There I was, sitting on a bench, inside a room that apparently had neither a door nor a window, stunned by the announcement of the person in front of me.

“You're kidding right? Listen, I have something important to do and I have to go—” I try to say, before I'm suddenly interrupted.

"Yes Yes. Something very important, like going back to being a body tied up at the bottom of the river, right?” Asks the woman in front of me.

“Body in the river? What are you talking about—Wait, woman?” I ask, noticing the sudden change in the blink of an eye in the figure in front of me.

"Seriously?" The figure asks rhetorically.

“You just discovered the cause of your death, and you are impressed by my looks? Well that's to be expected since I haven't introduced myself yet. I've had a lot of names given by a lot of different beliefs, but you can call me whatever you like. Even ghost or entity if you don't have a specific belief.” The Entity says nonstop, not giving me time to answer back.

“Oh and you don't have the memories of your death for your own safety, but I suppose we need this temporarily so you understand your situation soon…” The Entity now a middle-aged man comments casually as he presses one of the buttons on a tray on top of the desk full of other buttons of different shapes and colors.

Suddenly, a flood of painful images and feelings enters my head, as if someone had forced something through my eyes and ears.

"What the fuck? Argh!” I fall to the ground gasping for air and holding my head.

“Oh yeah, traumatic memories of your own death coming in. Hold on tight…” The Entity speaks as if it has forgotten an unimportant detail.

A few seconds later he opens a drawer and pulls out a folder with my name written on the cover and erases it.

"Wait, why did you erase my name?" I ask.

"Name? What name?" He answers with another question.

"What name?! My name is—wait, what's my name?” I ask, scared of having forgotten something so important.

“You won't need it anymore. And now that we've finished introducing ourselfes, let's get over your trial right away.” He hands me a folded paper that he takes from the folder.

I receive the paper without looking, while still processing the awful fact that I really had died.

"What place is this? Is it the afterlife?” I ask in a shaky voice.

Sighing like he was getting tired of our interaction. He gets up from his chair and turns onto his back.

"Yes and no. Not all souls come to this space, only those exchanged for souls from another world.” He answers.

"Exchanged?" I questioned.

“Now read the contract and you will have any answers to your other predictable questions.” He urges me on.

I open the contract and start reading:

Welcome to the judgment room, dear soul.

Thou were in the right place at the right time and was randomly chosen for the exchange of souls made from time to time between one world and another!

Thy judgment has already been defined by our employees, based on thy following deeds in life:

Money laundering, Moral harassment, psychological torture, deceiving adults, children and especially women for thine own benefit.

Thy cause of death was: Drowning. Ironically, executed by a woman that you tricked, daughter of a man linked to the mafia.

Based on thy deeds and cause of death, thy judgment is:

To have thy memories erased and be reborn in one of the worst timelines in our world and in the worst position to live as a human in such an era.

Or

To have your soul erased just like your old name.

We wish you good luck!

I look at the “person” in front of me, while shocked by the final content of what I've just read.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“But what the hell is this? Basically they didn't give me any choice!” I say indignant.

“I'm glad you understand your situation. Believe it or not your judgment would be much heavier if it were in your home world. You were only given this chance as we don't want a newcomer soul to be wiped out so quickly. And technically we can't just give you one choice. ” He says objectively.

"Why not?" I ask

"Souls still have Freedom of choice engraved within them." He answers.

“Now answer. First or second choice?” he asks impatiently.

“Obviously the first one but I don't—” I reply trying to argue my judgment, but my voice suddenly stops working.

“Great, your choice has been made. Good luck living in the Dark Ages of our world. Rest assured that anything bad to happen to you in there will likely happen. Until next time." He waves at me as my body becomes more and more transparent until it disappears.

“Wait” The entity almost remembers something.

“I think I forgot something again. Oh, whatever.” He dismisses, not wanting more work.

___________________________________________________

It was in the Snow Age, the worst Age a man could live in, that the first King, Aymeric Ward, put a stop to the constant attacks of the horrible creatures of darkness and their constant attacks on humanity by starting the first kingdom of Aymeric and driving out the tribe of savages who would start the Kingdom of Ocelot centuries later.

Kingdom which would fight several wars in the future.

Hundreds of years later, the Kingdom of Aymeric signed its peace treaty with its neighboring kingdom a century ago.

