When I heard the voices of my parents, everything inside me seemed to flip. My parents from my world and his parents. Are they the same people or different? How should I relate to them? What should I be? All these questions flooded my mind in an instant and continued to arise.
Feelings of longing and happiness mixed within me. They are not my parents, but can they be considered as such? Will their worry and fear for their son's life be the same as my parents'? Although, when I think about it, my parents showed their love, occasionally appearing in my life from time to time. So I cannot say for certain what exact feelings they would experience in a situation like this, but I hope they would be the same as his.
All these thoughts raced through my mind as my mother's hand grasped me with concern.
"Son, we're here, hold on," - she whispered, gripping my hand tightly on the stretcher, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. - "What's wrong with my son?" - my father shouted, his voice piercing with fear.
"He... I don't know, an awakened person with a healer's gift ran here. Maybe he can tell us what's happening," the doctor said with anxiety in his voice, his hands trembling with tension.
"How can you be a doctor if you can't tell what's happening to my son?" my father, or rather his father, growled angrily. I couldn't discern my own feelings; everything was mixed in my consciousness. How am I supposed to perceive them at all?
"I... I examined him, and there are no visible injuries. All I see is the pain he's trying to endure. Maybe he hit his head in the portal dimension, and if that's the case, the healer might be able to heal him," the doctor tried to explain, his voice filled with worry and uncertainty.
And so their dispute continued, with my mother from Temir's world trying to take care of me somehow, while the girl from this world, whose name seemed to be Aynagul, held me tightly, as if afraid I would slip off the stretcher.
"Yes, her name is Aynagul," Ever whispered in my mind, and I felt her voice fill me with warmth and relief, knowing for sure who I was with her.
"Why didn't you speak all this time?" my voice trembled with nervous excitement as I addressed her.
"Transferring memories depletes my energy, so I had to conserve it," her voice sounded tenderly and wearily. Although she was like a machine, I could see how her kindness toward me, which wasn't characteristic of a machine, transmitted through her voice.
"But you're communicating with me now," tears of gratitude filled my eyes as I whispered those words.
"Yes, I am. The memory transfer is complete now," she whispered, and her voice carried a tone mixed with tenderness and relief.
"Complete? How long? How much time do I have left to endure all this pain?" my heart pounded wildly in my chest, worrying about how much time I had left to endure all this.
"It's already completed," she whispered, and in that moment, the pain that had engulfed me seemed to dissipate in the air. I felt relief seep into every cell of my body.
As soon as the pain subsided, I felt as if I had shed an immense burden. I fell into the embrace of bliss. For the feeling... no, it's more accurate to say the normal state of being now seemed incredible to me.
When they saw that I had stopped trembling from pain, everything around fell silent. Time seemed to freeze as everyone stared intently at me. This silence lasted only a few seconds, and it was broken by the arrival of the healer himself.
"Who needs to be examined?" the healer shouted, clearly impatient.
"Ah... Please examine him quickly," the doctor replied, almost shouting, his voice sounding desperate and slightly frightened.
"Understood, let me through to him!" the healer responded with determination in his voice to the doctor's cry.
I opened my eyes and looked at everyone surrounding me, especially my parents. I had forgotten when was the last time I saw them like this... um... concerned would be more accurate to say worried. My mother's eyes were red and slightly swollen, and my father appeared calm, but I sensed genuine worry in his eyes.
Feelings within me became mixed, and I couldn't determine who exactly was feeling what. Me or him. My emotions were now conflicting with his. Joy with bitterness, happiness with envy, and most importantly, love with regret.
As the healer examined me, I quickly glanced at the one who was holding me and continued to do so until now. Aynagul. The girl who now, involuntarily, makes my body yearn for her, shifting my gaze towards her.
I seemed frozen at the sight of her. I don't know if it was me or him, but she seemed to radiate. Her eyes not only expressed fear and concern for me, but they seemed to contain the entire world.
I was captivated by her gaze, unable to look away, immersed in the mysterious and alluring depth of her eyes.
Meanwhile, a gentle breeze delicately swept her hair to the side, like blooming petals of a summer flower, revealing even more of her charm in that moment. Her light and silky hair played in the light, capturing the gentle touch of the wind. It was a moment of pure beauty and natural harmony.
In front of such a scene, I involuntarily wanted to touch her hair, gently running my fingers through them. But simultaneously, I felt something else. The desire to freeze that moment.
I would be glad if time stopped, so I could savor every moment as if nothing else mattered right now. But my hand unconsciously reached out to her, as if yearning to manifest my first wish into reality. And apparently noticing it, she leaned closer to me and exclaimed.
"He looked at me, I'm sure of it. Temir, can you hear me?" she said with concern.
"Son, we're here. The healer will examine you. Just wait a little longer, he will heal you," said my mother, squeezing my hand even tighter.
While they were saying this, the healer standing beside me with an outstretched hand looked at me skeptically and said.
"I found nothing. It might be some side effect from the gates, but it has never happened before," he said uncertainly.
"Are you sure? He also said there was nothing, yet my son is still lying on the stretcher," my father spoke sternly.
"But I am certain. Of course, there's a small chance that it was a reaction to acquiring a new ability," the healer replied.
While they tried to figure out what happened, it was as if I woke up from a trance. Suddenly, everything that had attracted me to her vanished, as if the enchantment had been broken. All that radiance that once surrounded her now almost completely disappeared.
Some might say that she is still beautiful, but I feel that the admiration and adoration I had for her external beauty have disappeared inside me. Something has changed, and all that remains is indifference. There is no longer that attachment and admiration that I used to feel.
It was a strange moment of realization for me when the illusion faded, and I saw her in a different light. Now I look at her without the same allure that she had before. Her beauty remains, but inside me, indifference has taken hold, depriving me of that connection and previous attraction.
I was thrown from fire to water, such conflicting feelings arose within me. I was not only struggling with emotions but also with myself. My mind or myself was trying to understand who was feeling all of this, him or me. Do I have any feelings for her, or is it just an illusion created by the previous owner? But if it's him, how does all of this remain, considering he no longer exists in this world?
I can't believe that his love was so immense that it left its mark on me, as if a seal or imprint that won't let me forget his feelings.
Due to the turmoil of this incomprehensible feeling, namely love bordering on indifference, I turned to Ever.
"Can you separate me from his feelings?" I asked her with indignation and pain from the contradictions in my mind and soul.
"I cannot," she replied briefly, her tone no longer carried the tenderness, only a mechanical strictness remained.
"Please, think of a way to help. I'm torn between love and indifference, joy and sadness. I envy what he has," I pleaded with her, almost losing control of myself.
"But I am just an avatar. I can transfer memories to you, but not feelings. The feelings you are experiencing are unclear to me, perhaps they come from the body. Unfortunately, I cannot help," she replied as if with bitterness.
"Then... What should I do? How should I be for her? Should I pretend or immediately reject her?" I asked, as if exhausted from the illusory pain in my soul.
"That's for you to decide. But for your mission, you may have to stay with her," she said with the same bitterness.
I looked at her again, at the girl who made me fall into both love and deep indifference. Now, a choice stood before me, one that would determine not only my future but hers as well.