"The fake gods plotted to end the world; the Queen of Depravity gave lust to the humans; the Error gave greed. With that, they planned to make humanity end themselves while they cheered for disaster. [...]" - Book of Illumination.
New Trier, Intis Empire. 5:00 A.M., 25th of March, 428. Michael Burey's room.
Abel opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar room. "Am I still dreaming? Nice! So that's what a lucid dream feels like? Cool."
As soon as those words left his mouth, he felt as if his brain was being poked with blazing sticks.
Memories and knowledge that didn't belong to him were appearing and disappearing from his mind. As the madness of the new knowledge ceased, Abel understood his situation. Whatever was happening, it wasn't a dream.
"Pfft... Hahahaha, I-I can't believe it, man. I mean, this is just... Insane! I-I've been transmigrated! - Abel said as he got up from the bed to look over the window to see the view from the room. - Well, I don't know what I was expecting. It's the middle of the night. I can't see anything..."
Abel walked to a table that was full of medicinal herbs and strange liquids. He ignored them and took a lighter to light a candle.
Abel placed the candle in a chandelier and started to look at his new body. "Well, apart from being weak and dangerously underweight, I guess this is a nice body."
"But that's weird. Michael had an unknown disease since birth. What happened to that disease? I don't feel anything. I'm sure that disease is severe. I can even guess he died from it before I entered his body..."
Abel paused as he got more melancholic. "Damn, I feel like a parasite. Weird..." He took a deep breath and continued. "Well, it's not like I had a choice. Both Michael and I were victims of fate or whatever."
"Well, I guess for the time being, until I can find a way out of this rabbit hole, I am Michael Burey, youngest son of the Burey family, believer of the Angel of War of the Church of Light..." Michael suddenly stopped mid-sentence as he sat down in bed.
"Angel of War... This country is called the Intis Empire... By this world's calendar, we're in 428 of the Sixth Epoch... Intis; Sixth Epoch..." Michael's eyes widened in shock as he realized, "C-could it be that I'm in... In... In... DAMNIT! I really forgot the name of that novel right now?!" Michael scratched his head, trying to remember the novel's name.
"Uhh, I'm sure it was 'something OF something,' but I don't remember the name... Wait, I should calm down. Let me see what I remember from it... Beyonder, Ritualistic magic, pathways..." Michael kept repeating his knowledge to himself. The more he remembered, the more confused he got.
"Wait, I remember super specific stuff like potions' names and formulas, but I don't remember the name of the novel?! T-that's ridiculous." As Michael tried to recall his previous knowledge of the novel, a phrase suddenly came to his mind:
"There are some things that make it easier to be 'infected' the more you know." When Michael remembered this phrase, he immediately stopped trying to recall his previous knowledge.
"Shit... Whatever brought me here wiped the sensible information I had," Michael said as he laughed and continued, "Well, whatever it was, thank you very much. At least I haven't been corrupted immediately."
Michael looked around the room and saw that it was completely disorganized. "I'm supposed to be the son of a viscount. Shouldn't my room be a lot cleaner?" He pondered as he started to notice the state of the room
"I thought the nobles all had big, shiny rooms. Could it be that Michael was some kind of hated child or something? Heh, that would be interesting," Michael said as he started to clean the room.
"Why are there medicinal herbs on my table? Well, I'll just throw them on the floor; it's not like I'm going to need them from now on."
Michael spent almost an hour cleaning the room and complaining about the servants of the Burey family.
"I mean, I know viscounts aren't all that in noble society, but this is ridiculous!"
As Michael kept complaining, he looked at the wall in front of the table and froze: "I can't believe it... This portrait is not aligned with the table! Did those idiots who hung it there have a stroke while doing it!?" Michael said as he tried to adjust the portrait's position..
"Now, I wonder, shouldn't I be more scared of this situation? I mean, I'm in a novel's world. The person, I'll consider them a person for now, did they change something in me? Shouldn't I be crying for help or trying to return home? Ehh, that's a problem for later." Michael pondered as he took off the portrait and threw it on the floor.
"Well, anyway, I'm hungry. When do the Bureys have breakfast?" Michael said as he walked toward the dining room.
As he entered the dining room, he saw a big basket on the table filled with fruits.
"Looks like breakfast isn't ready. Well, fair enough, it's not even 6 o'clock yet, but I'm still hungry... Screw it, I'm going to eat those fruits!"
Michael took an apple out of the basket and started eating fruit after fruit.
6:30 A.M., March 25, 428. Burey's Villa dining room
The Viscount and his wife entered the dining room to eat breakfast and found an intriguing scene. Their son, who barely could walk yesterday and had no appetite, was sitting in one of the chairs after eating almost every fruit in the basket.
"Good morning, Mom and Dad!" Michael said as he waved his hand to them.
"M-Michael!? A-are you alright!? Why aren't you in your room?!" The Viscount asked, worried about what was going on.
"I was hungry, so I decided to eat some fruits. Why? And anyway, when will breakfast be served? I'm tired of all this fruit." Michael said as he finished the last apple in the basket.
"B-but how?! Yesterday, you could barely even walk. H-how are you s-so..."
Michael interrupted him and answered: "Well, I don't know, maybe a miracle happened or something, but anyway, what about breakfast?" He said as he smiled at the couple who stared at him in confusion.