But a new kind of evil has spread through our realm, an evil that exists within some men and women, an evil called Witchcraft.

"Hey Ash, wake up!" A voice catches my attention as I try to read my book.

“Hm” I answer without looking at the owner of the voice.

“Okay then, you don't let me any choice girl” He says while giving me a flick with his big fingers on my forehead.

I hold my forehead and nearly fall out of my chair in shock and pain.

"Hey! Come on! ” I reply indignantly.

"I'm trying to read here Tomas!" I complain as I pick up the book from the floor and settle myself on the cafeteria table.

After laughing a little, along with the other kids at my reaction, Tomas looks at me with a more serious expression.

“Ash, I really appreciate you taking an interest in at least one thing related to our studies. But I need to remind you that we're going to have classes with Sister Maria soon. You haven't even eaten yet and they won't serve us any more until tomorrow. ” Tomas tells me clearly worried about me.

"Alright Tom, I'm sorry. I'm going to eat this slop faster and we’re going to class okay?" I sincerely apologize to the single person in this place that I would apologize to.

Tomas was a kid at my age almost ten years old, and unusually bigger compared to other kids of our age, but he was against fighting with others and was always kind to everyone.

Was he good looking?

As we were still kids, i couldn't tell, but for now he promises to be someone as beautiful as I was in my other life.

I was never one to fit in with the other kids at this orphanage, but Tom's insistent interactions with me made him, to me, someone above the other kids here.

Not that I didn't try to fit in at first. But it seems that my unusual appearance contributed to the other kids thinking I was weird.

Long red hair, height too short for my age, expression on face always angry at life (I am), plus having already got a bully in early childhood!

While I try to eat the “delicious” lunch of the day. I don't notice someone sneaking from behind me and stealing my book beside my hand.

"Well well. Look guys, it looks like the weirdo can read!" Says a familiar voice teasing me in front of the entire refectory.

I turn toward the voice, about to explode with rage, because I know exactly who it is.

“Verne! I'm not kidding, give me back this book now! He's not mine!" I warn Verne, controlling me not to beat his face.

“Oh? So you mean you stole this book from someone? That’s a bad thing Ash, looks like I'm going to have to keep it and give it to Mr. Augustus to confiscate…” Verne tries to tease me as he tosses the book back and forth between his lackey-like friends.

"Verne!" Call Tomas.

“You know books are rare and fragile, give them back to her now and—” Tom tries to argue.

“Shut up giant! What was it? Did your mother marry a Troll before giving birth to a monster and leaving you here?” Verne teases Tomas as he starts laughing along with his friends.

"That's it, enough." I say as I throw my tray of food in Verne's face. Who receives a surprised impact of metal and food in the mouth, while being knocked down with a blow to the legs by me.

I jump on top of him, holding the metal tray, and without giving him a chance to recover, I start hitting him mercilessly in the face until the tray becomes a perfect fit for his face.

With my outburst of anger, everything around me is being ignored, except occasionally the familiar voice coming from Tom which I choose to ignore as well.

“Ash it's alright! I'm not offended, stop—” Tom tries to convince me as he keeps away, afraid of getting hit by my Verne-style platter attacks.

After seconds of screaming what felt like minutes.

I feel a strong tug as someone lift me by the arms in the air as I try to break free of them.

"I can not believe! Making a mess again Ash?! And this time fighting?!” A voice belonging to Angus, the orphanage guard, shouts as he drags me through the corridors outside the refectory.

Still wanting to fight, I struggle to get out of Angus's arms as I hear Tomas yell something I don't understand over my own noise.

"Stay in the cafeteria Tomas, I'll calm her down in a moment inside the punishment room!" Angus orders and Tomas afraid of him stops following us.

Still carrying me, Angus tosses me alone into a white cubicle-sized room with a single bench.

“Stay there and be grateful that Sister Maria will be teaching the others shortly! If not I would call her to teach you a lesson with the stick!” Angus yells from behind the door as he locks it from the outside.

With my heart pounding and my head lightening from the thrill of having finally given Verne some smacks. I take the stool and throw it towards the door with force.

"Open the damm door you fucker!" I curse at the door, even though I know there's no longer anyone behind it.

However, as soon as I finish screaming a small light comes out of the lock, and the door makes a “click” sound as if it were opening.

Maybe because she really was opening.

“Oh. Shit." I said wordless.