I then found myself staring intensely at a pile of dust for quite a long time until I was forced to blink at the sound of Sin reassuring in slight annoyance as he took control--
"We did what was necessary. For you see, those creatures held precious treasure of MINE in their filthy, thieving hands. I simply could not let the situation transpire into something distasteful." Then crouched to yank away the Mirrikh armor from what was left of their corpses. Staring profoundly, like a lost puppy, "Listen here, boy from another world. You dislike my methods? You best live with it. Because from now on, anything Mirrikh property I see in any foreigner's hands or home, shall perish upon sight."
He held up a hand, hovering it over the armor and deeply inhaled. Focusing deeply as he reached into the depths of his core-- the armor slowly melting in his hand, becoming a stream of liquid escaping his fingers. But he held on, using his power to manipulate the liquid into the shape of a weapon. A rather fancy looking spear, a head shorter than us in size. I could not believe his power. How faint yet strong it felt. Such potential in power made me fear sharing a body with this world's villain rather than being accused of this world's potential destruction. It was like a jail sentence in its own.
And at that, Sin released his grasp of control. Leaving me with a warm spear sitting comfortably on my back. I ignored it, turning my head to the bag of stolen goods. Rummaging through it, I found nothing interesting except thick drinking glasses made of diamond, plates of silver, and gold coins. Countless treasures both of Mirrikh and human royalty.
And then I caught sight of a rather beautiful mineral cluster that radiated a purple glow which grew dim every time I looked away. But when I drew my hand close, it glowed strongly until I could feel a playful aura trickle throughout my arm from the tip of my finger. And the longer I held onto it, the more I felt the aura shift from a playful sensation, to one of surprise and then sadness. A profound sadness that turned into a burning sensation which bit my hands. I let go of it in surprise, allowing the crystal the roll away.
"It...bit me?" I gasped, analyzing a cut that formed on my palm. "It scratched. But how?"
'Be careful. I think that is an S-tier Elf prison.'
"Elf prison?" I asked softly then went aha as I remembered S-tier Elf prisons to be prisons made only for the most powerful and dangerous Elves. And since Elves are connected to nature itself, mineral prisons were the easiest way to contain them if laced with S-tier seals. My mind slipped away as I caught a bright light manifesting from the rays of the bright sun above in the corner of my eye. I shielded myself, gawking at the crystal once it grew dim.
But that was not the end.
The crystal shattered loudly, like if a glass tree had been struck down, falling to the ground with a crack. And before I knew it, the light had become a man wearing nothing else but a plain white robe, chin-length grey hair and rather big orange eyes with these sharp pointy ears. I found it strange, at first, to see a humanoid pop out of a crystal like an imprisoned prince from a fairy tale. Just looking at that smooth, yet sharp doll face that resembled both feminine and masculine features had me deep in thought. Was it a ghost? Was it a spirit? My mind was attempting to understand the situation whilst Sin only replied with,
"An Archmaydik Elf..."
As the elf robotically observed his surroundings before locking his eyes with mine. And when he did, something lit up. Like a memory pop-up or a spark of life, perhaps, as he trotted towards me with a grin on his face before giving me the biggest and tightest hug I had never received before in my short life. I thought for sure I would feel violated, but instead, I felt an overwhelming comfort overcome my still aching head.
"Don't fight it, mortal." Sin whispered to me, throwing me off on high alert as the Elf pulled me back by the shoulders to inspect my face. He was so close to my face that I could see the true design of his eyes. These orange irises with tiny purple diamond shape specks around a ring of yellow just on the outer rim of the pupil. Just looking into it made me feel dizzy.
"I see you two had trouble properly merging. Your souls are like conjoined twins wrestling for control. But don't worry! I have all of the magic in the world to help you be yourself..."
As was meant to happen in my dreams...!
"The rebirth of Sin Alburn and Art..." I chanted, watching as the elf smiled while he held up a finger and poked my chest.
Now, for this next part, imagine rays of light, any type of color, emerging from the space between my chest and their finger, spewing out like a disco ball with military-grade light bulbs. Engulfing the entire city in its blinding light. And within that light, I felt myself being pulled apart from my very soul, and then squished together with another powerful force.
