John gave out his last breath in a peaceful manner. To be more precise, he didn't even know when he embraced the inevitable fate as it met him during his sleep. Still, contrary to his beliefs, John didn't find himself in heaven or hell. When he opened his eyes, squinting from the intense sunlight invading his perceptions, he saw his body sprawled on an uneven surface of a cold stone floor. After recollecting his senses, John started examining his new body.
"This new body of mine... doesn't seem half bad."
Even though he couldn't see his face and had yet to inspect the lower half of his body, John was already quite content with his toned physique.
The room he found himself in was spacious. Its design allowed the accommodation of a single occupant. The only pieces of furniture visible in the vicinity was a simple wooden bed he fell from, a heavy-looking chest placed at the bedside, a simple earthen candleholder, a wooden basin full of water placed on the windowsill, and last but not least, a wooden chair. There was a fireplace on the wall opposite the door. Judging from all the ash and charcoal left in the hearth, it seemed like the master of the room didn't belong to the group of people who pay great attention to the state of their place of accommodation. The only window in the room was deprived of glass-one of the must-haves of every house on the earth. John knew that before humans learned the way of producing glass, they covered the windows with skins. Those of higher status for such purposes used parchment, as it allowed a portion of the light to pass through its structure. John swept with his gaze through his surrounding, finally finding what he was looking for under the wooden bedstead. He grabbed the frame with large irregular sheets of parchment stretched on it. When he reached the window, he got immersed in the fictitious view spreading beyond it. There was a castle keep with its towering sturdy walls, thick towers at its every corner with tower turrets on their tops. Safety of the keep's dwellers additionally guaranteed a massive forebuilding*, its walls covered in arrow-slits. Now that John paid closer attention to the details, he noticed reflections in the keep's windows which meant that glass was a luxury good affordable only to those on top of the social ladder. When he had seen enough to realize that his expectations proved to be accurate, he put the construction consisting of wood and parchment in the niche of the window. Now that John was sure that his predictions became a reality, it was time for a deeper analysis.
"Herub. Are you there?" He said, remembering one of the gifts bestowed upon him by the angel of death. I was supposed to be a familiar somehow attached to his soul. John hadn't fully understood that part of the angel's explanation. He knew it was supposed to help him. Suddenly there appeared a small fluffy ball covered with snow-white feathers.
"Would you look at that..." John looked with expectant eyes at the creature sitting on his lap.
"Greeting, master." There was a quiet voice coming from the ball of feathers.
"So that's how you look like..." looking at his familiar, he couldn't force himself not to smile.
"Know that this is not my true form. If master so wishes, I can change my appearance according to your preferences."
"Don't worry about that. Would you mind explaining my circumstances?"
"First things first, I need to help you assimilate in your new body. As for memories, I don't know a single thing about this world. I deem it better for the master to see it himself."
"If you say so... Hold on. You don't know a single thing about this world?"
"Look, master. Our circumstances are very similar. The sole difference is that you have a body while I don't. I can be seen solely by you as our souls are intertwined. We are inseparable. Even after death, our souls will be together eternally."
"Sorry. I guess you have it worse than me." John was surprised by this revelation. He didn't expect things to take such a turn. The gifts that were bestowed upon him by Mashhit-the angel of death all had a form of a long glowing feather he plucked from his wings.
"As I said earlier, we are the same in this aspect."
As soon as Herub finished speaking, John's body started going through constant waves of pain. He had to suffer in agony for about 20 minutes. At some point, he had to put a leathern belt in his mouth in fear of crushing his teeth or biting off a tongue.
"Master! I'm so sorry! I didn't know it would be this way. Now I can't do anything about it, you have to hang in there!"
Thus he laid there, convulsing while listening to cries of his familiar.
When John finally passed through his ordeal, it was time to dive into the history of this body.
"Once more, please forgive me, master. It was necessary to reconnect the nerves in your body. Now that we have the most painful of the processes behind us, we should see this body's past.
John felt as if someone had taken the light away from before his eyes. He could still feel the soft mattress he sat on. He could feel the texture of the fabric, yet he could neither see nor hear. Some time has passed, and John started fearing that the sudden changes in his new body resulted in him losing the ability to see. As if to reassure him, many vague silhouettes of people and places started appearing before him. In each of those scenes, one person was always the same. The images accelerated, showing the boy's life starting from his early childhood and ending on the day John has taken his body.
Evidently, the child was born an heir to one of the noble houses of Riritia kingdom located on the eastern side of the Terrus continent. The world he came to live in was, from John's perspective, a fictitious place. A few races inhabited the continent's lands. All of them were equally weak, having their fortes and downsides. The races shared the same driving force propelling them towards new heights, namely magic. The evolution of the magic arts towards the offensive kind of power used in wars caused the mages to cease their other researches eons ago. For example, only 15% of humanity who was fortunate enough to awaken their mana pool could access different kinds of aptitudes. There were fire, water, earth, nature, and wind aptitudes. All of them varied greatly in the maximal potential power possible to exhibit. For one to awaken his mana pool, many precious resources had to be spent. That's why only those of higher status could afford to nurture a mage in their family. Later, as the mage's mana pool expanded, he could choose an additional attribute. Only the most exceptional and powerful mages could use two different properties.
From the previous body's owner's memories, John knew that he could use the fire attribute. Now that he thought about it, the angel who made him travel to this world mentioned something about it.
When everything returned to normal, he delicately placed the familiar on the bed and approached the windowsill upon which sat the basin with water.
John felt like his head would explode if he didn't manage to cool it off somehow. When he took his head out of the basin, and the droplets of water ceased sliding off his long hair, stirring the water, he noticed his own reflection. There was a face of a handsome young man, gazing back at him with his abysmal red eyes from inside the basin. It seemed as if orange flames were dancing around his irises. The strands of his shoulder-length brown hair, now all wet, were sticking to his cheeks and neck, giving him a somewhat naughty look.
"Seems like there is no resemblance of my past self in this body. The name is different as well. From this day I'm Coen de Varitia. There is no one who would know my original name..." He said with melancholy in his voice.
"If master wants, I can always-" noticing the atmosphere getting heavy, Herub tried to reassure him and break the silence.
"There is no need. Call me Coen, not master." He decided to get used to his new name and end with the formal relationship he had with Herub.
"Alright, as you wish, Coen." At this point, there was no need to maintain the formal way of addressing him anymore.
[From this chapter, every time i mention this character, it will be Coen, not John]