That was how elves were generally in this weird new world that I found myself in. My third body, Denethor Bitterfir, though was a bit different, especially by the standards of elves. His father was a chief in their city, and that made him a member of the Council of Elders, the governing body that ran the many elven villages. That also meant that Denethor was expected to follow in his footsteps and take over him when the time comes, which would probably be after another few hundred years with how long elves lived.
Unfortunately for his father, Denethor had no interest in taking his position nor did he care about remaining in their city, what he wanted was to go out to the outside world, to explore and see it with his own two eyes. His father obviously didn't like that and did his best to persuade him against this, Denethor didn't listen, however.
Denethor's personality didn't mirror his ambitions of adventure and excitement, he wasn't hot-headed or impatient, nor was he someone who would jump at the first thought that sprung into his mind. Instead, he was a soft-spoken and delicate man, he measured everything he said or did and had a good way with words even though he didn't speak much. He also had a great talent for magic and worked hard on growing his powers.
His body's instincts were also the thing keeping me operating by keeping on meditating, without that keeping the mind of my two other bodies clear and basically locking down the third one in meditation, I would have been a mess right then. That also made it so I wasn't able to see some of his deepest memories and make use of them fully, but it was better than not being able to move at all and suffering through excruciating pain.
Just as I tried to dig a bit and see if I can find anything about magic from his memories, I suddenly heard a knock on the door. Opening my eyes unconsciously, the whole four of them, each of my bodies looked at the door that was in their room, or tent in the case of Zagmuz, the demon prince.
It just happened that the knock came from there. A pulse of anger made its way up my throat, how can anyone interrupt me while I especially asked to be left alone, but I held it, took a deep breath and stood up; with both bodies as I directed the second one, Dorian's, to start preparing to leave home too.
I lowered my feet to the sides of my beds and had Dorian go to the bathroom and get ready, while I had Zagmuz look to the door and show an expression of utter anger and resentment, something that wasn't that hard considering that for some reason, those feeling were just on the back of my mind, waiting to lash out.
"Come in," I shouted, voice empty of all emotions. I had to say though, being a dark-hearted but weak-willed and bodied prince made Zagmuz quite good at hiding his true emotions and what he truly felt.
The door was pushed open soon after that and a graceful and sharp-faced female demon entered the room, she had her head lowered and bowed as she set foot into the room, before standing up and facing me.
From the clothes she was wearing and from Zagmuz's memories, I knew that she was one of the palace's maids. She was an Eriny, a demon that is just as graceful and gentle as they were capable, smart and cruel when needed.
She had dark purple skin and long blood-red hair with golden eyes that seemed as if they would draw your soul to them.
Seeing her for 'the first time' made me freeze. I didn't know if my surprise was purely from the sight in front of me or if her charm got into me somehow.
I soon returned to my senses and realized that she was standing petrified and that the blood had left her face at some point, and then it hit me that I was staring at her.
Zagmuz's treatment of maids was bad to speak of lightly. He liked having anyone he took a fancy to. And maids who couldn't stand up to themselves were an easy target.
With some of the things that Zagmuz did surfacing up in my memory, I almost couldn't hold the facade that I was keeping, I felt disgusted and repulsed at 'being' such a person at that moment.
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"What do you need? Speak up!" I grumbled in an impatient voice.
"G- Gorduf had me make sure that you won't take too long..." She started hesitantly, "he said that all the higher-ups of the army are waiting for you and that you should join them as soon as possible."
'Higher-ups of the army?' I wondered to myself.
Zagmuz had no business with the army, I could think of nothing that would make them have a meeting with him and wait for him on top of that. But just then, some recent happenings made themselves apparent to me.
Just the day before, and while Zagmuz was lazying around in his manor, he was suddenly called to a meeting by his father, not wanting or daring to say no, he went there and met with the Demon King. There he was told that he had to go with the army for some combat drills, he would be acting as the highest commander and get familiar with how things were in the army. He also had no say in the matter and had to move right away, he wasn't even given the chance to return home and prepare.
They spent most of the day before moving and only stopped to set camp late at night, leaving him angry, grumpy and generally in a bad mood.
"He... He also said that the meeting was by the orders of His Majesty and that you need to be there," probably mistaking my silence for anger or revolt against this order, hurriedly added this part, with not just a little of panic on her voice.
"Just leave," I grumbled while waving her away, "I will come when I'm done."
She bowed deeply towards me before turning around and leaving as if she was running for her life.
I sighed at that before turning around and heading to the side where a big closet was and started searching for something to wear. Usually, someone else should have been there with me helping me change, but I didn't feel like it and it wasn't something that you would get used to easily, even with Zagmuz's memories, I still wasn't going to have someone there as I changed my clothes.
While all this was happening to me with Zagmuz, I already had my second body, Dorian, go down the road to the guard station. As I walked my mind started wandering as I thought about the messy situation I found myself in, I had no idea why any of this happened nor what I was going to do from then on, I was just stuck in three bodies in a different world with no idea how to live my life.
"Hi there Dorian, you're finally here, what's wrong? Eric said that you weren't feeling well and didn't even open the door."
A familiar voice from ahead brought me back to the present. Lifting my head I saw a face I both recognised and didn't at the same time, it was the face of a young man who seemed to be in his early twenties. He had short unkempt black hair, black eyes and quite a well-built body.
One thing that stood out the most about him was the intricate and eye-catching tattoo on the back of his right hand, it seemed like a bow with an arrow nocked in it. It was so lifelike as if someone had taken a real bow and arrow and sealed them in his hand
The name came to me soon after I saw the face, along with the recollection of who this person was, Lambert, he was supposed to get a family name but that hasn't happened yet, and he had to wait till the coming month to head to Brightglow, the city where the Marquess governing this part of the country and therefore their little town, Border Town, lived.
"Don't remind me, I had a horrible night and that idiot barging into my house only made it worst," I grumbled, trying to be as casual with him as Dorian was.
Lambert was Dorian's closest friend in the guards, he also kept him safe and took care of him whenever he could. Unlike Dorian, Lambert was an extremely talented young man, he already got his Inheritance, it was a martial one and one that seemed to be quite strong too.
"Do you want me to have a word with him? I can still make him suffer before I get sent away," Lambert said as a frown crossed his face.
"N- no it's alright," I hurriedly answered, following what Dorian would have said.
Even though Lambert tried to help him whenever he could, especially with Eric, Dorian still didn't like pulling him into his trouble, that was due to quite a few reasons, the most important of which was that Lambert was meant to leave the town soon, and that would leave him at the mercy of Eric, and another was that Eric usually still cornered and beat him after getting what he deserved from Lambert, threatening Dorian that he better not tell him.
"Dorian...," Lambert sighed as he shook his head, "You shouldn't let him push you like that, you need to stand up to yourself more, continuing as you are right now won't help you at all."
I didn't know what to do to say to that, so I just lowered my head and remained silent, which is what Dorian would have done anyway.
Probably seeing my hesitation and uncertainty, Lambert patted me on my shoulder as he said, "besides, I'm sure that after going through the Ceremony, you will get a great inheritance and Eric won't even be able to stand up to you."
His voice was cheerful and boasting as he said that, I couldn't stop myself from smiling as a hopeful feeling bubbled up from deep inside of me, the hope that Dorian always lived with, the hope of receiving a fascinating Inheritance, one that would solve all his problems for him.