Like my very soul was letting in a stranger into what made me, well, me.
We both, from the light, mixed together. Memories and thoughts, fears and hates, intertwining into this singular core of absolute change. It hurt bad. Mind joining and some things slipping away to compose more space for new things.
Soon as the light faded and the pain was nothing more than a major headache, I felt different. I no longer was myself and Sin was no longer around to judge me in silence.
It was just...
Me. The witness and the villain.
The Elf, whose grip began to loosen, softly smiled at me. "So, you might lose some memories of both parties but you'll make new ones. OK?"
I gazed at my hands. They remained unchanged but my perception of myself has not. If I was looking at this from another perspective, I would have gone crazy thinking about how I had been merged together with a character from another reality. Merged to combine into this character beyond mental stability. Luckily, it seemed that Sin's side had more strength and understanding rather than Art. It was to be expected of someone who took a dangerous and bold peek into a tear in the fabric of reality.
'Can you hear?' A dark and heavily distorted voice asked from the back of my head. I winced at the sharp pain. Then waited a few seconds until it disappeared and turned to the elf, who I knew to be called Sun from my dreams as Art, and growled.
"Come here."
"Okay!" Sun sung, following instructions in a rather happy manner. In just a blink she turned into a more feminine being with longer hair and a softer appearance. She was grinning from cheek to cheek as if she hadn't just changed an important part of my plan.
"If this were an anime, you would have just ruined the most important part of the plot and disrupt the flow of the entire series for viewers. Ad for books, it can go both ways." I stated, crossing my arms as I glared at her angrily. Her smile did not disappear. Not even once. Just like the same Sun I knew from my dreams.
"Anime?" Sun squeaked in question.
I shook my head in dismissal. Seemed they didn't retain my shared knowledge of Art's world like they did in my dream. "Never mind that..." I tensed my right leg and waited for the right moment before I struck the elf right in the gut with the tip of my foot. I then watched as she was flung right across the field in a blink of an eye. A big puff of dirt flinging into the air in where she landed heavily.
Foolish behavior, was the only word I had in mind as I waited for a few seconds until she came back limping with the same insane smile still stuck on her now androgynous form.
"Ah, dear. I thought shifting into a female form would have gotten me away from my punishment. But it seems your kicks are neutral, ahahaha!" They laughed, patting off the dirt from their clothes and face. As they cleared themselves of any remains, they walked up to me with a tilted head. "Tell me though, your majesty. Why the kick to lil ol' me?"
Good question. I had to make sure to come up with just a white lie. After all, it's easier than telling them exactly why. For they are a dangerous elf. One of the only surviving members of the Archmaydik clan. Known to be chosen out of all light elves to be a remember and dedicate their immortal lives to their infamous slogan--
"Serve your chosen master and become their weapon in the name of chaos."
In other words, only the most powerful and the most twisted of any elf, no matter what sub-species, may be chosen to become an Archmaydik. To dedicate their lives as a servant and weapon to any master of their choosing. As for the rest of the information, I felt it slip away like a strong stream in a forest. All I could remember was that their nature was the reason for the destruction of their entire clan. And since the clan is no more, I fear one day they might betray me but I couldn't manifest the memory as to why.
The thing is, when you have dreams, sometimes you can remember them. And sometimes you cannot. I remember a lot of important parts of my dreams sitting in my head like foggy memories. But others feel impossible to reach. Like it has been physically constrained back by some unknown force. So now I am forced to push Sun back to a certain line in order to prevent his future actions from turning this blurry "memory" to life. But the thing is, how do you prevent something that might not occur in the first place? Would I be "disciplining" Sun at that point for no reason at all?
"Sun, why were you imprisoned?" I asked them, having watched with surprise as the memory of my punishment disappeared from their posture.
"Well, it's a long long story but all I can say is that I'm glad to see you again, your majesty! Without you I don't know what would have become of me!"
I rose a curious brow. "You don't know, do you?"
They shook their head. "Am I supposed to? Crystal prisons aren't exactly a boxed carriage with steel bars for windows. They're meant to freeze elves in this "sleep" type of state."
