A melancholic, yet somehow soulful tune echoed through the glacial hallways of the castle, as a maid happily skipped along, humming a 'sprightly, happy little tune' for the child she was waving around, very gently, in her arms. The sound her unsung melody might have been pleasant to listen to, had it not been for the mass of plate-bound footsteps that echoed alongside it.
That didn't stop the maid from continuing her 'happy tune' whilst showing the least expressive face I'd ever seen in my entire life... or should I say, lives? I'm not sure this one counts as a life quite yet.
Anyway...
The name is Kamiyama Nori! A former college student from Tokyo, ready to grab her suggested degree in management and leap into the whole, wide world of likely-death-by-overwork!...
Oh, who am I kidding.
Yes, I'm a god damned high school student, barely eighteen, third year. And yes, it looks like I've been 'isekai-d'.
Please throw your assorted haha's and lololol's out here and now, because I won't be held responsible for what happens if you do it afterwards!
Fuckin' nerds.
I swear to God...
"Princess Anna." My maid, who just happened to be a really tall, tailless humanoid lion, as in she had the ears of a lion and about the same level of life as a male lion with a full stomach and nothing to do, suddenly turned her cold, expressionless face downwards. "I understand that you've had a rough past life, but please, do your best to remove any and all crude forms of language from your dictionary."
Anna Sedellean.
That's my new name, by the way.
Looks like I've been reborn as a princess of some sort. Me? A princess?... who the f-...
My maids grip suddenly tightened and her expression turned from cold to creepily sour, causing me to swallow down hard.
I have decided to shut up for a while.
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Sometime later...
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"You are to remain inside of this room until her majesty, the God-Empress Domina, your esteemed mother, has rested well-enough to deal with you." And with that said, the maid promptly shut the door to what was apparently my new room.
It was a wide area, too wide for a baby, but surprisingly not quite as lavish as I'd have expected. I mean, my room has no windows?
Also, I was left seated on a massive bed, clearly intended for someone thrice the size of me in my previous life. Wait.. 'this room', does not really mean my room, does it? Is this the room of my supposed 'mother' then? The so-called 'God-Empress'?
Well, she's one heck of a humble God-Empress, then!
I mean, look at this room!
Two wardrobes on the left side of the room, created out of something that looks too white to be wood but too smooth to be stone, like it was made out of petrified trees? Not a material I'd expect in a noble lady's bedroom, much less that of this Domina person. They don't even look like they've been opened all that much! Well, one of them does, the other looks like it has a coating of dust. What kind of servants let dust accumulate inside of a rulers bedroom?!
Anyway, the only other thing on the left side is a night-stand made out of the same material. I mean, it does look kinda nice up close, the craftsmanship of it is top quality and hell, it even has some kind of intricate symbolism neatly etched into the 'woodwork' that I can't fully see. Why can't I see it? Well, for one, it seems to be nighttime. Two, there's no light. And three? I'm a newborn baby that can't turn around!
Its infuriating!
...
Thankfully, this bed is top notch.
Looks like a double bed, no, a three person bed? It has carved wooden columns extending from each edge and carrying a roof full of fantastical iconography, with everything from dragons breathing great flames, to what seems to be heroes standing atop piles of gold, etched into the wood. Looks real nice for an object you're meant to fall asleep in.
Talkin' about sleeping, these sheets... If I could properly make sounds, the neighbours would call the police for public disturbance.
They're so... sooooo... soo very soooooftttt~.
Ah!
Wait, don't fall asleep.
I need to be awake right now, especially if I wanna keep what little is left of my sanity. Front! Up front! Lets focus on the front!
Ahem.
Beside the possibly-stone, or metallic, door-frame which leads out of the room, there was an armour-stand and a plaque on the wall. The armour-stand, or better to say the mannequin attached to it, was lovingly carved to represent a feminine figure, whose inspiration is probably the God-Empress herself. And uh, if she looks anything like this overly-detailed piece of carved wood entails, I can see why people would call her the 'God-Empress', despite her apparent humility. Good lord, those have to be double D's! And that firm behind isn't lacking in anything either!
Wait.
Does this count as checking out my own mother? Well, kinda? Ah, who cares, beauty is meant to be admired, regardless of its source! Also, where was I? Oh yes, the plaque! Unlike the nude armour-stand, the plaque had a sword and a shield attached to it. They looked pretty much like a standard European longsword and a dragon-kite shield.
