings, and it also allows me to change the story as nothing was set in stone except for the Judgement Day at year 1000."

"That sounds worrying. Also, my teacher told me about the location of my tartifact, but he hasn't told me about the location of the tartifact of The Cards of Love, since you are one of the creators. Do you know where it is?"

"For Sylas and Viola, their tartifact is in Vieza, in the middle of the Forest of Ignorance. About the assimilation process..." I told her about the ritual process, and she look at me with a poker face.

"Seriously?"

"We thought that was a good idea."

Knock Knock

Someone knocked on the door, presumably my butler Savin, and the voice that came from the other side confirmed it.

"Young master, The Emissary of Order wishes to meet you."

"The Emissary is already here? That was fast. I'll have to go to the Cathedral of Order today, goodbye for a while, Alice." I spoke to Alice before standing up.

"Before you go," Alice said, putting her hand inside her pocket and pulling out a box way bigger than her pocket was supposed to be.

"Happy birthday, William, this is our present for you. I made it with Sylas, Viola, and your brother."

"Thanks," I said as I opened the present, and inside was

"A shirt?"

"An Alterius-imbued brown collared shirt that has an ambience Alterius absorbing function, pockets imbued with the concept of space boundary, layers of protection with solid magic, a self-repairing, self-cleaning, air conditioning feature, and an automatic sizing feature to perfectly fit the wearer. Utilizing the concept of connection, when you wear the shirt, it will be connected to you, so if it gets stolen, you can get it back if you yank the connection inside your mind."

"How long did it take for you guys to make it?"

"3 months"

"Thank you."

After saying my thanks, I opened the door and looked at Savin.

"Lead the way, Savin."

….

I walked inside the guest room, and in front of me was a woman with a halo on her head sitting on a sofa. She was the Emissary of Order, her name is Gagalim Seraphiel. Gagalim's head immediately turned in my direction as I entered, and I sat down.

"I believe this is the first time we met, Honorable Emissary of Order"

"Indeed, Child. We will be taking custody of you until you're old enough to enroll in the Morvita Academy."

'Damn, even their way of talking is similar.' I silently criticize them in my mind before asking, "Can I bring a phone to contact my family?"

"No, we will supply you with our own devices that have all of the things you might need. Though You won't be allowed to contact your family or close ones, and your access to outside media will be restricted."

'The goddess is making sure I'm thoroughly brainwashed, huh?' I lampooned in my mind, knowing I wouldn't have any freedom until I got to the academy before asking the final question.

"Why do I have to follow you?"

"Because it's your only choice and your destiny."

"I see, I should've expected it." I complained while holding the suitcase containing all the important stuff that I'll need to depart from my home.

….

-Day 24 Month 6 Year 991, 4 months before William became a Hero-

Memories from my past life resurfaced, my last memory was that I managed to save a couple from an incoming bus in the dream by throwing them out of the way, putting myself in their place, and getting hit by the bus at high speed. The dream ended, and I found myself in a pitch-black space where the only thing there was a card. On the face of the card were a man and a woman, but suddenly a new detail emerged, an angel watching from above was added to the card. The card felt familiar, it was a tarot card, {The Lovers} to be specific. Curious, I put my hand forward. The card suddenly took the shape of a ring and went into my left hand. My vision blurred, and I woke up from my dream.

My vision felt weird as it split into two different perspectives, the memories of the two lives I have lived so far, those of Sylas Kalashinov and Viola Ivangov.

'What What is is happening? happening?' My thought was repeated in two different voices simultaneously, my mind was a jumbled mess. After an hour, I managed to stabilize my thoughts into one voice, sort out the memories, and have an epiphany.

'I-no we got reincarnated, no, that's still not right, I got reincarnated in two bodies, and both have memories of these lives. Hmm, still not right. How the hell do I explain this? I got reincarnated, and all three consciousnesses mixed into one body? Or is it only two consciousnesses mixed into one that control two bodies? Or perhaps the consciousness was always one and the memories are disjointed, creating two different entities that have been forcefully mixed back together since they connected again? It's very confusing.'

The only thing I got stabilized was my thoughts, the memories of three lives are too vivid, the two brains were linked, and following the judgment of a single consciousness, everything was still a mess, I tried to move my hand, but both bodies moved at the exact same time. I tried to get up from my bed, but the beds were different in size, so when Viola got out of the bed, Sylas tripped and fell, making Viola also fall, and both bodies' faceplanted the floor.

""Ow!"" My two bodies groaned at the same time due to the pain, but not loudly enough for anyone outside to hear the scream.

I moved Viola's body first to lock the door since it was closer, and Sylas's body couldn't help but move the exact same way, but due to the difference between the two rooms, after some mishaps like stubbing Sylas's toe on the desk and awkwardly going against the wall as Viola, I managed to lock the doors of both rooms.

'Now that's done, I will have to get used to the two bodies. This reincarnation couldn't be more wrong, both of my bodies are fiancés. What is this called again? ah, right, s- no no no, don't think about that.'

After contemplating my life a bit, I went to the testing phase on how to get used to using two bodies, with the perk of having two brains. After 2 hours, I managed to do parallel thinking, and with it, I could finally move both bodies like actual normal people.

'Finally.'

-Day 36 Month 10 Year 991-

As both my bodies heard William's story from Alice, we were bewildered, to say the least, He revealed to Alice that he became a hero, that this world was made for a novel, and the location of our cards' tartifacts along with the way to assimilate them.

""We must do what to assimilate it?"" Both of my bodies asked at the same time after hearing Alice describe the assimilation ritual.

"You guys really are in sync, huh?"

A while later, after our talk with Alice, I calmed down and regretted my decision once more.

'I shouldn't have saved that couple if I knew this would happen.'