"Kind of similar to how elves are born." I remarked with the snap of my fingers. "What's the last thing you remember then?"
Sun took a moment to think. And in that moment, watching them scratch their white hair deep in thought made me wonder why they were even alive to begin with. "Well, I remember you disappearing when you dove into Laey. I waited for what seemed like thirty minutes until I was blinded by a bright light above my head. Anything after is not clear."
"Lake Laey..." I murmured. "We can head there later. But for now we need information."
"Information?" Sun asked, suddenly appearing behind me. I felt their finger run down from my shoulder to the back of my hand. "You forgot a lot of things too, didn't you?"\
I had the urge to tell them that in one of my many dreams, I once had an AI companion named Sun, that accompanied me on many of my quests. He was my sword, my armor-- me if I was an out-of-this-world heartthrob warrior! I made him to be everything I wanted to be (185cm tall, all magic and melee user, strong, courageous, and most importantly- a heartthrob!) and I was jealous of him sometimes. But I didn't "make" him for me to envy. I made him to be my companion, my confidant, my best friend-- the only one I could rely on when everyone else turned on me. I made him to make me laugh when I'm living through the toughest of times. An adversary with the wisest of minds. The light to help guide me out of the dark tunnel I call life. Yet Sin remembered them to be a dangerous elf belonging to a clan that could have wiped out a kingdom if the motivation was there. Quite the opposite from Art's perspective. This made me very confused on what to believe.
I moved my arm only to catch sight of Sun glaring at me with an extended arm. His worry had faded into a soft smile.
"So, besides information and Laey, what are we up to?"
"Oh, that's right. I haven't told you." I realized but Sun shook his head.
"I know everything." He said, tapping the side of his temple and I gave an audible ah. "But I still don't understand."
"Psychic link only reads memories and emotions. Let me catch you up to speed." I trotted to the sidelines of the dirt trail, where I then dropped my legs and leaned back to look up at the sky before pushing myself back up to face Sun. A part of me felt compelled to make the most dramatic announcement known to mankind. And the mankind in this scenario was just Sun. But before doing so, I turned my back to him, pretending to gaze into the distance like some overlord reminiscing over the past. "I am...." As soon as the tension rises, I then turned to him with arms spread out. "...going to visit a fortune reader!"
Sun jumped up to his feet, jaw loose as he squealed, "A-whaaa?" But stopped to give me a puzzled look. "Wait, that's all?"
I sighed. "I do not exactly have it figured out. I...the human part of me just arrived here. And the Mirrikh king only had revenge in mind." The two distinct memories and feelings of Art and Sin as separate beings made me pinch the bridge of my nose with a puzzled exhale. "I know what the plan the Sin you knew had in mind but I fear he only had a small piece of a much bigger puzzle." At that, I sat up, turning to the direction of the dirt trail. "It's late, we should--"
"Something is coming." Sun whispered, rushing to hide behind a thick tree. I followed along, hiding behind the same tree he chose to hide. But he had to make it weird by shifting into his female form, grunting happily with a wink, "Oh my, your majesty! We can't make a move behind this tree! You dirty dog."
I felt like I should have kicked them harder earlier. Or at least moved to a different tree. "Cease your prank, Sun. Or else we'll get caught."
"Relax. I got them." Sun sung, emerging from the tree to introduce themselves to the stranger. And I took the freedom to peek with my spear ready in hand.
The passerby turned out to be an old looking soldier. His plate of armor tailored with different types of metals it seems. Silver mixed with gold and obsidian as well. And by the smell of it, copper as well. "Perhaps a newbie soldier? Mercenary for hire?" I grumbled in thought until I heard footsteps approach, forcing me to strike my spear into the space in front of me. Luckily I stopped in time because Sun was holding out a bag in her hand. I took it gingerly, only to feel its immense weight press down my hand. "Money?"
"Yes sir! I figured we'd need it."
"And he just gave it to you?"
"Yeah! To think humans go to war because of this!"
I let go a deep sigh. "People just don't give away things like that." I told them before slipping on my hoodie. "Let's go find an inn."
"Can we-"
"No. I'm getting you a separate room."