Don't ask me how I know the specifics, a girl can have hobbies, damn it!
Anyway, what's weird about the sword and shield is the metal that they're made out of. Its nothing like anything I've ever seen on Earth! I mean, it practically glows in the dark with how white it is and I know how white is usually associated with purity and stuff but uh... these two give me a real-bad feelin' just by looking at 'em.
And that's it, ladies and gentlemen! We've come to the end of the Empress-bedroom tour!...
No, seriously, there's fuck all else in this place.
Just massive, grey-white walls surrounding me on every, single, damn, side. Now that I think about it, the same can be said for the hallways that I was just carried through! It was all so boring! Like, every wall's been built with artistic care, but not a single piece of it had any actual artistry on it! We walked through a corridor of what I can only assume to be the castle of an empress, but I haven't seen a single picture, statue or hell, not even other armour stands!
It was completely empty of anything and everything! The floor didn't even have a carpet!
If I had to compare the place to something, it'd be the concrete skeleton of a future world-class hotel. The construction alone is enough to amaze and inspire you, but there's an endless feeling of total, complete emptiness wherever you look... though, I mean, when you get down to it, I suppose this could all just be for the sake of efficiency?
I mean, concrete usually does just as well as any other material. It looks ugly, but it gets the job done, I guess?
I just expected more from the home of a God-Empress, is all I'm sayin'~.
...
...
..
Hello?
Sorry-for-killing-you-by-accident-Kami-sama~! This is your chance to spirit me away to some magical dreamworld and explain everything!
...
...
...
Seriously...?
Ahhh...
What the fuck am I doing?
Nobody's coming.
Sure, I was reincarnated, but lets be a little bit more realistic here. Even if I am a reincarnator, that does not mean a god will automatically talk to me and grant me blessings, right? Besides, I already know that I've been reborn as a princess, isn't that enough of a blessing in of itself?
I shouldn't be so spoiled.
These bedsheets are amazing, the best I've ever imagined, really...
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
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POV Switch (3rd person)
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Elated, calm footsteps rang throughout the halls, with all those present finding themselves standing aside with their heads bowed down. For the second time on this auspicious and joyous day, a woman walked down this same exact corridor, carrying a princess in her arms. Yet, the second princess was unlike the first, calm and very much asleep, suckling on her thumb, as all newborn babies perhaps should.
A newborn mind, empty of thought and memory, of experience and emotion, yet ready and capable to acquire all of the aforementioned as quickly as their environment can provide them. This, is how it should be. This, is what the empress had expected to happen. You see, the process of giving birth for this particular woman, isn't the same as one may think, but is more equivalent to cloning oneself, by sacrificing parts of oneself in order to create the child in question. It is unwise to create more than one child in this manner, because doing so is liable to end your life.
This is why, the great empress Domina, was currently limping, though as proudly as one can do so, down the hallways of her mountain home, carrying her second daughter in her right arm, while her left was completely gone, with a set of bandages covering the rough-cut wound. Domina let out a sigh of annoyance, but then smiled in contentment. "Who would have thought, that I would be blessed with not one, but two angels?"
Anna and Yvonne, the Empress' twin daughters, born from mythical chance and great risk undertaken by their mother. Today was the final day in the cloning process, the long-awaited day of birth, a day that she had been gathering power and will, for the last thousand years. With bodies forged out of her own flesh, consciousness' provided by fate and her divine father, as well as souls formed from the faith of her people, the God-Empress had become the proud mother of twin demi-goddess' on this day.
Granted, that came at a great sacrifice. It will take time to heal her arm, not to mention how it was only due to the timely intervention of her father, the God Of Entropy Atlyon, that both of her daughters had managed to survive the event. It was like something straight out of a fantasy book, really!
The empress snorted, unable to help herself, as she recounted the final moments of her craft; with her grandiose concentration broken by the sudden arrival of an errant soul of human origin; the consciousness of a reincarnated heroine. The soul, guided by some strange, unnatural spellwork, possessed the body she had created for her child, using it as a host much like a ghost taking over a still-living person, pushing the innate will of the body into the depths of its own soul. But as this soul had no mana of its own, its consciousness melded with that of the original, almost creating a unified entity out of the two children.
