19 Nowe Życie

Ely shivered the coldness his body experienced was immense.

He didn't have the strength to open his eyelids. Every time his lungs stretched out once more it only caused him to feel like he had been retrained for an unbearable amount of hours.

He took quick breaths to balance out the pain, in the body he was in now—he could feel the drastic difference in strength.

In his old body, despite not regularly working out he was exceptional when it came to physical attributes and strength. He'd have to thank the nutritionist Wei hired for him and the motivation in the early hours before the day could begin to work out.

'My old body...'

His death was something out of a fever dream. Foreign to remember but arguably true in a sense.

Ely tried wiggling his toes first, his feet felt like they had a muscle contusion. Aching as if it was the first time it was being asked to move.

He cleared his throat and softly opened his eyes.

He was in the bedroom Ludus and he was once in. This time he was the frail boy. He could taste the remains of what the maid had fed the boy earlier and wanted to spit it out.

Ely could hear loud footsteps sporadically past his door in the halls, it was a surge of people. He suspected it to be the maids. Ludus had said that the boy was taken in by a royal family. So the property he was on, was surely wealthy.

And if it was the past—it was apparent that the family would have at least a hundred maids to maintain the residence.

One pair of footsteps stopped at his door, and the door creaked open, "Abiral...?"

The tone Ely heard sounded alike to a teenage girl, but her voice could go unheard with how low it was.

'Is Abiral the boy's name?'

He tried to see who it was but the long hair that stuck to his face covered most of his eyesight. He had no strength to answer the stranger's voice either.

He heard quick-paced footsteps and then a large shift in weight. The girl had rested her head on his chest and put her palm on his forehead.

She rubbed his shoulders before kissing him on the hand, "I have to go now," she sounded more relieved. Was she grateful that the boy was still alive?

Ely felt a pulse in his chest and his aches started to lessen.

Then Ludus's voice drilled through his head, 'This is what I can do for you,' in a few seconds Ely felt his strength being regained.

Quickly sitting up, his head still felt like heavy weights, he grasped his throbbing head and tried massaging his temples like his mother used to do.

"You just got here, be still and it will all come to you."

'Ludus?'

Ely looked up, Ludus was clearly in front of him. He reached his hand out to her but realized she was standing much farther than he thought.

She looked around the room, securely closing the door before stepping close to him, "They can't see who you're talking to," she let out a chuckle, "They'll think you've gone mad."

Her voice felt like medicine to his headache and he wanted to just let out a deep sob again. But he bit on his tongue instead, "Who am I? Are you healing me? Why could I hear you in my head and why can I see you right now?"

Ludus's eyes widened at the barricade of his questions and then she sat down, this time she wasn't wearing the same nightgown as he was. She had on a scarlet red dress that accentuate outwards from her hoop skirt.

Her hair was swept back to her right shoulder and with the one hand that was visible to him, while the other was tucked into a white glove. Her nails didn't look as sharp or gnarly as they did back Home.

She patted down the bed before taking a seat, "You are as good as an orphan, and everyone will now refer to you as Abiral, including myself. You should do the same as well. As your [Divinity] I can put you at ease but given that this isn't your body, I can't do that to its fullest capacity."

Abiral pouted his lips, his eyes still couldn't focus on Ludus—she still looked blurry to him.

"Isn't that more like a curse?"

He could make out Ludus putting her hand to her chin as if she was contemplating it, "It depends on how you see it. The curse is if you betray me, then all this just goes," She raised both of her hands and made a childish explosion sound, "Poof!"

He didn't respond to her but clenched his lips from saying anything that could anger her. Abiral forgets that what's in front of him isn't human. Ludus was still a [Divinity].

Her resonance settled as she laid her hands back down on her lap, "Now, you could hear me in your head because we are co-existing. My talking will sound like your thoughts. When you talk to me while I am in front of you, that still doesn't change. To you, it sounds like I'm talking, except only you are voicing out your words for others to hear."

Abiral tried to use his inner monologue to test something out, 'Couldn't we talk like this?'

"We could."

'Wouldn't that mean that you're in my head," He paused unsure to finish but let out a small breath, "Like a parasite?'

He could hear her let out a small giggle, Ludus didn't take offense from his words, "Like a parasite."

He was taken aback by everything but was still amazed by it all. He felt as smart as a telekinetic.

"Are the memories or things I learn in this body...Do I share that with you?"

Ludus shrugged her shoulders, "Technically, I'll know what you see if I'm actively in you, I'm not stuck to you all the time. That would be boring, wouldn't it?"

An unsure, "Yeah," followed from Abiral.

"When you need me most, however, it's almost like a shock is sent through me—and I'll come running to you. Like just now. What you need now is time to adjust. You have to welcome the boy's memories, allow them to flow through your head, and become your own. Replacing the ones you made in your old life."

She flicked his head with the back of her hand, and like that, she was no longer visible to him. Though Abiral knew that Ludus could very well still be in his mind.

He massaged the side of his head, and fought his own hair to stay out from his face, 'Why does this boy have so much damn hair?'

Abiral could hear footsteps pacing through his room and someone trying to open the doorknob. He felt a strong memory from his old life when Tamari...

"Sir, are you able to open this door?" The person groaned and could be heard smacking her head, "I should just call for someone to-"

Abiral pushed open the door, and his long hair flooded to his ankles. And the nightgown was towards his shins.

For the first time in a long time, he knew what it felt like to be short.

"Sir!"

The woman had a burly build, she had broad shoulders and a wide face shape. She wasn't overweight like the other one but this maid looked as strong as a bear.

She was quite tall too, he suspected her to reach at least six feet. Her hair was blunt and short to her ears, a failed stylistic choice.

'It would've been better if she had just shaved off her hair.'

The manly woman picked Abiral from his feet, "The young master is going to be overjoyed when he hears of this!"

She twirled him along with her and maniacally let out the laugh of someone who had been tired for years, finally getting time to laugh out their problems.

To this when he was going to ask a question the nausea reached his throat first, and from the back of the maid was covered in his throw-up.

She stood straight with Abiral in her arms, her laugh had been changed with a slight feeling of disgust.

All the maid said was, "I see."

She tucked him back in the quilts with a strained smile, she clapped her hands together making a thunderous noise, "You must still be sick. I should have thought about that. Can't be healed in a day, can we!"

Abiral squinted at the woman and gave her a blank stare.

Without a second thought, the maid quickly took her leave and he was left alone in the room again. He knew she would back again with how shocked she was, maybe a doctor or physician would tag along as well.

Ludus's words replayed in his mind in the meanwhile.

'How was this frail boy noticed by the eldest son of an affluent family?'

Abiral's head began to pound again, 'How do I 'welcome' his memories?'