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Login: perun therun taloc
initiate reincarnation.
soul swap initiated.
[ERROR]
unsuitable body detected. please select an appropriate vessel.
SUDO initiate reincarnate
add [lightning affinity][mana manipulation]
remove [mana limiter]
override accepted.
processing…
[ERROR]
Body is unfit for selected attributes.
SUDO FIX
override accepted.
[ERROR]
SUDO complete
override accepted.
A dull ache brought Liam’s intelligence into an offset focus. His entire body felt stiff, as if he had been marinating in a vat of pain. It saturated his body, waking him from the motionless darkness of sleep. Aches permeated every muscle, every joint, every fiber of his physical being. Even his eyelids ached. He wanted to sit up, but that could wait another five minutes. Liam tried to speak, testing his voice. If he had been hospitalized, where was Sarah?
‘Where am I?’ is what he had meant to say, instead “wwwwuuuhhhhhh,” is all he managed to choke out. The exhalation of pain matching his sluggish thoughts. Soft fabric covered his eyelids, oddly coarse for gauze bandages.
Ow, what happened? Everything hurts so much! I must be in the hospital… Why-
… ah my head… I remember being hit by lightning…
If I survived Sarah could have survived! Yeah, that’s it. I was mistaken, lightning scrambled my memories. Sarah could be fine.
Soreness be damned. He was going to see Sarah. Liam rolled onto his side, groaning in pain as he moved. Hands pushed against the sheets, to rise into a sitting position. With agonizing tardiness his legs obeyed him, flopping one leg over the side of his mattress.
Every inch cost him dearly, pain infusing every action. His muscles were slow and clumsy, begging him to lie still. Liam granted their wish, remaining motionless for a few moments. Devoting all his energy to breathing.
I, need help. a person. A nurse. Find nurse- call.
He flexed his fingers a few times to break their stiffness. Fresh waves of agony shot through his hand, accompanying each movement. He pushed through the pain. Forcing his hand to flex open then forcing it closed with an equally great force of will. Curiously enough, he couldn’t feel any sensors or wires on his fingers, in fact, they were the only part of his body that he could not feel something touching. The rest of his skin seemed to have a vague sense or softness. As if a compression wrap had been wrapped loosely around his entire being.
“Nuuuuhhhhhhggggg” He groaned.
Crap- can’t talk.
Liam slowly raised one hand to his throat, elbow creaking in defiance as he did so. He probed the bandages covering his skin. Soft but coarse, similar to the fabric covering his eyes. Something was entirely wrong about the way it felt, but his lightning addled mind couldn’t bring what his subconscious knew into focus.
Pain fogged his mind. Sitting up had been so tiring, and the weight of his arm was draining what little strength he had left. Darkness took him once more. Wrapping him in its embrace.
Hours later, he blindly became aware that the world was moving. Or rather, he was being moved by someone he could not see. Too exhausted to care, he drifted back to sleep.
Hours passed. Undisturbed until sunlight warmed his cheek. He stirred, opening his eyes slowly. Many of his aches had vanished, and with them had gone most of the bandages. To his right a large window let the first rays of sunshine into his room. Baby blue curtains adorned the window. Exuding a sense of silent serenity.
Okay, you are alive, but injured. Don’t move too quickly. Weird color palette for a hospital, I wonder where I am, and how long have I been knocked out for? Wait, this doesn’t look like any hospital I have ever seen. Everything is made of wood, and that lamp looks like it has a wick in it. What an odd decoration choice.
He was too weary to move, but too well rested to sleep. Lingering in a trance of motionless thought. Paralyzed by thought as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
So he lay there, gradually becoming aware of a presence in the room. He turned his head to the left and saw her, standing by the window, eyes half focused on him while the sun warmed her. Uncannily tall pupils shifted, focusing on the movements of something below the window sill. He watched as she absently reached up and brushed a strand of hair from her face. Concentration broken, she glanced at him. Jumping in surprise as her eyes met his.
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“Lord Green! How are you feeling?” She yelped.
Liam smiled weakly, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Liieee- like, a millionn. bucks.” He rasped.
She chuckled vainly, humoring him. She extended one hand, making Liam’s eyes focus on her oddly shaped nails. They were long and thin, extending forward like pointy acrylics but were too narrow.
“A million sounds like a lot of deer. You gave us an awful fright. Lord Blackwood said he would whip us half to death if you died.”
Lord Blackwood? I’ve heard of surgeons having god complexes, but holy sh—! This Dr. Blackwood must be quite the dude. Who makes their nurses cosplay? Or call them ‘Lord’. Sounds like a prick-and-a-half. It would be fun though… Naw, I couldn’t live with myself after being so sleazy. Even if HR somehow allowed it.
“Sarah?” He asked, trying to focus on the nurse’s face.
White gray hair ran freely across her shoulders. Except for the two oddly pointed buns on the top of her head. As if she was trying to mimic the appearance of a catgirl.
Catgirl cosplay in a hospital? Nope nope nopitty NOPE! I’ve had enough! It is time to make like a tree and leaf.
“Sarah? When the captain brought you here he said you were alone. I can see if the guards will bring her. Is she a companion of yours my lord?”
This seems like fun, but what if I had a concussion and was more disoriented than I already am? What kind of irresponsible hospital would torment already confused patients? Captain Arlet? Lord Blackwood? What does the national guard have to do with anything? Hold up, did she just call me lord? I don’t even go to church.