A quick prayer to their grandfather helped prevent that unnatural tragedy, as the God of Entropy tore the souls of her daughters apart, then healed them, while also adding a few 'corrections' of his own, such as transforming the human soul into one which it should rightly be; that of an Inerti. After all, it wouldn't do for a princess of their esteemed species to be a lesser creature, especially not one as foul as a human.
The Inerti are a proud, ancient race, known for their jadedness and great power, while the humans are creatures of sin, capable of anything so long as it ensures their own survival, without regard for the greater good.
"Hm?" Domina was suddenly, and quite rudely, torn free from her musings, as the cries of a child broke through her joy and motherly instinct took over. With a look downward, she made sure that her second princess was safe and comfortable, before lightly speeding towards her room. Well, with as much speed as one could muster while trying to be quiet in full plate armour. Enchantments can only do so much, but this was no roadblock for the great Empress, as Domina managed to reach her bedroom without waking one of her children and enter inside.
Her eyes quickly darted across the place, finding her first daughter face first in the covers, crying her eyes out due to stress and confusion. Domina's frame softened as she gazed into the child's very soul, placing her sleeping babe on the bed, which caused Anne to stop crying momentarily and adopt a rather terrified expression, before quickly settling down. Anne attempted to rub her eyes multiple times, shaking her head and blinking in complete stupefaction as she focused her gaze onto her mother.
Domina's ancient instincts managed to allow her to stop herself from smothering her baby while wearing a plated gauntlet. "Don't worry, mommy's here now. Just give me some time to slip into something more comfortable, okay?" Placing Yvonne on one side of the bed and moving Anne to the other, the empress began the arduous task of removing her own suit of plate with only one capable hand.
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Back to Nori/Anne/Anna's pov.
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H-huh?
Was I ...
Was I really crying?
Ha.
So much for being an adult at eighteen... No! No adult from Earth needs to experience this stuff, right?
Hell, I don't even remember how I died...
Last thing I know for sure is that I was convinced by my group to join them in some chuuni, after-school ritual. Its just as edgy and cringe-worthy as it sounds, but I was told that I had to come or else I would never be accepted as a true member of the group. It was kinda like smoking cigarettes or doing weed for the first time, but for nerds.
Why do I keep callin' my group 'nerds', ya might be askin'? Well, its cause I used to bully them, right till my own squad kicked me out cause I beat up too many people and they shat their pants at the prospect of the police getting involved. So, right next day, as I was bullying one of my future-groups members, I overheard one of 'em talking about going out together for the first time.
Maybe it was just a spike of sadism.
Or maybe I was just bored.
... or, let face it, I was looking for literally anyone to latch onto.
But what happened afterwards can only be described as a bully forcing a bunch of nerds to hang out with her 'cause she felt like it, only for the nerds to transform her into one of 'em in four hours flat. Anime, video games, western comics, you name it, I played, read and know it! Well, probably... Anyway, that's not important since it was two years ago! What is important is that these guys, and girls, decided they wanted to do a ritual after school to celebrate everybody graduating.
They bought scented candles, 'magical markers' and everything else you can imagine goes into one such ritual, while I decided to bring snacks and drinks. They all yelled at me because what I brought could apparently be used by the teachers to get us in trouble, not that any of them didn't actively eat the stuff I brought, damn brats.
... stuff was going fine... two of us were making a circle, while the other four chatted by the window and the entrance to the classroom...
What happened?...
Was there a flash? Come to think of it, they said they were doing some kind of summoning ritual. Now, I might be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure that 'summoning' means bringing something to our world, not sending us some place else, dammit!
Hey, wait a minute, why am I going on and on about this spiel right now? There's an insane hottie undressing right in front of me! Wait, that's mom- I mean.. uh, Domina? Is that really her name? Sounds like Latin. "My name is Sylvia." A velvety voice echoed through my ears as I turned to look at the woman in question.
Okay, I think this question really needs to be asked by now, but can you read my mind? "No, honey. Not your mind, but your soul."
My... my soul? Wai- oh god, does that mean you know I called you a hottie? That's embarrassing! "Embarrassing? Why? I am possessed of incredible beauty. It is perfectly natural for you to be attracted to my physical form, seeing as you were originally human." She replied with nary a smirk on her face, with complete confidence, even using her one hand to wave that beatific, golden hair around herself like a model.
Right, empress, gotcha. So, would you mind explaining things to me since you clearly know about reincarnators, mo- ehm, I mean, your highness? "Mother would be preferred, darling." With those soft-spoken words, she finished undressing herself, allowing me a good look at her splendour. Seriously, looking at her made me feel like glory decided to have a living incarnation of itself. I couldn't help but feel slightly jealous...
"There's no need for jealousy, my child. I understand that your world possessed its own capacity for creating clones, yes? You, as well as your twin sister, are clones of me." Having dropped that immense bomb straight onto my head, which may or may not have felt like an golden anvil made out of good fortune, Domina- no!; Sylvia!, wai- I mean, mother... Mother, scooted into our massive bed, putting herself in the middle and her daughters, myself and my apparent twin sister, on each of her sides, before promptly putting me into her lap.
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Pov Switch-desu~ (also known as sometime later...)
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A royal bed, in a royal bedroom.
A mother, with her two daughters, one asleep, the other awake.
All three resting within, comfortably shrouded by the soft covers and warmed by love.
It was a heart-warming scene, with the sleeping child softly snoring away in peace, without a sliver of trouble etched onto its small life. Her estranged sibling, as well as her mother, on the other hand, had a different tune in mind. "So you're saying that your- ah, no, our race, the Inerti, don't make babies like humans do but instead use magic to clone themselves? And while you were creating my sister, my soul came flying out of nowhere and stole her body like some greedy ghost?" The first princess thought/spoke with a tone of mental disbelief.
It was like pouring salt into an open wound for little Anne, as she had not only died a mysterious death, she had also managed to reincarnate and effectively steal the body intended for her newfound twin sister. "Yes, this is correct. However, please do not take this badly! After all, I consider this event a blessing, for I was given not one, but two beautiful daughters to call my own." Anne, being a newborn child, didn't exactly possess the capacity to show a great variety of expressions, but her current one was the best she could muster for feeling incredibly guilty; both for what she nearly did to Yvonne, her twin, as well as being a downpour on her mothers apparent joy.
Here was a woman that had, in the few hours that Anne had known Domina, done more for her than her previous mother did in her entire past life. Granted, seventeen and a half years isn't a lot to claim under her belt, but it sure was more than a couple thousand seconds. Anne then turned towards her mothers missing arm, throwing a look at the now-armoured mannequin she had ogled sometime ago, causing her childlike expression to become decidedly grim. "You say that but... didn't you lose an arm in the process? Probably to help create my sisters body since I stole this one..."
Sylvia/Domina answered her newborn with a stern expression. "Darling, what choice did I have? If I simply let you possess Yvonne in full, your two souls would mix and, in a way, both of you would die while a third, completely other person, would be born from my efforts. I chose to save you both and I succeeded. So what if I lost an arm and some weight in the process? Besides, my limb will regenerate in due time."
Despite being a baby, Anne/Nori managed to blink in shock before continuing to speak/think. "Okay, wait a minute here, did you just say... regenerate? As in, your arm, its gonna come back eventually?"
Sylvia blinked and tilted her head in turn, equally confused as her child. "Eventually? Tomorrow morning isn't that far away, my dear." Her child, in turn, adopted a deadpan gaze which had slightly redder cheeks than moments prior, almost as if something happened to ignite the baby's spirit. "Mom, I'm sorry if this question offends you somehow, but what are we? As in, what am I? Do I have special powers? Can I use magic? Are there 'evil eyes' in this world?!"
To her credit, the God-Empress of the Inerti rarely ever gets confused, much less twice in a row, which is why Sylvia found herself smiling as she scratched her own cheek. "Let's see; we are the royalty of the Inerti race, which makes you and your sister their princesses, or the Regina. As for everything else and from what little your grandfather had decided to explain to me about your previous world..." Sylvia tilted her head, then let out a sigh. "I believe he said to describe you as a 'demi-goddess', of sorts?"
"Demi-Goddess?!" Anne screamed on the inside of her mind. That was quite the level-up from a mere 'princess', jumping right up to divine level, but it wasn't what caught the reincarnated girls attention. "Wait- you mentioned a grandfather? And since I'm a demi-goddess, does that mean...?"
Sylvia smiled softly, answering her daughters question with quite the bit of pride in her tone. "Atylon, this worlds, which is called Aestra, God Of Entropy, Sterility, Cessation and Death."
Anne did not reply, merely spent the next few minutes with her baby mouth agape, as her smiling, proud mother put her to sleep, laying down between her newborn twins with an expression of complete contentment etched on her face.