With a head full of questions he tried to sit up, arms straining against the bed. A sharp pain in his left shoulder anchored him in place, trapping him in the tension of half mobility. When he froze awkwardly the nurse saw his grimace of pain, intervening to ease him back down into the bed.
“Please don’t move too much, you need to rest, Lord Green.”
Liam nodded weakly, feeling frustrated at his own vulnerability. What would Sarah think if she saw him now? Lying helplessly in bed while a strange woman tended to him like a child. Ew…
“How laaaa- long.” He asked, his voice itching from disuse.
“Four days,” she replied softly. “Captain Arlet brought you to us after the lightning strike. Lord Blackwood has ordered me to satisfy all your needs while he is away, Lord Green.”
Captain Arlet? Where do I know that name from? It sounds so familiar. Hold up, did she say satisfy? No, that’s not important, how have I been unconscious for four days? Who is Lord Green?
Memories began to appear in his mind, answering the questions he asked with echoes of a life lived under the moniker Baron William Ethan Green, Lord of Greenwood fiefdom. Liam clamped his eyes shut, suddenly dizzy from life flashing before his eyes. Captain Arlet was Green’s champion and the head of his knights, all dozen of them. A warrior of unswerving loyalty and unparalleled martial skill.
Why do I need a captain? Oh, i’m a lord, and Viscount Alexander Blackwood is my liege lord. I swore loyalty to him, and then to the throne of King Aldric when I was seven years old. How do I know that? Why does it feel like I was there? So many memories, arg… this is overwhelming, like I have the memories of an entire crappy lifetime.
A torrent of endless days spent in dark rooms flooded his mind, blurring drunken decades into a maelstrom of folly that swam through his mind. Disgusting Liam in every meaning of the word. Baron Green was a debaucherous drunk, a man who cared about nothing save his next drink and his next seduction, be it by pretty words or petty manipulation. He was the type of man Liam hated, whispering false promises so he might surround himself with women and dull the pain of his complete and utter failings; with pussy.
This… This really sucks.
Like what the heck! I thought you were supposed to get reincarnated as an infant or child, not a grandpa! I’m way too young for a mid life crisis, gadzooks! I can’t believe anime lied to me!
Defeated, Liam let his body relax, sinking into the cool sheets, his brain was on fire and he wanted nothing more than to drown his newfound depression. His whole life had ended, everything he had ever worked for from medical school to his chance at a happy family with Sarah at his side. And soon, his new life might end. Blackwood did not dislike Baron William Ethan Green, he loathed him with a passion to make an adult actress blush. Any slight, any perceived insult —no matter how miniscule— would give Viscount Blackwood the ammo he needed to depose Baron Green. But that wouldn’t be the end of it, oh no, Blackwood would pursue him to the ends of the earth, just to make sure he died. Now, when Baron Green’s body was weak and ill nurtured, heavily burdened with a paunch spawned from decades of wine, Liam would die.
The door slammed open, attracting Liam’s doleful gaze. A man in a well worn breastplate stood in the entryway. His vigilant gaze scanning the room in a glance, his left hand clasped the hilt of a dagger, ready to dispense violence on any unwelcome intruders.
“Nyota, I heard voices- who’s in here with you? It better not be another one of your felines. Ah! My lord Green, you’re awake. When the lightning struck I feared that might be your last breath.” Captain Arlet said.
“I’m fine.” Said Liam bluntly. He could already feel pressure forming behind his eyes. A sure sign of an impending migraine.
“Forgive my intrusion my’lord, but you must leave. Immediately! Viscount Alexander has ordered your execution and claims you are the cause of the monsters plaguing our lands!”
Liam’s eyes widened in shock, he was Baron William Ethan Green. Sole male head of the Green Barony. A serial adulterer in his late forties whose last conquest happened to be the Viscount’s niece. However, that wasn’t the vilest thought to enter his mind.
If I'm here in William’s body. Was William back home in Liam’s body? Curse your soul William Green. You philandering dog. I swear to god I will kill you if you cheat on Sarah; wait, what could he do if he went after Sarah with his face? Liam shook his head, dismissing the thought as impossible, Sarah would see right through Green and reject his advances.
Unless Green also received his memories, exactly how Liam had received Green’s memories… Viciously shaking the thought from his head Liam tried to focus on the present.
“Blame me? How is that possible?” He said. Finally managing to choke out a complete sentence.
Captain Arlet shook his head. “I don’t know, but we must act quickly if we are to save the barony m’lord.”
More memories rushed into his cognition, visions of purple portals and monsters from ancient legends swam through his brain. Dragging him into a waking slumber as a life he had never lived flashed before his eyes. From his time at the kingdom's academy of war to his many drunken nights, to the most recent days when his lands —his responsibilities— were invaded. Baron Green’s meager intelligence had, at the very least, managed to see the truth. Monsters were beyond Greenwood’s abilities. Arlet might be a competent tactician, and a champion among knights, but a single armored knight was nothing compared to wyverns or minotaurs. Thus Baron Green had fled to seek the aid of his liege lord, a decision that inevitably led to him riding through a thunderstorm and being struck. What are the chances I got hit with lightning at the same time as Baron Green? Pretty high right? I would google it, but no one seems to have a phone next to their chamberpot…
Right now he was in hostile territory. He needed to escape, to get somewhere safe. Then he could philosophize a way home, to Sarah.
“Help me up.” Ordered Liam. holding out one hand to Arlet and one to the cosplaying maid.